The Legionnaires' Rebellion and the Bucharest Pogrom occurred in Bucharest, Romania, between the 21st and the 23rd of January, 1941. Status Capital of Romania Mayor Adriean Videanu, since 2005 Area 228 km² Population (2003) 1,929,615[1] Density 9131. ... This article is about the year. ...

Background

Following World War I, Romania gained many new territories, turning it into "Greater Romania". However, the annexation of these territories came with the condition of granting rights to ethnic minorities. The Romanians complied grudgingly, with great resentment among all social classes, especially concerning giving rights to the Jewish population. The new territories, especially Bessarabia and Bukovina, included large numbers of Jewish people, whose presence stood out, because their clothing, customs, and language were different from those common in Romania. Intellectuals, a wide array of political parties and the clergy led an anti-Semitic campaign; many of these eventually came to cast their political lot in alliance with Nazi Germany. Combatants Allied Powers: British Empire France Italy Russia United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria Germany Ottoman Empire Commanders Ferdinand Foch Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Paul... Greater Romania (1920 - 1940) Greater Romania (România Mare) generally refers to the territory of Romania in the years between the First and Second World Wars, the greatest territorial exent of a united country of ethnic Romanians, on historically Romanian lands. ... This article or section should be merged with ethnic group Ethnicity is the cultural characteristics that connect a particular group or groups of people to each other. ... This article describes some ethnic, historic, and cultural aspects of the Jewish identity; for a consideration of the Jewish religion, refer to the article Judaism. ... 1927 map of Bessarabia from Charles Upson Clarks book Bessarabia or Bessarabiya (Basarabia in Romanian, Besarabya in Turkish) was the name by which the Imperial Russia designated the eastern part of the principality of Moldavia ceded by the Ottoman Empire to Russia in the aftermath of the Russo-Turkish... Bukovina (Ukrainian: , Bukovyna; Romanian: Bucovina; German and Polish: Bukowina; see also other languages) is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains. ... The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ...

Beginning in the late 1930s, Romania become more and more a satellite of Nazi Germany, and all parties seeking power in Romania sought after supporters in Germany's ruling spheres.

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (August 1939) gave the Soviet Union a green light to take back Bessarabia in June 1940, and in August 1940 Germany and Italy's mediation of Romania's disputes with Hungary about Transylvania (resulting in the Second Vienna Award), and with Bulgaria about Dobruja (resulting in the Treaty of Craiova), caused large areas of Romania to be transferred , Hungarian or Bulgarian control. Molotov signs the German-Soviet non-aggression pact. ... Map of Romania with Transylvania in yellow Transylvania (Romanian: or Transilvania; Hungarian: ; German: ; Serbian: or Erdelj / Ердељ) is a historical region in the center of Romania. ... The Second Vienna Award was the second of two Vienna Awards. ... Dobruja, or sometimes Dobrudja (Dobrogea in Romanian, Добруджа—transliterated Dobrudzha—in Bulgarian, Dobruca in Turkish), is the territory between the lower Danube river and the Black Sea, including the Danube Delta, Romanian coast and the northernmost part of the Bulgarian coast. ... The Treaty of Craiova was signed on September 7, 1940 between Romania and Bulgaria. ...

The Romanian people, traumatized and frustrated by giving up these areas without a war, scapegoated the Jews. During the Romanian Army's withdrawal from Bessarabia, some of the local, non-Romanian, residents demonstrated their joy, and even attacked and injured the soldiers. The reports defined all of these as "Jews", although among them were Ukrainians, Russians, pro-Communists, and newly-released criminals. One can assume that some of the people, who suffered from Romanian anti-Semitism, welcomed the new regime, but some feared it, and even left those parts, so they would not live under Communist rule. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

The anti-Semitic legislation that began with the "Jew Codex" in Romania, and the establishment of the National Legionary State government, which set in motion the laws of Romanianization, which deprived Jewish people of their property and distributed among supporters of the new regime, created an atmosphere in which anti-Semitism was seen as legitimate, and even invited.

Politically, control was in the hands of the "Conducător", General Ion Antonescu, and of an Anti-semitic fascist government, assembled by Horia Sima, who headed the Legionnaire movement, the Iron Guard (earlier the Legion of the Archangel Michael; throughout this article, only the name "Legionnaires" is used). There was a great deal of tension between the leaders due to the theft from the Jewish population. Antonescu believed the robbery was done in a fashion detrimental to the Romanian economy, and the stolen property did not benefit the government, only the Legionnaires and their associates. Besides the Jewish issue, the Legionnaires, achieving power after many years of persecution by the former regime of King Carol II (which even killed their former leader, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu), were vengeful toward anyone associated with the regime. Conducător (literally in Romanian, Leader) was the title used officially in two instances by Romanian heads of state. ... A General is an officer of high military rank. ... Office Prime Minister, Conducător of Romania Term of office from September 4, 1940 until August 23, 1944 Profession Soldier, politician Political party none, formally allied with the Iron Guard Spouse Rasela Mendel Date of birth June 15, 1882 Place of birth PiteÅŸti, Romania Date of death June 1... Fascism (IPA: ) is a radical political ideology that combines elements of corporatism, authoritarianism, nationalism, militarism, anti-liberalism and anti-communism. ... Horia Sima (July 3, 1907-1993) was the second and last leader of Romanias Iron Guard in the Second World War. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The King of Romania was the title of the ruler of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947 when Romania was proclaimed a republic. ... Carol II of Romania, (15 October 1893 – 4 April 1953) reigned as King of Romania from June 8, 1930 until September 6, 1940. ... Corneliu Zelea Codreanu Corneliu Zelea Codreanu (born Corneliu Zelinski; September 13, 1899 – November 30, 1938) was the charismatic leader of the Romanian ultra-Nationalist and strongly anti-Semitic movement in the period between the two World Wars, The Iron Guard (Garda de Fier) or The Legion of the Archangel Michael...

Preparations for the Rebellion

The disagreement between Antonescu and the Iron Guard about the robbery of the Jews was not about the robbery itself, but about the method, and the final destination of the stolen property. Antonescu held that the robbery should be done gradually, through an orderly process of passing anti-Semitic laws. The Legionnaires, however, were keen on robbing as much as possible, as quickly as possible, utilising methods based not in law, but in terror, murder and torture. The Legionnaires had an additional quarrel, with the German minority in Romania. According to the laws of Romanianization, the Jews were forced to sell many of their businesses, a fact used by the Romanians to purchase those businesses for close to nothing. The German minority introduced a level of competition, by offering the Jews a better price than the one offered by the Legionnaires (on average, about a fifth of the real worth). The local Germans had capital received as a loan from Germany, Romanian money paid to the Germans for keeping military units in their territory (to protect them from the Soviets). Antonescu demanded the Legionnaires to cease their terror tactics, and the Legionnaires began plotting to usurp Antonescu and take over sole control of the country.

Initially, the Legionnaires began "defaming" Antonescu, mentioning his family relation to Jews (his stepmother and his ex-wife, whom he had married when was on a diplomatic mission to France, were Jews). They also accused him of being linked to the Freemasons. According to Nazi propaganda, the Freemasons were enemies of humanity, second only to the Jews in the wickedness. American Square & Compasses Freemasonry is a worldwide fraternal organization. ... This cartoon features an Allied minister, who says he has just finished blessing bombs and who now intends to go to a protest meeting over the V-1 flying bomb. ...

In the 20 days preceding the rebellion the level of anti-Semitic propaganda was greatly increased, using all the of tools at the Legionnaires disposal. The propaganda emphasized the need for solving the "Jewish problem".

Horia Sima and his comrades sought the sympathy of the Nazi regime in Germany, and built upon the ideological similarities between their movemment and the Nazi movement, and had quite a few supporters within the Nazi establishment.

General Antonescu, who had the support of Romania's military, met with Adolf Hitler on January 14, 1941, in Germany. During this meeting, Antonescu promised Hitler the cooperation of Romania in a future German conflict with the Soviet Union, and gained Hitler's silent agreement to eliminating Antonescu's opponents in the Legionnaire Movement. Hitler redirects here. ... January 14 is the 14th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ...

On January 17-19, the Legionnaire movement conducted a series of "lectures" throughout Romania, designed to demonstrate the National Socialist nature of their movement, and to show Hitler their loyalty.

Antonescu took measures to curb the actions of the Legionnaires, and on 19 January issued an order cancelling the position of Romanization Commissars: well-paying jobs, held by Legionnaires. Additionally, Antonescu fired the persons responsible for terror acts committed by Legionnaires, from Minister of the Interior Constantin Petrovicescu, to the commanders of the Security Police and the Bucharest Police. He appointed loyal military men in their place. The military also took control of strategic installations, such as telephone exchanges, police stations and hospitals. The district officers, Legionnaries, were called to the capital for an important economic consultation, and were arrested in the middle of the meeting. January 19 is the 19th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... A Verizon Central Office in Lakeland, Florida at night. ... A typical suburban police station in the United States (this one is in San Bruno, California). ... A physician visiting the sick in a hospital. ...

The Rebellion

On January 20, 1941, a German officer was murdered in Bucharest by a Greek citizen. This affair remains unsolved to this day, but it was the spark that lit the Legionnaire Rebellion. As previously mentioned, Antonescu had replaced the commanders of the Security Police and the Bucharest Police, but their subordinates, who received their orders from Horia Sima, refused to allow the new commanders to take their place. Legionnaires armed with firearms captured the Ministry of the Interior, police stations and other government and municipal buildings, and opened fire on soldiers trying to regain these buildings. January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ...

Antonescu's public addresses, intended to calm the public, were not published or broadcast, as the media was under Legionnaire control. The Legionnaires called the people to rise up against the Freemasons and the Jews (hinting at Antonescu's relations).

The people who were possible targets for assassination by the Legionnaires were held, for their own protection, at the Ministry of the Interior. The Legionnaires' leaders, headed by Horia Sima, went underground. The Legionnaires held mass drafts at neighboring villages, and masses of peasants flooded the streets of Bucharest, answering the call to defend to country against the Jews and Freemasons. The Legionnaires took over gas stations and tankers, and used burning oil cans as a weapon against the soldiers. Only 15 loyal officers remained with Antonescu in his palace.

For two days, the Romanian Military defended itself, and tried to besiege the Legionnaires' strongholds, but did not initiate attacks, and gave them a free hand. During this time the Legionnaires published announcements claiming that the Jews had "revolted". During the days of the rebellion, the Legionnaires' newspapers (the only ones active during this time) engaged in vigorous propaganda against the Jews. At the end of the articles would appear the motto - "You know who to shoot".

The Bucharest Pogrom

[1]

The Bucharest Pogrom was not a side effect of the rebellion, but a parallel event, purposefully organized to give legitimacy to the rebellion, and to equate the Legionnaires' opponents with Jew sympathizers.

Many parties took part in the riots against the Jews: police officers loyal to the Legionnaires, various Legionnaire organizations, the workers' union, student union, high-school students, gypsies, and criminals. The attacks on the two Jewish boroughs (Dudeşti and Văcăreşti) began a few hours before the rebellion. Minister Yashinsky gave the order to set the Jewish neighborhoods on fire, and the masses stormed Jewish homes, synagogues, and other institutions. The Legionnaires headquarters became torture centers, and Jews kidnapped from their homes where brought to them. Jews' homes were set on fire, and the Jews themselves were concentrated in places where they could be tortured to take their property, and women raped. Jews were murdered at random, but also at planned executions. Some Jews where thrown from the top floors of the police headquarters building, and others killed in the slaughterhouse. DudeÅŸti is a neighbourhood in south-eastern Bucharest, along the Calea DudeÅŸti. ... VăcăreÅŸti is a neighbourhood in south-eastern Bucharest, located near DâmboviÅ£a River and the VăcăreÅŸti Lake. ... Lesko synagogue, Poland A synagogue (Hebrew: בית כנסת ; beit knesset, house of assembly; Yiddish: שול, shul; Ladino אסנוגה esnoga) is a Jewish place of religious worship. ...

Military men did not take part in the pogrom, nor did police officers loyal to Antonescu. Those officers where forced to surrender their weapons and uniforms, and put under arrest.

Besides the purpose of extorting the Jews for their hidden property, sadistic youth (even teenagers) took part in the torture, for their own pleasure. The torture continued for hours and even days and night, the torturers taking turns. The Jews were robbed of any possessions on their person, and sometimes even their clothes. They were made to give property hidden elsewhere, private of communal, and were often shot afterwards, as happened to the community's treasurer. Jews were coerced into writing suicide notes before being killed.

The torturers were headed by Mircea Petrovicescu, son the of Minister of the Interior who was deposed by Antonescu. Petrovicescu tied Jews to targets and shot them, aiming not to hit them, but to draw a line around them. He also used Jewish women stripped naked and tied with their backs to the target. After he was done shooting, they bore into the women's breasts with a drill, or cut them. Only one woman survived this treatment, but she was executed with other Jews.

Legionnaire women also took part in the pogrom; they especially liked stripping Jewish men and hitting their genitalia.

On January 23, a few hours before the rebellion was quelled, a group of Legionnaires selected 15 Jews, at random. They took them in trucks to the local slaughterhouse, where they were shot to death. Five of the Jews, including a five year old girl, were hung on the slaughterhouse's hooks, still alive. They were tortured, their bellies cut, and their entrails hung around their necks in hideous a parody of shochita, Kosher slaughter of cattle. The bodies were labeled "Kosher". The slaughterhouse was closed for a week to purge and clean the house of the results. January 23 is the 23rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... The circled U indicates that this product is certified as kosher by the Orthodox Union (OU). ...

During the Pogrom, 125 Bucharest Jews were murdered: 120 bodies were eventually counted, and five never found.

List of the victims : Sigmund Colin, Isidor Goldstein, Sami Roeder, Ida (Eduard) Braunstein, Corneliu Solomon, Avram Schein, Mayer Marcus, Leon (Leiba) Rosenthal, Moise Frînghieru, Oscar Andrei, François Heller, Marcel Bank, Rodrigues Brickman, Moisse Boiangiu, Rebeca Rosenthal, Henry Rosenthal, Lazar Balan, Haim Frînghieru, Ing. Peppi Ionel Hirsch, Iancu Gutman, Iosef Gutman, Hermann Morgenstern, Sully Morgenstern, Bernard Kaufman Jacques Kaufman, David Grünberger, Tiberiu Grünberger, Dr. Elias Berghoff, Leon Blimes, Iancu Aron, Iancu S. Aron, Pincu Katz, Millo Beiller, Boris Branover, Iosef Weissman, Moise Mariasis, Osias Kopstück, Dober Alexandru, Moise Orekowski, Samuil Biller, Samuil Glasberg, Herzberg Maximilian, Jacob Katz, Noe Rosenzweig, Iosef Berovici, Lazar Berthal, Natan Strulovici, Misu Kaufman, Herman Silberstein, Strul Penchis, Solomon Adesser, Manasse Cohen, Marcus Michel Mihail, Isidor Katz, Klein Andrei, Emanuel Silberstein, Calman Sufrin, Saspsa Dascal. Leon Marcus, Isi Galanter, Iosif Marcoveanu, Heinrich Sabetay, Moise I. Herscovici, Marcel Gewirtz, Lazar Rudich, Motzu Goldstein, Sain Haber, Jean Jacques Adlesberg, Emanoil Leibovici, Solomon Pecher, Oscar Wechsler, Misu Rottman, Milah Goldberger, Meer Iancovici, Scheer Gheorghe, Misu Goldschläger, David M. Aron, Sandu Katz, Isac Grünwald, Neubauer Leon, Herman Bercovici, Zalic David, Arnold Krammer, Nathan Goldman, Leon Goldenberg, Manasse Reichmen, Lazar Grünberg, Lazar Klein, Alexandru Davidovici, Aizic Iosef, Iosub Lupu Iancu, Ghers Reisman, User Aron, Iulius Rauch, Oscar Berman, Nachum Belilovski, Aron Herscovici, Aurel Rauch, Carol Landman, Naftule Herscovici, Punu Oberman, Froim Grünberg, Arram Gavril, Willy Heiderman, Marcel Blum, Lazar Schaeffer, Hofmayer Carol, Lazar Bujaker, Emanoil Isovici, Wilhelm Marcovici, Max Herscovici-Cerbeanu, Baruch Granovski, Hers Leibovici, Mony Elias, I. Simionovici, D. Askenasy, Blum Haim, Gerber Teodor, Goldenberg Misu, Iosub Marcu, Klein Solomon, London Carol, London Max, Mandel Isac, Neiderman Vili, Neuman Oscar, Rosen Lucian, Stein Nicu, Scheich Michel, Stern Idel. (Source: Revista Cultului Mozaic, Bucharest, Romania, 01/01/81 - Thanks to Baruch Cohen [2] , Research Chairman at the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research and a member of the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre).

Other Jews, not from the Bucharest community, who happend to be in Bucharest at the time, may have also been killed.

During the riots, 1,274 businesses, shops, workshops and homes were badly damaged or destroyed. After the suppresion of the rebellion, the army took the Legionnaires' loot in 200 trucks (not including money and jewellery).

The Legionnaires ignited the Jewish synagogues and danced around the flames roaring with joy. To accomplish their mission, they used a fuel tanker, sprayed the walls of Kahal Grenada (the great Sephardi Synagogue), and lit it. It was completely burnt. Sephardim (ספרדי, Standard Hebrew Səfardi, Tiberian Hebrew ardî; plural Sephardim: ספרדים, Standard Hebrew Sfaradim, Tiberian Hebrew ) are a subgroup of Jews, generally defined in contrast to Ashkenazim and/or . ...

In the various synagogues the Legionnaires robbed the worshippers, abused them, took all valuables, tore up the Holy Scriptures and ancient documents. They destroyed everything, even the lavatories.

Some synagogues were partly saved. The large Heichal Hakorali synagogue was saved from burning completely, because the Legionnaires didn't bring enough fuel. In the large synagogue was a Christian servant named Lucreţia Canjia. She begged the rioters not to burn the synagogue, and reminded them of their Christian teachings. The synagogue was saved.

The quelling of the rebellion

During the days of the rebellion Antonescu avoided a direct confrontation with the Legionnaires, but brought military units, including 100 tanks, from other cities into Bucharest. When the chaos spread, worrying even Hitler, who was interested in Romania as an ally; when the horrific pictures of the Pogrom became known; when the soldiers' fury against the Legionnaires grew (the Legionnaires wounded captured soldiers, stripped them of their uniforms, and even burned several of them); in the moment he thought most appropriate - that is when Antonescu gave the order to quell the rebellion. The military, led by General Illya Ştafalia quashed the rebellion in a matter of hours, with little difficulty. The Legionnaires could not defend against the military's canons and tanks. The soldiers stormed the Legionnaires strongholds, and they fled. During the skirmishes 30 soldiers were killed, and a hundred were injured.

After the rebellion was suppressed, Antonescu addressed the public through the radio, and told them "the truth", never mentioning the Pogrom. He asked the German garrison, which sat idly throughout the rebellion, to show their support. The German troops were sent to march through the streets of Bucharest, a march ending in front of the Prime Minister's building, where they cheered for Antonescu.

After the Legionnaires' fall the trend reversed, and all the opportunists who joined them earlier now left. The press stopped supporting the Legionnaires, but remained anti-Semitic and nationalistic. Some of the Legionnaires' leaders, including Horia Sima, fled to Germany. Around 9,000 members of the Legionnaires' movement were sentenced to prison. Horia Sima (July 3, 1907-1993) was the second and last leader of Romanias Iron Guard in the Second World War. ...

The Legionnaires, who led the anti-Semitic trend in Romania, had fallen and never gained power again. However, the trend continued even without them, although it was set back for a while, as the atrocities of the Bucharest Pogrom became known to the Romanians. A few months later those atrocities paled in severity compared to those of the Iaşi pogrom. ...

A journalist tells - Excerpt from the Long Balkan Night by Leigh White - 1944

Leigh White was the Jewish Telegraphic Agency's correspondent in Eastern Europe. The Long Balkan Night was published in 1944 and sat out of print and undiscovered for decades. This section of the book deals with White being the first reporter to break the story of the Iron Guard pogrom in Bucharest in January 1941.

By Wednesday, even the Greenshirts (the Iron Guard) knew they were defeated; but before they surrendered they vented their thwarted rage on the Jews in one of the most hideous pogroms the world has ever seen. Even the massacre of Kishineff, in 1913, paled in comparison with the Iron Guard's persecution.

I had not reached Bucharest until Friday, January 24 - two days after the rebellion had been officially suppressed. I had intended to return from Sofia on January 19, but Landau (White's editor at JTA/ONA) had ordered me back to Budapest instead. He was anxious to prove his theory that a "running story" could be better handled from the Hungarian frontier. As things turned out, however, there had been no "story" at all - nothing but exaggerated rumors of atrocities. The frontier was closed on Monday, and Bucharest was isolated from the world until Thursday, when the army regained control of the Post and Telegraph Office. But by then I had prevailed on Landau to allow me to use my own judgment, and on Friday I flew to Bucharest on the first German plane to reach the city in more than a week.

I was arrested at Baneasa airport and forced to submit to a bodily search. Fortunately I had committed to memory the messages I was carrying, and my journalistic notes were so cryptic that the police could make nothing of them. They set me free at last, and I took a room at the Athenee Palace as usual.

"Why did you ever come back?" the porter asked me as he brought my luggage into the room and closed the door, "This country is in the hands of fiends. They're killing everybody. If I were you, I'd leave at once; this country is under a curse." He stalked out of the room without even waiting for a tip.

That afternoon I went for a walk through the battered streets. No snow had been removed in days, and the dirty drifts were six feet high in places. After examining the wreckage in the Calea Victoriei, I proceeded by a circuitous route to the house of Dr. M-, my principal Jewish informant. He looked ten years older than when I had seen him last. His hair was almost white, and his fingers trembled so that he could hardly light a cigarette. He was overjoyed to see me, however, and invited me into his inner office, apologizing for not being able to serve me the customary coffee and glass of water with a spoonful of halvah in it.

"I've sent the family away to hide," he explained, "and there's nothing in the house to eat or drink."

"Then everyone's all right?"

"Yes, thank God. They raided the house, but something happened in the street outside and they left without doing anything more than burning my papers and destroying some of my books. . . . But there's no time to talk about us. I'll tell you all I know and then you must leave the country and never come back. Send your report from Sofia or Budapest, but don't come back again. They'll kill you if you do."

From Dr. M- and his nephew Leon, who came in a little later, I pieced together the following story : On Tuesday afternoon the Greenshirts had attacked the ghetto in force. The pogrom lasted until Thursday midnight - approximately thirty-six hours. During that time the frenzied mob had devastated the entire Jewish quarter, killing several hundred people, demolishing the shops, and setting fire to hundreds of buildings. Seven synagogues had been burned to the ground. Mad with hate, the Greenshirts had killed on sight every civilian who appeared to be Jewish. Their test seemed merely to have been the willingness of pedestrians to participate in the massacre. If they chose to take part in the pogrom, they were ipso facto considered "Aryans"; if not, they were dispatched on the spot as Jews or "Masons." Scores of Christians had thus inadvertently lost their lives.

Thousands of German troops were billeted throughout the Jewish quarter, but they took no part in the killing. They simply defended the buildings which they occupied. Even so, they were indirectly responsible for saving the lives of many Jews who might otherwise have been murdered. The German soldiers housed in the Chiocanul trade school, for example, refused to surrender to the Legionaries fifty Jewish apprentices still working in the machine shop, despite the fact that the school had been requisitioned ' The Germans even shared their rations with the boys while the school was under siege.

Only the buildings occupied by the Germans, however, escaped the fury of the Legion. Synagogues, of course, were the special targets of their rage. A mob of several hundred attacked the Sephardic Temple, smashing its windows with stones and battering down its doors with lengths of timber. All its objects of ritual -prayer books, shawls, Talmuds, Torahs, altar benches, and tapestries-were carried outside and piled in a heap which was soaked with gasoline and set afire. A number of Jewish pedestrians were herded together and forced to dance in a circle around the bonfire. When they dropped in exhaustion they were doused with gasoline and burned alive.

Tiring of this sport, the blood-crazed mob proceeded down the Calea Dudesht, leaving an armed guard behind. The purpose of the guard became clear when the municipal fire department appeared on the scene. The Greenshirts forced the firemen at pistol point to put up their hoses and return to their station. After that, the Jewish quarter was allowed to burn. No further effort was made by the authorities to intervene. The gendarmerie and the Police had disappeared, and the Rumanian soldiery were battling the remainder of the Guard in other sections of the city.

That night the Greenshirts loaded two hundred Jewish prisoners into trucks and drove them to the municipal slaughter house There, in a fiendish parody of kosher methods of butchering, they hung many of the Jews on meat hooks and slit their throats others they forced to kneel at chopping blocks while they beheaded them with cleavers. The Legionaries were careful, however, to rob their victims' bodies before they left. They even chopped off their fingers for their rings, and smashed their jaws in order to remove the gold from their teeth.

Like most American journalists, I had been trained to be skeptical of atrocity stories, and I found it. difficult to believe what Dr. M_ had told me. In fact, I discounted most of what he had said as the fevered imagination of a man half mad with fear and grief. But later, after I had made a tour of the ruined ghetto with his nephew Leon, and talked with one of the wounded, I realized that what he had told me was essentially true. With Leon as a guide, I hired a drozhky and drove through the devastated area between the Caleas Dudesht and Vacaresht. It was a dreary day, and the cobbled streets were filthy with slush and bits of wreckage. A blue pall of smoke hung over the ghetto. And flames still crackled in the ruins of gutted Buildings. There was hardly a storefront along the Calea Dudesht that had not been burnt or wrecked, and even the buildings which had not been sacked had broken doors and windows. The streets were filled with dirty, shivering people who stared at us dumbly as we passed.

Our bearded Gagautza driver carried on a running commentary throughout. " Scum !" he would say, cracking his whip on the buttocks of his scrawny nag. "Look at that, over there. That used to be a cinema. I often went there myself. . . . Those ruins over there were the market. . . . Did you say you wanted to see the Spanish synagogue? Well, here we are. . . . That's what's left of it after the Scum got through ." There was nothing but a heap of smoldering, blackened brick and rubble. "You ought to see the morgue," said the driver, holding his nose and making a face. I had no particular desire to do so, but he drove us there without waiting for an answer. There was a line outside of several hundred people, most of them in hysterics, moaning and beating their foreheads with their foreheads with their fists. Several gendarmes marched up and down, striking anyone who attempted to push himself forward in the line.

Inside we spoke to an army surgeon in charge of the disposition of the corpses. The stench was overpowering. I could see that there were several hundred dead. I asked the surgeon if it was true, as Dr. M--- had told me, that many Jews had been buried alive. For answer he pointed to one corner of the dimly lighted room. There wee could see on wooden slabs the charred remains of a number off human forms. "They picked up nine like that in the next block " he said. "But there were many others. The gasoline made them burn like torches."

As we went outside 1 felt as if I were going to faint. But the cold air revived me, and Leon suggested that we call on one of his cousins, a man who had been shot and left for dead in the mass execution of Jews in a field near Jilava prison.

Next to the orgy at the slaughter house, this was the most frightful episode of the pogrom. Lying in bed with two wounds in his legs, Leon's cousin told the story of what had happened. On Wednesday night, he and a hundred others had been hiding in the darkness in the headquarters of the Jewish Community.

The Community House was a former school building, set back from the Calea Dudesht and surrounded by a fenced-in garden. For a time the fugitives thought they could escape the Legion's notice, but at last a mob returned to the Calea Dudesht and gathered before the building. A detachment of youths belonging to the CML surrounded the building and battered down the doors. Turning on the lights, they whooped with delight as they caught sight of the miserable Jews within. They ordered them to line up and submit to a search-. One by one the Jews were forced to open their mouths while the Greenshirts inspected their teeth for valuable fillings and bridge-work; then their fingers were examined for rings and their watches removed from their wrists and waistcoat pockets. The loot was heaped on a table and then packed in boxes and hauled away. The: Jews were marched to the home of Oscar Kauffmann, a former -director of the Rumanian Credit Bank, and there imprisoned in the cellar. Kauffmann's house had been seized by the Legion and converted into a district headquarters of the CML.

For some time the Greenshirts debated what to do with their Jewish prisoners. At last they decided to free the ten or fifteen women among their number-but not before they had beaten several in an effort to force them to reveal the hiding places of their husbands' "fortunes." Then they proceeded to grill the officials of the Jewish Community to determine who were the wealthiest Jews in Bucharest and where the remainder of their wealth was hidden. (They could not be convinced that every Jew was not the possessor of untold hidden riches.) Isidore Goldstein, the sixty-five-year-old secretary of the Community, was taken aside and tortured until he agreed to write out a list of the wealthiest Jews he knew. Then he was told he could return to his home, but one of the Greenshirts followed him outside and shot him dead before be could reach the street. A few minutes later, Moise Mariasis, an aged law professor, was brought into the Kauffmann cellar. He had been captured as he attempted to enter the Community House. Though he dazedly explained that he had only been searching for his wife, the Legionaries thought it was a trick of some sort, and, he, too, was taken outside and shot. Meanwhile a squad of the CML had gone in search of Sigmund Colin, the treasurer of the Jewish Community. They took him first to the Community House, where they forced him to open a safe containing several hundred thousand lei. Then he, too, was brought to the Kauffmann cellar whereupon the Legionaries announced that all the prisoners would be killed.

Several five-ton trucks, stolen from the army, drove up before the Kauffmann house and the Jews were brought up from the cellar and packed inside. There was only room for sixty or seventy, however, and those left over were shot on the street where they stood.

The prisoners were driven outside the city to a field beyond Jilava forest. There they were ordered out of the trucks and forced to line up in the snow. Several Greenshirts marched up and down, firing at them with sub-machine guns. All who attempted to escape were killed, but several, including Leon's cousin, were able to save their lives by playing 'possum. Instead of fleeing, they had lain in the snow where they had fallen, until the Legionaries, satisfied that all were dead, had driven off. Later they had staggered back to Bucharest for medical care.

By thursday noon it was all over, and some six thousand Legionaries had surrendered and been taken prisoner by the army. But the final gesture of the rebel Greenshirts had nothing to do with the Jews. It was an act so imbecilic, so mad, so devoid of meaning, that it should stand for years as a monument to human frustration. A band of volunteers had driven to Curtza d'Arges and dynamited Calinescu's tomb. (Calinescu was a former prime minister who had ordered the assassination of the Iron Guards leader, Corneliu Codreanu. Guardists then killed him.)

In the Community House that afternoon, as soon as order had been restored, Dr. M had searched the litter left behind by the Corpul Muncitoresc. The typewriters in the office had attracted the fancy of the Greenshirts, and several of them had typed out some peculiar documents. Dr. M- had collected them as souvenirs, and he translated them for me as I took notes. These notes are among the few I was able to bring back with me to the United States. The following excerpts furnish a rather interesting commentary on the type of mentality that was responsible for the pogrom. One Greenshirt had typed out a verse and the chorus of the tango, "Ce Soir, Madame!' Below it he had written : "This is a souvenir of the night of January 21, 1941, when, by order of the Legionary Command, we occupied the Yid (Jidan) Community House on the Calea Dudesht. With great satisfaction of soul I write this song, being completely satisfied that in the end this building in front of which I used to pass and say to myself, 'When will this building cease to exist amid the fair city of Bucharest?…" He had failed to complete the sentence, however, merely signing the document, "With much pleasure, Ilie P. Dorobantza, Bucharest." Another Greenshirt had written a letter addressed as follows: "Beautiful Girl (Dragutza Dominishoara):-"On the night of January 21, a squad of brave Legionaries occupied the office of the Jew Community of the capital, Sequestering all its goods. The personnel, after being searched to see that they hid no arms or any sort of corpus delicti were sent under escort to the nearest Legionary headquarters (Kaufmann's house). "But-and there is a but-I do not want to communicate al this to you, since you are one of those who suffered. But-something else of habitude giving birth to a categorical denial--I ask you, please, if you haven't torn this letter up already, to have little patience and read it further. "At the moment you were questioned, I entered the door an the first thing I saw was your delicious person. Your image remains engraved on my soul (in inima mea) . . . Perhaps you will think me ridiculous, but I tell you sincerely that at this moment it is not I who speak, but I give you my word of honor it is my soul which speaks to you, dragutza dominishoara, Leaving all else aside, that is to say your nationality also, and everything that, has happened tonight, when I write these lines I wish we could, consummate like two simple human beings who have never . . ." And here our friend the Legionary was interrupted in the midst of his typographic tryst. I realized that I had a "story" -however grisly- and that no correspondent except Edmund Stevens of the Christian Science Monitor had yet left Bucharest. Stevens, however, had left on the first day of the insurrection, before the pogrom had occurred, and, I knew that none of his information would conflict with mine especially since the fastidious Monitor had an editorial rule against discussing death. The following day I took a German plane to Sofia and there sat down and wrote a series of six articles totaling some five thousand words. Landau was very pleased. My series was published in a score of newspapers. ONA had had a scoop at last. Somewhat crassly, perhaps, in view of the misery it was my morbid duty to report, I sent a radiogram to Landau reminding him' of his promise of a raise. But I never received a reply.

See also

• Iaşi pogrom

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References

• History of the Holocaust, Jan Anchel, Yad VaShem, 2002 (Hebrew)

Yad Vashem memorial sculpture Yad Vashem (יד ושם) is Israels official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust established in 1953 through the Memorial Law passed by the Knesset, Israels parliament. ...

External links

• The report of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania, submitted to President Ion Iliescu in Bucharest on November 11, 2004 (in English and Romanian).