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86-468: Born in Bârlad to a Jewish family, he worked as a clerk for two years. He later moved to Bucharest in 1916, where he became a Communist sympathizer. Sentenced to 10 years in prison, he escaped and fled to Odessa (part of Imperial Russia at the time), returning with money and new instructions. He lost a hand, presumably while doing experiments with explosives, and replaced it with a hook, being known to

172-673: A 32-day hunger strike . History of the Jews in Romania The history of the Jews in Romania concerns the Jews both of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is present-day 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 in

258-523: A European power, and his own fascist sympathies , made King Carol II , who was still largely identified as a philo-Semite , adopt racial discrimination as the norm. In the recent election, over 25% of the electorate had voted for explicitly antisemitic 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

344-436: A constitution a clause excluding from the right of suffrage all who did not profess Christianity. On December 4, 1864, Jews in Romania were barred from practicing law. When Charles von Hohenzollern succeeded Cuza in 1866 as Carol I of Romania , 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

430-416: A draft of a constitution granting universal suffrage . He proposed creating two chambers (of senators and deputies 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 boyars after the land reform ). In the process, Cuza also expected financial support from both

516-589: A dramatic decrease in the overall size of Romania's present-day Jewish community. During the 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. The authorities decided in 1650 and 1741 that Jews had to wear clothing evidencing their status and ethnicity. The first blood libel in Moldavia (and, as such, in Romania)

602-443: A large part of a community of foreign creditors and traders, Jews were harassed by the hospodars of the two Principalities. Moldavia's Prince Stephen IV (1522) deprived the Jewish merchants of almost all the rights given to them by his two predecessors; Petru Rareș confiscated Jewish wealth in 1541, after alleging that Jews in the cattle trade had engaged in tax evasion . Alexandru Lăpușneanu (first rule: 1552–61) persecuted

688-417: 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 fees . In 1898, it was passed into law that Jews were to be excluded from secondary schools and the universities. Another notable measure

774-406: 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

860-401: A very short term in which this could be achieved – 20 days); However, Carol II himself was highly hostile to antisemitism . 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 antisemites and fascists), but with a newly violent sting. On February 12, 1938, he used

946-493: Is no obstacle to citizenship "; but, "with regard to the Jews, a special law will have to be framed in order to regulate their admission to naturalization and also to civil rights ". 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

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1032-463: 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 Iași . Land issues and Jewish presence among estate leaseholders accounted for the 1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt , partly antisemitic in message. During the same period,

1118-922: The Balkans established communities in Wallachian-ruled Oltenia . In Moldavia, Scarlat Callimachi 's Code (1817) allowed Jews 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 , which signaled the Wallachian uprising of 1821 and the Danubian Principalities ' occupation by Filiki Eteria troops under Alexander Ypsilantis , Jews were victims of pogroms and persecutions in places such as Fălticeni , Hertsa , Piatra Neamț ,

1204-617: The Conservative Party , although including Junimea' s 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 . The Russian-born Abraham Goldfaden started the first professional Yiddish theatre company in Iași in 1876 and for several years, especially during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 Romania

1290-682: The Dniester ( see Cumania ); they may have been present in some Moldavian fairs by the 16th century or earlier. The earliest Jewish (most likely Sephardi ) presence in what would become Moldavia was recorded in Cetatea Albă (1330); in Wallachia , they were first attested in the 1550s, living in Bucharest . During the second half of the 14th century, the future territory of Romania became an important place of refuge for Jews expelled from

1376-654: The Kingdom of Hungary and Poland by King Louis I . In Transylvania , Hungarian Jews were recorded in Saxon citadels around 1492. Prince Roman I (1391-1394?) exempted the Jews from military service , in exchange for a tax of 3 löwenthaler per person. Also in Moldavia, Stephen the Great (1457–1504) treated Jews with consideration. Isaac ben Benjamin Shor of Iași ( Isak Bey , originally employed by Uzun Hassan )

1462-637: The Roman Empire had established its rule over Dacia . Inscriptions and coins have been found in such places as Sarmizegetusa and Orșova . The existence of the Crimean Karaites , an ethnic group adherent of Karaite Judaism , suggests that there was a steady Jewish presence around the Black Sea , including in parts of today's Romania, in the trading ports from the mouths of the Danube and

1548-698: The Romanian Communist Party (under the provisional name of Socialist-Communist Party ). The bombing was used by the Romanian government as an excuse to put into custody all known communists, who were implicated in the Dealul Spirii Trial (named after Dealul Spirii , the hill on which the Senate building stood), and ban communist political activity. Communist leader Gheorghe Cristescu rejected all accusations of conspiracy , and

1634-586: The Romanian Senate , killed Minister of Justice Dimitrie Greceanu and two senators ( Demetriu Radu and Spirea Gheorghiu ), and wounded the president of the Senate, Constantin Coandă . The government alleged that their group did not act alone, and that it would have had among its accomplices Alecu Constantinescu , a leader of the left group of the Socialist Party , which in 1921 split and formed

1720-766: The Secu Monastery , Târgoviște , and Târgu Frumos . Jews in Galați managed to escape over the Prut River with assistance from Austrian diplomats. Weakened by the clash between Ypsilantis and Tudor Vladimirescu , the Eterists were massacred by the Ottoman intervention armies, and during this episode, Jewish communities engaged in reprisals in Secu and Slatina . Following the 1829 Treaty of Adrianople (which allowed

1806-636: The Transnistria Governorate . An additional 135,000 Jews living under Hungarian control in Northern Transylvania also were murdered in the Holocaust, as were some 5,000 Romanian Jews in other countries. On the current territory of Romania, between 290,000 and 360,000 Romanian Jews survived World War II (355,972 persons, according to statistics from the end of the war). During the communist regime in Romania , there

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1892-535: The Wallachian uprising of 1821 , Jews were victims of pogroms and persecutions . In the 1860s, there was another riot motivated by blood libel accusations. Antisemitism was officially enforced under the premierships of Ion Brătianu . During his first years in office (1875) 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 and expelling them from

1978-525: The left-wing of the political spectrum, in currents originating in Poporanism  – which favoured the claim that peasants were being systematically exploited by Jews. World War I , during which 882 Jewish soldiers died defending Romania (825 were decorated), brought about the creation of Greater Romania after the 1919 Paris Peace Conference and subsequent treaties. The enlarged state had an increased Jewish population, corresponding with

2064-580: The 1848 Wallachian revolutionaries, the Islaz Proclamation , called for "the emancipation of Israelites and political rights for all compatriots of different faiths". After the end of the Crimean War , the struggle for the union of the two principalities began. Both parties, Unionists and anti-Unionists sought support of Jews, with each promising full equality; and proclamations to this effect were issued between 1857 and 1858. In 1857,

2150-499: The 1859 regulation, soldiers and civilians would walk the streets of Iași and some other Moldavian towns, assaulting Jews, using scissors to shred their clothing, but also to cut their beards or their sidelocks ; drastic measures applied by the Army Headquarters put a stop to such turmoil. In 1864, Prince Cuza, owing to difficulties between his government and the general assembly, dissolved the latter and decided to submit

2236-481: The Archipelago , Joseph Nasi , backed both Heraclides and Lăpușneanu 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

2322-524: The Berlin treaty on the matter, it was attacked by the Romanian press. The Lascăr Catargiu government was, however, concerned – the issue was debated among ministers, and, as a result, the Romanian government issued pamphlets in French , reiterating its accusations against the Jews and maintaining that persecutions were deserved and came as retribution for the community's alleged exploitation of

2408-694: The Cossacks occurred in 1652, when the latter came to Iași on the occasion of the Vasile Lupu's daughter marriage to Timush , the son of Bohdan Khmelnytsky , and during the rule of Gheorghe Ștefan . According to Anton Maria Del Chiaro , secretary of the Wallachian princes between 1710 and 1716, the Jewish population of Wallachia was required to respect a certain dresscode . Thus, they were prohibited from wearing clothes of other color than black or violet, or to wear yellow or red boots. Nevertheless,

2494-593: The Danubian Principalities endured 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 Jews, whose condition remained favorable until 1787, when both Janissaries and the Imperial Russian Army took part in pogroms . The community

2580-400: The Jewish community debated the method of assessment. The rich Jews, for unclear reasons, refused to advance the money, and the middle class argued that the sum would not lead to tangible enough results; Religious Jews 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

2666-555: The Jewish population in Wallachia was estimated at between 5,000 and 10,000 people, almost all Sephardi . Of these, the larger part resided in Bucharest (probably as many as 7,000 in 1839); and at around the same time, Moldavia was home to about 12,000 Jews. In parallel, the Jewish population in Bukovina rose from 526 in 1774 to 11,600 in 1848. In the early 19th century, Jews who sought refuge from Osman Pazvantoğlu 's campaign in

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2752-461: 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 . In 1726, in the Moldavian borough of Onițcani , four Jews were accused of having kidnapped a five-year-old child, of killing him on Easter and of collecting his blood in a barrel. They were tried at Iași under

2838-462: The Jews and the Armenians  – it appears that he kept the latter demand reduced, asking for only 40,000 Austrian florins (the standard gold coins ; about US$ 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,

2924-484: The Romanian fascist movement known as the Iron Guard began a massive antisemitic campaign, torturing and beating Jews and looting their shops (see Dorohoi pogrom ), culminating in the failed coup accompanied by a pogrom in Bucharest, in which 125 Jews were killed. Military dictator Ion Antonescu eventually stopped the violence and chaos created by the Iron Guard by brutally suppressing the rebellion, but continued

3010-476: The Romanian scholar Andrei Oișteanu argued that such ethnic and religious social stigma 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 Neamț were charged with having killed a Christian child for ritual purposes´. The instigator

3096-854: The Russian side in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. The war was concluded by the Treaty of Berlin (1878), which stipulated (Article 44) that the non-Christians in Romania (including both Jews and Muslims in the newly acquired region of Northern Dobruja ) 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 " (the action involved, among others,

3182-542: The addition of communities in Bessarabia , Bukovina , and Transylvania . On signing the treaties, Romania agreed to change its policy towards the Jews, promising to award them both citizenship and minority rights , the effective emancipation of Jews . The 1923 Constitution of Romania sanctioned these requirements, meeting opposition from Cuza's National-Christian Defense League and rioting by far right students in Iași ;

3268-437: The aftermath of World War I . A diverse community, albeit an overwhelmingly urban one, Jews were a target of religious persecution and racism in Romanian society from the late-19th century debate over the " Jewish Question " and the Jewish residents' right to citizenship , to the genocide carried out in the lands of Romania as part of the Holocaust . The latter, coupled with successive waves of aliyah , has accounted for

3354-476: The allegations no longer surfaced during the following period. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1806–1812 , the Russian invasion was again accompanied by massacres of Jews. Kalmyk irregular soldiers in Ottoman service, who appeared in Bucharest at the close of the Russo-Turkish War, terrorised the city's Jewish population. At around the same time, a conflict emerged in Wallachia between Jews under foreign protection ( sudiți ) and local ones ( hrisovoliți ), after

3440-482: 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 antisemitic program in Romanian political history). No longer present in the PNL's ideology by the 1920s, antisemitism also tended to surface in on

3526-508: 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. Petru %C8%98chiopul Peter V the Lame ( Romanian : Petru Șchiopul ; 1534 – 1 July 1594) was Prince of Moldavia from June 1574 to 23 November 1577. He also ruled 1 January 1578 to 21 November 1579 and 17 October 1583 to 29 August 1591. He

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3612-414: The community alongside other social categories, until he was dethroned by Jacob Heraclides , a Greek Lutheran , who was lenient to his Jewish subjects; Lăpușneanu did not renew his persecutions after his return on the throne in 1564. The role of Ottoman and local Jews in financing various princes increased as Ottoman economic demands were mounting after 1550 (in the 1570s, the influential Jewish Duke of

3698-411: The community published its first magazine , Israelitul Român , edited by the Romanian radical Iuliu Barasch . This process of gradual integration resulted in the creation of an informal Jewish Romanian identity, while conversion to Christianity , despite encouragement by the authorities, remained confined to exceptional cases. From the beginning of the reign of Alexandru Ioan Cuza (1859–1866),

3784-492: 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 (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

3870-546: The country. According to the 1905 Jewish Encyclopedia : "A number of such Jews who proved their Romanian birth were forced across the Danube, and when [the Ottoman Empire ] 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

3956-485: The country. The emigration of Romanian Jews on a larger scale commenced soon after 1878. 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 Iași . Between the establishment of the National Legionary State (September 1940) and 1942, 80 anti-Jewish regulations were passed. Starting at the end of October, 1940,

4042-410: The creation and success of Corneliu Zelea Codreanu 's Iron Guard and the appearance of new types of anti-Semitic discourses ( Trăirism and Gândirism ). The idea of a Jewish quota in higher education became highly popular among Romanian students and teachers. According to Andrei Oișteanu 's analysis, a relevant number of right-wing intellectuals refused to adopt overt anti-Semitism, which

4128-469: The eventual acceptance of all immigrants other than Jews. Antisemitism was carried into the PNL's mainstream, and was officially enforced under the premierships of Ion 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 and expelling them from

4214-449: The first ruler ( Domnitor ) 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 1859 in Galați . Regulations on clothing were confirmed inside Moldavia by two orders of Mihail Kogălniceanu , Minister of Internal Affairs (issues in 1859 and 1860 respectively). Following adoption of

4300-504: 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  – the murder by a group of Roman Catholics 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

4386-475: The grants were curtailed during following decades, when Jews were only allowed to settle in Gyulafehérvár ( Alba Iulia ). 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 to Eastern Orthodoxy

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4472-651: The land reform carried out by the Ion I. C. Brătianu cabinet also settled problems connected with land tenancy. During the interwar period, thousands of Jewish refugees from the USSR migrated to Romania. Political representation for the Jewish community in the inter-war period was divided between the Jewish Party and the Federation of Jewish Communities of Romania (the latter was re-established after 1989). During

4558-489: The latter tried to impose a single administration for the community, a matter which was finally settled in favor of the hrisovoliți by Prince Jean Georges Caradja (1813). In Habsburg -ruled Transylvania, the reforms carried out by Joseph II allowed Jews to settle in towns directly subject to the Hungarian Crown . However, pressure placed on the community remained stringent for the following decades. By 1825,

4644-569: The matter of the Party's involvement is still unclear. During his stand on trial, Cristescu argued that Goldstein's actions were inspired by Anarchism more than anything else. Right after the December 1920 bombing, Goldstein fled to Bulgaria . In October 1921, he was arrested while trying to enter Romania from Ruse , and sentenced to life imprisonment. He died in 1924 in Doftana prison following

4730-439: The meantime died; c. 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 labourers , were forced into unemployment by such legislation. Similar laws were passed in regard to Jews exercising liberal professions. In 1893,

4816-718: The police as the "man with the hook". On 17 November 1920, Max Goldstein attempted to kill the Minister of Internal Affairs , Constantin Argetoianu , who was Romania's most vocal anti-Communist politician. The attempt, however, failed: the bomb placed under Argetoianu's train coach destroyed the empty half of the coach. On 8 December 1920, Goldstein, with the support Leon Lichtblau and Saul Ozias , organized another politically motivated bombing. Their improvised explosive device , made from an unexploded German 76 mm artillery shell from World War I , and placed in front of

4902-528: The policy of oppression and massacre of Jews, and, to a lesser extent, of Roma . After Romania entered the war at the start of Operation Barbarossa , atrocities against Jews became common, starting with the Iași pogrom . According to the Wiesel Commission report released by the Romanian government in 2004, between 280,000 and 380,000 Jews were murdered in the Holocaust in Romania and the occupied Soviet territories under Romanian control, among them

4988-651: The real criminals were discovered by the authorities. Under Constantin Brâncoveanu , Wallachian Jews were recognized as a special guild in Bucharest, led by a starost . Jews in both Wallachia and Moldavia were subject to the Hakham Bashi in Iași, but soon the Bucharest starost assumed several religious duties. Overtaxed and persecuted under Ștefan Cantacuzino (1714–1716), Wallachian Jews obtained valuable privileges during Nicholas Mavrocordatos' rule (1716–1730) in that country (the Prince notably employed

5074-477: The reign of John Mavrocordatos (1744–1747): a Jewish farmer in the vicinity of Suceava reported the prince to the Porte for allegedly using his house to rape a number of kidnapped Jewish women; Mavrocordatos had his accuser hanged. This act aroused the anger of Mahmud I 's kapucu in Moldavia, and the prince paid the penalty with the loss of his throne. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774 , Jews in

5160-421: 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

5246-595: The rural population. The emigration of Romanian Jews on a larger scale commenced soon after 1878; numbers rose and fell, with a major wave of Bessarabian Jews after the Kishinev pogrom in Imperial Russia (1905). The 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

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5332-481: The same period, a division in ritual became apparent between Reform Jews in Transylvania and usually Orthodox ones in the rest of the country (while Bessarabia was the most open to Zionism and especially the socialist Labor Zionism ). The popularity of anti-Jewish messages was, nevertheless, on the rise, and merged itself with the appeal of fascism in the late 1920s – both contributed to

5418-479: The same time, several Jews rose to prominence and high social status, with most families involved in Moldavian banking around the 1850s being of Jewish origin. After 1832, following adoption of the Organic Statute , Jewish children were accepted in schools in the two Principalities only if they wore the same clothing as others. In Moldavia, the 1847 decree of Prince Mihail Sturdza compelled Jews to abandon

5504-401: 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 Oișteanu, the initiative had a direct influence on antisemitic regulations passed during the following year. The threat posed by the Iron Guard, the emergence of Nazi Germany as

5590-506: The supervision of Moldavian Prince Mihai Racoviță , and eventually acquitted following diplomatic protests. The event was echoed in several contemporary chronicles and documents — for example, the French 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

5676-831: 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 ; 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;

5762-410: The throne, together they moved to the city of Bolzano in present-day Italy's Tyrol. Sadly for Irina, Peter soon fell in love with a seductive Circassian named Maria, a lady-in-waiting at his mini-court in exile. Irina died at 25 and was buried in a small cemetery in Bolzano. Their son Ștefăniță never ruled in Moldavia. He was raised as a Catholic and placed in a Jesuit seminary in Innsbruck . He

5848-558: The traditional dress code. Before the Revolutions of 1848 , which found their parallel in the Wallachian revolution , many restrictive laws against Jews were enacted; although they had some destructive effects, they were never strictly enforced. In various ways, Jews took part in the Wallachian revolt; for example, Constantin Daniel Rosenthal , the painter, distinguished himself in the revolutionary cause, and paid for his activity with his life (being tortured to death in Budapest by Austrian authorities). The major document to be codified by

5934-513: 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 and tavern -keepers, serving to increase both the revenue and demands of boyars , and 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 ). At

6020-580: 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 ) passed a law aimed at reviewing criteria for citizenship (after it cast allegations that previous cabinets had allowed Ukrainian Jews to obtain it illegally), and requiring all Jews who had received citizenship in 1918–1919 to reapply for it (while providing

6106-440: The two principalities to freely engage in foreign trade), Moldavia, where commercial niches had been largely left unoccupied, became a target for migration of 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

6192-690: The violent repression of creditors peaked under Michael the Brave , who, after killing Turkish creditors in Bucharest (1594), probably engaged in violence against Jews settled south of the Danube during his campaign in Rumelia (while maintaining good relations with Transylvanian Jews). In 1623, the Jews in Transylvania were awarded certain privileges by Prince Gabriel Bethlen , who aimed to attract entrepreneurs from Ottoman lands into his country;

6278-513: The west. His first marriage to Maria Amiralis from Rhodes , was already arranged in his childhood, but later failed. They had one daughter, Maria, who married Peter Bornemisza de Kápolna. Petru soon fell in love with a Roma girl named Irina who became his mistress during his first marriage. Marriage to a Roma slave at that time was impossible. He had Irina freed from slavery and baptized, nicknaming her "Botezata" (the Baptized). After he gave up

6364-455: Was a baptized Jew who had helped to carry the body of a child, murdered by Christians, into the courtyard of the synagogue . 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 (the first Phanariote ruler) in Iași, who ordered an investigation resulting in

6450-460: Was a mass emigration to Israel , and in 1987, only 23,000 Jews lived in Romania. Today, the majority of Romanian Jews live in Israel , while modern-day Romania continues to host a modest Jewish population. In the 2011 census , 3,271 people declared themselves to be Jewish. Jewish communities on what would later become Romanian territory were attested as early as the 2nd century AD, at a time when

6536-564: Was added to the 1866 Constitution ; 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 's political scene. With few notable exceptions (including some of Junimea affiliates – Petre P. Carp , George Panu , and I.L. Caragiale ), most Romanian intellectuals began professing antisemitism ; its most virulent form

6622-445: Was also subject to persecutions by the locals. Jewish children were seized and forcibly baptized. Ritual-murder accusations became widespread, with one made at Galați in 1797 leading to exceptionally severe results – with Jews being 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 and drowned, and others who took refuge in

6708-728: Was appointed stolnic , being subsequently advanced to the rank of logofăt ; he continued to hold this office under Bogdan the Blind (1504–1517), the son and successor of Stephen. At this time both Danubian Principalities came under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire , and a number of Sephardim living in Istanbul migrated to Wallachia, while Jews from Poland and the Holy Roman Empire settled in Moldavia. Although they took an important part in Ottoman government and formed

6794-725: Was established in Wallachia by Matei Basarab 's Pravila de la Govora and in Moldavia by Vasile Lupu 's Carte românească de învățătură . The latter ruler (1634–1653) treated the Jews with consideration until the appearance of the Cossacks (1648), who marched against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and who, while crossing the region, killed many Jews; the violence led many Ashkenazi Jews from Poland took refuge in Moldavia and Wallachia, establishing small but stable communities. Massacres and forced conversions by

6880-687: 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 ( Confederația Asociațiilor de Profesioniști Intelectuali din România ) voted to exclude all Jewish members from its affiliated bodies, calling for

6966-452: Was known as "the Lame" due to a physical deformity. Raised by the Turks in Istanbul and hardly knew of his country of origin before gaining the throne of Moldavia . Anxious to rule like his brother Alexandru II Mircea , Petru was elected prince of Moldavia in 1574. However, unlike most of his ancestors, he was a weak prince and eventually gave up the throne in order to live comfortably in

7052-440: Was made in 1710, when the Jews of Târgu Neamț were charged with having killed a Christian child for ritual purposes. An anti-Jewish riot occurred in Bucharest in the 1760s. During the Russo-Turkish War, 1768–1774 , 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. During the Greek War of Independence , which signalled

7138-469: Was not harmed any further, and subsequently left for Moldavia where he entered the service of Muscovy 's Grand Prince Ivan the Terrible . Through the efforts of Solomon Ashkenazi, Aron Tiranul was placed on the throne of Moldavia; nevertheless, the new ruler persecuted and executed nineteen Jewish creditors in Iași , who were decapitated without process of law. At around the same time, in Wallachia,

7224-473: Was the expulsion of vocal Jewish activists as "objectionable aliens" (under the provisions of an 1881 law), including those of Moses Gaster and Elias Schwarzfeld . The courts exacted the oath more judaico in its most offensive form – it was only abolished in 1904, following criticism in the French press. In 1892, when the United States addressed a note to the signatory powers of

7310-413: Was the home of Yiddish theatre. While its center of gravity would move first to Russia, then London , then New York City , both Bucharest and Iași would continue to figure prominently in its history over the next century. When Brătianu resumed leadership, Romania faced the emerging conflict in the Balkans , and saw its chance to declare independence from Ottoman suzerainty by dispatching its troops on

7396-728: 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 middle class . The first examples of modern prejudice were the Moldavian Fracțiunea liberă și independentă (later blended into the National Liberal Party , PNL) and the Bucharest group formed around Cezar Bolliac . Their discourse saw Jews as non-assimilated and perpetually foreign – this claim was, however, challenged by some contemporary sources, and by

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