The Jews in Macedonia Through Centuries

By Mihail Sumkovski

The history of the Jewish people in the world and in the European countries, in particular, reflects in continuity their suffering, their progress, their contribution to science, culture, art, and economy. The expulsions, repressions and the massacres that culminated with the Holocaust in the Second World War were their destiny.

The book about the Jews in Macedonia was written in hope that it will present some of the aspects of their lives in this region starting from the early ages to the most tragic day in their history, 11 March 1943, when they were expelled from their homes in all Macedonian cities, of which the most numerous were the Jews from Skopje, Bitola, and Stip, and were deported in the extermination camps in Treblinka.

This book was inspired by the desire to show the life of the Jews in Macedonia, their harmony with the rest of the population that had different religion and ethnicity. The aim is to present their joint life in the wonderful symbiosis in which it existed, shielded from any conflicts, in a unity that could be called coexistence today.

Nowadays, the small number of Jews in Macedonia that survived this and their offspring are inevitably exposed to the natural assimilation with the Macedonian population. However, the tradition and the messages of the joint life through the ages remain to be nourished in the Jewish Community in Macedonia and the Memorial Holocaust Centre in Skopje.

• Language: English
• Publisher: George Nikolov
• Release date: Jun 16, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386866138

Book preview

CRITICAL OPINION IN COMBAT AGAINST PREJUDICE AND POSSIBLE OUTCOME

It is general knowledge that through history, the majority of ethnic and first and foremost Christian groups treated the Jews with animosity, which has become a cliche that is still present even nowadays. Regarding this, especially illustrative is the following saying, for which it is rumored that it was coined long ago in Hungary, Anti-Semite is the one who hates the Jews more than necessary. Obviously, the starting point of this saying is an already established, very negative assessment about the Jews, whether as absolutely unacceptable or unforgivably guilty, because the conclusion that can be deducted from this statement is that the hatred towards the Jews is inevitable, regardless whether it is a feeling of utter abomination or just slight