Final Report of the International Commission on the - Minority Rights ...

exchange <strong>of</strong> merchandise and on <strong>the</strong> new German business initiatives.”
The German Legation acted immediately, and about a week after Antonescu gave his order to
concentrate and deport 60,000 Jews, Mihai Antonescu was asked “to work toward removing <strong>the</strong> Jewish
elements only in a slow, systematic manner.” Unsigned editorials reflecting <strong>the</strong> <strong>of</strong>ficial government
position appeared in <strong>the</strong> Romanian press at <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> October 1941. They informed Romanians that “<strong>the</strong>
Jewish question had entered <strong>the</strong> final stage <strong>of</strong> solution, and no one in <strong>the</strong> world nor any miracle could
prevent its solution.” The government announced that Romania “is counted among <strong>the</strong> nations prepared to
cooperate resolutely in <strong>the</strong> <strong>Final</strong> Solution <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Jewish problem—not only <strong>the</strong> local one, but also <strong>the</strong>
European one.” Antonescu pledged to expel every Jew from Romania: “No one and nothing can stop me,
as long as I live, from carrying out <strong>the</strong> task <strong>of</strong> purifying [ourselves]” from <strong>the</strong> Jews. Speaking to his
ministers, he summarized <strong>the</strong> war’s internal goals: “Gentlemen, as you know, one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> battles that I
have promised to wage is that <strong>of</strong> changing <strong>the</strong> face <strong>of</strong> this nation. I will turn this nation into a
homogeneous group. Anything foreign must leave slowly…any dubious Jewish element, all <strong>the</strong> Jewish
communists, are destined to go back where <strong>the</strong>y came from. I will push <strong>the</strong>m to <strong>the</strong> Bug and from <strong>the</strong>re
<strong>the</strong>y will move on.…”
In mid-1942, Antonescu truly believed that victory would be achieved that very year and that at issue
was <strong>the</strong> final, large-scale effort to bring about <strong>the</strong> collapse <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> USSR. His policy toward <strong>the</strong> Jews
stemmed from this belief. He wanted to succeed in making Romania homogeneous, as he had promised
<strong>the</strong> ministers; this included not only <strong>the</strong> Jews, but also <strong>the</strong> Gypsies, though <strong>the</strong> Jews were his greatest
concern. Toward <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> that summer he began to prepare <strong>the</strong> plan to deport all <strong>the</strong> Jews <strong>of</strong> sou<strong>the</strong>rn
Transylvania. On 10 July 1942, <strong>the</strong> head <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Conducator’s military cabinet presented to <strong>the</strong> Minister <strong>of</strong>
<strong>the</strong> Interior Antonescu’s decision that in order “to make space, to <strong>of</strong>fer shelter, and to house <strong>the</strong>
Romanian refugees from Nor<strong>the</strong>rn Transylvania,” <strong>the</strong> government should prepare an estimate <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Jews
currently living in sou<strong>the</strong>rn Transylvania and “to investigate <strong>the</strong> sending to <strong>the</strong> Bug all <strong>the</strong> Jews <strong>of</strong>
[sou<strong>the</strong>rn] Transylvania, with <strong>the</strong> exception <strong>of</strong> intellectuals essential for our needs (physicians, engineers,
and <strong>the</strong> like) and <strong>of</strong> industrialists required for running various industrial installations.”
In summer and autumn 1942, <strong>the</strong> following groups were on <strong>the</strong> verge <strong>of</strong> deportation: most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
remaining Jews in Cernauti and sou<strong>the</strong>rn Transylvania; people who had broken <strong>the</strong> laws and orders <strong>of</strong>
forced labor; Jewish communists, or whoever <strong>the</strong> regime defined as such, and <strong>the</strong>ir sympathizers; new
converts to Christianity; Jews who had requested in autumn/winter 1942 to be repatriated to Bessarabia
after <strong>the</strong> region had be forcibly annexed to <strong>the</strong> USSR; and <strong>the</strong> Roma. Thus, some 95,000–100,000 Jews
were destined for Transnistria. This plan, however, was not implemented.
Simultaneously, negotiations with Gustav Richter and <strong>the</strong> German government on <strong>the</strong> general
deportation <strong>of</strong> Romanian Jewry to <strong>the</strong> Belzec camp in Poland were nearing <strong>the</strong>ir conclusion. These
negotiations were held in secret to avoid arousing panic among <strong>the</strong> Jews and to keep from opposition
circles—particularly from <strong>the</strong> chairman <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Romanian National Peasant Party, Iuliu Maniu, and his
colleagues—any hint <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> negotiations on <strong>the</strong> deportation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Jewish population. When <strong>the</strong>
impending deportation became publicly known, Maniu did indeed intervene to prevent it.
<strong>Final</strong> destination: Belzec
The extermination camp Belzec in <strong>the</strong> Lublin district <strong>of</strong> Poland, in which Jews were killed by means
<strong>of</strong> a diesel engine that issued carbon monoxide, had been selected by <strong>the</strong> RSHA and <strong>the</strong> German Foreign
Ministry to serve as a mass grave for Romanian Jewry. In June 1942 <strong>the</strong> camp was refurbished, and its
capacity for extermination was enhanced with <strong>the</strong> construction <strong>of</strong> six gas chambers larger than <strong>the</strong>
previous three; <strong>the</strong>y could now hold 1,000–1,200 victims at a time (half <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> daily transport <strong>of</strong> 2,000
people) and kill <strong>the</strong>m in 20–30 minutes. By September 1942 it was possible to exterminate a daily