The History of the Holocaust in Romania

Jean Ancel

Translated by Yaffah Murciano

Edited by Leon Volovici

With the assistance of Miriam Caloianu

Comprehensive History of the Holocaust Series

720 pages
1 map, 28 tables, 4 charts

Hardcover

January 2012

978-0-8032-2064-5

$50.00 Add to Cart

Paperback

January 2017

978-0-8032-9061-7

$40.00 Add to Cart

eBook (PDF)

(Requires Adobe Digital Editions)

January 2012

978-0-8032-3842-8

$40.00 Add to Cart

about author bio praise table of contents media awards

About the Book

Published by the University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, and Yad Vashem, Jerusalem

Based on an unparalleled and exhaustive collection of original Jewish accounts and sources not available until the fall of Nicolae Ceausescu in the late 1980s, Jean Ancel provides a detailed analysis of the path of antisemitism that led to the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust in Romania.

The Romanians, and other nations inside and outside the Balkans, related differently to “their Jews” and “other Jews,” that is, those living in districts annexed to Romania after the First World War and in areas occupied and annexed to the Romanian military administration after the Soviet invasion in June 1941. The Jews of the Regat, the core Romanian principality, suffered pogroms, decrees, and degradation, but on the whole they survived the Holocaust.

Contradicting long-held assumptions, Ancel shows that Romanians were largely responsible for murdering their Jewish community—one of the largest in Europe before the war—and although its survival rate was the highest in Europe, the survival rate in areas where Jews were liquidated was one of the lowest.

Author Bio

Jean Ancel (1940–2008) was a Romanian-born Israeli independent historian and a research associate of Yad Vashem’s International Institute for Holocaust Research. He is the author and editor of numerous books, including Wilhelm Filderman: Memoirs and Diaries, Volume 1, 1900–1940 (Yad Vashem and Tel Aviv University, 2004); The Economic Destruction of Romanian Jewry (Yad Vashem, 2007); and Prelude to Mass Murder: The Pogrom in Iaşi, June 29, 1941 (Yad Vashem, forthcoming).

Praise

"This monumental work is a scholarly witnessing to be admired."—Michael N. Dobkowski, Jewish Book World

"The book has a wealth of details and is very informative. Professional historians as well as casual readers should take note of this book and make it a starting point in their quest to delve further into the mystery of the Holocaust in Romania."—Michael Gesin, H-Net

"The wealth of information included in this tome and the superior organization and presentation makes it a must for any Judaica library with a Holocaust collection, whether a basic collection, or a rich, academically focused one."—Michlean Amir, Association of Jewish Libraries

List of Illustrations

Foreword to the Hebrew Edition

Editors' Note

Introduction

1. The Goga Government: Europe's Second Antisemitic Government, 28 December 1937<EN>10 February 1938

2. King Carol II's Dictatorship and Its Policy toward the Jews, February 1938<EN>August 1940

3. The Rhinocerization of the Romanian Intelligentsia

4. The Romanian Orthodox Church and Its Attitude toward the "Jewish Problem"

5. The Nazi Influence on Romanian Political Life and Its Effect on the Situation of the Jews

6. Pogroms and Persecutions in the Summer of 1940

7. The National-Legionary State

8. Romanization

9. Legionary Terror

10. The Confrontation between Antonescu and the Legionnaires and Its Impact on the Situation of the Jews

11. The Legionnaires' Rebellion and the Bucharest Pogrom, 21<EN>23 January 1941

12. The Jewish Leadership under the National-Legionary Regime

13. The Political and Ideological Foundations of the Antonescu Regime

14. The Government's Attitude toward the Jews

15. Romanization (II)

16. The Antonescu Regime and the Final Solution, 1941<EN>42

17. The Romanian Solution to the Jewish Problem in Bessarabia and Bukovina, June<EN>July 1941

18. The Camps and Ghettos in Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, September<EN>November 1941

19. The Kishinev Ghetto

20. Czernowitz

21. Southern Bukovina

22. The Dorohoi District

23. The National Bank of Romania

24. Transnistria under Romanian Occupation

25. The Arrest and Deportation of Jews in Transnistria

26. "The Kingdom of Death"

27. Odessa

28. The Berezovka District

29. The Typhus Epidemic

30. The Hunt for Residents of Jewish Blood

31. The Romanian Church and the Christianization Campaign

32. The Degradation of Judaism and Jews

33. The Iaşi Pogrom, 29 June 1941

34. The Antonescu Regime and the Final Solution in the Regat and Southern Transylvania

35. Toward the Implementation of the Final Solution

36. The Postponement of the Nazi Final Solution

37. The Jews of the Regat and Southern Transylvania in the Shadow of the Final Solution

38. Statistical Data on the Holocaust in Romania

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Awards

Winner of the 2012 National Jewish Book Award in the Writing Based on Archival Material category

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