The Jewish Democratic Committee or Democratic Jewish Committee ( ro, Comitetul Democrat Evreiesc, CDE, also ''Comitetul Democrat Evreesc'', ''Comitetul Democratic Evreiesc''; he, הוועד הדמוקרטי היהודי; hu, Demokrata Zsidó Komité, DZSK) was a left-wing political party which sought to represent Jewish community interests in Romania. Opposed to the orientation of most Romanian Jews, who supported right-wing

Zionism Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a Nationalism, nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is ...

as embodied by the Jewish Party (PER), the CDE was in practice a front for the

Romanian Communist Party The Romanian Communist Party ( ro, Partidul Comunist Român, , PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that woul ...

(PCR); its chairmen

M. H. Maxy Max Hermann Maxy (also known as M. H. Maxy, born Max Herman; October 26, 1895–July 19, 1971) was a Romanian painter, art professor, scenographer, and professor of German-Jewish descent. Early life and education Maxy was born in Brăila in ...

Bercu Feldman Bercu may refer to several villages in Romania: *Bercu, a village in Bretea Română Commune, Hunedoara County *Bercu, a village in Lazuri Commune, Satu Mare County *Bercu Nou, a village in Micula Commune, Satu Mare County and to: *Alina Bercu, ...

, and Barbu Lăzăreanu were card-carrying communists. Initially, its

anti-Zionism Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the region of Palestin ...

was limited by a recruitment drive among Labour Zionists, which allowed the party to absorb the local variant of

Poale Zion Poale Zion (also spelled Poalei Tziyon or Poaley Syjon, meaning "Workers of Zion") was a movement of Marxist–Zionist Jewish workers founded in various cities of Poland, Europe and the Russian Empire in about the turn of the 20th century after ...

. Additionally, the CED was directed against the

Union of Romanian Jews The Union of Romanian Jews ( ro, Uniunea Evreilor Români, ''UER'') was a political organisation active in Romania in the first half of the 20th century. The UER targeted all Romanian Jews who had obtained citizenship and accepted its programme of ...

(UER), a more traditional vehicle of assimilationism. It annexed an UER dissidence under

Moise Zelțer-Sărățeanu Moise is a given name and surname, with differing spellings in its French and Romanian origins, both of which originate from the name Moses: Moïse is the French spelling of Moses, while Moise is the Romanian spelling. As a surname, Moisè and M ...

, while also taking over chapters of

Ihud Ihud ( he, איחוד, 'Unity') was a small binationalist Zionist political party founded by Judah Leon Magnes, Martin Buber, Ernst Simon and Henrietta Szold, former supporters of Brit Shalom, in 1942Romanian Social Democratic Party. For the November 1946 elections, the CDE ran a Jewish Representation list, closely allied with the PCR. It took one of two Jewish seats in the Assembly of Deputies, and joined the parliamentary coalition backing

Petru Groza Petru Groza (7 December 1884 – 7 January 1958) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian politician, best known as the first Prime Minister of the Communist Party-dominated government under Soviet occupation during the early stages of the Commu ...

's cabinet. Such support hinged on Groza's promises to restore Jewish property that had been confiscated in the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

. At the time, the CDE was also involved in relief efforts for homeless returnees, as well as singling out alleged Holocaust perpetrators. Part of its mission was a control over religious Jews through the

Federation of the Jewish Communities in Romania The Federation of the Jewish Communities in Romania ( ro, Federația Comunităților Evreiești din România, FCER) is an ethnic minority political party in Romania representing the Jewish community. History The organization was originally found ...

, which was placed under the left-leaning rabbi

Moses Rosen Moses Rosen (known in Hebrew as David Moshe Rosen, ) (July 23, 1912 – May 6, 1994) was Chief Rabbi (Rav Kolel) of Romanian Jewry between 1948–1994 and president of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Romania between 1964–1994. He led th ...

. The CDE was averse to the illegal exodus of Jews into

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...

, seeking to document, control, and finally suppress it. It presented Jews with the option of integrating into a socialist economy, emphasising

producerist Producerism is an ideology which holds that those members of society engaged in the production of tangible wealth are of greater benefit to society than, for example, aristocrats who inherit their wealth and status. History Robert Ascher traces ...

guidelines and condemning

parasitism Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted structurally to this way of lif ...

. The Romanian regime recognised

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, but failed in its project of communising the Romanian Jewish colony. Following this, the CDE was given the go-ahead to publish criticism of Israeli society, hoping to persuade Jewish workers into renouncing Zionism. It opposed Hebrew revivalism and promoted instead a Yiddishist alternative, as manifested by its direct supervision of the Barașeum. The CDE could still join the People's Democratic Front for the elections of March 1948, when it increased its representation to five deputies. However, its activities were restrained by the newly-inaugurated

communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...

, whose leadership came to suspect that Zionism had seeped into CDE policies. In late 1948, the Labour Zionists parted ways with the CDE, with some attempting to reorganize as a local section of

Mapam Mapam ( he, מַפָּ״ם, an acronym for , ) was a left-wing political party in Israel. The party is one of the ancestors of the modern-day Meretz party. History Mapam was formed by a January 1948 merger of the kibbutz-based Hashomer Hatz ...

. Under Feldman's leadership, the CDE began "unmasking" campaigns, which, from 1949, resulted in a thorough purge of its own national and regional structures; it also opposed the regime's temporary relaxation of emigration restrictions. The Committee was pressed into dissolving itself in March 1953, when it proclaimed that Jews had been fully integrated into the new society. The regime's clampdown on Zionism contradicted this statement, as did the large-scale popularity of emigration projects, lasting into the 1980s, and directly encouraged by Rabbi Rosen.

History

Creation

Historian Corneliu Crăciun notes that the PCR attempt to dominate the Romanian Jewish community upon the end of World War II was part of an "aggressive and all-encompassing strategy" to extend control into all areas of society. In doing so, communists relied on political traditions (including the over-representation of Jews within its own ranks), as well on the monopolisation of

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

discourse by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

after the Holocaust: "Given the Jewish people's suffering at the hands of fascism, it seemed that PCR members could do no wrong, and that their moral-political investment would turn a profit." In September 1944, some days after the anti-fascist coup, the PCR contributed to the creation of a General Jewish Council. This initiative crumbled in October, when other Council representatives, rejecting the implication that " all Jews are communists", refused to join

's National Democratic Front. From September 1944, Labour Zionism was taken up in Romania by

Ihud Ihud ( he, איחוד, 'Unity') was a small binationalist Zionist political party founded by Judah Leon Magnes, Martin Buber, Ernst Simon and Henrietta Szold, former supporters of Brit Shalom, in 1942 Mapai Mapai ( he, מַפָּא"י, an acronym for , ''Mifleget Poalei Eretz Yisrael'', lit. "Workers' Party of the Land of Israel") was a democratic socialist political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger in ...

.Gligor & Caloianu, pp. 407–408 In November, Romania's Labour Zionists formed a Union of the Working Land of Israel (''Brith Eretz Israel HaOvedet'', BEIH)—federating Ihud,

Ahdut HaAvoda Ahdut HaAvoda ( he, אַחְדוּת הַעֲבוֹדָה, lit. ''Labour Unity'') was the name used by a series of political parties. Ahdut HaAvoda in its first incarnation was led by David Ben-Gurion. It was first established during the period ...

, as well as a former affiliate of

Hashomer Hatzair Hashomer Hatzair ( he, הַשׁוֹמֵר הַצָעִיר, , ''The Young Guard'') is a Labor Zionist, secular Jewish youth movement founded in 1913 in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary, and it was also the name of the group ...

called Mishmar. The PCR had more success in

Northern Transylvania Northern Transylvania ( ro, Transilvania de Nord, hu, Észak-Erdély) was the region of the Kingdom of Romania that during World War II, as a consequence of the August 1940 territorial agreement known as the Second Vienna Award, became part of ...

, which had been reattached to Romania during the Budapest Offensive. At

Cluj ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = Counties of Romania, County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Subdivisions of Romania, Status , subdivision_name2 ...

, survivors of

extermination camp Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...

s set up the Jewish Democratic Group (GDE), an association backed by communist agents. A Jewish People's Democratic Community (CPED), originally called Jewish Anti-hitlerite Group, was co-opted on the Northern Transylvanian Democratic Committee, which functioned as a quasi-government of the region. It was led by a communist cadre and Holocaust survivor, Hillel Kohn, Attila Gidó
''Cionizmustól a kommunizmusig. Egy politikusi életpálya Erdélyben: Kohn Hillel (1891–1972) 2.''
on Transindex – a napos oldal, 26 October 2013 but failed to obey PCR commands by insisting for the restitution of assets confiscated during the Holocaust, as well as for the "protection of unhindered freedom of emigration".Zoltán Tibori Szabó

Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

Reports Archive, Volume 6, Number 19 More to the south, Arad hosted a Union of Democratic Jews, which, in October 1944, inaugurated a process to restore property confiscated under fascism. From

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, painter

and lawyer Iosif Șraier resumed the project to give pro-communist Jews a national representation.Florin Mihai, "PCR și evreii din România", in ''

Jurnalul Național ''Jurnalul Național'' is a Romanian newspaper, part of the INTACT Media Group led by Dan Voiculescu, which also includes the popular television station Antena 1. The newspaper was launched in 1993. Its headquarters is in Bucharest Bucharest ...

'', 25 March 2008 Șraier was a noted PCR middleman, having spent the interwar as a public defender for communist prisoners.Iuliu Crăcană, "Generalul de Justiție Alexandru Petrescu — o biografie a corupției", in ''Caietele CNSAS'', Vol. VII, Issue 1, 2014, p. 290 The CDE effort was officially sanctioned by PCR Secretary

Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (; 8 November 1901 – 19 March 1965) was a Romanian communist politician and electrician. He was the first Communist leader of Romania from 1947 to 1965, serving as first secretary of the Romanian Communist Party ( ...

while visiting

Templul Coral The Choral Temple ( ro, Templul Coral) is a synagogue located in Bucharest, Romania. Designed by Enderle and Freiwald and built between 1864 - 1866, it is a very close copy of Vienna's Leopoldstadt-Tempelgasse Great Synagogue, which had been b ...

on 25 April 1945, and advanced on 2 June, when Șraier negotiated with David "Dadu" Rosenkranz.Clit, p. 405 The latter, a wartime humanitarian, had been active with the UER before moving into left-wing politics. Lucian Zeev-Herșcovici
"David (Dadu) Rosenkranz. Din viața unui avocat și lider evreu din România în secolul XX"
in ''Revista ProLitera'', 3 February 2018 The Committee was established with a constitutive session on 7 June 1945, though it was only truly active from 22 July. Its first Chairman was Maxy, but only for a short period. According to various reports, it was originally named "Jewish National Committee", and was led in 1945–1946 by Lică (Abramovici) Chiriță. Andi Mihalache
"Devictimizarea evreului: cauzalități imaginare și modele explicative în discursul antisemit de după al doilea război mondial (1945–1950)"
in ''Caietele Echinox'', Issue 13, 2007 From the beginning, it was a satellite organisation of the PCR: its first-ever meetings were attended by PCR envoy

Vasile Luca Vasile Luca (born László Luka; 8 June 1898 – 23 July 1963) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian and Soviet communist politician, a leading member of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) from 1945 and until his imprisonment in the 1950s. ...

, supported by two Jewish party colleagues—Maxy and industrialist Emil Calmanovici. According to historian

Idith Zertal Idith Zertal (born 1945) is an Israeli historian, considered one of the "New Historians". Career After a career in journalism, Zertal began a career as a professor of history and cultural anthropology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She has ...

, it functioned as "an impossible conglomerate of the Communists, the socialist Zionist groups, and leftist political parties, as well as Yiddishist organizations. Its true, main purpose was to mobilize support for Groza's government within the Jewish community". Scholar Carol Iancu moreover argues that: "The Communists tried to control the communities by positioning their representatives in key positions, and finally by imposing their will. The Jewish Democratic Committee ..was to put this policy into practice by both weakening (and later on suppressing) the two large pre-war Jewish organizations, the Jewish Party and the Union of Romanian Jews." Imitating communist organisational structures to the point of creating its own

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states. Names The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...

, the new group was both formally and informally dominated by PCR activists, some of whom were integrated into its official leadership. Examples include Maxy, writer Barbu Lăzăreanu, doctors Maximilian Popper and

Arthur Kreindler Arthur Kreindler (15 May 1900 – 28 May 1988) was a Romanian neurologist of Jewish origin, academic, professor of neurology at the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest, and director of the Institute of Neurology Research ...

;Zeev-Herșcovici (2007), p. 533 Maxy returned as the CDE's Chairman in 1946–1948. They served alongside writers

Ury Benador Ury Benador (pen name of Simon Moise Grinberg; May 1, 1895 – November 23, 1971) was a Romanian playwright and prose writer. Born in Mihăileni, Botoșani County, his parents were Moise Fridl, a Yiddish-language writer, and his wife Liba (''n ...

and Emil Dorian, the latter leaving skeptical notes with insight into the CDE's role as an amorphous organisation serving PCR commands. Historian Lucian Lucian Zeev-Herșcovici notes that power in the party rested mainly with second-rank PCR cadres, namely

, Herman Leibovici-Șerban, and Israel Bacalu. According to Iancu, Feldman was a "fanatical" among his fellow communists.Iancu, p. 53

Expansion

Local bodies were quickly integrated into the countrywide structure—on 25 March, the Cluj GDE became a CDE territorial office. In October, it was joined by other Northern Transylvanian organisations,Orzac, p. 273 with the CPED, gradually diminished in importance, also finally recorded as a regional CDE branch. Kohn remained in charge of the CDE provincial chapter (seconded by Sándor Neumann). His past had by then come under review, resulting in his expulsion from the PCR on grounds that he was a " Hungarian nationalist"; he was allowed to maintain his CDE profile, but gradually withdrew from active politics. CDE figures other than the communist core had double affiliations, including, from April 1946, Jewish members of the Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSDR), six of whom were co-opted on the CDE leadership board.Crăciun, p. 176 BEIH was absorbed as an autonomous section of the CDE, with 9 representatives in leadership; through it, the Committee exercised authority over the Romanian chapters of Ihud, Poale Zion, and Mishmar.

Theodor Loewenstein-Lavi Theodor is a masculine given name. It is a German form of Theodore (name), Theodore. It is also a variant of Teodor. List of people with the given name Theodor * Theodor Adorno, (1903–1969), German philosopher * Theodor Aman, Romanian painter * ...

of the Ihud joined the ranks of CDE activists. With this incorporation of Labour Zionism, the CDE effectively split the Romanian Zionist Executive, isolating the PER's right-wing. CDE influence eventually grew within the Executive, which came to be controlled by the Ihud. The CDE youth section, called Front of the Jewish Democratic Youth (FTDE), included Zionist factions within the BEIH, as well as all groups federated into the

HeHalutz HeHalutz or HeChalutz ( he, הֶחָלוּץ, lit. "The Pioneer") was a Jewish youth movement that trained young people for agricultural settlement in the Land of Israel. It became an umbrella organization of the pioneering Zionist youth moveme ...

Bnei Akiva Bnei Akiva ( he, בְּנֵי עֲקִיבָא, , "Children of Akiva") is the largest religious Zionist youth movement in the world, with over 125,000 members in 42 countries. It was first established in Mandatory Palestine in 1929. History B ...

, Borochovia, Dror, Gordonia, and several more. Other figures continued to be active with the Yidisher Kultur Farband (YIKUF) and with a breakaway faction of the UER—Rosenkranz was joined by leader

and his followers. Such affiliates were described as " temporary allies" of the Groza regime. Historian Lucian Nastasă identifies CDE maneuvering as directly responsible for the UER's weakening, as well as for directing, through Zelțer-Sărățeanu, a "firebrand campaign" against the PER leader, A. L. Zissu. Maxy was also an instigator of attacks on Zissu, whom he described as a proxy for reactionary politics.Cărăbaș, p. 188 Nastasă additionally argues that, once created, the Committee was able to assume a dominant position, forcing all other Jewish organisations to relate to it. As noted by Crăciun, the PCR had in practice a plurality of the 40 seats on the CDE leadership board, with 15 in all: 9 were PCR envoys or close allies, and 6 more came by way of Zelțer-Sărățeanu's movement. This phenomenon was noted in the provincial sections: CDE leaders in

Fălciu County Fălciu County was an administrative division of Moldavia (until 1859), then a county ('' judeṭ'') in Romania between 1859 and 1950. Its capital was the town of Huși. Another important town was Fălciu. History Fălciu was a land (''ṭinut'') ...

included 9 PCR men, 7 Zionists, and 6 with other or no affiliation; at

Sighetu Marmației Sighetu Marmației (, also spelled ''Sighetul Marmației''; german: Marmaroschsiget or ''Siget''; hu, Máramarossziget, ; uk, Сигіт, Syhit; yi, סיגעט, Siget), until 1960 Sighet, is a city (Municipalities of Romania, municipality) in ...

, the executive board had 10 PCR members, ahead of Aguda with 5; at

Oravița Oravița (; hu, Oravicabánya; german: Orawitz; cs, Oravice; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Oravica, separator=/, Оравица) is a town in the Banat region of Romania, in Caraș-Severin County, with a population of 11,382 in 2011. Its theater is a fully fu ...

, there were 40 CDE members in town, of whom 19 were communists.Narai, p. 130 The CDE was expected to administer Jewish community affairs, which included direct control over the apolitical

(FCER).David B. Green
"This Day in Jewish History: Romania's First Postwar Chief Rabbi Elected"
in ''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...

'', 16 June 2014 At the first CDE meetings, Luca already indicated that the CDE was fundamentally

anti-Zionist Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the region of Palestine ...

, while also expressing his disapproval of Jews who voted for mainstream Romanian parties. In October 1945, Luca engaged in polemics with Chiriță, who stood accused of not endorsing

class conflict Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor. The forms ...

. According to Luca, "the Jewish worker fits in with the communist party especially", whereas capitalists, even those of Jewish extraction, endured as "great enemies of the Jewish people". Luca surmised that the Committee was best suited to engage in attacks on the Jewish bourgeoisie, since it was shielded from accusations of antisemitism. In his replies, Chiriță insisted that Jews turned to illegal trading because the CDE could still not provide them with meaningful employment. After that moment, the Committee endorsed "re-stratification", a policy whereby Jewish workers and experts were reclaimed by the Romanian economy, usually by joining

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

s. This process was directed by the PCR, which injected a

agenda into the platforms of subordinate Jewish organisations. Overall, it "took charge of orienting Jewish youth toward manual trades, and away from traditional liberal professions such as jurisprudence, medicine, or journalism." For a while after its creation, the CDE modeled its stances regarding Zionism on contextual policies of the Soviet Union and

Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee The Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, ''Yevreysky antifashistsky komitet'' yi, יידישער אנטי פאשיסטישער קאמיטעט, ''Yidisher anti fashistisher komitet''., abbreviated as JAC, ''YeAK'', was an organization that was created i ...

. As summarised by Nastasă, it made no real effort to tackle Labour Zionism, and regarded the phenomenon as mostly utopian, "with little chance of ever creating an Israeli state." Committee man Dinu Hervian declared in February 1946 that the group had an instrumental reason for not overtly discouraging Zionism: " omanianreactionaries are opposed to the emigration tendency as present among a large portion of our Jewish population. By attacking reactionaries and supporting the sentimental attachment that some Jews hold in respect to Zionism, we can also win over this mass of Zionists." A mirrored version of this approach was documented among nominal supporters. In 1946, Naty Terdiman, the CDE man in Fălciu, reported that Jews were only pretending to endorse the Committee, out of prudence. According to Terdiman, Jews generally viewed the CDE leadership as fully assimilated quasi-

Gentile Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jew". Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is generally used as a synonym for ...

s. The CDE was directly involved in efforts to curb the illegal transit of Jews into

. In May 1946, it nearly convinced Romanian Communist potentate

Ana Pauker Ana Pauker (born Hannah Rabinsohn; 13 February 1893 – 3 June 1960) was a Romanian communist leader and served as the country's foreign minister in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Ana Pauker became the world's first female foreign minister whe ...

to arrest in Constanța's harbor the ship ''Smirni'', which was fitted to carry away Zionist emigrants. During those weeks, the ''

Siguranța Siguranța was the generic name for the successive secret police services in the Kingdom of Romania. The official title of the organization changed throughout its history, with names including Directorate of the Police and General Safety ( ro, Di ...

'' began keeping files on all Zionist leaders, while

Romanian Police The Romanian Police ( ro, Poliția Română, ) is the national police force and main civil law enforcement agency in Romania. It is subordinated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and it is led by a General Inspector with the rank of Secretary ...

opened fire on Zionist protesters at

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...

. Directing its own relief efforts for the returning deportees to

Transnistria Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), is an unrecognised breakaway state that is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova. Transnistria controls most of the narrow strip of land between the Dniester riv ...

, the CDE also took charge of instilling in them left-wing ideals. In early 1946, the local section of Caraș reported on having marginalised "reactionary and subversive elements" who had attempted to win refugees over to their cause.Narai, p. 129 CDE branches in Northern Transylvania gave direct support to Jews seeking to reach Palestine by fleeing to the West, but also complained that such emigrations were chaotic and dangerous. From August 1946, the CDEs propaganda described Zionist camps for displaced persons as miserable, and journey to Palestine as not worth the risk. Instead, it gave positive reviews to life in the

Jewish Autonomous Oblast The Jewish Autonomous Oblast (JAO; russian: Евре́йская автоно́мная о́бласть, (ЕАО); yi, ייִדישע אװטאָנאָמע געגנט, ; )In standard Yiddish: , ''Yidishe Oytonome Gegnt'' is a federal subject ...

Early causes

Some CDE chapters by then demanding the full restitution of assets confiscated in the Holocaust, addressing Groza a memorandum on the matter. In response to such calls, Groza insisted that "the Jews cannot ask for privileges just because they are Jews", disseminating rumors that most Jews were speculators, and asking for left-wingers among them to concentrate on combating their "outrageous lifestyle". The CDE was successful in obtaining other concessions, such as the exemption of former concentration camp inmates from service in the

Romanian Army The Romanian Land Forces ( ro, Forțele Terestre Române) is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. In recent years, full professionalisation and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Lan ...

or steps to release Jewish inmates from the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

's captivity. While the despoliation question remained unresolved, CDE cadres were also involved in responding to antisemitic violence, as well as in denouncing alleged Holocaust perpetrators, including football coach Ferenc Rónai and teacher Sava Dumitru. They made efforts to collect data about specific pogroms, including one in

Vișeu de Sus Vișeu de Sus (; german: Oberwischau; hu, Felsővisó; ; , Ober Vishoi, Ojberwischo) is a town in Maramureș County, Maramureș, Romania, located at the confluence of the rivers Vișeu and Vaser. It administers one village, Vișeu de Mijloc ('' ...

, and staged a burial ceremony for soap bars assumed to be made from human fat. However, Kohn's CPED, integrated as a CDE section in 1946, also championed reconciliation with the Hungarian community. At a MADOSZ rally in 1946, Kohn spoke of the special cultural connection between the two communities—as noted by historian Attila Gidó, his speech featured a relativisation of the

Holocaust in Hungary The Holocaust in Hungary was the dispossession, deportation, and systematic murder of more than half of the Hungarian Jews, primarily after the German occupation of Hungary in March 1944. At the time of the German invasion, Hungary had a Jewis ...

. Other activists gave their own replies on the issue of Hungarian responsibility for the Holocaust. László Erdős, leader of the CDE's Cluj section, refused to promise protection to

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

and Unitarian clergy, implying that both had been complicit in Holocaust crimes. CDE operative Otto Rappaport also spoke on the issue, but insisted that MADOSZ and other local Hungarians "openly and firmly judge the crimes of an era and generation." While advocating the liquidation of Hungarian fascism, Rappaport contended: "Jewry does not identify and does not generalize the traitors of the Hungarian people with the Hungarian democrats. The Jewry equally hates the Hungarian and Romanian reaction". Despite Kohn's attempts at finding common ground, MADOSZ and the CDE were at odds over issues such as the return of Jewish property in Bistrița County. Teatrul Evriesc de Stat 02

Shunning the Hebrew revival encouraged by Zionism, the CDE had as its central mouthpiece a Romanian-language weekly, ''Unirea'', first published in November 1945. Its name ("unity" or "unification") was selected to contradict Luca's notions of class conflict.Vago, p. 501 At an early stage, the newspaper's general line was that Zionism was only justified in Western countries, as a reaction to antisemitism. It viewed itself as heir to "Jewry's democratic traditions", while also endorsing a "combat of the entire Romanian people for democracy, restoration, and prosperity." In practice, it circulated PCR propaganda, some of which was penned by

Sașa Pană Sașa Pană (; pen name of Alexandru Binder; 8 August 1902—22 August 1981) was a Romanian avant-garde poet, novelist, and short story writer. Biography Born to a Jewish family in Bucharest, he trained as a physician in Iași and Bucharest, b ...

, formerly an avant-garde author. The chief editor was Anton Celaru, a distinguished translator from

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

. From 1947, the CDE also put out a Yiddish literary review, ''Yikuf Bletter'', and, for a while in 1948, printed a Hungarian–Romanian bulletin. The Cluj newspaper ''Egység'', later known as ''Új Út'', was also published by the CDE. According to Zeev-Herșcovici, the CDE was only successful in promoting socialist Yiddishism through its network of schools, including obtaining a Yiddish state curriculum; the Barașeum was maintained as a state theater, to promote Yiddish drama. Yiddishist campaigns were partly supervised by Polia Barasch, who was an inspector for the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

, as well as serving as leader of the CDE Female Section. The latter was strong at Arad and elsewhere in the

Banat Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of T ...

, where schoolgirl Hedi Schauer was also leader of the FTDE. The CDE had as its stated objective the suppression of religious and cultural Judaism; Yiddish culture was tolerated as a brand of

Jewish secularism Jewish secularism refers to secularism in a Jewish context, denoting the definition of Jewish identity with little or no attention given to its religious aspects. The concept of Jewish secularism first arose in the late 19th century, with its ...

. Thus, ''Egység''s agenda was "to eliminate cooperation between the Jewish population on the one hand, and the religious communities and bourgeois forces on the other." In this, the Committee earned backing from Rabbi Meyer Abraham Halevy, who declared that, with the onset of

Soviet occupation During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into two different ...

, the synagogue had a duty to become "

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

"; on this basis, the CDE endorsed a direct supervision of all synagogues by the FCER.Oțoiu, p. 213 As early as February 1946, CDE activists convened a meeting of 1,266 '' shochtim'', instructing them to perform their duties with "democratic spirit", heeding the "revolutionary changes".Oțoiu, p. 215

Orthodox Judaism Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

was identified as a specific target in

Maramureș County Maramureș County () is a county (județ) in Romania, in the Maramureș region. The county seat is Baia Mare. Name In Hungarian language, Hungarian it is known as ''Máramaros megye'', in Ukrainian language, Ukrainian as Мараморо́щ� ...

, where rabbis clashed with CDE men over the distribution of aid obtained from The Joint. These congregations were most active in resisting anti-Zionist propaganda as pressed through the synagogues. In practice, CDE local branches were still open to Orthodox Jews: at least 3 out of 9 CDE leaders in

Bihor County Bihor County () is a county ( județ) in western Romania. With a total area of , Bihor is Romania's 6th largest county geographically and the main county in the historical region of Crișana. Its capital city is Oradea. Toponymy The origin of ...

were members or benefactors of the Orthodox community.

Electoral campaigns

Speaking for the UER's anti-communist mainstream,

Wilhelm Filderman Wilhelm Filderman (last name also spelled Fieldermann; 14 November 1882 – 1963) was a lawyer and the leader of the Romanian-Jewish community between 1919 and 1947; in addition, he was a representative of the Jews in the Romanian parliament. Ear ...

described the Committee as a "conveyor belt" of the PCR. By June 1946, the CDE itself was openly acknowledging having been created as a "PCR initiative", further explaining itself as a Jewish "

united front A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts and/or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political a ...

" against antisemitism. Following negotiations headlined by Maxy, a CDE national congress on 30 June resolved to support the PCR-dominated Bloc of Democratic Parties (BPD) for the November elections. The message to rally all Jews into the BPD was carried during a 6 July meeting at the Great Synagogue in Iași, through CDE delegates Zelțer-Sărățeanu and Marcel Dulbergher. CDE cadres, and in particular Barasch's Female Section, were involved in the effort to re-register Jewish voters, whom they also instructed to vote for the BPD. CDE propaganda argued that electing BPD candidates was a sure way to extinguish the "slavery of yesteryear". During October, the CDE and the UER convinced the PER to participate alongside them on a Jewish Representation list, which also offered backing to the Bloc. Of three seats reserved for it in the Assembly of Deputies, the alliance took two, held by Eduard Manolescu and Anghel Dascălu; Bernard Rohrlich of the PER was a losing candidate. Historian Petre Țurlea identifies both elected deputies as CDE candidates, rather than more generic Jewish representatives. In fact, Dascălu represented Mishmar."Additional Legislation to Strengthen Jewish Position Demanded in Rumanian Parliament"
in the ''JTA Daily News Bulletin'', Vol. XIII, Issue 289, 19 December 1946, p. 6 From December, he pressed government for a reparations bill in favour of Holocaust victims, while also expressing hopes that emigration to Palestine would carry on unhindered. His colleague Manolescu focused his parliamentary speeches on revisiting the

Iași pogrom The Iași pogrom (, sometimes anglicized as Jassy) was a series of pogroms launched by governmental forces under Marshal Ion Antonescu in the Romanian city of Iași against its Jewish community, which lasted from 29 June to 6 July 1941. Accord ...

of 1941, urging for a more thorough prosecution of culprits. Loyalty to the government program was again stated on 2 December 1946, codified into a joint statement by the CDE, MADOSZ, and left-wing organisations representing

Armenians Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...

Bulgarians Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe. Etymology Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely understo ...

, and

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...

. In the aftermath, CDE propaganda gave full endorsement to Groza's discretionary measures—including a stabilisation of the

Romanian leu The Romanian leu (, plural lei ; ISO code: RON; numeric code: 946) is the currency of Romania. It is subdivided into 100 (, singular: ), a word that means "money" in Romanian. Etymology The name of the currency means "lion", and is derive ...

which, in reality, acted as a major depressor on Jewish economic life. By May 1947, the party was issuing new reprimands against Jews seeking to emigrate, instructing them to "integrate with the productive process and the effort to rebuild Romania". It also called on those who could not be persuaded to assimilate to only emigrate if and when they received permission from the Romanian state. A month after, the CDE in

Satu Mare Satu Mare (; hu, Szatmárnémeti ; german: Sathmar; yi, סאטמאר or ) is a city with a population of 102,400 (2011). It is the capital of Satu Mare County, Romania, as well as the centre of the Satu Mare metropolitan area. It lies in the ...

asked for approval to run its own "reconstruction camp" in cooperation with the Zionists. During late 1947, the national CDE took over control over Jewish emigration, which included attempts to reeducate all applicants by presenting communist alternatives. As CDE leader in

Hunedoara County Hunedoara County () is a county ('' județ'') of Romania, in Transylvania, with its capital city at Deva. The county is part of the Danube–Criș–Mureș–Tisa Euroregion. Name In Hungarian, it is known as , in German as , and in Slovak as ...

, Béla Ringler saluted the

United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was a proposal by the United Nations, which recommended a partition of Mandatory Palestine at the end of the British Mandate. On 29 November 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted the Plan as Re ...

, with its provisions for a Jewish State, implying that this was a result of Soviet intercession. According to Ringler, the Soviet Union was defended "the rights of peoples big and small, who has rescued the world and among them the Jewish people from complete annihilation under fascist domination". At this stage, the PCR was viewing immigration as a potential asset, since an indoctrinated Romanian Jewish colony could bring Palestine, and subsequently

, into the

Eastern bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

, ensuring that government was formed by the

Hebrew Communists The Hebrew Communists ( he, קומוניסטים עברים, ''Komunistim Ivrim'') were a short-lived political party in Mandatory Palestine and Israel. The Hebrew Communists were founded in 1945 by some former members of the Palestine Communist ...

. The secret plan was picked up on by the general public, and universally ridiculed: "A widely circulated anecdote had the emigrating Jews throwing their party cards overboard once the ship left tsRomanian port". A final meeting of CDE, PER and UER delegates had been convened in July, but failed to produce any results. By 1948, the UER's communisation had been effected by Zelțer-Sărățeanu, who presided over a takeover of the more traditional group, expelling Filderman. In late 1947, 800 CDE members in

Severin County Severin County was a county ( Romanian: '' județ'') in the Kingdom of Romania, in the historical region of the Banat. Its capital was Lugoj. Severin County was established in 1926, disbanded with the administrative reform of 1938, re-created in 1 ...

addressed an open letter to the Big Four, endorsing a ban on the

National Peasants' Party The National Peasants' Party (also known as the National Peasant Party or National Farmers' Party; ro, Partidul Național Țărănesc, or ''Partidul Național-Țărănist'', PNȚ) was an agrarian political party in the Kingdom of Romania. It w ...

and the National Liberal Party, claiming that both had perpetuated antisemitism. Political life was more heavily restricted from early 1948, with the imposition of a Romanian communist state. In the March 1948 elections the CDE ran as part of the People's Democratic Front (FDP). The adherence to its platform was registered on 27 February, being signed by

Paul Iscovici Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity * Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

, then-chairman of the CDE. Ihud was a proxy ally, sending representatives on the CDE Electoral Commission. Within the new legislature, the FDP had 405 of a total 414 seats; five of these went to the CDE. They were taken by Feldman, Leibovici-Șerban, Manolescu, Popper, and Marcel Fischler.Nastasă, p. 182 Manolescu was to die without carrying through his term, in mid-to-late 1949."Ecouri Fapte Comentarii"
in ''B.I.R.E. (Bulletin d'Informations pour les Roumains de l'Étranger)'', Issue 25, 2 October 1949 Groza's regime believed that it could seal Jewish support when, in early 1948, it issued a decree transferring Jewish heirless properties, confiscated during the Holocaust, to the FCER. Some tension still subsisted between the CDE and its allies, over the unresolved issue of Holocaust confiscations; the CDE section of Bihor also protested over the under-representation of Northern Transylvanian Jews in the Assembly of Deputies. The Committee maintained an international profile during its last years, with delegates attending the 1948

World Jewish Congress The World Jewish Congress (WJC) was founded in Geneva, Switzerland in August 1936 as an international federation of Jewish communities and organizations. According to its mission statement, the World Jewish Congress' main purpose is to act as ...

Montreux Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approximat ...

Mișu Benvenisti Mișu Benvenisti, also known as Mishu or Moshe Benvenisti ( he, מישו בנבנישתי; July 1, 1902 – 1977), was a Romanian lawyer, Zionist militant, and leader of the Romanian Jewish community. Born into a family of printers and publishers, ...

of the PER was also invited, sharing the stage with Feldman, Bacalu, and Leibovici-Șerban. The latter expressed Jewish Romanian sympathy toward Israeli independence, supporting an alliance between the new state and the Soviet Union. Filderman was also present as a regular member of the audience, and looked on as Feldman made "great gestures of friendship" toward

Nahum Goldmann Nahum Goldmann ( he, נחום גולדמן) (July 10, 1895 – August 29, 1982) was a leading Zionist. He was a founder of the World Jewish Congress and its president from 1951 to 1978, and was also president of the World Zionist Organization from ...

, who was thus convinced that collaboration could still exist between Jewish and Soviet groups. In its coverage of the war in Palestine, the PCR press spoke of the "savage aggression by the Arab states against the Jewish people in Palestine", and alleged that it was being propped up by " Anglo-American imperialism". By then, however, the Romanian communist leadership had switched their support to the

Arab Liberation Army The Arab Liberation Army (ALA; ar, جيش الإنقاذ العربي ''Jaysh al-Inqadh al-Arabi''), also translated as Arab Salvation Army, was an army of volunteers from Arab countries led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji. It fought on the Arab side in th ...

. On 11 June 1948, exactly as Romania gave formal recognition to Israel, all Zionist organisations were ordered to shut down. On 16 June the organisation elected

as the Chief Rabbi of Romania to replace

Alexandru Șafran Alexandru Şafran (or Alexandre Safran; 12 September 1910 – 27 July 2006) was a Romanian and, after 1948, Switzerland, Swiss rabbi. As chief rabbi of Romania (1940–1948), he intervened with authorities in the Fascism, fascist government of Ion ...

. Șafran, who had defected the previous December, argued that the CDE was behind his ouster, since he had refused to sign a document calling for the execution of anti-communist leader

Iuliu Maniu Iuliu Maniu (; 8 January 1873 – 5 February 1953) was an Austro-Hungarian-born lawyer and Romanian politician. He was a leader of the National Party of Transylvania and Banat before and after World War I, playing an important role in the Un ...

. As he recalled, he left the country before he could be framed by the Committee leadership. Elsewhere, Șafran noted that his departure had been hastened by CDE envoy Sandu Lieblich, while another emissary had asked that he sign papers to show that he left willingly. Before the takeover, Popper published a piece which alleged that Șafran was an illegal defector. Upon taking over, Rosen was also awarded a seat on the CDE's presidium; Popper was at the time the FCER President, replaced by Bacalu in 1950.

Labour Zionist schism

As these events unfolded, the CDE carried out a census of runaway

Bukovina Jews The Jews in Bukovina have been an integral part of their community. Under Austria-Hungary, there was tolerance of Jews and inter-ethnic cooperation. Life under Austria and Romania Bukovina was conquered by the Austrian Archduchy in 1774. It de ...

living on Romanian territory, noting that most of them were using up Committee resources while preparing their escape to Israel.Crăciun, p. 189 The CDE branch in

Lugoj Lugoj (; hu, Lugos; german: Lugosch; sr, Лугош, Lugoš; bg, Лугож; tr, Logoş) is a list of cities and towns in Romania, city in Timiș County, Romania. The Timiș River divides the city into two halves, the so-called "Romanian Lugoj" ...

, meanwhile, carried out an investigation and purge of "racketeers" (''speculanți'') from party ranks, and become more appealing to proletarian Jews. In October 1948, the regime's official newspaper, ''

Scînteia ''Scînteia'' (Romanian for "The Spark") was the name of two newspapers edited by Communist groups at different intervals in Romanian history. The title is a homage to the Russian language paper ''Iskra''. It was known as ''Scânteia'' until th ...

'', issued directions for CDE to circulate

Ilya Ehrenburg Ilya Grigoryevich Ehrenburg (russian: link=no, Илья́ Григо́рьевич Эренбу́рг, ; – August 31, 1967) was a Soviet writer, revolutionary, journalist and historian. Ehrenburg was among the most prolific and notable autho ...

's critique of Israel among its members and sympathisers; this message pushed the CDE into open conflict with the Zionists, resulting in a series of street battles between the two camps. On 12 December, the same publication more openly alleged that a Zionist conspiracy was subverting the CDE from within.Stan, p. 16 Before the end of the month, the Committee acquiesced to the formal designation of Zionism as a variety of fascism or "reactionary nationalism", and proceeded to exclude from its ranks all remaining Zionists (in practice, all non-communists).''The Virtual Jewish World: Romania''
at the

Jewish Virtual Library Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

Over the following months, Mishmar withdrew from the CDE and created an international alliance with a new socialist group, the

; Dascălu became head of the local Mapam chapter. The CDE, and in particular the FTDE, made efforts to bring them back into the fold, referring to them as "our Mishmar friends". The Committee also showcased its contacts with the

Israeli Communist Party The Israeli Communist Party, commonly known by its Hebrew acronym Maki (), is a communist political party in Israel and forms part of the political alliance known as Hadash. It was originally known as Rakah, an acronym for ''Reshima Komunistit H ...

, inviting its Secretary Eliyahu Gojansky on a tour of Romania in mid 1948. Also then, a ''Siguranța'' informant reported that Jews were widely dissatisfied with the CDE, with a "rather significant current" describing it as purely adverse to Jewish interests. Its agents were looking into the activities of a CDE secretary, Ernst Fischer, whom they had exposed as a proxy for

Revisionist Zionism Revisionist Zionism is an ideology developed by Ze'ev Jabotinsky, who advocated a "revision" of the "practical Zionism" of David Ben-Gurion and Chaim Weizmann which was focused on the settling of ''Eretz Yisrael'' (Land of Israel) by independent ...

. In October, Luca and

Chivu Stoica Chivu Stoica (the family name being Chivu; 8 August 1908 – 18 February 1975) was a leading Romanian Communist politician, who served as 48th Prime Minister of Romania. Early life Stoica was born in Smeeni, Buzău County, the sixth child of a ...

reiterated that Zionism had been purged from the CDE, which was now destined to "attracting the Jewish masses" into the Workers' Party (PMR, as the PCR had been renamed after absorbing the PSDR). Following their intervention, PMR General Secretary

issued a final order to liquidate all remnants of Jewish nationalism. The resolution codifying this was drafted in December by a collective of authors, including Feldman, Ladislau Bányai, Alexandru Moghioroș,

Leonte Răutu Leonte Răutu (until 1945 Lev Nikolayevich (Nicolaievici) Oigenstein; February 28, 1910 – 1993) was a Bessarabian-born Romanian communist activist and propagandist. He was chief ideologist of the Romanian Communist Party ("Workers' Party") ...

, and

Miron Constantinescu Miron Constantinescu (13 December 1917 – 18 July 1974) was a Romanian communist politician, a leading member of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR, known as PMR for a period of his lifetime), as well as a Marxist sociologist, historian, academic, ...

. It remained largely silent on whether Jews were still to be considered a distinct ethnic community, but explicitly included a mandate for the CDE to stamp out Zionism. The authors condemned "certain Party members within the CDE" for still tolerating the "nationalist current", and promised to "reconstruct the CDE from progressive elements". Historian Ovidiu Bozgan notes that, upon the end of this meeting, the CDE emerged as the "privileged instrument" for dismantling the Zionist presence in Romania.Bozgan, p. 24 A return to officially sanctioned anti-Zionist violence was made in November 1948, when Police raided the

Jewish National Fund Jewish National Fund ( he, קֶרֶן קַיֶּימֶת לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael'', previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Syria (later Mandatory Palestine, and subseq ...

, detaining its leader Leon Itzcar on charges of contraband; this campaign was fully endorsed by ''Unirea'', who referred to Zionists as "blackmarketeers" and "disrupters of the socialist economy". During December, as noted by French diplomat Philippe de Luze, the standoff produced "very violent incidents". CDE squads stormed into the Bucharest offices of the ten remaining Zionist organisations,"Rumanian Authorities Order Truce in Battles between Zionists and Anti-zionists"
in the ''JTA Daily News Bulletin'', Vol. XV, Issue 276, 6 December 1948, p. 3 including Mishmar, Ihud,

, and

HaOved HaTzioni HaOved HaTzioni (, lit. ''The Zionist Worker'') is a settlement movement in Israel. The movement was established in 1936 by former members of HaNoar HaTzioni, and its first settlement, kibbutz Usha, was founded on 7 November 1937. In 1948 th ...

. The latter two in particular mounted resistance, with publicised incidents which prompted communist authorities order a truce. At least seven offices had been returned to Zionist ownership by 6 December. In the aftermath, PCR internal documents criticised the CDE for being "hamfisted". In January 1949, Feldman took over as CDE Chairman, presiding over the CDE's full communisation. By March, the CDE leadership bureaus had been restructured entirely, which, as noted by historian Hary Kuller, also meant it reached a "paroxysm of anti-Zionist action". Within weeks, CDE leaders in

Constanța Constanța (, ; ; rup, Custantsa; bg, Кюстенджа, Kyustendzha, or bg, Констанца, Konstantsa, label=none; el, Κωνστάντζα, Kōnstántza, or el, Κωνστάντια, Kōnstántia, label=none; tr, Köstence), histo ...

Galați Galați (, , ; also known by other alternative names) is the capital city of Galați County in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in eastern Romania. Galați is a port town on the Danube River. It has been the only port for the most par ...

and

Timișoara ), City of Roses ( ro, Orașul florilor), City of Parks ( ro, Orașul parcurilor) , image_map = Timisoara jud Timis.svg , map_caption = Location in Timiș County , pushpin_map = Romania#Europe , pushpin_ ...

had been replaced, accused of having failed to respond in kind to the Zionist threat. Jewish community leader Aurel Vainer, who was at the time a young Zionist, recalls that a late transport of "extremely pro-communist Jews" left Constanța during those weeks. According to Vainer, the ships had come for him and other non-communists, but were commandeered by the CDE and the authorities "took us back to our homes." De Luze similarly records rumors that a Panamanian-flagged ship was transporting 2,500 communist Jews as would-be voters in the Israeli legislative election. On 18 April, Feldman ceded the CDE chairmanship to Barbu Lăzăreanu, though retaining the post of General Secretary, with other positions on the board going to Bacalu, Iscovici, Leibovici-Șerban, Paul Davidovici, Betty Goldstein, Ștefan Solomon, and Iacob Wechsler. Also that month, the FTDE was disbanded, as the Workers' Party Youth was established, signaling that the Jewish community "

ad been Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

given over completely to the dominance of the government alone". In June, CDE supervisors at the Barașeum began issuing criticism of the troupe, noting that only 4 of 110 staff members had bothered to obtain PMR membership, and that the ideological plays remained opaque. Communist control through the CDE proxy was also highlighted by the rabbinical congress of July, during which

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

and

Sephardi Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...

communities pledged themselves to supporting the Committee. However, the CDE stance had alienated Rabbi Rosen, who began working in secret against the regime; decades later, described the CDE as an ''

Yevsektsiya A Yevsektsiya ( rus, евсекция, p=jɪfˈsʲektsɨjə; yi, יעווסעקציע) was a Jewish section of the Soviet Communist Party. These sections were established in fall of 1918 with consent of Vladimir Lenin to carry communist revoluti ...

'' engaged in "terroriz ngthe Jewish communities".

Aviva Cantor Aviva Cantor (born 1940) is an American journalist, lecturer and author. An advocate of feminism and the democratization of Jewish communal life, Cantor has been actively involved in promoting progressive Jewish causes for over 40 years. She was a ...

"Behind the Headlines. A Tale of 3 European Cities"
in the ''JTA Daily News Bulletin'', Vol. 63, Issue 89, 9 May 1985, p. 3

Against Israel

The CDE was still a proponent of anti-Zionism following the consolidation of an independent Israel. By mid 1949, Mapam and all other socialist Zionist groups decided to cease official activities. Feldman warned his followers that this was a ruse, since "the enemies of the working class never give up their positions of their own free will." Throughout that year, ''Unirea'' incited renewed campaigns against Zionist influence, and condemned any "slacking". It announced proudly that, as a result of its campaigning, "war-mongers who happen to be the bosses of Zionist nationalists" refrained from attending a ceremony honoring victims of the 1941 pogrom. Its issues included facsimiles of letters by distraught emigrants, who wrote back to report that Israel was an insecure and imperialistic nation, as well as a communique by Borochovia, announcing that it had ceased supporting Zionist emigration. That message was communicated through the party branches, with activist Meier Froimovici declaring that "there is no longer a

Jewish Question The Jewish question, also referred to as the Jewish problem, was a wide-ranging debate in 19th- and 20th-century European society that pertained to the appropriate status and treatment of Jews. The debate, which was similar to other "national ...

in Romania", and equating the Zionist underground with human traffickers. This thesis was furthered by CDE activists designated as ''lămuritori'' ("educators"), who drew comparisons between hasty emigration and wartime deportations to

, in that they divided families. ''Egység'' suggested to its readers that "anyone seeking to emigrate would be committing suicide", and that Zionism was a "twin brother of anti-Semitism". Anti-communist observers in the

Romanian diaspora The Romanian diaspora is the ethnically Romanian population outside Romania and Moldova. The concept does not usually include the ethnic Romanians who live as natives in nearby states, chiefly those Romanians who live in Ukraine, Hungary, Serbi ...

began speculating that the communist leadership was preparing to implicate the Zionists in a localized version of the

László Rajk László Rajk (8 March 1909 – 15 October 1949) was a Hungarian Communist politician, who served as Minister of Interior and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was an important organizer of the Hungarian Communists' power (for example, organizi ...

trial. During January 1949, the CDE still honored an agreement with Israel, allowing 1,300 Jews to sail out of Romania. This was followed by a severe clampdown in February, reducing the number to 160 a month, most of whom were not in fact Romanian citizens; the Romanian government intervened to relax pressures during November. As noted by researcher Raphael Vago, this positioning reflected a convergence of two attitudes. Among the Jewish communists,

pleaded with her colleagues to " let my people go"; other PCR leaders, "backed by anti-Semites, were glad to get rid of the Jews and to inherit their jobs, apartments and belongings." At the time, a PMR resolution initiated by

Teohari Georgescu Teohari Georgescu (January 31, 1908 – December 31, 1976) was a Romanian statesman and a high-ranking member of the Romanian Communist Party. Early life Born in Chitila, near Bucharest, he was the third of seven children of Constantin and A ...

encouraged hostile Jews to leave. As Gheorghiu-Dej put it during the session, "we have no reason to keep in the bourgeoisie." While serving as

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

, Pauker never explicitly endorsed emigration and repeatedly snubbed

Reuven Rubin Reuven Rubin ( he, ראובן רובין; November 13, 1893 – October 13, 1974) was a Romanian-born Israeli painter and Israel's first ambassador to Romania. Biography Rubin Zelicovici (later Reuven Rubin) was born in Galaţi to a poor Roma ...

, the Israeli Ambassador. However, rumors and signals of support produced spontaneous rallies of Jews in front of the Israeli embassy in Bucharest, with the crowd "shout ngfor emigration papers". Feldman decried the protest as a "provocation" by Israel. After self-analysis sessions organised by Constantinescu, the CDE concluded that Romanian Jews had misread the PMR's approval of selective emigration as an invitation; it promised to channel its efforts on depicting Israel as a capitalist country of "ever-increasing poverty and squalor". In July 1949, ''Unirea'' put out an appeal to the workers, outlining reasons why they should not take in Zionist ideology. In October, CDE militants, including Feldman and Laurențiu Bercovici, gave speeches condemning

David Ben-Gurion David Ben-Gurion ( ; he, דָּוִד בֶּן-גּוּרִיּוֹן ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary national founder of the State of Israel and the first prime minister of Israel. Adopting the name ...

, Israel's

Head of Government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a gro ...

and noted Labour Zionist, for having moved away from Soviet influence. Feldman himself referred to the

Mapai Mapai ( he, מַפָּא"י, an acronym for , ''Mifleget Poalei Eretz Yisrael'', lit. "Workers' Party of the Land of Israel") was a democratic socialist political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger in ...

as " right-wing socialists". The message was expanded upon in

Isac Ludo Isac Ludo (1894–1973) was a Romanian writer and political figure. Born into a Jewish-Romanian family, Ludo was active in left-wing literary circles prior to World War II. After the Communist take-over in 1947, he rose to important position ...

's book, ''Scrisoare domnului Ben Gurion'' ("Letter to Mr Ben Gurion"), published by the CDE in 1950. Ludo, who was reputedly blackmailed by the PCR over his Zionist past, decried Israel as obeying American interests.Stan, p. 21 Vago describes the clash of vision between the CDE and the PMR as an "impossible situation", also noting that Pauker switched to backing the former, and recommending breaks on emigration. For a while in early 1950, the Committee readjusted its propaganda themes, claiming that as many as 80% of emigrants, including most Bukovinian Jews, "will not be a great loss". In such reports, settlers appeared as destitute and promiscuous gamblers. This stance was contradicted by a CDE communique of 25 March 1950. It decried the "very loose criteria" for emigration, complaining that Jewish workers were allowed to flee a people's democracy for a "capitalist country, with its unemployment and misery." In April 1950, as FCER secretary, Leibovici-Șerban issued a staunch warning accusing would-be emigrants of

, and advising them to seek employment in Romania. The CDE was at the time claiming that 18,000 Jews had been integrated professionally in 1949 alone, all as a result of its programs. An Israeli diplomat identified as Ghilade responded with an opinion piece in ''

Maariv ''Maariv'' or ''Maʿariv'' (, ), also known as ''Arvit'' (, ), is a Jewish prayer service held in the evening or night. It consists primarily of the evening ''Shema'' and '' Amidah''. The service will often begin with two verses from Psalms, ...

'', asserting that CDE "traitors", which he estimated as 20,000 individuals, were no match for the 300,000 Zionists still active in Romania.

Final purge

By May 1949, the regime had arrested as many as 7,500 Zionists, including Benvenisti and some 50 other prominent militants.Gordon (1951), p. 356 At that stage, the UER voted to dissolve itself, on the pretext that "racial hatred" no longer existed in communised Romania. In October,

Mordechai Oren Mordechai Oren (1905–1985) was a leader of Mapam and the Kibbutz Artzi Hashomer Hatzair. He was implicated in a scandal which created an uproar in the state of Israel during the early fifties when he was tried in a show trial in Eastern Eur ...

, a member of the Mapam leadership in Israel, visited Feldman and attempted to obtain his support for the release of Zionist prisoners. Feldman declared himself against this move, noting that the Zionists had been charged with spying. By contrast, Rosen, Halevy and Leibovici-Șerban made efforts to obtain the release of Zionist rabbi

Eliezer Zusia Portugal Eliezer Zusia Portugal (17 October 1898–18 August 1982), the first Skulener Rebbe, was revered by his followers in Russia, Romania, Israel, and the United States for his personal warmth and his care for hundreds of Jewish youth and war orpha ...

, whom they depicted as a defender of democratic values. Finally, the CDE itself was targeted by communist purges, with six of its board members being pushed to resign, for "laxity", during a party conference in March 1950. The conference also designated 1950 as a year of combat against Zionism, announcing that it would investigate Jewish fiction writers for their toleration of nationalist themes. At that stage, the CDE was directly implicated in communist censorship, purging its own libraries of literature deemed unsuitable. At

Huși Huși (, Yiddish/ he, חוש ''Khush'', hu, Huszváros, German: ''Hussburg'') is a city in Vaslui County, Romania, former capital of the disbanded Fălciu County in the historical region of Western Moldavia, Romanian Orthodox episcopal see, an ...

, 400 books had been "purged" by July 1949. It also published a list of Zionist and Bundistn writers whose work could no longer be read by Romanian Jews. Examples included Isaac Mayer Dick, H. Leivick, and

David Pinski David Pinski (Yiddish: דוד פּינסקי; April 5, 1872 – August 11, 1959) was a Yiddish language writer, probably best known as a playwright. At a time when Eastern Europe was only beginning to experience the industrial revolution, Pinsk ...

; Romanian Yiddishists

Iacob Ashel Groper Iacob or Iacov is the Romanian form for Jacob and James and it may refer to: People *Alexandru Iacob (born 1989), Romanian footballer * Caius Iacob (1912–1992), Romanian mathematician * Iacob Felix (1832–1905), Romanian physician * Iacob Iacob ...

and Wolf Tambur were castigated for not popularising communist tenets in their Holocaust-themed writings.Gordon (1950), p. 370 David Bergelson proved a more contentious case: while the Barașeum dropped his plays, the YIKUF still popularised his "progressive" works. Leon Bertiș had his verse published in ''Yikuf Bletter'', but, as a staunch Zionist, could not be convinced to join the CDE. "Unmasking" sessions by provincial chapters led to the public humiliation of various Jewish notables, including industrialist Solomon Israel, retailer Ștefan Fekete, and Marc Ludovic, who was the CDE's own secretary in

Târgu Mureș Târgu Mureș (, ; hu, Marosvásárhely ) is the seat of Mureș County in the historical region of Transylvania, Romania. It is the List of cities and towns in Romania, 16th largest Romanian city, with 134,290 inhabitants as of the 2011 Romania ...

. A similar investigation of Barașeum actors found more ideological flaws, including Zionism, but failed to name any perpetrators. Historian Corina L. Petrescu suggests that such apparent protection was extended to them because of cultural priorities: " ctivistshad to strike a balance between

he troupe's He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

state-assigned role as poster child of the regime and its self-assigned task as torchbearer for high quality Yiddish culture." By 1950, the CDE took its "unmasking" sessions into factories, encouraging workers to shame those of their colleagues who had submitted emigration papers, and insisting for Zionists to be stripped of their wages. As noted by Kuller, the impact of such practices on the Jewish psyche was "null", especially since emigration continued to be tolerated to 1952. Vago reports that "the dull evening courses teaching Jews the elements of 'class struggle' and of the need to change Jewish class structure reremembered ollectivelywith a bitterness about losing the small businesses". Academic Zoltán Tibori Szabó similarly notes that the CDE's propaganda campaign against Zionism "misfired and it only contributed to convincing more Jews they should get out as soon as possible." The regime was much embarrassed when, in May 1950, the CDE's top echelons in

Suceava County Suceava County () is a county ('' ro, județ'') of Romania. Most of its territory lies in the southern part of the historical region of Bukovina, while the remainder forms part of Western Moldavia proper. The county seat is the historical town ...

submitted requests for emigration, and again in September, when Zelțer-Sărățeanu was booed by

Unirea Sfântă Unirea may refer to: Places in Romania * Unirea, Alba, a commune * Unirea, Brăila, a commune * Unirea, Călărași, a commune * Unirea, Dolj, a commune and village * General Berthelot, a commune in Hunedoara, called ''Unirea'' from 1965 to 200 ...

congregants for speaking out against emigration. Northern Transylvanian cities also experienced the mass emigration of CDE members, including all the party hierarchy in

Năsăud Năsăud (; german: Nassod, ''Nußdorf''; hu, Naszód) is a town in Bistrița-Năsăud County in Romania located in the historical region of Transylvania. The town administers two villages, Liviu Rebreanu (until 1958 ''Prislop''; ''Priszlop'') a ...

. Communist supervisors noted their displeasure, indicating that the CDE's "instructional work" was still "not deep enough". ''Unirea'' was closed down in 1951 and ''Yikuf Bletter'' in 1952; a new publication, ''Viața Nouă'' was in print from 1951 to 1953. Between these dates, a full purge of the CDE had been carried out: "all energies were devoted to the frenzy of uncovering the 'internal enemy'." According to historian Stefano Bottoni, it marked "the first visible sign of a failed compromise, whose bases — namely, that party members were to drop their 'strong' Jewish identity, while the petty and middle bourgeoisie were to be economically ruined — had been proven as unacceptable for a majority of Jews in Romania."

Dissolution and aftermath

At the height of this realignment, Feldman redefined the CDE as primarily destined for turning Jews into admirers of the Soviet Union and supporters of its " combat for peace". As argued by Gidó, its mission had been "confined to the dissemination of communist propaganda and of the communist social regime." The PMR had by then shelved all plans of communising Israel, blaming their failure on Pauker, who was now sidelined and prosecuted. In February 1953, as the Soviet Union announced that it was prosecuting a Jewish conspiracy—the so-called "

Doctors' plot The "Doctors' plot" affair, group=rus was an alleged conspiracy of prominent Healthcare in Russia, Soviet medical specialists to murder leading government and party officials. It was also known as the case of saboteur doctors or killer doctors. ...

"—angry Zionists staged an attack on the Soviet embassy in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

. ''Viața Nouă'' responded to these events by adhering to the Soviet narrative: "Honest Jews the world over are infuriated by these deeds of the Jewish bourgeois nationalists and imperialist aggressors, who seek to expand their range through Zionist organisations." The CDE voted to dissolve itself (but was in practice liquidated) on 16 March of that year, when it issued a final notice declaring that "all issues which confounded the Jewish population are presently resolved". A note by the Soviet diplomat N. P. Sulitsky suggests that the act was forced upon the Jewish community by Gheorghiu-Dej, who still regarded the CDE itself as a hub for "Jewish bourgeois nationalists". Pauker was arrested the same day as part of an investigation into the "

rootless cosmopolitan Rootless cosmopolitan () was a pejorative Soviet epithet which referred mostly to Jewish intellectuals as an accusation of their lack of allegiance to the Soviet Union, especially during the antisemitic campaign of 1948–1953. This campaign ...

" affair, which later engulfed and threatened some of the CDE's former leaders. July 1953 witnessed the first wave of

show trial A show trial is a public trial in which the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt or innocence of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal the presentation of both the accusation and the verdict to the public so th ...

s against the Zionist centres, extending, from 1954, to the PER leadership, and lasting to 1959. Arrested in the 1950 roundups, Ihud's Loewenstein-Lavi was sentenced to a 10-year term in jail, for sedition, but paroled in 1955. Prosecution was closely supervised by the PMR leadership, with Gheorghiu-Dej suggesting "two to three death sentences in each anti-Jewish trial". This radicalism was mitigated in practice by legal professionals, including the CDE's Dadu Rosenkranz, who obtained a reduction of penalties for the Asirei Zion group. As reported by lawyer-memoirist

Petre Pandrea Petre is a surname and given name derived from Peter. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Petre * Charles Petre Eyre (1817–1902), English Roman Catholic prelate * Ion Petre Stoican (circa 1930–1990), Romanian v ...

, Leibovici-Șerban turned on Sandu Lieblich using "hooligan" methods. This resulted in Lieblich's arrest, with his adversary emerging as the "uncrowned king of his religious group." From 1946, CDE co-founder Șraier had held a government position, serving as Deputy Minister at Internal Affairs. Exposed as a spy for the old regime, he had clandestinely left Romania in 1952. The Interior Minister,

, was arrested for various crimes in 1954. As part of his interrogation, he confessed to having obtained sexual favors from several women—including Blanka Pecherman, who wanted his approval to leave for Israel. At around the same time, Maxy was being investigated for his work at the Artists' Union. He had been accused of nepotism, incompetence, and lack of commitment to

socialist realism Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is ch ...

. Kohn, who had maintained contacts with disgraced MADOSZ leader

Gyárfás Kurkó Gyárfás is a Hungarian surname. Some known people bearing this name are: * András Gyárfás, Hungarian mathematician * Jenő Gyárfás, Hungarian painter See also

* ''Gyárfás-patak'', the Hungarian name for the Ghiorfaş Creek, a tributar ...

after 1949, was protected from arrest by his friendship with Groza and Constantinescu. During subsequent years, former CDE cadres continued to defend the PMR party line. In 1954, Bacalu and Rosen circulated a letter signed by 37 Romanian rabbis, responding to allegations in ''The Jewish Western Bulletin'' that freedom of worship had been curtailed by Gheorghiu-Dej. Feldman's 1955 interview in ''

Kol HaAm ''Kol HaAm'' ( he, קול העם, lit. "Voice of the People") was a Hebrew-language newspaper in Mandatory Palestine and Israel. It was initially published by the Palestine Communist Party and later by its successor, the Israeli Communist Party. ...

'' featured claims that the " Marxist-Leninist spirit" had solved all of Romania's minority issues. Feldman rejected the need for a Yiddish press, since all Jews were supposedly literate in Romanian, while informing readers that education in Yiddish was continuing as before. In reality, the regime was clamping down on the use of Yiddish: though not as repressed as Zionist propaganda, various Yiddishist textbooks were placed under restricted use until the

end of communism in 1989 The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Natio ...

. The communist authorities finally opted not to recognize Jews as a separate ethnicity, but as Romanians professing Judaism; the FCER was allowed to exist as a sole instrument through which the PMR controlled the community. From 1956, its magazine, '' Revista Cultului Mozaic'', partly fulfilled ''Viața Nouă''s role. The project involved Rosen and Bacalu, and was noted for removing all mention of Zionism in their commemoration of the Holocaust. The Federation was only given authority on religious matters—although, from 1964, its leader was an ''

ex-officio An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term ''ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the office', and the sense intended is 'by right ...

'' deputy in the

Great National Assembly Great National Assembly or Grand National Assembly may refer to: * Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia, an assembly of Romanian delegates that declared the unification of Transylvania and Romania * Great National Assembly (Socialist Republic of R ...

. Rumors about the normalisation of Israel–Romania relations spread quickly in 1958, leading 100,000 Romanian Jews to apply for emigration. Such revelations about the still-massive popularity of Zionism in Romania prompted the PMR to purge its own ranks of Jews, leading to the effective introduction of a

Jewish quota A Jewish quota was a discriminatory racial quota designed to limit or deny access for Jews to various institutions. Such quotas were widespread in the 19th and 20th centuries in developed countries and frequently present in higher education, of ...

among card-carrying communists. No Yiddish books were published in Romania in 1961, though Yiddish theaters continued to be active, and were reputedly flourishing; meanwhile, the anti-Zionist campaign had been toned down. The advent of

national communism National communism represents various forms in which Marxism–Leninism and socialism has been adopted and/or implemented by leaders in different countries using aspects of nationalism or national identity to form a policy independent from comm ...

during the late 1950s presented former CDE leaders with the option of rediscovering Zionism or complying with full assimilation. The former path was taken by Emil Dorian with essays he was working on at the time of his death. During the early 1960s, ''Revista Cultului Mozaic'' settled on a version of Jewish identitarianism which also promoted the notion of loyalty to the Romanian state. Rabbi Rosen continued to head the community, but also acted as a Zionist dissident. He had founded 19 illegal

Talmud Torah Talmud Torah ( he, תלמוד תורה, lit. 'Study of the Torah') schools were created in the Jewish world, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, as a form of religious school for boys of modest backgrounds, where they were given an elementary educat ...

s at the height of repression, and, during the 1960s liberalisation, managed to obtain approval for the departure of many other Jews. This also witnessed more of the former CDE activists leaving, as was the case with Loewenstein-Lavi in 1957,Gligor & Caloianu, pp. 13, 408 and with Rosenkranz in 1961. Rosen took pride in noting that, by 1985, about 96% of Romanian Jews had settled in Israel.

Notes

References

*Adina Babeș, "Primii israelieni de origine română", in ''

Sfera Politicii ''Sfera Politicii'' ( for "The Political Sphere") is a monthly political science magazine, published in Romania since 1991. History and profile ''Sfera Politicii'' was first published in December 1991. The magazine is based in Bucharest. Its artic ...

'', Issue 159, 2011, pp. 90–99. *Stefano Bottoni, ''Transilvania roșie. Comunismul român și problema națională 1944–1965''. Cluj-Napoca: Romanian Institute for Research on National Minorities & Editura Kriterion, 2010. *Ovidiu Bozgan, "Ana Pauker în arhivele diplomatice franceze. Imposibila asumare a evreității", in ''Dosarele Istoriei'', Issue 8 (13), 1997, pp. 21–28. *Irina Cărăbaș, "Poziționări identitare în avangarda românească", in ''Studii și Cercetări de Istoria Artei. Artă Plastică'', Vol. 1 (45), 2011, pp. 177–197. *Costin Clit, "Comitetul Democratic Evreiesc din Huși", in Costin Clit, Mihai Rotariu (eds.), ''Studii și articole privind istoria orașului Huși'', Vol. II, pp. 405–442. Bârlad: Editura Sfera, 2009. *Corneliu Crăciun, "Comitetul Democratic Evreiesc (Bihor – Oradea) — între promisiunea loialității și eșuarea în trădare", in ''Revista Crisia'', 2007, pp. 173–191. *Attila Gidó, "Román állami levéltári források az észak-erdélyi holokauszt történetéhez", in ''Levéltári Szemle'', Vol. 68, Issue 4, 2018, pp. 5–26. *Mihaela Gligor, Miriam Caloianu (eds.), ''Teodor Lavi în corespondență''. Cluj-Napoca: Presa Universitară Clujeană, 2014. *Joseph Gordon, **"Rumania", in the ''

American Jewish Year Book The ''American Jewish Year Book'' (AJYB) has been published since 1899. Publication was initiated by the Jewish Publication Society (JPS). In 1908, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) assumed responsibility for compilation and editing while JPS ...

'', Vol. 51, 1950, pp. 365–373. **"Rumania", in the ''American Jewish Year Book'', Vol. 52, 1951, pp. 350–359. *Radu-Alexandru Hord, "Activitatea Comitetului democrat(ic) evreiesc din Arad", in Marius Ioan Grec (ed.), ''Comunitatea arădeană și atitudinea față de Holocaust (1940–1944)'', pp. 123–131. Arad: Vasile Goldiș University Press, 2015. *Carol Iancu, "Being Jewish in Romania after the Second World War", in Eliezer Ben-Rafael, Thomas Gergely, Yosef Gorny (eds.), ''Jewry between Tradition and Secularism. Europe and Israel Compared (Jewish Identities in a Changing World, Vol. 6)'', pp. 50–59. Leiden & Boston:

Brill Publishers Brill Academic Publishers (known as E. J. Brill, Koninklijke Brill, Brill ()) is a Dutch international academic publisher founded in 1683 in Leiden, Netherlands. With offices in Leiden, Boston, Paderborn and Singapore, Brill today publishes 27 ...

, 2006. *Joseph Kissman, **"Rumania", in the ''American Jewish Year Book'', Vol. 58, 1957, pp. 328–330. **"Rumania", in the ''American Jewish Year Book'', Vol. 64, 1963, pp. 368–371. * Hary Kuller, "La a 60-a aniversare a Statului Israel"; "Sioniștii sub 'lupa' Siguranței și Securității. 1925 – 1949", in ''Buletinul Centrului, Muzeului și Arhivei Istorice a Evreilor din România'', 2008, pp. 11–34, 135–208. *Natalia Lazăr, "Emigrarea evreilor din România", in Liviu Rotman, Camelia Crăciun, Ana-Gabriela Vasiliu (eds.), ''Noi perspective în istoriografia evreilor din România'', pp. 193–210. Bucharest: Federation of Jewish Communities of Romania & Editura Hasefer, Bucharest, 2010. *Mihály Zoltán Nagy, Gábor Vincze, ''Autonomiști și centraliști. Enigmele unor decizii istorice. Transilvania de Nord din septembrie 1944 până în martie 1945''. Cluj-Napoca: Ethnocultural Diversity Resource Center, 2008. *Eusebiu Narai, ''Situația politică în județele Caraș și Severin: (1944–1948)''. Timișoara: Editura Mirton, 2008. *Lucian Nastasă, "Sfârșit de istorie. Evreii din România (1945–1965)", in Jakab Albert Zsolt, Peti Lehel (eds.), ''Procese și contexte social-identitare la minoritățile din România'', pp. 159–201. Cluj-Napoca: Romanian Institute for Research on National Minorities & Editura Kriterion, 2009. *Levente Olosz, "An Attempt of Reconciliation between the Hungarian and Jewish Elite after the Second World War in Transylvania", in ''Holocaust. Studii și Cercetări'', Vol. X, Issue 11, 2018, pp. 187–206. *Dorina Orzac, "'Criteriile etnice' în politica de resurse umane a PCR (PMR) în Maramureș, 1945–1964", in Vasile Ciobanu, Sorin Radu (eds.), ''Partide politice și minorități naționale din România în secolul XX'', Vol. III, pp. 270–281. Sibiu: TechnoMedia, 2008. *Damiana Gabriela Oțoiu, "La 'propriété juive' dans la Roumanie communiste (1945–1989). Entre le modèle soviétique et le spectacle de l'autonomie", in the ''New Europe College Yearbook 2006–2007'', pp. 191–237. *Corina L. Petrescu, "Sub supraveghere: Teatrul Evreiesc de Stat din București în dosarele Securității în anii 1970", in ''Caietele CNSAS'', Vol. X, Issue 2, 2017, pp. 119–136. *

"Memoria aproapelui nostru. Expulzarea"
in ''Revista Memoria'', Issue 15, January 1996, pp. 67–74. *Florin C. Stan, "Relațiile bilaterale România—Israel (1948–1959). O cronologie", in ''Caiete Diplomatice'', Vol. 2, Issue 2, 2014, pp. 5–43. *Raphael Vago, "The Unexpected Cosmopolitans – Romania's Jewry Facing the Communist System", in the ''

European Review of History The ''European Review of History'' (French: ''Revue européenne d'histoire'') is a peer-reviewed history journal. It covers all disciplines, geographic regions, and chronological periodsof history, with a focus on the history of the European cont ...

'', Vol. 17, Issue 3, June 2010, pp. 491–504. *Nicolae Videnie, "'Alegerile' din martie 1948: epilogul listelor electorale alternative. Obsesia unanimității — primii pași", in ''Dosarele Istoriei'', Issue 11 (51), 2000, pp. 46–48. *Teodor Wexler, Mihaela Popov, "Viitorul poporului evreu. Varianta comunistă", in ''

Magazin Istoric ''Magazin Istoric'' ( en, The Historical Magazine) is a Romanian monthly magazine. Overview ''Magazin Istoric'' was started in 1967. The first issue appeared in April 1967. The headquarters is in Bucharest. The monthly magazine contains articles ...

'', October 2001, pp. 53–56. *Lucian Zeev-Herșcovici, ** **"Apologetics and the Search for Roots: The Jewish Past in Romania as Presented in ''Revista Cultului Mozaic'', 1956–1976", in ''Revista de Istorie a Evreilor'', Issue 1 (16–17), 2016, pp. 160–188. *

, ''From Catastrophe to Power: The Holocaust Survivors and the Emergence of Israel''. Berkeley etc.:

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...

, 1998. {{Historical Romanian political parties 1945 establishments in Romania 1953 disestablishments in Romania Political parties established in 1945 Political parties disestablished in 1953 Jewish political parties Jews and Judaism in Romania Political parties of minorities in Romania Defunct socialist parties in Romania Labor Zionism Yiddish culture in Romania Anti-Zionist political parties Jewish anti-Zionism in Romania Jewish anti-Zionist organizations Aliyah Bet Israel–Romania relations Anti-fascist organizations Censorship in Romania Jewish anti-fascists