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Introduction to the Romania Holocaust

The tragedy of the Romanian Jewry remains one of the most neglected chapters in the history of the Holocaust. This web page will examine the suffering Romanian Jews faced during WWII to illuminate the reasons for the tragedies that individuals went through, many not surviving. The main reason used by Romanian officials when killing Jews was the belief that they would ally with the Soviet Union and become spies. Thus not only did communists have to be killed, but Jews as well. However, oppression and killing also took place for the same beliefs held by Hitler. Jews were seen as inferior creatures that polluted society, however the latter reason played a more minor role. In the Old Romania, in the territory without the lost provinces, Jews were hardly affected by the war. However, the story is quite different East of the Prut River. No country, with the exception of Germany, was involved in massacres of Jews on such a large scale. (The Destruction of the European Jews, pg. 759)

“There were also instances when the Germans actually had to step in to

restrain and slow down the pace of the Romanian measures. At such

times the Romanians were moving too fast for the German bureaucracy.”

(The Destruction of the European Jews, pg. 759)

Methods used to wipe out large number of Jews did not include gas camps or other methods use in Nazi Germany, but more primitive practices such as suffocation, starvation, and hanging. This web page will examine first the racist policies before the Holocaust started, to see how Jews were treated before the start of WWII. Then it will focus on the mass killings that took place in Iasi, Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transnistria to show why and how Jews were killed and who is to blame.

Anti-Semitism before the Holocaust

In 1939, Romania had the third largest Jewish population, after the Soviet Union and Poland. Romania had a history of anti- Semitism that was based in the Christian movement. The summer of 1940 marked the decisive turning point for fascism in Romania under Carol II. On June 21, as a preventive measure to save his throne, he announced the Party of the Nation, thus ending political pluralism. Within the one party system, the Iron Guard occupied an important role. (The Sword of the Archangel,

chapter 6)

However, the same year Carol II was forced to resign. The government, headed by Ion Gigurtu, introduced draconian anti-Jewish legislature, which was openly inspired by the Nazi Nuremberg Laws. Antonescu, which followed Gigurtu as leader of the nation, created the Legionare state in coalition with the Iron Guard. They expanded on the laws passed by Gigurtu. During 1941 and 1942, thirty-two laws, thirty-one decree-laws, and seventeen government resolutions, all sharply anti-Semitic, were published in the Official Gazette (Monitorul Oficial). Among other things, these laws forbade Jews:

-access to higher education

-the right to hold pubic office

-the possession of radios

-the right to practice legal or artistic professions

Many professional organizations excluded Jews from membership. They included:

-the Bucharest Bar

-the Romanian Opera

-the Society of Romanian Writers

-the General Assembly of Dentists

(From The Tragedy of Romanian Jewry, pg. 119)

Many Jews felt threatened by the increase of anti-Semitism and the Antonescu regime. In the fall of 1940, thousand left for ships for Palestine. Unfortunately, many ships sank, killing hundreds. (The Destruction of European Jews, pg. 762)

Why Jews were Considered a Threat to Romania

During the summer of 1940, Romania was forced to give up Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the USSR, Northern Transylvania to Hungary, and Southern Dobrudja to Bulgaria. This huge loss of territory was a determining factor in Romania’s alliance to the Axis Powers. The Interior Ministry ordered the removal of Jews from frontier areas as a precautionary measure against “sabotage and espionage”. Many individuals were transported in inhumane conditions from frontier districts to the interior of the country. (The Destruction of the European Jews, pg. 763) Jews were also considered “madmen” that caused syphilis, prostitution, divorce, etc. It was suggested that they should be sterilized in the name of science. For these two reasons, especially for protection during wartime, Antonescu felt Jews must be put in labor camps, ghettos, and in the worst case killed.

The Iasi Program

Iasi, before WWII, consisted of a hundred thousand individuals, half of which were Jews. The Iasi program is the most infamous in the history of the Romanian Holocaust. On June 25, 1941 (three days after the outbreak of the war) rumors circulated that Soviet parachutists landed near the city of Iasi. The army ordered a search of all Jewish homes. Many believed that Jews in Iasi were “enemy allies” of the USSR, “Bolshevik agents, and “parasites on the Romanian nation." (The Holocaust in Romania, pg. 63) Reports circulated that Jews were firing upon the soldiers, and thus the massacre stared. It is hard to establish how many were killed, but estimates are around nine hundred people. Most were shot inside the police station courtyard (around five hundred) or the movie house. Most victims were buried in mass graves dug up a few days before by some of the same Jews. Many more died on trains that carried Jews to the interior of the country because of suffocation and starvation. They had to leave regions between the Siret and the Prut River and go to the camps established at Tirgu Jiu. It is estimated that more than one thousand Jews died on these trains, suffocating to death. (Burning Ice, pg. 50) This would ensure that they were not as close to the frontier, and also that they could be more closely supervised.

Round up of Jews during the Iasi pogrom, June 1941.

Bessarabia and Bukovina

Bessarabia and Bukovina were also territories that were homes to large Jewish populations. There were 206,958 Jews living in Bessarabia and 69,144 in Bukovina. These two regions were recovered from Russia in 1941. Under Soviet Rule, which lasted from June of 1940 to June of 1941, Jews were largely forbidden to practice their religion and customs. Interrogations and deportations occurred at night, with over 4,000 deported. These, at first, included Zionist and other local leader, but then Jews of all social classes were being deported. However, with Romania’s reposition of the territory, Jews were made to suffer a much worse fate.

The year between June 1941 and June 1942 was the cruelest for the Jews living in Bessarabia and Bukovina. Jews were once again moved from small country town to large urban centers that became Jewish ghettos. The Romanians, with the aid of the Germans, occupied the territories. German mobile killing units drawn from the S.S. were commanded by Otto Ohlendorf. (Burning Ice, pg. 50) Ion Antonescu declared about the Jews in Bessarabia and Bukovina:

“I am in favor of expelling the Jews from Bessarabia and Bukovina on

the other side of the border...There is nothing for them to do here and I

don’t mind if we appear in history as barbarians…There has never been

a more suitable time in our history to get rid of the Jews, and if necessary,

you are to activate machine guns against them.” (Burning Ice, pg. 51)

Jewish women under the guard of Romanian soldiers. Kishenev, summer of 1941.

Jews boarding the death train that journeyed from Iasi to Calarasi.

Transnistria

More than 800,000 Jews were killed in Transnistria during WWII. (Burning Ice, pg. 151) In Transnistria about 200 different labor and concentration camps were set up for Jews, throughout the 118 counties in the area. About a third of the Jews at these camps died of malnutrition, and the remaining ones were killed. Jews in these camps were killed without warning and in the most brutal matter. On October 16, 1942 one hundred and fifty young women were told that they would travel to go work in German hospitals. They were brought to the forest, where they were killed and raped. Similar actions followed. The Antonescu regime, together with German troops, continued to torture Jews in Transnistria until August of 1944, even after the Soviet attach on the Romanian and German troops. Many others died in an effort to move Jews to regions further west, such as Bassarabia, Bukovina, and even Tirgu Jiu.

Conclusion

It is important to mention that Jews were not the only minorities targeted by Romanians. Gypsies were also affected by the Holocaust, with twenty six thousand deported, around seven thousand massacred, and three thousand starved to death. (The Sword of the Archangel, chapter 6) They were not viewed as enemies of Romania, but inferior creatures that had to be killed in order to keep the Romanian race pure.

However, the Romanian Jews were most affected during WWII, with the second largest number, after Germany, killed and tortured. The Antonescu regime feared that the Jews would ally with the Russians and fight against the Romania. Even before WWII, laws were passed to ensure that Jews were not treated as equal citizens, with the belief that they were inferior creatures that caused diseases and disaster. Therefore the Antonescu regime, with the Iron Guard in the few months that they were in power, felt justified in killing a large number of Jews during the Holocaust. However, few Romanians are aware of this part in its history. The genocide that occurred in Romania has to be brought to light not only the international arena, but in Romania as well. With the return to democracy in Romania, individuals need to take responsibility and speak honestly about the past. Only through an accurate examination of its history will Romania learn from the past and ensure that the tragedies that took place during WWII do not occur again.

Sources:

1) Braham, Randolph. Romanian Nationalists and the Holocaust. New York: Colombia

University Press, 1998.

2) Braham, Randolph. The Tragedy of Romanian Jewry. New York: Colombia University

Press, 1994.

3) Hilberg, Raul. The Destruction of the European Jews. New York: Holmes and Meier,

1985.

4) Ioanid, Radu. The Holocaust in Romania. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2000.

5) Ioanid, Radu. The Sword of the Archangel. New York: Colombia University Press,

1990.

6) Shachan, Avigdor. Burning Ice. New York: Colombia University Press, 1996.

Note: All pictures and captions are from Radu Ioanid’s The Holocaust in Romania.

The photographs on this page have been reproduced here for educational purposes only and no copyright infringement is intended.