Minorities Organ Deplores Condition of Jewish Populaion in Transylvania

Educational Opportunities Have Been Reduced to Minimum (Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

A review of the position of the Jews of Transylvania appears in the “Glasul Minoritatilor,” the “Mirror of the Minorities,” in the Roumanian language.

The paper says that before the war there was no country in Europe, with the exception of Russia, in which the position of the Jews was so bad as in Roumania. In 1912 only 4,600 of the 241,000 Jews in the country had the right of citizenship; 98 per cent, of the Jewish population were deprived of all rights and were subjected to the arbitrary action of the authorities.

When Transylvania came under Roumanian rule, the Jewish population experienced a distinct change for the worse. One of the most apparent effects was that produced on the Jewish school system. The Jewish schools were refused public rights, and in many cases it was made almost impossible for them to function. In 1923-24 the Jewish Lyceum in Temesvar had 421 pupils. This year it has only 272, In 1923-24 the Jewish Secondary School in Cluj had 660 pupils; this year it has only 302. The Medical Faculty at Cluj University has this year only one Jewish student, a girl student, whereas before the anti-Semitic excesses took place at the university there were about sixty Jewish students in the Medical Faculty. In Oradeo Mare there were 430 Jewish students in the secondary school last year and now there were only 246. In the Roumanian Universities, the number of Jewish students at present is much below the proportion of Jews to the population. At the same time many of the big endowments bequeathed to the universities came from Jews like Elias Jacques and Aristid Blanc.

In the matter of State subsidies to the Jewish communities, the Jews take lowest place of all, obtaining the smallest subsidy, whereas according to population they are the second largest community, coming immediately after the Greek-Catholic population. The Greek Catholic Community with thirteen million souls, obtained a subsidy of 290 million lei. The Protestant Church, with 700,000 souls, obtained nearly nineteen million lei. The Jews with 847,700 souls, obtained only 400,000 lei. Even the Mahomedans, with 200,000 souls, obtained nearly four million lei and the Unitarians with 75,000 souls obtained two and a half million lei. In proportion to their numbers the Jewish communities should have received in State subsidies last year twenty-five million lei.