The Denver Jewish news., 1919-12-03
The Unsuccessful Pog-
rom in Bucharest
JEWISH SOLDIERS ORGANIZE A
GUARD TO DRIVE AWAY TIE
POGROM BANDITS.
BY LEO woLFsoN.
(Copyright /. ]. p. rs


Roumanian statesmen have repeatedly
stated to me with certain pride that
pogrons were never made upon the
Jews in RouInania. Unfortunately this
statement is not true. Pogroms were
made there upon the Jews in the
months of October and November
1918. L shall give here detailed ac-
count of the pogrom in Bucharest.
the capital of Roumania, which occur
red on the 11th of November. 1918.
and lasted three days.
This occurred during the time of the
armistice. The German armies which
ut that time had occupied two-thirGs
Of Roumania including Bucharest de-
cided to withdraw. In Bucharest
newspaper. OH November 2nd, appear
cd the rumor that pogrom was being
organized. The next day the same
paper printed leading article en-
titled, a Trying Moment which
warned the government to prevent Il
pogrom upon the Jews. bacause it
! would harm the country in the coming
peace negotiations. On November g.
another paper printed an article. sign
ed by FORMER minister. in which,
! the attention of the government WAS
called to the fact that together with
anti -Bolshevik propaganda there Is
also much propaganda against the
Jews On November Tth the same
| paper wrote: Our. Jewish fellow
citizens are threatened with pogroms.
! 1t is openly and quietly said that u
powerful movement is afOot against
the Jews and that blood will he shed"
On November 4th the Central Com
mittee of the "Ianion of Roumanian
! Jews" sent written memorandum to
General Arion. the vice-president OF
| the Ministry. in which he WAS inform
cd: From many cities of the country.
especially from those of the regions
occupied by the Germans. there come
i to MS reports that pogroms are being
organized against the Jews. The names
! of the organizers are also> given. TO
our knowledge. the organizers of these
! pogroms are not foreigners but police
| and other officials. At present We
cannot give you their names btt the'r
work is being done openly. 1t is ab-
solutely necessary that you take the
! proper measures in this matter. The
| Jewish population. after having suffer
| ed from the terrible war. has firmly
resolved to defend their fnmilies and
'meagre possession with the courage of
! despair. The Jews have made enough
! sacrifices in the war and will not al
how themselves to be slaughtered ana
,tobbcd. A civil war is beng threat
rned and no one knows how 1t will end
| We consider it our duty to bring thes'
facts to your notice in order that yo''
may take the necessary steps for the
,revention OF the calamity. in 1907
we had n similar calamity as n result
! of strong propaganda against the
/ Jews General Arion made no di
! rect reply to the memorandum buf
stated in II newspaper interview that
the Jews are panic-stricken with tho
fear of a pogrom, but advised that
they should be calm, and he would
keep order by military force.
On November 9th the paper ''Stea.
| pul." the organ of the conservative
party. which until that time had moi
printed IL word about the poSrom agita
ton. also published an article in which
| II stated that there is afoot II strong
movement against the Jews 1t hop
~ ,aplt
would keep order. On November 10Th
the same paper again printed an ar
ticlc. stating that ''as soon as the
! Germans will withdraw, according &c
q rumor that has been afloat for th'
mast several days, pogroms will he or
ganiZed against the Jews"
ON November 11th the pogrom be
gan.
have given the foregoing detail
hecausc they show very clearly that
the pogrom was openly organized, thaf
the government knew of it. and ,was
riven timely warning to take the neces
sary steps for the protection of the
Jews. This time. however, it was the
Jews who defended themselves-they
organized their defense as they init
mated to General Arion. for they saw
that they could expect very little ala
from the government-and in fact. re-
ceived none at the beginning.
shall here tell what one of the
organizers of the Jewish Defense Com
mittec related to me:
'The pogrom agitation went on olen-
lv and undisturlled. for over Il week.
4 We went thru the experience OF one
noerom in 1907 and we knew what We
-, t,,n,