A great humanitarian action began in September of 1940, when the heroic citizens of Sabac, Serbia saved 1300 Jews from Germany, Austria, and Hungary.These Jews were crammed onto barges sailing down the Danube River in order to escape the Nazis via the Black Sea to Palestine. After the barges were turned away from the Bulgarian border, the Jews went up the Sava River to the town of Sabac in Serbia. The Mayor of Sabac, Dr. Miodrag Petrovic, ordered the passengers to disembark. They did so and were immediately housed and cared for by Dr. Petrovic and the citizens of Sabac. A book about this great humanitarian effort and the humanity of Dr. Pertrovic and the citizens of Sabac was written by Mrs. Mara Jovanovic and was re-published by the Jewish Museum in Belgrade (Zbornik, No.4, 1979).

Article: "WIR PACKEN, WIR AUSPACKEN...." (We are packing, We are unpacking). The article was translated into Hebrew by one of the Sabac survivors, Mr. Salom David.

Summary: "WIR PACKEN, WIR AUSPACKEN...."

THE STORY OF JEWISH REFUGEES PROTECTED IN SABAC, YUGOSLAVIA 1940-1941.

A group of 1300 Jewish emigrants reached the city of Sabac, Yugoslavia in September 1940. These Jews were actually emigrants from Austria, Germany, and Czechoslovakia who were trying to reach Palestine by way of the Danube River.

In October of 1939, this transport had been stopped at Kladovo as some difficulties had to be bridged in finding a ship that would take them to Palestine. Moreover, the Bulgarian authorities were unwilling to grant transit visas. The group had to spend the rough winter months in Kladovo on board the ships. When these ships had to leave Kladovo to resume normal commercial operation, the group was sheltered on barges. Sometime in the summer, these barges were towed upstream as far as Sabac. It was there that the desperate Jews would find refuge and kindness. The Mayor of Sabac, Dr. Miodrag Petrovic, who had always loved his many Jewish friends (his best friend was Dr. Alfred Bata-Koen), ordered the disembarking of the emigrants and called for preparations to be made for their housing. In Sabac, the emigrants were housed in private houses, the Hotel Paris, and an old mill and warehouse. The mill owner, Mr. Jakov Vukosavljevic, and the residents of Sabac took on the responsibility of making these locations suitable for the emigrants.

Until the arrival of the Germans and the Nazi occupation of Serbia in April of 1941, the Jews moved freely within Sabac. Some of them, physicians and carpenters for instance, were given a chance to work in their professions. Others made themselves useful by actively participating in the social and cultural life of Sabac. In the "Officer's Club," which had its catering premises in the Hotel Paris, the younger emigrants entertained the citizens of Sabac by performing shows. One of the songs of their show was"Wir Packen, Wir Auspacken¦" But the respite from war and its casualties would not last long.

At the end of June 1941, the Germans established a camp near the River Sava and transported the Jewish emigrants in Sabac, by then numbering 1107, there. On August 2, 1941, the Jewish citizens of Sabac, numbering 63, were also taken to this camp. At this time, all the citizens of Sabac, Jews and Serbs alike, would become affected by the German atrocities to follow. Not only would the Germans kill indiscriminately, they would then forced the Jews to collect the corpses and hang them on street poles in Sabac for all to see.

Next, on September 24, the Germans made 5,000 citizens of Sabac and 1,100 Jews run as far as Klenak, 8 kilometers away. There they were all left without any food for two days and two nights. On September 26, the victims were forced to run another 23 kilometers, as far the township of Jarak. Those who fell during this run were simply killed. On September 30, the group was taken back to Sabac and again put in the concentration camp. On October 12 and 13, all the male Jewish emigrants, as well as all the Sabac Jews and Gypsies, were taken to Zasavica to be executed. As one eyewitness stated, only a few managed to escape. After the executions, only women and children remained in the Sabac camp. On January 26, 1942, one of the coldest winter days, the Germans forced the women and children to walk back to Klenak. They were then transported in cattle-cars via Ruma to the "Sajmiste" camp in Belgrade-Zemun. Those few who survived the treacherous, painful march and transport to the camp received no warmth or comfort there. Instead, they were put to death. By May of 1942, not one of these women or children remained alive.

One of the survivors of the atrocities committed against the emigrants and citizens of Sabac, was Salom David. It was he who translated this story into Hebrew, thus ensuring Jews and others will never forget the efforts made by people such as Dr. Miodrag Petrovic and the citizens of Sabac, Yugoslavia, under extreme hardship and constant fear for their own lives, to save the innocents of World War II.

This letter is dedicated to the memory of my late Grandfather, Dr. Miodrag "Mile" Petrovic (1894-1982). For his selfless help to the Jewish people he respected and loved, he was arrested by the Germans and interned in the Sajmiste concentration camp in Zemun. Somehow, he managed to escape: but, not for long. The Yugoslav Communists later got him and he was again arrested, only to escape them as well. He would not meet the fate that seemed to chase him every step of the way.

Following the end of WWII, Dr. Petrovic made it to Italy, then Belgium, and finally America. He first settled in Chicago then moved to Los Angeles where he remained. Before the War, he had been a lawyer, judge, and diplomat. He served the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as the Consul to Belgium, Switzerland, and Italy. He had many Jewish friends in the country he had left behind, his best friend being Dr. Bata Koen who was killed, as were many other Jews of Sabac. None believed the Nazis would kill them. They saw themselves as Serbs who were born in Sabac and didn't identify as being the Jews the Nazis were killing. The Nazis did not see them this way.

Once in America, Dr. Petrovic worked odd jobs, as he could not practice law not knowing English well enough, though he did speak perfect French and Italian. He mostly worked as an automechanic, his hobby while living in Serbia, and carpenter. He remained in America for the rest of his life. On February 11, 1982, Dr. Miodrag Petrovic passed away in Los Angeles, California and was buried at the Los Angeles Serbian Cemetery. He died as a hero to me and many others.

The Jewish Museum in Belgrade published in their journal the article telling of my Grandfather's heroism. They are also working hard to make a documentary film of the Jews protected and nearly saved in Sabac, Serbia. It is my hope that this film will tell the story of the Jews and the Serbs, friends and allies, in the name of those for whom that friendship and alliance meant everything.

Miodrag 'Mile' Nikolic, Grandson
Email: MileBo72@aol.com

POST SCRIPTUM:

The enclosed publication, "Dear Dr. Wiesenthal... A Letter Asking Why?"; is troubling to my family and should be to all Serbs. It is evidence of how many Jews returned the favor, love, support, and assistance selflessly given to them and their ancestors by the Serbs before, during, and after WWII. The Serbs have been paid back with Jewish silence, and worse, Jewish advocacy and direct contributions to the grievous attacks on the Serbs these last several years. Anyone staying silent and standing idly by after the past 10 years of the undoing of Yugoslavia and condoning or participating in the tacit and direct crimes committed against the Serbian people and nation is as guilty and to beheld accountable for war crimes as those who actually committed the atrocities.

Please, read the enclosed booklet written by Sandy Marquette that addresses the Jewish-Serbian problem and the travesties that have been committed. Allowing such people as those named in this booklet to remain leaders and policymakers is virtually criminal. Toleration of such leadership will always remind the Serbs of the Jewish betrayal.

The story of Dr. Petrovic is not recorded in any Holocaust museum or Jewish article anywhere in the world. "Schindler's List" was filmed and heralded for its portrayal of human decency and humanity in the face of evil, yet the Belgrade Jewish Museum has problems making a documentary about an event where a Serb, a member of the second largest persecuted group in WWII, actually went to a concentration camp for the sake of the Jewish strangers he vowed to aid. Even more disheartening is that no Serb is mentioned in any cemetery or museum where those who helped the Jews in WWII are buried and honored by the Jews as "Righteous Gentiles." No group of people in that part of the world helped the Jews more than the Serbs did. The betrayal by the Jews of the Serbs all these years later is unforgivable.

In addition to the heroism of Dr. Petrovic, many similar events are also covered-up or simply ignored. Croatian-held concentration camps such as Jasenovac are a prime example. "Jasenovac" is known as one of the most horrific concentration camps that ever existed on the face of this earth. Over half a million people were tortured and killed in the most heinousof ways there, yet there is barely mention of it in the Holocaust Museums. To add insult to injury, when Croatian President Franjo Tudjman made a park out of the grounds that Jasenovac stood on, Jews did not rise in protest as a collective group to protect the sanctity of Serbian, Jewish, and Gypsy graves.

The current lawsuits pending against Swiss banks, the Vatican, and the Germans are another example. The Jewish groups in question have refused to cooperate with other groups attempting to sue for retribution. These groups are working to establish an understanding that other group or individual has any claim to sue. The organizations assisting the Jewish claims ignore the genocide of Serbs during WWII. There is no understanding as to why these organizations are doing this. They acknowledge that the Ustasche killed Jews, but never mention the Serbs who were killed in larger number by the same Ustasche. Attempts to clarify the rampant hypocrisy of the groups only result in excuses and circumvention of the truth by these organizations.

There are many Jews making excuses and referring to Milosevic and the "truths" of the situation in the Balkans as manufactured by the propaganda machines of the world as justification for the Jewish vilification and treatment of Serbs. This is just an easy escape of the lack of guilt felt by most Jews for standing by and watching their leaders turn against the Serbs. There are cases of Rabbis and others instigating their followers to fight against the Serbs over the past ten years. They did this instead of reminding the Jews of their history and cultivating an understanding of the evidence of the present so as to help the Serbs and honor the sacrifices the Serbs made on behalf of the Jews of Europe.

We Serbs thank those Jews who raised their voices in support of the Serbs and who worked long and hard to make things right between the two communities. We honor them as they have honored us. However, to those Jews who did not voice opposition to the genocidal crimes being perpetrated against the Serbs and in some cases even directly advocated or participated in them, we say "SHAME." To say anything other than that to the USA, NATO, and other governments and criminals is not even worth the effort. My heart will never stop bleeding on account of what we Serbs received from the liars and killers of the world over the course of these past ten years. I will never forget that while under Hitler, my mother could send food and medicine to my father in the concentration camp, but I could not send aspirin to my own brother in Serbia because of the sanctions imposed against the Serbs.

We Serbs aren't allowed the right to say "Never Again!" even though we lived through genocide 50 years ago and have been living another this last decade of the 20th century. Had history and the real evidence been portrayed, rather than the manufactured, manipulated, and directed reality of propaganda, people would have understood the stupidity and harm done in bombing a region, Kosovo, where the "victims of the Serbs", who are supposedly afraid for their lives are running to Serbia for safety from the bombs being dropped by their benefactors.

I could continue with countless examples and evidence, but I will not for the sake of those who have helped the Serbs in our time of trouble and who raised their voices in protest for what was being done to their Serbian friends and allies. I personally will never stop loving the good people of any race or religion who have not been silent or ignorant these past ten years.

My deepest thanks go to those who helped us and who raised their voices against the criminals of the world. It is they who made the efforts of heroes such as my beloved Grandfather not in vain.

Miodrag Nikolic
December 2000