THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

The dwindling Jewish community in Romania numbers about 14,000 out of a total population of 23.5 million. The major centers are in Bucharest, Iasi, Cluj and Oradea, where the local communities are well organized. Jewish life is also fostered in some smaller communities, and relics of the past are preserved in locations where there are no longer any Jews. The Federation of Jewish Communities of Romania promotes and coordinates the activities of the communities. Besides publishing a monthly, Realitatea Evreiasca, the federation documents the history of Jewish life in Romania and its publications and symposia are well covered by the Romanian media.

Academic centers for Judaic studies at the University of Cluj and since 1998 at the Universities of Bucharest, Iasi and Craiova play an important role in researching the Jewish past in Romania.

The issue of restitution of private and communal property has yet to be resolved in Romania, although the community has secured the return of several individual items.

POLITICAL PARTIES AND EXTRA-PARLIAMENTARY GROUPS

During a visit to Israel in late 1999, President Emil Constantinescu reiterated his country’s determination to fight all manifestations of racism and anti-Semitism. This promise was given almost concurrently with a disturbing report on the level of anti-Semitism and racism in Romania, published by the Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) of the US Congress. The report and a letter from the commission to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, published in the Romanian-language Israeli daily Viata Noastra (14 January 2000), expressed concern over the situation in Romania, especially in regard to extremist trends that might gain more influence in the November 2000 general elections.

Indeed, the proliferation of small extremist movements, some of which openly compete for the legacy of interwar and wartime Romanian fascism, has become one of the hallmarks of post-Ceausescu Romania. In addition, the persistent obsessive attempts to rehabilitate fascist ruler Ion Antonescu indicate some of the major stumbling blocks on Romania’s road to democracy.

The Greater Romania Party (PRM), led by Corneliu Vadim Tudor, is considered the most nationalist and anti-Semitic among the parties represented in the Romanian parliament. Led by former communist hacks and pseudo-intellectuals, now turned nationalists, the party received some 4.54 percent and 4.46 percent in the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, respectively, in the November 1996 general elections. It obtained somewhat more votes in the June 2000 local elections, which were seen as a test for the forthcoming general elections scheduled for November 2000. Themes linked to the Jews and Israel figured frequently in the party’s attacks on President Emil Constantinescu, which were accompanied by vitriolic articles in the party’s organ Romania Mare on the alleged Jewish campaign “to destabilize Romania” and “falsify history.” At the same time the PRM continued to focus on the dangers of Hungarian irredentist claims, and the alleged anti-social nature of the Roma community. The party’s traditional ties with Le Pen’s FN, as well as with the Iraqi regime, remained close.

The Romanian Party of National Unity (PUNR), which received 4.3 percent of the vote in the 1996 general elections, has a strong nationalist, anti-Hungarian, but not overtly anti-Semitic, line. However, its close cooperation with the PRM makes it vulnerable to extreme nationalism and anti-Semitism. The party fared badly in the June 2000 local elections (less than 2 percent of the overall vote), an indication of its declining popularity, which appears in part to be related to a lack of internal unity.

Since it lost its parliamentary representation in the 1996 elections, the Socialist Labor Party (SLP), a leading claimant to the legacy of the defunct former ruling Communist Party, has intensified its nationalist line. The party is led by Adrian Paunescu, who publishes two weeklies critical of alleged Jewish interference and participation in Romanian affairs.

Small nationalist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic Iron Guard, or Legionnaire, groups (derived from the wartime fascist movement) form the extreme right wing in Romania. “Nests” (the original name of local branches of the movement) of such groups exist in various localities. The Bucharest “nest” of the Legionnaire movement owns the Majadahonda publishing house, which puts out works by Iron Guard founder Corneliu Zelea Codreanu and books about the movement.

ANTI-SEMITIC ACTIVITIES

Anti-Semitic incidents in 1999 consisted of three synagogue desecrations (in Alba-Iulia, Galati and Resita), as well as numerous threats, insults and graffiti (especially swastikas and fascist symbols) at Jewish sites.

As in previous years, anti-Semitic propaganda focused on the continuing campaign to rehabilitate the legacy of wartime fascist ruler Antonescu and to cleanse historical memory of the fate of Romanian Jewry during the Holocaust. In 1999 an unsuccessful attempt was made to erect a statue honoring Antonescu in Cluj. Other themes included Jewish demands for compensation and the restitution of property, and alleged Jewish control of and participation in centers of power. Romania Mare's racist and anti-Semitic line was clearly evident throughout the war in Kosovo, such as the claim that “Hitler’s grandchildren” were attacking Yugoslavia and emphasis on the Jewish origins of US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (see ASW 1998/9).

The tabloid Atac la Persoana is known for its vitriolic anti-Semitism. The fact that the paper is owned by Dumitru Dragomir, president of the Romanian Soccer League, perhaps helps explain the growth of football hooliganism and the use of racist slogans at football matches. While the paper moderated its line somewhat in late 1999, its former tone was evident in a new publication, Scandal National, whose staff includes the previous editor of Atac la Persoana and a group of contributors who left Atac la Persoana.

The International Third Position (ITP) continued to host Gazeta de Vest, a notoriously fascist Iron Guard publication on its Internet site.

ATTTITUDES TOWARD THE HOLOCAUST AND THE NAZI ERA

As in previous years, the attempt to portray Antonescu as a "true Romanian patriot" overshadowed and tried to localize, if not completely disregard, the fate of the Jews. The wide-ranging discussion about Romania’s Jewish past, the Holocaust and racism (see ASW 1998/9) closely resembles that in all post-communist states, which seem to be undergoing a “new wave” of sophisticated anti-Semitism, characterized by attempts to belittle Jewish suffering compared to the fate of peoples under communism.

A significant step toward educating Romanians on the country’s Jewish past and on the Holocaust was taken when a seminar for Romanian teachers and educators was held in Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, in May 2000. The seminar, the first of its kind, reflected the willingness of the Romanian authorities to cooperate with the Jewish world on these issues.