The Rumanian delegation to the League of Nations assured the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today that Jews disfranchised by the Rumanian Government in the current citizenship revision were not in immediate danger of expulsion and would be free from molestation at least until 1940.
(This information follows a Bucharest dispatch to the J.T.A. yesterday which reported official proclamation of a decree placing all disfranchised persons and their children under the laws governing foreigners. The decree serves notice that all who have lost their citizenship must apply for residence permits within a month after they have been notified of their new status.)
A spokesman for the delegation, headed by Foreign Minister Nicolas Petrescu-Comnen and Minorities Commissioner Prof. Silviu Dragomir, asserted there was no cause for alarm about the fate of the denationalized Jews.
“These Jews,” he declared in an interview approved by the delegation for publication, “need not worry about deportation.” The Government, the spokesman explained, does not intend taking steps until the revision of citizenships is completed, which will take at least one year.
Disclosing that to date the citizenships of 90,000 Jewish families had been examined, of whom a certain percentage had been disfranchised, the spokesman for the delegation declared 130,000 additional Jewish families were still subject to examination. “It can be considered certain,” he added, “that action against those deprived of their citizenship will not be taken before 1940.”
It was further asserted that the Rumanian Government, even after completion of the revision, does not intend to take harsh measures against the disfranchised Jews, but will seek “humanitarian means” to deal with their emigration. This, it was indicated, might include international action to find emigration outlets.
Declaring that the “atmosphere in Rumania is becoming less and less anti-Semitic,” the spokesman explained that Rumanian anti-Semitism was due to the influence of central Europe, adding that measures by King Carol had eliminated all signs of anti-Jewish terrorism.
“The Rumanian Government,” he concluded, “does not intend to disfranchise Jews born in Rumania or those who participated in the war or for generations have been useful to the nation. These categories will always find their rights.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
