The Black Book the Sufferings of the Jews from Romania 1940-1944
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MATATIAS CARP THE BLACK BOOK THE SUFFERINGS OF THE JEWS FROM ROMANIA 1940-1944 PREFACE BY Dr. ALEXANDRU SAFRAN Chief Rabbi of the Mosaic Religion from Romania Vol. I THE LEGIONARY MOVEMENT AND THE REBELLION Translated from Romanian by Gerda Tanner THE SOCEC & Co. S. A. R PUBLISHING HOUSE BUCHAREST 1946 1 “I’ll be pleased if my history will be considered as useful by those who want to see the events as they really happened and as, according to man’s nature, they might be reproduced in the future, if not in the same way, at least in similar ones. Thucydides. History 2 PREFACE Memory plays a major role in the life of man. According to a 17-th century psychologist, its importance is so great that, “its absence would render most of our other capabilities useless” The role of memory is equally important in the life of communities. Even though the transfer of every code from the memory of individuals to the level of collective psychology to the required extent may be impossible, we have ample opportunity to observe that the function of remembering— which is in fact much more than static memory—must be determined not only by psychological intentions but also by a moral reason. In case of collective memory, a moral purpose has to be considered when practicing the memory’s abilities. It is this, which distinguishes the collective memory from the transience of individual memory. When a nation, or even mankind, acts on the stage of history, with the help of the strength provided by remembering, it should aim at this moral purpose. According to Judaism, the divine spirit is omnipresent in history, being expressed by invincible moral laws, which place primary importance on the function of remembering. The moral codes of Jewish life originate from the compelling necessity to remember. As individuals, we have to always remember events and accomplishments of our life; these, however, do not remain as isolated frames but join the living images, which keep our moral consciousness awake, and spur us on towards moral duties. Ever since the beginning, the bible has taught us, as a nation, to remember and not to forget: “Remember the days of the past, think of the years of bygone peoples!” We are forced to remember, and never forget the sorrows inflicted upon us by the Amalekytes a long time ago: “Remember how Amalek treated you when you came out of Egypt... do not forget this!” This Amalekite episode, should teach us a lesson. The Bible, while addressing the peoples, the nations of the world, makes each of us and all together passes us through a moral process, giving us an opportunity to judge, to reckon and to control our conscience. The ability to remember is at the essence of our Jewish existence. It is not by accident that a Jewish physiologist, Richard Semon, attempted to prove that memory’s abilities are not only of psychic nature, but that they are also found in the living matter. It was Semon who called for the first time Mneme (which in Greek means memory), the ability of the protoplasm, the living cell, to recognize record, keep and return impressions… We can state, not only from the points of view of psychology, but also from physiology: the "impressions" we have received during centuries of sufferings, have been ingrained in our being. These are often referred to in our terrible Books of Remembrance, which contain useful teachings for us, and strict moral lessons for others. At the end of the World War I, in 1919, Jewish thinkers, Nathan Birnbaum and Hugo Hermann, wrote a book on the sufferings of the Jews during the time of the Crusades. On the first page of the collection, the authors aptly cited the prophet Isaiah, ("and there was a great massacre in 3 Edom’s country"...), and a calling of the pious psalmodist, (Remember, oh Lord, the sons of Edom). “Remember!”—indeed, this is the recurring motif of our history. Our history is the history of spirituality and martyrdom that struggled for the great moral commandments, which were given first by us to mankind, and which we continuously state with the stubbornness of our religion. In order to vividly present the suffering of Jews during World War I, Nathan Birnbaum and Hugo Hermann resort to the kaleidoscope of the Middle Ages, considered to be the worst of all times. All the past sufferings of Israel pale into insignificance when compared to the martyrdom the Jewish peopled had gone through during World War II. The prophecy of the Talmud was fulfilled concerning the pre- messianic era, “the last sufferings will be so great that you will forget the previous ones”... It is enough to skim through “Remember!”—how Jewish this title is—written by the Soviet-Jewish writer, Ilya Ehrenburg to realize that: the fragments describing Jewish martyrdom overshadow the flames of mediaeval auto-da-fes. We should study the book written by Mr. Matatias Carp to be able to estimate the true pre-messianic extent of Jewish sufferings. This book was written with “blood and tears”. This profound compilation was saved in spite of the greatest dangers, created with an impressive competence. “The Black Book of the Sufferings of Romanian Jews” is a memorial commanding respect. It was erected with reverence in memory of the martyrs of Israel by the “Life General Secretary of the Sufferings of Romanian Jews”. Mr. Matatias Carp lived through each moment of the moving reality of which his book speaks. He deserves our gratitude for this. The moral purpose intended by the author in writing this valuable book will be also accomplished if the book itself contributes to the observance of one simple Sinaitic commandment: “Thou shalt not kill!” What else could the commandment be—asks Horia Carp, flag bearer of the struggle for justice—other than the first step towards recognizing the freedom of individuals! What else than the aspiration towards freedom, the commandment we received on Mount Sinai”…. From Mt. Zion, he used to sing of, from David’s castle where he is resting, Horia Carp, the enlightened protector of freedom, could be satisfied in the knowledge that the pious zeal of his son has helped people listen with their inner moral strength to the Sinaitic commandment, “Thou shalt not kill!” “Because the great commandment of the Jews, I repeat —says Horia Carp — was, “Thou shalt not kill!” First, people should learn to praise the lives of their brethren; only then can they set out towards the peaks, which bathe in the messianic light of brotherly love. Dr. ALEXANDRU SAFRAN Chief Rabbi of the Romanian Jewish Community Bucharest, January 21, 1946. 4 FOREWORD World War II has ended, but we still await the signing and stamping of the documents and “pieces of paper”, and the laying to rest with protocol celebrations. Nevertheless, the weapons have grown silent. The vain and criminal ambition which has despised and disdained all the moral and spiritual values of mankind for so long, now lies suppressed and in chains. Peace has to be guaranteed, peoples yearn for freedom, and laws need to be modified. Life goes on, new events are rapidly unfolding, old ones are quickly forgotten. During the last decade, however, too many events have happened being worth remembering; people must always be reminded of them, and they must never be forgotten. The most painful of these is what happened to the Jews of Europe. In this war—apart from the peoples of the Soviet Union who in this war gave history the most terrible example of power of sacrifice, shedding their blood with unselfishness, enthusiasm and adoration for the sake of their homeland and the high moral ideals— we cannot find any other nation in the world who has buried as many of her sons in the same fight for a homeland, for justice, liberty and humanity as Jews have—even if we consider all the Allied Nations together. However, the time has not yet come to write the complete history of Jewish sufferings between 1933 and 1944. Investigations, gathering of data and research have been carried out throughout the world (the Anti-Fascist Committee in Moscow, the Black Book Committee in America, the World Jewish Congress, etc.), but so far no one has been brave enough to create so fast a body of work that could be qualified as a historical piece. If we quickly browsed through the archives and records of any of the aforementioned organizations (e.g. the Romanian Division of the World Jewish Congress, which has collected a huge amount of information under the encouragement of Kiva Ornstein, chairman of its Research Committee), we could show how long it would take to compile a genuine scholarly work containing the whole era of persecution and suffering. Only after years of exhaustive research will teams of learned historians, working under the leadership of such outstanding personalities as Ilya Ehrenburg, Vasili Grossmann, Michoels (from the Anti-fascist Committee of Moscow), or Professor Albert Einstein and Shalom Asch (from the American Black Book World Committee) be able to present the history of Jewish suffering during the fascist hegemony. Science is slow. But we, who have experienced all the commotion, struggle and sufferings of this era, need to learn everything that happened so as to be able to form a conception of it which, although not holistic, is still sufficiently lucid and close to the truth. It is for this reason that I had already decided to write this book when I saw and felt that our cause, which is an organic component of the great world events, will surely win out, if history will turn the scales in our favor, or perish if it fails to do so.