x
The first manifestations of hatred of theJews in Romanian Principalities appeared as the Jewish population increased the mid-17th century. Among the first laws of the Principalities from 1640 to 1652 there were specific clauses dealing with Jews, such as the prohibition against Christians participating in Jewish prayers, and that the testimony of a Jew (except for a doctor's) was inadmissible in economic courts.
Travelers who visited Romania told of their prejudices against Jews: that Jews were cursed because they killed Jesus, that Jews used Christian blood for religious purposes, and that they poisoned the water wells. Every time there was a rumor about such acts, the police would arrest some Jews, and the ensuing incitement would in most cases lead to riots or pogroms against the Jews.
Accusations of ritual murder began to appear in the Romanian principalities in the 18th century, and occurred usually around the time of the Easter holiday. The first one of these took place in 1710 in the town of Tirgu Neamţ, where a Christian monastery is located. During the riots following the blood libel, five Jews were murdered. Over the span of forty-four years (1803–1847) no less than five cases of Jews prosecuted for ritual murder occurred in Piatra Neamţ, and in other cities as well: in Botosani in 1783, in Roman in 1714 and 1824, in Ploiesti in 1815, in Bacau in 1824 and in Galaţi in 1847.
At the same time, anti-Semitic writings began to appear in the Romanian principalities. These books were published on monasteries' printing presses and encouraged by religious clerics. The first of which, "Intocmirea Aurită", (Golden Series), was a translation of a 12th-century book published in Iasi in 1771. The book was full of accusations against the Jews as the people who "murdered God" and engaged in ritual murder.
Another Romanian manuscript from 1784,"Obiceiuri. Rânduieli jidovești în toate lunile anului" (Jewish customs for allmonths of theyear), describes different ways the Jews used the blood of Christians. Another book, "Infruntarea jidovilor asupra legii si obiceiurilor lor" (Resistance to Jews and their Laws and Customs), was published in Iasi in 1803. The book was written by Neofit Cavsocalvitiu (a monk who was a converted rabbi) and one of its main assertions was accusing the Jews of ritual murder. Following the publication of the book, riots broke out against theJews in Iasi and Tirgu Neamţ .
Another anti-Semitic book, called "Praștia" (Tribulation), was published in Piatra Neamţ in 1836 and Galaţi in 1858. The book was writtenby a monk named Chiriac, based on a Russian book called "Hristos adevăratul Mesia" (Jesus the true Messiah), which describes in detail the manner in which Jews used blood from Christian children for various purposes, including baking matzah. The belief that Jews use the blood of Christians to prepare matzah continues to exist among certain classes in Romania until today.
There were also some voices that defended the Jews and went against the anti-Semitic books and the blood libels. For example, in 1803 the Moldovan ruler Alexandru Moruzi ordered the confiscation and destruction of all copies of the book "Resistance to Jews and their Laws and Customs". There were also Boyars and priests who protected Jews and gave them shelter in their courtyards and churches. At the time of the blood libels in Galaţi in 1797, and in Iasi in 1803, the Wallachian Metropolitan (Mitropolit) Veniamin Costachi condemned the behavior of the attackers and ordered the arrest of the monks who incited violence against Jews.
The rise of Russian influence in Romania in the early 19th century led tothe establishment of a new type of anti-Semitism. The 'Organic Statute', a new constitution adopted under the influence of the Russians, came into effect in 1831 in Wallachia and in 1832 in Moldova, and turned the Jews from being legal residents of the country into "foreigners" without political or civil rights. These new laws also helped spread the perception that Jews were parasites that harmed the economic development of the country.
In addition to the new legal anti-Semitism, the blood libels continued to exist in the Romanian principalities. In the second half of the 19th century there were blood libels in the cities of Iasi, Bacau, Galaţi and Roman. In Galaţi, during Easter 1859, there were pogroms in which Jews were killed and wounded, and synagogues, houses and shops looted and destroyed. A similar event took place in the same city on Saturday, September 21, 1868. A Jewish shop owner asked a Romanian boy to cut some handkerchiefs for him on theSabbath. The boy was injured by the use of scissors, and a rumor was immediately spread that the Jew wanted to use his blood. A crowd began to riot, four synagogues were robbed and destroyed, Jewish homes were attacked and ninety Jews injured.
Blood libels continued to exist in the Romania in the 20th century, the most famous example of which took place in Kishinev, the capital of Bessarabia, then part of the Russian Empire. The 1903 pogrom that followed the blood libel in which Jews were accused of murdering a Christian boy for religious purposes lasted for two days, during which 49 Jews were murdered, hundreds were injured and thousands of houses and shops were looted and destroyed.
The pogrom shocked the Jews, and was followed by Hayim Nachman Bialik's writing of the poems, "In the City of Slaughter " and "On the Slaughter." The pogrom marked a turningpoint in Jewish life in Romania, and immigration to the United States and Palestine increased. This pogrom also convinced Herzl to propose the Uganda Plan to the Sixth Zionist Congress as a solution to the plight of the Jews in Europe.
Blood libels continued to occur in Romania in the second half of the 20th century during Communist rule. For example, in 1946 there were rumors in Iasi about "Jews kidnapping Christian children". Similar blood libels occasionally sprang up in other places, though they were quickly restrained.
In 1965, a blood libel spread in southern Transylvania. In Rasnov, two supposed "barrels of blood" were discovered, and it was rumored that a Wartburg car was circling in the area with "several Jews killing children". These rumors spread to the neighboring town of Brașov where parents refused to send their children to school. Police detained Jews who were traveling on trains, and a man named Butuza, who was renting in the local synagogue's courtyard was invited to the police station where they demanded that he "keep an eye on things" .Rumors continued to circulate, among other things, that about thirty Christian children had been murdered and their blood "taken". A Jewish butcher was arrested by the police, interrogated and released. Similar rumors spread from time to time in Bucharest as well, usually on Passover eve.
