Northern Transylvania
Northern Transylvania ( ro, Transilvania de Nord, hu, Észak-Erdély) was the region of the Kingdom of Romania that during World War II, as a consequence of the August 1940 territorial agreement known as the Second Vienna Award, became part of ...
The ghetto was set up on the Stamboli farm some 5 km outside Beszterce (Bistrița); some 6,000 Jews from the city and its surrounding communities were crammed onto the farm. Nearly 2,500 of them came from the city itself, with the rest being brought from the upper and lower districts, as well from the districts of Naszód and Óradna."Ghettoes" at the
Northern Transylvania Holocaust Memorial Museum
The Northern Transylvania Holocaust Memorial Museum is located in Șimleu Silvaniei, Sălaj County, Romania, and was opened September 11, 2005. The museum is operated and maintained by the Jewish Architectural Heritage Foundation of New York and ...
site; accessed October 10, 2013
Ghettoization was ordered by Norbert Kuales, mayor of Beszterce (Bistrița) and his chief of police, Miklós Debreczeni. In other parts of the county, the operation was carried out by László Smolenszki, assistant to the ispán of the county and gendarmerie lieutenant-colonel Ernő Pasztai. Together with
László Endre, the four had taken part in a planning conference at Marosvásárhely ( Târgu Mureș) on April 28. Kuales stole valuable objects from detainees, taking them with him when he resigned as mayor and left for Germany that summer.
The ghetto was inadequate for basic needs, with residents housed in barracks or pigsties. One Heinrich Smolka was tasked with supplying water and food, which for the most part he did very poorly. Among those who persecuted Jews alongside Smolka was Gusztáv Órendi, a Gestapo agent from Beszterce (Bistrița). Local police forces guarded the ghetto with 25 gendarmes from Nagydemeter (
Dumitra
Dumitra (german: Mettersdorf; hu, Nagydemeter) is a commune in Bistrița-Năsăud County, Transylvania, Romania. It is composed of three villages: Cepari, Dumitra and Tărpiu.
Natives
* Gerhard Poschner
References
Communes in Bistrița ...
), sent there by colonel Paksy-Kiss. Kálmán Borbély became ispán of the county on May 10. In two transports, on June 2 (3,106) and June 6 (2,875), 5,981 Jews of Beszterce (Bistrița) were deported to the
Auschwitz concentration camp
Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...