The Jewish Communities of Romania Collection (sometimes also described by the Romanian National Archives as the Documents Collection of the Jewish Communities of Romania) contains documents created and received by Jewish communities and organizations functioning in Romania from the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century.
The documents until World War II are composed of a variety of items reflecting community life, including statutes, correspondence, reports, and membership lists. Documents from the World War II period generally address the plight of Romanian Jews during this period. This material includes reports on persecutions and expropriations, correspondence and other documents related to deportees, and emigration paperwork. The post-World War II material generally deals with the repatriation of Jewish deportees to the Romanian-organized camps in Transnistria, the welfare of survivors, emigration, and the activities of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania and of the Jewish Democratic Committee (communist Jewish organization). For the complete inventory list of the collection, please see this link (in Romanian only).
JBAT archivists surveyed folders containing material related specifically to Bukovina and Transylvania. For details on the contents of these folders, please see the list below and click on any link.
Please note JBAT archivists did not survey this material directly. The folder description provided by the CNSAS inventory reads: Repatriated people. Instructions for the census of foreigners in Romania. Charts containing refugees from Bessarabia and northern Bukovina residing in the region of Cluj, Romanian citizens who left the country and refuse to return, Romanian prisoners coming from the USSR after 1945 and Romanian citizens who have submitted paperwork to emigrate to Israel; reports on the activities of agents stationed within the Jews of the Someș county and region of Cluj.
Please note JBAT archivists did not survey this material directly. The folder description provided by the CNSAS inventory reads: Nationalist organizations. Reports, memos, ordinances, charts, summaries, documents on the atmosphere of the Jewish minority in the region of Cluj and activities of Zionist groups and their leaders in the region.
Please note JBAT archivists did not survey this material directly. The folder description provided by the CNSAS inventory reads: Nationalist organizations. Reports, memos, ordinances, charts, summaries, documents on the atmosphere of the Jewish minority in the region of Cluj and activities of Zionist groups and their leaders in the region.
The collection includes the paperwork and material collected by the Cluj county Securitate (Romanian Communist Secret Police) offices under communism. The material includes select folders from the pre-communist period; these folders were presumably in the possession of the police and seized by the Securitate at some point in time. There are many folders which are obliquely titled or which may contain material related to Jewish individuals, for example, folders on emigrants, but the titles do not specify this. It was beyond the scope of the present survey to inspect the contents of all such folders. At the time of the JBAT survey (2015), the inventory for this collection was accesible only at the physical location of the CNSAS and only in digital form on the computers of the CNSAS reading room. The inventory provided no indication as to the linear extent of the collection and gave no additional details as to its history, content, or the number of pages in individual folders. For details on folders titled as specifically containing material related to the Jewish population, please click on the link(s) below.
This file contains correspondence, inquiries, minutes, and registration lists involving town council elections in Gura Humorului. A substantial number of those involved in the elections or mentioned in the documents bear Jewish names.
This folder contains documents related to the agrarian reform of the interwar period. It includes a legal case to expropriate Mendel Schwarz of forest property and also has correspondence regarding workers associations for youth in the region.
Folder contains miscellaneous documents regarding collectivization measures, friendship with the USSR, workers holidays, and so forth. There is one "confidential" memo regarding a change of usage for prayer houses or synagogues and stating that no changes of usage are allowed.
Please note that this collection comprises three inventories: "Primaria Orasului Reghin" (1829-1950) with 704 items; Sfatul Popular al Orasului Reghin (1951-1955) with 111 items; and Consiliul Popular al Orasului Reghin (1950-1968) with 634 items. These titles reflect the changes of governmental organisation within the country. The present survey focused primarily on the contents of the first inventory. The material within the second two inventories deals largely with the restructuring under communism and rarely do the contents move beyond bureaucratic and administrative announcements and records. The first inventory however contains numerous files with information relevant to Jewish history. The collection contains material customary for a municipal authority including administrative and financial files, documents regarding permits and professions, and regulating schools, religious institutes, and so forth. Specific to the Jewish population, there are files with material on synagogues, Jewish organizations, Jewish professionals and apprentices, and numerous files regarding Jewish citizenship or property of Jews who were deported or emigrated. For details on these files and others with material related specifically to the Jewish population of Reghin, please see below and click on any title.
This file includes a memorandum about investigating an influx of foreign Jews in the district, ostensibly seeking work but suspected by authorities of subversive activities.
This file contains notes and reports on activities of radical leftist political groups, including Romanian communist groups, many of whose members were Jewish.
This files contains various memoranda, bulletins, and reports about the activities of members of the Communist Party both locally and nationally. At least one document specifically mentions activities of Jewish communists.
This files includes various orders, correspondence, and reports on surveillance of radical groups, both left and right wing. For example, item 72 regards the activities of some Zionists and communists. Elsewhere, some materials pertain to reports on the activities of right wing groups like the Iron Guard and on anti-Semitic publications.
This file contains correspondence, circulars, and arrest orders for fugitives and suspected criminals, including a circular (item 81) pertaining to Marcel Pauker (Ana Pauker's husband), David Finkelstein, Alexandru Dobrogeanu-Gherea, and other communists' escape from state custody.
This collection contains a variety of administrative documents and correspondence (budget, staffing, payroll), various documents created during day-to-day police operations, as well as an unusually high number of materials regarding the policing of borders, illegal aliens, and supervision of political groups, probably owing to the proximity of the territories occupied by Russia during the second World War. Of interest, too, is a military recruitment register, which provides a large amount of vital statistics information on military-age men in the region, including information about ethnicity and religion. For details on the items mentioned above, please click on any link below.
This collection contains papers and correspondence relating to the administration of the police (staffing, payroll, budget), as well as a number of materials regarding community events and surveillance of citizens. Of particular interest are lists of tradesmen present in the municipality, many of whom were Jewish, and requests by individuals and organizations for permits for social and cultural events, including many events hosted by Jewish cultural organizations. There is also a substantial amount of material regarding press censorship and surveillance of political groups, including Zionist groups. For details on the items mentioned above, please click on any link below.
These files contain a variety of correspondence, reports, ordinances, leaflets, and charts regarding various extreme movements in Romania prior to and during World War II. There is information on nationwide incidents but also local members of these parties.
This file titled confidential contains a variety of correspondence related to extremist movements and members of these movements of all kinds. Included are documents regarding Iron Guard members, Nazis, communists, or citizens of any country which was currently at war (France, England, Germany). Of special interest may be a list of communists in Cernăuți (apparently all Jews) including the address and profession of the individual and photographs of equipment used to sabatoge trains (homemade bombs, etc).
This file contains names of council members invited to participate in meetings as well as the order of the day for those meetings. The town council had Jewish members and some of the matters addressed relate to Jewish residents.
This file contains handwritten lists of individuals eligible to vote in parliamentary elections. Other than the individual's name and signature, no additional information is provided.
This file contains a wide variety of correspondence, legal papers, charts, and tables related to communal matters in Câmpulung in 1921. Of particular interest are charts of registered voters and of women over the age of 21. The figures are broken down by nationality, marital status, level of education, and profession.
These files contain letters stipulating permitted and not permitted publications. Many of the publications are Hungarian, but German and Yiddish publications are also included. The banned publications are generally of a communist character or "defame" the Romanian nation. The file from year 1930 also includes election posters for the town of Vatra Dornei; the posters are in German, Romanian, Yiddish, and for a wide variety of parties. The file from 1943 has more to do with confiscations of publications that are anti-state security. By this time the Jewish residents had been deported and few of the publications listed are Jewish or relate to Jews, though there are a few.
Sometimes reports on the activities of athletic clubs are found in the files regarding cultural activities. For 1930 and 1931 however they were filed separately. Similarly, not all the documents in these files pertain to athletic clubs. At least one from 1930 lists a number of non-athletic Jewish societies (Zionist, womens, etc).
Included in the general title of cultural activities or societies, are many Zionist and other Jewish organizations. These files hold numerous documents submitted by organizers requesting permission to hold lectures, dance classes, concerts, book discussions, elections, and other events.
The file contains correspondence and reports regarding police supervision and monitoring of Zionist clubs or other Jewish associations in Câmpulung Moldovenesc. Various requests for permission to hold meetings, conferences, and elections are included as well as detective reports by policemen who monitored such meetings. Specifically the organization ”Hehalutzilor” founded in Chisinau according to a police circular, is mentioned.
The files contains reports regarding demonstrations planned by the right-wing student movement, speeches made by leaders of the movement, anti-Semitic incidences, and other reports of similar nature.
This collection consists of files created or maintained by the police authorities in Câmpulung Moldovenesc from the 1920s to the 1940s. In light of the significant Jewish population of the town, many or even most files may contain papers related in some way to Jewish residents. There are, for example, charts of artisans and shop-keepers; requests from organizations (Jewish cultural, religious, political groups) for permission to organize cultural events from dances to meetings to elections and so forth; files on suspected persons (including war-time refugees); files dealing with the revoking of Romanian citizenship from Jews; files from the Austro-Hungarian period with military conscript information; files dealing with forced labor or deportation to Transnistria during World War II. For details on these items and others, please click on any link below.
This poster from the Suceava Jewish community invites the Jewish population to attend a service on 9 May in honor of the day of independence. Undated but presumably late interwar or early post-World War II.
This item is a poster publicizing ordinance nr. 5 which forbids all public demonstrations in support of or critical of foreign states or their leaders.