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The Holocaust in Romania: The Iasi Pogrom of June 1941

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2008

Radu Ioanid
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Abstract

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In 1930, the Romanian Jewish community, one of the largest in Europe, numbered 756,930 members. Of these, about 150,000 lived in Northern Transylvania, which was occupied by Hungary in the summer of 1940; the remaining 600,000 Jews remained in territories ruled by Romania. In 1944, the Jews from Northern Transylvania shared the fate of the Hungarian Jews; only about 15,000 of them survived the deportations.

Type
Articles
Information
Contemporary European History , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , July 1993 , pp. 119 - 148
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

References

1 Matatias, Carp, Cartea Neagra (thereafter, Carp, Cartea), 3 vols (Bucharest: SOCEC & Co, 1946–8), 2. 11.Google Scholar Matatias Carp was the secretary of the Federation of Jewish Communities from Romania. He was given access to the folders of many Romanian war crimes trials. His ‘Black Book’ is a chronology of the Holocaust in Romania based on documents.

2 Octavian Goga, Paris Soir, 10 Jan. 1938.

3 Aexandru, Razmerita, Cum sa ne aparam de evrei-Un plan de eliminare totala (Turnu Severin: Minerva, 1938), 65–9.Google Scholar

4 Traian Herseni, ‘Rasa si destin national’, Cuvintul, 16 Jan. 1941, and Toma, Petrescu, Ni se pierde neamul – Actiunea jidanilor impotriva natiei romanesti (Bucharest: Cugetarea, 1940), 124.Google Scholar

5 Ibid, 2. 39, Order No. 62783, signed by Gen. I. Steflea on 19 June 1941.

6 Documents Concerning the Fate of Romanian Jewry During the Holocaust (thereafter Documents), ed. Ancel, Jean 12 vols (New York: Beate Klarsfeld Foundation, 1986), 2. 468.Google Scholar Ancel is one of the leading authorities in the history of the Romanian Holocaust. Most of the documents originate from Israeli, Romanian and American archives.

7 Procesul marii tradari nationale (thereafter Procesul) (Bucharest: Eminescu, 1946), 53. Procesul is a collection of selected excerpts from the Antonescu trial.

8 Ibid., 64.

9 Documents, 6. 445.

10 Carp, Cartea, 2. 48.

11 Ibid., 2. 50.

12 Procesul, 170; Cartea, 2. 41.

13 Ibid., 2. 19.

14 Ibid., 2. 51–2.

15 Aurel, Karetki and Maria, Covaci, Zile insingerate la Iasi (thereafter Karetki and Covaci, Zile) (Bucharest: Editura Politica, 1978), 50,Google Scholar citing Arhiva Ministerului Apararii Nationale, fund IV Army, dossier 6262/1941, 195–200. Zile insingerate la lasi is a revisionist book and the only one published between 1948 and 1989 which dealt extensively with the Holocaust in Romania. The Iron Guard was the Romanian fascist party; it was suppressed by Antonescu in January 1941. One of the majors was Gheorghe Balotescu, SSI chief in Iasi, and the other was probably Emil Tulbure, also a member of the SSI network in Iasi.

16 Documents, 6. 35, Braunstein testimony on the Iasi pogrom; Carp, Cartea, 2. 61, testimony of Colonel N. Lupu, commander of the Iasi garrison.

17 Ibid., 2. 22, 95; Karetki, and Covaci, , Zile, 45, citing Arhiva Ministerului Apararii Nationale (AMAN), fund ‘Comandament IV teritorial’, dossier 1349/1941, 232.Google Scholar

18 Ibid., 45–6 citing Archiva Ministerului Afacerilor Interne (AMAI), 29. 9–10.

19 Ibid.

20 Marius, Mircu, Pogromul de la lasi (thereafter Mircu Pogromul) (Bucharest: Glob, 1945), 5.Google Scholar

21 Documents, 6. 43.

22 Ibid., 6. 376–7; and Carp, Cartea, 2. 58.

23 Documents, 6. 377; and Carp, Cartea, 2. 53. The person referred to as ‘Sandu’ was Major von Stransky.

24 Ibid., 2. 22–3, and Documents, 6. 368.

25 Ibid., 6. 369.

26 Carp, Cartea, 2. 66.

27 Ibid., 2. 25, 61; Documents, 6. 369.

28 Karetki and Covaci, Zile, 57, citing AMAN, fund ‘14th Infantry Division’, dossier 117, file 95.

29 Carp, Cartea, 2. 25, 61; Documents, 6. 369.

30 Mircu, Pogromul, 9.

31 Documents, 6. 369, 2. 433; Carp, Cartea, 2. 25, 69.

32 Documents, 6. 369–70, 2. 433; Carp, Cartea, 2. 26.

33 Ibid., 2. 89, statement of the witness Israel Schreier; Documents, 6. 370, indictment in the trial of war criminals, dossier 5266/1947.947.

34 Carp, Cartea, 2. 26, 67.

35 Ibid., 2. 26.

36 Ibid., 2. 116.

37 Documents, 6. 35, Braunstein testimony.

38 Carp, Cartea, 2. 83, Report No. 23469 from regional Police Inspector E. Giosanu.

39 Ibid., 2. 70, 108; Documents, 6. 370 Report No. 23621.

40 Carp, Cartea, 2. 27–8; Documents, 6. 371.

41 Documents, 6. 36–7, 384, Braunstein testimony; Mircu, Progomul, 31–3.

42 Documents, 6. 40–1, Braunstein testimony.

43 Mircu, Progomul, 15.

44 Ibid., 20.

45 Ibid.

46 Documents, 6. 364–419, Office of the Prosecutor, Bucharest, War Criminals Section, Dossier No. 5260/1947, esp. 3847–5, 3878, 390, 392–8.

47 Ibid., 6. 20–2, 24.

48 Ibid., 6. 28–9.

49 Ibid., 6. 24.

50 Ibid., 6. 19.

51 Ibid., 6. 29–30.

52 Ibid., 6. 41.

53 Minimum, no. 18, (Tel Aviv, 1988): 78, testimony of Leizer Ghidale.

54 Moses, Rosen, ‘Uitare? Iertare? Reabilitare?’, Revista Cultului Mozaic (Bucharest, 15 Oct. 1986): 4.Google Scholar

55 Karetki and Covaci, Zile, 80, citing AMAI, Dossier 108233, Vol. 1, pt 2, 457; Carp, Cartea, 2. 66, testimony of Iacob Nahumovici.

56 Ibid., 2. 83, Report No. 23469, telephoned 29 June 1940, 9.30 am.

57 Ibid., 2. 85.

58 Ibid., 2. 12.

59 Ibid., 2. 109.

60 Ibid., 2. 112.

61 Mircu, Pogromul, 37; Documents, 6. 388, 396.

62 Mircu, Pogromul, 38; Documents, 6. 36.

63 Ibid., 6. 387.

64 Ibid., 6. 44, testimony of Braunstein.

65 Carp, Cartea, 2. 112.

66 Mircu, Pogromul, 43.

67 Carp, Cartea, 2. 144; Mircu, Pogrumul, 45.

68 Universul (Bucharest), 2 July 1941.

69 Carp, Cartea, 2. 51, testimony o f Traian Borcescu. Could the same Florin Becescu-Georgescu be a 'certain Captain Georgescu who commanded a 'Romanian Gestapo' and who together with SS Captain Bart organized the butchery two weeks before it occurred'? Documents, 6. 42. Note that this 'Romanian Gestapo' was seen by witnesses on Pacurari Street, where the first incidents took place. One thing is certain, however: the SSI team headed by Grigore Petrovici confirmed that their leader was present at least once in the Chestura courtyard on Sunday, 29 June. Carp, Cartea, 2. 54–6, testimonies of SSI agents Victor Marinovici, Traian Radulescu and Constantin Petrescu.

70 Ibid., 2. 109.

71 Ibid., 2. 67.

72 Ibid., 2. 118.

73 Ibid., 2. 119.

74 Ibid., 2. 30–1; Documents, 2. 434.

75 Carp, Cartea, 2. 33, 112–13.

76 Mircu, Pogromul, 82–3.

77 Ibid., 83.

78 Ibid., 80.

79 Ibid., 80; Carp, Cartea, vol. 2, chart H.

80 Ibid., 2. 97–8, testimony of Richard Filipescu.

81 Ibid., 2. 34, 110, 147. The following victims were identified: the owner of a hat store on Stefan cel Mare Street named Kunovici, a baker on I. C. Bratianu Street named Filip Siminovici, the engineer Nacht and the publican Mille.

82 Ibid., 2. 110.

83 Ibid., 2. 34.

84 Documents, 6. 40, testimony of Braunstein.

85 Curzio, Malaparte, Kaputt (Paris: Gallimard, 1972), 167.Google Scholar

86 Documents, 8. 574.

87 Carp, Cartea, 2. 31; Mircu, Pogromul, 49; Documents, 2. 448; Karetki and Covaci, Zile, 87, 93.

88 Carp, Cartea, 2. 31.

89 Documents, 6. 388.

90 Mircu, Pogromul, 50; Documents, 6. 404.

91 Carp, Cartea, 2, 31.

92 Ibid., 2. 31; Karetki and Covaci, Zile, 93–4.

93 Documents, 6. 38, testimony of Braunstein. The following went insane: the socialist activist Carol Drimer, the Talmudic scholar Haim Chelber, the merchant Solomon Kahane and the son of the engineer Ghetl Buchman.

94 Carp, Cartea, 2. 92, testimony of Israel Schreier.

95 Ibid., 2. 92; Karetki and Covaci, Zile, 96.

96 Carp, Cartea, 2. 31, 123.

97 Documents, 6. 401.

98 Carp, Cartea, 2. 122, 129, testimonies of Mayor Aurel Totoescu and Dr Constantin Gheorghiu, both from Targu Frumos.

99 Documents, 6. 41.

100 Carp, Cartea, 2. 135, testimony of Nathan Goldstein.

101 Ibid., 2. 134, testimony of Iancu Naftule.

102 Documents, 6. 402.

103 Carp, Cartea, 2. 92, testimony of Israel Schreier.

104 Ibid., 2. 125, testimony of Mayor Aurel Totoescu.

105 Ibid., 2. 129, testimony of Dr Constantin Gheorghiu.

106 Documents., 6. 448.

107 Ibid., 6. 397.

108 Carp, Cartea, 2. 131–3.

109 Ibid., 2. 125.

110 Ibid., 2. 136; Documents, 6. 403; Mircu, Pogromul, 63.

111 Carp, Cartea, 2. 126.

112 Ibid.

113 Ibid., 2. 35.

114 Ibid.; Documents, 6. 405.

115 Carp, Cartea, 2. 36, 137.

116 Ibid., 2. 137–8.

117 Ibid., 2. 36; Mircu, Pogromul, 88–9.

118 Carp, Cartea, 2. 94; Mircu, Pogromul, 97–8.

119 Carp, Cartea, 2. 33; Documents, 6. 39.

120 Carp, Cartea, 2. 33; Documents, 6. 406–7; Mircu, Pogromul, 76–9.

121 Documents, 6. 52.

122 Gheorghe, Zaharia, Pages de la resistance antifasciste en Roumanie (Bucharest: Meridiane, 1974), 45.Google Scholar

123 Talavera, Nicholas Nagy, The Green Shirts and the Others (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1970), 331–2.Google Scholar

124 Procesul, 34.

125 Carp, Cartea, 2. 50; Documents, 6. 378.

126 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives/Marele Stat Major Archives, reel 305, fond Marele Cartier General, folder 3828, document 32.

127 Ibid., document 56.

128 Documents, 3. 67.

129 Carp, Cartea, 2. 157–8, Case No. 2628, Penal Section 1, file No. 2946/1948. TRANSLATED BY MARA VAMOS SOCEANU

130 Documents, 8. 510.