The situation of the Jews in all Communist satellite countries is “black and despairing,” according to a survey prepared by the American Jewish Committee. The survey will be published in the American Jewish year Book which will appear next Tuesday.
“In three countries–Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Rumania–the campaigns to bring about the systematic extinction of Jewish cultural, religious and communal life have reached such proportion as to threaten thousands of Jews with slavery and ultimate death,” the A.J.C. report says. It presents the following summary of its survey:
BULGARIA: Only a small minority of the 49,000 Jewish survivors of war and Nazism remain after the great exodus of 1948-49. The number of Jews in Bulgaria was officially stated to be almost 10,000 while unofficial Jewish sources estimate the Jewish population as 6,000 to 8,000. Between five-sixths and seven-eighths of the post-war Bulgarian Jewish community have emigrated to Israel. Emigrants from Bulgaria stated that anti-Semitism, long absent from the country, is on the increase. The Zionist movement is liquidated, Jewish schools are closed and Jewish welfare institutions “nationalized.”
CZECHOSLOVAKIA: The Jewish population in this country is about 15,000, about 4,000 of whom live in Prague. Like other religious organizations in Czechoslovakia, Jewish religious groups have been reduced to a few isolated congregations. Of the 35 synagogues in Prague, only three were open. The policy of this country is veering toward outright anti-Semitism.
POLAND: Stringent measures were taken by the government to force the liquidation of the organized Jewish community. The total Jewish population in Poland is now approximately 45,000, after a total of about 30,000 had left for Israel. The economic plight of the Jews was more acute here than any other of the Iron Curtain satellites. Economically, the Jews are suffering from increased anti-Semitism. Jewish religious life was at a minimum and except for Lodz and Warsaw. the few remaining congregations were without rabbis.
YUGOSLAVIA: Of the pre-war Jewish population of more than 80,000, only 14,000 survived the war and Nazi occupation. It is estimated that half this number have left the country for Israel. Economically, the Jews are better off in Yugoslavia than any of the other Iron Curtain countries. However the religious life among the Jews has been sharply curtailed and there was only one rabbi still remaining in Belgrade who conducted services.
RUMANIA: Of an estimated 350,000 Jews living in Rumania in July 1949 about 250,000 still remain. About 80,000 were permitted to leave for Israel. Jews generally have had their property taken and have been left destitute and without employment because of the wholesale nationalization a small trades and business.
Anti-Semitism, always a problem in Rumania, continued unabated although incidents are never reported in the press. Religious services are continuing but rabbis have been forced to promote official “anti-imperialist” and anti-Zionist lines and participate in repeated “peace campaigns.” The Jewish cultural life has been taken over by the Communist Party although some semblance of a Jewish press still remains.
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