Holocaust in Romania - Corvinus Library - Hungarian History

“Don’t worry about it, Mr. Filderman , it won’t happen again.”“Jews are no longer able to travel by train. Traveling from one town to theother has become a form of torture for them. I receive letters and telegramsfrom everywhere reporting looting and torture, and all this happens inunder the eyes of the authorities.”“I know. These have been reported to me, but they won’t happenagain.” “The day before yesterday Iron Guards with revolvers poured into ahouse in Bucharest, the headquarters of the Sephardic Jewish Community.The chief rabbi was chased out of his flat. The offices of the Communityand the Music Conservatory were emptied, people were chased out of theirflats, and others took their places without right or legal formalities.”“Mr. Filderman , it won’t happen again.”“In the provinces lands are being expropriated, not just brutally andironhandedly , but with much abuse, and sometimes there are shamelessacts of looting. In Saveni whole herds of cattle were taken away from Jewswho trade in livestock, but who never had any land. In Braila a committeeappointed by the deputy county head seized hundreds of wagons of grain,even though that grain was the property of Jewish exporters who had neverhad land in the village. At this very moment legions of the Gendarmerie inthe towns and villages are busy taking an inventory of Jewish property. Incertain places, like Ceice , in Bihar county, and Balaceanca , in Suceavacounty, these goods have been confiscated and removed. InCampulung-Bucovina the Mayor’s Office has redrawn the town border300 meters away from its original location to bring other parts of the townswithin its jurisdiction, as villages, allowing for the expropriation Jewishproperty."“This is indeed abuse. We do want to carry out the expropriation lawgradually. But believe me, such abuses will cease.”“Also, in the name the expropriation law, the authorities have committedfurther abuses. Cemeteries, which are obviously on the outskirts of thetown, have been deliberately expropriated so that they can be listed ascouncil property. This has been the case in Ploesti, Buzau , Vaslui and evenBucharest. In Bacau , the town’s agricultural engineer decided to sidestep64