Transcript The Jew community in Barlad

Jewish history of Romania
Among the most popular Yiddish hits in America was one
which reminisced about life in the old country: "Romania,
Romania, Romania!" Written by Aaron Lebedeff, a star of
the Yiddish stage, "Romania" remains a beloved hit.
Throughout the Diaspora, despite the bitter hardships to
which Jews were subject, they could still be sentimental
about their old homes. "Once there was a beautiful landRomania! Life was so good! No cares, just wine,
mamaligeh (Romanian porridge), beautiful girls, and
merriment!"
Jewish history of Romania
• Romania is a country with a rich Jewish Heritage. The first Jews are
believed to have arrived along with the Roman legions who invaded
Dacia (today's Romania) in 101 AD. During the Middle Ages, Jewish
immigrants began settling in Wallachia and Moldova. By the early
16th Century, their numbers once again swelled by the arrival of
immigrants (Ashkenazim Jews) fleeing persecution in Poland and
Ukraine. During the next two centuries the Romanian Jewish
Community evolved into a prosperous middle class in charge of
much of the country's trade. The modern history of Romania's Jews
mirrors the experience of other European Jewish communities; a
dynamic cultural and spiritual life in the face of recurrent periods of
anti-Semitism. After 1948 emigration to Israel and other countries
significantly reduced the number of Jews living in Romania.
The Jew community in Barlad
• The first synagogue in Barlad was built in
1789.
• In 1899 there were 5,883 Jews in Barlad,
representing 24.2% of the entire
population; nowadays there are 34 Jews.
Hospitals
• The Jewish community
was a very important
presence in Barlad,
contributing to the
prosperity of the town by
building the first Jewish
hospital in 1898 and an
asylum for elderly people,
in 1902.
Schools
• In 1873 the first school, having
three classrooms and 90
students was inaugurated
under the initiative of the
bureau of the “Bnei Brit Tzion”
(”The Covenanters of Zion”)
and with the sole investment of
the Jewish community.
• In 1896 the first school for girls
“De Hirsch Baroness” was
opened.
• The first evening courses for
adults were initiated by the
community.
• The Jewish High school
functioned until 1944-1945.
Personalities
• Some of the most reputed teachers of the
town were of Jewish origin, for example
Ioan Barbalat, teacher of mathematics with
studies at Sorbonne.
• Virgil Duda (Leibovici Rubin ) is a well
known writer who says in memories about
his hometown:" For me it (Barlad) has
remained the center of the Universe”.
Personalities
• Radu Nichita Rapaport is known for having
translated Shakespeare.
• A. Axelrad, poet, began his literary activities
under the influence of “The Emigration on Foot”
• Marcel Saragea is considered the father of
physiopathology in Romanian medical schools.
• David Solomonovici-painter
• Shimon Rubinstein-historian
Members of the Romanian
Academy
• Martin Bercovici- Energetic engineering
• Barbu Zaharescu (Bercu Zukerman)-Social
sciences
• Marcel Saragea-honorary member of the
Academy for Medical Sciences
• Professor Dr. Miron Segall-Medical Sciences
• Professor Dr . Paul Pruteanu (Pincu
Solomonovici)-Researcher in the past of the
Moldavian medicine
Industry and Economy
“In Barlad everybody knew when the
Jewish celebrated their holidays
since all the shops were closed”.old townsman
Barlad served as a wheat
marketing centre for all the
neighbouring counties. In the year
1887, out of the 954 merchants,
389 were Jews.
• Industrial enterprises founded by
Jews in Barlad:
• Zeilig-Saraga mill and sons;
• Unirea mill - I. Edelstein; Knitwear
factory - Adolf Cahane;
• Wadding factory - Glasberg,
• Iancu Rosenstein and Max Rosner
- bakers.
Mass media
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•
•
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1899 - "Aurora Tionista", weekly, there were edited only 16 editions. The
founder was Sigismund Gross. The Barlad newspaper tends "to elevate the
prestige of the Jewish people towards itself and towards the people with
whom it lives" (S. Podoleanu, "Istoria presei evreiesti in Romania"). Here
made his debut A. Axelrad with a poem titled "In sant" (1917), an appeal to
the naturalization of the Jews. In the pages of this magazine was promoted
the idea of returning to Eretz Israel even "by foot immigration".
1913-1915, 1919 - "Bar Kochba" magazine ("Fiul Stelei"), "Revista nationalevreiasca", monthly, 16 pages, director Achile M. Finkelstein. In its opening
speech, it is reaffirmed the fact that the orientation of the magazine is "in the
sense of the modern Zionist ideas".
July 16, 1900 - the feminist magazine "Bas Ami" (editor Dr. Herscu
Fridman), just one edition, published by the women immigrants; May 18,
1900 - "Jidovul ratacitor", four pages, published by "pedestrian Jewish
immigrants"; 1900 - "Drumetii", Gross Typography; May 18-20, 1900 "Emigrantii", "Lacrimi de despartire".
"Traiasca Romania", publication of the immigrants from Barlad.
Mass media
•
•
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I. SCHECHTER
Editor for "Viata noastra" and editor-in-chief for "Izvoare", first editor at
"Ultima ora". He was laureate of the Zion Price for literature. He was
member of the Association of the Israeli Writers of Romanian Language.
"The satire doesn't correct the customs, but it denounces them and makes
fun of them… the villains are incurable". … Here are their "Ten
Commandments"…
Ten Commandments
I.Do not kill continuously.
II.Do not steal in all foolishness.
III.Do not endorse.
IV.Be watchful in your sleep.
V.Do not regret the crimes before committing them.
VI.Do not be afraid to compromise yourself.
VII.Be what you seem.
VIII.Do otherwise.
IX.Honor the ones who pay for it.
X.Kiss yourself.
Persecution:
• In the year 1867 the Christians brought a libel against
the Jews in Barlad accusing them of killing a monk. The
rabble fell upon Jewish homes. The government ordered
an investigation into the matter, and the Minister of the
Interior announced in parliament that the Jews were at
fault in this incident.
• In 1868 another riot occurred because of the feud
between a Greek and a Jew. In the year 1870 the French
consul protested against the persecution of the Jews in
Barlad and demanded intervention by the responsible
world powers.
• In the year 1886 a new wave of persecution occurred
which brought about the beginnings of Jewish emigration
out of the city.
•
Persecution:
In the fall of 1899 emigration
from Barlad increased. Every
two to three days about ten to
fifteen families left. At the
beginning of 1900 the flow of
emigration had been
established to such an extent
that it was from Barlad that the
initiative to emigrate spread
throughout the country. It
became the movement known
as “Emigration on Foot”. In the
spring of that year two
organized groups of
“Emigrants on Foot” left the
country, one of them consisting
of seventy-two souls and the
second of thirty- eight.
Persecution:
•
•
The total number of Jews who left
Barlad between the years 1899
and 1902 came to six hundred.
The emigrees even published a
newsletter for themselves,
“Emigrantii”, “Dati Ajutor” and a
newsletter for women with the
Hebrew name, “Bat Ami”
(”Daughter of My People”).
In 1907 an anti-Semitic club was
established by teachers, priests
and political leaders. This club
incited the students of the
gymnasium to riot against the
Jews. Two of the students who
took part in the riots were expelled
from the school, and, in protest
against their expulsion, the others
organized and equipped
themselves with axes and clubs,
and burst into the Jewish quarter
destroying and looting. Eighty
shops owned by Jewish
merchants and craftsmen were
damaged during the rampage
Persecution
• In the period between the two world wars Barlad
was a center of pogroms. The Christian teachers
in the government gymnasium, headed by the
school principal Cezar Ursu,, used to regularly
incite the students against the Jews. Their
pogroms increased when the students in the
Romanian universities began to demand a
“numerus clausus” against Jews. Whenever the
Jewish youth had any kind of cultural event, they
used to organize anti-Semitic demonstrations.
During the Holocaust
• The sufferings of the local Jews increased during the days of the
terror of the “Iron Guard”. In November 1940, Jewish males were
taken for forced labor. After a short time the academics among them
were let go. This was the result of protests from the Romanian
academic community, who threatened that they too would come to
work together with their Jewish colleagues. Four Jewish students
were arrested and convicted of promulgating Communist opinions.
They were tortured in order to extract their confessions. At the trial,
which took place on November 19th, 1940, they were acquitted.
• With the outbreak of war between Romania and the Soviet Union in
June of 1941, all the Jews from the villages of the county were
deported into Barlad. In the spring of 1943 the hospital, the old folk's
home and the bath-house were confiscated by the “National Centre
for Romanization”.
During the Holocaust
• With their retreat from the advancing Red Army, the Al German
forces under the command of General Woehler came into Barlad.
The general suggested exterminating all the Jews of the place under
the pretext that the Jews were trying to trade with his soldiers. Only
the developments on the front, which were to the disadvantage of
the Germans, spoiled this plan. Four Jews of Barlad, who were
suspected of being Communists, were exiled to the camp at
Vapniarca. They returned some time later.
• After the war, life returned to normality, and the community
continued its regular activities.
• The chief of police in the time of the Holocaust, Ion Hagiu, who
persecuted the Jews during his tenure, was sentenced in 1949 to
three years in prison.
The Jewish community
nowadays
• Nowadays only a few Jewish families live in Barlad (34,
most of which old people).
• The old synagogue was destroyed in the communist era.
There is now a prayer house where the small community
gathers every Sunday.
• The Jewish cemetery, built in 1845 can still be visited.
• The museum in Barlad houses the impressive collection of
furniture belonging to Dr. Wainfeld.
• The president of the community is Mr. Bernat User, born in
1927.
Resources
• Encyclopaedia of Jewish Communities in
Romania http://www.jewishgen.org
• The Romanian Jewish Community
http://www.romanianjewish.org
• Photos from
private collections