Konačno rešenje u Srbiji - Judenlager na Sajmištu: studija slučaja

Abstract

Proces zatiranja Jevreja u Srbiji pada u vreme samog početka konačnog rešenja u Evropi i obuhvata niz akcija, od izvođenja pred streljački stroj do ubijanja u kamionu-dušegupki. Prvo sistematsko streljanje srpskih Jevreja u jesen 1941. izvršeno je čak nekoliko dana pre nego što je sredinom oktobra počelo deportovanje nemačkih Jevreja; gušenje srpskih Jevreja u dušegupki u proleće 1942. bilo je dovršeno početkom maja, još pre nego što su proradile gasne komore u Sobiboru i Treblinki. Masovna streljanja u Srbiji bila su samo delimično analogna akcijama streljanja započetim prethodnog leta u Sovjetskom Savezu, a u kojima su izvršioci bile operativne grupe Einsatzgruppen. U Srbiji su egzekutori najčešće bili obični vojnici, a ne pripadnici SS-jedinica, dok su žrtve bili muškarci od 14 do 70 godina starosti, a ne čitave porodice. Osim toga, u Srbiji su jevrejski muškarci izvođeni pred streljački stroj pod izgovorom da je to sastavni deo represalija zbog gubitaka koje su oružanim snagama naneli partizani, a ne u ime proklamovanog cilja da se zatre celokupno jevrejsko stanovništvo. Međutim, neizvesnost u pogledu krajnjeg cilja i svrhe nacističke politike prema Jevrejima nije dugo potrajala. Oni koji su preživeli jesenje masakre, pretežno žene i deca, smešteni su u jedan koncentracioni iogor na mestu nekadašnjeg Sajmišta, tačnije sa zemunske strane reke Save, na prilazu Beogradu; zatočenici ovog logora, bez razlike u pogledu starosti i pola, umoreni su u jednom kamionu-dušegupki u proleće 1942. Ova studija se prvenstveno bavi tom drugom fazom “konačnog rešenja” u Srbiji - istorijom koncentracionog logora Sajmište (Semlin Judenlager).

The Nazi genocide of Serbian Jews chronologically concurs with the initial period of the "Final Solution" of the Jewish question in other parts of Europe. In the introductory part, the author compares the acts of the extermination of the Serbian Jews with those committed in other European countries and next briefly examines the political situation after the occupation of Yugoslavia. As an enemy of the Nazi Germany Serbia was declared an occupation zone and the occupational regime was immediately established with Dr. Harald Turner as the Chief of the Military Administration supervising the entire administrative and civilian side of the occupational policies. The intricate network of men and their tasks organized with the aim of extermination of the Belgrade - and Serbian - Jews are related in detail; three general stages can be discerned: the anti-Jewish measures (discrimination, persecution), mass shootings of Jewish males under the pretext of German reprisals for their casualties killed by the resistance movement, and finally the extermination of Jewish children, women and old men in the Semlin Judenlager (Logor Sajmiste). The horrible Jewish concentration camp Semlin was established in December 1941 while there was simultaneously carried out the reorganization of the German and SS police in Serbia hence the new head of the Sipo-SD SS-Standartenführer Emanuel Schäfer was directly in charge of the Semlin camp. The Gestapo was under the command of SS-Sturmbannführer Bruno Sattler. From the Gestapo were also recruited the two Semlin camp commandants: SS-Untersturmführer Herbert Andorfer and SS-Scharführer Edgar Enge. The author gives us the condensed biographies of these German officers within their political and social context. An extensive portion of the text is concerned with the special gas van in which the thousands of Jewish children, women and old men were executed by suffocation while being driven from the camp over the river Sava to the hill Avala ten kilometers southeast of Belgrade. This horrible routine lasted several months and the author renders the particulars about the murderers' behavior, the technical details, the treatment and deceiving of the camp’s inmates and even briefly describes the relationship between the camp's commandant and his future victims. The last drive of the gas van was on May 10, 1942, and after that date, the Nazis responsible for the extermination have declared Serbia "free of Jews" - Juden Frei - and the Serbian Jewish question "settled”. About 7500 Jews were executed in the Semlin camp. In the concluding part, the author presents the sociological analysis of the SS "death personnel" and the psychological foundation for the use of the insanely conceived vehicle - the gas van. Offering his explanation of the “Final Solution" the author finally examines the decisions for the perpetration of the genocide through the prism of the stages of the extermination of the Jews in Serbia.