“Our most important export commodities”: independence, money, and ethnic purity in the Jewry policy during the Ceaușescu years

ABSTRACT

Nicolae Ceaușescu’s policy towards the Jews was dictated by the necessity to appear autonomous vis-à-vis Moscow, maintain the MFN status with the U.S., and the desire for an ethnic-homogeneous Romania. The Jewish policy under Ceaușescu reflected his political necessities and opportunism. His pragmatism imposed him to go beyond ideologies and beliefs. His goal was only personal enrichment among the Western and Eastern blocks. 235,000 Jews emigrated from Romania to Israel under these Israel-Romania underground agreements. This practice ended with the regime’s fall in 1989. In Communist Romania, there was no right for people to migrate: Jews could do so if Israel paid. And the payments mainly served to clear Romania’s trade deficits. Ceaușescu’s policy towards the Jews reflected his being a maverick, among East and West, but was also rooted in historical Romanian religious and political antisemitism.

KEYWORDS:

• Ceaușescu
• Jews
• Jewish question
• United States
• Romania

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Oldson, A Providential Antisemitism.

2 Brustein and Ronnkvist, “The Roots of Anti-Semitism.”

3 Mendelsohn, The Jews of East Central Europe.

4 Almond, The Rise and Fall.

5 The Museum of the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania, “Anti-Jewish legislation in Romania (January 1934–30 August 1940).”

6 Frankel, “The Romanian Rabbi and His Devil’s Bargain.”

7 The Museum of the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania, “Anti-Jewish Legislation in Romania (January 1934–30 August 1940).”

8 Almond, The Rise and Fall.

9 Ioanid, The Ransom of the Jews.

10 Koranyi, “People Have Been Used as Bargaining Chips.”

11 Tismăneanu, Stalinism for all Seasons.

12 Pechlivanis, “An Uneasy Triangle.”

13 Dragomir, “The Perceived Threat of Hegemonism.”

14 Pechlivanis, America and Romania in the Cold War.

15 Pechlivanis, “An Uneasy Triangle.”

16 Koranyi, “People Have Been Used as Bargaining.”

17 Mack, “Israel Embraced Romanian Dictator’s Support.”

18 Hoare, “Jewish Life in Romania under Ceausescu.”

19 Ioanid, The Ransom of the Jews.

20 Ibid.

21 Beckerman, “The Cold War’s Strangest Bedfellows.”

22 Mack, “Israel Embraced Romanian Dictator’s Support.”

23 Pechlivanis, America and Romania in the Cold War.

24 Gilberg, Nationalism and Communism in Romania.

25 Ioanid, The Ransom of the Jews.

26 Beckerman, “The Cold War’s Strangest Bedfellows.”

27 Frankel, “The Romanian Rabbi and His Devil’s Bargain.”

28 Deletant, Ceaușescu and the Securitate.

29 Moses, Bucharest Diary.

30 Almond, The Rise and Fall.

31 Moses was seen as opportunistic, a powerbroker between the U.S., Israel, and Romania. Wexler, “Author Interview | Alfred Moses. Romania, Haunted by Its Past.”

32 Frankel, “The Romanian Rabbi and His Devil’s Bargain.”

33 Ibid.

34 Pacepa, Red Horizons.

35 The New York Times, “Upheaval in the East.”

36 Associated Press, “Report: Israel Paid Ceausescu Cash for Jewish Immigrants.”

37 The JC, “How Romania Swapped Its Last Jews for Sheep.”

38 Associated Press, “Report: Israel Paid Ceausescu Cash for Jewish Immigrants.”

39 The New York Times, “Upheaval in the East.”

40 Ioanid, The Ransom of the Jews.

41 Ibid.

42 The JC, “How Romania Swapped Its Last Jews for Sheep.”

43 Doroudian, “Israel’s Quest for Romanian Jews.”

44 Frankel, “The Romanian Rabbi and His Devil’s Bargain.”

45 Ioanid, The Ransom of the Jews.

46 Frankel, “The Romanian Rabbi and His Devil’s Bargain.”

47 Rosen, Dangers, Tests, and Miracles.

48 Gilberg, Nationalism and Communism in Romania.

49 Pacepa, Red Horizons, 148.

50 Ioanid, The Ransom of the Jews.

51 Beckerman, “The Cold War’s Strangest Bedfellows.”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Amedeo Gasparini

Amedeo Gasparini, Freelance journalist and researcher, managing “Blackstar”, amedeogasparini.com. MA in “International Relations in Historical Perspective” (Utrecht Universiteit, Utrecht – NL); MA in “International Relations” (Univerzita Karlova, Prague – CZ); BSc in “Science of Communication” (Università della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano – CH).