History of the Jews in Romania - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The history of Jews in Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

concerns the Jews of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is nowadays Romanian territory.

Minimal until the 18th century, the size of the Jewish population increased after around 1850, and more especially after the establishment of Greater Romania

Greater Romania

The Greater Romania generally refers to the territory of Romania in the years between the First World War and the Second World War, the largest geographical extent of Romania up to that time and its largest peacetime extent ever ; more precisely, it refers to the territory of the Kingdom of...

in the aftermath of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. A diverse community, albeit an overwhelmingly urban one, Jews were the favorite target of religious persecution

Religious persecution

Religious persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group of individuals as a response to their religious beliefs or affiliations or lack thereof....

and racism

Racism

Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...

in Romanian society - from the late-19th century debate over the "Jewish Question

Jewish Question

The Jewish question encompasses the issues and resolutions surrounding the historically unequal civil, legal and national statuses between minority Ashkenazi Jews and non-Jews, particularly in Europe. The first issues discussed and debated by societies, politicians and writers in western and...

" and the Jewish residents' right to citizenship

Citizenship

Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...

, to the genocide

Genocide

Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...

carried out in the lands of Romania as part of The Holocaust

The Holocaust

The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...

. The latter, coupled with successive waves of aliyah

Aliyah

Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...

, has accounted for a dramatic decrease in the overall size of Romania's present-day Jewish community.

Early history

Jewish communities on what would later become Romanian territory were attested as early as the 2nd century, at a time when the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

had established its rule over Dacia

Roman Dacia

The Roman province of Dacia on the Balkans included the modern Romanian regions of Transylvania, Banat and Oltenia, and temporarily Muntenia and southern Moldova, but not the nearby regions of Moesia...

. Inscriptions and coins have been found in such places as Sarmizegetusa

Sarmizegetusa

Sarmizegetusa Regia was the capital and the most important military, religious and political center of Dacians...

and Orşova

Orsova

Orșova is a port city on the Danube river in southwestern Romania's Mehedinți County. It is one of four localities in the county located in the Banat historical region. It is situated just above the Iron Gates, on the spot where the Cerna River meets the Danube.- History :The first documented...

. In the 8th century, Judaic

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

Khazars

The Khazars were semi-nomadic Turkic people who established one of the largest polities of medieval Eurasia, with the capital of Atil and territory comprising much of modern-day European Russia, western Kazakhstan, eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, large portions of the northern Caucasus , parts of...

were present as far west as Bessarabia

Bessarabia

Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....

. Three centuries later, Benjamin of Tudela

Benjamin of Tudela

Benjamin of Tudela was a medieval Jewish traveler who visited Europe, Asia, and Africa in the 12th century. His vivid descriptions of western Asia preceded those of Marco Polo by a hundred years...

attested that Jews from the Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

were engaged in commerce with the Vlachs

Vlachs

Vlach is a blanket term covering several modern Latin peoples descending from the Latinised population in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. English variations on the name include: Walla, Wlachs, Wallachs, Vlahs, Olahs or Ulahs...

living south of the Danube

Danube

The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....

.

The existence of the Crimean Karaites

Crimean Karaites

The Crimean Karaites , also known as Karaim and Qarays, are a community of ethnic Turkic adherents of Karaite Judaism in Eastern Europe...

, an ethnic group adherent of Karaite Judaism

Karaite Judaism

Karaite Judaism or Karaism is a Jewish movement characterized by the recognition of the Tanakh alone as its supreme legal authority in Halakhah, as well as in theology...

, and apparently of Cuman origins, suggests that there was a steady Jewish presence around the Black Sea

Black Sea

The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

, including in parts of today's Romania, in the trading ports from the mouths of the Danube and the Dniester

Dniester

The Dniester is a river in Eastern Europe. It runs through Ukraine and Moldova and separates most of Moldova's territory from the breakaway de facto state of Transnistria.-Names:...

(see Cumania

Cumania

Cumania is a name formerly used to designate several distinct lands in Eastern Europe inhabited by and under the military dominance of the Cumans, a nomadic tribe who, with the Kipchaks, created a confederation. The Cumans were also known as the Polovtsians, or Folban...

); they may have been present in some Moldavia

Moldavia

Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...

n fairs by the 16th century or earlier. The earliest Jewish (most likely Sephardi

Sephardi Jews

Sephardi Jews is a general term referring to the descendants of the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula before their expulsion in the Spanish Inquisition. It can also refer to those who use a Sephardic style of liturgy or would otherwise define themselves in terms of the Jewish customs and...

) presence in what would become Moldavia was recorded in Cetatea Albă (1330); in Wallachia

Wallachia

Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...

, they were first attested in the 1550s, living in Bucharest

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

. During the second half of the 14th century, the future territory of Romania became an important place of refuge for Jews expelled from the Kingdom of Hungary

Kingdom of Hungary

The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...

and Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

by King Louis I. In Transylvania

Transylvania

Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...

, Hungarian Jews

History of the Jews in Hungary

Hungarian Jews have existed since at least the 11th century. After struggling against discrimination throughout the Middle Ages, by the early 20th century the community grew to be 5% of Hungary's population , and were prominent in science, the arts and business...

were recorded in Saxon

Transylvanian Saxons

The Transylvanian Saxons are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania from the 12th century onwards.The colonization of Transylvania by Germans was begun by King Géza II of Hungary . For decades, the main task of the German settlers was to defend the southeastern border of the...

citadels around 1492.

Prince Roman I

Roman I of Moldavia

Roman I was Voivode of Moldavia from December 1391 to March 1394. He was the second son of Costea Muşat, the first ruler from the Muşatin family....

(1391-1394?) exempted the Jews from military service

Moldavian military forces

Moldavia had a military force for much of its history as an independent and, later, autonomous principality subject to the Ottoman Empire .-Middle Ages:Under the reign of Stephen the Great, all farmers and villagers had to bear arms...

, in exchange for a tax of 3 löwenthaler per person. Also in Moldavia, Stephen the Great

Stephen III of Moldavia

Stephen III of Moldavia was Prince of Moldavia between 1457 and 1504 and the most prominent representative of the House of Mușat.During his reign, he strengthened Moldavia and maintained its independence against the ambitions of Hungary, Poland, and the...

(1457–1504) treated Jews with consideration. Isaac ben Benjamin Shor of Iaşi

Iasi

Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...

(Isak Bey

Bey

Bey is a title for chieftain, traditionally applied to the leaders of small tribal groups. Accoding to some sources, the word "Bey" is of Turkish language In historical accounts, many Turkish, other Turkic and Persian leaders are titled Bey, Beg, Bek, Bay, Baig or Beigh. They are all the same word...

, originally employed by Uzun Hassan

Uzun Hassan

Uzun Hasan or Hassan , Sultan of the Aq Qoyunlu dynasty, or White Sheep Turkmen. Hassan ruled in parts of present-day western Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia between 1453 and 1478....

) was appointed stolnic

Stolnic

Stolnic was a boier rank and the position at the court in the history of Romania: in Moldavia and Wallachia. The title approximately corresponds to seneschal and is borrowed from the Slavic title stolnik a person in charge of the royal table.The title mare stolnic means "great stolnic", or...

, being subsequently advanced to the rank of logofăt; he continued to hold this office under Bogdan the Blind

Bogdan III cel Orb

Bogdan III the One-Eyed or Bogdan III the Blind Voivode of Moldavia from July 2, 1504 to 1517.-Family:He was born in Huşi as the son of Voivode Ştefan cel Mare and his wife Maria Voichiţa...

(1504–1517), the son and successor of Stephen.

At this time both Danubian Principalities

Danubian Principalities

Danubian Principalities was a conventional name given to the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which emerged in the early 14th century. The term was coined in the Habsburg Monarchy after the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in order to designate an area on the lower Danube with a common...

came under the suzerainty

Suzerainty

Suzerainty occurs where a region or people is a tributary to a more powerful entity which controls its foreign affairs while allowing the tributary vassal state some limited domestic autonomy. The dominant entity in the suzerainty relationship, or the more powerful entity itself, is called a...

of the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

, and a number of Sephardim living in Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

migrated to Wallachia, while Jews from Poland and the Holy Roman Empire

Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...

settled in Moldavia. Although they took an important part in Ottoman government

State organisation of the Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire developed a highly advanced organisation of state over the centuries. Even though it had a very centralized government with the Sultan as the supreme ruler, it had an effective control of its provinces and inhabitants, as well as its officials. Wealth and rank wasn't necessarily...

and formed a large part of a community of foreign creditors and traders, Jews were harassed by the hospodars of the two Principalities. Moldavia's Prince Ştefăniţă (1522) deprived the Jewish merchants of almost all the rights given to them by his two predecessors; Petru Rareş

Petru Rares

Peter IV Rareș was twice voievod of Moldavia: 20 January 1527 to 18 September 1538 and 19 February 1541 to 3 September 1546. He was an illegitimate child born to Ștefan cel Mare...

confiscated Jewish wealth in 1541, after alleging that Jews in the cattle trade had engaged in tax evasion

Tax evasion

Tax evasion is the general term for efforts by individuals, corporations, trusts and other entities to evade taxes by illegal means. Tax evasion usually entails taxpayers deliberately misrepresenting or concealing the true state of their affairs to the tax authorities to reduce their tax liability,...

. Alexandru Lăpuşneanu

Alexandru Lapusneanu

Alexandru Lăpuşneanu was Prince of Moldavia between September 1552 and 18 November 1561 and then between October 1564 and 5 May 1568....

(first rule: 1552-61) persecuted

Persecution of Jews

Persecution of Jews has occurred on numerous occasions and at widely different geographical locations. As well as being a major component in Jewish history, it has significantly affected the general history and social development of the countries and societies in which the persecuted Jews...

the community alongside other social categories, until he was dethroned by Jacob Heraclides

Ioan Iacob Heraclid

Ioan Iacob Heraclid , also known as Jacob Heraclides, was a Greek soldier and ruler of Moldavia from November 1561 to November 1563, most notable for being the first officially Protestant monarch in Eastern Europe....

, a Greek

Greeks

The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

Lutheran

Lutheranism

Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...

, who was lenient to his Jewish subjects; Lăpuşneanu did not renew his persecutions after his return on the throne in 1564. The role of Ottoman

History of the Jews in Turkey

Turkish Jews The history of the Jews in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey covers the 2,400 years that Jews have lived in what is now Turkey. There have been Jewish communities in Asia Minor since at least the 5th century BCE and many Spanish and Portuguese Jews expelled from Spain were welcomed to the...

and local Jews in financing various princes increased as Ottoman economic demands were mounting after 1550 (in the 1570s, the influential Jewish Duke of the Archipelago

Duchy of the Archipelago

The Duchy of the Archipelago or also Duchy of Naxos or Duchy of the Aegean was a maritime state created by Venetian interests in the Cyclades archipelago in the Aegean Sea, in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade, centered on the islands of Naxos and Paros.-Background and establishment of the...

, Joseph Nasi

Joseph Nasi

Don Joseph Nasi was a Jewish diplomat and administrator, member of the House of Mendes, and influential figure in the Ottoman Empire during the rules of both Sultan Suleiman I and his son Selim II...

, backed both Heraclides and Lăpuşneanu to the throne); several violent incidents throughout the period were instigated by princes unable to repay their debts.

During the first short reign of Peter the Lame (1574–1579) the Jews of Moldavia, mainly traders from Poland who were competing with locals, were taxed and ultimately expelled. In 1582, he succeeded in regaining his rule over the country with the help of the Jewish physician Benveniste, who was a friend of the influential Solomon Ashkenazi; the latter then exerted his influence with the Prince in favor of his coreligionists.

In Wallachia, Prince Alexandru II Mircea

Alexandru II Mircea

Alexandru II Mircea was Hospodar of Wallachia from 1568 to 1574 and 1574 to 1577. He was the father of Mihnea II Turcitul. His parents were Mircea III Dracul and Maria Despina...

(1567–1577) engaged as his private secretary and counselor Isaiah ben Joseph, who used his influence on behalf of the Jews. In 1573 Isaiah was dismissed, owing to court intrigues, but he was not harmed any further, and subsequently left for Moldavia (where he entered the service of Muscovy's Grand Prince

Grand Prince of Moscow

This is a list of Princes and Grand Princes of Russian Grand Duchy of Moscow.Note: the first 3 Princes are not members of the family of Daniel of Russia and their ownership of Moscow is disputed.- Princes of Moscow :* Vladimir Yuryevich This is a list of Princes and Grand Princes of Russian Grand...

Ivan the Terrible). Through the efforts of Solomon Ashkenazi, Aron Tiranul

Aron Tiranul

Aaron the Tyrant , sometimes credited as Aron Emanoil or Emanuel Aaron , was twice Moldavian Voivode : between September 1591 and June 1592, and October 24, 1592 to May 3, 1595. He was Alexandru Lăpuşneanu's son....

was placed on the throne of Moldavia; nevertheless, the new ruler persecuted and executed nineteen Jewish creditors in Iaşi

Iasi

, who were decapitated

Decapitation

Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...

without process of law. At around the same time, in Wallachia, the violent repression of creditors peaked under Michael the Brave, who, after killing Turkish creditors in Bucharest

Bucharest

(1594), probably enagaged in violence against Jews settled south of the Danube

Danube

The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....

during his campaign in Rumelia

Rumelia

Rumelia was an historical region comprising the territories of the Ottoman Empire in Europe...

(while maintaining good relations with Transylvanian Jews).

Early Modern Age

In 1623, the Jews in Transylvania

Transylvania

were awarded certain privilege

Privilege

A privilege is a special entitlement to immunity granted by the state or another authority to a restricted group, either by birth or on a conditional basis. It can be revoked in certain circumstances. In modern democratic states, a privilege is conditional and granted only after birth...

s by Prince Gabriel Bethlen

Gabriel Bethlen

Gabriel Bethlen was a prince of Transylvania , duke of Opole and leader of an anti-Habsburg insurrection in the Habsburg Royal Hungary. His last armed intervention in 1626 was part of the Thirty Years' War...

, who aimed to attract entrepreneurs from Ottoman

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

lands into his country; the grants were curtailed during following decades, when Jews were only allowed to settle in Gyulafehérvár (Alba Iulia

Alba Iulia

Alba Iulia is a city in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania with a population of 66,747, located on the Mureş River. Since the High Middle Ages, the city has been the seat of Transylvania's Roman Catholic diocese. Between 1541 and 1690 it was the capital of the Principality of Transylvania...

). Among the privileges granted was one allowing Jews to wear traditional dress; eventually, the authorities in Gyulafehérvár decided (in 1650 and 1741), to allow Jews to wear only clothing evidencing their status and ethnicity.

The status of Jews who had converted

Religious conversion

Religious conversion is the adoption of a new religion that differs from the convert's previous religion. Changing from one denomination to another within the same religion is usually described as reaffiliation rather than conversion.People convert to a different religion for various reasons,...

to Eastern Orthodoxy was established in Wallachia

Wallachia

Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...

by Matei Basarab

Matei Basarab

Matei Basarab was a Wallachian Voivode between 1632 and 1654.-Reign:Much of Matei's reign was spent fighting off incursions from Moldavia, which he successfully accomplished in 1637, 1639, and 1653 - see Battle of Finta...

's Pravila de la Govora and in Moldavia by Vasile Lupu

Vasile Lupu

Vasile Lupu was a Moldavian Voivode between 1634 and 1653. Vasile Coci surnamed "the wolf" who ruled as Prince of Moldavia had secured the Moldavian throne in 1634 after a series of complicated intrigues and managed to hold it for twenty years. Vasile was of Albanian origin and Greek education...

's Carte româneascǎ de învăţătură. The latter ruler (1634–1653) treated the Jews with consideration until the appearance of the Cossacks (1648), who marched against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...

and who, while crossing the region, killed many Jews; the violence, led many Ashkenazi Jews

Ashkenazi Jews

Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...

from Poland took refuge in Moldavia

Moldavia

Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...

and Wallachia, establishing small but stable communities. Massacres and forced conversions by the Cossacks occurred in 1652, when the latter came to Iaşi

Iasi

on the occasion of the Vasile Lupu's daughter marriage to Timush

Tymofiy Khmelnytsky

Tymofiy Bohdanovych Khmelnytsky or Tymish Khmelnytsky was the eldest son of Cossack hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky....

, the son of Bohdan Khmelnytsky

Bohdan Khmelnytsky

Bohdan Zynoviy Mykhailovych Khmelnytsky was a hetman of the Zaporozhian Cossack Hetmanate of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . He led an uprising against the Commonwealth and its magnates which resulted in the creation of a Cossack state...

, and during the rule of Gheorghe Ştefan

Gheorghe Stefan

Gheorghe Ştefan was Voivode of Moldavia between April 13 and May 8, 1653, and again from July 16, 1653 to March 13, 1658; he was the son of boyar Dumitraşcu Ceaur; Gheorghe Ştefan was Chancellor during the reign of Vasile Lupu.-Biography:Citing Vasile's reliance on his Greek and Levantine retinue,...

.

According to Anton Maria Del Chiaro

Anton Maria Del Chiaro

Anton-Maria Del Chiaro was a Florentine Italian secretary of Constantin Brancoveanu, the Prince of Wallachia.He is the author of a book on the history of Wallachia of his time, called Istoria delle moderne rivoluzioni della Valachia , dedicated to Pope Clement XI, written in Italian, and printed...

, secretary of the Wallachian princes between 1710–1716, the Jewish population of Wallachia was required to respect a certain dresscode

Social aspects of clothing

Dress codes are written and, more often, unwritten rules with regards to clothing. Clothing like other aspects of human physical appearance has a social significance, with different rules and expectations being valid depending on circumstance and occasion...

. Thus, they were prohibited from wearing clothes of other color than black or violet, or to wear yellow or red boots. Nevertheless, the Romanian scholar Andrei Oişteanu

Andrei Oisteanu

Andrei Oişteanu is a Romanian historian of religions and mentalities, ethnologist, cultural anthropologist, literary critic and novelist. Specialized in the history of religions and mentalities, he is also noted for his investigation of rituals and magic and his work in Jewish studies and the...

argued that such ethnic and religious social stigma

Social stigma

Social stigma is the severe disapproval of or discontent with a person on the grounds of characteristics that distinguish them from other members of a society.Almost all stigma is based on a person differing from social or cultural norms...

was uncommon in Moldavia and Wallachia, as well as throughout the Eastern Orthodox areas of Europe.

The first blood accusation in Moldavia (and, as such, in Romania) was made April 5, 1710, when the Jews of Târgu Neamţ

Târgu Neamt

Târgu Neamţ is a town in Neamţ County, Romania, on the Neamţ River. It had, , a population of 20,496. Three villages are administered by the town: Blebea, Humuleşti and Humuleştii Noi.- History :...

were charged with having killed a Christian

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

child for ritual purposes. The instigator was a baptized Jew who had helped to carry the body of a child, murdered by Christians, into the courtyard of the synagogue

Synagogue

A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...

. On the next day five Jews were killed, others were maimed, and every Jewish house was pillaged, while the representatives of the community were imprisoned and tortured. Meanwhile, some influential Jews appealed to Prince Nicholas Mavrocordatos

Nicholas Mavrocordatos

Nicholas Mavrocordatos was a Greek member of the Mavrocordatos family, Grand Dragoman to the Divan , and consequently the first Phanariote Hospodar of the Danubian Principalities - Prince of Moldavia, and Prince of Wallachia...

(the first Phanariote

Phanariotes

Phanariots, Phanariotes, or Phanariote Greeks were members of those prominent Greek families residing in Phanar , the chief Greek quarter of Constantinople, where the Ecumenical Patriarchate is situated.For all their cosmopolitanism and often Western education, the Phanariots were...

ruler) in Iaşi, who ordered an investigation resulting in the freeing of those arrested. This was the first time that the Orthodox clergy participated in attacks on Jews. It was due to the clergy's instigations that in 1714 a similar charge was brought against the Jews of the city of Roman

Roman, Romania

Roman is a mid-sized city, having the title of municipality, located in the central part of Moldavia, a traditional region of Romania. It is located 46 km east of Piatra Neamţ, in the Neamţ County at the confluence of Siret and Moldova rivers....

- the murder by a group of Roman Catholics

Roman Catholicism in Romania

The Roman Catholic Church in Romania is a Latin Rite Christian church, part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and Curia in Rome. Its administration is centered in Bucharest, and comprises two archdioceses and four other dioceses...

of a Christian girl-servant to Jewish family was immediately blamed on Jews; every Jewish house was plundered, and two prominent Jews were hanged, before the real criminals were discovered by the authorities.

Under Constantin Brâncoveanu

Constantin Brâncoveanu

Constantin Brâncoveanu was Prince of Wallachia between 1688 and 1714.-Ascension:A descendant of the Craioveşti boyar family and related to Matei Basarab, Brâncoveanu was born at the estate of Brâncoveni and raised in the house of his uncle, stolnic Constantin Cantacuzino...

, Wallachian Jews were recognized as a special guild

Guild

A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...

in Bucharest, led by a starost. Jews in both Wallachia and Moldavia were subject to the Hakham Bashi

Hakham Bashi

Hakham Bashi is the Turkish name for the Chief Rabbi of the nation's Jewish community.-History:The institution of the Hakham Bashi was established by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II, as part of the millet system for governing exceedingly diverse subjects according to their own laws and authorities...

in Iaşi, but soon the Bucharest starost assumed several religious duties. Overtaxed and persecuted under Ştefan Cantacuzino

Stefan Cantacuzino

Ştefan Cantacuzino , was a Prince of Wallachia between April 1714 and January 21, 1716, the son of stolnic Constantin Cantacuzino.-Life:Ştefan was involved in his father's intrigue against Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu, denouncing him to the Ottoman Empire , and surrendering Brâncoveanu's secret...

(1714–1716), Wallachian Jews obtained valuable privileges during Nicholas Mavrocordatos' rule (1716–1730) in that country (the Prince notably employed the Jewish savant Daniel de Fonseca at his court). Another anti-Jewish riot occurred in Bucharest in the 1760s, and was encouraged by the visit of Ephram II, Patriarch of Jerusalem

Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem

The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem is the head bishop of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, ranking fourth of nine Patriarchs in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Since 2005, the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem has been Theophilos III...

.

In 1726, in the Bessarabia

Bessarabia

Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....

n borough of Oniţcani

Oniţcani

Oniţcani is a commune in Criuleni district, Moldova. It is composed of a single village, Oniţcani....

, four Jews were accused of having kidnapped a five-year old child, of killing him on Easter

Easter

Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...

and of collecting his blood in a barrel. They were tried at Iaşi under the supervision of Moldavian Prince Mihai Racoviţă

Mihai Racovita

Mihai or Mihail Racoviţă was a Prince of Moldavia on three separate occasions and Prince of Wallachia on two occasions...

, and eventually acquitted following diplomatic protests. The event was echoed in several contemporary chronicles and documents — for example, the French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

ambassador to the Porte, Jean-Baptiste Louis Picon, remarked that such an accusation was no longer accepted in "civilized countries". The most obvious effects on the condition of the Jewish inhabitants of Moldavia were witnessed during the reign of John Mavrocordatos

John Mavrocordatos

John Mavrocordatos , born in Constantinople on 23 July 1684 and dead in Bucharest on 23 November 1719, was caimacam of Moldavia and Prince of Wallachia between 2 December 1716 and 6 March 1719...

(1744–1747): a Jewish farmer in the vicinity of Suceava

Suceava

Suceava is the Suceava County seat in Bukovina, Moldavia region, in north-eastern Romania. The city was the capital of the Principality of Moldavia from 1388 to 1565.-History:...

reported the prince to the Porte for allegedly using his house to rape

Rape

Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...

a number of kidnapped

Kidnapping

In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...

Jewish women; Mavrocordatos had his accuser hanged. This act aroused the anger of Mahmud I

Mahmud I

Mahmud I , called the Hunchback was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1730 to 1754.-Biography:...

's kapucu

Kapucu

Kapucu was designated official envoy of the Ottoman Sultan in medieval Wallachia and Moldovia. His missions are mostly associated with, but not limited to, the recalling of subject Hospodars ....

in Moldavia, and the prince paid the penalty with the loss of his throne.

Russo-Turkish Wars

During the Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774

Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774

The Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774 was a decisive conflict that brought Southern Ukraine, Northern Caucasus, and Crimea within the orbit of the Russian Empire.-Background:...

the Jews in the Danubian Principalities had to endure great hardships. Massacres and pillages were perpetrated in almost every town and village in the country. When peace was restored, both princes, Alexander Mavrocordatos of Moldavia and Nicholas Mavrogheni of Wallachia, pledged their special protection to the Jews, whose condition remained favorable until 1787, when both Janissaries

Janissary

The Janissaries were infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops and bodyguards...

and the Imperial Russian Army

Military history of Imperial Russia

The Military history of the Russian Empire encompasses the history of armed conflict in which the Empire participated. This history stretches from its creation in 1721 by Peter the Great, until the Russian Revolution , which led to the establishment of the Soviet Union...

engaged in pogrom

Pogrom

A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...

s.

The community was also subject to persecutions by the locals. Jewish children were seized and forcibly baptized. The ritual-murder accusation became widespread; one made at Galaţi

Galati

Galați is a city and municipality in Romania, the capital of Galați County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, in the close vicinity of Brăila, Galați is the largest port and sea port on the Danube River and the second largest Romanian port....

in 1797 led to exceptionally severe results - the Jews were attacked by a large mob, driven from their homes, robbed, waylaid on the streets, and many killed on the spot, while some were forced into the Danube

Danube

The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....

and drowned; others who took refuge in the synagogue were burned to death in the building; a few escaped after being given protection and refuge by a priest. In 1803, shortly before his death, the Wallachian Metropolitan Iacob Stamati instigated attacks on the Bucharest community by publishing his Înfruntarea jidovilor ("Facing the Jews"), which pretended to be the confession of a former rabbi

Rabbi

In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

; however, Jews were offered refuge by Stamati's replacement, Veniamin Costachi. A seminal event occurred in 1804, when ruler Constantine Ypsilanti dismissed accusations of ritual murder as "the unfounded opinion" of "stupid people", and ordered that their condemnation be read in churches throughout Wallachia; the allegations no longer surfaced during the following period.

During the Russo-Turkish War of 1806-1812

Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812

The Russo-Turkish War was one of many wars fought between Imperial Russia and the Ottoman Empire.- Background :The war broke out in 1805–1806 against the background of the Napoleonic Wars...

, the Russian invasion was again accompanied by massacres of the Jews. Kalmyk

Kalmyk people

Kalmyk people is the name given to the Oirats, western Mongols in Russia, whose descendants migrated from Dzhungaria in 1607. Today they form a majority in the autonomous Republic of Kalmykia on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. Kalmykia is Europe's only Buddhist government...

irregular soldiers in Ottoman service, who appeared in Bucharest at the close of the Russo-Turkish War of 1806-1812

Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812

The Russo-Turkish War was one of many wars fought between Imperial Russia and the Ottoman Empire.- Background :The war broke out in 1805–1806 against the background of the Napoleonic Wars...

, exercised terror on the city's Jewish population. At around the same time, a conflict emerged in Wallachia between Jews under foreign protection (sudiţi

Suditi

For the commune in Ialomiţa County, see Sudiţi, Ialomiţa. For the villages in Buzău County, see Gherăseni and Poşta Câlnău.The Sudiţi were inhabitants of the Danubian Principalities who, for the latter stage of the 18th and a large part of the 19th century...

) and local ones (hrisovoliţi), after the latter tried to impose a single administration for the community, a matter which was finally settled in favor of the hrisovoliţi by Prince Jean Georges Caradja (1813).

In Habsburg

Habsburg Monarchy

The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...

-ruled Transylvania, the reforms carried out by Joseph II

Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor

Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...

allowed Jews to settle in towns directly subject to the Hungarian Crown

Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen

The historical term Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen was used to denote a group of territories connected to the Kingdom of Hungary within Austria-Hungary...

. However, pressured placed on the community remained stringent for the following decades.

Early 19th century

By 1825, Jewish population in Wallachia (almost completely Sephardi) was estimated at between 5,000 and 10,000 people - of these, the larger part resided in Bucharest (probably as much as 7,000 in 1839); around the same time, Moldavia was home to about 12,000 Jews. In parallel, the Jewish population in Bukovina

Bukovina

Bukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains.-Name:The name Bukovina came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation from the Principality of Moldavia to the possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy, which became...

rose from 526 in 1774 to 11,600 in 1848. In the early 19th century, Jews who sought refuge from Osman Pazvantoğlu

Osman Pazvantoglu

Osman Pazvantoğlu was a Bosnian Ottoman soldier, a governor of the Vidin district after 1794, and a rebel against Ottoman rule...

's campaign in the Balkans

Balkans

The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...

established communities in Wallachian-ruled Oltenia

Oltenia

Oltenia is a historical province and geographical region of Romania, in western Wallachia. It is situated between the Danube, the Southern Carpathians and the Olt river ....

. In Moldavia, Scarlat Callimachi's Code (1817) allowed members of the community to purchase urban property, but prevented them from settling in the countryside (while purchasing town property became increasingly difficult due to popular prejudice).

During the Greek War of Independence

Greek War of Independence

The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between...

, which signalled the Wallachian uprising of 1821

Wallachian uprising of 1821

The Wallachian uprising of 1821 was an uprising in Wallachia against Ottoman rule which took place during 1821.-Background:...

and the Danubian Principalities

Danubian Principalities

' occupation by Filiki Eteria

Filiki Eteria

thumb|right|200px|The flag of the Filiki Eteria.Filiki Eteria or Society of Friends was a secret 19th century organization, whose purpose was to overthrow Ottoman rule over Greece and to establish an independent Greek state. Society members were mainly young Phanariot Greeks from Russia and local...

troops under Alexander Ypsilantis

Alexander Ypsilantis (1792-1828)

Alexander Ypsilantis, Ypsilanti, or Alexandros Ypsilantis was a member of a prominent Phanariot Greek family, a prince of the Danubian Principalities, a senior officer of the Imperial Russian cavalry during the Napoleonic Wars, and a leader of the Filiki Eteria, a secret organization that...

, Jews were victims of pogrom

Pogrom

A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...

s and persecutions

Persecution of Jews

in places such as Fălticeni

Falticeni

Fălticeni is a city in Suceava County, Romania, capital of the former Baia County . As of 2003 the population is 28,899, and the city covers an area of 28,76 km², of which 25% are orchards and lakes. The city is 25 km away from Suceava, the capital of the county...

, Hertsa

Hertsa

Hertsa or Herţa is a city located in Chernivtsi Oblast in western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Hertsa Raion.The city is the smallest raion administrative center in Ukraine and is located close to the Romanian border...

, Piatra Neamţ

Piatra Neamt

Piatra Neamț , , ; is the capital city of Neamţ County, in the historical region of Moldavia, eastern Romania. Because of its privileged location in the Eastern Carpathian mountains, it is considered one of the most picturesque cities in Romania...

, the Secu Monastery, Târgovişte

Târgoviste

Târgoviște is a city in the Dâmbovița county of Romania. It is situated on the right bank of the Ialomiţa River. , it had an estimated population of 89,000. One village, Priseaca, is administered by the city.-Name:...

, and Târgu Frumos

Târgu Frumos

Târgu Frumos is a town in Iaşi County, Moldavia, Romania. it has a population of 13,619...

; Jews in Galaţi

Galati

managed to escape over the Prut River with assistance from Austrian

Austrian Empire

The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...

diplomats. Weakened by the clash between Ypsilantis and Tudor Vladimirescu

Tudor Vladimirescu

Tudor Vladimirescu was a Wallachian Romanian revolutionary hero, the leader of the Wallachian uprising of 1821 and of the Pandur militia. He is also known as Tudor din Vladimiri or — occasionally — as Domnul Tudor .-Background:Tudor was born in Vladimiri, Gorj County in a family of landed peasants...

, the Eterists were massacred by the Ottoman intervention armies - during this episode, Jewish communities engaged in retaliations in Secu and Slatina

Slatina, Romania

Slatina is the capital city of Olt county, Romania, on the river Olt.The city administers one village, Cireaşov.-History:The town of Slatina was first mentioned on January 20, 1368 in an official document issued by Vladislav I Vlaicu, Prince of Wallachia. The document stated that merchants from...

.

Following the 1829 Treaty of Adrianople

Treaty of Adrianople

The Peace Treaty of Adrianople concluded the Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829 between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. It was signed on September 14, 1829 in Adrianople by Russia's Count Alexey Fyodorovich Orlov and by Turkey's Abdul Kadyr-bey...

(which allowed the two Principalities to freely engage in foreign trade), Moldavia, where commercial niches

Niche market

A niche market is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focusing; therefore the market niche defines the specific product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs, as well as the price range, production quality and the demographics that is intended to impact...

had been largely left unoccupied, became a target for migration of Ashkenazi Jews

Ashkenazi Jews

persecuted in Imperial Russia and the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria - by 1838, their number seems to have reached 80,000, and over 195,000, or almost 12% of the country's population, in 1859 (with an additional 50,000 passing through to Wallachia between the two estimates).

Despite initial interdictions under the Russian occupation of 1829 (when it was first regulated that non-Christians were not to be regarded as citizens), many of the new immigrants became leaseholders of estates

Leasehold estate

A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord....

and tavern

Tavern

A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food, and in some cases, where travelers receive lodging....

-keepers, serving to increase both the revenue and demands of boyars - leading in turn to an increase in economic pressures over those working the land or buying products (usual prejudice against Jews accused tavern-keepers of encouraging alcoholism

Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...

). At the same time, several Jews rose to prominence and high social status - most families involved in Moldavian banking around the 1850s were of Jewish origin. After 1832, following adoption of the Organic Statute

Regulamentul Organic

Regulamentul Organic was a quasi-constitutional organic law enforced in 1834–1835 by the Imperial Russian authorities in Moldavia and Wallachia...

, Jewish children are accepted in schools in the two Principalities only if they wore the same clothing as others. In Moldavia, authorities forced the community to abandon its traditional dress code through the 1847 decree of Prince Mihail Sturdza

Mihail Sturdza

Mihail Sturdza was a prince of Moldavia from 1834 to 1849. A man of liberal education, he established the Mihaileana Academy, a kind of university, in Iaşi. He brought scholars from foreign countries to act as teachers, and gave a very powerful stimulus to the educational development of the...

.

Before the Revolutions of 1848

Revolutions of 1848

The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It was the first Europe-wide collapse of traditional authority, but within a year reactionary...

, which found their parallel in the Wallachian revolution, many restrictive laws against the Jews had been enacted; although they had some destructive effects, they were never strictly enforced. In various ways, Jews took part in the Wallachian revolt - Constantin Daniel Rosenthal

Constantin Daniel Rosenthal

Constantin Daniel Rosenthal was a Romanian painter and sculptor of Hungarian birth and a 1848 revolutionary, best known for his portraits and his choice of Romanian Romantic nationalist subjects.-Early career:Born into a Jewish merchant family in Pest , he left the city...

, the painter, distinguished himself in the revolutionary cause, and paid for his activity with his life (being tortured to death by Austrian

Austrian Empire

authorities in Budapest

Budapest

Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

). The major document to be codified by the 1848 Wallachian revolutionaries, the Islaz Proclamation, called for "the emancipation of Israelite

Israelite

According to the Bible the Israelites were a Hebrew-speaking people of the Ancient Near East who inhabited the Land of Canaan during the monarchic period .The word "Israelite" derives from the Biblical Hebrew ישראל...

s and political rights

Right

Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory...

for all compatriots of different faiths".

After the close of the Crimean War

Crimean War

The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...

the struggle for the union of the two principalities began. The Jews were sought after by both parties, Unionists

Partida Nationala

The Partida Naţională was a liberal Romanian political party active between 1856 and 1859. It was a loose group which supported the union of the Danubian Principalities....

and anti-Unionists, each of which promised them full equality; and proclamations to this effect were issued (1857–1858). In 1857, the community began issuing its first magazine

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

, Israelitul Român, edited by the Romanian radical

Radicalism (historical)

The term Radical was used during the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement. It later became a general pejorative term for those favoring or seeking political reforms which include dramatic changes to the social order...

Iuliu Barasch

Iuliu Barasch or Baraş was a Galician-born Jewish physician and writer who made his career in Romania.-Biography:Born in Brody into a Hasidic family as Yehuda ben Mordehai Barasch...

. This process of gradual integration resulted in the creation of an informal Romanian identity assumed by Jews, while conversion to Christianity

Religious conversion

, despite encouragement by the authorities, remained confined to exceptional cases.

Under Alexander John Cuza

From the beginning of the reign of Alexander John Cuza

Alexander John Cuza

Alexander John Cuza was a Moldavian-born Romanian politician who ruled as the first Domnitor of the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia between 1859 and 1866.-Early life:...

(1859–1866), the first ruler (Domnitor

Domnitor

Domnitor was the official title of the ruler of the United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia between 1859 and 1866....

) of the united principalities, the Jews became a prominent factor in the politics of the country. This period was, however, inaugurated by another riot motivated by blood libel accusations, begun during Easter

Easter

1859 in Galaţi

Galati

.

Regulations on clothing were confirmed inside Moldavia by two orders of Mihail Kogălniceanu

Mihail Kogalniceanu

Mihail Kogălniceanu was a Moldavian-born Romanian liberal statesman, lawyer, historian and publicist; he became Prime Minister of Romania October 11, 1863, after the 1859 union of the Danubian Principalities under Domnitor Alexander John Cuza, and later served as Foreign Minister under Carol I. He...

, Minister of Internal Affairs (issues in 1859 and 1860 respectively). Following adoption of the 1859 regulation, soldiers and civilians would walk the streets of Iaşi and some other Moldavian towns, assaulting Jews, using scissors to shred their clothing, but also to cut their beards or their sidelocks

Payot

Payot is the Hebrew word for sidelocks or sidecurls. Payot are worn by some men and boys in the Orthodox Jewish community based on an interpretation of the Biblical injunction against shaving the "corners" of one's head...

; drastic measures applied by the Army Headquarters put a stop to such turmoil.

In 1864, Cuza, owing to difficulties between his government and the general assembly, dissolved the latter and decided to submit a draft of a constitution granting universal suffrage

Universal suffrage

Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...

. He proposed creating two chambers

Bicameralism

In the government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses....

(of senators

Senate of Romania

The Senate of Romania is the upper house in the bicameral Parliament of Romania. It has 137 seats , to which members are elected by direct popular vote, using Mixed member proportional representation in 42 electoral districts , to serve four-year terms.-Former location:After the Romanian...

and deputies

Chamber of Deputies of Romania

The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house in Romania's bicameral parliament. It has 315 seats, to which deputies are elected by direct popular vote on a proportional representation basis to serve four-year terms...

respectively), to extend the franchise to all citizens, and to emancipate the peasants from forced labor (expecting to nullify the remaining influence of the landowners - no longer boyar

Boyar

A boyar, or bolyar , was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century....

s after the land reform

Land reform

[Image:Jakarta farmers protest23.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Farmers protesting for Land Reform in Indonesia]Land reform involves the changing of laws, regulations or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution,...

). In the process, Cuza also expected financial support from both the Jews and the Armenians

Armenians in Romania

Armenians have been present in what is now Romania and Moldova for over a millennium, and have been an important presence as traders since the 14th century...

- it appears that he kept the latter demand reduced, asking for only 40,000 Austrian guilder

Austro-Hungarian gulden

The Gulden or forint was the currency of the Austrian Empire and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire between 1754 and 1892 when it was replaced by the Krone/korona as part of the introduction of the gold standard. In Austria, the Gulden was initially divided into 60 Kreuzer, and in Hungary, the...

(the standard gold coin

Gold coin

A gold coin is a coin made mostly or entirely of gold. Gold has been used for coins practically since the invention of coinage, originally because of gold's intrinsic value...

s; about US$

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

90,000 at the exchange rate of the time) from the two groups. The Armenians discussed the matter with the Jews, but they were not able to come to a satisfactory agreement in the matter.

While Cuza was pressing in his demands, the Jewish community debated the method of assessment. The rich Jews, for unclear reasons, refused to advance the money, and the middle class

Middle class

The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....

argued that the sum would not lead to tangible enough results; Religious Jews

Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...

insisted that such rights would only interfere with the exercise of their religion. Cuza, on being informed that the Jews hesitated to pay their share, inserted in his draft of a constitution a clause excluding from the right of suffrage all who did not profess Christianity.

1860s and 1870s

When Charles von Hohenzollern succeeded Cuza in 1866 as Carol I of Romania

Carol I of Romania

Carol I , born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was reigning prince and then King of Romania from 1866 to 1914. He was elected prince of Romania on 20 April 1866 following the overthrow of Alexandru Ioan Cuza by a palace coup...

, the first event that confronted him in the capital was a riot against the Jews. A draft of a constitution was then submitted by the government, Article 6 of which declared that "religion is no obstacle to citizenship

Citizenship

"; but, "with regard to the Jews, a special law will have to be framed in order to regulate their admission to naturalization

Naturalization

Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....

and also to civil rights

Civil rights

Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...

". On June 30, 1866, the Bucharest Synagogue was desecrated and demolished (it was rebuilt in the same year, then restored in 1932 and 1945). Many Jews were beaten, maimed, and robbed. As a result, Article 6 was withdrawn and Article 7 was added to the 1866 Constitution

1866 Constitution of Romania

The 1866 Constitution of Romania was the fundamental law that capped a period of nation-building in the Danubian Principalities, which had united in 1859. Drafted in a short time and using as its model the 1831 Constitution of Belgium, then considered Europe's most liberal, it was substantially...

; it read that "only such aliens as are of the Christian faith may obtain citizenship".

For the following decades, the issue of Jewish rights occupied the forefront of the Regat

Romanian Old Kingdom

The Romanian Old Kingdom is a colloquial term referring to the territory covered by the first independent Romanian nation state, which was composed of the Danubian Principalities—Wallachia and Moldavia...

's political scene. With few notable exceptions (including some of Junimea

Junimea

Junimea was a Romanian literary society founded in Iaşi in 1863, through the initiative of several foreign-educated personalities led by Titu Maiorescu, Petre P. Carp, Vasile Pogor, Theodor Rosetti and Iacob Negruzzi...

affiliates — Petre P. Carp

Petre P. Carp

Petre P. Carp , commonly rendered as P. P. Carp, was a Romanian conservative politician and literary critic who served as a Prime Minister of Romania for two terms...

, George Panu, and Ion Luca Caragiale

Ion Luca Caragiale

Ion Luca Caragiale was a Wallachian-born Romanian playwright, short story writer, poet, theater manager, political commentator and journalist...

), most Romanian intellectual

Intellectual

An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...

s began professing anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism

Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...

; its most virulent form was the one present with advocates of Liberalism (in contradiction to their 1848 political roots), especially Moldavians, who argued that Jewish immigration had prevented the rise of an ethnic Romanian

Romanians

The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....

middle class

Middle class

. The first examples of modern prejudice were the Moldavian Fracţiunea liberă şi independentă (later blended into the National Liberal Party

National Liberal Party (Romania)

The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...

, PNL) and the Bucharest

Bucharest

group formed around Cezar Bolliac

Cezar Bolliac

Cezar Bolliac or Boliac, Boliak was a Wallachian and Romanian radical political figure, amateur archaeologist, journalist and Romantic poet.-Early life:...

. Their discourse saw Jews as non-assimilated

Cultural assimilation

Cultural assimilation is a socio-political response to demographic multi-ethnicity that supports or promotes the assimilation of ethnic minorities into the dominant culture. The term assimilation is often used with regard to immigrants and various ethnic groups who have settled in a new land. New...

and perpetually foreign - this claim was, however, challenged by some contemporary sources, and by the eventual acceptance of all immigrants other than Jews.

Anti-Semitism was carried into the PNL’s mainstream, and was officially enforced under the premierships

Prime Minister of Romania

The Prime Minister of Romania is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was styled President of the Council of Ministers , when the term "Government" included more than the Cabinet, and the Cabinet was called The Council of Ministers...

of Ion Brătianu

Ion Bratianu

Ion C. Brătianu was one of the major political figures of 19th century Romania. He was the younger brother of Dimitrie, as well as the father of Ionel, Dinu, and Vintilă Brătianu...

. During his first years in office, Brătianu reinforced and applied old discrimination laws, insisting that Jews were not allowed to settle in the countryside (and relocating those that had done so), while declaring many Jewish urban inhabitants to be vagrants

Vagrancy (people)

A vagrant is a person in poverty, who wanders from place to place without a home or regular employment or income.-Definition:A vagrant is "a person without a settled home or regular work who wanders from place to place and lives by begging;" vagrancy is the condition of such persons.-History:In...

and expelling them from the country. According to the 1905 Jewish Encyclopedia

Jewish Encyclopedia

The Jewish Encyclopedia is an encyclopedia originally published in New York between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. It contained over 15,000 articles in 12 volumes on the history and then-current state of Judaism and the Jews as of 1901...

: "A number of such Jews who proved their Romanian birth were forced across the Danube, and when [the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

] refused to receive them, were thrown into the river and drowned. Almost every country in Europe was shocked at these barbarities. The Romanian government was warned by the powers; and Brătianu was subsequently dismissed from office". Cabinets formed by the Conservative Party

Conservative Party (Romania, 1880-1918)

The Conservative Party was between 1880 and 1918 one of Romania's two most important parties, the other one being the Liberal Party...

, although including Junimeas leaders, did not do much to improve the Jews' condition - mainly due to PNL opposition.

Nonetheless, during this same era, Romania was the cradle of Yiddish theatre

Yiddish theatre

Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Central European Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revues; melodrama; naturalist drama; expressionist and...

. The Russian-born Abraham Goldfaden

Abraham Goldfaden

Abraham Goldfaden ; was an Russian-born Jewish poet, playwright, stage director and actor in the languages Yiddish and Hebrew, author of some 40 plays.Goldfaden is considered the father of the Jewish modern theatre.In 1876 he founded in...

started the first professional Yiddish theatre company in Iaşi in 1876 and for several years, especially during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878

Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878

The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 was a conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the Eastern Orthodox coalition led by the Russian Empire and composed of numerous Balkan...

Romania was the home of Yiddish theatre. While its center of gravity would move first to Russia, then London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, then New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, both Bucharest and Iaşi would continue to figure prominently in its history over the next century.

Treaty of Berlin and aftermath

When Brătianu resumed leadership, Romania faced the emerging conflict in the Balkans

Balkans

The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...

, and saw its chance to declare independence from Ottoman suzerainty

Suzerainty

by dispatching its troops on the Russian side in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. The war was concluded by the Treaty of Berlin

Treaty of Berlin, 1878

The Treaty of Berlin was the final act of the Congress of Berlin , by which the United Kingdom, Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Abdul Hamid II revised the Treaty of San Stefano signed on March 3 of the same year...

(1878), which stipulated (Article 44) that the non-Christians in Romania (including both Jews and Muslims

Islam in Romania

Islam in Romania is followed by only 0.3 percent of population, but has 700 years of tradition in Northern Dobruja, a region on the Black Sea coast which was part of the Ottoman Empire for almost five centuries . In present-day Romania, most adherents to Islam belong to the Tatar and Turkish ethnic...

in the newly-acquired region of Northern Dobruja

Northern Dobruja

Northern Dobruja is the part of Dobruja within the borders of Romania. It lies between the lower Danube river and the Black Sea, bordered in south by Bulgarian Southern Dobruja.-Geography:...

) should receive full citizenship. After a prolonged debate at home and diplomatic negotiations abroad, the Romanian government ultimately agreed (1879) to abrogate Article 7 of its constitution. This was, however, reformulated to make procedures very difficult: "the naturalization of aliens not under foreign protection should in every individual case be decided by Parliament

Parliament of Romania

The Parliament of Romania is made up of two chambers:*The Chamber of Deputies*The SenatePrior to the modifications of the Constitution in 2003, the two houses had identical attributes. A text of a law had to be approved by both houses...

" (the action involved, among others, a ten-year term before the applicant was given an evaluation). The gesture was doubled by a show of compliance - 883 Jews, participants in the war, were naturalized in a body by a vote of both chambers.

Fifty-seven persons voted upon as individuals were naturalized in 1880; 6, in 1881; 2, in 1882; 2, in 1883; and 18, from 1886 to 1900; in all, 85 Jews in twenty-one years, 27 of whom in the meantime died; ca. 4,000 people had obtained citizenship by 1912. Various laws were passed until the pursuit of virtually all careers was made dependent on the possession of political rights, which only Romanians could exercise; more than 40% of Jewish working men, including manual labour

Manual labour

Manual labour , manual or manual work is physical work done by people, most especially in contrast to that done by machines, and also to that done by working animals...

ers, were forced into unemployment

Unemployment

Unemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...

by such legislation. Similar laws were passed in regard to Jews exercising liberal professions.

In 1893, a piece of legislation was voted to deprive Jewish children of the right to be educated in the public schools - they were to be received only if and where children of citizens had been provided for, and their parents were required to pay preferential tuition

Tuition

Tuition payments, known primarily as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in British English, Canadian English, Australian English, New Zealand English and Indian English, refers to a fee charged for educational instruction during higher education.Tuition payments are charged by...

fees. In 1898, it was passed into law that Jews were to be excluded from secondary school

Secondary school

Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

s and the universities. Another notable measure was the expulsion of vocal Jewish activists as "objectionable aliens

Illegal immigration

Illegal immigration is the migration into a nation in violation of the immigration laws of that jurisdiction. Illegal immigration raises many political, economical and social issues and has become a source of major controversy in developed countries and the more successful developing countries.In...

" (under the provisions of an 1881 law), including those of Moses Gaster

Moses Gaster

Moses Gaster was a Romanian-born Jewish-British scholar, the Hakham of the Spanish and Portuguese congregation, London, and a Hebrew linguist. He was also the son-in-law of Michael Friedländer, principal of Jews' College. The surname Gaster is taken from Spanish Castro, indicating his Sephardic...

and Elias Schwarzfeld.

The courts exacted the Oath More Judaico

Oath More Judaico

The Oath More Judaico or Jewish Oath was a special form of oath, accompanied by certain ceremonies and often intentionally humiliating or dangerous, that Jews were required to take in European courts of law until the 20th century...

in its most offensive form - it was only abolished in 1904, following criticism in the French

France

press. In 1892, when the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

addressed a note to the signatory powers of the Berlin treaty on the matter, it was attacked by the Romanian press. The Lascăr Catargiu

Lascar Catargiu

Lascăr Catargiu was a Romanian conservative statesman born in Moldavia. He belonged to an ancient Wallachian family, one of whose members had been banished in the 17th century by Prince Matei Basarab, and had settled in Moldavia.-Biography:...

government was, however, concerned - the issue was debated among ministers, and, as a result, the Romanian government issued pamphlet

Pamphlet

A pamphlet is an unbound booklet . It may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths , or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book...

s in French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, reiterating its accusations against the Jews and maintaining that persecutions were deserved in exchange for the community's alleged exploitation of the rural population.

Before and after World War I

The emigration of Romanian Jews on a larger scale commenced soon after 1878; numbers rose and fell, with a major wave of Bessarabian Jews

Bessarabian Jews

-Early history:Jews are mentioned from very early in the Principality of Moldavia, but they did not represent a significant number. Their main activity in Moldavia was commerce, but they could not compete with Greeks and Armenians, who had the knowledge of the Levantine commerce and relationships...

after the Kishinev pogrom

Kishinev pogrom

The Kishinev pogrom was an anti-Jewish riot that took place in Chişinău, then the capital of the Bessarabia province of the Russian Empire on April 6-7, 1903.-First pogrom:...

in Imperial Russia (1905). The Jewish Encyclopedia

Jewish Encyclopedia

wrote in 1905, shortly before the pogrom, "It is admitted that at least 70 per cent would leave the country at any time if the necessary traveling expenses were furnished". There are no official statistics of emigration; but it is safe to place the minimum number of Jewish emigrants from 1898 to 1904 at 70,000. By 1900 there were 250,000 Romanian Jews: 3.3% of the population, 14.6% of the city dwellers, 32% of the Moldavian urban population and 42% of Iaşi

Iasi

.

Land issues and predominantly Jewish presence among estate leaseholders

Leasehold estate

A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord....

accounted for the 1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt

1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt

The 1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt took place in March 1907 in Moldavia and it quickly spread, reaching Wallachia. The main cause was the discontent of the peasants about the inequity of land ownership, which was in the hands of just a few large landowners....

, partly anti-Semitic in message. During the same period, the anti-Jewish message first expanded beyond its National Liberal base (where it was soon an insignificant attitude), to cover the succession of more radical and Moldavian-based organizations founded by A.C. Cuza (his Democratic Nationalist Party, created in 1910, had the first anti-Semitic program in Romanian political history). No longer present in the PNL's ideology by the 1920s, anti-Semitism also tended to surface in on the left-wing of the political spectrum, in currents originating in Poporanism

Poporanism

The word “poporanism” is derived from “popor”, meaning “people” in the Romanian language. The ideology of Romanian Populism and poporanism are interchangeable. Founded by Constantin Stere in the early 1890s, populism is distinguished by its opposition to socialism, promotion of voting rights for...

- which favoured the claim that peasants were being systematically exploited by Jews.

World War I

World War I

, during which 882 Jewish soldiers died defending Romania (and 825 were decorated), brought about the creation of Greater Romania

Greater Romania

after the 1919 Paris Peace Conference

Paris Peace Conference, 1919

The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...

and subsequent treaties. The enlarged state had an increased Jewish population, corresponding with the addition of communities in Bessarabia

Bessarabia

Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....

, Bukovina

Bukovina

, and Transylvania

Transylvania

. On signing the treaties, Romania agreed to change its policy towards the Jews, promising to award them both citizenship and minority rights

Minority rights

The term Minority Rights embodies two separate concepts: first, normal individual rights as applied to members of racial, ethnic, class, religious, linguistic or sexual minorities, and second, collective rights accorded to minority groups...

, the effective emancipation of Jews

Jewish Emancipation

Jewish emancipation was the external and internal process of freeing the Jewish people of Europe, including recognition of their rights as equal citizens, and the formal granting of citizenship as individuals; it occurred gradually between the late 18th century and the early 20th century...

. The 1923 Constitution of Romania

1923 Constitution of Romania

The 1923 Constitution of Romania, also called the Constitution of Union, was intended to align the organisation of the state on the basis of universal male suffrage and the new realities that arose after the Great Union of 1918. Four draft constitutions existed: one belonging to the National...

sanctioned these requirements, meeting opposition from Cuza's National-Christian Defense League

National-Christian Defense League

The National-Christian Defense League was a virulently anti-Semitic political party of Romania formed by A. C. Cuza.-Origins:The group had its roots in the National Christian Union, formed in 1922 by Cuza and the famed physiologist Nicolae Paulescu. This group, which used the swastika as its...

and rioting by far right

Far right

Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...

students in Iaşi

Iasi

; the land reform

Land reform

carried out by the Ion I. C. Brătianu

Ion I. C. Bratianu

Ion I. C. Brătianu was a Romanian politician, leader of the National Liberal Party , the Prime Minister of Romania for five terms, and Foreign Minister on several occasions; he was the eldest son of statesman and PNL leader Ion Brătianu, the brother of Vintilă and Dinu Brătianu, and the father of...

cabinet also settled problems connected with land tenancy.

Political representation for the Jewish community in the inter-war period was divided between the Jewish Party

Jewish Party (Romania)

The Jewish Party was a political party in 1930s Romania.The PER came into being as a result of dissensions within the Jewish community. The Union of Native Jews , believed that a separate Jewish party was unnecessary, as it would isolate the Jews politically after they had struggled for decades to...

and the Federation of Jewish Communities of Romania

Romanian ethnic minorities parties

The Romanian Constitution , under the contitions imposed by the Electoral Law, reserves a seat in the Chamber of Deputies for the party and cultural association of each ethnic minority in Romania...

(the latter was re-established after 1989). During the same period, a division in ritual became apparent between Reform Jews

Reform Judaism

Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...

in Transylvania and usually Orthodox

Orthodox Judaism

ones in the rest of the country (while Bessarabia was the most open to Zionism

Zionism

Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...

and especially the socialist

Socialism

Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

Labor Zionism

Labor Zionism can be described as the major stream of the left wing of the Zionist movement. It was, for many years, the most significant tendency among Zionists and Zionist organizational structure...

The popularity of anti-Jewish messages was, nevertheless, on the rise, and merged itself with the appeal of fascism

Fascism

Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...

in the late 1920s - both contributed to the creation and success of Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

Corneliu Zelea Codreanu was a Romanian politician of the far right, the founder and charismatic leader of the Iron Guard or The Legion of the Archangel Michael , an ultra-nationalist and violently antisemitic organization active throughout most of the interwar period...

's Iron Guard

Iron Guard

The Iron Guard is the name most commonly given to a far-right movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II. The Iron Guard was ultra-nationalist, fascist, anti-communist, and promoted the Orthodox Christian faith...

and the appearance of new types of anti-Semitic discourses (Trăirism and Gândirism). The idea of a Jewish quota

Jewish quota

Jewish quota was a percentage that limited the number of Jews in various establishments. In particular, in 19th and 20th centuries some countries had Jewish quotas for higher education, a special case of Numerus clausus....

in higher education

Higher education

Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...

became highly popular among Romanian students and teachers. According to Andrei Oişteanu

Andrei Oisteanu

's analysis, a relevant number of right-wing

Right-wing politics

In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...

intellectuals refused to adopt overt anti-Semitism, which was ill-reputed through its association with A. C. Cuza's violent discourse; nevertheless, a few years later, such cautions were cast aside, and anti-Semitism became displayed as "spiritual health".

The first motion to exclude Jews from professional associations came on May 16, 1937, when the Confederation of the Associations of Professional Intellectuals (Confederaţia Asociaţiilor de Profesionişti Intelectuali din România) voted to exclude all Jewish members from its affiliated bodies, calling for the state to withdraw their licenses and reassess their citizenship. Although illegal, the measure was popular and it was commented that, in its case, legality had been supplanted by a "heroic decision". According to Oişteanu, the initiative had a direct influence on anti-Semitic regulations passed during the following year.

The threat posed by the Iron Guard, the emergence of Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

as a European power, and his own fascist sympathies , made King

King of Romania

King of the Romanians , rather than King of Romania , was the official title of the ruler of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947, when Romania was proclaimed a republic....

Carol II

Carol II of Romania

Carol II reigned as King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until 6 September 1940. Eldest son of Ferdinand, King of Romania, and his wife, Queen Marie, a daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second eldest son of Queen Victoria...

, who was still largely identified as a philo-Semite

Philo-Semitism

Philo-Semitism or Judeophilia is an interest in, respect for, and appreciation of the Jewish people, their historical significance and the positive impacts of Judaism in the history of the western world, in particular, generally on the part of a gentile...

, adopt racial discrimination

Racism

as the norm. In the recent election, over 25% of the electorate had voted for explicitly anti-semitic groups (either the Goga-Cuza alliance (9%) or the Iron Guard's political mouthpiece, TPT(16.5%)), and as a result, Carol was forced to let one of the two into his cabinet- he instantly chose the Goga-Cuza alliance over the rabid fascism of the Iron Guard (according to modern historian of the Balkans, Misha Glenny, he also thought that this would "take the sting out of the Guard's tail"). On January 21, 1938, Carol's executive (led by Cuza and Octavian Goga

Octavian Goga

Octavian Goga was a Romanian politician, poet, playwright, journalist, and translator.-Life:Born in Răşinari, nearby Sibiu, he was an active member in the Romanian nationalistic movement in Transylvania and of its leading group, the Romanian National Party in Austria-Hungary. Before World War I,...

) passed a law aimed at reviewing criteria for citizenship (after it cast allegations that previous cabinets had allowed Ukrainian Jews

History of the Jews in Ukraine

Jewish communities have existed in the territory of Ukraine from the time of Kievan Rus' and developed many of the most distinctive modern Jewish theological and cultural traditions. While at times they flourished, at other times they faced periods of persecution and antisemitic discriminatory...

to obtain it illegally), and requiring all Jews who had received citizenship in 1918-1919 to reapply for it (while providing a very short term in which this could be achieved - 20 days);

However, Carol II himself was highly hostile to anti-Semitism. His lover, Elena Lupescu, was Jewish, as were a number of his friends in government, and he soon reverted to his original policies (that is, fiercely opposing the anti-Semites and fascists), but with a newly violent sting. On February 12, 1938, he used the rising violence between political groups as context to seize absolute power (a move which was tacitly supported by the liberals who had come to view him as a lesser evil in comparison to Codreanu's fascist movement). As an authentic Romanian nationalist (albeit, one who had a view of a Westernized, forcefully industrialized Romania at the expense of the peasants whom he viewed with disdain; making him completely the antithesis of the views of Codreanu), Carol was determined that Romania should not fall into the near-absolute economic and political control that many of its neighbors already had, and moved to theatrical resistance against Nazi ideology. The King then arrested the entire leadership of the Iron Guard, on the grounds that they were in the pay of the Nazis, and began using the same accusation against various political opponents, both to solidify his absolute control of the country as well as negatively stigmatize Germany. In November, the fourteen most important fascist leaders (the first of which being Codreanu) were "rinsed" in acid.

However, Carol's policy was doomed by the reluctance of France and Britain to engage the fascist powers of Germany, Italy and Russia (or rather, Stalinist communist, in the case of the latter) in war. Russia attacked Romania and declared annexation of Bukovina and Bessarabia (which was to be renamed Moldova), and when Carol turned to the only possible hope - that is, assistance from the former "eternal foe", Nazi Germany - he was angrily rejected by Hitler personally, who did not have to try hard to remember how Carol had previously humiliated the cause of his ideology. Carol was forced to acknowledge the annexation, leading directly to his overthrow in a coup led by Ion Antonescu.

In 1940, the Ion Gigurtu

Ion Gigurtu

Ion Gigurtu was a Romanian politician, Land Forces officer, engineer and industrialist who served a brief term as Prime Minister from July 4 to September 4, 1940, under the personal regime of King Carol II. A specialist in mining and veteran of both the Second Balkan War and World War I, he made a...

cabinet adopted Romania's equivalent to the Nuremberg Laws

Nuremberg Laws

The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 were antisemitic laws in Nazi Germany introduced at the annual Nuremberg Rally of the Nazi Party. After the takeover of power in 1933 by Hitler, Nazism became an official ideology incorporating scientific racism and antisemitism...

, forbidding Jewish-Christian intermarriage, and defining Jews after racial criteria (a person was Jewish if he or she had a Jewish grandparent on one side of the family).

The Iron Guard

Between the establishment of the National Legionary State

National Legionary State

The National Legionary State was the Romanian government from September 6, 1940 to January 23, 1941. It was a single-party regime dictatorship dominated by the overtly fascist Iron Guard in uneasy conjunction with the head of government and Conducător Ion Antonescu, the leader of the Romanian...

and 1942, 80 anti-Jewish regulations were passed. Starting at the end of October, 1940, the Iron Guard

Iron Guard

began a massive anti-Semitic campaign, torturing and beating Jews and looting their shops (see Dorohoi Pogrom

Dorohoi pogrom

On 1 July 1940, in the town of Dorohoi in Romania, Romanian military units carried out a pogrom against the local Jews, during which, according to an official Romanian report, 53 Jews were murdered, and dozens injured. According to the town's Jews, the number of fatalities was between 165 and 200...

), culminating in the failed coup and a pogrom in Bucharest

Legionnaires' Rebellion and Bucharest Pogrom

The Legionnaires' rebellion and the Bucharest pogrom occurred in Bucharest, Romania, between 21 and 23 January 1941.As the privileges of the Iron Guard were being cut off by Conducător Ion Antonescu, members of the Iron Guard, also known as the Legionnaires, revolted...

, in which 120 Jews were killed. Antonescu eventually stopped the violence and chaos created by the Iron Guard by brutally suppressing the rebellion, but continued the policy of oppression and massacre of Jews, and, to a lesser extent, of Roma

Roma minority in Romania

The Roma constitute one of the major minorities in Romania. According to the 2002 census, they number 535,140 people or 2.5% of the total population, being the second-largest ethnic minority in Romania after Hungarians...

Antonescu's regime

After Romania entered the war at the start of Operation Barbarossa

Operation Barbarossa

Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...

atrocities against the Jews became common, starting with the Iaşi pogrom

Iasi pogrom

The Iaşi pogrom or Jassy pogrom of June 27, 1941 was one of the most violent pogroms in Jewish history, launched by governmental forces in the Romanian city of Iaşi against its Jewish population, resulting in the murder of at least 13,266 Jews, according to Romanian authorities.-Background:]During...

- on June 27, 1941, Romanian dictator Ion Antonescu telephoned Col. Constantin Lupu, commander of the Iaşi garrison, telling him formally to "cleanse Iaşi of its Jewish population", though plans for the pogrom had been laid even earlier - 13,266 Jews, according to Romanian authorities, were killed in July 1941.

In July–August 1941, the yellow badge

Yellow badge

The yellow badge , also referred to as a Jewish badge, was a cloth patch that Jews were ordered to sew on their outer garments in order to mark them as Jews in public. It is intended to be a badge of shame associated with antisemitism...

was imposed by local initiatives in several cities (Iaşi, Bacău

Bacau

Bacău is the main city in Bacău County, Romania. It covers a land surface of 43 km², and, as of January 1, 2009, has an estimated population of 177,087. The city is situated in the historical region of Moldavia, at the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, and on the Bistriţa River...

, Cernăuţi). A similar measure imposed by the national government lasted only five days (between September 3 and September 8, 1941), before being annulled on Antonescu's order. However, on local initiative, the badge was still worn especially in the towns of Moldavia, Bessarabia

Bessarabia

Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....

and Bukovina

Bukovina

(Bacău, Iaşi, Câmpulung

Câmpulung Moldovenesc

Câmpulung Moldovenesc is a city located in Suceava County, which is in the historical Bukovina region of Moldavia in North Eastern Romania...

, Botoşani

Botosani

Botoșani is the capital city of Botoșani County, in northern Moldavia, Romania. Today, it is best known as the birthplace of many celebrated Romanians, including Mihai Eminescu and Nicolae Iorga.- Origin of the name :...

, Cernăuţi, etc.).

According to the Wiesel Commission

Wiesel Commission

The Wiesel Commission is the common name given to the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania, which was established by former President Ion Iliescu in October 2003 to research and create a report on the actual history of the Holocaust in Romania and make specific recommendations for...

report released by the Romanian government in 2004, Romania murdered in various forms, between 280,000 to 380,000 Jews in Romania and in the war zone of Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transnistria

Transnistria (World War II)

Transnistria Governorate was a Romanian administered territory, conquered by the Axis Powers from the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa, and occupied from 19 August 1941 to 29 January 1944...

. Until 2004, when researchers made numerous documents publicly available, many in Romania denied knowledge that their country participated in the Holocaust.
In 1941, following the advancing Romanian Army after Operation Barbarossa

Operation Barbarossa

, and, according to Antonescu propaganda, alleged attacks by Jewish (Resistance groups of Soviet partisans

Soviet partisans

The Soviet partisans were members of a resistance movement which fought a guerrilla war against the Axis occupation of the Soviet Union during World War II....

- for Antonescu, all Jews were communists, see Odessa massacre

Odessa massacre

The Odessa massacre was the extermination of Jews in Odessa and surrounding towns in Transnistria during the autumn of 1941 and the winter of 1942 in a series of massacres and killings during the Holocaust by Romanian forces, under German control, encouragement and instruction...

), Antonescu ordered the deportation to Transnistria, of all Jews of Bessarabia and Bukovina (between 130,000 and 145,000), who were considered en masse "Communist

Communism

Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...

agents" by the official propaganda

Propaganda

Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....

. "Deportation" however was a euphemism, as part of the process involved killing many Jews before deporting the rest in the "trains of death" (in reality long exhausting marches on foot) to the East. Of those who escaped the initial ethnic cleansing

Ethnic cleansing

Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....

in Bukovina and Bessarabia, only very few managed to survive "trains" and the concentration camps set up in Transnistria

Transnistria (World War II)

Transnistria Governorate was a Romanian administered territory, conquered by the Axis Powers from the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa, and occupied from 19 August 1941 to 29 January 1944...

. Further killings perpetrated by Antonescu's death squads (documents prove his direct orders) targeted the Jewish population that the Romanian Army managed to round up when occupying Transnistria. Over one hundred thousand of these were in massacres staged in such places as Odessa

Odessa

Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...

, Bogdanovka

Bogdanovka

Bogdanovka was a concentration camp for Jews that was established by the Romanian authorities during World War II as part of the Holocaust.- Location :...

, Akmecetka in 1941 and 1942.

Antonescu did halt deportations despite German pressure starting with October 1942, as he began to seek peace with the Allies

Allies of World War II

The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...

, although at the same time he levied heavy taxes and forced labor on the remaining Jewish communities. Also, sometimes with the encouragement of Antonescu's regime, thirteen boats left Romania for the British Mandate of Palestine during the war, carrying 13,000 Jews (two of these ships sunk, and the effort was discontinued after German pressure was applied).

Half of the estimated 270,000 to 320,000 Jews living in Bessarabia, Bukovina, and the former Dorohoi County

Dorohoi county

Dorohoi County, with its seat at Dorohoi, was a subdivision of the Kingdom of Romania and located in the region of Moldavia....

in Romania were murdered between June 1941 and spring of 1944. After a wave of random initial killings, Jews in Moldavia were subject to pogrom

Pogrom

A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...

s, while those in Bessarabia, Bukovina and Dorohoi were concentrated into ghetto

Ghetto

A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...

s from which they were deported to concentration camps in Transnistria

Transnistria (World War II)

Transnistria Governorate was a Romanian administered territory, conquered by the Axis Powers from the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa, and occupied from 19 August 1941 to 29 January 1944...

, including camps built and run by Romanians. Romanian soldiers also worked with the German Einsatzkommando

Einsatzkommando

During World War II, the Nazi German Einsatzkommandos were a sub-group of five Einsatzgruppen mobile killing squads—up to 3,000 men each—usually composed of 500-1,000 functionaries of the SS and Gestapo, whose mission was to kill Jews, Romani, communists and the NKVD collaborators in the captured...

to massacre Jews in conquered territories east of the Romania's 1940 border. The total number of deaths is not certain, but even the lowest respectable estimates run to about 250,000 Jews (plus 25,000 deported Roma, of which half perished). At the same time, 120,000 of Transylvania

Transylvania

's 150,000 Jews died at the hands of the Fascist Hungarians

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

later in the war (see Northern Transylvania

Northern Transylvania

Northern Transylvania is a region of Transylvania, situated within the territory of Romania. The population is largely composed of both ethnic Romanians and Hungarians, and the region has been part of Romania since 1918 . During World War II, as a consequence of the territorial agreement known as...

). Also, Antonescu's government made plans for mass deportations from the Regat

Romanian Old Kingdom

to Belzec

Belzec extermination camp

Belzec, Polish spelling Bełżec , was the first of the Nazi German extermination camps created for implementing Operation Reinhard during the Holocaust...

, but never carried them out.

Nonetheless, in stark contrast to many countries of Eastern and Central Europe, the majority of Romanian Jews (if restricted to rump Romania, outside the territories occupied in 1940 by Hungary and the Soviet Union) survived the war, although they were subject to a wide range of harsh conditions, including forced labor

Penal labour

Penal labour is a form of unfree labour in which prisoners perform work, typically manual labour. The work may be light or hard, depending on the context. Forms of sentence which involve penal labour include penal servitude and imprisonment with hard labour...

, financial penalties, and discriminatory laws. The number of victims, however, makes Romania count as, according to the Wiesel Commission

Wiesel Commission

, "Of all the allies of Nazi Germany

Axis Powers

The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...

, [responsible] for the deaths of more Jews than any country other than Germany itself".

Post-War

According to the World Jewish Congress

World Jewish Congress

The World Jewish Congress was founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in August 1936 as an international federation of Jewish communities and organizations...

, there were 428,312 Jews in Romania in 1947. Mass emigration ensued, much of it to the British Mandate of Palestine and later Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

, and much of it technically illegal (see Berihah

Berihah

Bricha was the underground organized effort that helped Jewish Holocaust survivors escape post-World War II Europe to the British Mandate for Palestine in violation of the White Paper of 1939...

). By 1956, there were 144,236 Jews in Romania. From 1948 until 1960, more than 200,000 Romanian Jews went to Israel, reducing the population in Romania to less than 100,000 by the 1960s.

During the period of transition towards a communist regime in Romania

Communist Romania

Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...

, following Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

occupation (see Soviet occupation of Romania

Soviet occupation of Romania

The Soviet occupation of Romania refers to the period from 1944 to August 1958, during which the Soviet Union maintained a significant military presence in Romania...

), Jewish society and culture were subject to the same increasingly tight control by the authorities. The community leader Wilhelm Filderman

Wilhelm Filderman

Wilhelm Filderman was a leader of the Romanian-Jewish community between the two wars and a representative of the Jews in the Romanian parliament....

was arrested in 1945, and had to flee the country in 1948. On April 22, 1946, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej was the Communist leader of Romania from 1948 until his death in 1965.-Early life:Gheorghe was the son of a poor worker, Tănase Gheorghiu, and his wife Ana. Gheorghiu-Dej joined the Communist Party of Romania in 1930...

attended a meeting of Jewish organizations and called for the creation of a new body, the Jewish Democratic Committee, which was in reality a section of the Romanian Communist Party

Romanian Communist Party

The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...

(PCR).

After the proclamation of the People's Republic

People's Republic

People's Republic is a title that has often been used by Marxist-Leninist governments to describe their state. The motivation for using this term lies in the claim that Marxist-Leninists govern in accordance with the interests of the vast majority of the people, and, as such, a Marxist-Leninist...

, the government formed by the PCR outlawed all Jewish organizations at a meeting on June 10–June 11, 1948, stating that "the party must take a stand on every question concerning the Jews of Romania and fight vigorously against reactionary

Reactionary

The term reactionary refers to viewpoints that seek to return to a previous state in a society. The term is meant to describe one end of a political spectrum whose opposite pole is "radical". While it has not been generally considered a term of praise it has been adopted as a self-description by...

nationalist

Nationalism

Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...

Jewish currents [that is, Zionism

Zionism

]". In 1952-1953, the Stalinist

Stalinism

Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...

anti-Semitic charge of "rootless cosmopolitan

Rootless cosmopolitan

Rootless cosmopolitan was a Soviet euphemism widely used during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1948–1953, which culminated in the "exposure" of the alleged Doctors' plot...

ism" brought the purging of the party's own leadership (including Ana Pauker

Ana Pauker

Ana Pauker was a Romanian communist leader and served as the country's foreign minister in the late 1940s and early 1950s...

); the charge was then inflicted on the larger part of the Jewish community, beginning with a trial engineered by Iosif Chişinevschi

Iosif Chisinevschi

Iosif Chişinevschi , born Iosif Roitman, was a Romanian communist politician. The leading ideologue of the Romanian Communist Party from 1944 to 1957, he served as head of its Agitprop Department from 1948 to 1952 and was in charge of propaganda and culture from 1952 to 1955...

. Jews who were perceived as Zionists were given harsh labour sentences in communist prisons such as Piteşti

Pitesti prison

The Pitești prison was a penal facility in Pitești, Romania, best remembered for the brainwashing experiment carried out by Communist authorities in 1949-1952...

(where they were subject to torture

Torture

Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...

and brainwashing experiments; several died). The 1952 trial of engineers made responsible for the failure of the Danube-Black Sea Canal

Danube-Black Sea Canal

The Danube – Black Sea Canal is a canal in Romania which runs from Cernavodă on the Danube to Agigea and Năvodari on the Black Sea...

project also involved allegations of Zionism (notably aimed at Aurel Rozei-Rozenberg, who was eventually executed).

The situation for the Jews of Romania later improved, but the community has shrunk, mainly through aliyah

Aliyah

- today only 9,000-15,000 Jews live in Romania.

Major groups

Satmar
Satmar (Hasidic dynasty)
Satmar is a Hasidic movement comprising mostly Hungarian and Romanian Hasidic Jewish Holocaust survivors and their descendants. It was founded and led by the late Hungarian-born Grand Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum , who was the rabbi of Szatmárnémeti, Hungary...

, originating from Satu Mare, the world's largest group
Klausenburg
Klausenburg (Hasidic dynasty)
Klausenburg , also known as Sanz-Klausenburg, is a Hasidic dynasty that originated in the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca , Romania....

, originating from Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca , commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest , Budapest and Belgrade...

, the world's 9th largest group
Spinka
Spinka (Hasidic dynasty)
Spinka is the name of a Hasidic group within Orthodox Judaism. The group originated in a city called Săpânţa , Maramureş, Romania, near the Hungarian border.-Spinka rebbes:...

, originating from Săpânţa
Sapânta
Săpânţa is a commune in Maramureş County in northern Romania, 15 kilometers northwest of Sighet and just south of the Tisza River. It is composed of a single village, Săpânţa....

- 10th

Other groups

Bohush
Bohush (Hasidic dynasty)
The Bohush Hasidic dynasty is one of the five dynasties deriving from the Ruzhin dynasty.It was founded by Rebbe Yitzchok Friedman who was the grandson of Reb Yisroel Friedman, the rebbe of the Ruzhin dynasty. Yitzchok Friedman became the leader of the Ruzhin dynasty after the death of his father...

, from Buhuşi
Buhusi
Buhuşi is a town in Bacău County, Romania with a population of about 18,980. It was first mentioned in the 15th century when it was named "Bodeşti" and was a property of an important family of Boyars named "Buhuş". Lucian Predescu Buhuşi is a town in Bacău County, Romania with a population of...

http://www.nishmas.org/gdynasty/chapt15.htm
Bucharest, from Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
Faltichan, from Fălticeni
Falticeni
Fălticeni is a city in Suceava County, Romania, capital of the former Baia County . As of 2003 the population is 28,899, and the city covers an area of 28,76 km², of which 25% are orchards and lakes. The city is 25 km away from Suceava, the capital of the county...
Nasod, from Năsăud
Nasaud
Năsăud is a town in Bistriţa-Năsăud County in Romania located in the historical region of Transylvania. The town administers two villages, Liviu Rebreanu and Luşca.The name Năsăud is possibly derived from the Slavic nas voda, meaning "near the water"...
Pashkan, from Paşcani
Pascani
Paşcani is a city in Iaşi County in the Moldavia region of Romania on the Siret river. , it has a population of 42,172. Five villages are administered by the city: Blăgeşti, Boşteni, Gâsteşti, Lunca and Sodomeni....
Sasregen
Sasregen (Hasidic dynasty)
Sasregen is a Hasidic dynasty from Reghin, Romania. Rabbi Mordechai Dovid Rubin is the present Sasregener Rebbe in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, New York...

, from Reghin
Seret
Seret (Hasidic dynasty)
Seret or Sereter Hasidim were a group of Hasidic Jews that existed in the town of Siret and the surrounding area in Bukovina during the late nineteenth century until World War II....

, from Siret
Siret
Siret is a town in Romania, Suceava County, one of the oldest towns in, and a former capital of, the former principality of Moldavia. It is located 2 km from the border with Ukraine, being one of the main border passing points in the North of the country, having both a road border post and a...
Shotz
Shotz (Hasidic dynasty)
Shotz is a Hasidic dynasty originating in the city of Suceava, Romania .- Lineage of the Shotz dynasty :* Rabbi Yisroel "Baal Shem Tov", founder of Hasidism** Rabbi Yechiel Michl, the maggid of Zlotshev, a student of Rabbi Yisroel....

, from Suceava
Suceava
Suceava is the Suceava County seat in Bukovina, Moldavia region, in north-eastern Romania. The city was the capital of the Principality of Moldavia from 1388 to 1565.-History:...
Shtefanesht
Shtefanesht (Hasidic dynasty)
After the passing of Rabbi Yisroel Friedman of Ruzhin in 1851, his fourth son, Menachem Nuchem Friedman, born in 1823, settled in the town of Shtefanesht, Romania, and subsequently founded the Shtefanesht Hasidic dynasty. In 1869 he died and his only son, Avraham Mattisyahu succeeded him.Reb...

, from Ştefăneşti
Stefanesti
Ştefăneşti may refer to several places.*in Moldova:**Ştefăneşti, a commune in Floreşti District**Ştefăneşti, Ştefan Vodă, a commune in Ştefan Vodă District**Ştefăneşti, a village in Tănătarii Noi Commune, Căuşeni District*in Romania:...
Temishvar, originating from Timişoara
Timisoara
Timișoara is the capital city of Timiș County, in western Romania. One of the largest Romanian cities, with an estimated population of 311,586 inhabitants , and considered the informal capital city of the historical region of Banat, Timișoara is the main social, economic and cultural center in the...
Vasloi
Vasloi (Hasidic dynasty)
Vasloi was a Hasidic dynasty centered in Vaslui, Romania, and founded by Rabbi Shalom Halpern, a grandson of Rabbi Yisroel Friedman of Ruzhyn in the Russian Empire.-History:...

, originating from Vaslui
Vaslui
Vaslui , a city in eastern Romania, is the seat of Vaslui County, in the historical region of Moldavia.The city administers five villages: Bahnari, Brodoc, Moara Grecilor, Rediu and Viişoara.-History:...

External links

The Beginning of the Final Solution: Murder of the Jews of Romania on the Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953 through the Yad Vashem Law passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament....

website
Romanian Jewish Community
The Holocaust in Romania from ISurvived.org. Extensive collection of web links.
Jewish Education Network, Jewish Education in Romanian Romanian Jewish Portal, with links to major Romanian Jewish websites
Romanian Jews in America, by Vladimir F. Wertsman

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Early history

Early Modern Age

Russo-Turkish Wars

Early 19th century

Under Alexander John Cuza

1860s and 1870s

Treaty of Berlin and aftermath

Before and after World War I

The Iron Guard

Antonescu's regime

Post-War

Major groups

Other groups

See also

External links