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Romania 1939 (1 settembre) - 1944 (2 aprile) CercaDefinizione
Outward antagonism toward and hatred of Jews in Romania increases after the Nazi rise to power. Although before the outbreak of war Romania has guarantees from France and Britain to preserve the nation's independence and territorial integrity, in August 1939 the Germans force Romania to annex some land to the Soviet Union. Iron guard members assassinate Romania's prime minister in September, further weakening Romania's standing as an independent nation. Romania loses another political ally when France falls to the Germans (June 1940). Romania then cedes Bessarabia and northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union. In September 1940, General Ion Antonescu and the Iron Guard take control of Romania. The Iron Guard initiates severe anti-Jewish campaigns using both "legal" and illegal measures.
The Romanian government passes the Statute of the Jews (August 8, 1940), cancelling the citizenship of Jews and prohibiting mixed marriages. This statute also singles Jews out as the cause of all of Romania's problems. After annexations by the Soviet Union, Hungary, and Bulgaria, only 342,000 Jews remain in Romania by the end of 1940.
On August 30, 1940, Germany imposes the second Vienna Arbitration Award on Romania, forcing it to cede northern Transylvania to Hungary. Conditions worsen for Jews as withdrawing troops and local residents begin a rampage against Jews. At the time of annexation, the region has approximately 165,000 Jews in its total population of 2.5 million. Most Jews in Northern Transylvania belong to Orthodox and Hasidic sects in Dej (Dés), Cluj (Kolozsvár), Sighet Marmaatei (Máramorossziget), Tirgu-Mures (Maros-Vásárhely), Oradea (Nagyvárad) and Satumare (Szatmár-Németi). Upon annexation, the Jews of the region face Hungarian anti-Jewish measures already in effect. These restrictions require Jews to enlist in the labor service system of special forced-labor units. They also deprive Jews of their civil rights and damage their economic and social lives.
After several clashes concerning the process, but not ideas behind ridding Romania of its Jews, an Iron Guard rebellion erupts (January 21-23, 1941). Antonescu succeeds in destroying the Guard as a political force and subsequently rules Romania as a military dictator. He bans all forms of democracy and forms a Legionary police based on the model of the German SS. Antonescu allies Romania with Germany, assuming the Nazis will win the world war. He implements "legal antisemitism" with the help of the German Foreign Office. The government passes several anti-Jewish legalizing the persecution and exclusion of Jews. The plan for "Romanianization" calls for a seizure of Jewish property, and homes as well as a dismissal of Jews from jobs. The ultimate goal is to completely remove Jews from Romanian life.
In 1941, 150,000 Jews live in Northern Transylvania. At this point a half million German soldiers occupy Romania and a joint German-Romanian army forms to invade the Soviet Union. Hoping to regain control of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina, Antonescu and Romanian troops help German troops invade the Soviet Union in June 1941. Through loyalty to the Nazi war effort, Antonescu also hopes to recover northern Transylvania from Hungary.
Upon German occupation of Hungary (March 1944), Jews of Northern Transylvania become some of the first victims of the "final solution" program. They face anti-Jewish decrees that restrict travel and communication. These decrees effectively isolate individual Jewish communities. In addition, German and Hungarian authorities divide the region into two districts identified as Operational Zone II and work towards implementing the final solution. Beginning April 26, 1944, German and Hungarian officials prohibit Jews from leaving their homes, force them to give up their valuables, and begin concentrating them in ghettos. Most Hungarian Christians cooperate in the ghettoization of Jews. Local authorities cooperate with the Germans in depriving Jews of their valuables, crowding them on to trains, and ultimately deporting them to concentration camps. (en-US)
Fonte
Encyclopaedia Britannica: a dictionary of arts, sciences, and general literature. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1995. Vol. 10, p. 157, Vol. 14, p.659