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The Northern Banat
"Where the lust for murder raged"
Nakovo
Because
so many Danube Swabians from Kikinda had
been liquidated the empty spaces in the
camp were filled by Swabians from the
neighbhoring communities forced there by
the Partisans. One evening in October
1944, sixty-eight Swabian men were
brought in chains from Nakovo. For
three days they were locked up. During
this time they were brutally tortured by
a large group of Partisans. The
Partisans were free to do whatever they
wanted to these defenseless men. They
used their rifle buts on their backs to
injure the men’s kidneys, threw them to
the ground, jumped and stomped on their
stomachs, knocked in their teeth, broke
their ribs and mistreated them in every
way imaginable. This torture lasted for
three days and nights. Then they
dragged them out of town. It was a
Sunday just before sunrise. Close to
the cemetery, but outside of its walls a
large pit was dug. The men from Nakovo
and three men from Kikinda who had been
taken with them, now numbering
seventy-one persons had to strip naked
by the cemetery wall. Later, the
victims’shoes and clothing were traded
by the Partisans. They were tied to one
another with wire, and with thrashings
and blows of their rifles the men were
driven to the edge of the pit. In the
grey dawn these men were butchered with
knives and thrown into their grave. One
man was able to free himself and escape
in the early morning mist, naked as a
jay bird. He was fortunate. They shot
after him but they missed. He fled
across the Romanian border. But the new
city authorities of Kikinda posted
notices that there were now seventy-one
fewer Danube Swabians to deal with in
the Banat.
The
first Danube Swabian liquidated in
Nakovo was Franz Hess who was beaten to
death by Partisans at the beginning of
October 1944. Another man, Josef Kemper
was shot as he drove his wagon home from
work. Johann Kuechel was shot by
Partisans in front of the community
center on May 13th. Nikolaus
Hubert was shot when he was found hiding
in a hay stack. Johann Junker was shot
for no reason at all.
On
December 22, 1944 all of the men from
sixteen to sixty were taken to the camp
in Kikinda and on March 18, 1945 they
took all of the men over sixty years.
These eighty men were taken to do heavy
forestry and lumbering work at Mramorak.
All of them died there including the
former long standing mayor, Johann
Blassmann.
(Following the First World
War the Banat was divided
between Yugoslavia &
Romania, with two thirds
going to Romania & one
third annexed to Yugoslavia)
Österreichische
Historiker-Arbeitsgemeinschaft Für Kärnten und Steiermark
(Austrian Historian Working
Group for Kärnten and Steiermark)
Translated & contributed by
Henry Fischer |
