The death Saturday morning of Octavian Goga, who headed an anti-Semitic Government for six weeks early this year, leaves the Rumanian anti-Semitic movement virtually without a leader.
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, leader of the outlawed anti-Semitic Fascist Iron Guard, is serving a six-month prison term and is scheduled to be tried soon on charges of treason. The spiritual head of Rumanian anti-Semitism, Prof. Alexander Cuza, co-leader with Goga of the National Christian Party, is 82 years old and deemed too old for active organization and direction.
The 57-year-old ex-Premier, who also was a poet, suffered a paralytic stroke on Thursday. Goga was called by King Carol to form a Government on Dec. 28 despite the fact that his party had polled only nine per cent of the votes in the parliamentary elections of Dec. 20. Goga formed a cabinet composed largely of anti-Semitic elements, and immediately embarked on a program to eliminate Jews from all aspects of national life. During his brief reign, scores of Jewish and democratic newspapers were suppressed, many Jews were deprived of Government posts, Jewish professionals were arbitrarily ousted from associations in which membership was necessary to continue in practice.
Parliament was dissolved by King Carol at Goga’s behest and scheduled new elections were called off. Anti-Semitic rioting broke out in many parts of the country. The League of Nations instituted action to safeguard the interests of minorities, guaranteed by the post-war treaty under which Rumania annexed several provinces from neighboring nations. International complications, coupled with imminent economic chaos as a result of the anti-Semitic program, brought about Goga’s downfall on Feb. 10 and his replacement by a military dictatorship with Patriarch Miron Christea as Premier.
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.
