The Silent Holocaust - Romania and Its Jews

We commonly associate the term Holocaust with Nuremberg and Kristallnacht, the Warsaw and Vilna ghettos, Auschwitz and Treblinka. Appearing as they do in countless books and films, these symbols of hatred penetrate our consciousness, memory, and history. But, unfortunately, our memory is selective, and, in the case of Romania, our knowledge is scant. In 1939 the Jewish population of Romania exceeded 750,000: the third largest concentration of Jews in Europe. By 1944, some 400,000 had disappeared. Another 150,000 Ukrainian Jews died at the hands of Romanian soldiers. In the quest for a final solution Romania proved to be Hitler's most enthusiastic ally.

In The Silent Holocaust, Butnaru, himself a survivor of the Romanian labor camps, provides a full account and demonstrates that anti-Semitism was a central force in Romania's history. He begins by examining the precarious status of Romanian Jewry in the years prior to World War I. He then reviews the period to the establishment in September, 1940, of the National Legionary State, a period when anti-Semitism became the unifying force in politics. The remainder of the book covers the Holocaust years, and reveals that Romania's premeditated mass murder of Jews was well underway before the Reich's gas chambers became operational. The Silent Holocaust has been called a work of epic and historical worth and it is invaluable for students of World War II, the Holocaust, and Jewish and Eastern European studies.

List of contents

Foreword by Elie Wiesel
A Romanian Problem: The Jewish Problem
"Romania for the Romanians, and Only for Romanians!"
"They Have Written a Page of Apocalyptic Shame in the Psalter of the Romanian People"
Behind the Rainbow
Appendixes: Statistics
Bibliography
Index: Names and Places

About the author

Rene Spodheim

Product details

• Authors: I. C. Butnaru, Rene Spodheim, Spodheim Rene
• Publisher: Bloomsbury
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 22.01.1992
• EAN: 9780313279850
• ISBN: 978-0-313-27985-0
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > 20th century (up to 1945); European History, HISTORY / Military / General, HISTORY / Europe / General, HISTORY / Jewish, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Jewish Studies, world history, Romania, Jewish Studies, Second World War, The Holocaust, c 1938 to c 1946 (World War Two period), Modern warfare, c 1940 to c 1949, c 1939 to c 1945 (including WW2), Relating to Jewish people and groups, Social groups: religious groups and communities, HISTORY / Modern / 20th Century / Holocaust, History / Wars & Conflicts / World War II / European Theater