Office of the Historian

159. Telegram From the Embassy in Romania to the Department of State and the Embassy in Israel1

4987.
Bucharest, June 20, 1987, 0805Z

SUBJECT

  • GOR Repeats Guarantee To Preserve Jewish Buildings.

REF

  • A) Bucharest 4967 (Notal),2
  • B) State 188469,3
  • C) Bucharest 4900.4
1.
(Confidential—Entire text)
2.
Summary: Deputy Foreign Minister Solomonescu told the Ambassador June 19 that the GOR continued to guarantee the three major Jewish buildings in Bucharest (the Choral Synagogue, Great Synagogue, and Jewish museum) will not be demolished. No decision5 to demolish them had ever been made, she continued, and reports to the contrary “did not correspond with reality.” Embassy Tel Aviv: please inform Rabbi Rosen as soon as possible. End summary.
3.
The Ambassador went to the Foreign Ministry to meet with Mrs. Solomonescu late on June 19 to deliver talking points Ref B. Mrs. Solomonescu opened meeting by stating she had received a report from Ambassador Gavrilescu of his June 18 meeting with Assistant Secretary Ridgway. She understood that the Embassy had reported that Romanian authorities had decided to demolish the Great Synagogue, Choral Synagogue, and Jewish museum.6
4.
Mrs. Solomonescu said that she had the authority to make a statement and asked that the Embassy transmit it to the State Department. She then read a prepared statement, in Romanian. It expressed surprise that the Embassy had reported to Washington that the Great Synagogue, Choral Synagogue, and Jewish museum would be demolished, without first speaking with the Foreign Ministry. The report “did not correspond with reality.” In fact, no such decision had ever been made, the statement continued. Rabbi Rosen had spoken with a “functionary” of the municipality of Bucharest. Solomonescu said quote The Ministry of Foreign Affairs transmits to the Department of State a guarantee that these three buildings would not be demolished unquote.7
5.
Speaking on a personal basis, Mrs. Solomonescu asked that any problems or misunderstandings which might arise, no matter how minor, first be discussed with her in order to avoid the type of difficulty which she said had now occurred. She said she wanted to emphasize her government’s and President Ceausescu’s desire for a continuing and deepening of good bilateral relations. U.S.-Romanian relations received close attention from the GOR, she concluded.
6.
The Ambassador welcomed the GOR’s repeated guarantee on the Jewish buildings and the promptness of their response to U.S. concerns. This renewed commitment should resolve the situation. The Ambassador added that there had been no publicity in the U.S. on this matter; no private person was aware of it.8 Therefore it was particularly useful that the situation had been so quickly clarified. He noted, in order to be precise, that the Embassy had reported that it understood the Rabbi had been informed “by competent authorities” that demolition of the Great Synagogue was envisaged. The Embassy did not report rumors, the Ambassador emphasized.
7.
Both in opening and closing the meeting, Mrs. Solomonescu said she had been very pleased with the “fruitful and stimulating” discussions which she had held with Deputy Secretary Whitehead (who, she acknowledged, was Acting Secretary at the time), Assistant Secretary Ridgway, and DAS Simons during her recent visit. It was a very good visit, she added, and she wished to send her sincere thanks to all those who had been involved.
8.
Comment: Mrs. Solomonescu was pleasant, but firm, throughout the short meeting (15 minutes). Her offer to meet “any time, for anything” indicated a true desire to nip problems in the bud; obviously she and other GOR officials realized the potential severity of the current situation and acted immediately.
9.
This is all the more significant due to the fact that demolition continues one block from the Great Synagogue (Ref A). Embassy’s evaluation is that the Mayor’s office was likely floating a trial balloon,9 perhaps without full authority, in broaching to Rabbi Rosen the possibility of demolishing the synagogue, and perhaps underestimating how strong his feelings were on the matter. After receiving such a strong and immediate reaction from us, the GOR immediately backed off. End comment.
10.
For Tel Aviv: Please inform Rabbi Rosen of these renewed guarantees as quickly as possible. It remains important to avoid publicity on this matter, and we are concerned that the Rabbi may discuss the situation with U.S. Jewish leaders.
Kirk
  1. Source: Reagan Library, Rudolf Perina Files, Subject File, Romania—Substance 1987 (2). Confidential; Immediate; Exdis. An unknown hand wrote at the top of the telegram: “R. (arrived on 24 June only after we asked [illegible] for cable.)”↩
  2. Telegram 4967 from Bucharest, June 19, described the demolition of a Romanian Orthodox church in Bucharest. (Department of State, Central Foreign Policy File, D870485–0878)↩
  3. See footnote 2, Document 158.↩
  4. See Document 157.↩
  5. An unknown hand underlined “decision.”↩
  6. An unknown hand highlighted this sentence with a line in the margin and wrote “?” adjacent to the line.↩
  7. An unknown hand highlighted this sentence with a line in the margin and wrote “fast backtracking” adjacent to the line.↩
  8. An unknown hand underlined this sentence.↩
  9. An unknown hand underlined “trial balloon.”↩