871.00/595

The Minister in Rumania ( Gunther ) to the Secretary of State

[Extract]
No. 144

Sir: Referring to my despatch No. 130 of January 11th last7 and my several telegrams regarding developments under the new Goga regime …

As already reported, the New Government’s slogan is anti-Semiticism. Among the many measures taken against the Jews of this country since the time of my last despatch on this subject may be mentioned: The closing of Jewish libraries in Bessarabia on the charge that they are centers of communist propaganda; the dismissal of 140 [Page 678] Jewish doctors; the elimination from the Jassy Bar of 160 Jewish lawyers; the prohibition against Rabbis teaching the Jewish religion in State schools; local orders against “kosher slaughter”; a decision by the Minister of Labor, Health and Social Welfare prohibiting the employment by Jews of Christian servants under forty years of age on the ground that servant girls were often sold into white slavery (this order created so much unfavorable criticism that its execution has been suspended “until spring, when the peasant girls go back to the fields”); the expulsion of Jewish lawyers from the Bucharest Bar; the closing of certain Jewish theatres and outlawing of certain Jewish theatrical troops; the publishing of a Royal Decree outlining the procedure to be followed in revising the citizenship titles; an order to prohibit the approval of requests for foreign curcency by Jews; and many other steps of a similar nature. There have also been reports, not all confirmed, of frequent cases of “rough-housing”, illegal assessments, beatings, and other individual instances of maltreatment.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Respectfully yours,

Franklin Mott Gunther
  1. Not printed.