Evening star., 1944-07-09
THE SUNDAY STAR, Washington, D. c.
SUNDAY July O. ,eA y

Russian tie with the Romanian civil
authorities here, granted me the
first interview since the Red Army
occupied this section Of Romania.
THE fact that the Germans and
Romanians ran away so quickly" /"
he said,, lis the reason why there
has been no destruction in this
town. Some of the 10000 popula-
ton had been evacuated long be-
fore the Red Army came in. We
found $4,000 people here and 10000
were Jews. The Red Army set up
a commandery to protect the town
against looting and to take pro-
tective measures for its soldiers and
officers. One of the chief objectives
is protection of property.
Authorities Ran Away.
"The police had already been or
ganized when we entered. They are
young Jews who are about the only
men left in the province. The Ro-
manian police and authorities ran
away. When we arrived a Romanian
named Dmitry Russu came to us
with a copy of the Molotoff decla-
ration and said he was willing to
take over the post of prefect on the
request OF the local population.
(Commissar of Foreign Affairs
Vyacheslaff M. Molotoff's state
ment of April assured the Ro-
manians that Russia would not
intervene in her civil affairs.)
He established a new prefecture
and the first decree issued by it
was to cancel per cent war
tax. This is the only new law
that has been issued here.
by a decree of King Carol In
1888 all political parties were abol-
lshed. All officials had to swear that
they had no party allegiance. and
since then no party has actually
existed. We haven't interferred in
that. And as far as I know. there
mas been no revival of any party.
THE trade union leadership was
evacuated, but those who were left
behind formed themselves into a
new organization. I know this be-
cause the new union reported to us
that they would like to give a fete
in the public garden and would like
us to give them a military band.
We gave them a Red army band.
Il have heard nothing about a
communist party. AS there are mill
tary restrictions in the town, there's
not much chance for any kind of
party agitation.
Land Owners Still Left.
There are still a few rich land
owners left and they still operate
their estates. Many estates, how
ever, were taken from the Jews in
1888 by Antonescu. so that now
there are twice as many estates as
landowners.
The population here has been
friendly to the Red army. AS COM
mandant I have received no COM
plants from officers or soldiers about
any Objectionable attitude on the
part of the people. Our soldiers are
free to go about as they please. free
to go into shops and restaurants,
but usually they have no wish to
do so.
They are not forcibly billeted on
the people, if the people take in
Red army men they name the price,
not us. There are no Romanian in
structors in the schools. Most of the
school teachers and intelligentsia
were evacuated by the Germans.
There are now l,400 Jewish chill
dren in the schools; before there
was only one Jewish school, which
housed small number.
I'VE have started a local news
paper, which prints communicates
and news, without comment. In a
couple of days the Romanians will
start their own newspaper and our
will cease publication.
AS far as Maj. Cherniayev was
concerned, this was the story of the
town. The major, who looks like an
18-year-old boy, is responsible to
the commander of the Red army
operating in Romania. He does not
speak Romanian and does all his
talking through translators.