Holocaust Memorial Centre Skopje

Holocaust Memorial Centre of Macedonia - darkometer rating : 6 - A relatively new memorial museum commemorating the deportation and extermination of the Jews of Macedonia in the Holocaust during WWII . Opened in the country's capital Skopje in March 2011, it is one of the most recent institutions of its type. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations More background info: Jewish history in Macedonia goes back to Roman times, but in WWII it was all but obliterated when the country was occupied by Bulgaria in 1941. Bulgaria, then an ally of Nazi Germany , had saved its own Jews from the Holocaust, but it did not have the same qualms about deporting the Jews of Macedonia. In 1943, the entire Jewish communities of the country, including that of Skopje , were rounded up by the Bulgarian authorities, under the supervision of the SS , and subsequently deported to Poland , where virtually all of them were murdered. In total over 7000 Macedonian Jews (the Holocaust Centre's press release put the figure at exactly 7144) were killed, almost exclusively in the gas chambers of the Treblinka death camp . Thus Macedonia came to share the questionable accolade of having become "judenfrei" (cf. Estonia ). Only about 150 Macedonian Jews survived the Holocaust , mainly by going into hiding in good time. Today, only a very small Jewish community has re-formed in Skopje (about 200 members). Still, Macedonia can boast the first full restitution laws of illegally appropriated Jewish property, which gained plenty of praise at the new Holocaust Centre's opening.