In another source, Leidensweg der
Deutschen im Kommunistischen
Jugoslawien the following
information is provided on the
sufferings of the inhabitants of
Bulkes.
There were no battles around
Bulkes. On October 25th
1944 the first Russian troops and
Partisans arrived. The Russians
came in small groups. They
requisitioned horses, attacked women
and looted at will. A group of
twenty Partisans took up quarters in
one of the houses. Break-ins,
looting, rape and torture became an
every day occurrence. Many of the
looters came from Petrowatz. Then
the atrocities began. There were
1,792 Swabians in Bulkes at this
time. Two persons were shot: one
man and a woman.
On November 16, 1944 there were 140
men and three women between the ages
of 16 to 60 years of age who were
interned. The three women and seven
men were taken to Palanka on the
night of November 17/18 and shot.
The leadership of the local Swabians
was ordered liquidated beginning
with the doctor, druggist and
teacher. On November 18th
133 men were taken from Palanka to
Neusatz and five of them were shot
for not being able to keep up. One
of the men was taken away by the
Russians and never seen again.
Twenty-five of the men taken to
Neusatz were deported to the Soviet
Union at Christmas. The others were
sent to labour camps at Mitrovica,
Rudolfsgnad, Semlin and Jarek. A
large number remained at Neusatz.
On December 4, 1944 an additional 75
men aged 60 to 70 years and
youngsters who were 14 and 15 years
old were interned in Palanka. Some
were later sent home because they
had become sick while three of them
died there in the camp. The others
were sent to Jarek when they became
ill. Most of them remained in
Palanka.
On December 8th, 1944
there were 33 women aged 18 to 40
who were interned in the labour camp
in Palanka. On January 1, 1945
eighteen of their number were
deported to the Soviet Union while
the others remained in Palanka. On
December 27th,
seventy-seven women from Bulkes 18
to 30 years of age were deported to
Russia. On December 31st
another one hundred and twenty women
from 30 to 40 years of age were also
shipped off to the Soviet Union to
forced labour. Five men who had
made their way home from the war
were sent with them. In total,
thirty men and two hundred and
fifteen women from Bulkes were sent
to the labour camps in Russia.
On April 15, 1945 the remaining
1,280 persons still remaining in
Bulkes were interned. Three hundred
and five women, forty young boys and
old men were placed in a labour camp
set up in Bulkes. The oldest among
them, involving about eighty persons
were sent to Bukin three weeks later
and a year later they were shipped
to Palanka. Two hundred and ten of
the others arrived in Palanka in
June 1945 and set to work there.
About fifty-five women remained in
Bulkes until August 1945 and were
then assigned to Neusatz and its
vicinity.
The vast majority of the population
of Bulkes, 935 persons in all,
mostly aged men and women along with
365 children as young as a few days
to fourteen years of age were herded
to the extermination camp at Jarek
on April 15, 1945. During 1945 many
other Bulkes Swabians were also sent
there. The total number of
internees from Bulkes in Jarek was
about one thousand.
From April 15, 1945 to April 15,
1946 there were 655 inhabitants from
Bulkes among those who died in Jarek
during that period, including 172
children under fourteen years of
age. The numbers would have been
much higher except for the bravery
of the older children who sneaked
out of the camp to beg for food for
those in the camp. To leave the
camp was punishable by death. Peter
Kendl, twelve years old was shot
September 14, 1945; Philip Bauer
aged eleven years was beaten to
death by Partisans on October 18,
1945; Elisabeth Jung a thirty year
old mother was shot on April 11,
1946 and her two young children
perished in the camp. This was the
fate of those apprehended by the
Partisans. Others who were caught
were beaten, imprisoned, starved and
tortured.
In the end there were about three
hundred survivors from Bulkes who
were sent to Gakowa and Kruschiwl
which resulted in more deaths while
others were able to escape from
there and made their way across
Hungary into Austria.
The death toll as a result of the
Second World War and its tragic
aftermath in the village of Bulkes
is as follows:
775 persons died in internment
camps in Yugoslavia
9 men died in labour camps
in Russia
56 women died in labour camps
in Russia
112 men were killed in action or
are missing
15 men died as prisoners of
war in Russia
6 persons died during the
evacuation
4 persons were shot by the
Partisans at Jarek
7 men were shot by the
Partisans at Palanka
3 women were shot by the
Partisans at Palanka
5 men shot by the Partisans
on the march to Neusatz
992 persons out of a total
population of 2,716 died a violent
and cruel death.
