Yugoslavia (which included present day Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia,
Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia) was invaded by the Axis powers (Germany,
Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, and Romania) during World War II. Macedonia was chiefly
annexed by the Kingdom of Bulgaria (with the Vardar part of Macedonia annexed by
Bulgaria and the western part of Macedonia occupied by Italy). The occupation lasted
from 1941-1944. After the war, Macedonia became one of the constituent republics of
socialist Yugoslavia.
While the Kingdom of Bulgaria did not deport Jews from the main Bulgarian territory or
from the older parts of the Kingdom, it did deport Jews living in Bulgaria-annexed
regions, including the Vardar part of Macedonia. The occupying Axis powers also
targeted Macedonians and Serbian Orthodox and Roma in Macedonia.
Roughly 8,000 Jews lived in Macedonia before World War II. By the end of the war, less
than 10 percent had survived. Approximately 200 Jews, and 54,000 Roma (according to
the 2002 census) live in Macedonia today.
Immediately after the war, in May 1945, Yugoslavia enacted Law No. 36/45 (on
Handling Property Abandoned by its Owner during the Occupation and Property Seized
by the Occupier and his Collaborators). The expansive restitution and compensation law
addressed property confiscated during World War II where the owners had to leave the
country and were deprived of their property against their will, or where property was
transferred under the pressure of the occupier to third persons. The restitution measures
were short-lived. As Yugoslavia fell under Communist rule, widespread nationalization –
which this time occurred irrespective of race, religion or ethnicity – resulted in a second
wave of property confiscations.