Mass expulsion of Jewish lawyers from bar associations in such cities as Jassy, Botosani, Galatz and Piatra-Neamti, were criticized here by G. Perieteanu, president of the Rumanian Bar Association, as contrary to provisions of the law.
Announcing his stand on the issue in a statement to Rumanian newspapers, Perieteanu declared that while efforts to “nationalize” the legal profession would be continued, the illegal action of some bar associations in expelling all its Jewish members would not be allowed to stand.
The bar leader stressed in this connection the fact that even the Nazi Government in 1933 did not resort to wholesale deprivation of the rights of Jewish attorneys to continue to practice their profession, specifically exempting those admitted to the bar before 1914 as well as combatants in the World War. A similar course, he pointed out, was adopted by the anti-Semitic Goga Government in this country. In Bucharest, he said, 32 out of a total of 1,500 Jewish lawyers were allowed to continue to practice. Instructions have again been issued to the bar associations to resume revision of their membership lists on a strictly individual basis only.
Jewish circles, however, voice skepticism about the statement, declaring that it remained to be seen whether decisive action would follow it. It was recalled that 51 Jewish lawyers have been expelled in Galatz, nearly 100 in Jassy, 30 in Botosani, 14 in Piatra-Neamti and about 500 young lawyers in Bucharest.
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.
