Jews In Romania

INTRODUCERE Studiul de faţă îşi propune să aducă o imagine mai apropiată asupra situaţiei comunităţii evreieşti în primele luni de viaţă ale Statului Naţional-Legionar. Lucrarea nu îşi propune o abordare exhaustivă a ceea ce s-a petrecut în perioada septembrie-decembrie 1940, ci doar va trata punctual acele episoade în care au fost implicaţi evrei şi autorităţile legionare, precum şi metodele folosite de aceştia din urmă pentru a îi harţuii pe locuitorii de etnie evreiască. Dintre toate abuzurile comise de către legionari mă voi axa, în cele ce urmează, cu precădere asupra confiscării economiei evreieşti de către autorităţi şi voi prezenta cazuri particulare relatate în memorii adresate de către cei vătămaţi sau de reprezentanţii acestora, cum ar fi preşedintele Comunităţii Evreieşti de atunci, Wilhem Filderman, atât preşedintelui Consiliului de Miniştri, Ion Antonescu, cât şi Ministrului de Interne, Costantin Petrovicescu, dar şi mărturii ale celor care au trecut prin coşmarul legionar.

Cuprins

Notă asupra ediției ................................................................... 5

I. Prieteni și cunoscuți interbelici

Ionel Jianu .................................................................................. 11
Mircea Lungu ............................................................................ 61
Mihail Rinea ............................................................................... 71
Peretz Reiter ............................................................................. 79
Sergiu Dan ................................................................................. 83
Nicu Steinhardt ........................................................................ 93
Miron Grindea ......................................................................... 121
Edgar Papu .............................................................................. 127
Beno Sebastian ...................................................................... 133
Lucian Boz ................................................................................ 141
Berthe Dominic ....................................................................... 149

II. Elevi și discipoli postbelici

Marcel Leibovici ...................................................................... 155
Nicolae Morcovescu .............................................................. 189
Anton Zigmund-Cerbu .......................................................... 237
Arion Roșu ................................................................................. 263
Adriana Berger ......................................................................... 295

Abrevieri ..................................................................................... 409

This article focuses on the question of Jewish identity in Romania around the turn of the twentieth century, in the cases of Romanian-born Jews, Tristan Tzara and Mar- cel Janco . It argues that it was neither Tzara’s and Janco’s Jewish heritage, nor their connection to Jewish culture, that defined their artistic personalities, but a web of in- terrelated social, political and personal components, all part of their multi-layered identity, of which their Jewishness was only one feature . In Romania, Jews have been variously stereotyped which led to a specific Jewish experience. Taking these formulations as a starting point, the concern of this article is with the phenome- non of self-definition, and particularly with Tzara’s and Janco’s self-definition over against Romanian reality and its clichéd views on national identity and citizenship. This article makes novel use of the Deleuzoguattarian concept of becoming to dis- cuss how Tzara and Janco position themselves in relation to their national identity, arguing for a complex relationship between origin and artistic production that goes beyond simple identity, as shown also in their first joint project, the journal Simbolul (“The Symbol”) . In short, the discussion is built around the argument that becoming offers a new platform to explore the linkage between Tzara’s and Janco’s lack of cit- izenship and the nation-state, by challenging the notions of Romanian and Jewish in favour of that of universal “citizenship” . In conclusion, this article seeks to clear the way for a renewed consideration of the symbolic substance of Tzara’s and Janco’s inherited Jewishness and the role it played in defining their national identity.

In: Múlt és Jövő 2017/1. 84-94.
[Jews as propaganda tool and bargaining chip in Romania]
In Romania during the Communist era Jewish citizens were subjugated to the interests of the Communist regimes. Under these circumstances Jews were allowed to emigrate to Israel, in exchange for Israeli economic aid (in form of agricultural and industrial projects). Nicolae Ceausescu raised this practice to a new level and started to exchange the Jews for hard currency. By permitting a limited Jewish emigration, Romania also obtained the Most Favored Nation status from the United States. THe paper examines the Jews role in the Romanian propaganda, as tool for gaining the MFN status. Because the MFN status was conditional on the free emigration of Jews and their prosperous condition in Romania, the regime used its propaganda machine to alter reality to match USA’s expectations, as the paper argues. Due to the successful employment of this propaganda, Romanian was able to obtain the beneficial trade status for more than ten years.  In the Romanian’s narrative Jews are recognized and honored member of the Romanian society, who possess an extensive cultural and religious autonomy, and have the possibility of free emigration. However the research shows sharp contradiction between the actual treatment and the depicted picture.