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

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Achim, Documente, no. 639. The state <strong>of</strong> mind <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Roma after <strong>the</strong> deportations in <strong>the</strong> summer and fall <strong>of</strong> 1942 is seen, for example, in <strong>the</strong> reports <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Regional Police Inspectorate Alba Iulia from September 30 (Achim, Documente, no. 162) and December 3, 1942 (ibid., no. 243) or in <strong>the</strong> report <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Regional Police Inspectorate Timişoara from November 27, 1942 (ibid., no. 238). Some documents with respect to <strong>the</strong>se Roma: ibid., no. 119, no. 568, no. 577. Documents referring t this issue: ibid., no. 400, no. 622, no. 623, no. 626. See Viorel Achim, “Atitudinea contemporanilor faţă de deportarea ţiganilor în Transnistria,” in Constantin Iordachi and Viorel Achim, eds., România şi Transnistria: problema Holocaustului. Perspective istorice şi comparative, Bucharest: Curtea Veche, 2004, pp. 204-236. Jean Ancel, ed., Documents Concerning <strong>the</strong> fate <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Romanian Jews during <strong>the</strong> Holocaust (New York: Beate Klarsfeld Foundation, 1986), vol. 4, p. 225. Ibid. Achim, Documente, no. 202. Ibid., no. 220. Ibid., no. 190. One such case is that <strong>of</strong> a retired <strong>of</strong>ficer (Captain Dogaru) from Târgu Jiu, who suggested in June 1942 that local Roma be ei<strong>the</strong>r “colonized” in Transnistria or ga<strong>the</strong>red from around <strong>the</strong> county and confined in an ethnically pure Roma village. Ibid., no. 44. Ibid., no. 167. Ibid., no. 157. ANIC, fond PCM, dosar 202/1942, pp. 234-235. The chairman <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> General Union <strong>of</strong> Roma in Romania, Gheorghe Niculescu, demanded in September 1942 that “<strong>the</strong> execution <strong>of</strong> deportation orders must concern only nomadic Roma and exempt sedentary Roma who have a stable abode and are skilled in <strong>the</strong> practice <strong>of</strong> various pr<strong>of</strong>essions.” Achim, Documente, no. 169. Some information about <strong>the</strong> Roma in Romania after 1944, in Viorel Achim, “Romanian Memory <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Persecution <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Roma,” in Roma and Sinti: Under-Studied Victims <strong>of</strong> Nazism, Symposium proceedings, Washington D.C.: Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, USHMM 2002, pp. 59-77. Actul de acuzare, rechizitoriile şi replica acuzării în procesul primului lot de criminali de răsboi (Bucharest: Editura Apărării Patriotice, 1945), p. 76. Procesul marii trădări naţionale, pp. 42, 65-66, 104, 108, 305. Ibid., p. 42. Ibid., p. 108. Ibid., pp. 65-66. Revista Istorică, N.S., 4 (1993), nos. 7-8, p. 763. Scânteia (The Spark), a Communist Party daily, mentioned <strong>the</strong> topic only in its coverage <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Vasiliu case—and even <strong>the</strong>n, only when it reported <strong>the</strong> reading <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> charges by <strong>the</strong> prosecutor. Scânteia, May 9, 1946, p. 4; May 16, 1946, p. 2. ANIC, fond DGP, dosar 87/1943, p. 318 (Police report, February 3, 1943). Ibid., pp. 352-353 (<strong>Report</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Secret Police, April 7, 1948). The reappearance <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Roma deportation in a Romanian scientific publication dates from 1974: Gheorghe Zaharia, Pages de la resistance antifasciste en Roumanie (Bucharest: Meridiane, 1974), p. 44.
THE ROLE OF ION ANTONESCU IN THE PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ANTISEMITIC AND ANTI-ROMA POLICIES OF THE ROMANIAN STATE Ion Antonescu’s responsibility for <strong>the</strong> death <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Jews <strong>of</strong> Bessarabia, Bukovina, and Transnistria is beyond debate. And yet, <strong>the</strong> survival <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Jews from Walachia, Moldavia and sou<strong>the</strong>rn Transylvania was due to his decision in fall 1942 to postpone indefinitely <strong>the</strong> deportation <strong>of</strong> Romanian Jews to Poland. Antonescu himself claimed during his 1946 trial that “if <strong>the</strong> Jews <strong>of</strong> Romania are still alive, this is due to Ion Antonescu.” Additionally, o<strong>the</strong>rs have cited his contact with Jews as a mitigating factor. But, in general, Ion Antonescu was dominated by his loathing <strong>of</strong> Jews and Judaism. He revealed this hatred at a session <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Council <strong>of</strong> Ministers on April 15, 1941: “I give <strong>the</strong> mob complete license to massacre [<strong>the</strong> Jews]. I will withdraw to my fortress, and after <strong>the</strong> slaughter I will restore order.” This was a ra<strong>the</strong>r accurate prediction <strong>of</strong> what was to take place in Iasi shortly <strong>the</strong>reafter. In numerous instances Antonescu personally instigated specific antisemitic steps adopted by <strong>the</strong> Romanian fascist state: on June 19 Antonescu ordered <strong>the</strong> closure <strong>of</strong> all “Jewish communist cafés” and <strong>the</strong> completion <strong>of</strong> lists—region by region—<strong>of</strong> all “Jidani, communist agents, and [communist] sympathizers”; <strong>the</strong> Ministry <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Interior was to “prevent <strong>the</strong>m from circulating” and to prepare “to deal with <strong>the</strong>m” when Antonescu gave <strong>the</strong> order; and as early as June 21, 1941, Ion Antonescu ordered that all able-bodied eighteen- to sixty-yearold Jewish males in villages between <strong>the</strong> Siret and Prut Rivers be removed to <strong>the</strong> Tirgu Jiu Camp in Oltenia and to surrounding villages. Their families and all Jews in o<strong>the</strong>r Moldavian villages were evacuated to <strong>the</strong> nearest urban districts. During <strong>the</strong> Iasi pogrom, at 11:00 P.M. on June 28, 1941, Ion Antonescu telephoned Colonel Lupu, chief <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Iasi garrison, who reported to him about <strong>the</strong> situation in town. The head <strong>of</strong> state ordered <strong>the</strong> “evacuation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Jewish population, group after group,” indicating that it was also “necessary” to include <strong>the</strong> women and children. On July 4, Antonescu asserted that “<strong>the</strong> Jewish people had embezzled and impoverished, speculated on and impeded <strong>the</strong> development <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Romanian people for several centuries; <strong>the</strong> need to free us from this plague is self-evident.” In spite <strong>of</strong> his propensity toward pogroms, Antonescu criticized <strong>the</strong> private instigation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m, and on July 12, 1941— after <strong>the</strong> Iasi pogrom—he condemned <strong>the</strong> soldiers who had taken part. Despite this rebuke, however, he still asserted that <strong>the</strong> Jews were “<strong>the</strong> open wound <strong>of</strong> Romanianism” and “had robbed bread from <strong>the</strong> poor.” For Ion Antonescu, <strong>the</strong> main enemy <strong>of</strong> his country was <strong>the</strong> Jew. On September 6, 1941, in a letter to Mihai Antonescu, he wrote, “Everybody should understand that this is not a struggle with <strong>the</strong> Slavs but one with <strong>the</strong> Jews. It is a fight to <strong>the</strong> death. Ei<strong>the</strong>r we will win and <strong>the</strong> world will purify itself or <strong>the</strong>y will win and we will become <strong>the</strong>ir slaves….The war in general and <strong>the</strong> fight for Odessa especially have proven that Satan is <strong>the</strong> Jew.” Such was perhaps <strong>the</strong> justification for less ideologically and more materialistically motivated steps, such as order no. 8507 <strong>of</strong> October 3, 1941 (formally promulgated by Colonel Davidescu, head <strong>of</strong> Antonescu’s military <strong>of</strong>fice), in which <strong>the</strong> Romanian dictator ordered <strong>the</strong> National Bank <strong>of</strong> Romania to “exchange”—i.e., confiscate—money and jewelry belonging to Jews about to be deported. Ion Antonescu was directly involved in <strong>the</strong> major repressive acts <strong>of</strong> his regime against <strong>the</strong> Jews. Unlike in Hitler’s case, <strong>the</strong>re is a wealth <strong>of</strong> documentary evidence proving this direct involvement. In early October 1941, for example, Col. Gheorghe Petrescu <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Supreme General Staff and Gendarmerie General Topor initiated <strong>the</strong> deportation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Jews from Bukovina on Antonescu’s personal order. Petrescu declared in 1945 that <strong>the</strong>y had received <strong>the</strong>ir orders from Radu Dinulescu <strong>of</strong> Section Two (Sectia II) <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Supreme General Staff; this order—no. 6651 <strong>of</strong> October 4, 1941—also cited Marshal Antonescu’s decision that all Jews in Bukovina were to be deported to Transnistria within ten days. The governor <strong>of</strong> Bukovina, General Calotescu, also confirmed that Petrescu and Topor had only been
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Final Repo
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Germany’s war against the
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which includes reputed experts led
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BACKGROUND AND PRECURSORS TO THE HO
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against which antisemites in <stron
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declaring in the p
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them. Thus, he con
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We must organize ourselves for a wa
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ureaucracy of wart
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this direction by Nicolae C. Paules
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promising leader of</strong
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organized a tariff and tax strike.
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Legion of
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less so in Romanian society as a wh
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This ambiguous, self-contradictory
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The Gigurtu government began to con
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The Case of Român
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Cuza’s argument that it is possib
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Românesc,” Sociologie Româneasc
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ole in the early 1
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European states, notably Romania an
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Germany's immediate interests at <s
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eligious communities, the</
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counterpart, “when [he] first met
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de Istorie şi Arheologie, “A. D.
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Romania. Muler to Luthe</st
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demands on territorial revisions an
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military mission to come to Romania
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High Command, informing the
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The Jews and the R
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Romanian army. Thus, in Ciudei in <
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antisemitism in Romanian society an
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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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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
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After deploring the</strong
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Michael Shafir, “Ex Occidente Obs
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See, for example, Giurescu who make
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Randolph L. Braham, Romanian Nation
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Mediafax, March 18, 2002, Monitorul
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See Ibidem, pp. 3, 54-55. Ibidem, p
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Radu Theodoru, Mareşalul, Editura
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egained from the U
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was a record of an
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secondary school use. Those institu
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including erecting statues, mountin
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