Scoping Skopje: Bearing Witness

I knew that March 11 would be a meaningful day here- on March 11, 1943, all the Jews of Macedonia were rounded up by the occupying Bulgarian force- they were taken to the Monopol Tobacco factory and then put on trains to Treblinka to be murdered. 98% of the Jews of Macedonia did not survive WWII. Each year the Jewish community gathers at the factory by the memorial plaque to remember and bear witness.

I had met the director of the Holocaust Museum a little over a week ago, and was waiting for him to call me about where the events, if any, would be held and what time. By Sunday, I had not heard anything so I decided to find the Jewish Community Center and see if anyone there knew- It was not easy to find but I did. No one was there- it was locked down tight. Except a cat, of course. The cat was of no help- it did not speak English, apparently.

Next, I tried to search the internet but did not turn up anything. On Monday, I discussed this with Biljana. Biljana used to have a Jewish boyfriend from Belgrade- he now lives in Jerusalem. She assured me that every year there is a ceremony- she thought there was one on Tuesday evening at the museum at 7 pm.

The Holocaust museum was closed on Monday- I could not find out any information from the internet and still no call from the director, who had not been able to give me his card and so I did not know how to contact him.

First thing,Tuesday morning, I ran over the Holocaust Museum to see if I could find out any information. Of course, there was no one there but one attendant - she spoke no English (just like that cat). After awhile and through the help of my translator app on my smartphone, she assured me that nothing was happening that day at the museum. Finally, though, she called someone- I know not who or where this person was. The person spoke imperfect English but told me that the ceremony was that morning at the factory starting in about ten minutes. I ran outside to get a cab. No taxi driver had heard of this factory or knew the address. I run back inside the museum. After making a great show of looking all about to prove that she did not know the address, could not find the address and would never be able to ascertain the address, once again I turned to my phone. She also seemed unwilling to call back the person with the information - was it a long distance call?

After awhile (the factory now has a different name), I found the address and ran back to the taxi stand. (Later, Biljana asked me why I did not just call her to tell the cab where to go but Biljana is often more helpful only after the fact). I made it to the factory gates. An attendant there knew immediately where I needed to go. The ceremony was only about halfway through. I made it there just as they were reading the Kaddish- it may have even been one of the survivors reading it. The next part of the ceremony was the representatives from each of the foreign embassies in Macedonia (well, not all but some) laying flowers at the memorial and being officially photographed by the news as doing so. For the U.S. the (DCM) Deputy Chief of Mission (who lived in the Longfellow neighborhood of MN for awhile and is a MAD GRAD) presented the flowers.

After the ceremony, I was able to speak to him and to the Holocaust Museum director- he apologized- he had lost my card. However, when I told the DCM about it, he told me next time to just call the US Embassy- he said they know everything that is happening- yes, I do appreciate they probably do know EVERYTHING that is happening everywhere (do they know where is that Malaysian plane?)! The crowd at the service was actually quite small. Later on in the day was schedued another ceremony at the Jewish cemetery that Idid not attend, especially since I had no idea where it was .

Biljana explained to me that the director's last name is a commonly understood name as being Jewish here - his father, she told me is an endocrinologist in Macedonia. Biljana's mother was born in 1930 in Bitola and remembers when the Jews were rounded up. I asked Biljana to tell me honestly what people knew. Biljana said truly that people thought the Jews were only being rounded up to go to work camps. Biljana has a book about the Holocaust she bought awhile ago that is 700 pages, which she has read but the pictures were too much for her- like everyone else, she cannot understand how this has happened.

I could see that the service made the evening news.