Holocaust. Studii şi cercetări
Vol. IV, Nr. 1(5)/2012
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Holocaust Studies
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Armin Heinen, „Rumänien, Sommer 1941. Die fünf Kriege, vier Handlungsfelder und die «Sprache
der Gewalt» gegen die Juden”
Adina Babeş, Alexandru Florian, „The emigration of the Jews in the Antonescu era”
Lya Benjamin, „The Relations between Dr. W. Filderman and Marshal Ion Antonescu during the
Deportation of the Jews from Bessarabia and Bukovina (October-December 1941)”
Florence Luxenberg-Eisenberg, „Set in Motion: The final plan to terminate the Jews”
Studies on Jewish forced labor
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Alexandru Climescu, „Sanctions and Interdictions Applicable to the Jews Subjected to the Mandatory
Labor Regime in Romania (1941-1942)
Laura Degeratu, ”Obligations of Jewish population concerning the forced labor system as shown
in Gazeta Evreiască (Jewish Gazette)”
Oral history and Holocausr memory
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Doyle Stevick, „The Holocaust in the Contemporary Baltic States: International Relations, Politics,
and Education”
Ioana Cosman, Aurora Szentagotai, Daniel David, „Describe fear in your own words. Stories from the
Holocaust: A historical and psychological analysis”
Adrian Furtună, „Social Representation of Roma Deportation to Transnistria”:
Andreea-Iulia Vasile, „History in the Eyes of the Beholder”:
Carole Lemee, „La réinscription généalogique face à la césure anthropologique de la shoah et aux
écritures d'effacement”
Antisemitism Studies
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Jean-Yves Camus, „The French Extreme Right, Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism (1945-2009)”
Sergiu Mişcoiu, „De l’antisémitisme foncier à la normalisation stratégique. Le Front National à
l’époque de Marine Le Pen”
Mihai A. Panu, „The Ideology Traps: National-Socialism and Anti-Semitism in Banat Region in the
Interwar Period”
Leon Volovici – in memoriam
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The "Elie Wiesel" National Institute, “In memoriam Leon Volovici (1938-2011)”
Raphael Vago, “Leon Volovici – in memoriam”
Michael Finkenthal, „The intellectual landscape of Inter-war Romania: a test case of complexity
analysis”
Camelia Crăciun, „A Man of Ideas: Dr. Leon Volovici”
Ştefan Ionescu, „Professor Leon Volovici – A Major Scholar of Contemporary Romanian-Jewish
Intellectual History”
George Voicu, „Leon Volovici and the Identity Question”.
Book reviews
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Jablonka Ivan, Histoire des grands-parents que je n'ai pas eu, Paris, Seuil, 2012 (Carole Lemee)
Igounet Valérie, Robert Faurisson, portrait d'un négationniste, Paris, Denoël, 2012 (Carole Lemee)
András Kovács, The Stranger at Hand. Antisemitic Prejudice in Post-Communist Hungary. Leiden and
Boston: Brill, 2001, 211 pp. (Michael Shafir)
Armin Heinen, România, Holocaustul şi logica violenţei [Romania, the Holocaust and the logic of
Violence], Iaşi: Editura Universităţii «Alexandru Ioan Cuza», 2011, 237 pp. (Michael Shafir)
Lucian Boia, Capcanele istoriei: Elita intelectuală românească între anii 1930 şi 1950, Humanitas,
Bucureşti, 2011 (Valentin Stoian)
Addenda
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Raportul de activitate pentru anul 2011
Authors index
Abstracts
ARMIN HEINEN
Abstract
Historians have developed different theories on the persecution of the Jews on the “Romanian territory”. A
closer look at the summer of 1941, however, shows that the Romanian witch-hunt against the Jews cannot be
explained by a singular impulse. At least five different motifs of the persecution of Jews and four semiautonomous lines of action (politics, military, administration, population), each with its own “language of
violence”, must be distinguished. The discrepancy in explaining the Romanian Holocaust is not at least
reflecting this issue.
(Die Geschichtswissenschaft hat ganz unterschiedliche Thesen zur Verfolgung der Juden im rumänischen
Herrschaftsbereich erarbeitet. Ein genauer Blick auf den Sommer 1941 zeigt nun, dass die rumänische
Hetzjagd gegen die Juden nicht aus einem singulären Impuls heraus erklärt werden kann. Mindestens fünf
verschiedene Motive der Judenverfolgung und vier teilautonome Handlungsstränge (Politik, Militär,
Verwaltung, Bevölkerung) mit je eigener „Sprache der Gewalt“ sind zu unterscheiden. Die differierende
Bewertung des rumänischen Holocaustgeschehens erklärt sich nicht zuletzt aus diesem Sachverhalt.)
Keywords: 1941; Ion Antonescu; Gendarmerie (police); Geschichtswissenschaft (history)
ADINA BABEŞ
ALEXANDRU FLORIAN
Abstract
This study has in view to present the main features of the emigration process during the 1930s – 1940s, as it
occurred in Germany and Romania. The part dedicated to Germany is focused on different emigration
activities, the relations between various organizations involved in this process, and the reaction of the
authorities to this. The experience of Nazi Germany is a documentary source used as comparison with the
Romanian case. The part dedicated to Romania comprises the archive documents, verbatim reports of the
Council of Ministers meetings, testimonies or press articles of that time, as main primary documentation
source for supplying arguments whether the Ion Antonescu regime had an emigration policy of the Jews from
Romania during the years 1940-1944.
Keywords: emigration policy, Jews, Nazi Germany, Antonescu regime, Romania
LYA BENJAMIN
Abstract
The study presents the protests of Dr. W. Filderman, president of the Federation of Jewish Communities
(FUCE), against the deportation of the Jews from Bessarabia, from the northern and southern parts of
Bukovina and from the Old Kingdom to Transnistria. (October-December 1941). The Jewish leader
characterized the deportation as a death sentence for thousands of Jews who were not charged with anything,
except being Jews. Marshal Ion Antonescu publicly responded to Dr. Filderman’s interventions. He justified
the deportation, blaming, and demonizing the Jews, thus contributing to the existent anti-Semitic atmosphere
and questioning Filderman’s credibility. However, the latter’s fight for the survival of the Jews never ended.
Keywords: Ion Antonescu, Dr. W Filderman, deportation, survival of the Jews, Transnistria
FLORENCE LUXENBERG-EISENBERG
Abstract
This article reveals, through qualitative research on location, the bureaucratic and organizational efficiency of
the Wannsee Conference which initiated the plan for “The Final Solution of the Jewish Problem”, a
euphemism to disguise the implementation of total annihilation of the European Jewry. At the Wannsee
Conference held on January 20th, 1942, fifhteen top Nazi and government officials met zealously to discuss
the implementation of the extermination procedures regarding the Jews. The article reveals that the
extermination of the Jews was already in progress and that this meeting was held to finalize and accelerate the
termination of the Jews in its totality. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference and
the plan to finally rid the world of Jews. It also discusses the paradox of the villa itself — it is placed on a
beautiful location on a lakefront and yet the genocide of the Jewish people was put in fruition there. Through
the eyes of the Deputy Director and Educational Director of the House of the Wannsee Conference Memorial
and Educational Center, it is exposed as a place trying to redeem itself by promoting educational projects and
seminars to teach about the dangerous effects of racism, xenophobia, National Socialism, genocide, and their
relevancy in today’s world at the original and authentic location. These projects are directed at teachers and
pupils. The house is different from other museums, as it is a “museum of the perpetrators”.
Keywords: genocide, extermination sites, euphemism, Holocaust, Final Solution
ALEXANDRU CLIMESCU
Abstract
Between 1941 and 1944, the Romanian Jews were subjected to a regime of forced labor which was organized
by the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of the Interior and the Chief of Staff of the
Army. Jews aged between 18 and 50 years were forced to work in companies, institutions, detachments within
their towns of residence and in exterior detachments. The present paper examines the regime of sanctions and
interdictions applicable to these Jews. Through the analysis of legal acts and military orders, we intend to
document the punitive and privative dimension of the forced labor regime.
Keywords: forced labor, sanctions, interdictions, military jurisdictions
LAURA IOANA DEGERATU
Abstract
During World War II, the Romanian Jewry suffered from anti-Semitic laws and watched the dissolving of
most Jewish institutions that managed their community’s cause. The Jewish Federation was dissolved and the
Jewish Central took its place as an institution subordinated directly to the Romanian government. In the pages
below, I analyze the way this institution managed to speak about certain aspects concerning the forced labor
system of the Romanian Jewry during World War II, by using the publication entitled Gazeta evreiască (The
Jewish Gazette), a newspaper that was also subordinated to the Jewish Central. I also examine the way this
institution succeeded in supporting the cause of the Romanian Jewish Community.
Keywords: forced labor, propaganda, Jewish Central, Gazeta evreiasca
DOYLE STEVICK
Abstract
For a variety of historical and cultural reasons, many societies across Central and Eastern Europe have not
embraced the history of the Holocaust as it is understood in Western Europe and the U.S. and Israel, nor have
they incorporated it substantively in their education systems, textbooks, and curricula. This article reviews the
shared historical experiences of the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania during the Second World
War and the Soviet period and considers how those shaped contemporary perspectives and attitudes in the
region. Using data from cross-cultural exchanges between Estonians and foreign advocates of Holocaust
education, the article shows that distrust exists around evidence gathered or disseminated by the Soviets and
about perceived inconsistencies in the pursuit of justice. It finally compares two approaches to foreign
engagement in the Holocaust, one rooted in power that was counterproductive and one rooted in dialogue that
seems more promising.
Keywords: Holocaust education, international partnerships, cross-cultural curriculum work, education policy
IOANA COSMAN, AURORA SZENTAGOTAI, DANIEL DAVID
Abstract
The present study, as an interdisciplinary approach that combines history and psychology, tries to identify the
way Holocaust survivors from Northern Transylvania dealt with fear and anxiety before, during, and after
their imprisonment in ghettos and concentration camps. A number of 22 Holocaust survivors from the
northern part of Transylvania, who were deported to Auschwitz in May-June 1944, were interviewed during
between 2006 and 2009 and asked about different manifestations of fear regarding their captivity. How they
responded to the feelings of fear before and during their imprisonment and how they perceived it afterwards is
the main focus of this study.
Keywords: Holocaust survivors, Northern Transylvania, fear and anxiety
ADRIAN FURTUNĂ
Abstract
In 1942, approximately 25,000 citizens of Roma ethnical origin were deported to Transnistria. This article
aims to seize the social representation of this event, mainly among the Roma population, but also at the
majority population level, offering an interpretation from a phenomenological perspective. I attempt to bring
to the reader’s attention the importance surrounding the “myth of cardboard boats”. I offer a thorough
interpretation on this myth or metaphor, which helps one better understand the event of the Roma deportation
to Transnistria from the perspective of Romani culture. I also propose a hypothesis in connection to the origin
of this myth.
Keywords: social representation, shame, Romani culture
ANDREEA-IULIA VASILE
Abstract
The life story is one of the forms of researching the recent past. Many sciences use this type of investigation to
study the past and to reveal some social and psychological aspects, and even elements in the domain of
narratology. The studied text is an interview with a pediatrician who, after deportation to Transnistria, has
managed to overcome the obstacles imposed by the unfavorable times she lived in and, when aged 85 (in
2008), was able to tell the tragic events she went through.
Keywords: cultural anthropology, life story, deportation, narrative research, oral history, interview
CAROLE LEMEE
Abstract
Les descendants de victimes de la Shoah effectuent un travail de reconstitution et de mise en histoire face aux
trouées béantes laissées par le génocide dans leur parenté, participant a et de processus de réinscription et de
réenchaînement généalogiques. Les trois formes de travail social impliquées dans ces processus (historisation,
généalogisation, reconnexion) se confrontent à la césure anthropologique de la Shoah et à des écritures
d’effacement.
Mots clefs: genocide, ethnocide, rapports histoire-memoire, parente, genealogie
JEAN-YVES CAMUS
Abstract
Since political Zionism was invented, the French Extreme-Right has had ambivalent feelings about it. Its
traditional anti-Semitism fed conspiracy theories that Zionism was a Jewish domination plot. At the same
time, it was interpreted as a means of getting rid of the Jews by their own will. When France lost its NorthAfrican colonies and the Arab world was supported by the Communist bloc, the Extreme-Right split into a
pro-Western, pro-Israel faction and proponents of a Third Way who opposed the mere existence of Israel. This
antagonism has become a real divide since the start of the Second Intifada and the rise of Muslim antiSemitism in France.
Keywords: France, Zionism, Muslim, Anti-Semitism
SERGIU MIŞCOIU
Abstract
This article (“From Inborn Anti-Semitism to Strategic Normalisation. The National Front under Marine Le
Pen”) analyses the implications of the 2011 change in the National Front’s top leadership over the traditional
anti-Semitic stances of the party. By studying the main reforms implemented by Marine Le Pen, it shows that
the dropping of anti-Semitism is at the same time not only a tactical move, but not necessarily a genuine
substantive change in the party’s ideology. Rather, it is a discoursive adaptation, on the one hand, to a general
evolution of the French society (anti-Semitism being less entrenched in the public consciousness) and, on the
other hand, to the particular conditions of the 2010s dominated by an increasing concern related to the social
consequences of the non-European recent immigration to France.
Keywords: Anti-Semitism, far-right, reform, strategy, radicalism
MIHAI A. PANU
Abstract
The manifestations of political radicalism in the Romanian interwar society represented a complex and
manifold phenomenon. Regions having an evident multicultural profile such as Banat experienced a rapid
deterioration of the inter-societal relationships as a result of continuous ideological indoctrination and
propaganda. This paper attempts to analyze the concrete manifestations of two strong interlinked phenomena,
National Socialism and anti- Semitism, by investigating the related social attitudes. In this respect, the archive
documents and press will be used as main documentation sources.
Keywords: National Socialism, anti-Semitism, Banat, propaganda
RAPHAEL VAGO
Abstract
Leon Volovici’s memory is presented through personal and professional remarks, focusing on his personality,
his background in Romania and adjustment to a new life as a new immigrant in Israel, with continuing
activities and ties with his roots in Iaşi and in Romania. His vast contribution in several domains, especially to
intellectual history, nationalism, and anti-Semitism in Romania, and his work at the Yad Vashem and the
Hebrew University in Jerusalem are highlighted in remembrance of a dear friend and colleague.
Keywords: Leon Volovici, anti-Semitism, Romania, Israel
MICHAEL FINKENTHAL
Abstract
The study of complex systems in natural sciences has singled out the difficulties in predicting their evolution
even when the basic laws which govern them are purely deterministic. The behavior of social, cultural,
political systems, complex according to the same basic definitions, is even more difficult to predict. The
dominance of emergent phenomena and the subtle nature of the interactions between sub-systems seem to
make prohibitive any attempt in this sense; still, it would be extremely important to be able to offer some
insights, insofar as the evolution of cultural pattern and trends in more and more integrated/globalized
societies is concerned. A post factum analysis might offer the possibility to see how efficient the tools
developed in one domain can be in a different one; the present article represents such an attempt in the
specific context of the Romanian cultural life between the two World Wars of the last century.
Keywords: Leon Volovici, anti-Semitism, complex systems, interdisciplinary approach
CAMELIA CRĂCIUN
Abstract
The article briefly presents the work of the late Dr. Leon Volovici, focusing on his life-long interest in Jewish
Romanian intellectual history and on his concept of “double cultural rooting”. Starting from the theme of his
only biographical work, De la Iaşi la Ierusalim şi înapoi (From Iaşi to Jerusalem and back), the text aims at
connecting Dr. Volovici’s personal experience of “living between spaces” and traveling permanently between
Romania and Israel with his research interest in the Romanian-Jewish intellectual relation - ships. The article
eventually underlines Leon Volovici’s intellectual legacy.
Keywords: double identity, intellectuals, Iasi, Jerusalem, Jewish Romanian history
ŞTEFAN IONESCU
Abstract
As a researcher at Yad Vashem, the Vidal Sassoon Center, and the Elie Wiesel Commission for the Study of
the Holocaust, Leon Volovici had a major contribution—materialized in various books and articles — to the
investigation of the Romanian-Jewish intellectual history during the 20th century, especially in the field of
anti-Semitism and Holocaust. Additionally, Leon Volovici played a decisive role in spreading awareness on
the Romanian chapter of anti-Semitism and Holocaust and inspiring generations of young scholars through his
work as editor of memoirs, diaries, and essays, as well as professor and mentor of students at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, the Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, the University of Bucharest, and the
University of Iaşi.
Keywords: Leon Volovici, major scholar, anti-Semitism, Holocaust
GEORGE VOICU
Abstract
The premise of the study is that most of the works signed by Leon Volovici exhibit a certain leitmotif at the
forefront of his intellectual demarche, in some cases evident, in other subtle, namely the topic of the JewishRomanian double identity / double cultural belonging. According to Leon Volovici, this double identity /
double cultural belonging can be beneficial from an intellectual perspective, but it can also be — under special
circumstances, such as an anti-Semitic environment or in the case of a break in the Jewish family tradition —
a source of inner tensions and even of an identity crisis. The present study puts into the spotlight Leon
Volovici’s reflections on this topic, based on introspection or on the analysis of the biographies of Jewish
intellectuals, especially of Jewish Romanian-language writers.
Keywords: Leon Volovici, double identity, anti-Semitism, Judaism