jewish history od romania

7/27/2019 Jewish History Od Romania

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Jew ish history o f Romania

Among the most popular Yiddish hits in America was onewhich reminisced about life in the old country: "Romania,

Romania, Romania!" Written by Aaron Lebedeff, a star of the Yiddish stage, "Romania" remains a beloved hit.

Throughout the Diaspora, despite the bitter hardships towhich Jews were subject, they could still be sentimentalabout their old homes. "Once there was a beautiful land-

Romania! Life was so good! No cares, just wine,mamaligeh (Romanian porridge), beautiful girls, and

merriment!"



Jewish history of Romania

• Romania is a country with a rich Jewish Heritage. The first Jews arebelieved to have arrived along with the Roman legions who invadedDacia (today's Romania) in 101 AD. During the Middle Ages, Jewishimmigrants began settling in Wallachia and Moldova. By the early16th Century, their numbers once again swelled by the arrival of

immigrants (Ashkenazim Jews) fleeing persecution in Poland andUkraine. During the next two centuries the Romanian JewishCommunity evolved into a prosperous middle class in charge of much of the country's trade. The modern history of Romania's Jewsmirrors the experience of other European Jewish communities; adynamic cultural and spiritual life in the face of recurrent periods of anti-Semitism. After 1948 emigration to Israel and other countries

significantly reduced the number of Jews living in Romania.



The Jew commun i ty in Bar lad

• The first synagogue in Barlad was built in

1789.

• In 1899 there were 5,883 Jews in Barlad,

representing 24.2% of the entire

population; nowadays there are 34 Jews.



Hospi tals

• The Jewish community

was a very important

presence in Barlad,

contributing to the

prosperity of the town by

building the first Jewish

hospital in 1898 and an

asylum for elderly people,in 1902.



Schools

• In 1873 the first school, havingthree classrooms and 90students was inauguratedunder the initiative of thebureau of the “Bnei Brit Tzion”(”The Covenanters of Zion”)

and with the sole investment of the Jewish community.

• In 1896 the first school for girls“De Hirsch Baroness” wasopened.

• The first evening courses for

adults were initiated by thecommunity.

• The Jewish High schoolfunctioned until 1944-1945.



Personalities

• Some of the most reputed teachers of the

town were of Jewish origin, for example

Ioan Barbalat, teacher of mathematics with

studies at Sorbonne.

• Virgil Duda (Leibovici Rubin ) is a well

known writer who says in memories about

his hometown:" For me it (Barlad) hasremained the center of the Universe”.



Personal i t ies

• Radu Nichita Rapaport is known for having

translated Shakespeare.

• A. Axelrad, poet, began his literary activities

under the influence of “The Emigration on Foot” • Marcel Saragea is considered the father of

physiopathology in Romanian medical schools.

• David Solomonovici-painter • Shimon Rubinstein-historian



Members o f the Roman ian

Academy

• Martin Bercovici- Energetic engineering

• Barbu Zaharescu (Bercu Zukerman)-Social

sciences

• Marcel Saragea-honorary member of the Academy for Medical Sciences

• Professor Dr. Miron Segall-Medical Sciences

• Professor Dr . Paul Pruteanu (PincuSolomonovici)-Researcher in the past of the

Moldavian medicine



Indus t ry and Economy

“In Barlad everybody knew when theJewish celebrated their holidayssince all the shops were closed”.-old townsman

Barlad served as a wheatmarketing centre for all the

neighbouring counties. In the year 1887, out of the 954 merchants,389 were Jews.

• Industrial enterprises founded byJews in Barlad:

• Zeilig-Saraga mill and sons;

• Unirea mill - I. Edelstein; Knitwear

factory - Adolf Cahane;• Wadding factory - Glasberg,

• Iancu Rosenstein and Max Rosner - bakers.



Mass media

• 1899 - "Aurora Tionista", weekly, there were edited only 16 editions. Thefounder was Sigismund Gross. The Barlad newspaper tends "to elevate theprestige of the Jewish people towards itself and towards the people withwhom it lives" (S. Podoleanu, "Istoria presei evreiesti in Romania"). Heremade his debut A. Axelrad with a poem titled "In sant" (1917), an appeal tothe naturalization of the Jews. In the pages of this magazine was promotedthe idea of returning to Eretz Israel even "by foot immigration".

• 1913-1915, 1919 - "Bar Kochba" magazine ("Fiul Stelei"), "Revista national-evreiasca", monthly, 16 pages, director Achile M. Finkelstein. In its openingspeech, it is reaffirmed the fact that the orientation of the magazine is "in thesense of the modern Zionist ideas".

• July 16, 1900 - the feminist magazine "Bas Ami" (editor Dr. HerscuFridman), just one edition, published by the women immigrants; May 18,1900 - "Jidovul ratacitor", four pages, published by "pedestrian Jewishimmigrants"; 1900 - "Drumetii", Gross Typography; May 18-20, 1900 -"Emigrantii", "Lacrimi de despartire".

• "Traiasca Romania", publication of the immigrants from Barlad.



Mass media

• I. SCHECHTER

• Editor for "Viata noastra" and editor-in-chief for "Izvoare", first editor at"Ultima ora". He was laureate of the Zion Price for literature. He wasmember of the Association of the Israeli Writers of Romanian Language."The satire doesn't correct the customs, but it denounces them and makesfun of them… the villains are incurable". … Here are their "Ten

Commandments"…• Ten Commandments

I.Do not kill continuously.II.Do not steal in all foolishness.III.Do not endorse.IV.Be watchful in your sleep.V.Do not regret the crimes before committing them.VI.Do not be afraid to compromise yourself.VII.Be what you seem.VIII.Do otherwise.IX.Honor the ones who pay for it.X.Kiss yourself.



Persecut ion:

• In the year 1867 the Christians brought a libel againstthe Jews in Barlad accusing them of killing a monk. Therabble fell upon Jewish homes. The government orderedan investigation into the matter, and the Minister of theInterior announced in parliament that the Jews were at

fault in this incident.• In 1868 another riot occurred because of the feud

between a Greek and a Jew. In the year 1870 theFrench consul protested against the persecution of theJews in Barlad and demanded intervention by the

responsible world powers.• In the year 1886 a new wave of persecution occurred

which brought about the beginnings of Jewish emigrationout of the city.



Persecut ion: • In the fall of 1899 emigration

from Barlad increased. Everytwo to three days about ten tofifteen families left. At thebeginning of 1900 the flow of emigration had beenestablished to such an extentthat it was from Barlad that theinitiative to emigrate spreadthroughout the country. Itbecame the movement knownas “Emigration on Foot”. In thespring of that year two

organized groups of “Emigrants on Foot” left thecountry, one of them consistingof seventy-two souls and thesecond of thirty- eight.



Persecut ion: • The total number of Jews who left

Barlad between the years 1899and 1902 came to six hundred.The emigrees even published anewsletter for themselves,“Emigrantii”, “Dati Ajutor” and anewsletter for women with theHebrew name, “Bat Ami”(”Daughter of My People”).

• In 1907 an anti-Semitic club wasestablished by teachers, priestsand political leaders. This clubincited the students of thegymnasium to riot against theJews. Two of the students whotook part in the riots were expelled

from the school, and, in protestagainst their expulsion, the othersorganized and equippedthemselves with axes and clubs,and burst into the Jewish quarter destroying and looting. Eightyshops owned by Jewish

merchants and craftsmen weredamaged during the rampage



Persecut ion

• In the period between the two world wars Barlad

was a center of pogroms. The Christian teachers

in the government gymnasium, headed by the

school principal Cezar Ursu,, used to regularlyincite the students against the Jews. Their

pogroms increased when the students in the

Romanian universities began to demand a

“numerus clausus” against Jews. Whenever theJewish youth had any kind of cultural event, they

used to organize anti-Semitic demonstrations.



Dur ing the Holocaust

• The sufferings of the local Jews increased during the days of theterror of the “Iron Guard”. In November 1940, Jewish males weretaken for forced labor. After a short time the academics among themwere let go. This was the result of protests from the Romanianacademic community, who threatened that they too would come to

work together with their Jewish colleagues. Four Jewish studentswere arrested and convicted of promulgating Communist opinions.They were tortured in order to extract their confessions. At the trial,which took place on November 19th, 1940, they were acquitted.

• With the outbreak of war between Romania and the Soviet Union inJune of 1941, all the Jews from the villages of the county were

deported into Barlad. In the spring of 1943 the hospital, the old folk'shome and the bath-house were confiscated by the “National Centrefor Romanization”.



Dur ing the Holocaust

• With their retreat from the advancing Red Army, the Al Germanforces under the command of General Woehler came into Barlad.The general suggested exterminating all the Jews of the place under the pretext that the Jews were trying to trade with his soldiers. Onlythe developments on the front, which were to the disadvantage of

the Germans, spoiled this plan. Four Jews of Barlad, who weresuspected of being Communists, were exiled to the camp atVapniarca. They returned some time later.

• After the war, life returned to normality, and the communitycontinued its regular activities.

• The chief of police in the time of the Holocaust, Ion Hagiu, who

persecuted the Jews during his tenure, was sentenced in 1949 tothree years in prison.



The Jew ish communi ty

nowadays

• Nowadays only a few Jewish families live in Barlad (34,

most of which old people).

• The old synagogue was destroyed in the communist era.There is now a prayer house where the small community

gathers every Sunday.

• The Jewish cemetery, built in 1845 can still be visited.

• The museum in Barlad houses the impressive collection of furniture belonging to Dr. Wainfeld.

• The president of the community is Mr. Bernat User, born in

1927.



Resources

• Encyclopaedia of Jewish Communities in

Romania http://www.jewishgen.org

• The Romanian Jewish Community

• Photos from

private collections

http://www.romanianjewish.org

http://www.jewishgen.org/

http://www.jewishgen.org/

jewish history od romania

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