Assurances that the National Peasant Party, which is striving to establish a Corporative Peasant State, will never countenance anti-Semitism were given Jewish groups here in a statement issued today by former Minister of Education Professor Nicolae Costachescu, leader of the party.
“Among the fears which the idea of a Peasant State has evoked are those of the Jewish population, which wants to know whether the new state will be anti-Semitic,” Professor Costachescu said.
“I can assure the Rumanian Jews that the intellectuals who are at the head of the party are not and can never be anti-Semitic. Our party is neither against the Jews nor against the minorities, for they are a social and economic factor in the life of the country and must share equally with all the population.
“The Peasants Party has no room for anti-Semitism or for agitation against the minorities. The peasantry has no education, but the instincts of the masses are sound.
“The Jewish population need have no anxiety, for people who believe in democracy have no room for anti-Semitism,” the peasant leader concluded.
Under former premier Dr. Julius Maniu, the Peasant Party held power in Rumania from 1928 to 1933.
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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.
