by Anna Suchenek, AEGEE-Warszawa
A little bit of history...
The first sign of Jews in Rumania are the tombstones dating from
early times (around 100 C.E.).
The Jews may probably have come as merchants or in other capacities
with the Roman legions which garrisoned the country from 101 C.E.
The second wave of immigrants spread through Walachia (this is
a Rumanian principality founded around 1290) after they had been
expelled from Hungary in 1367. There were also some refugees from
Spain. Since Walachia was on the trade routes between Poland and
Lithuania and the Ottoman Empire many Jewish merchants traveled
through Moldavia, the second Rumanian principality in the northeast
founded in the 14th century. Some settled there and were favorably
received by the rulers of this principality. At the beginning
of the 16th century there were Jewish communities in several Moldavian
towns such as Suceava or Jassy. More intensive waves of Jewish
emigration resulted from the Chmielnicki massacres 1648-49.
From the 18th century the Moldavian rules granted special charters
to attract Jews.
Among the privileges offered was the right to be represented on
the local council. The Jews were also encouraged by the landowners
to found commercial centers.
After the annexation of Bukovina in 1775 and Bessarabia in 1812
the Jews from those countries preferred to move to Rumanian Moldavia
where they were not harassed by the authorities. From an early
date one of the main components of anti-Jewish hatred in Rumania
was commercial competition. In the 16th century the sovereign
of Moldavia ordered the banishment of the Jews on the grounds
that they were ruining the merchants. In the Danube harbors it
was the Greek and Bulgarian merchants who incited riots against
the Jews. Greek Orthodox Christianity shaped the first codes of
lows which proclaimed Jews as heretics and forbade all relations
with them.
But the real trouble for Jews began in 1821 with the first strings
of Rumanian independence and unity. From 1835 to 1856 Walachia
and Moldavia were protectorates of Russia, through whose influence
anti-Semitism increased. Jews were forbidden to settle in the
villages and to establish factories in towns. Also the citizenship
was denied to Jews.
The peace treaty which concluded the Crimean War in 1856 proclaimed
that in the two Danubian principalities all the inhabitants should
enjoy religious and civil liberties and occupy political posts.
Only those who had foreign citizenship were excluded from political
rights. Despite of the fact that the leaders of Moldavian and
Walachia Jews fought for the abolition of the discrimination against
them ,only native Jews were granted suffrage in the local councils.
Jews who were foreign subjects still could not acquire landed
property. Political rights were granted to non-Christians but
only parliament could vote on the naturalization-but not a single
Jew was naturalized. At the end of 19th century hundreds families,
harassed by humiliating regulations were forced to leave the villages.
The Rumanian government reiterated that the Jewish problem was
an internal one so the interventions of Great Britain and France
had no effect.
Although at the Congress of Berlin in 1878 which finalized Rumanian
independence there was made the grand for civil rights to the
Jews, after the Congress other anti-Semitic measures were introduced.
Their aim was to create the anti-Semitic atmosphere before the
debate on the modification of the article concerning Jews naturalization.
It was decided that the naturalization of the Jews would be carried
out individually, by vote of both chambers of parliament. The
situation of Jews continued to grow worse ad worse. They were
forbidden to be lawyers, teachers, stock brokers, they were not
accepted as railway officials, as officers.
Both major political parties in Rumania were anti-Semitic. Under
the pressure of increasing persecutions accompanied by an internal
economic crisis in 1900 a mass emigration of Jews began. Up to
World War I about 70.000 Jews left Rumania.
Following World War I Rumania enlarged her territory with the
provinces of Bukovina, Bessarabia and Transylvania. In 1918 the
Rumanian parliament passed an act concerning naturalization but
with many complicated procedures.
Although the Rumanian government continued to assert that the
Jewish problem was an internal one, the great powers at the peace
conference in Paris decided to include guarantees in the peace
treaty. After hard bargaining, not without renewed threats on
the part of the government, the naturalization of the Jews was
introduced in to the constitution 1923, thus also confirming the
naturalization of those from the newly annexed territories who
would otherwise have been threatened with expulsion. Nevertheless
there was a great difference between the lows and the way in which
they were implemented in practice; the civil service, the magistracy,
university chairs, and officers' corps remained closed to Jews.
Growing social and political tensions in Rumania in the 1920s
and '30s led to increase in anti-Semitism. In 1929 a paramilitary
organization called "Iron Guard" was founded, it had
an extreme anti-Semitic program.
After Hitler come to power in Germany in 1933, the large Rumanian
parties also adopted anti-Semitic programs. At the universities
students of the "Iron Guard" prevented their Jewish
colleagues from attending lectures and the academic authorities
introduced entrance examinations which led to a decrease in the
number of Jewish students. In other professional corporations
no Jews were elected to the board; they were prevented by force
from participating in the elections.
Germany financed a series of publications aimed at fastening an
alliance between the two countries and removing Jews from all
branches of the professions and the economy. German penetration
into the Rumanian economy increased as the Nazis moved eastward
with the Anschluss of Austria, the annexation of Czechoslovakia
and the occupation of western Poland at the outbreak of World
War II. A number of Rumanian politicians agreed to serve German
interests in exchange for directorships in German-Rumanian enterprises,
and German always demanded the removal of Jews in the branch involved.
In the summer of 1940 Rumania succumbed to German pressure and
transferred Bessarabia and part of Bukovina to the Soviet Union,
northern Transylvania to Hungary, and southern Dobrudja to Bulgaria.
When the Rumanian army retreated from those areas, its soldiers
murdered many Jews, particularly in northern Bukovina and Moldavia.
Rumania was not invaded by the German army but it become a satellite
of Nazi Germany. The first result of this was the conciliation
of Rumanian citizenship for Jews, a measure taken by the government
, which included members of the "Iron Guard".
In 1940 the government of Antonescu which included ministers from
the ranks of the "Iron Guard" declared a Nationalist-Legionary
State. The "legionary police" was organized on Nazi
lines. The reign of terror reached its height when Jewish industrial
and commercial were handed over to the members of the "Legion"
under the pressure from the "Iron Guard". The "Iron
Guard" attempted to carry out its anti-Semitic program in
full in 1941. "Legion" carried out a pogrom on Bucharest
Jews: their homes were looted, shops burned, many synagogues were
desecrated.
A period of relative calm after Bucharest pogrom permitted Rumania
Jews to gather strength after the shock of the violence.
When war broke out with the Soviet Union, the Rumanian and German
armies were scattered along the banks of the Prut river in order
to penetrate into Bukovina and Bessarabia. The soldier's advance
through Bessarabia, Bukovina and the Dorohoi district was accompanied
by massacres of the local Jewish population.
Then Jews were concentrated in ghettos (in the cities) or in the
special camps (if countryside). German killing squads or Rumanian
gendarmes copying the Germans, habitually entered the ghettos
and camps, removing Jews and murdering them. There were also deportations
to the region called Transnistria.
In 1941 there was a change in governments policy toward Jews.
It would permit Jews deported to Transnistria to emigrate to Palestine.
Only 57% of the Jewish population under Rumanian rule during the
war including the Jews of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina survived
the Holocaust.
We can not forget about the Jewish resistance. The congress of
the Jewish Party in Rumania decided to join the anti-Nazi boycott
movement, disregarding the protest raised by the Rumanian press
and anti-Semitic groups, but the union of the Rumanian Jews (U.E.R.)
did not participate in the campaign.
At least the two movements agreed and representatives of both
Jewish trends established "for the defense of all Jewish
rights and liberties".
When Rumania broke with Nazi Germany and entered the war on the
side of Allies, Rumanian Jewry had been considerably decreased
as a result of the Holocaust and it was about to decrease even
further through emigration.
The decisive factor in the life of Rumanian Jews after World War
II, however, was the political regime in Rumania, which exercised
its authority over the community life of Rumanian Jewry, determined
the structure of its organization, and limited its aspirations.
For a few years after the abolition of the monarchy Rumania closely
followed the line dictated from Moscow. This situation continued
until the end of the 1950s when the first signs of an independent
Rumanian policy began to appear. It also left mark on Jewish community
life. The situation of Rumanian Jewry always had a special character.
Even in the days of complete dependence on Moscow, when the tools
and institutions of national Jewish identity were destroyed and
expressions of Jewish aspirations was repressed, Rumanian Jewry
was not compelled to be as alienated from its national and religious
identity as were the Jews of the Soviet Union.
...and a little bit of culture...
Since most Rumanian Jews were of Polish or Russian extraction,
their religious and cultural traditions were similar to those
of the Jews of Eastern Europe. Hasidism was particularly widespread
in the Moldavian province, in such towns as Stefanesti, Bahusi,
Adjud, Foscani.
In 1857 the first newspaper in Rumanian and French was published
"Israelitul Roman" - whose function was to fight for
equal civil rights for Rumanian Jewry.
After World War I there was published a daily newspaper in Rumanian
which stood for the idea of a Jewish political party and sharply
attracted the tendencies of assimilation circles. The number of
Jewish journalist grew between the two world wars, some of them
became chief editors of the great democratic papers.
In 1886 a society for research into the history of Rumanian Jewry
was established.
Although the society ceased activities after four years, the scholars
continued their work. They have published 19 volumes containing
the history of Rumanian Jewry. A museum, a library and archives
for the history of Rumanian Jewry was founded in Bucharest.
Although the language of Jewish population was Yiddish, the language
of Jewish writers and poets was Rumanian.
The Jewish press after the World War II was fairly large, the
most important one was "Mantuirea".
In Jewish contribution to Rumanian literature, art, and music,
the influence of the memories of the Jewish milieu was felt. Among
the writers who wrote in Yiddish were for example Jacob Groper.
Well known Jewish musician was Alfred Mendelshon.
The only Jewish cultural institution was the Jewish theater in
Bucharest, established in 1948.
One thing which is very interesting is the image of the Jew in
Rumanian literature. In popular tales the Jew was said to be damned
for having rejected the Christian savior, and Rumanian folklore
added anti-Semitism to theological antipathies by describing Jews
as agents of the Devil, covetous of Christian blood, money-grubbing
and cowardly. The roots of Rumanian anti-Semitism were basically
those found elsewhere: religious prejudice, economic competition,
and chauvinistic xenophobia.
