Rumania Denounced for Arbitrary Halting of Emigration of Jews to Israel

The Rumanian Government’s arbitrary halting of emigration of Jews from Rumania to Israel was denounced here today by Itzhak Korn, president of the Association of Rumanian Jews in Israel, who is now visiting the United States. Mr. Korn emphasized that though the Rumanian authorities permitted 40,206 Jews to leave for Israel in 1951, in subsequent years the number was reduced to a trickle of a few hundred.

This ban on emigration has inflicted inhuman hardships on families, of which some members were permitted to emigrate while others were forced to stay behind, Mr. Koran stated. The emigration policy followed by the Rumanian Government even in the years of considerable emigration has resulted in splitting tens of thousands of families, he explained.

In response to applications for passports and exit permits made on behalf of entire families, passports and exit permits were issued that failed to include certain members of the family,” he reported. “More often than not the younger members were not included. Parents were permitted to leave, while their adult children, their supporters and providers, were denied that permission. In hundreds of cases husbands were separated from their wives, exit permits having been granted to one of the spouses only.

“Requests and appeals to the Rumanian authorities to permit the entire family to leave together, elicited the promise that before long the other members of the family would be permitted to leave as well. The Rumanian Government repeatedly assured the Jewish Community that emigrations would be permitted without restriction of age or profession.

GOVERNMENT CHARGED WITH BREAKING PROMISES TO JEWS

“The assurances and promises have not been honored,” Mr. Korn stressed. Moreover, even when the delays in issuing the exit permits to other members of the family aroused suspicion as to the sincerity and reliability of the Government’s promises, a process had already been set in motion that forced those who got the permits to depart alone. There was the warning of the Passport Directorate that passports not utilized within the specified time would be withdrawn without any possibility of renewal.

“The great majority of the prospective emigrants had to sell most of their belongings to defray the overcharged shipping fares as well as the exorbitant dues and taxes in the procurement of the many documents connected with emigration. Having been dismissed from their jobs on submitting the application for emigration, and their apartments having been taken over by the police with the issuance of the passports, they had no other way but to leave without the other members of the family,” Mr. Korn reported.

It is estimated that some 11,000-12,000 families in Rumania and Israel have been split in 1949-1951 emigration. These are husbands separated from their wives, aged and to a great extent sick parents from their children, and other close relatives dependent on each other striving and yearning to be reunited in Israel. The Rumanian Legaion in Israel and the Government offices in Rumania are flooded with thousands of applications and petitions to let spouses, parents and children, brothers and sisters, be reunited with their dear ones in Israel, Mr. Korn stated.

In January 1955 the Rumanian Government gave assurances that prompt action would be taken to let relatives rejoin their kin in Israel. Similar assurances have subsequently been given to many delegations which addressed themselves to Rumanian representatives abroad. As indicated by the immigration figures, only a few families have since been reunited in Israel.