Igor Dorlovsky, a candidate for the Macedonian parliament, posted a video about the Jewish past in the city of Bitola and pledged: "I will work to establish a memorial park for the Jewish community there"

• Dorlowski. "In its cancellation there are no differences of religion, origin and nationality"

  Photo: 

  From the video

Why did a senior Macedonian party post a video on Facebook, near the local elections, in which he miraculously dismisses the Jewish community story and its Jewish cemetery reconstruction project on the spot?

The parliamentary elections in northern Macedonia, which will be held in two days, may be the answer. But there is not even a single Jewish voice in the Igor Dorlovsky district, a candidate for the center-right party: All over the state located in southeastern Europe, there are less than 100 Jews with suffrage and most of them live in Skopje. In addition, the last Jewish family residing in Cancellation is that of Dr. Haim Abarbanel, director of the local hospital, who immigrated to Israel in 1963.

Perhaps the cause of the video in question is the consciousness of the unique destiny of the Macedonian people with the magnificent Jewish community that has lived there for over 1,000 years, the Jewish cemetery being its only relic.

"I have always loved history, especially of my cosmopolitan hometown of Cancellation, which was home to all its residents - regardless of religion, origin and nationality," Dorlowski explains in the video, released last Thursday. "All they shared was the love for the city of Cancellation and Macedonia. Among them were quite a few Jews, some of whom were recognized as heroes of the nation, fought together with the Macedonian heroes and shared the history of the city and the Macedonian people."

Among other things, Dorlowski mentions Raphael Kimchi, a Jewish fighter for Macedonia, who played a major role in formulating Macedonian national consciousness, and Jewish partisan and freedom fighter Esteria Ovadia Mara, who was declared a national hero when she fell in the partisan battles against the Bulgarian army in 1944.

In the video, Dorlowski added: "There is an initiative driven by the non-Jewish community in Israel to turn the cemetery into a memorial park and a community memorial clock. Unfortunately, the initiative has not found an attentive ear among the authorities. We must preserve the spirit and memory of the Jewish inhabitants who were abolishing it and remember their role in building Macedonian history, '' he said. In practice, Dorlowski finds tourist value and the possibility of strengthening ties with Jewish Macedonian distribution.

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The Bitola cemetery covers an area of ​​approximately 43,000 square meters and is located on a hill at the entrance to the city. It was used to bury the dead from 1497 until the Holocaust's community was destroyed in 1943. In 2015, Israel's ambassador to northern Macedonia, Dan Orin, initiated an initiative in collaboration with Jewish and non-Jewish local parties as well as with partners in Israel.

"Israel attaches great importance to the Balkans and works in cooperation with many parties in order to advance the agenda of raising awareness and the presence of the Jewish story in the Balkans in general and in northern Macedonia in particular," notes Orin. "The Cemetery in Bitola has largely become a bridge to many significant partnerships in recent years. The effort also includes the partnership with many factors in an effort to clean, preserve and document the ancient Jewish cemetery in the Balkans in Bitola, Monstir, and a wide range of activities around the story. The largest in the Balkans, with the Jewish story at its center (attended by senior Macedonian government officials) and the annual parade of life, attended by hundreds of Israelis and many thousands from Macedonia to remember with us the story of a largely small Spanish community that did not survive the Holocaust and was very Zionist .

"In addition, we are trying to connect the stories of the past with contemporary innovation and an expression of this is given in the innovation competition they have launched, 'Beatlon', which has become the largest innovation competition ever in the country." 

Video creator: Shlomi Amsalem

Leading Israeli partner is Dr. Rachel Levy-Drummer, whose grandfather is the late Dr. Haim Abarbanel. European Jewry, which may have a similar appeal to the local audience in the name of a historical fate partnership. This is because of the importance of the video that supports the completion of the project for the non-community, as well as for the history and tourism in Macedonia. "

Dr. Levi-Dromer, who also promotes academic collaborations between Israel and Macedonia, emphasizes: "The vision for the erection of a memorial park has already begun to crumble and sunshine has been prepared by artist Matti Greenberg - the last Jewish child born in Macedonia before the extermination. Meanwhile, some 4,000 headstones were cleaned, with about 1,500 of them having impressive Hebrew texts. Unfortunately, there have recently been administrative delays following the restoration as well as a major delay in granting the license to place the large and impressive sundial. There is a real concern that the project will be stopped and everything that has been done will go down the drain. "

In March 1943, the entire community was gathered by the Bulgarians who ruled Macedonia on behalf of the Germans. Almost all of them were sent and exterminated in Treblinka, from where no Jewish member of the community returned. The few who survived were rescued in various ways, among them young partisans and doctors who were released to treat the climbing epidemic as well as foreign passport holders.