Language:
English
Year of publication:
2007
Titel der Quelle:
Studia Judaica
Angaben zur Quelle:
15 (2007) 171-191
Keywords:
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Jews History 1800-2000
;
Jews Cultural assimilation
;
Zionism
Abstract:
In contrast to Central European countries, the Romanian political and cultural elites objected to the assimilation of Jews and their integration into society. Thus, the Jewish intelligentsia faced a choice: either to assert their right to integrate (assimilationists), or to emigrate to the Land of Israel (Zionists). Wilhelm Filderman and many other Jewish leaders held the former view, and fought against antisemitism. With the fascization of political life in the late 1930s, the Romanian elites advocated the segregation of Jews and considered their mass emigration a desired goal. A plan for emigration was prepared by the Minister of the Interior Armand Călinescu in 1938-39, and it shocked both assimilationists and Zionists. In 1940-41, following Romania's territorial losses (to Hungary and the USSR), anti-Jewish violence broke out in the country and many prominent Jews left Romania. Filderman, while advocating that the Jewish youth should emigrate, remained in the country. The fate of the Jewish integrationists under the Antonescu dictatorship was proof of the failure of the assimilationist trend.
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