Oral history interview with Bistrica Mirkulovska

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 2012.354.20 | RG Number: RG-50.676.0020

Overview

Interview Summary: Bistrica Mirkolovska, born in 1930 in Skopje, Yugoslavia (now in Macedonia), discusses her father, who took her out of school at the beginning of the war because he did not want her to study under Bulgarian influence; Jewish school friends whom she believes might have been deported to Treblinka; the German invasion; her father’ s enlistment in the army in Kriva Palanka; seeing Germans transporting captured Yugoslavian soldiers; being treated as lower status because of her father’s opposition to the Bulgarian occupation; Bulgarians labeling houses as Jewish or Macedonian; the closing of Jewish stores and transfer of ownership to Bulgarians; seeing Jews wearing Star of David badges; the escape of some wealthy Jewish families to Albania; the deportation of Jewish families in March 1943, led by Bulgarian soldiers and some civilians; the blockade of the city during deportations; and her cousin Zora, who aided the ill son of her Jewish employer by sneaking the child from the hospital to a Catholic monastery where Zora and he stayed until the end of the war.
Interviewee: Bistrica Mirkulovska
Interviewer: Teon Dzingo
Date: interview: 2012 May 21
Credit Line: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, courtesy of the Jeff and Toby Herr Foundation

Physical Details

Extent: 1 videocassette (MiniDV).

Rights & Restrictions

Conditions on Access: There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
Conditions on Use: No restrictions on use

Keywords & Subjects

Topical Term: World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Yugoslav. Altruism. Hidden children (Holocaust) Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Yugoslavia. Soldiers--Yugoslavia. Star of David badges. World War, 1939-1945--Deportations from Yugoslavia. World War, 1939-1945--Jews--Rescue--Yugoslavia. World War, 1939-1945--Refugees. Women--Personal narratives.
Geographic Name: Bulgaria--Armed Forces--Yugoslavia. Kriva Palanka (Macedonia) North Macedonia. North Macedonia--History--Axis occupation, 1941-1944. Macedonia--History--1912-1945. Skopje (Macedonia) Yugoslavia--History--Axis occupation, 1941-1945.
Personal Name: Mirkulovska, Bistrica, 1930- Gatenio, Saul.
Corporate Name: Treblinka (Concentration camp)

Administrative Notes

Holder of Originals: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Legal Status: Permanent Collection
Provenance: This is a witness interview of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Perpetrators, Collaborators, and Witnesses: The Jeff and Toby Herr Testimony Initiative, a multi-year project to record the testimonies of non-Jewish witnesses to the Holocaust. The interview was directed and supervised by Nathan Beyrak.
Funding Note: The production of this interview was made possible by Jeff and Toby Herr.
The cataloging of this oral history interview has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Special Collection: The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive

Record last modified:: 2023-11-16 09:26:01
This page:: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn50895

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Transcript (Macedonian)

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