The State, Antisemitism, and Collaboration in the Holocaust

288 Pages·2017·26.5 MB·English

by  Diana Dumitru

Can states school their citizens for genocide? Does valuing cultural D The State,
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The Holocaust in Bessarabia and Transnistria is much less familiar H
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reality: that Stalin’s totalitarianism fostered a climate that was relatively c

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the more traditional authoritarianism of Romania. In bringing to the
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surface this apparent irony, she demonstrates how the Holocaust remains
an inexhaustible field of study, which continues to shed a revealing and
troubling light on our present.
Robert D. Kaplan, author of Balkan Ghosts: A Journey through History
Printed in the United Kingdom Cover image:

The State, Antisemitism, and Collaboration

in the Holocaust
Based on original sources, this important new book on the Holocaust
explores regional variations in civilians’ attitudes and behavior toward
the Jewish population in Romania and the occupied Soviet Union.
Gentiles’ willingness to assist Jews was greater in lands that had been
under Soviet administration during the interwar period, whereas
Gentiles’ willingness to harm Jews occurred more in lands that had
been under Romanian administration during the same period. While
acknowledging the disasters of Communist rule in the 1920s and
1930s, this work shows the effectiveness of Soviet nationalities policy
in the official suppression of antisemitism. This book offers a correc-
tive to the widespread consensus that homogenizes Gentile responses
throughout Eastern Europe, demonstrating that what states did in the
interwar period mattered; relations between social groups were not
fixed and destined to repeat themselves, but rather fluid and suscepti-
ble to change over time.
Diana Dumitru is Associate Professor of History in the World History
Department at Ion Creangă State Pedagogical University. She has
been awarded prestigious fellowships, including the Gerda Henkel
Stiftung fellowship, the International Institute for Holocaust Research
Postdoctoral Fellowship for Study and Research at Yad Vashem, and
the Rosenzweig Family Fellowship for research at the United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum. She has authored over twenty articles
and two books and in 2012 received the Mary Parker Follett Award for
the best article or chapter published in the field of politics and history
awarded by the American Political Science Association.

The State, Antisemitism, and

Collaboration in the Holocaust
The Borderlands of
Romania and the Soviet Union
DIANA DUMITRU
Ion Creangă State Pedagogical University
Published in association with the
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
32 Avenue of the Americas, New York NY 10013
Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.
It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of
education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence.
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107131965
© Diana Dumitru 2016
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2016
Printed in the United States of America by Sheridan Books, Inc.
A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Dumitru, Diana, author.
Title: The state, antisemitism, and collaboration in the Holocaust : the
borderlands of Romania and the Soviet Union / Diana Dumitru.
Description: New York : Cambridge University Press, 2016. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015042437 | ISBN 9781107131965 (hardback)
Subjects: LCSH: Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945) | Holocaust, Jewish
(1939-1945) – Romania. | Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945) – Soviet Union. |
Romania – Ethnic relations. | Soviet Union – Ethnic relations. |
Antisemitism – Romania. | Antisemitism – Soviet Union.
Classification: LCC D804.3 .D8355 2016 | DDC 940.53/180947–dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015042437

ISBN 978-1-107-13196-5 Hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs
for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not
guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
The assertions, arguments, and conclusions contained herein are those of the author.
They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum.
To my parents Anastasia and Victor

Contents

List of Figures and Table page viii
Acknowledgments xi
Maps xv
Introduction 1
1 Experiencing the Russian Empire: Jews between
Integration and Exclusion 27
2 Antisemitism Reframed: Bessarabia within
the Romanian State 53
3 Committed to Change: Fighting Antisemitism and
Integrating Jews in Soviet Transnistria 93
4 Under Assault: Civilian Behavior toward Jews during
the Holocaust in Bessarabia 139
5 Jews and Their Neighbors in Occupied Transnistria 176
6 Substantiating and Explaining the Differences 231
Bibliography 247
Index 263
vii
Figures and Table

Figures
1.1 Bessarabian Jew selling bread. S.D. Urusov, Zapiski
Gubernatora, Kishinev 1903–1904 (Moscow: Sablina,
1907). Courtesy: Arhiva Nati̦onala ̆a Republicii Moldova. page 35
1.2 Kishinev Choral Synagogue, 1913. Wikimedia Commons. 38
1.3 Munder family home on Nikolaevskii Street after 1903
Kishinev Pogrom. Courtesy: Arhiva Nati̦onală a
Republicii Moldova. 48
1.4 Postcard with photograph of victims of the 1905 Odessa
Pogrom. Courtesy: Museum of the History of Odessa Jews. 50
2.1 Campaign handbill for the Agudas Ysroel ticket led by
Rabbi Yehuda Leib Tsirelson, during local elections,
ca. 1930s. Wikimedia Commons. 60
2.2 Postage stamp featuring Iron Guard leader Corneliu Zelea
Codreanu, 1940. Wikimedia Commons. 64
2.3 Youth of village of Criuleni assembled for visit by
dignitaries (educational?), 1938. Courtesy: Petru Negură. 68
2.4 National Christian Party electoral poster exploiting
antisemitic themes to attack the governing National
Peasants’ Party, 1937. The text urges in both Romanian
and Russian: “Brother Christian! Do you dislike this?
Then vote for List No. 6 for the House and List No. 3 for
the Senate . . .” Wikimedia Commons. 73
2.5 Map of Romania colored probably in 1941 or 1940 by
the Counterintelligence Service for the Council of
Ministers to show zones of perceived Communist threat.
Courtesy: National Archives of Romania. 81
viii