American Committee on Religious Minorities Finds Roumania Guilty of Anti-jewish Excesses and Discrim

Religious Leaders Reach Conclusion After Thorough Survey; Agitation Danger to Peace in Europe; Appeals to Greek Orthodox Church in Behalf of Common Christianity; Citizenship and School Question Broad Field for Chicanery, Causing Discrepancy Between Law and Practice

The reports of anti-Jewish excesses in Roumania, the continuous anti-Semitic propaganda and the discriminations against the Jewish population in the questions of citizenship and the maintenance of schools, frequently reported by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and often denied by the Roumanian government and its ambassadors abroad, were confirmed in the report of the American Committee on the Rights of Religious Minorities made public yesterday. The complete report of the findings is now being prepared for the consideration of the entire Committee. Definite action will be taken when the members have studied the report in full.

A survey of conditions in Roumania, with a view to determing the status of the national minorities in that country and the veracity of the reports of the disabilities and persecutions from which they suffer, was made by a special deputation of the committee which spent six weeks in Roumania, both the Old Kingdom and the annexed territories. The committee made a comprehensive study, interviewed representatives of the government, political and religious leaders and carried on an independent investigation among all classes of the population. In addition to establishing the fact of an unusual anti-Semitic propaganda tolerated by the government, the committee charges that other religious minorities such as the Protestants, the Roman Catholics in the Banat, the Hungarian speaking Lutherans and the Baptists, are discriminated against in granting of state subsidies and in the distribution of land in accordance with the agrarian laws.

The committee acknowledges the fact that following the agreement between the Liberal party and the Union of Roumanian Jews, of which Dr. William Filderman is the leader, concluded during the elections in July 1927, the wave of violence receed but urges that the repression of the rights of minorities in Roumania is a serious danger to the peace of Europe and expresses its hope that “what is now only a temporary party move may become an accepted and sanctioned governmental policy.” The slight improvement of conditions is due, according to the report, to three causes: first, that the continuous anti-Jewish campaign for several years has so intimidated the Jews of Roumania that they absent themselves in large part from public life and the universities; secondly, virulence of the campaign has reacted unfavorably on Roumanian prestige abroad and thirdly the agreemen between the Liberal party and certain groups of Jewish voters in the 1927 election.

The report is particularly frank in its appeal to the Roumanian State Church to “purge itself of all anti-Semitism and bitterness toward people in Roumania of other racial stock.” It terms the National Christian Defense League, of which Prof. Alexander Cuza is the leader, and the National Roumanian Christian Students Union, sanctioned by the Roumanian State Chuch. Greek Orthodox, extremely unfortunate and declares that their program and publications are “a disgrace to our civilization, an insult to the name of Christian and a black spot on the fair name of Roumania.”

“We think it most unfortunate that students for the priesthood of the State Church should have taken part in demonstrations against fellow-citizens of other religious preference on racial background, on the basis of racial or religious prejudice,” the report declares. “We courteously, and, at the same time, urgently, call the attention of the Roumanian State Church to the situation, and in the name of our common Christianity urge that it purge itself of all anti-Semitism and bitterness toward people in Roumania of other racial stocks. We point out the danger of allowing the students in its theological schools to continue their agitation against Roumanian citizens of Jewish and other racial origins, either in the Regat or in the annexed territories. The hope of the future of Roumania and the peaceful solution of its problems will vanish from another generation unless the churches and schools contribute to their settlement, which can be secured only by tolerance toward all races and languages.

“There has never been in Roumania what has come to be technically known as a pogrom–that is, a massacre inspired and sanctioned by the State. There have been excesses, acts of terrorism and such molestation of peaceful elements of the population as to cause continual fear and unrest and generally to reflect badly upon those who are responsible for the peace and welfare of the country. There is moreover grave danger in allowing the youth in the universities and schools to conduct anti-Semitic agitations. Even worse is the complacency with which many people regard the attitude of certain professors and teachers in the schools and universities toward these movements, not only condoning, but even encouraging them. The students who develop in the atmosphere of anti-Semitic bitterness will be the citizens and the teachers of tomorrow, and will pay less attention to the pogrom-less record of their country than their predecessors have done. We believe that this bitterness is not representative of the enlightened opinion of the great body of university professors and school teachers of Roumania; nevertheless, it has been accepted with far too much complacency by the educated citizenship and leadership of the nation.

“The deputation is unanimous in feeling that the anti-Jewish propaganda, which has attracted special attention in Roumania, is part of a widespread and ugly manifestation of racial and religious hatred.” the report declares. “Roumania is not the only offender, and while the commission deals with conditions in Roumania it feels that the anti-Semitic riots which have recently occurred in Hungary illustrate how widespread this deplorable hatred is.”

The report continues: “The American Committee on Minorities has had occasion to study the situation in Roumania from time to time and your deputation has taken into consideration all former reports made and the replies of the Roumanian Government, and in addition has had access to other reports, such as those to the League of Nations and the various replies of the Roumanian Government. Besides this it has studied with care histories recently written of Roumania, and documents now being circulated through its Propaganda Department. In view of all the circumstances, while we believe that there has been some improvement in the condition of affairs and that the minorities are being treated with more justice than heretofore, we are also convinced, nevertheless, that a considerable body of public opinion in Roumania will support nothing less than the granting to the minorities of those rights guaranteed by the treaties and considered by all civilized nations as the minimum requisite for an independent existence of free people.

“The commission is of the opinion that there remains a wide discrepancy between the Constitution adopted by the State, which is liberal in many respects, and its enforcement through the officials, particularly noticeable in the administration in the outlying districts.

“What has been said of the Constitution also can be said of the laws relating to civil liberties. The courts have in many instances, some notorious, been either intimidated or deliberately used by groups for their own ends. The Codreanu and Totu murders,

The deputation consisted of: Dr. Henry A. Atkinson, General Secretary of the Church Peace Union, who is General Secretary of the committee: The Rev. R. A. McGowan of the Social Action Department of the National Catholic Welfare Conference; the Rev. John Howland Lathrop, minister of the Unitarian Church of the Saviour, Brooklyn; the Rev. Dr. Graham C. Hunter, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Fullerton, Cal., and M. Jules Jezequel, Paris representative of the Church Peace Union.