reviewed from Anamaria DAMBOIU LIVIU ROTMAN Evreii din Romania in perioada comunista 1944-1965 Polirom, seria Historia

Iasi, 2004, 195 pp

The book Evreii din Romania in perioda comunista 1944-19651 is a remarkable publication in the Rumanian post-communist period because of its uniqueness in the subject. Published after long periods of research in Romania as well as in Israel the book presents in less than 200 pages, the history of the Jewish society in the first 20 years of communism in Romania, but also the relationships of this community with the Romanian social, economical and political medium of that time. Personally affected by the history of this nation, Liviu Rotman begins his work using an unconventional style, sharing his personal experiences and feelings (pg 10) with his reader about the alyia movement. The Jews community studied is determinated by its history, the Holocaust, by the proclamation of the state Israel (May 1948), and by the changes brought by the communist regime in Romania. The numbers of the ones who suffered in the previous historic period is impressive and the consequences of this lead to the death of 50% of the Jewish population from Romania. In these conditions a new totalitarian regime, the communists came apparently as a salvation for this community. They proposed equality for all the members of the society, no matter of their religion or their race. According to the author that was an old ideology in some new close (pg. 161). The communist regime turned out to be an other impediment in the final scope of this nation, to reach the 'holy land'. The central problem of the Romanian as well as the Jewish community after Antonescu's fall was the 'coming back to normality'. For the Jews that was partially realized due to the existence of an important social medical infrastructure and to the international Jewish organizations, especially Joint Distribution Committee. The law of December the 16th 1944, about the restitution of the Jewish goods was late in practice and according to Liviu Rotman it had not an immediate effect on the Jewish population, but of imposing the image of the Jew as a sales-man. The attempt of the communist to build 'the' social class in Romania was the next impediment 1 The Jews from Romania in the communist period 1944-1965 (my translation)

of the Jewish community to 'come back to normality' 1 because the institution, The Jews Democratic Committee(J.D.C.), which was supposed to represent the Jewish Community deserved the Communist Party and its interest. Through this authority the Communist Party implemented its cultural policies, but also the ones concerning the re-stratification of the Jews population, or the anti-alyia propaganda. Important names as dr. Wilhelm Fieldermann, dr. Alexandru Sofron or later the rabin Moses Rosen were the leaders of the community in this 20-year-period, and although the last one was social-democrat, enjoying the sympathy of the communist party, they were involved in the protection of the members of their community. The case of the rabin Moses Rosen presented by the author brings relevant details concerning the Jew's (not)acceptance of the communist regime, and their reflections about the regime. The Jewish community's response to all this policies was exactly the opposite, an even greater wish to associate themselves to the alyia movement. The first big transport was possible due to the Joint Organization, and embarked almost one 1000 Jews from three countries. The harder became the legally transportation, the more people wanted to leave. During the 1946-1947 a large spectrum of the Jews left illegally the country. In the 50ties the Romanian authorities started an anti-alyia campaign using the media and the J.D.C., although officially the Romanian authorities did not recognized the migration as a general fenomena (pg. 104). The reaction in the late 50ties of the authorities was violent 2 and in the 60ties the Jews problem lost in interest. Some external pressure was made by Israelitian Government, because as Liviu Rotman's research states the central problem of this government on external matters was the alyia problems. In this respect they sent official letters to the governments of the countries with a large number of Jewish population, among which it was Romania too. A clear statement about the jewish population is in none of the Communist Party's discourses to find. Their position is ambiguous depending on the government's necessities of the moment. The analyze of the problematic relationship between zionism and communism leads to the author's conclusion that cruel repression of the zionist movement si one of the factors of terror in Romania during the communist regime. Liviu Rotman considers that the stalinism survived in Romania till the death of the tyrant, and the 'frozen' period lasted till 1955 (pag 1 Tirau, Liviu Instaurarea comunismului in Romania si evreii Anuarul Institului de Istorie Cluj-Napoca,
35/1996 2 Nu-i putem tine cu forta... Sa plece! Cum adica sa le studiem problemele le-am dat tot ce si-ar putea dori... Dej declaration, published in Liviu Rotman's book, pg. 105

144). Concerning the Jews who became leaders of the communist regime, the author considers that these were used in order to impose the power and the ideology of the communism. Ana Pauker and Iosif Chisinievski had decisional power till 1952 and 1957, because they were ex-illegal-ists and their position created a good image for the party and they were not dangerous ( pg. 146). The rest of the Jews from politics did not have enough power or were only activists in the party and had nothing to do with the Jewish community. Although it is a short history of the Jewish community in Romania during the communist period, it does not by far contain all the aspects necessary to have a complete image of this aspect, but Liviu Rotman's book is an important contribution to the history of the Jewish nation and its integration in the social, economical and political structure of the Romanian society.