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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 January 2025

Stefan Cristian Ionescu
Affiliation:
Chapman University, California
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Summary

On October 27, 1944, the editors of Neamul evreesc (The Jewish Nation), one of the main Jewish national newspapers, published an editorial entitled “We Want Justice: One Hour Earlier” (Vrem dreptate: cu un ceas mai devreme) reflecting the most important requests of the Jews of Romania to help them rebuild their lives after the Holocaust. They represented the voices of the largest Jewish community in postwar Europe outside the USSR, estimated at 428,000–450,000 people in 1947. Arguing that expropriation of property and denial of rights was the second worst category of antisemitic crimes perpetrated by the pro-Nazi dictatorship of General/Marshall Ion Antonescu between September 1940 and August 1944 (the first being mass murder, as Romania had been the largest Holocaust perpetrating country after Germany), the journalists emphasized that the Jewish survivors “expected with an understandable impatience that all the injustices they suffered be fully repaired” by the new democratic Romania. They expressed their disappointment about the delay of the “restitution in integrum” (full restitution) of their rights and wondered about the reasons behind it. Acknowledging the difficulty of repairing injustices and returning property taken by force and the lawmakers’ efforts to draft a restitution law, the journalists emphasized that postponing full restitution and reparations meant the perpetuation of suffering for many Jews. The journalists also argued that the Jews who were tortured in the camps or lost their family members were entitled to reparations and asked lawmakers to adopt a law to immediately address this injustice after the first restitution law would be enacted. This newspaper editorial encapsulates the problems, disappointments, and hopes of many Jewish survivors during their struggle to obtain restitution and rebuild their lives in Romania.

Type
Chapter
Information
Justice and Restitution in Post-Nazi Romania
Rebuilding Jewish Lives and Communities, 1944–1950
, pp. 1 - 25
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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  • Introduction
  • Stefan Cristian Ionescu, Chapman University, California
  • Book: Justice and Restitution in Post-Nazi Romania
  • Online publication: 06 January 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009466899.001
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  • Introduction
  • Stefan Cristian Ionescu, Chapman University, California
  • Book: Justice and Restitution in Post-Nazi Romania
  • Online publication: 06 January 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009466899.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Stefan Cristian Ionescu, Chapman University, California
  • Book: Justice and Restitution in Post-Nazi Romania
  • Online publication: 06 January 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009466899.001
Available formats
×