Rumania Tightens Emigration Rules; Rate of Jewish Exits Drops Sharply

Rumanian Jews seeking emigration to Israel have been seriously affected by a general tightening of exit policies that apply to all Rumanian nationals, Washington Post correspondent Dan Morgan reported from Bucharest today. The post-war outflow that reduced the number of Jews in Rumania from 400,000 to 100,000 since 1945 has been virtually halted. Last year only 1200 were granted exit permits and according to informed diplomats this rate has declined in the first months of 1970, Mr. Morgan said. The tightening of restrictions on emigration and travel abroad in general by Rumanians is attributed to government policies encouraging population growth and the need to ease the strain on the country’s monetary reserves. Hardest hit by the policies are Germans, the second largest ethnic minority in the country after Hungarians. Some teachers, students, journalists and others in sensitive jobs have lost their posts after applying for emigration, Mr. Morgan reported.

He cited the case of a gifted young Jewish mathematics student who lost his place at the university when his parents applied for emigration to Israel. Mr. Morgan said there was evidence that Arab governments are trying to exert pressure on the Bucharest regime to curtail the departure of Jews for Israel. Arab officials have requested information on the number of Jewish emigres. Rumania is the only Communist bloc country that did not sever diplomatic relations with Israel during the June, 1967 Arab-Israeli war and important trade pacts have been signed between the two nations since then. There have been no officially inspired anti-Zionist campaigns as in Poland and the Soviet Union and Rumanian Jews enjoy a large degree of cultural and religious freedom.