Office of the Historian

871.4016/248

The Minister in Rumania (Gunther) to the Secretary of State

No. 1607
Bucharest, October 7, 1940.
[Received October 31.]

Sir: In continuation of my despatch No. 1592, of October 1, 1940, which dealt with certain aspects of the situation of Jews in Rumania under the new Antonescu regime, I have the honor to list below the more recent measures, official and otherwise, that have been taken in this regard:

1.
All rural property in the hands of Jews has been taken over by the State and paid for in bonds at an interest rate of 3%, the bonds at the same time being blocked.
2.
Jews are forbidden to use the phrase “Furnishers to the Royal Court”.
3.
Jewish children are permitted to attend Jewish schools only.
4.
Jews who have entered Rumania clandestinely during the past five years are required to leave the country within two months, failing which they are to be placed in concentration camps at their own expense, or at the expense of the Jewish Community.
5.
Pharmacy shops may not be leased to Jews; Jews may not be employed in pharmacies other than those owned by Jews; pharmacies now leased by Jews must be liquidated within one month.
6.
Jewish lawyers who remain members of the bar can plead the cases of their coreligionists only.
7.
Christian lawyers will replace Jewish lawyers in the legal departments of commercial firms.
8.
All lawyers and all persons practicing a liberal profession who come from the evacuated territories will be given places as new vacancies arise through the elimination of Jewish professionals.
9.
Jewish lawyers have been eliminated from the bar at Braşov.
10.
Twenty-eight Jewish professors have been dismissed from teaching faculties in different parts of the country.
11.
Jews have been excluded from the Syndicate of Journalists of Bucharest.
12.
The Society of Rumanian Writers has eliminated from its membership all writers of Jewish origin.
13.
Jews of Rumanian origin may not be correspondents for foreign newspapers.
14.
“Rumanianizing” commissars have been placed in the larger Jewish enterprises.
15.
The Association of Rumanian dentists has decided to exclude all Jewish dentists from its ranks.

Respectfully yours,

Franklin Mott Gunther