MARIUS CAZAN

Abstract

Stationed in Iași during the Pogrom of 1941, later advancing into Bessarabia and crossing the Dniester river towards Odessa, the 14th Infantry Division supervised and coordinated the advance of its units through regions where many localities were home to large Jewish communities. This study aims to analyze the way in which this large military unit of the Romanian Army trained and mobilized its own units immediately after the withdrawal from Bessarabia and Bukovina in the summer of 1940, until the start of the Romanian-German offensive. Another aim is to reconstruct, by using the orders received and issued by the 14th Division, the criminal urges or encouraging silences that enabled the destruction of the Jewish communities in Bessarabia and Bukovina.

Keywords: Judeo-Bolshevism; Bessarabia; Gheorghe Stavrescu; Ion Antonescu; Holocaust by bullets.

https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1089205

NICOLAE EMILIAN DRANCA

Abstract

In this research, I am showing how the Romanian authorities treated the Jewish communities in Southern Bukovina, especially that from Câmpulung Moldovenesc, in the years 1940-1941. The main sources that underline this endeavor are the documents of the Câmpulung Prefecture, currently held by the Suceava branch of the National Archives. Those archives are incomplete, and documents are missing that highlighted the correspondence exchanged between the Ministry of the Interior and the Câmpulung Prefecture, as well as a great many directives of the Police, the Gendarmerie, and, implicitly, the institution of the Prefect. Thus, historical truth is being recovered only partially. The gaps left behind by the disappearance of documents from the archives can be filled, to a certain extent, by the diaries, memoirs, and testimonies of the Holocaust survivors from the former câmpulung county of Southern Bukovina. Hence, I am showing how the Prefecture was the main institution responsible for the marginalization of the Jews from towns by evacuating them to outside neighborhoods initially and preparing for the great deportations to Transnistria that took place during the fall of 1941. I am showing that the Prefecture was the institution responsible also for the Jews’ dispossessions of mobile and immobile goods that were afterward put at the disposal of other ethnics, being either sold or rented. This whole process of the Jews’ deportation was put up and worked out entirely by the Romanian authorities, without any help from the Germans or any other outer support.

Keywords: Holocaust, Bukovina, Câmpulung Moldovenesc, marginalization, dispossession, deportation.

https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1089218

PETRE MATEI

Abstract

This article focuses on the compensation claims submitted in the summer of 1970 by survivors from Argeș County, Romania. Three categories of claims are analyzed, filed respectively by Roma, Jews, and “political prisoners”. The main question the article asks is to what extent and under what conditions this collection of compensation claims can be used to understand the Holocaust in Romania. As the primary purpose of the claims was to get West German compensation, not to provide historical information (which was presented and filtered accordingly, both by the claimants and by the Romanian authorities), the conclusion is that the collection can only prove helpful if seen in this specific context and approached with caution.

Keywords: Holocaust, genocide, Jews, Roma, compensation, Romania, Argeș, ITS Bad Arolsen.

https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1089223

DIEGO-MARICEL CIOBOTARU

Abstract

In 1922, in Romania, fascist youth organizations began to undertake actions of intimidation and annihilation of Jews and of those accused of supporting them through the use of physical and verbal violence, manifestations that continued and radicalized year after year. Sports and sports venues were among the spaces where Romanian antisemitism seemed to be allowed to manifest itself unhindered. The systemic spread of the antisemitic ideology led to an increase in such occurrences. As of the 1930s, the foundations of the anti-Jewish legislation continued by the Antonescu regime were laid, and the war of the far-right groups against Jews and Judaism was total and concerned all aspects of life, including sports. Step by step, athletes and officials of Jewish origin were excluded from this field, meaning that the Maccabi association, as well as other Jewish sports teams, were banned from all official competitions of the Romanian State. This situation lasted four years, until the end of the Antonescu regime. Jewish associations were categorized by the police and military authorities as a cover for communist activity. In Romania, just like in other countries, persecution and discrimination of Jews continued after the end of World War II, given that stadiums in Bucharest and the province witnessed reprehensible deeds against Jewish soccer players and sports clubs, done by the other athletes and especially by the audiences. In this article, I will present several such cases in detail to show a lesser-known side of Romanian antisemitism before and after the Second World War.

Keywords: sports, violence, antisemitism, stadium, Maccabi.

https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1089348

ANA BĂRBULESCU

Abstract

The present study aims at offering an analysis of a.c: cuza’s antisemitic discourse and of the solutions he identified for the solving of what he called the “Jewish problem”. Moreover, by analyzing the anti-Jewish rhetoric brought forward by A.C. Cuza and its dynamics in time, my purpose is to prove that the legal measures implemented by A.C. Cuza after he came to power in late 1937 were no result of a political conjunction, but the materialization of a political project he had been struggling for during half a century.

Keywords: A.C. Cuza, Jews, antisemitism, satan, parasites.

https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1089357

NICOLAE DRĂGUȘIN

Abstract

Using as primary source articles written by clergymen of the Romanian Orthodox Church in the press sponsored by Nichifor Crainic, the present study aims at exploring Crainic’s status as a mentor for a certain part of the Romanian Orthodox Clergy. This will be done by inventorying the articles written by Orthodox clergymen in these publications and the themes they addressed, and also by analyzing the overlap of themes specific to far-right rhetoric with the broader register of Crainic’s ideological conception. Finally, the study will show that Nichifor Crainic exercised a significant influence on a significant part of the Orthodox priesthood (the most notable being Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae), although relations with the upper hierarchy (except for Metropolitan Nicolae Bălan) were not always cordial and by no means simple. The study does not claim to be exhaustive, because the research purpose can be extended to the case of lay professors of theology and also be supplemented with the use of primary sources other than those strictly relating to the journalistic activity of the clergy.

Keywords: Romanian Orthodox Church, Holocaust, antisemitism, antidemocracy, anti-modernity, Nichifor Crainic.

https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1089376

ADINA MARINCEA

Abstract

Romania has proved to be no outlier in the ongoing trend of mainstreamization of far-right and neo-fascist politics and discourses, despite the optimistic outlook that many shared not long ago. AUR marked a historical success, being the first “radical return” political formation to gain seats in Parliament after 1989. As a result, a process of accelerated normalization of the far-right discourse is taking place, moving the political spectrum further to the (extreme) right, while also rehabilitating historical figures that played a significant role in the Holocaust. The present paper draws on discourse Historical analysis and concepts such as “calculated ambivalence” and “dog-whistle politics” to unpack the coded meanings and whistles entwined in the discursive provocations and reactions of aUr’s leader, George Simion. Starting from AUR’s press release from January 2022, minimizing the Holocaust, which set in motion the “right-wing populist perpetuum mobile”, I analyze the main discursive strategies, both confrontational and submissive, used by Simion in his effort to “dog-whistle” to aUr’s ultranationalist supporters, while at the same time denying allegations of antisemitism, Holocaust minimization, and fascist sympathies. For a qualitative measure of the success or failure of these strategies, a complementary critical analysis of the reactions of some of the most prominent antisemitic ultranationalist voices in Romania is carried out. Is Simion a skillful “dog-whistler” or a “traitor”? The study shows that there is a thin and fluid line between the two.

Keywords: calculated ambivalence, dog-whistle politics, doublespeak, antisemitism, Holocaust denial.

https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1089400

ALEXANDRU MURARU

Abstract

During the Covid-19 pandemic, researchers and observers from various social fields noted a qualitative and quantitative increase in the most diverse antisemitic reactions. The history of antisemitism provides a solid explanation for this phenomenon. The social and economic crises and the epidemics – particularly the plague epidemic of the 14th century – show that societies had a violent reaction and blamed the Jews for the unwanted effects hard to explain under those circumstances. An overview of historical facts from open and public sources regarding these conspiracy theories and their violent outcomes makes up the former part of this paper. The latter part focuses on the antisemitic discourse and the multiplication of conspiratorial reactions during the Covid-19 pandemic and concludes the existence of three stances within this pattern, namely hate speech against the Jews, the Jewish conspiracy to rule the world and get rich, and the Holocaust denial or trivialisation. Numerous reports, studies, research, and scientific papers noted the increase in antisemitism against the pandemic backdrop. They represented resources for the qualitative analysis in this paper’s latter part. The primary conclusion shows that – in the pandemic context and through social media – the antisemitic discourse and acts increased significantly without adding any novelty or depth to the conspiratorial ideas.

Keywords: pandemic, Covid-19, antisemitism, black plague, social media, virus, Holocaust.

https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1089486

MIHAI LUKÁCS

Abstract

Starting with the first performances in 1944, new Jewish theatre companies created works that courageously approached the recent trauma for large audiences. The outstanding IKUF (Yiddisher Kultur Ferband) Theatre led this cultural movement and put the artistic foundations to what would become the Jewish State Theatre (Teatrul Evreiesc de Stat – TES) in 1948, in a difficult and confusing political moment. Its short-lived existence left a legacy that had long-term effects on the intricate transformations of the Jewish theatre in Romania.

Keywords: IKUF; Iacob Mansdorf; Romanian Jewish State Theatre; memory; Israil Bercovici.

https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1089492

GHEORGHE CIASCAI

Abstract

Les petites communautés juives de sept villages qui composent actuellement la commune rurale de Vad – Bogata de Jos, Bogata de Sus, Calna, Cetan, Vad et Valea Groșilor – comme toutes les communautés juives du Nord-Ouest de Roumanie, c’est-à-dire la Transylvanie de Nord, la région où se trouve cette commune, ont été brutalement frappées pendant l’Holocauste. Comme l’auteur a déjà montré dans une étude concernant le village Bogata de Sus, publiée en 2020, les atrocités de l’Holocauste ont marqué la mémoire collective d’un village de la commune et les mémoires individuelles des paysans de ce village. La recherche qui suit a continué et élargi cette étude par la mise en évidence des modalités par lesquelles l’Holocauste et les victimes locales de l’Holocauste sont toujours présentes dans la mémoire des habitants de tous les villages de la commune de Vad, ainsi que par l’analyse des modalités par lesquelles les autorités et les institutions publiques de Vad de l’après-guerre jusqu’à présent se sont impliquées dans les actions destinées à maintenir et à cultiver la mémoire des victimes locales de l’Holocauste.

Mots clé : Holocauste, mémoire collective, commune rurale de Vad, Transylvanie de Nord.

https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1089497

DANIEL BUTI

Abstract

The image of political leaders is not just packaging, it is part of the social representation. It is a construct of communication. Perceptions in the Romanian public space regarding Ion Antonescu are mixed and polarizing. The paper analyzes successive waves of opinion polls to outline an imagological profile of Ion Antonescu at the level of Romanian society. The research is completed by an analysis of communication in the online space, which captures the size and landmarks of the conversations regarding Ion Antonescu. The methodological approach is innovative because it contains a mix of methods. The result offers clues about the social springs and about the possible impact of the public discourse on minimizing the Holocaust or on heroizing and recovering the memory of certain fascist leaders from the modern history of Romania.

Keywords: Ion Antonescu, public image, perceptions, online communication, social networks.

https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1089498