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

andom searches and arrests, robberies, deportation from villages, torture, rapes, and Nazi-style public
humiliation, and <strong>the</strong>y increased in number as <strong>the</strong> day <strong>of</strong> open confrontation with Antonescu neared. On
November 29, Antonescu ordered <strong>the</strong> Legionary Police to disarm. The intended effects <strong>of</strong> his order,
however, were attenuated by <strong>the</strong> Minister <strong>of</strong> Interior, who ordered <strong>the</strong> transfer <strong>of</strong> “competent staff” from
<strong>the</strong> Legionary police to regular police units.
The Eviction and Expropriation <strong>of</strong> Rural Jews
The deportation <strong>of</strong> Jews from villages in many regions <strong>of</strong> Romania is <strong>of</strong> particular importance, as <strong>the</strong>
isolation <strong>of</strong> Jews from <strong>the</strong> rural population always figured high in <strong>the</strong> antisemitic narrative <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Legion
and <strong>the</strong> Legion’s intellectual references. In addition, <strong>the</strong> deportation aimed to seize Jewish property.
These actions were illegal, even by <strong>the</strong> standards <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> antisemitic legislation adopted by <strong>the</strong> National
Legionary government. The deportation campaign was well planned, and <strong>the</strong> deportation order was issued
verbally by <strong>the</strong> Interior Minister. The campaign started in October 1940 and basically ended two months
later in December. Local Legion commanders were <strong>the</strong> chief organizers. Jews were deported from dozens
<strong>of</strong> villages where <strong>the</strong>y had lived for more than a hundred years. Specially-established “commissions for
<strong>the</strong> administration <strong>of</strong> Jewish property” took part in <strong>the</strong> expropriation proceedings before county courts. In
smaller villages, <strong>the</strong> robbers—whe<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong>y were Legionnaires or ordinary citizens—were unconcerned
about <strong>the</strong> illegality <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir actions. Only in larger villages and small towns did <strong>the</strong>y bo<strong>the</strong>r to force Jews
to sign sales contracts, and <strong>the</strong> “agreement” to sell was sometimes obtained after <strong>the</strong> owner had been
illegally detained.
As a consequence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se actions, Jews residing in <strong>the</strong> countryside became refugees in county
capitals, where <strong>the</strong>y took up residence with Jewish families that were <strong>the</strong>mselves subject to robberies.
Some <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> elderly deportees were veterans <strong>of</strong> Romania’s wars, who proudly wore <strong>the</strong>ir military medals.
By mid-December 1940, <strong>the</strong> Legionnaires were confident enough to start robbing Jews in Bucharest <strong>of</strong>
<strong>the</strong>ir property. Homes and o<strong>the</strong>r immovable property were prized. After severe beatings Jewish owners
reluctantly signed sales contracts and requests for <strong>the</strong> termination <strong>of</strong> rent contracts. The deportees never
returned to <strong>the</strong>ir homes, as Antonescu himself agreed that deportation was desirable. Out <strong>of</strong> 110,000 Jews
residing in <strong>the</strong> countryside, about 10,000 <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m became refugees.
Army units located far from Bucharest also took part in <strong>the</strong> Legion’s anti-Jewish actions. On Yom
Kippur (October 12) in 1940, for example, army personnel participated in a Legion-organized day <strong>of</strong>
terror in Campulung Moldovenesc, a town controlled, in effect, by Vasile Iasinschi, <strong>the</strong> Legionary
minister <strong>of</strong> Labor, Health, and Social Welfare. Thus, Colonel Mociulschi, commander <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> local army
base, ordered army soldiers to prevent Jews from entering or leaving <strong>the</strong>ir homes while police and
Legionary squads burgled and pillaged. The booty was collected in <strong>the</strong> local Legion headquarters. Later,
<strong>the</strong> local rabbi, Iosef Rubin, was tortured and humiliated (he was made to pull a wagon, which his son
was forced to drive), and <strong>the</strong> synagogue was vandalized and robbed.
A particularly harsh episode was <strong>the</strong> forced exile and even deportation <strong>of</strong> what <strong>the</strong> regime called
“foreign Jews” (roughly 7,700 people in 1940). Antonescu gave <strong>the</strong> order and set a two-month deadline
for all foreign Jews to leave Romanian territory. Hundreds <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m were subsequently arrested and <strong>the</strong>ir
property confiscated. The arrested were <strong>the</strong>n taken to Dornesti, a new customs point on <strong>the</strong> Soviet border,
where <strong>the</strong>y were forced to walk on Soviet territory. Since Romanian authorities did not inform <strong>the</strong> Soviets
about this, <strong>the</strong> Soviet border patrol shot to death dozens <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se foreign Jews. After similar episodes
were repeated, <strong>the</strong> Romanian authorities decided to intern <strong>the</strong> survivors in <strong>the</strong> Calarasi-Ialomita camp in
sou<strong>the</strong>rn Romania.
The Bucharest Pogrom