The Jews in Macedonia Through Centuries

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.