Zachor! We Must Not Forget!
In Loving Memory of Malca z"l
The roots of the Iasi Pogrom are deeply connected to the political deterioration of the Romanian pseudo-democracy. The pogrom was not accidental, but part of the history of Romanian antisemitism. It did not begin on Duminica Accia ─ Sunday, June 28, 1941 ─ nor even three days earlier when the first killings started, nor on June 22, 1941, when Nazi Germany's Operation Barbarossa hostilities commenced against communist Russia . Nor did it begin on September 6, 1940, when the war criminal Ion Antonescu and his Iron Guard hoards took power. No, the roots of the pogrom originated in a distant past, and only after a long period of hostile and daily antisemitic propaganda and boundless hatred had been directed against the Jewish population.
I lived through an official antisemitic government policy, which had roots way back in 1867 and was deployed for a half-century with unshaken perseverance. It was reflected in antisemitic laws affecting school education, public works, services and all the free professions. It resulted in illegal expulsions, violence, and persecution, as well as in destruction of Jewish homes, shops, synagogues and schools.
It continued with numerus nullus and Numerus valachicus decrees (“limited number”, "access denied [to Jews]") in the government, universities, and professional associations. This state-imposed antisemitic system was the groundwork for the later extermination of the Jewish population. In June and July, 1941, a murderous attack was committed in Iasi, where thousands of victims were destroyed by a violent and unrestrained mob. I lived through these days and they are still alive in my memory.
The crimes committed during, and after, the Iasi Pogrom are proof that the Romanian Iron Guard was a curse for Romania and a return to medieval darkness and hate. Before the Romanian Holocaust was over, 380,000 – 400,000 Jews were murdered in Romanian-controlled areas under the dictatorship of Antonescu.
Zachor! Remember! Remember those years of darkness and destruction , in Romania and across Europe!
(Baruch Cohen, a Romanian Holocaust survivor,
is the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research's Research Chairman.)
