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History of the Jews in Romania

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not to be confused withRomaniote Jews orItalian Jews.
Ethnic group
Romanian Jews
יהודים רומנים
Evrei români
A Jewish family inGalați, Romania during theInterwar period
Total population
est.280,000 to460,000 (worldwide)
Regions with significant populations
Romania3,271 (2011 census)
9,700 (core population, 2002 est.)[1]
8,000 (2018 estimated population)[2]
Israel276,588 (emigrants to Israel 1948–2010)[3]
450,000 (2005 estimated population)[4]
Languages
Romanian,Hebrew,Yiddish,German,Russian,Hungarian,Polish andEnglish
Religion
Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Jews,Ashkenazi Jews,Sephardic Jews,Moldovan Jews,Bessarabian Jews,Ukrainian Jews,Polish Jews,Hungarian Jews,Turkish Jews,Belarusian Jews,Lithuanian Jews,Bulgarian Jews
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Thehistory of the Jews in Romania concerns theJews both ofRomania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is present-day Romanian territory. Minimal until the 18th century, the size of the Jewish population increased after around 1850, and more especially after the establishment ofGreater Romania in the aftermath ofWorld War I. A diverse community, albeit an overwhelmingly urban one, Jews were a target ofreligious persecution andracism in Romanian society from the late-19th century debate over the "Jewish Question" and the Jewish residents' right tocitizenship, leading to thegenocide carried out in the lands of Romania as part ofthe Holocaust. The latter, coupled with successive waves of emigration, includingaliyah toIsrael, has accounted for a dramatic decrease in the overall size of Romania's present-day Jewish community.

During the reign ofPeter the Lame (1574–1579), the Jews of Moldavia, mainly traders from Poland who were competing with locals, were taxed and ultimately expelled.[5] The authorities decided in 1650 and 1741 that Jews had to wear clothing evidencing their status and ethnicity.[6] The firstblood libel in Moldavia (and, as such, in Romania) was made in 1710, when the Jews ofTârgu Neamț were charged with having killed aChristian child for ritual purposes.[7] An anti-Jewish riot occurred in Bucharest in the 1760s.[8]During theRusso-Turkish War, 1768–1774, the Jews in theDanubian Principalities had to endure great hardships. Massacres and pillages were perpetrated in almost every town and village in the country. During theGreek War of Independence, which signalled theWallachian uprising of 1821, Jews were victims ofpogroms andpersecutions. In the 1860s, there was another riot motivated by blood libel accusations.[9]

Antisemitism was officially enforced under thepremierships ofIon Brătianu. During his first years in office (1875) Brătianu reinforced and applied old discrimination laws, insisting that Jews were not allowed to settle in the countryside (and relocating those that had done so), while declaring many Jewish urban inhabitants to bevagrants and expelling them from the country. The emigration[dubiousdiscuss] of Romanian Jews on a larger scale commenced soon after 1878. By 1900 there were 250,000 Romanian Jews: 3.3% of the population, 14.6% of the city dwellers, 32% of the Moldavian urban population and 42% ofIași.[10]

Between the establishment of theNational Legionary State (September 1940) and 1942, 80 anti-Jewish regulations were passed. Starting at the end of October, 1940, the Romanian fascist movement known as theIron Guard began a massive antisemitic campaign, torturing and beating Jews and looting their shops (seeDorohoi pogrom), culminating inthe failed coup accompanied by a pogrom in Bucharest, in which 125 Jews were killed.[11] Military dictatorIon Antonescu eventually stopped the violence and chaos created by the Iron Guard by brutally suppressing the rebellion, but continued the policy of oppression and massacre of Jews, and, to a lesser extent, ofRoma. After Romania entered the war at the start ofOperation Barbarossa, atrocities against Jews became common, starting with theIași pogrom. According to theWiesel Commission report released by the Romanian government in 2004, between 280,000 and 380,000 Jews were murdered in the Holocaust in Romania and the occupiedSoviet territories under Romanian control, among them theTransnistria Governorate. An additional 135,000Jews living under Hungarian control inNorthern Transylvania also were murdered in the Holocaust, as were some 5,000 Romanian Jews in other countries.[12][13][14]

On the current territory of Romania, between 290,000 and 360,000 Romanian Jews survived World War II (355,972 persons, according to statistics from the end of the war).[15] During thecommunist regime in Romania, there was a mass emigration toIsrael, and in 1987, only 23,000 Jews lived in Romania.

Today, the majority ofRomanian Jews live in Israel, while modern-day Romania continues to host a modest Jewish population. In the2011 census, 3,271 people declared themselves to be Jewish.

Early history

[edit]

Jewish communities on what would later become Romanian territory were attested as early as the 2nd century AD, at a time when theRoman Empire had established its rule overDacia. Inscriptions and coins have been found in such places asSarmizegetusa andOrșova.[16]

The existence of theCrimean Karaites, an ethnic group adherent ofKaraite Judaism, suggests that there was a steady Jewish presence around theBlack Sea, including in parts of today's Romania, in the trading ports from the mouths of the Danube and theDniester (seeCumania); they may have been present in some Moldavian fairs by the 16th century or earlier.[17] The earliest Jewish (most likelySephardi) presence in what would becomeMoldavia was recorded inCetatea Albă (1330); inWallachia, they were first attested in the 1550s, living inBucharest.[18] During the second half of the 14th century, the future territory of Romania became an important place of refuge for Jews expelled from theKingdom of Hungary andPoland byKingLouis I. InTransylvania,Hungarian Jews were recorded inSaxon citadels around 1492.[19]

PrinceRoman I (1391-1394?) exempted the Jews frommilitary service, in exchange for a tax of 3löwenthaler per person. Also in Moldavia,Stephen the Great (1457–1504) treated Jews with consideration.Isaac ben Benjamin Shor ofIași (IsakBey, originally employed byUzun Hassan) was appointedstolnic, being subsequently advanced to the rank oflogofăt; he continued to hold this office underBogdan the Blind (1504–1517), the son and successor of Stephen.

At this time bothDanubian Principalities came under thesuzerainty of theOttoman Empire, and a number of Sephardim living inIstanbul migrated to Wallachia, while Jews from Poland and theHoly Roman Empire settled in Moldavia. Although they took an important part inOttoman government and formed a large part of a community of foreign creditors and traders,[17] Jews were harassed by thehospodars of the two Principalities. Moldavia'sPrince Stephen IV (1522) deprived the Jewish merchants of almost all the rights given to them by his two predecessors;Petru Rareș confiscated Jewish wealth in 1541, after alleging that Jews in the cattle trade had engaged intax evasion.[17]Alexandru Lăpușneanu (first rule: 1552–61)persecuted the community alongside other social categories, until he was dethroned byJacob Heraclides, aGreekLutheran, who was lenient to his Jewish subjects; Lăpușneanu did not renew his persecutions after his return on the throne in 1564. The role ofOttoman and local Jews in financing various princes increased as Ottoman economic demands were mounting after 1550 (in the 1570s, the influential JewishDuke of the Archipelago,Joseph Nasi, backed both Heraclides and Lăpușneanu to the throne); several violent incidents throughout the period were instigated by princes unable to repay their debts.[20]

During the first short reign ofPeter the Lame (1574–1579) the Jews of Moldavia, mainly traders from Poland who were competing with locals, were taxed and ultimately expelled.[5] In 1582, he succeeded in regaining his rule over the country with the help of the Jewish physician Benveniste, who was a friend of the influentialSolomon Ashkenazi;[5] the latter then exerted his influence with the Prince in favor of his coreligionists.

In Wallachia,PrinceAlexandru II Mircea (1567–1577) engaged as his private secretary and counselor Isaiah ben Joseph, who used his influence on behalf of the Jews. In 1573 Isaiah was dismissed, owing to court intrigues, but he was not harmed any further, and subsequently left for Moldavia where he entered the service ofMuscovy'sGrand PrinceIvan the Terrible. Through the efforts of Solomon Ashkenazi,Aron Tiranul was placed on the throne of Moldavia; nevertheless, the new ruler persecuted and executed nineteen Jewish creditors inIași, who weredecapitated without process of law.[5] At around the same time, in Wallachia, the violent repression of creditors peaked underMichael the Brave, who, after killing Turkish creditors inBucharest (1594), probably engaged in violence against Jews settled south of theDanube during his campaign inRumelia (while maintaining good relations with Transylvanian Jews).[21]

Early Modern Age

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In 1623, the Jews inTransylvania were awarded certainprivileges byPrinceGabriel Bethlen, who aimed to attract entrepreneurs fromOttoman lands into his country; the grants were curtailed during following decades, when Jews were only allowed to settle in Gyulafehérvár (Alba Iulia).[22] Among the privileges granted was one allowing Jews to wear traditional dress; eventually, the authorities in Gyulafehérvár decided (in 1650 and 1741) to allow Jews to wear only clothing evidencing their status and ethnicity.[6]

The status of Jews who hadconverted toEastern Orthodoxy was established inWallachia byMatei Basarab'sPravila de la Govora and in Moldavia byVasile Lupu'sCarte românească de învățătură.[23] The latter ruler (1634–1653) treated the Jews with consideration until the appearance of theCossacks (1648), who marched against thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and who, while crossing the region, killed many Jews; the violence led manyAshkenazi Jews from Poland took refuge inMoldavia and Wallachia, establishing small but stable communities.[24] Massacres and forced conversions by the Cossacks occurred in 1652, when the latter came toIași on the occasion of the Vasile Lupu's daughter marriage toTimush, the son ofBohdan Khmelnytsky, and during the rule ofGheorghe Ștefan.[25]

According toAnton Maria Del Chiaro, secretary of the Wallachian princes between 1710 and 1716, the Jewish population of Wallachia was required to respect a certaindresscode. Thus, they were prohibited from wearing clothes of other color than black or violet, or to wear yellow or red boots.[26] Nevertheless, the Romanian scholarAndrei Oișteanu argued that such ethnic and religioussocial stigma was uncommon in Moldavia and Wallachia, as well as throughout theEastern Orthodox areas of Europe.[27]

The firstblood accusation in Moldavia (and, as such, in Romania) was made April 5, 1710, when the Jews ofTârgu Neamț were charged with having killed aChristian child for ritual purposes´.[7] The instigator was a baptized Jew who had helped to carry the body of a child, murdered by Christians, into the courtyard of thesynagogue[citation needed]. On the next day five Jews were killed, others were maimed, and every Jewish house was pillaged, while the representatives of the community were imprisoned and tortured. Meanwhile, some influential Jews appealed to PrinceNicholas Mavrocordatos (the firstPhanariote ruler) in Iași, who ordered an investigation resulting in the freeing of those arrested. This was the first time that the Orthodox clergy participated in attacks on Jews. It was due to the clergy's instigations that in 1714 a similar charge was brought against the Jews of the city ofRoman – the murder by a group ofRoman Catholics of a Christian girl-servant to Jewish family was immediately blamed on Jews; every Jewish house was plundered, and two prominent Jews were hanged, before the real criminals were discovered by the authorities.

According to the Romanian-Israeli historianMoshe Idel,Baal Shem Tov, the founder ofHasidic Judaism, was born in thePrincipality of Moldavia, in the area that would later becomeBukovina.[28]

TheGreat Synagogue (Iași), built c. 1670

UnderConstantin Brâncoveanu, Wallachian Jews were recognized as a specialguild in Bucharest, led by astarost.[29] Jews in both Wallachia and Moldavia were subject to theHakham Bashi in Iași, but soon the Buchareststarost assumed several religious duties.[30] Overtaxed and persecuted underȘtefan Cantacuzino (1714–1716),[31] Wallachian Jews obtained valuable privileges during Nicholas Mavrocordatos' rule (1716–1730) in that country (the Prince notably employed the Jewish savantDaniel de Fonseca at his court).[32] Another anti-Jewish riot occurred in Bucharest in the 1760s, and was encouraged by the visit ofEphram II,Patriarch of Jerusalem.[8]

In 1726, in the Moldavian borough ofOnițcani, four Jews were accused of having kidnapped a five-year-old child, of killing him onEaster and of collecting his blood in a barrel. They were tried at Iași under the supervision of Moldavian PrinceMihai Racoviță, and eventually acquitted following diplomatic protests. The event was echoed in several contemporary chronicles and documents — for example, theFrenchambassador to the Porte,Jean-Baptiste Louis Picon, remarked that such an accusation was no longer accepted in "civilized countries".[33] The most obvious effects on the condition of the Jewish inhabitants of Moldavia were witnessed during the reign ofJohn Mavrocordatos (1744–1747): a Jewish farmer in the vicinity ofSuceava reported the prince to thePorte for allegedly using his house torape a number ofkidnapped Jewish women; Mavrocordatos had his accuser hanged. This act aroused the anger ofMahmud I'skapucu in Moldavia, and the prince paid the penalty with the loss of his throne.[8]

Russo-Turkish Wars

[edit]
Main article:History of the Russo-Turkish wars

During theRusso-Turkish War of 1768–1774, Jews in the Danubian Principalities endured great hardships. Massacres and pillages were perpetrated in almost every town and village in the country. When peace was restored, both princes,Alexander Mavrocordatos of Moldavia andNicholas Mavrogheni of Wallachia, pledged their special protection to Jews, whose condition remained favorable until 1787, when bothJanissaries and theImperial RussianArmy took part inpogroms.

The community was also subject to persecutions by the locals. Jewish children were seized and forcibly baptized. Ritual-murder accusations became widespread, with one made atGalați in 1797 leading to exceptionally severe results – with Jews being attacked by a large mob, driven from their homes, robbed, waylaid on the streets, and many killed on the spot, while some were forced into theDanube and drowned, and others who took refuge in the synagogue were burned to death in the building; a few escaped after being given protection and refuge by a priest. In 1803, shortly before his death, theWallachian MetropolitanIacob Stamati instigated attacks on the Bucharest community by publishing hisÎnfruntarea jidovilor ("Facing the Jews"), which pretended to be the confession of a formerrabbi; however, Jews were offered refuge by Stamati's replacement,Veniamin Costachi.[34] A seminal event occurred in 1804, when rulerConstantine Ypsilanti dismissed accusations of ritual murder as "the unfounded opinion" of "stupid people", and ordered that their condemnation be read in churches throughout Wallachia; the allegations no longer surfaced during the following period.[35]

During theRusso-Turkish War of 1806–1812, the Russian invasion was again accompanied by massacres of Jews.Kalmyk irregular soldiers in Ottoman service, who appeared in Bucharest at the close of the Russo-Turkish War, terrorised the city's Jewish population. At around the same time, a conflict emerged in Wallachia between Jews under foreign protection (sudiți) and local ones (hrisovoliți), after the latter tried to impose a single administration for the community, a matter which was finally settled in favor of thehrisovoliți by PrinceJean Georges Caradja (1813).[30]

InHabsburg-ruled Transylvania, the reforms carried out byJoseph II allowed Jews to settle in towns directly subject to theHungarian Crown. However, pressure placed on the community remained stringent for the following decades.

Early 19th century

[edit]
Lithograph of a cosmopolitan fair inIași (c. 1845); twoOrthodox Jews are visible to the right
TheBucharest Synagogue (restored afterWorld War II), originally built 1864–1866

By 1825, the Jewish population in Wallachia was estimated at between 5,000 and 10,000 people, almost allSephardi. Of these, the larger part resided inBucharest (probably as many as 7,000 in 1839); and at around the same time, Moldavia was home to about 12,000 Jews.[36] In parallel, the Jewish population inBukovina rose from 526 in 1774 to 11,600 in 1848.[37] In the early 19th century, Jews who sought refuge fromOsman Pazvantoğlu's campaign in theBalkans established communities in Wallachian-ruledOltenia.[32] In Moldavia,Scarlat Callimachi'sCode (1817) allowed Jews to purchase urban property, but prevented them from settling in the countryside (while purchasing town property became increasingly difficult due to popular prejudice).[32]

During theGreek War of Independence, which signaled theWallachian uprising of 1821 and theDanubian Principalities' occupation byFiliki Eteria troops underAlexander Ypsilantis, Jews were victims ofpogroms andpersecutions in places such asFălticeni,Hertsa,Piatra Neamț, theSecu Monastery,Târgoviște, andTârgu Frumos. Jews inGalați managed to escape over thePrut River with assistance fromAustrian diplomats.[35] Weakened by the clash between Ypsilantis andTudor Vladimirescu, the Eterists were massacred by the Ottoman intervention armies, and during this episode, Jewish communities engaged in reprisals in Secu andSlatina.[35]

Following the 1829Treaty of Adrianople (which allowed the two principalities to freely engage in foreign trade), Moldavia, where commercialniches had been largely left unoccupied, became a target for migration ofAshkenazi Jews persecuted inImperial Russia and theKingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria. By 1838, their number seems to have reached 80,000,[38] and over 195,000, or almost 12% of the country's population, in 1859 (with an additional 50,000 passing through to Wallachia between the two estimates).[39]

Despite initial interdictions under theRussian occupation of 1829 (when it was first regulated that non-Christians were not to be regarded as citizens), many of the new immigrants becameleaseholders of estates andtavern-keepers, serving to increase both the revenue and demands ofboyars, and leading in turn to an increase in economic pressures over those working the land or buying products[40] (usual prejudice against Jews accused tavern-keepers of encouragingalcoholism). At the same time, several Jews rose to prominence and high social status, with most families involved in Moldavian banking around the 1850s being of Jewish origin.[41] After 1832, following adoption of theOrganic Statute, Jewish children were accepted in schools in the two Principalities only if they wore the same clothing as others. In Moldavia, the 1847 decree of PrinceMihail Sturdza compelled Jews to abandon the traditional dress code.[42]

Before theRevolutions of 1848, which found their parallel in theWallachian revolution, many restrictive laws against Jews were enacted; although they had some destructive effects, they were never strictly enforced. In various ways, Jews took part in the Wallachian revolt; for example,Constantin Daniel Rosenthal, the painter, distinguished himself in the revolutionary cause, and paid for his activity with his life (being tortured to death in Budapest byAustrian authorities). The major document to be codified by the 1848 Wallachian revolutionaries, theIslaz Proclamation, called for "the emancipation ofIsraelites andpolitical rights for all compatriots of different faiths".[43]

After the end of theCrimean War, the struggle for the union of the two principalities began. Both parties,Unionists and anti-Unionists sought support of Jews, with each promising full equality; and proclamations to this effect were issued between 1857 and 1858. In 1857, the community published its firstmagazine,Israelitul Român, edited by the RomanianradicalIuliu Barasch. This process of gradual integration resulted in the creation of an informal Jewish Romanian identity, whileconversion to Christianity, despite encouragement by the authorities,[32] remained confined to exceptional cases.[35]

Under Alexandru Ioan Cuza

[edit]
State Jewish Theater inBucharest
An ornately decorated Jewish Cemetery building,Brasov, Romania

From the beginning of the reign ofAlexandru Ioan Cuza (1859–1866), the first ruler (Domnitor) of the united principalities, the Jews became a prominent factor in the politics of the country. This period was, however, inaugurated by another riot motivated by blood libel accusations, begun duringEaster 1859 inGalați.[9]

Regulations on clothing were confirmed inside Moldavia by two orders ofMihail Kogălniceanu, Minister of Internal Affairs (issues in 1859 and 1860 respectively).[42] Following adoption of the 1859 regulation, soldiers and civilians would walk the streets of Iași and some other Moldavian towns, assaulting Jews, using scissors to shred their clothing, but also to cut their beards or theirsidelocks; drastic measures applied by the Army Headquarters put a stop to such turmoil.[42]

In 1864, Prince Cuza, owing to difficulties between his government and the general assembly, dissolved the latter and decided to submit a draft of a constitution grantinguniversal suffrage. He proposed creatingtwo chambers (ofsenators anddeputies respectively), to extend the franchise to all citizens, and to emancipate the peasants from forced labor (expecting to nullify the remaining influence of the landowners – no longerboyars after theland reform). In the process, Cuza also expected financial support from both the Jews and theArmenians – it appears that he kept the latter demand reduced, asking for only 40,000Austrian florins (the standardgold coins; aboutUS$ 90,000 at the exchange rate of the time) from the two groups. The Armenians discussed the matter with the Jews, but they were not able to come to a satisfactory agreement in the matter.

While Cuza was pressing in his demands, the Jewish community debated the method of assessment. The rich Jews, for unclear reasons, refused to advance the money, and themiddle class argued that the sum would not lead to tangible enough results;Religious Jews insisted that such rights would only interfere with the exercise of their religion. Cuza, on being informed that the Jews hesitated to pay their share, inserted in his draft of a constitution a clause excluding from the right of suffrage all who did not profess Christianity.

1860s and 1870s

[edit]
Nicolae Grigorescu:Jew with Goose (c. 1880) – aRomanian Jew holding apetition and a goose forbribery.

On December 4, 1864, Jews in Romania were barred from practicing law. When Charles von Hohenzollern succeeded Cuza in 1866 asCarol I of Romania, the first event that confronted him in the capital was a riot against the Jews. A draft of a constitution was then submitted by the government, Article 6 of which declared that "religion is no obstacle tocitizenship"; but, "with regard to the Jews, a special law will have to be framed in order to regulate their admission tonaturalization and also tocivil rights".[44] On June 30, 1866, theBucharest Synagogue was desecrated and demolished (it was rebuilt in the same year, then restored in 1932 and 1945). Many Jews were beaten, maimed, and robbed. As a result, Article 6 was withdrawn and Article 7 was added to the1866 Constitution; it read that "only such aliens as are of the Christian faith may obtain citizenship". The French Jewish lawyerAdolphe Crémieux offered to grant a loan of 25 million ofgold francs in exchange for Romania to give citizenship to the Jewish, but the Romanian politicians rejected the proposal.[45]

For the following decades, the issue of Jewish rights occupied the forefront of theRegat's political scene. With few notable exceptions (including some ofJunimea affiliates[46]Petre P. Carp,George Panu, andI.L. Caragiale), most Romanianintellectuals began professingantisemitism; its most virulent form was the one present with advocates ofLiberalism (in contradiction to their 1848 political roots), especially Moldavians, who argued that Jewish immigration had prevented the rise of anethnic Romanianmiddle class. The first examples of modern prejudice were the MoldavianFracțiunea liberă și independentă (later blended into theNational Liberal Party, PNL) and theBucharest group formed aroundCezar Bolliac.[47] Their discourse saw Jews asnon-assimilated and perpetually foreign – this claim was, however, challenged by some contemporary sources,[48] and by the eventual acceptance of all immigrants other than Jews.

Antisemitism was carried into the PNL's mainstream, and was officially enforced under thepremierships ofIon Brătianu. During his first years in office, Brătianu reinforced and applied old discrimination laws, insisting that Jews were not allowed to settle in the countryside (and relocating those that had done so), while declaring many Jewish urban inhabitants to bevagrants and expelling them from the country. According to the 1905Jewish Encyclopedia: "A number of such Jews who proved their Romanian birth were forced across the Danube, and when [theOttoman Empire] refused to receive them, were thrown into the river and drowned. Almost every country in Europe was shocked at these barbarities. The Romanian government was warned by the powers; and Brătianu was subsequently dismissed from office". Cabinets formed by theConservative Party, although includingJunimea's leaders, did not do much to improve the Jews' condition – mainly due to PNL opposition.

Nonetheless, during this same era, Romania was the cradle ofYiddish theatre. The Russian-bornAbraham Goldfaden started the first professional Yiddish theatre company in Iași in 1876 and for several years, especially during theRusso-Turkish War of 1877–1878 Romania was the home of Yiddish theatre. While its center of gravity would move first to Russia, thenLondon, thenNew York City, both Bucharest and Iași would continue to figure prominently in its history over the next century.[49]

Treaty of Berlin and aftermath

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AGreek pie-maker and his Jewish client inBucharest,c. 1880

When Brătianu resumed leadership, Romania faced the emerging conflict in theBalkans, and saw its chance to declare independence from Ottomansuzerainty by dispatching its troops on the Russian side in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. The war was concluded by theTreaty of Berlin (1878), which stipulated (Article 44) that the non-Christians in Romania (including both Jews andMuslims in the newly acquired region ofNorthern Dobruja) should receive full citizenship. After a prolonged debate at home and diplomatic negotiations abroad, the Romanian government ultimately agreed (1879) to abrogate Article 7 of its constitution. This was, however, reformulated to make procedures very difficult: "the naturalization of aliens not under foreign protection should in every individual case be decided byParliament" (the action involved, among others, a ten-year term before the applicant was given an evaluation).[50] The gesture was doubled by a show of compliance – 883 Jews, participants in the war, were naturalized in a body by a vote of both chambers. German bankerGerson von Bleichröder proposed international recognition of Romania's independence only if it granted citizenship to Jews.[45]

Fifty-seven persons voted upon as individuals were naturalized in 1880; 6, in 1881; 2, in 1882; 2, in 1883; and 18, from 1886 to 1900; in all, 85 Jews in twenty-one years, 27 of whom in the meantime died; c. 4,000 people had obtained citizenship by 1912.[51] Various laws were passed until the pursuit of virtually all careers was made dependent on the possession of political rights, which only Romanians could exercise; more than 40% of Jewish working men, includingmanual labourers, were forced intounemployment by such legislation. Similar laws were passed in regard to Jews exercising liberal professions.[52]

In 1893, a piece of legislation was voted to deprive Jewish children of the right to be educated in thepublic schools – they were to be received only if and where children of citizens had been provided for, and their parents were required to pay preferentialtuition fees[need quotation to verify]. In 1898, it was passed into law that Jews were to be excluded fromsecondary schools and the universities. Another notable measure was the expulsion of vocal Jewish activists as "objectionable aliens" (under the provisions of an 1881 law), including those ofMoses Gaster andElias Schwarzfeld.[53]

The courts exacted theoathmore judaico in its most offensive form – it was only abolished in 1904, following criticism in theFrench press. In 1892, when theUnited States addressed a note to the signatory powers of the Berlin treaty on the matter, it was attacked by the Romanian press. TheLascăr Catargiu government was, however, concerned – the issue was debated among ministers, and, as a result, the Romanian government issuedpamphlets inFrench, reiterating its accusations against the Jews and maintaining that persecutions were deserved and came as retribution for the community's alleged exploitation of the rural population.

20th century–present

[edit]

Before and after World War I

[edit]
The Synagogue ofBrașov (built 1901)

The emigration of Romanian Jews on a larger scale commenced soon after 1878; numbers rose and fell, with a major wave ofBessarabian Jews after theKishinev pogrom inImperial Russia (1905). TheJewish Encyclopedia wrote in 1905, shortly before the pogrom, "It is admitted that at least 70 per cent would leave the country at any time if the necessary traveling expenses were furnished". There are no official statistics of emigration; but it is safe to place the minimum number of Jewish emigrants from 1898 to 1904 at 70,000. By 1900 there were 250,000 Romanian Jews: 3.3% of the population, 14.6% of the city dwellers, 32% of the Moldavian urban population and 42% ofIași.[10]

Land issues and Jewish presence amongestate leaseholders accounted for the1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt, partly antisemitic in message.[54] During the same period, the anti-Jewish message first expanded beyond its National Liberal base (where it was soon an insignificant attitude),[55] to cover the succession of more radical and Moldavian-based organizations founded byA.C. Cuza (hisDemocratic Nationalist Party, created in 1910, had the first antisemitic program in Romanian political history).[56] No longer present in the PNL's ideology by the 1920s, antisemitism also tended to surface in on theleft-wing of the political spectrum, in currents originating inPoporanism – which favoured the claim that peasants were being systematically exploited by Jews.[57]

World War I, during which 882 Jewish soldiers died defending Romania (825 were decorated), brought about the creation ofGreater Romania after the1919 Paris Peace Conference and subsequent treaties. The enlarged state had an increased Jewish population, corresponding with the addition of communities inBessarabia,Bukovina, andTransylvania. On signing the treaties, Romania agreed to change its policy towards the Jews, promising to award them both citizenship andminority rights, the effectiveemancipation of Jews.[51] The1923 Constitution of Romania sanctioned these requirements, meeting opposition from Cuza'sNational-Christian Defense League and rioting byfar right students inIași;[58]the land reform carried out by theIon I. C. Brătianu cabinet also settled problems connected with land tenancy.

During the interwar period, thousands of Jewish refugees from theUSSR migrated to Romania.[59][60][61]

Political representation for the Jewish community in the inter-war period was divided between theJewish Party and theFederation of Jewish Communities of Romania[62] (the latter was re-established after 1989). During the same period, a division in ritual became apparent betweenReform Jews in Transylvania and usuallyOrthodox ones in the rest of the country[63] (while Bessarabia was the most open toZionism and especially thesocialistLabor Zionism).

Jewish population per county inGreater Romania, according to the Wiesel Commission report, pp. 81, which counted 728,115 Jews by ethnicity and 756,930 Jews by religion
Cover ofHasmonaea, magazine of Zionist university students of Romania, byA. L. Zissu, in 1924

The popularity of anti-Jewish messages was, nevertheless, on the rise, and merged itself with the appeal offascism in the late 1920s – both contributed to the creation and success ofCorneliu Zelea Codreanu'sIron Guard and the appearance of new types of anti-Semitic discourses (Trăirism andGândirism). The idea of aJewish quota inhigher education became highly popular among Romanian students and teachers.[64] According toAndrei Oișteanu's analysis, a relevant number ofright-wing intellectuals refused to adopt overt anti-Semitism, which was ill-reputed through its association with A. C. Cuza's violent discourse; nevertheless, a few years later, such cautions were cast aside, and anti-Semitism became displayed as "spiritual health".[65]

The first motion to exclude Jews from professional associations came on May 16, 1937, when the Confederation of the Associations of Professional Intellectuals (Confederația Asociațiilor de Profesioniști Intelectuali din România) voted to exclude all Jewish members from its affiliated bodies, calling for the state to withdraw their licenses and reassess their citizenship.[66] Although illegal, the measure was popular and it was commented that, in its case, legality had been supplanted by a "heroic decision".[66] According to Oișteanu, the initiative had a direct influence on antisemitic regulations passed during the following year.[66]

The threat posed by the Iron Guard, the emergence ofNazi Germany as a European power, and his own fascist sympathies[citation needed], madeKingCarol II, who was still largely identified as aphilo-Semite,[67] adoptracial discrimination as the norm. In the recent election, over 25% of the electorate had voted for explicitly antisemitic groups (either the Goga-Cuza alliance (9%) or the Iron Guard's political mouthpiece, TPT(16.5%)), and as a result, Carol was forced to let one of the two into his cabinet- he instantly chose the Goga-Cuza alliance over the rabid fascism of the Iron Guard (according to modern historian of the Balkans, Misha Glenny, he also thought that this would "take the sting out of the Guard's tail").[citation needed] On January 21, 1938, Carol's executive (led by Cuza andOctavian Goga) passed a law aimed at reviewing criteria for citizenship (after it cast allegations that previous cabinets had allowedUkrainian Jews to obtain it illegally),[51] and requiring all Jews who had received citizenship in 1918–1919 to reapply for it (while providing a very short term in which this could be achieved – 20 days);[68]

However, Carol II himself was highly hostile to antisemitism[citation needed]. His lover,Elena Lupescu, was Jewish[citation needed], as were a number of his friends in government[who?], and he soon reverted to his original policies (that is, fiercely opposing the antisemites and fascists), but with a newly violent sting. On February 12, 1938, he used the rising violence between political groups as context to seize absolute power (a move which was tacitly supported by the liberals who had come to view him as a lesser evil in comparison to Codreanu's fascist movement). As an authentic Romanian nationalist[dubiousdiscuss] (albeit, one who had a view of a Westernized, forcefully industrialized Romania at the expense of the peasants whom he viewed with disdain; making him completely the antithesis of the views of Codreanu[dubiousdiscuss]), Carol was determined that Romania should not fall into the near-absolute economic and political control that many of its neighbors already had, and moved to theatrical resistance against Nazi ideology.[citation needed]

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The King then arrested the entire leadership of the Iron Guard, on the grounds that they were in the pay of the Nazis, and began using the same accusation against various political opponents, both to solidify his absolute control of the country as well as negatively stigmatize Germany. In November, the fourteen most important fascist leaders (the first of which being Codreanu) were "rinsed" in acid.[69]

However, Carol's policy was doomed by the reluctance of France and Britain to fight wars with the totalitarian powers of Germany, Italy and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union attacked Romania and declared the annexation of Bukovina and Bessarabia (which was to be renamed Moldova), and when Carol turned to the only possible hope – that is, assistance from the former "eternal foe", Nazi Germany – he was angrily rejected byHitler personally, who did not have to try hard to remember how Carol had previously humiliated the cause of his ideology. Carol was forced to acknowledge the annexation, leading directly to his overthrow in a coup led byIon Antonescu.[citation needed]

In 1940, theIon Gigurtu cabinet adopted Romania's equivalent to theNuremberg Laws, forbidding Jewish-Christianintermarriage, and defining Jews after racial criteria (a person was Jewish if he or she had a Jewish grandparent on one side of the family).[70]

Politics

[edit]

The Holocaust

[edit]
Main article:The Holocaust in Romania

Romania allied itself withNazi Germany from 1940 to 1944. Under the dictatorship of Ion Antonescu, 380,000–400,000 Jews were murdered in the Holocaust in Romanian-controlled areas such as Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transnistria.[14]

The Iron Guard

[edit]
Victims of theIași pogrom

Between the establishment of theNational Legionary State and 1942, 80 anti-Jewish regulations were passed. Starting at the end of October, 1940, theIron Guard began a massive antisemitic campaign, culminating inthe failed coup and a pogrom in Bucharest, during which Jews were tortured and beaten, their shops looted, and 120 Jews were killed.[11] Antonescu eventually stopped the violence and chaos created by the Iron Guard by brutally suppressing the rebellion.

Antonescu'srégime

[edit]
Main article:Ion Antonescu § Antonescu and the Holocaust
Murdered Jews, adults and children, on aIași street

AfterRomania entered the war at the start ofOperation Barbarossa atrocities against the Jews became common, starting with theIași pogrom – on June 27, 1941, Romanian dictator Ion Antonescu telephoned Col. Constantin Lupu, commander of the Iași garrison, telling him formally to "cleanse Iași of its Jewish population", though plans for the pogrom had been laid even earlier – 13,266 Jews, according to Romanian authorities, were killed in July 1941.

In July–August 1941, theyellow badge was imposed by local initiatives in several cities (Iași,Bacău,Cernăuți). A similar measure imposed by the national government lasted only five days (between September 3 and September 8, 1941), before being annulled on Antonescu's order.[71] However, on local initiative, the badge was still worn especially in the towns of Moldavia, Bessarabia and Bukovina (Bacău, Iași,Câmpulung,Botoșani, Cernăuți, etc.).[72]

In 1941, following the advancingRomanian Army duringOperation Barbarossa, and, according to Antonescu propaganda, allegedattacks by Jews, who were considered en masse "Communist agents" by the officialpropaganda, Antonescu ordered the deportation toTransnistria, of all Jews of Bessarabia and Bukovina. "Deportation" however was a euphemism, as part of the process involved mass killing of Jews before deporting the rest in the "trains of death" (in reality long exhausting marches on foot) to the East. It is estimated that from July-September 1941, the Romanian Army andGendarmerie, in cooperation with theWehrmacht and theEinsatzgruppen, murdered between 45,000 and 60,000 Jewish civilians in Bukovina and Bessarabia alone.[13] Of those who escaped the initialethnic cleansing in Bukovina and Bessarabia, few managed to survive "trains" and theconcentration camps set up in the Transnistria Governorate. In 1941–1942, the total number of deportees from Bessarabia, Bukovina, Dorohoi and the Regat totaled between 154,449 and 170,737 people.[13]

Victims of Iași Pogrom Monument

Further killings perpetrated by Antonescu's death squads (documents prove his direct orders[citation needed]) in collaboration with the GermanEinsatzkommando, the SS squads of localUkrainian Germans (Sonderkommando Russland andSelbstschutz), and the Ukrainian militia targeted the local Jewish population that the Romanian Army managed to round up when occupying Transnistria. Over one hundred thousand of these were killed in massacres staged in such places asOdessa (seeOdessa massacre),Bogdanovka,Akmechetka,Pechora in 1941 and 1942.

Antonescu's government also made plans for mass deportations of the Romanian Jews community from the rest of the country (the Regat and southern Transylvania), numbering 292,149 people (according to a May 1942 census), to Transnistria region, or, in collaboration with the German government, to theBelzec extermination camp, but these had never been carried out.[13]

The change in policy toward the Jews began in October 1942, and by March–April 1943, Antonescu permanently stopped all deportations despite German pressure,[73] as he began to seek peace with theAllies, although at the same time he levied heavy taxes and forced labor on the remaining Jewish communities. Also, sometimes with the encouragement of Antonescu's regime, thirteen boats left Romania for theBritish Mandate of Palestine during the war, carrying 13,000 Jews (two of these ships were sunk by the Soviets (seeStruma disaster), and the effort was discontinued after German pressure was applied).

Discussions regarding the repatriation of deported Jews followed, and in January 1943, the leader of the Romanian-Jewish communityWilhelm Filderman began talks with the Romanian government in order to start repatriating Romanian Jews deported to Transnistria. On November 15, 1943, an official report of the Romanian government indicated that 49,927 Romanian Jews were alive in Transnistria (of which 6,425 were originally from the Regat). In December 1943, partial repatriation began, and in March 1944, Antonescu government ordered general repatriation for all Romanian Jews deportees from Transnistria. Between December 20, 1943, and March 30, 1944, almost 11,000 people (including orphans) were repatriated from different camps and ghettos in Transnistria. However, the decision came too late to organize the repatriation of the last large number of deportees, and the fate of tens of thousands of deportees remaining in Transnistria became unknown.[13]

Results

[edit]

Historical and political situations have determined the destinies of the Romanian Jews in different ways, depending on the regions in which they were living, and proximity to the front being the most important variable.[13] The total number of deaths is not certain, but even the lowest respectable estimates run to about 250,000 Jews (plus 25,000 deportedRomani, of which approximately 11,000 were murdered).[13]

According to theWiesel Commission report released by the Romanian government in 2004, between 280,000 and 380,000 Jews were murdered or died in various forms on Romanian soil, in the regions ofBessarabia,Bukovina, and in the occupiedSoviet territories under Romanian's control (Transnistria Governorate).[12][13]

At least 15,000 Jews from the Regat were murdered in the Iași pogrom and as a result of other anti-Jewish measures. Half of the estimated 270,000 to 320,000 Jews living in Bessarabia, Bukovina, and the formerDorohoi County in Romania were murdered or died between June 1941 and November 1943. Between 45,000 and 60,000 Jews were killed in Bessarabia and Bukovina by Romanian and German troops in 1941. Between 104,522 and 120,810 deported Romanian Jews died as a result of the expulsions to Transnistria. After a wave of random initial killings, Jews in Moldavia were subject topogroms, while those in Bessarabia, Bukovina and Dorohoi were concentrated intoghettos from which they were deported to concentration camps in the Transnistria Governorate, including camps built and run by Romanians. Romanian soldiers and gendarmes also worked with the German Einsatzkommando, the Ukrainian militia, and the SS squads of local Ukrainian Germans to massacre Jews in conquered territories east of the Romania's 1940 border. In Transnistria, between 115,000 and 180,000 indigenous Ukrainian Jews were murdered, especially in Odessa and the counties of Golta and Berezovka.[13]

At the same time, 135,000Jews living under Hungarian control inNorthern Transylvania were deported to and died in concentration and extermination camps. In addition, 5,000 Romanian Jews were murdered in the Holocaust in other countries.[13]

A majority of the Romanian Jews living within the 1940 borders did survive the war, although they were subject to a wide range of harsh conditions, includingforced labor, financial penalties, and discriminatory law. Also, thousands of Romanian Jews living abroad were able to survive thanks to renewed Romanian diplomatic protection. However, the total number of victims makes Romania count as first, according to theWiesel Commission, "Of all theallies of Nazi Germany, [responsible] for the deaths of more Jews than any country other than Germany itself".[13]

During the postwar period, the history of the Holocaust was distorted or simply ignored by East European communist regimes. Thetrials of war criminals began in 1945 and continued until the early 1950s, but they received public attention only for a short period of time.[13] In postcommunist Romania, Holocaust denial has been a diffuse phenomenon, and until 2004, when researchers made numerous documents publicly available, many in Romania denied knowledge that their country participated in the Holocaust.[74] The Romanian government has recognized that aHolocaust took place on its territory and held its firstHolocaust Day in 2004.[75] In memory of the victims of the Holocaust and particularly to reflecting on Romania's role in the Holocaust, the Romanian government decided to make October 9 theNational Day of Commemorating the Holocaust.

Holocaust denial in Romania

[edit]
Main article:Holocaust denial

Decades after the Holocaust, especially during the Communist era in Romania, educating and learning about the Holocaust was considered taboo. Textbooks did mention the Holocaust in passing, but it failed to acknowledge the role of the Romanian government in the systematic murder of the Jewish and Romani people. Holocaust denial is still prevalent in Romanian society.[76]

During the Communist era from 1945 to 1989, the government influenced every part of society, including history education. When World War Two was mentioned, textbooks said that Romania was fighting against Hitler, and when the textbooks mentioned that Romania collaborated with the Nazis, it says that Romania actually lost their national independence and was occupied by Germany not that they willingly helped the Nazis and supported them. When the textbooks mentioned the killings of the Jewish people, which was not common during the time since any mention of the Holocaust was ignored and omitted, they were glossed, diminished, or distorted. When the Holocaust was mentioned, it was painted as just another broader casualty of the War in short passing and hid any responsibility of the nation while mentioning Romania's exceptional standing in Europe. Instead, the textbooks painted the Communists as the main victim of the Nazis.[77]

Holocaust education took a long time to be implemented in post-Communist Romania. Democratization in Romania started in December 1989, but it took 10 years, until 1999, for Holocaust education to be raised as an issue and for a law to pass. Although Holocaust education was accepted in 1999, it took months for the government to solidify their curriculum to show the atrocities of the Holocaust and their role in it.[78]

As of 2021, Romania has made strides to rid itself from the past of Holocaust denial. It has joined the International Holocaust Remembrance alliance in 2004, and took over chairmanship in 2016, as well as constantly organizing and sponsoring events surrounding Holocaust education.[79] In 2021, the first sentence over Holocaust denial was made in the country. The accused was Vasile Zărnescu, a formerRomanian Intelligence Service (SRI) member who published several articles and a book against the veracity of the Holocaust.[80]

Post-War

[edit]
See also:Romanian Jews in Israel

According to theWiesel Commission, "... at least 290,000 Romanian Jews survived".Howard M. Sachar estimated that 360,000 Romanian Jews were still alive at the end of World War II. According to statistics from the end of the war, 355,972 Romanian Jews lived on the territory of Romania.[15]

Mass emigration toIsrael ensued (seeBricha andAliyah). According to Sachar, for the first two post-war years, tens of thousands of Romanian Jews left forMandatory Palestine; the Romanian government did not try to stop them, especially due to its desire to reduce its historically suspect and now impoverished Jewish minority. Afterwards, Jewish emigration began to encounter obstacles. In 1948, the year of Israeli independence, Zionism came under renewed suspicion, and the government began a campaign of liquidation against Zionist funds and training farms. However, emigration was not completely banned; Romanian Foreign MinisterAna Pauker, herself a Jew with a father and brother in Israel, negotiated an agreement with Israeli ambassadorReuven Rubin, who himself was a Romanian Jewish immigrant to Israel, under which the Romanian government would allow 4,000 Jews a month to emigrate to Israel; this decision was at least partially influenced by a largeJewish Agency bribe to the Romanian government. This agreement applied mainly to ruined businessmen and other economically "redundant" Jews. Around this time, Israel also secured another agreement with the Romanian government, under which Romania issued 100,000 exit visas for Jews and Israel supplied Romania with oil drills and pipes to aid the struggling Romanian oil industry.[81] By December 1951, about 115,000 Romanian Jews had emigrated to Israel.[82]

During the period of transition towards acommunist regime in Romania, followingSoviet occupation (seeSoviet occupation of Romania), Jewish society and culture were subject to the same increasingly tight control by the authorities. The community leaderWilhelm Filderman had been arrested already in 1945 and had to flee the country in 1948.[83] Antonescu, after a brief detention in theSoviet Union, wasshot in June 1946 forwar crimes. On April 22, 1946,Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej attended a meeting of Jewish organizations and called for the creation of a new body, theJewish Democratic Committee, which was in reality a section of theRomanian Communist Party PCR.[84]

After the proclamation of thePeople's Republic of Romania on December 30, 1947, the government formed by thePCR outlawed all Jewish organizations at a meeting on June 10–June 11, 1948, stating that "the party must take a stand on every question concerning the Jews of Romania and fight vigorously againstreactionarynationalist Jewish currents (that is,Zionism)". Between 1952 and 1953 theStalinist antisemitic charges of "rootless cosmopolitanism" brought about the purging of the party's own leadership (including Jewish ex-premier and foreign ministerAna Pauker);[85] the charges were then inflicted upon the larger part of the Jewish community, beginning with a trial engineered byIosif Chișinevschi.[86] Jews who were perceived as Zionists were given harsh labour sentences in communist prisons such asPitești (where they were subject totorture andbrainwashing experiments; a few of them died in detention).[83] The 1952 trial of the engineers made responsible for the failure of theDanube-Black Sea Canal project also involved allegations of Zionism (notably aimed atAurel Rozei-Rozenberg, who was eventually executed).[87]

During theCold War, Romania was the only communist country not to break its diplomatic relations with Israel.[88] Throughout the period of Communist rule, Romania allowed limited numbers of Jews to emigrate to Israel, in exchange for much-needed Israeli economic aid. By 1965, Israel was funding agricultural and industrial projects throughout Romania, and in exchange, Romania allowed a trickle of Jewish emigration to Israel.

WhenNicolae Ceaușescu came to power in 1965, he initially ended the trade in deference to the Eastern bloc's Arab allies. However, Romania was the onlyWarsaw Pact nation not to break diplomatic relations with Israel after theSix-Day War of 1967,[88] and by 1969, Ceaușescu decided to exchange Jews for cash from Israel. He wanted economic independence from theSoviet Union, which was content to keep Romania a backwater and as nothing more than a supplier of raw materials, but to fund economic projects, he needed hard cash. As a result, from then until the Ceaușescu regime fell in 1989, about 1,500 Jews a year were granted exit visas to Israel in exchange for a payment of cash for every Jew allowed to leave, in addition to other Israeli aid. The exact payments were determined by the age, education, profession, employment, and family status of the emigrant. Israel paid a minimum of $2,000 per head for every emigrant, and paid prices in the range of $25,000 for doctors or scientists. In addition to these payments, Israel also secured loans for Romania and paid off the interest itself, and supplied the Romanian Army with military equipment.[81][89]

Jews in Romania (2002 census)

As a result of aliyah, the Romanian-Jewish community was gradually depleted. By 1987, just 23,000 Jews were left in Romania, half of whom were over 65 years old.[90] Romanian Jews became in the 1980s Israel's second largest ethnic community, outnumbered only by the Moroccans.[88]

Nevertheless, Romania still has a small Jewish community with some active synagogues, and the oldest uninterruptedYiddish-language theater in the world.[91] With the fall of communism in Romania, Jewish cultural, social, and religious life has been undergoing a revival. Acts of antisemitism, such destruction of cemetery gravestones, continue to take place, but they are very rare.[92] In 2016, the Romanian Jewish population was estimated as ranging between 9,300 and 17,000.[93] There are also 3,000 Israeli-born people living in Romania.[94] In Romania there is also a small number of Jewish immigrants from the other parts of the world.[95] Every year, tens ofRomanian Jewish families from Israel return to their native country.[96]

Hasidic Judaism andHaredi Judaism are also present in the country.Chabad has theYeshua Tova Synagogue, a kosher restaurant, a Jewish kindergarten, a Jewish school and a youth organization, all of them located in Bucharest.[95][97][98][99] The group also has 2 community centers: one inVoluntari and one inCluj.[100]Satmar also has plans to build a community in Romania. In 2021, a synagogue was inaugurated inSighetu Marmației;[101] a hotel, a kosher restaurant and a Jewish school are under construction in Sighetu Marmației, all of them underAaron Teitelbaum's organization.[102]

As of 2021, there is also a project to build arabbinical seminary in Oradea.[103]

TheFederation of the Jewish Communities in Romania Party has one seat in theChamber of Deputies, the lower house of theRomanian Parliament.

After the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, 140 Jewish orphans have fled from Ukraine to Romania andRepublic of Moldova.[104]

On January 29, 2024, two women who converted to Islam vandalized the fence of the Satmar synagogue in Sighetu Marmației, writing "free Palestine" in English and Romanian.[105][106][107][108]

Historical population

[edit]

The historical Jewish population in Romania can be seen below.

The 1930 census was the only one to cover Greater Romania. Censuses in 1948, 1956, 1966, 1977, 1992, 2002 and 2011 covered Romania's present-day territory.[109] All but the 1948 census, which asked about mother tongue, had a question on ethnicity. Moldavia and Wallachia each held a census in 1859. The Romanian Old Kingdom (Regat) conducted statistical estimates in 1884, 1889 and 1894, and held censuses in 1899 and 1912. Ion Antonescu's regime also held two: a general one in April 1941, and one for those with "Jewish blood" in May 1942.

YearPopulationTerritory (Historical regions)
1866134,168Romanian United Principalities (Moldavia,Wallachia, SouthernBessarabia)
1887300,000Romanian Old Kingdom (Regat) (Moldavia, Wallachia, NorthernDobruja)
1899256,588Romanian Old Kingdom
1930728,115Kingdom of Romania (Greater Romania) (Moldavia, Wallachia, Dobruja,Transylvania,Bukovina, Bessarabia)
1941356,237Kingdom of Romania (Moldavia, Wallachia, Northern Dobruja,Southern Transylvania, Southern Bukovina)
1956146,264Socialist Republic of Romania (Moldavia, Wallachia, Northern Dobruja, Transylvania, Southern Bukovina)
196642,888Socialist Republic of Romania
197724,667Socialist Republic of Romania
19928,955Romania
20025,785Romania
20113,271Romania
Notes: Census in 1930 with the regions acquired in 1918–1920; census in 1941 without the territories lost in 1940;[110] censuses in 1956,[111] 1966, 1977, 1992, 2002 and 2011 covered Romania's present-day territory
Source:Demographic history of Romania

YIVO provides somewhat different population figures for Romania's Jewish population, specifically 400,000 in 1945, 280,000 in 1951, 200,000 in 1960, 70,000 in 1970, 33,000 in 1980, 17,000 in 1990, and 11,000 in 2000.[112]

Hasidic dynasties originating in today's Romania

[edit]
Main article:List of Hasidic dynasties

Major groups

[edit]

Other groups

[edit]

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^"Archived copy"(PDF). Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 2012-02-09. Retrieved2019-01-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^"Vainer: Comunitatea evreilor din România s-a împuţinat teribil; oameni puţini, dar exemple de moralitate" [Vainer: the Romanian Jewish community has shrunk terribly; few people, but moral role models] (in Romanian).Agerpres. Archived fromthe original on 2019-01-29. Retrieved2019-01-28.
  3. ^"Archived copy"(PDF). Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 2014-08-12. Retrieved2019-01-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^"PM Sharon Meets Romanian PM".Prime Minister's Office.
  5. ^abcdRezachevici, September 1995, p. 61.
  6. ^abOișteanu (1998), p. 239
  7. ^abOișteanu (2003), p. 2; Rezachevici, October 1995, p. 66
  8. ^abcCernovodeanu, p. 27
  9. ^abOișteanu (2003), p. 2
  10. ^abA History of the Balkans 1804–1945, p. 129
  11. ^abVeiga, p. 301
  12. ^abIlie Fugaru,Romania clears doubts about Holocaust past,UPI, November 11, 2004
  13. ^abcdefghijklInternational Commission on the Holocaust in Romania (2012-01-28)."Executive Summary: Historical Findings and Recommendations"(PDF).Final Report of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania. Yad Vashem (The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority). Retrieved2012-01-28.
  14. ^ab"Murder of the Jews of Romania".www.yadvashem.org. Archived fromthe original on 2022-02-06. Retrieved2022-02-23.
  15. ^abAlexandru Florin-Platon."O necesară restituţie biografică (Carol Iancu, Alexandru Şafran: o viaţă de luptă, o rază de lumină)".Revista Contrafort. Retrieved2019-01-28.
  16. ^Ciocan, Evelyn (2024-05-23)."Muzeon - The first archaeological discoveries attesting the presence of Jews in the geographical area of Romania".Muzeon. Retrieved2025-04-27.
  17. ^abcRezachevici, September 1995, p. 60
  18. ^Djuvara, p. 179; Giurescu, p. 271
  19. ^Rezachevici, September 1995, p. 59
  20. ^Rezachevici, September 1995, pp. 60–61
  21. ^Rezachevici, September 1995, pp. 61–62
  22. ^Rezachevici, October 1995, pp. 61–62, 64–65
  23. ^Rezachevici, October 1995, p. 62
  24. ^Rezachevici, October 1995, pp. 62–63
  25. ^Rezachevici, October 1995, p. 63
  26. ^Del Chiaro; Oișteanu (1998), pp. 239–240
  27. ^Oișteanu (1998), pp. 242–244
  28. ^Idel, Moshe (2018-06-24),"Questioning the Origin of Hasidism Founder Baal Shem Tov",Shalom Hartman Institute, retrieved2025-09-28
  29. ^Cernovodeanu, p. 25; Giurescu, p. 271
  30. ^abCernovodeanu, p. 25
  31. ^Rezachevici, October 1995, p. 66
  32. ^abcdCernovodeanu, p. 26
  33. ^Oișteanu (1998), pp. 211–212
  34. ^Cernovodeanu, p. 27; Oișteanu (2003), p. 3
  35. ^abcdCernovodeanu, p. 28
  36. ^Djuvara, p. 179; Giurescu, p. 272
  37. ^Hitchins, pp. 226–227
  38. ^Cernovodeanu, p. 28; Djuvara, pp. 179–180
  39. ^Ornea, p. 387
  40. ^Djuvara, pp. 180–182
  41. ^Djuvara, p. 182
  42. ^abcOișteanu (1998), p. 241
  43. ^Islaz Proclamation, art. 21
  44. ^Ornea, p. 389; Veiga, pp. 58–59
  45. ^ab"Cuza, Gh.A., Cuvantarea rostita de d. prof. Gh. A. Cuza..., Cetatea Moldovei, An.2, Nr.8, 1941, p.225-231.pdf"(PDF),Dspace.bcu-iasi.ro, retrieved2025-09-10Cite error: The named reference "Dspace.bcu-iasi.ro_2025-09-10" was defined multiple times with different content (see thehelp page).
  46. ^Panu, pp. 223–233
  47. ^Ornea, p. 389; Panu, p. 224
  48. ^For example, Panu (p. 226) stated that "the issue of [the Jews'] assimilation or the mere possibility of their assimilation were never mentioned [by antisemites], being considered an impossible occurrence altogether [...]"; in the 1890s, Caragiale evidenced the paradox in his editorialTrădarea românismului! Triumful străinismului!! Consumatum est!!!, mimicking the tone of Liberals in opposition to thePetre P. Carp government: "Yesterday, February 5, '93, yesterday, fateful and cursed day! was voted that anti-social, anti-economical, anti-patriotic, anti-national, anti-Romanian law, that law through which poverty-stricken Jews may no longer be prevented from training in certain careers!"
  49. ^Israil Bercovici,O sută de ani de teatru evreiesc în România ("One hundred years of Yiddish/Jewish theater in Romania"), 2nd Romanian-language ed., revised and augmented by Constantin Măciucă. Editura Integral (an imprint of Editurile Universala), Bucharest (1998).ISBN 973-98272-2-5.passim; see thearticle on the author for further publication information.
  50. ^Ornea, p. 390; Veiga, p. 60
  51. ^abcOrnea, p. 391
  52. ^Ornea, p. 396; Veiga, pp. 58–59
  53. ^Ornea, p. 396
  54. ^Veiga, pp. 24–25
  55. ^Veiga, p. 56
  56. ^Ornea, p. 395
  57. ^The Jewish-RomanianMarxistConstantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea criticised Poporanist claims in his work on the 1907 revolt,Neoiobăgia ("Neo-Serfdom"), arguing that, as favorite victims of prejudice (and most likely to be retaliated against), Jews were least likely to exploit: "[The Jewish tenant's] position is inferior to that of the exploited, for he is not aboyar, a gentleman, but a Yid, as well as to the administration, whose subordinate bodies he may well be able to satisfy, but whose upper bodies remain hostile towards him. His position is also rendered difficult by the antisemitic trend, strong as it gets, and by the hostilepublic opinion, and by the press, overwhelmingly antisemitic, but mostly by the régime itself – which, while awarding him all the advantages of neo-serfdom on one hand, uses, on the other, his position as a Yid to make of him a distraction and ascapegoat for the régime's sins."
  58. ^Veiga, pp. 62–64
  59. ^"Refugiaţi, emigranţi din URSS către România interbelică".
  60. ^"Cum a gestionat România criza refugiaţilor din perioada interbelică. 100.000 de evrei, ruşi şi ucraineni s-au refugiat aici la începutul anilor '20". 29 September 2015.
  61. ^"Refugiaţii evrei, din Ucraina sovietică în Basarabia română".
  62. ^Veiga, p. 61
  63. ^Veiga, pp. 61–62
  64. ^Ornea, pp. 396–397
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