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

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while all <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se governments may have condoned non-governmental antisemitic acts, none <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m enacted or implemented antisemitic legislation. This situation changed during <strong>the</strong> long National Liberal Party government headed by Gheorghe Tatarescu between 1933 and 1937. While it at times encouraged some movements <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Right, <strong>the</strong> Tatarescu government also sought to control <strong>the</strong> rise <strong>of</strong> right-wing extremist and violently antisemitic movements inside Romania–<strong>the</strong> Iron Guard and <strong>the</strong> League <strong>of</strong> National Christian Defence, in particular, as well as Vaida-Voievod’s breakaway Romanian Front (Frontul Românesc). It sought as well to blunt <strong>the</strong> impact <strong>of</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r right-leaning movements sympa<strong>the</strong>tic to Nazi Germany, including Gheorghe Bratianu’s “Young Liberal” Party and Goga’s National Agrarian Party. As <strong>the</strong> flavor <strong>of</strong> debate sharpened inside Romania, especially after <strong>the</strong> rise <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Nazi Party to power in Germany, <strong>the</strong> Tătărescu government introduced certain laws that, while not explicitly aimed at Jews, began <strong>the</strong> systematic process <strong>of</strong> stripping away <strong>the</strong> resources and rights <strong>of</strong> Jews. The “Law for <strong>the</strong> Use <strong>of</strong> Romanian Personnel in Enterprises” (1934) called for at least 80 percent <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> personnel in all economic, industrial, commercial and civil enterprises to be Romanian and for at least half <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> administrative board to be Romanian. It also required special approval <strong>of</strong> a committee appointed by <strong>the</strong> ministries <strong>of</strong> war, labor and industry for all hiring by industries involved in national security and defense affairs . While not explicitly aimed at <strong>the</strong> Jews, <strong>the</strong> law impacted <strong>the</strong>m much more than o<strong>the</strong>r minorities, who frequently lived in compact ethnic areas where implementation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> law was impracticable. For <strong>the</strong> first time Jews were confronted with <strong>the</strong> possibility <strong>of</strong> a government-managed process that would deprive <strong>the</strong>m <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir jobs and pr<strong>of</strong>essions. Some Jews who worked for <strong>the</strong> railroad system and <strong>the</strong> postal and telegraphic service were demoted or simply fired. Despite international protests, <strong>the</strong> law remained on <strong>the</strong> books. In its wake, pr<strong>of</strong>essional schools began to deny admission to Jewish students, and some private pr<strong>of</strong>essional associations, like <strong>the</strong> Bucharest Bar and <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong> National Bar Association (in May 1937), expelled <strong>the</strong>ir Jewish members. University campuses became centers <strong>of</strong> antisemitic sentiment and “action,” and street violence against Jews increased. In December 1936, a parliamentary commission began consideration <strong>of</strong> a draft law to review <strong>the</strong> citizenship lists through which Romania’s national minorities, including <strong>the</strong> majority <strong>of</strong> Romanian Jews, had obtained Romanian citizenship. This sweeping draft did not become law, but <strong>the</strong> Tatarescu government issued a series <strong>of</strong> less ambitious decree-laws and administrative orders aimed at limiting or eliminating <strong>the</strong> presence <strong>of</strong> Jews in <strong>the</strong> liberal pr<strong>of</strong>essions, finance and o<strong>the</strong>r branches <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> economy . This record <strong>of</strong> Romania’s mainstream political elite opened <strong>the</strong> door to <strong>the</strong> more radical antisemitic policies that would follow during <strong>the</strong> short-lived National Christian Party government, under <strong>the</strong> Royal Dictatorship, Antonescu and <strong>the</strong> Iron Guard. The National Christian Party government proved to be a watershed in Romanian interwar political development. Antisemitism <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> National Christian Party The National Christian Party in Power, December 1937-February 1938 After its creation in 1935 as a nationalistic and virulently antisemitic party <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> conservative Right , <strong>the</strong> National Christian Party (Partidul Naţional Creştin–PNC) <strong>of</strong> Octavian Goga and Alexandru C. Cuza was unquestionably <strong>the</strong> leading competitor <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Iron Guard on <strong>the</strong> Right <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Romanian political spectrum. During <strong>the</strong> 1930s, <strong>the</strong> National Christian Party (and, before 1935, Goga’s National Agrarian Party) was <strong>the</strong> principal Romanian recipient <strong>of</strong> German National Socialist support, despite <strong>the</strong> closer ideological affinity <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Iron Guard movement to Nazism . And while <strong>the</strong> PNC’s time in power was short, <strong>the</strong> antisemitic policies that Goga and Cuza pursued survived <strong>the</strong>ir precipitate fall from power and exerted considerable influence on <strong>the</strong> policies <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> governments that followed. A significant number <strong>of</strong> PNC adherents served in <strong>the</strong> governments <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> royal dictatorship and resurfaced again in <strong>the</strong> civilian
ureaucracy <strong>of</strong> wartime dictator Ion Antonescu . Octavian Goga (1881-1938) and Alexandru C. Cuza (1857-1944) both had long careers in Romanian politics. Goga's prestige rested on his status as a great, nationalistic poet and on <strong>the</strong> reputation that he had acquired during World War I as an outspoken advocate <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> integration <strong>of</strong> his native Transylvania into <strong>the</strong> Romanian state. Having fled from Transylvania to Romania in 1914, at war's end he became Minister <strong>of</strong> Public Education in <strong>the</strong> short-lived coalition government <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> National and Peasant Parties, led by Alexandru Vaida-Voievod. After this he joined <strong>the</strong> People's Party <strong>of</strong> wartime hero General Alexandru Averescu and served in <strong>the</strong> Ministry <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Interior, first as deputy and <strong>the</strong>n as full minister, during Averescu's administrations <strong>of</strong> 1920-21 and 1926-27 . In April1932, Goga left <strong>the</strong> People's Party and founded <strong>the</strong> National Agrarian Party (Partidul Natonal Agrar). The new party's published platform (1932) was pro-monarchy and conservative, but also nationalistic and antisemitic. The roots <strong>of</strong> Goga’s antisemitism are clear. In prewar Vienna Goga had come under <strong>the</strong> influence <strong>of</strong> Karl Lueger, Vienna’s Christian Social mayor. Convinced that <strong>the</strong> Jews were <strong>the</strong> most active “agents” <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> policy <strong>of</strong> Magyarization in prewar Hungary, Goga found Lueger’s sermons against “Judeo-Magyars” convincing and important. As Hungarian pressure for Transylvanian border revision grew in <strong>the</strong> 1930s, Goga drew on this experience <strong>of</strong> his youth and identified a suitable response to <strong>the</strong> renewed danger <strong>of</strong> “Magyarization.” His response was antisemitism and a reliance on Romania’s youth, part <strong>of</strong> which was already coalescing into violence-prone antisemitic movements, to move from word to deed and eradicate <strong>the</strong> Jewish (and “Hungaro-Semitic”—“ungaro-semit”) threat. Goga’s Mustul care Fierbe (New Wine in Ferment), a collection <strong>of</strong> essays published in 1927, captured his increasingly extremist position. Goga saw <strong>the</strong> situation as one <strong>of</strong> war between Romanians and Jews, and called for <strong>the</strong> defense <strong>of</strong> “racial purity” (ideea purităţii de rasă), “prerogatives <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> blood” (prerogativele sângelui), and “<strong>the</strong> organic truths <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> race” (adevărurile organice ale unui neam); warned that developments were “pushing <strong>the</strong> traditional patience <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> people to its extreme limits”; and praised a coming “purifying storm” (furtună purificatoare) in which <strong>the</strong> youth would save <strong>the</strong> nation from “parasites.” (paraziţi) He called for a “national <strong>of</strong>fensive” (<strong>of</strong>ensivă naţională) to save <strong>the</strong> Romanian nation . Harking back to pre-World War I rhetoric about a Jewish “invasion” <strong>of</strong> Romania, Goga described <strong>the</strong> Jews as "impure secretions” (secreţiuni impure) <strong>of</strong> Galicia, who were threatening <strong>the</strong> very existence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Romanian state . The political influence <strong>of</strong> Alexandru C. Cuza, Pr<strong>of</strong>essor <strong>of</strong> Political Economy and Finance at <strong>the</strong> University <strong>of</strong> Iasi, was very localized if measured by <strong>the</strong> votes he received in parliamentary elections. Electoral support for Cuza never expanded far beyond <strong>the</strong> North Moldavian districts surrounding his native Iasi and, after World War I, <strong>the</strong> heavily Jewish districts <strong>of</strong> Bessarabia. Cuza’s career in politics, however, was remarkable for its longevity and consistency, which provided a native Romanian foundation for <strong>the</strong> development <strong>of</strong> more radical and more dangerous antisemitic movements than that <strong>of</strong> Cuza himself. Cuza's entire political philosophy was built around a single issue, resting on a set <strong>of</strong> antisemitic convictions that he pursued steadfastly throughout his career. First elected to <strong>the</strong> National Chamber <strong>of</strong> Deputies in 1892, Cuza maintained his seat <strong>the</strong>re, with a single hiatus between 1927 and 1931, until <strong>the</strong> beginning <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> royal dictatorship in 1938, at which point he became a member <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Crown Council. Between 1895 and 1923, Cuza helped establish six different political movements. In 1897 he joined with A.D. Xenopol, whose views have been cited earlier, to found <strong>the</strong> Romanian League against Alcoholism (Liga Română contra Alcoolismului), a platform that he used to charge <strong>the</strong> Jews with breeding alcoholism among Romanians as a means <strong>of</strong> increasing Romanian mortality rates . In 1910, he joined with Iorga to found <strong>the</strong> Nationalistic Democratic Party, which advocated extreme measures, including violence, to reduce <strong>the</strong> influence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Jews. When <strong>the</strong> two men parted ways following <strong>the</strong> creation <strong>of</strong> Greater Romania, Cuza founded <strong>the</strong> Christian Nationalistic Democratic Party (1919) and <strong>the</strong>n, toge<strong>the</strong>r with N.C. Paulescu, <strong>the</strong> National Christian Union (1922). The
Page 1 and 2: Final Repo
Page 3 and 4: Germany’s war against the
Page 5 and 6: which includes reputed experts led
Page 7 and 8: BACKGROUND AND PRECURSORS TO THE HO
Page 9 and 10: against which antisemites in <stron
Page 11 and 12: declaring in the p
Page 13 and 14: them. Thus, he con
Page 15: We must organize ourselves for a wa
Page 19 and 20: this direction by Nicolae C. Paules
Page 21 and 22: promising leader of</strong
Page 23 and 24: organized a tariff and tax strike.
Page 25 and 26: Legion of
Page 27 and 28: less so in Romanian society as a wh
Page 29 and 30: This ambiguous, self-contradictory
Page 31 and 32: The Gigurtu government began to con
Page 33 and 34: The Case of Român
Page 35 and 36: Cuza’s argument that it is possib
Page 37 and 38: Românesc,” Sociologie Româneasc
Page 39 and 40: ole in the early 1
Page 41 and 42: European states, notably Romania an
Page 43 and 44: Germany's immediate interests at <s
Page 45 and 46: eligious communities, the</
Page 47 and 48: counterpart, “when [he] first met
Page 49 and 50: de Istorie şi Arheologie, “A. D.
Page 51 and 52: Romania. Muler to Luthe</st
Page 53 and 54: demands on territorial revisions an
Page 55 and 56: military mission to come to Romania
Page 57 and 58: High Command, informing the
Page 59 and 60: The Jews and the R
Page 61 and 62: Romanian army. Thus, in Ciudei in <
Page 63 and 64: antisemitism in Romanian society an
Page 65 and 66: Ibid., fond Micro-films, roll I.II,
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manifestations of
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power, as this power colonized West
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attraction, many Jews resettled in
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to defend itself; hence its support
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about the Holocaus
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Nichifor Crainic, “Dupa douazeci
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Isaia Tolan, “Revizuirea incetate
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X. Y. Z., “Rezolvarea problemei e
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andom searches and arrests, robberi
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Bucharest Prefectura. Almost two th
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epression was not ordered by Antone
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from villages and small towns. On J
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accident; it was contrived by <stro
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The second train to leave Iasi for
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care of th
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"premilitary," were also placed at
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according to the o
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Tighina Agreement On August 30, Tra
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elieved Transnistria would be occup
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the 331,000 Ukrain
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those inside to take the</s
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[longer] move.” After several wee
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eappear a few seconds later and sig
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operation and that “some
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Bukovina and Bessarabia. Einsatzkom
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other things, <str
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Berezovka district and burn <strong
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them in exchange f
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transport of 2,000
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Bulgarian, Turkish, Italian, or Swi
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were at least 122,000 Jews. Bukovin
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Wilhelm Hoettl, The Secret Front: T
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Ancel, Documents, vol. 2: no. 136,
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Carp, Cartea neagra, vol. 3: pp. 30
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Gosudartsveni Archiv Odeskoi Oblast
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Cable from the Mil
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1-1087, p. 114; list of</st
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Ibid. “Rezolvarea problemei evrei
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child’s birth, would be considere
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Indeed, the system
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Romanianization instead of<
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The Cultural Ghettoization
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The Status of Jewi
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give up any radios able to send and
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Conclusions The anti-Jewish legisla
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L.A., no. 99, p. 344. Trei ani de g
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moral, social, and intellectual nee
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gradually, in reality the</
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except being defined as a Jew. I be
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egulate and authorize, under <stron
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y Lecca: Jews were privileged, and
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through the activi
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oth as a cry of re
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After coming to power, the<
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and then to send <
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their non-evacuate
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villages of <stron
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Return of Roma Sur
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(in many cases, the</strong
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in Romania. History and Contemporar
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THE ROLE OF ION ANTONESCU IN THE PL
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December 16, 1941, meeting
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me from carrying out the</s
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did not do it because…the
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more ironically, this leader’s wa
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THE HOLOCAUST IN NORTHERN TRANSYLVA
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Others 22 968 Magy
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ultimatum but also consented to <st
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military, political, and psychologi
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command over the g
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Huedin. The Jews of</strong
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authorities set up two ghettos in <
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Secuilor counties was carried out i
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the procedure foll
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deportation trains per day. While E
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Deportation Trains from Nor
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Câtcău Kackó Ciuc Csík Ciucea C
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Rona de Sus Felsöróna Rozavica Ro
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Bözödújfalu Bezidu Nou Budfalva
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Nagysajó Şieu (Bistrita-Nasaud Co
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(Indictment of Naz
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Randolph L. Braham, comp. and ed. (
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perceived by a significant part <st
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Romanian government not to adopt <s
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still alive in the
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the Jews who worke
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We have been informed that various
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church bells announce the</
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Mitropolit pleaded with Mihai Anton
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Pozdnyakova, Yefrosiniya Starostina
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Ibid., pp. 224-225. Ibid., pp. 46-4
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the examined cases
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escape with negligible punishment;
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immense scale, enslaved millions <s
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means. The “ethnic Christian stat
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it is evident that the</str
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face să pară evident că victimel
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viaţă, 100 milioane lei amendă
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Articolul 15 al Convenţiei de armi
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members accepted as authoritative s
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camp in January 1945, for several m
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Beginning in the 1
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such access was strictly supervised
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enefit from translation into Englis
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furthermore, he ha
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lucrative Jewish business ever,”
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deaths of thousand
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Treptow who was residing in Romania
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Finally, it must b
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A.) Integral Negationism Although <
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other genocides re
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mankind, such as wars; the<
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age of 44, only on
Page 293 and 294:
After deploring the</strong
Page 295 and 296:
Michael Shafir, “Ex Occidente Obs
Page 297 and 298:
See, for example, Giurescu who make
Page 299 and 300:
Randolph L. Braham, Romanian Nation
Page 301 and 302:
Mediafax, March 18, 2002, Monitorul
Page 303 and 304:
See Ibidem, pp. 3, 54-55. Ibidem, p
Page 305 and 306:
Radu Theodoru, Mareşalul, Editura
Page 307 and 308:
egained from the U
Page 309 and 310:
was a record of an
Page 311 and 312:
secondary school use. Those institu
Page 313:
including erecting statues, mountin
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