• Memorial Plaque at the Tobacco Factory
Over 7,000 Jews were held on the premises of a tobacco factory in the Macedonian capital Skopje after they had been arrested by Bulgarian police in a nationwide wave of arrests that took place on March 11, 1943. They were subsequently deported to the Treblinka extermination camp and murdered there. A memorial plaque on the factory premises and a monument, set up in 2004, honour the victims.
Image: Skopje, 1943, Deportation train in front of the tobacco factory, Yad Vashem
Skopje, 1943, Deportation train in front of the tobacco factory, Yad Vashem

Image: Skopje, 2004, New monument in the courtyard of the tobacco factory, Jewish Community of Macedonia
Skopje, 2004, New monument in the courtyard of the tobacco factory, Jewish Community of Macedonia
In April 1941, Yugoslavia was divided after it had been invaded by Germany and Italy. Germany's ally Bulgaria occupied the federal state Macedonia. At the beginning of 1943, the Bulgarian government agreed under German pressure to hand over the Jewish population residing in its occupied territories to the SS. In a nationwide operation coordinated by Alexander Belev, Bulgarian commissar of Jewish Affairs, Bulgarian police arrested Jews in Skopje, Štip and Bitola on March 11, 1943, and interned them in warehouses at the Monopol state tobacco factory in Skopje. There were no sanitary facilities at the factory, and the inmates did not receive any provisions. Only 165 of the 7,300 imprisoned Macedonian Jews were released, mainly foreign citizens as well as doctors and pharmacists. Three transports of the Bulgarian state railway departed from Skopje on March 22, 25 and 29, 1943 - they were bound for Treblinka in German occupied Poland, where the SS murdered the Jewish men, women and children by exhaust fumes.
Image: Skopje, 1943, Deportation train in front of the tobacco factory, Yad Vashem
Skopje, 1943, Deportation train in front of the tobacco factory, Yad Vashem

Image: Skopje, 2004, New monument in the courtyard of the tobacco factory, Jewish Community of Macedonia
Skopje, 2004, New monument in the courtyard of the tobacco factory, Jewish Community of Macedonia
Close to 7,200 Macedonian Jews, including 2,300 children, were delivered to the SS by the Bulgarian authorities, after which they were deported to Treblinka and murdered there.
Image: Skopje, 1943, »Jewish Affairs Commissar« Belev supervising the deportation of the Jews from Skopje, Yad Vashem
Skopje, 1943, »Jewish Affairs Commissar« Belev supervising the deportation of the Jews from Skopje, Yad Vashem

Image: Skopje, 1943, Jews on the stairs of the tobacco factory on the way to the trains, Yad Vashem
Skopje, 1943, Jews on the stairs of the tobacco factory on the way to the trains, Yad Vashem
Only just over 300 Macedonian Jews survived the war. After the war, a small memorial plaque was affixed on the premises of the tobacco factory. It is dedicated to the »eternal glory to the fallen« who were persecuted by the »German-Bulgarian fascist occupiers« - both expressions abiding with the official language of the communist regime in post-war Yugoslavia. In 2004, employees of the tobacco factory erected a small monument which also bears a Hebrew inscription. Each year, on March 11, a commemorative ceremony is held.
Image: Skopje, 2000, Memorial plaque at the entrance to the tobacco factory, Jewish Community of Macedonia
Skopje, 2000, Memorial plaque at the entrance to the tobacco factory, Jewish Community of Macedonia

Image: Skopje, 2004, Memorial plaque on the new monument, Jewish community of Macedonia
Skopje, 2004, Memorial plaque on the new monument, Jewish community of Macedonia
Name
Spomenikot Tutunski Kombinat Skopje
Address
Tutunski Kombinat A. D. Skopje, 11 Oktomvri 125
1000 Skopje
Phone
+389 23 237 543
Fax
+389 23 237 543
E-Mail
ezrm@on.net.mk
Open
The memorial plaque is accessible at all times.