Rumania Repudiates and Condemns an Anti-semitic Tract

Ambassador Nicolai lonescu of Rumania has informed the World Jewish Congress that his government categorically repudiates and condemns an anti-Semitic tract that has appeared in Bucharest and that appropriate measures have been taken to halt its circulation in Rumania.

The envoy made that clear to Rabbi Arthur Schneier, chairman of the WJC American Section, who had called his attention to the booklet defaming Jews and expressed concern. Schneier had requested the strongest government intervention to halt dissemination of the material. Among other things, it accuses Rumanian Chief Rabbi Moses Rosen of being an agent of a universal Jewish cabal.

Ionescu explained to Schneier that the publication was neither inspired nor sanctioned by the Rumanian authorities and in fact was not printed in Rumania but illegally introduced from another country. He noted that there are many organizations outside Rumania, most of them fascist or irredentist, that cling to the condemned attitudes of the Nazi era and try to impair good relations between the U.S. and Rumania. He said the Rumanian authorities will not allow this poison to be spread.

“Rumania wishes to reaffirm its commitment to maintain good relations between our countries and with the Jewish community based on mutual understanding and friendly and open cooperation,” the Ambassador told Rabbi Schneier. Schneier observed that it was “reassuring to know that the Rumanian authorities will not permit a renaissance of anti-Semitism to raise its ugly head in any form that would directly effect the Rumanian Jewish community of 35,000.”