Romania

Eastern Europe

RUMANIA (Rum. Romania), republic in N.E. Balkan peninsula, S.E. Europe. The territory of present-day Rumania was known as Dacia in antiquity; Jewish tombstones dating from early times have been found there. The Jews may have come as merchants or in other capacities with the Roman legions which garrisoned the country from 101 C.E. Early missionary activity in Dacia may have been due to the existence of Jewish groups there. Later the Khazars dominated parts of Dacia for a short time. The region was close enough to Byzantium for some contact with its Jewry to be assumed. Another wave of Jewish immigrants spread through Walachia (a Rumanian principality founded around 1290) after they had been expelled from Hungary in 1367. In the 16th century some refugees from the Spanish expulsion came to Walachia from the Balkan peninsula. A few served as physicians and even diplomats at the court of the sovereigns of Walachia. Since it was on the trade routes between Poland-Lithuania and the Ottoman Empire many Jewish merchants traveled through Moldova, the second Rumanian principality (in the northeast), founded in the middle of the 14th century. Some settled there and were favorably received by the rulers of this underpopulated principality. At the beginning of the 16th century there were Jewish communities in several Moldavian towns, such as Jassy, Botosani, Suceava, and Siret. More intensive waves of Jewish immigration resulted from the Chmielnicki massacres (1648–49). From the beginning of the 18th century the Moldavian rulers granted special charters to attract Jews. While still in Poland they were told about the advantages offered (exemption from taxes, ground for prayer houses, ritual baths, and cemeteries). They were invited either to reestablish war-ravaged towns (1761, Suceava) or to enlarge others (1796, Focsani). The newcomers were encouraged by the landowners to found commercial centers, the so-called burgs. Among the privileges offered was the right to be represented on the local council. In some cases they undertook to attract other Jews from over the borders. When two counties of Moldova were annexed by their neighbors (Bukovina by Austria in 1775 and Bessarabia by Russia in 1812), the Jews from these countries preferred to move to Rumanian Moldova, where they were not harassed by the authorities and had both family and business connections. Jewish merchants exported leather, cattle, and corn. Many of the Jews were craftsmen, such as furriers, tailors, bootmakers, tinsmiths, and watchmakers.

From an early date one of the main components of anti-Jewish hatred in Rumania was commercial competition. In 1579 the sovereign of Moldova, Petru Schiopul (Peter the Lame), ordered the banishment of the Jews on the grounds that they were ruining the merchants. In the Danube harbors it was the Greek and Bulgarian merchants who incited riots against the Jews, especially during Easter. Anti-Jewish excesses which occurred in the neighboring countries often extended to Rumania. In 1652 and 1653 Cossacks invaded Rumania, murdering a great number of Jews in Jassy. Greek Orthodox Christianity also preached intolerance toward Jews and shaped the first codes of law: the Church laws of Moldova and Walachia in 1640. Both proclaimed the Jews as heretics and forbade all relations with them. With the exception of physicians, Jews were not accepted as witnesses in trials. In the codes of 1746 and 1780 the Jews are scarcely mentioned. On the other hand, the first books of anti-Jewish incitement of a religious character appeared around this time: the "Golden Order" (Jassy, 1771) and "A Challenge to Jews" (Jassy, 1803). For the early history of the other regions which later made up Rumania see Bessarabia, Bukovina, and Transylvania.

Source:
[N.Kr.]
www.heritagefilms.com

Links:
link Romania - Romanian Jewish Community

Articles:
Text / article 01 - Emerging Rumania
02 - Communal Institutions
03 - Independent Rumania
04 - Internal Organization
05 - The Struggle for Naturalization
06 - Increasing Anti-Semitism
07 - Jewish Political Life
08 - Social Structure
09 - Cultural Life
10 - Holocaust Period
11 - During the War
Text / article 12 - Jewish Resistance
13 - Population
14 - The Liquidation of Jewish Organizations
15 - Community Life
16 - Education
17 - Culture
18 - Israel-Rumania Relations to the End of the 1960s
19 - Contemporary Period 1970-1981
20 - 1983-1992
21 - The Mid-1990s