Holocaust in Romania - Corvinus Library - Hungarian History

All quarters and all targets were attacked at the same time. A walk of acouple of hundred meters through any of the Jewish quarters on January21, would have ended in the sight of a burning temple, and the horrifyingdisgusting spectacle of dancers circling the flames to the music of “thesacred Iron Guard youth” or “the Death detachment”. Farther on, onewould have noticed some Jews with pistols aimed at them being pushedand punched towards Iron Guard headquarters or a terror center; fartherstill there was a line of lorries: dozens of Jews were being taken to theabattoir, to Baneasa , Jilava , etc., where they were to be killed with terriblecruelty. Meanwhile, there was robbery and destruction all over Jewishstreets, devoid of even minimal police protection. During these dayssuburbanites poured into the Jewish quarter, secure in the knowledge thatthey could satisfy their desire for Jewish goods without the fear of legalpenalties. Who could have resisted the temptation of becoming instantlywealthy, when there was no resistance, and no fear of ever having to pay forone’s crimes?There was no risk of mistaking those of a certain ethnic origin for thepurposes of robbery or torture; signs on the homes of non-Jews clearly read“robbers have no business here”. The sign that averted bands was“Christian property”. Meanwhile, volunteer denunciators from the massof followers and those too shy to operate off their own bat pointed outJewish shops or flats which could be safely attacked. During the pogrom,which lasted for three days, not one Christian household wasinconvenienced: all of the victims were Jewish.Psychologists state even more strongly than criminologists that criminals,independent of their inherited abnormality, at the moment of committinga crime completely lose their moral sense. Suppressed instincts inheritedfrom their ancestors the gorillas or even more ancient monsters awakewithin them, and these alter not only the souls of these people but alsotheir physical features. This is more likely to happen to an unrestrainedband of criminals. Such a group —when it meets with no resistance; whenit allows itself to be carried away by rage, greed and destruction; when itbecomes intoxicated with a thirst for blood—is transformed into abarbaric mob capable of perpetrating the most appalling acts. This is theonly possible explanation of how such a mass of violent animals was able tocome to the forefront of a nation whose chief characteristic is meekness,and how they managed to execute such an horrendous pogrom in77