Transport from Xanthe, Rodhopi, Thrace, Greece to Treblinka, Extermination Camp, Poland on 07/03/1943

After all the preparations were completed, all the towns with Jewish populations in Thrace and Eastern Macedonia were blockaded by the Bulgarian army on March 4, 1943. In most places the blockade began in the middle of the night in order to secure the success of the operation. In Xanthi, under the authority of local police commander Dzhamdzhiev, groups of three policemen woke up the local Jews house by house with an order to be ready within 30 minutes. The explanation given to the people was that they were to be moved to temporary residences in different places inside Bulgaria. In some cases, though, the families were not allowed even these 30 minutes, so they left with almost no luggage. The houses were locked and sealed and all the families were led to a temporary camp organized by the Commissariat and its delegate Dobri Petev in the tobacco warehouse belonging to the Odoni Company on Salaminas Street. In the warehouse the Jews were searched by policemen and representatives of the local Bulgarian administration and all their money and valuables were immediately confiscated. Twelve more Jews from the nearby small town of Chrysoupoli arrived who were also transported from the train station in Xanthi. All the deportees were interned in the warehouse for almost three full days until March 7 when they were loaded onto a train and sent towards the Bulgarian border. About 400 Jews from Kavala joined the Jews from Xanthi and Chrysoupoli and they all arrived at Sidirocastro where they were transferred onto another train. This would be the first of several transfers the Macedonian and Thracian Jews would experience on their way to Poland....