CENTRALA EVREILOR

The abundance of original documents from the period of the WWII enables us to reconstitute the community life in those times. The Romanian government issued orders for every possible step of the daily life of the Jewish population either in the cities or in concentration camps. There were constantly edicts, notifications, orders how to organize themselves: thus we can learn that there were restrictions of food supplies for the Jewish  population of the province; Jews were required to donate clothes to the state to in order to build up  stocks to be delivered to the army on the front;  we hold nominal orders for Jews sent to forced labor and those exempt from this labor provided they paid the exemption tax; a notification of the Centrala Evreilor din Romania, to the Jewish population indicates that they had to pay special taxes  as contribution to the Treasury of 4 billion lei; the Jews in labor camps were obliged to travel to their former homes and take clothes and , for this, they needed to be provided with special certificates for traveling by train,  otherwise traveling  by train was forbidden. Other decrees from the Centre for Romanization show that Jews were required to give their apartments or businesses, stores to Romanian citizens, etc. All these orders were accompanied by the notification of the punishments and fines which were to be paid in case of disobedience.

Another issue well documented is Centrala Evreilor. There are documents relevant to the internal organization of the Centrala during the war years, from daily life problems which required attention like schools or food donations to the needy, until the conflicts regarding its leadership and its future; again, Dr. Filderman plays an important role leading the community, alternately either in official function or from behind the coulisses.

There are also anti-Semitic publications preceding the War, from the early 20s, which show the ascent of the legionaries; satirical pamphlets which show us how the Jews were seen in those days but let us understand that this was nothing new: this is the traditional conception of the Jew - "JUDAS".