In 2005, a memorial in the small Serbian port town of Kladovo was dedicated to the 1,200 Jewish refugees who landed here in 1939 and later perished in camps of the German occupation forces.
The small port town of Kladovo is located in the east of Serbia, on the bank of the Danube which demarcates the border to Romania. This landscape is known as the »Iron Gate«.
In December 1939, several ships carrying about 1,200 Jewish refugees primarily from Austria and Germany landed in the port of Kladovo. They had departed from Vienna in November 1939, travelling down the Danube, heading towards the Black Sea in order to reach Palestine. However, in December the ships were halted in the Serbian harbour of Kladovo as Romanian authorities refused them passage on the Danube. The Jewish refugees were forced to stay in Kladovo. Until September 1940, they lived onshore and aboard the ships, until they were resettled to Šabac on the river Sava, near Belgrade. The refugees, now about 1,400, received help from the local Jewish community. Jewish aid organisations kept trying to help the refugees immigrate to Palestine, yet they were not allowed to continue their journey. In March 1941, the Youth Aliyah organisation managed to attain immigration papers to Palestine for about 200 young refugees. The children and youths were brought to safety in Palestine, the rest of the group remained in Šabac. In April 1941, when the Germans took Serbia, the refugees were captured by the new occupation authorities. The Germans incarcerated the Jews of the so-called Kladovo transport and Jews from Šabac in an internment camp close to the town in July 1941. In October 1941, Wehrmacht execution squads shot the Jewish men of the Kladovo transport in »retaliation« for partisan attacks on Wehrmacht soldiers in Serbia. The women and children who remained in Šabac were deported to the Sajmište concentration camp in January 1942, where the SS murdered them by asphyxiation in gas vans, together with Jewish women and children from all over Serbia.
In December 1939, several ships carrying about 1,200 Jewish refugees primarily from Austria and Germany landed in the port of Kladovo. They had departed from Vienna in November 1939, travelling down the Danube, heading towards the Black Sea in order to reach Palestine. However, in December the ships were halted in the Serbian harbour of Kladovo as Romanian authorities refused them passage on the Danube. The Jewish refugees were forced to stay in Kladovo. Until September 1940, they lived onshore and aboard the ships, until they were resettled to Šabac on the river Sava, near Belgrade. The refugees, now about 1,400, received help from the local Jewish community. Jewish aid organisations kept trying to help the refugees immigrate to Palestine, yet they were not allowed to continue their journey. In March 1941, the Youth Aliyah organisation managed to attain immigration papers to Palestine for about 200 young refugees. The children and youths were brought to safety in Palestine, the rest of the group remained in Šabac. In April 1941, when the Germans took Serbia, the refugees were captured by the new occupation authorities. The Germans incarcerated the Jews of the so-called Kladovo transport and Jews from Šabac in an internment camp close to the town in July 1941. In October 1941, Wehrmacht execution squads shot the Jewish men of the Kladovo transport in »retaliation« for partisan attacks on Wehrmacht soldiers in Serbia. The women and children who remained in Šabac were deported to the Sajmište concentration camp in January 1942, where the SS murdered them by asphyxiation in gas vans, together with Jewish women and children from all over Serbia.
Approximately 1,200 Jewish children, women and men of the so-called Kladovo transport were murdered by Wehrmacht soldiers or asphyxiated in gas vans by the SS. Almost all of the Serbian Jews met this fate. The Jews of the Kladovo transport mostly came from Austria and the German Reich. About 200 youths managed to emigrate to Palestine.
In October 2002, representatives of the Federation of Jewish communities in former Yugoslavia, the Jewish community of Belgrade, the community of Kladovo as well as the ambassadors of Austria and Germany dedicated a memorial in remembrance of the victims of the transport. The monument by architect Mimi Bihaly–Vučković, which symbolises three Torah scrolls, is situated on the Danube promenade in Kladovo. Memorial plaques in Hebrew, German and Serbian have been affixed to the monument. A further memorial to the Jews of the Kladovo transport can be found on the Jewish cemetery in Belgrade.
- Name
- Spomenika u Kladovu
- Address
-
Riverbank promenade
19320 Kladovo - muzej@eunet.rs
- Open
- The memorial is accessible at all times.