III. The Jews from Romania in the Period Beginning with
the Outbreak of the War Against the Soviet Union and
Until the Deportations to Transnistria
(22 June 1941-September 1941)

 

On June 22nd, 1941, Nazi Germany unleashed the war against the Soviet Union in which, on the insistence of Antonescu, Romania also takes part.

In the previous period and after the starting of the war, tens of thousands of Jews living in rural zones and smaller cities were dislocated and concentrated in the district residences.

Some of them are confined in the camps at Târgu-Jiu and Craiova.

After the outbreak of the war, the German and Romanian armies liberate in a relatively short time, Basarabia, Northern Bucovina and the Hertza region. Subsequently, based on the Tighina Pact, on August 19th, 1941 Romania passes under its authority the Ukrainian territory between the rivers Bug and Dnestr, known under the name "Transnistria."

In this context the territory under Romanian authority, namely under the Antonescu government, extends from Arad to the Bug and includes Southern Transylvania, the Old Kingdom, Northern and Southern Bucovina, Basarabia and Transnistria.

The total number of Jews living in the territories under Romanian authority will reach 675,000, from which 540,000 from former Greater Romania and 135.000 Ukrainian Transnistrian Jews. ¹)

In this number, the Jews from Northern Transylvania and the Cadrilater are not included. In exchange the local Ukrainian Jews from Transnistria are included.

This number does not include about 100,000 Romanian Jews from Basarabia, Northern Bucovina and the Hertza region, number that comprises:

• Jews deported by the soviet authorities to Siberia

• Jews who withdrew being forced or freely withdrew with the Soviet authorities

• Jews incorporated in the Soviet Army

• Jews who had been killed in bombardments and massacred by the Einsatz gruppe D (special German troops)

• Basarabian Jews, who took refuge in Odessa, and died during the long siege of this city, etc.

The well-known researcher Raul Hilberg asserts that the number of deported or evacuated Jews by the Soviets was above 100,000 persons.²)W. Filderman and Sabin Manuila back up the number of 100,000 -- and other researchers considered almost the same number.

Further, veridical conclusions are analyzed and presented concerning the fate of the 675,000 Jews living in the territories under Romanian authority, i.e., under Antonescu government.

After the breaking out of the war, the Jews' situation under the Antonescu authority gets worse because of the approval and the applying of new anti-Jewish laws.

The government lays down, that for the covering of war expenses, Jews should pay supplementary taxes in kind and in money, by far over the possibilities.

On December, 16, 1941, the Federation of the Unions of Jewish Communities in Romania is dissolved and it's replaced by the Jews' Head Office in Romania that will have the part to apply exactly the racist laws laid down by the government.

During the period between the outbreak of the war with the Soviet Union and the beginning of deportations to Transnistria two major events had a particular effect upon the whole Jewish community in Romania: the pogrom in Iasi, the death trains from Iasi, and the massacres of Jews from Basarabia, Northern Bucovina and the Hertza region.

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¹⁾ See, Table No. 2, p.23

²⁾ See, Raul Hilberg: "The Extermination of Jews in Europe," vol. I, p. 676
Hasefer Publishing House, 1997