(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
A summary of the present situation of the Jews in Roumania and the steps taken by the Joint Foreign Committee and the Alliance Israelite Universelle to relieve the situation was presented yesterday by Lucien Wolf, secretary of the Committee, at the annual meeting of the Board of Jewish Deputies.
Mr. Wolf declared that the Joint Foreign Committee had been chiefly occupied in recent months with the situation in Roumania. While the disorders in the universities and in the streets have been suppressed an inflammatory agitation, carried on by the anti-Semites under the leadership of Alexander Cuza, continued with impunity. New pamphlets and proclamations, which contain scandalous attacks against Jews were circulated throughout Roumania. The country was Hooded with illustrated postcards in which the Jews are accused of ritual murder. The anti-Jewish outbreaks were connected with the protests abroad regarding the previous disturbances. These protests were attributed by Roumanians to alleged misrepresentations on the part of Roumanian Jews.
The government organs have openly threatened the Jews with pogroms if they fail to deny the reports of the disturbances. The speech of Rabbi Niemirower in the Roumanian Senate and the article by Deputy Meyer Ebuer were due to this pressure which is another illustration of the effectiveness of this method, Mr. Wolf declared.
The Secretary of the Joint Foreign Committee further stated that he had addressed a memorandum to the Roumanian government in which the situation of the Jews of Roumania was reviewed and the opinion was expressed that the insecurity of the Jewish population in Roumania constitutes a violation of the minority treaties.
A reply to this memorandum was promised about February 15, but has so far not been forthcoming.
Similar action was taken by the Alliance Israelite Universelle and the Committee of Jewish Delegations in Paris who have presented a petition to the League of Nations in which the intervention of the League for the protection of Roumanian Jews was formally invoked.
The Joint Foreign Committee has decided that should the correspondence of the Committee with the Roumanian government fail to bring results, it will take steps in other directions in order to help the Jews in Roumania.
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