Speaking for the Jewish Party deputies in the Rumanian parliament, on the occasion of the opening of its second session, Dr. Eduard Manolescu reviewed the current situation of the Jews in the country including the major problems which must still be resolved with the assistance of the government.
Manolescu, who is also vice-president of the Union of Rumanian Jews, thanke the government for its expressed support of Jewish aims in Palestine and singled out the Soviet Union for additional praise for understanding the plight of the Jewish survivors. Finally, he reviewed the history of the Jews in Rumania during the past 500 years, describing the persecutions they suffered under earlier regimes, culminating in the mass deportation and killing of thousands and the withdrawal of their civil rights. He thanked the present regime for reversing this trend in the nation’s history.
Listing the specific problems which have bedeviled the Jewish community since the liberation, Manolescu pointed out that the last session of the legislature restored citizenship rights to the Jews. However, he said, there still remained to be solved the problems of pensions for widows and orphans of Jews killed in pograms and as a result of deportation, as well as pensions for persons disabled during such actions. In addition, the parliament must provide for a state subsidy for Jewish health and cultural institutions, he stressed, and for the trial of the perpetrators of the Jassy massacre of 1941.
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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.