Holocaust in Romania - Corvinus Library - Hungarian History

RepatriationThe Chronological Order of EventsNovember 1942- March 1944November 12, 1944The governmental commissioner responsible for handling the Jewishissue, Radu Lecca , held a discussion with the leaders of the Central JewishOffice. Dr. W. Filderman , former President of the Union of JewishReligious Communities (he had been removed from the Jewish leadershipby Antonescu a year previously), also participated. Radu Lecca stated thegovernment’s proposal: the emigration of 75,000 Jews would be allowed(those who had survived in Transnistria ), if several tens of billions of leiwere paid in return; the sum was expected to be raised by foreign Jews. Dr.Filderman asked for the negotiations to be postponed until all the Jews hadbeen allowed home.January 2, 1943The government’s proposal, that all the Jews would be released on thecondition that their freedom was paid for in cash, and that they were toemigrate immediately on arriving home, was not followed by concretesteps, but at least it served to raise the idea of their eventual return. At thattime, the case of the approx. 5,000 orphans, whose lives were in danger as aconsequence of the miserable conditions in Transnistria , was the mostalarming. The Jewish leadership, which operated under cover, sent apetition to the government, in which they asked for the repatriation of theorphans. The issue of Jews born in the Old Kingdom who were eithersubsequently deported for labor service contravention; or evacuated fromDorohoi county, or those who had been taken away the previous year,because they had wanted to emigrate to the Soviet Union, was also raised.223