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

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fulfilling Antonescu’s instructions. Indeed Ion Antonescu stated on October 6, 1941, at a meeting <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Council <strong>of</strong> Ministers: “I have decided to evacuate all <strong>of</strong> [<strong>the</strong> Jews] forever from <strong>the</strong>se regions. I still have about 10,000 Jews in Bessarabia who will be sent beyond <strong>the</strong> Dniester within several days, and if circumstances permit, beyond <strong>the</strong> Urals.” On November 14 in ano<strong>the</strong>r meeting <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Council <strong>of</strong> Ministers, Ion Antonescu stated: “I have enough difficulties with those Jidani that I sent to <strong>the</strong> Bug. How many died on <strong>the</strong>ir way is known only by me.” Participants at <strong>the</strong> same meeting heard <strong>the</strong> following situation reports from General Voiculescu, governor <strong>of</strong> Bessarabia: “The Jidani don’t exist anymore. There are 100 sick Jews in <strong>the</strong> ghetto at <strong>the</strong> crossing point for <strong>the</strong> deportees from Bukovina.” At <strong>the</strong> November 13, 1941, session <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Council <strong>of</strong> Ministers, Antonescu ordered that deported Jewish state retirees be denied <strong>the</strong>ir pensions. In <strong>the</strong> same session Antonescu expressed a deep interest in <strong>the</strong> campaign against <strong>the</strong> Jews <strong>of</strong> Odessa, <strong>the</strong>n underway: Antonescu: Has <strong>the</strong> repression been sufficiently severe? Alexianu: It has been, Marshal. Antonescu: What do you mean by “sufficiently severe”?… Alexianu: It was very severe, Marshal. Antonescu: I said that for every dead Romanian, 200 Jews [should die] and that for every Romanian wounded 100 Jews [should die]. Did you [see to] that? Alexianu: The Jews <strong>of</strong> Odessa were executed and hung in <strong>the</strong> streets…. Antonescu: Do it, because I am <strong>the</strong> one who answers for <strong>the</strong> country and to history. [If <strong>the</strong> Jews <strong>of</strong> America don’t like this] let <strong>the</strong>m come and settle <strong>the</strong> score with me. During his trial Ion Antonescu acknowledged his responsibility in <strong>the</strong> Odessa executions in <strong>the</strong> following way: Public Prosecutor Saracu: Who signed <strong>the</strong> order to execute 200 people for every <strong>of</strong>ficer and 100 for every soldier? Accused Ion Antonescu: I gave that order, because I also did it in Romania and I promulgated many more repressive laws, as did all states during that period….We did not execute any Jews, we did not execute any youth; I did give <strong>the</strong> order for reprisals, but not for massacres. In fact on October 24, 1941, General Macici, commander <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Second Army Corps (<strong>the</strong> Romanian military command in Odessa), received telegram no. 563 from Colonel Davidescu, chief <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Military Cabinet, which stated that Marshal Antonescu had ordered fur<strong>the</strong>r reprisals: “1) Execution <strong>of</strong> all Jews from Bessarabia who have sought refuge in Odessa; 2) All individuals who fall under <strong>the</strong> stipulations <strong>of</strong> [telegram 562] <strong>of</strong> October 23, 1941, not yet executed and <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>rs who can be added <strong>the</strong>reto [sic] will be placed inside a building that will be mined and detonated. This action will take place on <strong>the</strong> day <strong>of</strong> burial <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> victims; 3) This order will be destroyed after being read.” On October 27, 1941, Colonel Davidescu asked if this order had been carried out, to which <strong>the</strong> Fourth Army replied that it had indeed been executed (telegram 3218). At <strong>the</strong> December 4, 1941, meeting <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Council <strong>of</strong> Ministers, Antonescu indicated his frustration that <strong>the</strong> Jews <strong>of</strong> Chisinau had been deported before <strong>the</strong>y could be plundered. Because <strong>of</strong> that oversight, <strong>the</strong> Jews were robbed by <strong>the</strong>ir escorts at <strong>the</strong> crossing points on <strong>the</strong> Dniester ra<strong>the</strong>r than by <strong>the</strong> state bank in <strong>the</strong> ghetto. This is what underlay Antonescu’s demand for a commission <strong>of</strong> inquiry ra<strong>the</strong>r than any outrage at <strong>the</strong> abuses suffered by <strong>the</strong> Jews. “Instead <strong>of</strong> eating <strong>the</strong> bread <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Romanian country it is better that <strong>the</strong>y eat <strong>the</strong> bread <strong>of</strong> that region.” Observing that even Nazi Germany was slow at <strong>the</strong>
December 16, 1941, meeting <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Council <strong>of</strong> Ministers, Antonescu urged his lieutenants to hasten Romania’s solution to its “Jewish question”: “Put <strong>the</strong>m in <strong>the</strong> catacombs, put <strong>the</strong>m in <strong>the</strong> Black Sea. I don’t want to hear anything. It does not matter if 100 or 1,000 die, [for all I care] <strong>the</strong>y can all die.” This order resulted in <strong>the</strong> deportation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> surviving Jews <strong>of</strong> Odessa to Berezovka and Golta. One <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> documents most revealing <strong>of</strong> Ion Antonescu’s antisemitic convictions is <strong>the</strong> letter he sent on October 29, 1942, to <strong>the</strong> liberal leader C.I.C. Bratianu shortly after canceling his decision to deport <strong>the</strong> Jews from sou<strong>the</strong>rn Transylvania, Moldavia, and Walachia to occupied Poland. The letter is especially noteworthy because it does not actually deal directly with <strong>the</strong> “Jewish question”; none<strong>the</strong>less it conveys powerful xenophobic undercurrents in its frequent antisemitic discursions. Similar to pre-fascist Romanian antisemites <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and much like Legionnaire and Nazi <strong>the</strong>oreticians, Antonescu was obsessed with <strong>the</strong> interference <strong>of</strong> foreign powers in <strong>the</strong> defense <strong>of</strong> minorities in Romania and boasted about having put an end to it. “The Romanian people are no longer subject to <strong>the</strong> servitude imposed by <strong>the</strong> Congress <strong>of</strong> Berlin in 1878, by <strong>the</strong> amendment <strong>of</strong> article 7 <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Constitution [granting Jews citizenship], nor <strong>the</strong> [humiliation] imposed after <strong>the</strong> last war as concerns <strong>the</strong> minorities.” In particular Antonescu felt that as a result <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> amendment <strong>of</strong> article 7 “<strong>the</strong> country has been Judaized, <strong>the</strong> Romanian economy compromised, just like our country’s purity.” Like Legionnaire ideologues, Antonescu believed <strong>the</strong> general corruption <strong>of</strong> Romanian political life resulted from “Judaic and Masonic” influences. He cast himself as <strong>the</strong> savior <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Romanian nation after <strong>the</strong> proclamation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> National-Legionary State. Antonescu accused Maniu, leader <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> National Peasant Party, and o<strong>the</strong>r political adversaries <strong>of</strong> being supported by “Jewish newspapers.” He accused his predecessors <strong>of</strong> having been brought to power by “<strong>the</strong> occult, Masonic, and Judaic lobby.” Antonescu faulted Bratianu, leader <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Liberal Party, for allegedly wavering in his nationalism: “You are a nationalist—at least it would seem so—and yet you side with <strong>the</strong> Jews and you protest, like Mr. Maniu, against <strong>the</strong> Romanianization measures I have just introduced.” In Antonescu’s view, Germany had always been Romania’s ally, while “<strong>the</strong> Jew from London,” and “<strong>the</strong> British, <strong>the</strong> Americans, and <strong>the</strong> Jews who had dictated <strong>the</strong>ir terms for peace after <strong>the</strong> previous war,” were Romania’s outside enemies. Its internal enemies were “communists…Jidani, Hungarians, and Saxons,” who waited for <strong>the</strong> first signs <strong>of</strong> anarchy “to ignite trouble...to strike <strong>the</strong> final blow to our nation.” Ion Antonescu’s antisemitism had an obsessive quality. For example, on February 3, 1942, in a meeting <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Council <strong>of</strong> Ministers, he explained to members <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Romanian government that <strong>the</strong> reason a Romanian peasant allowed a large quantity <strong>of</strong> nuts to rot was that he did not know how to peal <strong>the</strong>m. According to Antonescu, <strong>the</strong> peasant lacked this knowledge because this “operation was done previously by <strong>the</strong> Kike. [The peasants] were giving away <strong>the</strong> nuts 5-6 years in advance and…no longer knew what <strong>the</strong> Kikes were doing with <strong>the</strong>m. This is <strong>the</strong> stage our nation is in; here is where <strong>the</strong> Kikes (jidanimea) have brought it.” During two meetings <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Council <strong>of</strong> Ministers—on April 22, 1944, and on May 6, 1944—Ion Antonescu enounced <strong>the</strong> cliché <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> “kikes with glasses who are spying for <strong>the</strong> enemy.” For him, democracy itself was a pejorative term: “I fight to win <strong>the</strong> war, but it might be that it will be won by <strong>the</strong> democracies. And we know what democracy means: it means judeocracy.” The Conducator’s attitude toward <strong>the</strong> Jews alternated between violent hatred and moments <strong>of</strong> feigned patriarchal generosity. During fall 1941, for example, Antonescu claimed before <strong>the</strong> Council <strong>of</strong> Ministers that he was “fighting to clean Bessarabia and Bukovina <strong>of</strong> Jidani and Slavs.” But on September 8, 1941, Antonescu promised Wilhelm Filderman, head <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Federation <strong>of</strong> Jewish Communities (Federatia Uniunilor de Comunitati Evreiesti; FUCE), that he would rescind <strong>the</strong> order forcing Jews in Romania to wear <strong>the</strong> Star <strong>of</strong> David, allow Jews to emigrate to Spain or Portugal, and not deport <strong>the</strong> Jews <strong>of</strong> Moldavia and Walachia. The next day Antonescu also asked <strong>the</strong> government to differentiate between “useful” and “useless” Jews, presumably to halt <strong>the</strong> persecution <strong>of</strong> at least some. And yet one month later in response
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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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Gosudartsveni Archiv Odeskoi Oblast
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Page 155 and 156: Conclusions The anti-Jewish legisla
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Page 199 and 200: Others 22 968 Magy
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Page 229 and 230: Randolph L. Braham, comp. and ed. (
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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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