The story of two buildings – the railway station and the “Chestura”

On June 27, 1941, Col Constantin Lupu, commander of the garrison at Iaşi, received a phone call from the dictator Ion Antonescu, who ordered him to "cleanse Iaşi of its Jewish population".

The manhunt took place on the night of June 28/29.  The Jewswere forced at gunpoint out of their homes and driven to the police station, the “Chestura”, as it was called in those days.

Chestura© V.Alecsandri High School and the Holocaust Centre 2008

Those who participatedin the round-up were mainly the Iasi police, helped by gendarmerie forces, young people armed by SSI (the Special Intelligence Service agents and mobs who usually robbed and killed.

Many Jewish people were killed before they got to the Chestura.  The authorities forced the Jews to the railway station and shot them if they did not move quickly.  At the railway station, the people were crammed into the train, over 120 people per wagon.  The metal wagons had no windows and were sealed on departure.  It was also a very hot day, so one could imagine the kind of hell it was.

Railway Station at Iaşi © V.Alecsandri High School and the Holocaust Centre 2008

Many Jews died of starvation, thirst and suffocation.  The train took all day to travel 15 km, the distance between Iaşi and Podu Iloaiei.  Squashed against each other on a very hot summer day, lacking water and air and suffocating from the heat, most of the people died.  Upon departure, the death train to Podu Iloaieiwas transporting 2,700 Jews; only 700 Jews arrived alive.

A survey

In May 2008, a group of students from V Alecsandri High School went out to ask people in the street about their knowledge about the Holocaust.   Here are the questions and findings.  You can link up with the students to discuss their conclusions and findings based on the results below.

Report:

We interviewed a total of 60 students, employees and retired people, June, 2008, Iaşi.  The breakdown of the interviewees was:

a) Students-20%

b) Employees-55%

c) Retired people-25%

These were the questions asked:

Question 1: What happened in Iasi in June 1941?

The breakdown of people who knew about the Holocaust in Iasi in June 1941 was:

a.10% (students)

b.35% (employees)

c. 55% (retirees)

Question 2: The Holocaust was:

A. sacrifice for the gods

B. a violent way of killing a large number of people

C. the internment of Jewish people in Nazi camps

Replies:

A. 0%

B. 80%

C. 20%

Question 3: Who were the victims of the Holocaust in Iasi?

Replies:

I don’t know                                         40%

The Jews                                             35%

Roma Sinti people                            2.5%

Rich people                                        2.5%

Jews and Roma Sinti people           20%

Question 4: Do you think that in the future similar events could be repeated?

Replies:

A.        10%            Yes

B.         70%            No

C.         20%            I don’t know

Question 5: How do you think we could avoid such tragedies in the future?   

Replies:

Communication                                    20% (b+c) (employees and retired people)

Information about historical facts      10% (b) (employees)

Government and politics                  20% (a+b)(students and employees)

Non-racist attitude                        10% (retired people- education)

I don’t know                                         42.5%

Impossible                                           2.5%   

Holocaust in Iaşi, Romania

Who were the victims: Jews and Roma people

Who were the perpetrators: the Iaşi police, the Bessarabia police and gendarmerie units, soldiers, young people armed by SSI agents, and mobs who usually take advantage of  such chaotic moments to rob and kill.

What happened:  The Iaşi pogrom lasted from June 29 to July 6, 1941 and led to the mass murder of more than 13, 000 people. Ion Antonescu, Romania’s military dictator at that time, ordered that the city Iasi had to be “cleansed” of its Jewish inhabitants. To justify their actions they spread rumours in the local newspapers that Jews were signaling Soviet planes where to land in Romania by flashing torches during the night.

The Iaşi pogrom started with the manhunt on the night of 28/29 of June. The Jews were taken from their houses and forced to the police headquarters, the Chestura, and after that crammed into trains. Those who did not obey the soldiers’ orders or moved very slowly were killed. About 2,000 people were killed in the pogrom itself in Iasi. Out of the 12,000 people were transported in the death trains to Calarasi, in the south of Romania, and Podu Iloaiei, near Iasi, only 1,011  and  700 respectively, disembarked alive. People died suffocated, of heat, lack of air and water in the sealed wagons which did not have windows. There were 120 people per wagon in trains running slowly on torrid days.

Mr Finkelstein, one of the survivors of the Iasi Holocaust, called those trains “gas chambers without fire and smoke”. Historians suggest that without the death trains the Final Solution would not have been possible. 26,000 Roma people from all over Romania were also deported to Nazi death camps.

Text submitted by students of V Alecsandri High School, Iaşi, October 2008.