Jews of Romania: Survival Against the Odds

An Unwelcoming Home

The history of Jews in Romania is one of the most painful in the European diaspora. Other countries persecuted their Jews intermittently. Romania did so almost continuously — and with a ferocity that distinguished it even among Europe’s antisemitic nations.

Jews first settled in the territories that would become Romania — Moldavia and Wallachia — in the medieval period, drawn by trade opportunities along the routes connecting the Ottoman Empire with Central Europe. By the 17th century, significant Jewish communities existed in cities like Iasi, Bucharest, and Galati.

From the beginning, they were not welcome.

Medieval and Early Modern Persecution

In Moldavia, Jews faced periodic expulsions, forced conversions, and violence throughout the medieval period. The Moldavian ruler Stephen the Great (1457-1504), celebrated as a national hero, imposed harsh restrictions on Jews. His successors continued the pattern — alternating between tolerating Jewish merchants when their economic contributions were needed and expelling or attacking them when scapegoats were required.

In Wallachia, the situation was similar. Jews were permitted to trade but denied citizenship, land ownership, and legal protections. They lived at the sufferance of rulers who could — and did — revoke that sufferance without warning.

When Romania became an independent state in 1878, the European powers at the Congress of Berlin insisted that the new nation grant equal rights to all inhabitants regardless of religion. Romania agreed on paper. In practice, it systematically excluded Jews from citizenship for decades, declaring them “foreigners” despite generations of residence.

The Worst Pre-War Antisemitism in Europe

Between the world wars, Romania arguably had the most virulent antisemitic culture in Europe. The Iron Guard (Legiunea Arhanghelului Mihail) — a fascist, violently antisemitic movement — gained mass support in the 1930s. Its leader, Corneliu Codreanu, combined Orthodox Christian mysticism with murderous hatred of Jews.

The Iron Guard carried out pogroms, assassinations, and public humiliations of Jews. University quotas severely restricted Jewish enrollment. Professional restrictions barred Jews from numerous occupations. Antisemitic newspapers circulated freely, and violence against Jews was often met with indifference or approval from authorities.

By 1940, Romania’s Jewish population stood at approximately 757,000 — one of the largest in Europe. They were about to face catastrophe.

The Antonescu Regime and the Holocaust

In September 1940, General Ion Antonescu seized power and allied Romania with Nazi Germany. What followed was one of the least-known but most devastating chapters of the Holocaust.

The Iasi Pogrom (June 29-30, 1941): Romanian and German forces, aided by local civilians, massacred over 13,000 Jews in the city of Iasi. Thousands more were packed into sealed freight trains — the infamous “death trains” — and died of suffocation, thirst, and heat as the trains traveled aimlessly for days.

Transnistria: Romania deported approximately 150,000-170,000 Jews from Bessarabia, Bukovina, and other areas to Transnistria — a territory in occupied Ukraine that Romania administered. Conditions in the camps and ghettos of Transnistria were horrific: starvation, disease, exposure, and mass shootings killed the majority of deportees. The Bogdanovka massacre (December 1941) killed approximately 48,000 Jews in a single operation.

Odessa Massacre (October 1941): After a bomb killed Romanian soldiers in Odessa, Antonescu ordered reprisals. Over 25,000 Jews were murdered — hanged, shot, or burned alive in warehouses.

In total, approximately 420,000 Jews under Romanian control were murdered — making Romania responsible for more Jewish deaths than any Axis country except Germany itself. This fact is often overlooked in Holocaust education.

The Paradox of Survival

And yet — in a terrible paradox — the Jews of Old Romania (Wallachia and southern Moldavia, including Bucharest) largely survived. Antonescu, facing military setbacks and international pressure, halted planned deportations of Jews from the Regat (the pre-1918 Romanian kingdom) in 1942. Approximately 375,000 Jews in these areas survived the war.

The reasons for this partial reversal are debated. Some historians credit international diplomatic pressure, including from the Vatican and the International Red Cross. Others point to Romanian elites’ recognition that the war was turning against Germany. Whatever the reasons, the result was that Romania simultaneously committed massive genocide against some Jews while sparing others — a paradox that complicates any simple narrative.

Postwar and Communist Era

After the war, approximately 375,000 Jews remained in Romania. Under the communist regime (1947-1989), Jewish life was restricted but not destroyed. Synagogues remained open. A Jewish theater operated in Bucharest. The community maintained some institutional life.

The most significant postwar development was emigration. Romania’s communist government, uniquely among Eastern Bloc nations, permitted Jewish emigration — for a price. Israel and Jewish organizations paid Romania per capita for each Jew allowed to leave. Between 1948 and 1989, approximately 300,000 Romanian Jews emigrated to Israel, forming one of the largest communities there.

Elie Wiesel, born in Sighet (then Romania, now in modern Romania), became the most famous Romanian-born Jew — and one of the most prominent voices of Holocaust memory. In 2004, the Romanian government appointed the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania (the “Wiesel Commission”), which produced a comprehensive report officially acknowledging Romania’s responsibility for the Holocaust. It was a watershed moment in Romanian Holocaust memory.

The Community Today

Today, approximately 3,000-5,000 Jews live in Romania — a shadow of the pre-war population of 757,000. The community is aging, with most members over sixty. But it endures.

The Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania maintains synagogues, a Jewish school, a kosher restaurant, and community centers. Several historic synagogues have been restored, including the magnificent Choral Temple in Bucharest. The Jewish community is recognized by the Romanian government as a national minority with parliamentary representation.

The story of Romanian Jewry is one of resilience under relentless pressure — centuries of discrimination, catastrophic genocide, communist repression, and mass emigration. That any community remains at all is itself a form of testimony.