M. Vayda-Voyvod, who was Minister of the Interior in the Maniu Government, has succeeded in forming a Cabinet in succession to the Jorga Government, M. Titulescu, the London Ambassador having again failed to from a Government.
M. Vayda-Voyvod was sent for by the King on Sunday, but it was not believed then that he would succeed in forming a Cabinet. This expectation has proved wrong, however, and the new Ministers were sworn in to-day.
M. Vayda-Voyvod, in addition to being Prime Minister, returns to his old office of Minister of the Interior.
The new Government is practically a Government of the National Peasants’ Party, containing many of the members of the Maniu administration.
M. Mironescu, who succeeded M. Maniu as Prime Minister, returns to the office of Minister for Foreign Affairs, which he held in the Maniu Government.
M. Lugosianu, who was Under-Secretary to the Prime Minister in the Maniu Government, becomes Minister of Education.
M. Vayda-Voyvod was extremely unpopular with the Jews of Roumania during his term of office as Minister of the Interior, because of the belief that he was in relations with the antisemitic Iron Guard.
The Kishineff Yiddish daily “Unser Zeit”, which is edited by Deputy Landau, one of the leaders of the Club of Jewish Deputies, in commenting this week on the fall of the Jorga Government, which it described as the worst Government Roumania had in recent years, said that even under the Maniu Government the Jews had been subjected to plenty of suffering as a result of the activities of the Minister of the Interior, M. Vayda-Voyvod, who flattered and flirted with the leaders of the Iron Guard.
M. Vayda-Voyvod himself, however, claims that he is a friend of the Jews, and in one interview with the J.T.A. during his term of office, he claimed that he maintained relations with the antisemites only to be able to know what actions they were contemplating, and thus prevent them doing damage.
Speaking frankly, he said, I prefer as Minister of the Interior to have the reputation of antisemite rather than of a philo-Semite. Because if the antisemites regard me as a philo-Semite there will be no holding them. They will do everything they can to cause trouble. I will not even be able to talk to them. And it is not merely by determination to keep order that I can succeed in doing it. I can’t post a gendarme outside every Jewish house. But if I have been given the reputation an antisemite, the legend is very useful to me. With such a reputation I can call the antisemites here and talk with them and persuade them to moderate their activities.
M. Lugosianu, the new Minister of Education, is an extremely sympathetic personality, who is regarded by Roumanian Jewry with much respect as an honest and liberal-minded politician. In an interview with the J.T.A. during the time of the Maniu Government, he declared himself a determined opponent of antisemitism, only he complained that in Roumania it was difficult for a Government to control the situation. We have to deal, he said, with the existing officialdom and the existing police force and judiciary, all people trained in the old school. We cannot replace them entirely by a new set of officials. Where are we to get them from? It takes time to train officials. If we had police, judges, or officials like the English, we should have soon put down antisemitism, but unfortunately Roumania has not yet attained that happy state, but I and those who believe with me are working towards that end.
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