King Carol of Rumania is the “spearhead” of anti-Semitism in that country, declared Dr. Samuel Margoshes, editor of the Jewish Day, returning from a European tour today on the Queen Mary.
The Rumanian monarch, said Dr. Margoshes, has made an agreement with anti-Semites in his own country for them to cease agitating against “his friend,” Mme. Magda Lupescu, in exchange for which he has granted a free hand in excesses against Jews.
“Every Jew knows of this arrangement,” he said. “It explains the King’s tolerance of terroristic anti-Semitic bands which before yelled against Lupescu and of late have kept quiet but have redoubled their activities against the Jews.”
Dr. Margoshes envisioned “an unprecedented pogrom wave” in Rumania unless great pressure from foreign countries was brought on the present Cabinet, which he characterized as “a bridge to an anti-Semitic coalition.
An even darker picture of the Jewish situation in Poland was depicted by the noted editor. The Polish government has today “dropped its mask and has shown its face as a thoroughly anti-Semitic government,” he asserted, charging that the boycott was being officially pushed by the government.
“It is ladling out treasury funds from the Treasury to pay for picket-lines against Jewish establishments,” he charged. “Walls of provincial government buildings bear inscriptions urging Christians to cease purchasing from Jews. Money is being loaned to Christian concerns to enable them to compete against Jewish store-keepers.”
The ancient racket of “protection money” flourishes in high quarters, Dr. Margoshes stated, Jews being forced to pay government officials huge sums of money in order to stave off pogroms. In one town which Dr. Margoshes visited, negotiations were going on to “pay off” the governor of the district so that Jewish lives could be spared.
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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.
