871.4016/254
The Minister in Rumania (Gunther) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 30, 1941.]
Subject: The Situation of Jews in Rumania.
Sir: Referring to the Legation’s despatch No. 1607, of October 7, 1940, and previous despatches on the above subject, I now have the honor to note some of the more recent developments affecting the situation of the Jewish population in Rumania.
The Department is well aware of the perennial character of the Jewish problem in this country, particularly as it has presented itself since the conclusion of the World War. In 1922 a student movement was founded having anti-Semitism as its basic tenet. A few years later, Codreanu and his Iron Guard took up the cry. Throughout the twenties and late into the thirties Mr. A. C. Cuza, a veteran politician and nationalist, has led a constant and bitter campaign against the Jews. A particularly critical period came with the ill-starred and short-lived Goga Government of early 1938, when official anti-Semitism became rampant for the first time. Then followed the uncertain period of King Carol IPs dictatorial regime, which retained Goga’s plan for citizenship revision and otherwise indicated its clear intention to deal seriously with the Jewish problem. Those who could not establish their title to Rumanian citizenship under drastic and severely applied regulations became “foreigners”, or unwanted residents of the country without nationality, and it was hoped that their emigration would eventually become possible through some as yet nebulous international arrangement. Throughout all this the Jews were watchful and fearful; there was even a mild exodus and some flight of capital. But, in general, they were relatively untouched; they were humiliated and jostled, but they kept their homes and jobs, they continued to sell their wares and practice their professions, hoping that this storm would pass as had so many others.
But, as earlier despatches have already suggested, the lot of the Jews in Rumania has definitely worsened since the inauguration of [Page 777] the present regime three months ago. In the first place, the green-shirted Iron Guard is in power, and the Iron Guard is notoriously and avowedly an essentially anti-Semitic organization. In the second place, Rumania not only has come under the direct “influence” of Nazi Germany but is now actually a member of the Axis and an adherent to the Tripartite Pact.10 And, thirdly, the country requires scape-goats for all the evils and misfortunes of the day, and finds that the Jews, along with former King Carol and the old politicians, serve admirably in this unhappy rôle. These considerations, plus an underlying sentiment of genuine anti-Semitism generally, provide sufficient reason and background for Jewish fears and sufferings in Rumania today.
Dr. W. Fildermann, President of the Jewish Community in Rumania, has made a special point of keeping the Legation informed of the changing situation of the Jews in Rumania, particularly through the Bucharest correspondent of the Jewish Telegraph Agency, a Mr. Adolph Grindea, who is among those who recently succeeded in effecting a clandestine departure for Palestine. These sources have supplied the Legation with a sheaf of copies of written representations to the Rumanian Government, dealing sometimes with individual cases and at other times with general decrees and measures, as well as providing information of the temper and fears of the Jewish population and retailing innumerable stories of persecution and violence. Translations of two typical representations to the authorities form enclosures hereto.11 Among the verbal but uncorroborated accounts received, the following may be mentioned as representative cases:
- 1.
- Following minor disorders at a market on the outskirts of Bucharest, attempts were made to implicate the Jews as communists, and two young Jewish boys were shot by the Legionaries.
- 2.
- At one village the Jewish families were sent into the forest to cut down trees and when they returned found that their household belongings had been confiscated.
- 3.
- At Tecuci, estimated to have possibly one hundred and fifty Jewish families, the Jewish colony was notified one day that it should produce one million lei by seven o’clock in the evening, which it finally succeeded in doing in spite of extreme poverty.
- 4.
- Jewish stores all over the country are being placarded as such and Legionaries are either forbidding entry or at least warning persons who come to such stores. In other cases entrance is encouraged but a Legionary collects the cash at the end of the day.
- 5.
- A Jewish merchant on Strada Lipscani was forced under duress to sign a statement transferring the rights of his store to the Legionaries.
- 6.
- Three men were taken from their offices, charged with being Communists, stripped to the waist, beaten and then released with a warning.
- 7.
- Jews leaving Constanza at the time of the last sailing of the Basardbia had all of their personal effects confiscated, including even the shoes they were wearing, being left with only the other clothes they happened to have on.
- 8.
- A group of some fifty or sixty young Jewish girls who were gathered together at some sort of meeting were made the object of various forms of violence, including the shaving of their heads.
Most of the foregoing alleged happenings, which could be multiplied indefinitely from hearsay, took place early in November, and leading Jewish quarters became increasingly alarmed at that time. In the hope that I might exert some leavening influence in the proper quarters, Dr. Fildermann made known to me his fears that a pogrom of serious proportions was being planned to take place while Premier Antonescu was away on his official visit to Italy. As Mr. Mihai Antonescu, Minister of Justice and a cousin of the Premier, laughingly reminded me some days later, these extreme fears were not realized and the Premier’s absence was not marked by any notable anti-Semitic activities. Nevertheless, the day-by-day persecutions, restrictions, humiliations, hardships and instances of violence have been sufficient to strike terror in the Jewish heart.
In recent weeks the Jewish plaint has not been one of lost positions, special taxes or discriminatory restrictions—that is an old story. Rather it has been one of deaths, torture, beatings, abductions, confiscation, robbery and violence in all forms. It is not an exaggeration to say that here today one sees the Jews with tears, hollow eyes and wringing hands. Many of them never go out; they keep to their homes for fear of meeting violence in the street. A few, who have reasons to fear they may be sought out, creep from friend to friend or house to house afraid to go to their own homes to sleep. Those of means endeavor frantically to dispose of their property, secure funds abroad and find a way to leave the country. Officers of this Legation are daily besieged, in the street, in public places, at social functions and even in their homes, by seekers of American visas or their friends. They all feel that Rumania’s identification with the Axis and the advent of the Green Shirts spell an end to that tolerance for the Jews which has to some degree heretofore existed in this country.
The wiser heads amongst the Rumanians, official and otherwise, look askance at these young, undisciplined, irresponsible Green Shirted boys who, drunk with their new power, their uniforms, their songs and their untried revolvers, rush headlong for a quick revenge against the Jews, the “enemies of the country”. General Antonescu is making every effort to hold them in leash. Even the Germans here, military [Page 779] and official, consider that the anti-Jewish movement is going at an unreasoning speed, and that the Legionaries are trying to accomplish in a few short months what Germany required several years to achieve. And observers have noted that as Nazi interests acquire business establishments and other enterprises in Rumania they take care to retain the experienced Jewish administrators and managers to ensure continued efficiency of operations.
It may be pertinent to the foregoing to note here a few of the official measures taken with regard to Jews in Rumania during the past few weeks.
- 1.
- It has been decreed that all enterprises and companies are obliged to eliminate all Jewish employees by December 31, 1941.
- 2.
- Following the announcement that all rural property owned by Jews was liable to confiscation by the State, it was decreed that Jewish owners of land properties (forests, forestry enterprises, mills and the like) are compelled to continue the exploitation of such properties until they are taken over by the State.
- 3.
- Jewish doctors are not allowed to have other than Jewish clients, nor are they allowed to practice outside of their prescribed district.
- 4.
- Jews are not permitted to benefit from the arrangements made for exchanges of students with other countries.
- 5.
- Jews engaged in the moving picture business or connected with moving picture theaters, as well as those engaged in tourist trade, must withdraw from such enterprises or employment.
- 6.
- Jews have been excluded from military service; but they must pay special military taxes and are to be employed in public works instead. Qualified specialists (doctors, chemists, engineers, architects and the like) will be utilized according to their specialty.
- 7.
- Rumanian civil servants are forbidden to marry persons who are not of Rumanian ethnical origin.
- 8.
- All boats and vessels which belong, or which belonged on September 6, 1940, to Jews or Jewish-owned companies are confiscated by the State. (A few days after this decree was issued it was announced that eight tug-boats confiscated from Jews had been turned over to the German Company for Danubian Navigation).
Some uncertainty always exists as to the precise number of Jews in Rumania. The official census of 1930 indicated that in Greater Rumania there were 728,115. In 1938, official estimates placed the number at roughly one and a half million; Jews gave a considerably smaller figure and anti-Semites a much larger. A few weeks ago, Dr. Fildermann said that he had established with the Rumanian Government that the number of Jews in present-day Rumania, following the losses of Bessarabia, Northern Bucovina, Southern Dobruja and a large part of Transylvania, was approximately 340,000, or roughly 2½% of the total population. Officially supplied figures now appearing in the press show a Jewish population of only 283,094. For general purposes, however, it may be assumed that there are now approximately 300,000 Jews in Rumania.
Respectfully yours,
- German-Italian-Japanese Tripartite Pact, signed at Berlin, September 27, 1940; adhered to by Rumania November 23, 1940; for text, see Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. ii, p. 165.↩
- Not printed.↩