The Persecution of the Jews in Roumania 1885 PDF

This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible. https://books.google.com  385 THE PERSECUTION OF THE JEW...

This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible. https://books.google.com  385 THE PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS IN ROUMANIA. A DETAILED ACCOUNT, COMPILED FROM RECENT OFFICIAL AND OTHER AUTHENTIC INFORMATION. BY DAVID F. SCHLOSS, M.A. , S.C.L. (OxON). BARRISTER- AT-LAW. LONDON: D. NUTT, 270, STRAND, W.C. Price One Penny. 1885. WERTHEIMER, LEA & CO., PRINTERS, LONDON. THE PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS IN ROUMANIA. A DETAILED ACCOUNT, COMPILED FROM RECENT OFFICIAL AND OTHER AUTHENTIC INFORMATION. BY DAVID F. SCHLOSS , M.A. , S.C.L. (Oxon). BARRISTER-AT- LAW. LONDON : D. NUTT, 270, STRAND, W.C. 1885, 24456.e.I  NOV 87 OXF ORD.  THE PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS IN ROUMANIA. THE disabilities, under which the Jewish subjects of the Roumanian kingdom are placed, may be classed under four heads , those resulting from (a) unjust laws, (b) the unjust application of laws not in themselves unjust, (c) breaches of the law, and (d) acts of injustice and intolerance, not strictly illegal, but amounting to an elaborate system of oppression of the kind now known as boycotting ; that is, the combination of the non-Jewish subjects to inflict, without any actual breach of the law, every possible species of petty cruelty upon their Jewish fellow- subjects, and to embitter their lives with endless vexations. In placing before the English public a short summary of the existing disabilities of the Roumanian Jews, it is right to call attention at the outset to the fact that these disabilities con- stitute a direct defiance of both the letter and the spirit of the Treaty of Berlin ; and that the English Government pos- sesses , if it chooses to exercise it, the fullest right to interfere, by protest or otherwise, for their removal. By the Treaty of Berlin, signed in the year 1878, Roumania was, for the first time, recognised as an independent State. This recognition was granted only after the admission of all Roumanian subjects, without distinction of creed, to the enjoyment of full and equal civil and political rights had been stipulated for as a necessary condition by the con- tracting parties, between whom that Treaty was made. Articles 43 and 44 of the Treaty of Berlin are as follows :- Treaty Berlin. of Article 43. " The high contracting parties recognise the Art. 43. independence of Roumania, attaching thereto the conditions set forth in the two following Articles." Article 44. " In Roumania the difference of religious creeds Art. 44 and confessions shall not be alleged against any person as a ground for exclusion or incapacity in matters relating to the enjoyment ofcivil and political rights, admission to public em- ployments, functions and honours, or the exercise of various professions and industries in any locality whatsoever. The freedom of outward exercise of all forms of worship shall be A 2  4 assured to all persons belonging to the Roumanian State, as well as to foreigners, and no hindrance shall be offered either to the hierarchical organisations of the different communities, or to their relations with their spiritual chiefs. 66 The subjects and citizens of all the Powers, trading or others, shall be treated in Roumania without distinction of creed, on a footing of perfect equality.' Article 45 stipulated for the retrocession by Roumania to Russia of Bessarabia. Shortly after the sittings of the Berlin Congress had termi- nated, an Assembly was summoned in Roumania with the object of making the necessary alterations in the Roumanian Constitution to meet the obligations imposed by these pro- visions (43 and 44 ) of the Treaty. Article 7 of the Roumanian Constitution, until amended by this Assembly, was in the following words :- - The quality of Roumanian citizen is acquired, retained and lost, in conformity with the Civil Law. Foreigners of the Christian rite only can obtain naturalisation. What action the Roumanian Legislature ought to have taken, if the stipulations of the Treaty of Berlin were to be fully and fairly carried out in accordance with the requirements of international law, was laid down at the time, when this Assembly was sitting, by the late Professor Bluntschli, who occupied a chair at the University of Heidelberg, and whose authority upon the law of nations is universally recognised. The opinion of this eminent jurist, expressed in lucid terms in his pamphlet " Roumania and the Legal Status of the Jews in Roumania "-was this : that the only way in which the Roumanians could properly comply with the 43rd and 44th Articles of the Berlin Treaty was (i.) by striking out of the Roumanian Constitution its seventh article (given above) ; (ii. ) by inserting verbatim in that Constitution as an article thereof Article 44 of the Treaty ; and (iii. ) by repealing all laws then in force in Roumania which prohibited, whether expressly or by implication, the exercise by the Roumanian Jews of the full rights of citizens.* Apart from the weight which attaches to a formal opinion given by a jurist of European renown, the view taken by Dr. Bluntschli is so obviously accurate, as to commend itself to the minds of all fair-minded persons. But the Roumanians dealt with the question in a very different spirit. In place of * The concluding chapter of Dr. Bluntschli's pamphlet is printed in extenso in the Appendix below, pp. 26 and 27.  5 at once granting to the Jews, as a body, the rights which the Treaty of Berlin entitled them to receive without delay and without exception, the Roumanian Assembly formulated a project for conferring (or rather pretending to confer) these rights upon the two or three hundred thousand Jews of Roumania by means of individual acts of naturalization only, and those subject to the most onerous conditions and the most vexatious restrictions. The best comment upon this proposal is that expressed in unmistakable language by the English Government in the following despatch, addressed by the Marquis of Salisbury to Mr. White, Her Majesty's Representative at Bucharest* :— " FOREIGN OFFICE, January 21st, 1879. " SIR, I have to state to you that Her Majesty's Government Lord Despatch of Salis- do not consider that the passing of a law to enable Jews to apply bury, 21 Jan., individually to the Roumanian Legislature for naturalization would 1879. be a sufficient compliance with the Article of the Treaty of Berlin which provides for the removal of all religious disabilities in Rou- mania. "A telegram in the above sense has been addressed to you this day. " I am , etc. " ( Signed) SALISBURY." Having now satisfied ourselves what character the proposed alteration in Article 7 would have assumed , if the stipulations of the Berlin Treaty had been honestly complied with, we turn to the modifications actually made by the Roumanian Assembly. Article 7, as amended by that Assembly, and now in force, is as follows :- Difference of religious belief or profession does not constitute in Roumania an obstacle to the acquisition and exercise of civil and political rights. 1.-Aliens without distinction of religion , whether they be subjects or not of a foreign power, can acquire the rights of citizen- ship in Roumania under the following conditions :- (a.) The applicant shall present to the Government a petition for the purpose of naturalisation , in which he shall state the amount of capital he possesses, the profession or call- ing which he practises, and he shall express his wish to fix his domicile in Roumania. * 'Correspondence relative to the Recognition of the Independence of Roumania," p. 4, presented to both Houses of Parliament, in 1880. See also Lord Salisbury's Despatch of 27th August, 1879, at p. 54 of the same Corre- spondence.  6 (b.) After the presentation of this petition he shall live ten years in the country, and shall prove by his conduct that he is a useful member of society. 2. The residence of ten years may be dispensed with so far as regards :- (a. ) Those who shall have rendered important services to the country, and those who, by useful inventions or extraor- dinary talents, have established important commercial or industrial undertakings in the principality. (b. ) Those who were born and brought up in the country by parents established in Roumania, and who, neither they nor their parents, have ever enjoyed the protection of a foreign power. (c.) Those who have served under the Roumanian colours in the recent War of Independence. They shall be able to be naturalised collectively on the proposition of the Government by one and the same act, and without other formalities. 3.-As a general rule naturalisation can only be obtained by a special act, and is individual. 4. -A special law shall settle the legal way in which aliens shall be able to establish their domicile on Roumanian territory. 5. -Roumanians, or naturalised Roumanians, alone can acquire rural property in the principality. Vested rights are respected (that is to say, the rights of non -Roumanian Christians to hold rural property). The existing international conventions remain in force (on this point) with all their clauses until the expiration of these conventions. That the Signatory Powers by no means accepted this re- vised Article 7 as a fulfilment of the obligations of Roumania under the Treaty of Berlin, is amply demonstrated by an Identic Note, which was sent to the Roumanian Govern- ment by England, France and Germany.* This Note, which is here given in full, expressed at once the protest of these three Great Powers against the actual legislation of Rou- mania, and their confidence, that this legislation would be administered in a liberal spirit—a hope destined to be cruelly falsified :- Identic Note " BUCHAREST, February 20th, 1880. of England , "The Undersigned, British Representative at Bucharest, has the France, and Germany, honour, by order of his Government, to convey to M. Boeresco, the 20th Feb. , Minister for Foreign Affairs of Roumania, the following communi- 1880. cation :- " Her Britannic Majesty's Government have been informed , through the Agent of His Royal Highness the Prince of Roumania * Correspondence relative to the Recognition , etc.,” p. 91. * P. 9, English translation.  7 at Paris, of the promulgation , on the 25th October, 1879, of a 6 Law, voted by the Chambres de Révision ' of the Principality, for the purpose of bringing the text of the Roumanian Constitution into conformity with the stipulations inserted in Article XLIV of the Treaty of Berlin. "Her Majesty's Government cannot consider the new Constitu- tional provisions which have been brought to their cognizance- and particularly those by which persons belonging to a non- Christian creed domiciled in Roumania, and not belonging to any foreign nationality, are required to submit to the formalities of individual naturalization-as being a complete fufilment of the views of the Powers signatories of the Treaty of Berlin. 66 Trusting, however, to the determination of the Prince's Govern- ment to approximate more and more, in the execution of these provisions, to the liberal intentions entertained by the Powers, and taking note of the positive assurances to that effect which have been conveyed to them, the Government of Her Britannic Majesty, being desirous of giving to the Roumanian nation a proof of their friendly sentiments, have decided to recognize the Principalty of Roumania as an independent State. Her Majesty's Government consequently declare themselves ready to enter into regular diplo- matic relations with the Prince's Government. " In bringing the decision come to by his Government to the knowledge of the Minister for Foreign Affairs , the Under- signed, etc. " ( Signed) W. A. WHITE.” The contrast between the alterations which were needed to satisfy the requirements of the Treaty of Berlin and the terms of this enactment is so obvious and so great, that but few remarks upon this flagrant violation of a solemn treaty obli- gation are called for. It may, however, be useful to point out that :- (i.) By sub-section (1 ) it is clear that the Jewish subjects of Roumania are treated as aliens ; although, as Professor Bluntschli pointed out in his pamphlet, the settlement of the Jews in Roumania was, for the most part, " at least just as ancient as that of the Roumanian nation amongst whom they lived." (ii. ) The enactment by no means provides, as it ought to have done, for the recognition as Roumanians of all the · Jewish subjects of that country. The applicant for naturali- sation must prove that he possesses a certain amount of capital. The amount, which he is required to possess, is not fixed by the law ; a discretion as to the amount to be required in each case is purposely left, which the pre-  8 judices of a legislature, reluctant to carry out honestly the obligations imposed upon it of granting the full civil rights of a Roumanian to every Jewish subject without distinction or exception, could use (and in fact, has used) as an excuse for refusing nearly every application. The same remark ap- plies to the statement which is required of the calling of the applicant, and to the provision that he should be " an useful member of society." What callings shall be excluded , who is, and who is not an useful member of society is not defined by the law ; but the legislature can in each case make the calling of the applicant (however respectable) an excuse for rejecting his application, and declare him ineli- gible, because they consider, or pretend to consider him useless to society. It will be shown, that these subterfuges have in practice been very frequently employed. (iii.) The residence of ten years after application, which is required by clause (b) of sub- section (1), was obviously inserted with a view to postpone the enjoyment by Jews of the rights of citizenship, (which, in pursuance of the Treaty of Berlin , they ought to have enjoyed at once upon the recognition of Roumanian independence,) to a remote period, it being hoped that, long before that period arrived, the Powers , who were parties to that Treaty, might have lost whatever hold they possessed upon the Roumanian Government, and would either forget, or be unable to force upon the Roumanians the fulfil- ment of the requirements of the Treaty. Any one, who reads this Article 7, can see, that it was never intended, that it should render possible any substantial amelioration in the status of the Roumanian Jews ; and this surmise is amply borne out by the facts. As might be expected , the applicant for naturalisation finds himself met at the outset by every difficulty which official ingenuity can suggest. The application must, in the first instance, be made upon a stamped form, for which a Jew has to pay twenty-five francs, although it can be obtained by all other persons for twenty-five centimes. Then, in nearly every case, an endless variety of formal proofs is required, showing (for instance) the residence of the petitioner, that he was born and bred in Roumania, that his parents were domiciled in that country, that neither he nor his parents were ever subjects of any other State, etc. , etc. , and each separate proof required must be stamped with a stamp of one franc ; while, if by a most rare good fortune the applicant succeeds in his * This regulation is contained in an order, numbered 18,837 , from the Minister of War to the Officers of the Fourth Army Corps.  9 petition, the certificate of naturalisation , which he is required to take out, costs him a further sum of 150 francs.* Notwithstanding the expense and difficulty attendant upon the presentation of a petition, large numbers of persons have, since 1879, when the amended Article 7 became part of the Roumanian Constitution , applied for naturalisation ; which has, however, only been granted in the case of about 800 soldiers (coming within section 2, sub- section c), and of the members of some twenty or thirty families belonging to the wealthier classes. In fact, the provisions of this Article have gradually fallen into complete desuetude ; and last year ( 1884) no single Jew obtained naturalisation. The total number of the Jewish subjects of Roumania is roughly estimated at 265,000 ; and since, in five years, less than 1,100 of these persons have re- ceived naturalisation, it is clear that the Roumanians have succeeded in practically evading the stipulations of Article 44 of the Treaty of Berlin, by which they were placed under the obligation of granting full and free rights of citizenship to all the subjects of Roumania without distinction of creed. ‡ It may be remarked that, conformably to sub-section 3 of Article 7 upon the naturalisation of a Jew, his children already born do not become Rou- manians, but remain " aliens." † As if sufficient precautions had not already been taken to secure that all attempts to obtain naturalisation under Article 7, as modified in professed accordance with the Treaty of Berlin, should fail, the Senate, a few months ago, made a new standing order, that no application for naturalisation should be granted unless voted by a majority of two-thirds. To show in what manner petitions presented by Jews seeking naturalisa- tion are treated, the following facts are quoted from the Jewish Chronicle of 29th May, 1885 :- "We have before us a list of several cases of petitions for naturalisation , addressed to Parliament by Jews, and rejected by the Legislative bodies on most puerile pretexts. We cite here two of the most flagrant : M. Max Scha- pira, of Galatz, a Sergeant in the Reserves, having petitioned the Senate for naturalisation, the Reporter appointed to consider the application, announced to the Upper House that M. Schapira had not produced any authoritative document which proved that he had been born and brought up by parents established in Roumania, and that neither he nor his father had been placed under foreign protection. Without taking the trouble to examine M. Schapira's papers, the Senate rejected his petition. In self-justification M. Schapira wrote a letter to the Galatii, wherein he mentioned that the official certifi- cates and documents, thirteen in number, which he deposited with the Senate, attested, among other facts, that he had been born in Roumania, had served in the army, had, in accordance with the civil law, applied for Roumanian nationality on attaining his majority, had, whilst a minor, enjoyed Roumanian protection, had always conducted himself as a Roumanian, and that his father was likewise a native of Roumania, and had never been placed under foreign protection. No mention was made by the Reporter to the Senate of these all- convincing papers, which, when sent some months previously to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, with an application from M. Schapira for a passport, elicited from the Minister a declaration that he is not under foreign protec- tion, and that he has cordial relations with Roumanians.' a 5  10 It must not be imagined, that the refusal of rights of citizenship to the Jewish subjects of Roumania is merely a sentimental grievance, involving nothing more than the main- tenance of an inferior status among a certain class of the population. The absence of rights of citizenship entails upon the Jews disabilities of the most important character-disabi- lities, which, by debarring the Jews entirely from almost all honourable callings, and encumbering with endless restric- tions the exercise of every pursuit, from which they are not altogether excluded , make it difficult, if not altogether un- feasible, for them to earn a sustenance ; and which, while they render it all but impossible for the Roumanian Jew to live in his native country, prevent him from leaving it, except on the condition of forfeiting all right to return. The fact is, that, although the Roumanians were glad enough to accept their autonomy at the hands of the Berlin Congress on the express condition , that the enjoyment of full civil and political rights, and the liberty of exercising all professions and industries should be conceded by them to the members of all creeds and confessions, they never had the slightest intention of fulfilling this stipulation. " Roumania for the Roumanians " is the leading idea in the minds of all Roumanian statesmen ; the term " Roumanian " is treated as excluding the Roumanian Jew ; and no ground whatever, other than the religious profession of the Jew, is adduced to justify this exclusion. With the view of carrying out this fundamental idea of Roumanian legislation , the Roumanians have not only for- bidden the acquisition of land (except in towns) by their Jewish fellow subjects, and have thus made it impossible for Jews to engage in agriculture, the principal industry of Rou- mania,—but have gradually excluded them from the exercise of nearly every calling. The list of the employments, from which the Roumanian Jews (of course excepting the very small number of individuals who have been naturalised) are excluded, is so extensive, that hardly any profession or in- dustry is left open to this unfortunate population, which is " The second case of the rejection of an application for naturalisation was that of M. Reinstein. The Senate based its refusal on the ground that no proofs had been given of his father having been born in Roumania, and of his not being placed under foreign protection. But it is a remarkable fact that in the year 1883, the Senate authorised the naturalisation of M. Reinstein's brother. Thus in the one instance the father was admitted to be a native, and in the other he was declared to be a foreigner." * See Article 7 of the Roumanian constitution, sub-section 5, sup. p. 6 ; and law of 19th August, 1864.  11 thus almost entirely deprived of the means of earning its daily bread. No Jew can be employed in any office under Govern- ment ; no Jew can be employed in any capacity on the Rou- manian railways ; no Jew can be a medical officer,* whether of a district, a city, or a prison ; nor, of course, a member of the Supreme Council of Sanitation, or of the Board of Health. Roumanian Jews cannot be veterinary surgeons,† nor dis- pensing chemists ; they cannot practise as lawyers ; S they cannot be stockbrokers,|| produce brokers,|| freight brokers, || or brokers of any kind ; nor are Jews allowed to be com- mission agents ; they cannot even act as representatives or clerks of any broker or commission agent. No Roumanian Jew can take any part in the management of the Roumanian National Bank, whether as governor, director, or auditor ; no Roumanian Jew can take part in the Council of Administra- tion, or the General Council of, or even act in any subordinate office in the Bank. No Jew can be elected as a member of the Roumanian Chamber of Commerce,** or take any part in the election of members of that body; and this, though in Roumania the Jews, being prevented by the restrictive legislation from engaging in agriculture, are extensively employed in trade, and the number of the Jewish merchants is largely in excess of that of the non-Jewish traders. It should be added that the revenues of the Chamber of Commerce are derived from the contributions of all Roumanian merchants, whether Jews or Christians, without distinction. While the Roumanian Jews are denied all the privileges of citizenship on the ground , that they are non -Roumanians, it must not be supposed, that they are exempt from any of the burdens or the duties of citizens. Equally with his non- Jewish fellow-subject the Roumanian Jew contributes to the revenues, and shares in the defence of his country. All Rou- manian Jews are liable to military service ; and large numbers of Jews fought under the Roumanian standard in the Russo-Turkish war, by which Roumania acquired her independence. But no Roumanian Jew can rise above the rank of sergeant. ‡‡ While by passing certain examinations all other Roumanians can serve as