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Holocaust in Romania - Corvinus Library - Hungarian History

Holocaust in Romania - Corvinus Library - Hungarian History

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defends Jews—as their well-paid lawyer—<strong>in</strong> the course of legal actionstaken aga<strong>in</strong>st them based on laws prepared by him. At present he is busychas<strong>in</strong>g Jewish judges, bailiffs and public prosecutors from their posts, andforbidd<strong>in</strong>g Jewish lawyers—with the help of a special law—from hold<strong>in</strong>gexecutive positions <strong>in</strong> the Law Society and from practic<strong>in</strong>g their professionat military tribunals.Dur<strong>in</strong>g the first month of the existence of the National Iron Guard State,professional bodies, especially those of the <strong>in</strong>telligentsia, were veryhard-work<strong>in</strong>g. Their list of activities is long, shamefully so. However, it isour duty to mention it.Head<strong>in</strong>g the list is the First Incorporated Law Society of the country. OnSeptember 6, 1940, simultaneously with the start of the new system, theIncorporated Law Society of the capital also secured its own day ofhistorical importance by remov<strong>in</strong>g the first group of Jewish lawyers, whohad identified themselves as Jews <strong>in</strong> compliance with the directives aga<strong>in</strong>stJews. Fifty-five lawyers were expelled on that day, only because thecounselors soon tired of the task.Dur<strong>in</strong>g the follow<strong>in</strong>g days they compensated for the backlog caused by thetheir wear<strong>in</strong>ess on the first day; through rushed, superficial and dictatorialdecisions arrived at dur<strong>in</strong>g six meet<strong>in</strong>gs (on September 6, 7, 10, 11, 12 and13) out of the 1,479 Jewish lawyers only 177 escaped with the right topractice their profession.One week later the In cor po rated Law So ci ety was fol lowed by the So ci etyof Ro ma nian Eng<strong>in</strong>eers, which expelled the first group of Jewish en gi neersfrom its mem ber ship on Sep tem ber 3, and went to great lengths to em pha -size: it had no <strong>in</strong>tention of abid <strong>in</strong>g by any di rec tive which would have en -abled certa<strong>in</strong> peo ple to ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> their rights, and saw to it that the secondand last group of Jew ish en gi neers were also ex pelled. Dur <strong>in</strong>g the nextmeet<strong>in</strong>g (on Oc to ber 10), the Society’s “cleans <strong>in</strong>g of Jews” was completed.Then the flood gates opened. On Sep tem ber 20 the Sports As so ci a tion <strong>in</strong> -validated the iden tity cards of Jewish journalists; on Sep tem ber 21 the De -part ment of So cial Se cu rity dis missed Jewish de liv er ers, and on the sameday the Ro ma nian Opera dismissed its Jewish em ploy ees. On Sep tem ber25 the Trade Un ion of Jour nal ists ex cluded its Jew ish mem bers, on 25 the57

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