Interwar Romania

Regat

• Nation-state before WWI– Moldavia, Wallachia, Dobrogea

• After WWI gained– Bessarabia– Bucovina– Transylvania (Siebenburgen)– Banat– Crisana- Maramures

The Romanian Jewries: Wallachia

• Bucharest– W Type: acculturated, wealthy

• Peasants & bourgeoisie & intelligentsia: antisemitism

The Romanian Jewries: Moldavia

• E type• Cities – proletarian• Yiddish, Hasidism• Strong antisemitism

The Romanian Jewries: Crisana- Maramures

• Before: Hungary• E type• Hasidism x Haskala• Zionism x Bund

The Romanian Jewries: Bukovina

• Before: Austria• E type: poverty, yiddish, orthodox• No strong antisemitism (emancipation 1867)• Czernowitz (Cernauti)

The Romanian Jewries: Bessarabia

• Before: Russia (Odessa)• E type: yiddish,

orthodox• Proletariat + lower

middle class• Kishniev (Chisinau)

The Romanian Jewries: Transylvania & Banat

• Before: Hungary• yiddish, orthodox x neolog• Urban middle class:

„Hungarians of Mosaic faith“ strong antisemitism

• N Transylvania (Maramures) more of E type (towns, yiddish, hasidism)– Satmar (Satu- Mare)– Sighet

Demography, Economics, Identity: Romania

• 1930: 757 000 Jews by religion: – 4,2% of population

Demography, Economics: Wallachia

• Bucharest– Jews 12% of population– High bourgeoisie- BANKERS

Demography, Economics: Moldavia

• Iasi– 1/3 Jewish

• Small towns• Industry + commerce,

professions, crafts

Demography, Economics: Crisana- Maramures

• Poverty, Hasidim• commerce, professions, crafts

Demography, Economics: Bukovina

• Czernowitz (Cernauti)– 40% Jewish

• Little towns, villages• Great poverty• commerce, professions, crafts

Demography, Economics: Bessarabia

• Kishniev (Chisinau)– 36% Jewish

• Little towns, villages• Great poverty• commerce, professions,

crafts

Demography, Economics: N Transylvania (Maramures)

• E pattern• Szatmar (Satu- Mare) 23%• Sighet 40%• towns, villages

Demography, Economics: S Transylvania + Banat

• W pattern• Cluj 14%• Timisoara 10%• towns, villages• Jews= commercial

and industrial middle class

Identity

• FEW: „Romanians of Mosaic faith“– Antisemitic tradition– Berlin Treaty – no citizenship for Jews

assimilation impossible• Autonomous Jewish culture only in Bessarabia

and Bukovina

The Jewish Question

• Emancipation 1923– Regat– Problem: newly gained territories

• Jews stateless

• Liberal Party, National Peasant Party – opposed to radical antisemitism

• League of National Christian Defense – radically antisemitic– Prof. Alexandru CUZA – Uni of Iasi

League of National Christian Defense

• 1928 manifesto of the National- Christian Defense League:

• "Romanian brethren! The Land of the Romanians faces a great peril. The kikes, with assistance from Judaized Romanians and the political parties, as tools of the kikes, are gambling with the future of the Country and Folk."

Jewish PoliticsRegat:

Wallachia, Moldavia

• UER (Union of Romanian Jews)– Bucharest bourgeoisieRomanizationFor legal equality & full

emancipationFILDERMAN Not Zionist: Political not

national emancipationAlliances with Romanian partiesBelieved in doykait

New Territories: Transylvania, Bukovina, Bessarabia

• Bund: Bessarabia& Bukovina

• Agudat Israel: Bessarabia (Tsirelson), Transylvania

X• Zionism: Bessarabia

(Kishniev) & Bukovina

ZionismRegat:

Wallachia, MoldaviaNew Territories:

Transylvania, Bukovina, Bessarabia

• Transylvania: more assimilated to Hungary– N – Hasidic communities –

backwards– Romanian antisemitism

Zionism• 1928: Jewish National Club

in Parliament – (supported by Tsirelson)

• Moldavia– Galician type Jewry– Zionism

• Zionism focused on building Palestine no conflicts with UER: Jews in Romania

Jewish PoliticsRegat:

Wallachia, MoldaviaNew Territories:

Transylvania, Bukovina, Bessarabia

1930´s :

antagonism among UER & Jewish Party diminished (x fascism)

1936 CENTRAL COUNCIL OF ROMANIAN JEWS, led by FILDERMAN

Education

• Bessarabia, Bukovina– important centers of secular culture– Tarbut and Yiddish schools in Bessarabia

Radical Antisemitism: Overview

Moderate R• King Carol• 1938-40 ROYAL

DICTATORSHIP• 1940 loss of territories

(USSR, Hungary, Bulgaria) – abdicated

Radical R• IRON GUARD

– Corneliu CODREANU• 1937 short lived

government under poet Octovian GOGA

• 1940 FASCIST REGIME: IRON GUARD + Marshal ION ANTONESCU

• 1941 ANTONESCU seized complete control and destroyed Iron Guard

Radical Antisemitism: Details

• 1934 NATIONAL WORK LAW– 80% of employees must be Romanians

• King supported Jewish emigration to Palestine – supported also by Codreanu (radical R)

• Goga- Cuza regime:– Jewish rights must be revoked– Jewish newcomers (after 1919) must be expulsed– Jewish newspaper shut down– Expulsion from professional organizations

Radical Antisemitism: Details

• 1938– March – King´s coup – new government leader an

ORTHODOX PATRIARCH– Late 1938 – brutal campaign x the Iron guard,

Codreanu murdered– King abolished constitution DICTATORSHIP

• 1939 – 270 000 Jews deprived of their citizenship

Radical Antisemitism: Details• 1940

– Summer: loss of Bessarabia and N Bukovina– Racial laws (certain exemption for pre-war citizens) Jews:

• Can not own land• Can not publish newspapers• Can not be in the army• Can not make part of public life• Can not deal in goods• Can not marry gentiles• Can not convert• Jewish institutions closed and parties outlawed• Numerus clausus at high schools

Romania : center for illegal immigration to Palestine

Radical Antisemitism: Details

• 1940– Sep – King abdicated– Iron Guard government + Marshal

ANTONESCU = BEGGINING OF HOLOCAUST in Romania

• 1941– Jan – BLOODY POGROM IN BUCHAREST– ANTONESCU SEIZED THE POWER

• „good Jews“ – Regat, S Transylvania• Bessarabia, Bucovina – Jews murdered

during the reconquest from the USSR

1944• King MIHAI– COUP X ANTONESCU– ROMANIA JOINED

ALLIES– 57% of Romanian Jews

still alive – more than anywhere else in ECE