Rab battalion: Difference between revisions
Peacemaker67 (talk | contribs) |
update JTA link |
||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
The '''Rab Battalion''' was a unit of the [[Yugoslav partisans]] during the [[Second World War]]. It was formed by and from [[Jewish]] survivors of [[Rab concentration camp]] upon their liberation in September 1943. |
The '''Rab Battalion''' was a unit of the [[Yugoslav partisans]] during the [[Second World War]]. It was formed by and from [[Jewish]] survivors of [[Rab concentration camp]] upon their liberation in September 1943. |
||
Rab concentration camp was one of the Italian [[Internment|concentration and internment camps]] during [[World War II]].<ref>[http://www.giorgiobassani.it/list%20of%20concentration%20camps.htm Elenco Dei Campi Di Concentramento Italiani<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> It opened in July 1942 near the village of Kampor, on the [[Adriatic Sea|Adriatic]] island of [[Rab]] ({{lang-it|Arbe}}). The camp was liberated after the [[Armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces|armistice with Italy]] in September 1943,<ref>http://igs.cla.umn.edu/research/borderlands/Korb.pdf</ref> whereupon about 245 Jewish survivors formed the Partisans' Rab battalion intending to fight [[Nazi]] German forces occupying [[Yugoslavia]].<ref name="JTA20031029">[http://www.jta.org/ |
Rab concentration camp was one of the Italian [[Internment|concentration and internment camps]] during [[World War II]].<ref>[http://www.giorgiobassani.it/list%20of%20concentration%20camps.htm Elenco Dei Campi Di Concentramento Italiani<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> It opened in July 1942 near the village of Kampor, on the [[Adriatic Sea|Adriatic]] island of [[Rab]] ({{lang-it|Arbe}}). The camp was liberated after the [[Armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces|armistice with Italy]] in September 1943,<ref>http://igs.cla.umn.edu/research/borderlands/Korb.pdf</ref> whereupon about 245 Jewish survivors formed the Partisans' Rab battalion intending to fight [[Nazi]] German forces occupying [[Yugoslavia]].<ref name="JTA20031029">[http://www.jta.org/2003/10/30/archive/around-the-jewish-world-at-croatia-reunion-survivors-mark-passage-from-prisoners-to-fighters At Croatia reunion, survivors mark passage from prisoners to fighters], [[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]]</ref> |
||
With the help of local partisans, who sent a ship to the island, the battalion was transferred to the Croatian mainland on September 17, 1943. The battalion originally comprised some 245 Jews aged 15-30 with little or no military training, and one medical unit with 35 women who offered to serve as nurses. With those who joined later, there were 691 members of the Jewish battalion. In addition to the fighters, about 3,000 Jews from the Rab camp — almost all of them women, elderly and children — were shipped from the island to the mainland by the Partisans and dispersed into territories held by them. The recorded total of 204 Jews who remained behind in the Rab camp, most of them very old or sick, were transported to [[Auschwitz]] when the Germans came to the island. None survived.<ref name="JTA20031029"/> |
With the help of local partisans, who sent a ship to the island, the battalion was transferred to the Croatian mainland on September 17, 1943. The battalion originally comprised some 245 Jews aged 15-30 with little or no military training, and one medical unit with 35 women who offered to serve as nurses. With those who joined later, there were 691 members of the Jewish battalion. In addition to the fighters, about 3,000 Jews from the Rab camp — almost all of them women, elderly and children — were shipped from the island to the mainland by the Partisans and dispersed into territories held by them. The recorded total of 204 Jews who remained behind in the Rab camp, most of them very old or sick, were transported to [[Auschwitz]] when the Germans came to the island. None survived.<ref name="JTA20031029"/> |
Revision as of 19:58, 22 August 2014
The Rab Battalion was a unit of the Yugoslav partisans during the Second World War. It was formed by and from Jewish survivors of Rab concentration camp upon their liberation in September 1943.
Rab concentration camp was one of the Italian concentration and internment camps during World War II.[1] It opened in July 1942 near the village of Kampor, on the Adriatic island of Rab (Italian: Arbe). The camp was liberated after the armistice with Italy in September 1943,[2] whereupon about 245 Jewish survivors formed the Partisans' Rab battalion intending to fight Nazi German forces occupying Yugoslavia.[3]
With the help of local partisans, who sent a ship to the island, the battalion was transferred to the Croatian mainland on September 17, 1943. The battalion originally comprised some 245 Jews aged 15-30 with little or no military training, and one medical unit with 35 women who offered to serve as nurses. With those who joined later, there were 691 members of the Jewish battalion. In addition to the fighters, about 3,000 Jews from the Rab camp — almost all of them women, elderly and children — were shipped from the island to the mainland by the Partisans and dispersed into territories held by them. The recorded total of 204 Jews who remained behind in the Rab camp, most of them very old or sick, were transported to Auschwitz when the Germans came to the island. None survived.[3]
After walking north for 16 days over mountains and through forest, the Jewish fighters joined the 7th Partisan Division.[3] In addition to the battalion, 648 former inmates of the concentration camp joined the Partisan movement, meaning that from the Rab camp 1,339 former inmates joined the People's Liberation War.[4] The battalion took part in heavy fighting against Germany's and the Independent State of Croatia's forces in the Croatian regions of Banovina, Kordun and Lika, and due to severe losses suffered the battalion had to be disbanded and its members absorbed by other Partisan units.