Emigration of Bessarabians from “Old Rumania” continues and is helping to wipe out the economic burden created by the influx of refugees. By July 30, according to an official announcement, 38,442 persons, mostly Jews and industrial workers, left Rumania and entered Soviet-occupied Bessarabia by the bridge over the River Pruth at Galatz.
Allowings for the several other frontier towns along the Pruth–and also for the thousands of unregistered persons who crossed the Pruth during the first few days afters the occupation–observers estimate that a total of from 60,000 to 70,000 persons have abandoned Rumania and returned to their homes in Bessarabia.
Wether or not all remaining Bessarabian Jews in Rumania will be expelled to Soviet territory has not yet been decided by the Government. Thirt-two Jewish businessmen and merchants who recently received orders from the Interior Ministry to leave the country within five days have obtained a stay until a general policy has been decided on. One legal difficulty that may perhaps save bourgeois Jews from concentration camps in Bessarabia is that by sending to Bessarabia Jews who are Rumanian citizens, the Rumanian Government will, in effect, be recognizing the legality of the Russian seizure of Bessadarabi and that is one thing that the Government wishes to avoid.
On the other hand, Foreign Minister Mihail Manoilesu, in a speech last night, declared that the Government was determined to settle the Jewish question by “firm and decisive measures.”
As if to emphasize his statement, it was officially announced today that all Jews employed by the Ministry of Interior in Bucharest have already been dismissed and that Jewish employes would shortly be removed from local services as well.
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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.
