Recent Anti-semitic Outbreaks at Jassy University and in Bucharest Described in Roumanian Papers Jus

The various anti-Semitic student outbreaks that occurred in Roumania during the month of December are described in the Roumanian newspapers that have just arrived in this country.

A group of students who were dissatisfied with an item that appeared about their congress in the newspaper “Ellenzek” of Cluj, broke all the windows in that newspaper’s building and then wrecked several Jewish shops in the neighborhood, reports the ” Bukowiner Volkszeitung” of December 13. As a result the property of the Cafe Metropol was completely destroyed to the extent of 700,000 lei, the Fischer firm sustained a loss of 180,000 lei, the Erdely firm 100,000 lei, the Dazkal firm 450,000 lei, Judowitz firm 35,000 lei, Berenyi firm 15,000 lei, Safruth firm 14,000 lei, and Auslander 10,000 lei.

The Community Temple on Calea Regele Ferdinand was profaned and devastated. The government officials were advised of that and promised to take precautionary measures against any attempt of attack, yet the Cuzists have done their disruptive work unmolested, points out the “Curierul Israelit.” Yet the official communication mentions that only a few windows were broken in Cluj.

The “Dimineata” of December 23 tells of the riot which students caused in the National Theatre of Bucharest on December 20 when they discovered that one of the performers that evening was a Jewess, Miss Leny Caler. The affair was arranged to commemorate the second anniversary of the death of Robert de Flers, a great friend of Roumania. France was represented through its minister in Bucharest, and the Roumanian government by two ministers, all of whom had to leave the theatre when the riot broke out. “It was an act which has shamed Roumania before the civilized world,” says the newspaper.

That the recent anti-Semitic student congress in Roumania was held without the consent of the university authorities appears from a statement by Professor N. Jorga, rector of Bucharest University, which is reproduced in a recent issue of the Czernowitz “Bukowiner Volkszeitung.” The statement reads:

“The rector wishes to state that he received neither a request from the students nor a notice from the Ministry of Education with regard to the convening of a student congress in Craiova. There could be no demand from the Ministry of Education upon the University, since the latter insofar as its inner affairs are concerned has the right to act for itself. Therefore the responsibility for this congress—just as for the one in Oradea—falls entirely upon those who approved it and organized it.”

Professor Jorga also brought an interpellation with regard to this matter in the Chamber of Deputies, during which he said that “nationalism means order, but Christianity means tolerance and kindness.”

This statement by Prof. Jorga, says the “Volkszeitung,” is added proof that the anti-Semitic student movement has been organized by people who have no connection with the University of Bucharest.

How Jewish students were mistreated by their Christian fellow-students in the Jassy University on December 16th was told by some of the students themselves to a writer in the Kishineff Yiddish daily, “Unser Zeit.” Among other things he tells:

“At the end of Professor Shumilianu’s lecture that day, the first one to try to leave the classroom was the student Wolfensohn. But the Christian students began to beat him in barbaric fashion and to yell at him for pushing. Afterwards they started beating other Jewish students. A turmoil ensued and the Jews began to run to the exit. A narrow stairway leads from the classroom. On both sides of the stairway, students armed with sticks were standing and hitting the Jews over their heads. The Christian students also began to push the Jews down the stairs. Many of them fainted and fell to the floor. Standing over their bodies they pushed the other Jews, and in that manner they reached the balcony where many Jewish students were sitting. A group of students came along and virtually threw them off the balcony.

“Many fainted. A young lady grabbed a glass of water, in order to give a student who had fainted a drink. But an assistant slapped her over the hand and threw the glass down. In general the Jewish girl students weren’t spared and one of them was even seriously wounded. One student ran up to Professor Shumilianu and asked him to take measures to stop the fight, upon which the anti-Semitic professor began to yell, ‘It’s none of your business! No one asks you.’ Then Shumilianu asked the student Misis, ‘Aren’t you ashamed to be a Jew?’ And when the latter replied, ‘No,’ Shumilianu slapped him twice.

“It is interesting that when the Jewish students wanted to send on Tuesday a dispatch to Deputy Landau in which they reported the situation, they were told in the post-office, ‘We cannot accept lies’.”