“Anti-Semites will remain free so long as they do not make trouble. We are always combatting anti-Semitism but circumstances and conditions are now favorable for agitators.” This was the reply given today by Virgil Madgearu, minister of agriculture, in parliament, to the criticism of the government’s treatment of the Jews by the Jewish deputy, Theodore Fischer.
Emphasizing that his criticism was based on the constitution which grants equal rights to all citizens, Fischer declared that “there is no difference between the methods of the present government and others as regards the Jews and leniency towards anti-Semitism.” He said that since 1922 anti-Semitism has had a free hand in Roumania “to play its barbarian game. No preventive measures were taken. Severe disorders occurred without punishment.”
Recalling the Borscha fire, Fischer was interrupted by a number of deputies and by Madgearu who wanted to know why the Jews had made so much noise abroad about Borscha. “All the promises made by the government,” Fischer continued, “were not fulfilled. I regret that he hopes we Jews put in the present government are vain.” He concluded with a demand that the difficulties with regard to the Jewish school question and also over other injustices to the Jewish population should be adjusted.
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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.
