The political changes and the reorganization of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire, in 1867, by setting up the double Austrian and Hungarian rule, brought
great changes in the lives of the Banat region*
Jewry. First of all, there was the emancipation which recognized equal rights
with all linguistic and religious communities. Then, there was acceptance of the
divisions in the community by the Jewish administration according to their
different orientations (i.e. Orthodox, Neologue or Reformist, status-quo,
etc.). Finally, the Jews were able to play an important role in the economic and
diplomatic relations with other regions and countries on the continent. More
than before, the interests of the Empire were placed first and foremost. In
Prussia too, the emancipation of the Jews in 1812 was directed particularly to
the benefit of the state and less to the benefit of the communities. The
Austro-Hungarian Empire took advantage of the coexistence with the Jewish
bankers and entrepreneurs. There is evidence that some of the Jews played
important roles as financial counselors and advisers to the Emperor's court or
to ministers in charge of economic missions and diplomatic relations. In the 17th
and 18th centuries such privileges belonged to a restricted group of
individuals whose activity only occasionally favored the Jewish communities as a
whole.
However, it is equally true that after 1867 a large number of Jews who
lived in the multinational empire got the right of free movement. They set up
communities in many towns and also in rural areas; they opened factories and
plants and concluded commercial contracts in various fields. Moreover, they
distinguished themselves in the sciences and arts. This shows that the rights
stipulated by the law of the emancipation were granted not only to a privileged
category, but also to some social layers which could not longer be ignored.
The above also were related to the process of Magyarization, which was
accepted by a part of the Jewish intelligentsia. This phenomenon was taking
place in many regions of the empire, including that of Banat. It began during
the 1848 Revolution years and included an important number of Jewish families.
Things did not happen uniformly all over Central and East-Central Europe.
Economic development and the need for manufacturers, traders, bankers and
industrialists led to an increase of the Jewish population in the cities even
during the decades prior to the 1848 Revolution. Although situated in the
periphery of the empire, the Banat region, too, witnessed such an increase in
new members1. This phenomenon must be related also to the Habsburg's
policy of adjustment to regional needs for modernization, a phenomenon in which
the Jews were not only intermediaries in the state-owned financial and
industrial enterprises, but also played the role of a liberal bourgeoisie2.
Therefore, it is important to understand the mutations that followed with the
appearance of the liberal doctrines in the empire's policy. State control did
not disappear since centralism proved to be one of the most efficient forms of
political rule and administrative coordination.
Until 1867, the Jewish communities were compelled to pay special taxes to
the local authorities, namely, the tolerance tax, the tax for building private
and public properties, the tax for meat and the tax for associations3.
Their independence was limited. As the documents of the Jewish Community of Timişoara
reveal, the important litigations and the formal provisions of the
administration were sent either to the Chief Rabbi or to the president of the
community. This shows that the governors preferred to maintain relations with
the person empowered with the right of representation exclusively4.
The gaining of citizenship was a process similar to that in the 18th
century, which required individual approval from the local magistrate and the
Royal Council5. Though such relationships were of medieval origin,
they continued to be practiced in Timişoara at the middle of the 19th
century. The difference consisted in the fact that, while during the Middle Ages
power was in hands of the nobility, under the absolute monarchies the control
belonged to state.
Emancipation during the Dual Empire brought a few changes. It led the
Jews to choose liberal professions, but especially to assume the risk of
integration into the city life, namely, in building plants and factories, in
trade of important products, in the initiation of urban planning, in setting up
and developing a civil society. As for the situation of communities, their
interests were directed toward the preservation of their religion. The rabbi's
role was reduced to his relationship with the central political bodies in issues
concerning the community in general.
The distribution of the Jews in the Timiş, Caraş and Arad
counties, the growth of the number of their communities and incomes (proved,
among others, by their financial possibility to build new synagogues, some of
them quite costly) indicate that after 1867 the Banat Jewry experienced a period
of affirmation and that their achievements were acknowledged. Even though
authorities stated such prerequisites as assimilation for their emancipation,
this aspect was not relevant to the region to which we are referring. The
evidence is the preservation of the traditional Jewish practices, stimulated by
the possibility of cooperation on different issues among the various communities
of Banat. Even during tense historical moments (i.e. the Revolution of 1848),
the entire population of Timişoara cooperated. Representatives of the
Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox and Jewish denominations prayed together for
liberty in Parade Platz (which later
became Szabadság Tér and today Piaţa
Libertăţii6 [Libertăţii
Square]), being influenced by the revolutionary events which took
place in Vienna and Pest. The tolerant spirit of the population in the area, due
first of all to the confessional and linguistic diversity, created a favorable
environment for the development of the Jews.
From the 1870s through the 1890s documents record the existence of Jewish
communities in the following centers of the Banat region: Timişoara, Vîrşeţ,
Gătaia, Buziaş, Lipova, Ciacova, Recaş, Biserica Albă, Deta,
Arad, Şiman, Şemlac, Pecica, Chişineu-Criş, Curtici, Sîntana,
Pîncota, Lugoj, Caransebeş, Bocşa, Orşova, Oraviţa, Făget,
Reşiţa, and Balinţ7. In great majority, they had
statutes approved by the Ministry of Religions in Budapest or by the local
government. Many of them had a rabbi, a synagogue, a school, a cemetery, two or
more choristers and clerks, as well as necessary funds to run their traditional
religious activities. The statutes preserved in the archive of the Jewish
Communities of Timişoara testify about a good community administration,
that there was a correlation between the programs of the small communities and
those of the larger ones in the important cities. Each document records the
members' responsibilities; the way the religious procession was carried on; the
names of the spiritual leaders; and the existence of a synagogue8.
What does the above information add up to? Firstly, community
organization was extended to the rural milieu; the Jewish population’s
professions were diversified through such occupations as hairdresser, barber,
dyer, weaver, butcher, waiter, confectioner, brewer, photographer, furrier,
tailor, carpenter, jeweler, antiquary and bookseller.9 Their
involvement in broader professions, such as physician, lawyer, engineer,
teacher, merchant and economist, provided a chance for an open relation with the
society which populated the Banat. Finally, some archival materials reveal that
the economic power of many families increased as a consequence of their activity
as manufacturers, landlords, factory owners and directors of commercial and
industrial firms. This explains how the community was able to support rather
large expenses such as the construction of the Neologue synagogue in the Cetate
district of Timişoara from 1860 through 186510, and in the Fabric
district in 1895, or the reconstruction of community office buildings.
Doubtless the Jewish capitalists of Timişoara -- whose investments
in the city economy were felt by the entire population -- were able to support
the whole construction policy. This easily can be seen from the fact that in
building the synagogue in the Cetate
district, the Jewish community was in position to resort to engage famous
construction firms in the empire in acquiring building stones, and purchasing
and installing the faience, the terracotta, the windows and the decorative
patterns. A clearer picture of their wealth, can be gained from the fact that,
for the glass materials needed for construction K.K.
Landesbefugte Huren & Fenster Fabrik of Vienna asked for the sum of
8,294 Austrian Guldens11; for the Almaser marble ("Almaser Marmor") they charged the
community with the sum of 3,014 guldens12; for the terracotta 3,323
Guldens were paid to Heinrich Drasche K.K.
Pr. Thonwaaren Fabrik Inzedorf am Wienerberg13. The firms that
furnished those materials were from Vienna, Budapest, or from other small
Austrian, Hungarian or Banatian towns. Such dispersion required covering the
expenses of both the transportation of the materials and for moving and putting
up the workers. In the same circumstances, the committee charged with the
construction of the synagogue invited a Viennese architect, Carl Schumann, to
design the building14. The financial resources invested for the
raising of the Cetate district
synagogue, proved that the Jews of the capital city of Banat had entered a new
stage even during the years preceding the granting of equal rights. Similar
synagogues were built in many places of the region; this shows that this is due
not only to the demographic boom, but also to the liberal thinking of many Jews
who formed an important layer within the bourgeoisie.
A contemporary researcher drew attention to the “Habsburg myth”
maintained by the Dualist Austro-Hungarian Empire, an aspect that cannot be
ignored in analyzing the particular situation of the Jews in the empire15.
The monarchic administration often disregarded the real problems of
nationalities. It resorted to the traditional form of centralism, though
admitting certain cosmopolitan ideas coming from the 18th century
Austrian Enlightenment. This explains how it allowed religious and national
pluralism, only to the degree that this could be exploited for the benefit
empire. This determined the response of its
nationalities which were in a period of cultural and political emancipation.
Under the influence of the German-Prussian philosophy and political ideas, they
invoked the artificial issue of identity, that is, they resumed the theory of
the folk’s spirit (Volksgeist) in a
different reading in order to justify the demand for recognition of their own
entities16. In the case of the Jews, the so-called assimilation which
would have been taken place in the territories incorporated to Hungary, like
Banat, did not obstruct religious education. The best evidence was the crisis of
consciousness, which led to the development of a strong Zionist movement. It is
true, however, that many Jewish families within the empire were looking for a
distinct spiritual expression, which implicitly was a sign of their
dissatisfaction. The Jewish cultural phenomenon at the end of the 19th
century and the beginning of the 20th century Vienna - so clearly
expressed through the works initiated by many scientists, artists, and also by
such important politicians as Theodor Herzl – were strongly echoed in Banat as
well.
It is interesting to highlight that, on many occasions, the Jewish
attraction to liberalism was reinforced by the myth of the almighty state and of
the state's authority. Professed throughout Europe, especially after the French
emancipation, the attraction to liberalism continued to be motivated by the
insecurity of the Jewish community’s existence in Diaspora. Anti-Semitism was
not a characteristic feature of the population in the Banat. However, here too,
especially the community leaders manifested exaggerated obedience to the state
institutions. In this respect, the emancipation only partly changed the
situation. From such a political outlook originated the idea of inviting Emperor
Franz Joseph I to the opening ceremony of the synagogue in the Cetate
district of Timişoara. Though the synagogue had already been officially
inaugurated in 1865, after the ending of the construction, the representatives
of the Jews of Timişoara insisted on having the emperor himself attend the
event. Therefore, a second inauguration of the same synagogue was organized. A
memorial plaque, unveiled at that event, records the presence of Franz Joseph I
in the synagogue of the Cetate
district of Timişoara, on May 7, 1872 as follows:
“On the
occasion of His glorious visit, honoring us with His presence and bringing His
merciful sign of consent, Franz Joseph inaugurated once again our most beautiful
and holy synagogue. We wrote this marble plaque for the memory generations to
come as a testimony that the generosity of the Habsburg Dynasty extended over
all denominations”17.
As religious freedom was observed, the functioning of the communities
depending on their different orientations was accepted, and pluralism became a
reality for a century and a half, why was another official inauguration
necessary? Certainly, it was not necessary; however the community leaders often
exaggerated their attitude before the officials in order to capture their
goodwill. The lack of political flair was associated with the unconditioned
temptation of many Jews to be assimilated to Hungary’s middle class. Tense
moments, even if more reduced in scale in comparison with other regions, would
not be missing from time to time, from either the social or the
political-administrative life of the region of Banat. We would emphasize that,
even if the Jews were accepted as inhabitants with equal rights and duties,
being subjects of the official regime, they were considered second rank citizens
in Banat, as well as in other regions of East and Central Europe. From this
point of view there were similarities between the Austro-Hungarian rule and the
Romanian governance after 1918.
Many eminent Jewish personalities of Banat participated in the public
life of the Dual Empire. Teachers, industrialists, physicians, merchants,
bankers and journalists took part in the administration of the factories, towns
and cities, in building up the banking system, in editing the modern press, and
in ensuring the flow of information, ideas and goods. Among the most frequently
quoted names during the second half of the 19th century, we would
mention the entrepreneur Ignat Deutsch, brewer in Timişoara. Under his
direction the Fabrikshof-Bierbraure-Aktiengeselschaft
firm achieved high prestige18; Samuel Singer, constructor and patron
of the first textile mill in Timişoara, laid the basis for the future
enterprise for wool industry19; landowner Ignatz S. Eisenstädter,
who was one of the important Jewish community presidents and under whose
leadership the Neologue synagogue in the Cetate
district was inaugurated in 1865 and 1872 respectively20; lawyer
Ignatz Hirsch, the leader of the bar of law attorneys in Timişoara21;
physician Alexandru Schossberger, director of the pediatric polyclinic in the
capital city of Banat; and dr. László Lengyel from "Pester Lloyd"
and Ernst Lengyel from "Az Est" dailies. Entrepreneur, Armin Neumann,
studied construction engineering at the University of Chicago, and later
developed many commercial and industrial networks in the Austro-Hungarian
Empire; he also projected many districts of the city of Lugoj in Banat,
cooperating with famous construction firms from Vienna and Budapest.
David Oppenheimer, the Chief Rabbi of Banat; Jacob Steinhardt, the Chief
Rabbi of Arad; J.Weiss and I.
Hartman, Rabbis of Lugoj; L.Hirschl,
Rabbi of Vinga and Rabbi Moses Hirschfeld, all were the continuers of the famous
Chorin Aron. The Sepharadim creed had
demonstrated its ability to function autonomously both through the existence of
a synagogue of its own in the Fabric
district in Timişoara, and through the activity of the well-known Jewish (kosher)
butcher Salamon Alkalay (whose children worked their way up in the empire's
cities, including Vienna). The coexistence of the Sepharadims
and Ashkenazims not only met no
restrictions and provoked no disputes within the Jewish communities, but was an
example of peaceful coexistence. The rabbis’ activities responded to the
increase of the Jewish population and they met the needs of the communities. The
rabbinical institution became powerful at the end of the 19th century
and at the beginning of the 20th. Timişoara had a great
western-oriented Jewish community headquartered in the Cetate
district, three Orthodox communities with seats in Fabric, Mehala and Josephin
districts, an ante status-quo community and the Spanish rite -- both in the Fabric district22.
The religious life of the Banat Jewry did not differ from that in other
parts of the empire. Sometimes
on in order to hire the Chief Rabbi of
Banat there were organized competitions that were advertised in the most popular
dailies and reviews throughout the Austro-Hungarian Empire such as the
"Pester Lloyd", the "Freie Presse" and the "Neuzeit".
That was the case in 1874 when, no less than thirty-three rabbis of the highest
rank and well known Talmudists from many centers of Central and Eastern Europe
-- where communities with long tradition had existed before (such as Vienna,
Krakow, Linz, Prague, Bratislava, Esztergom, Szombathely, Zagreb, Tîrgu-Mureş
and Bucharest) -- competed for this position23. Since none of the
candidates received two-thirds of the total number of votes needed for the job,
the Rabbinate of Timişoara was led by a celebrity of the Judaic world in
the empire for a few years. His name was
Dr. Immanuel Löw, the Chief Rabbi of Szeged. After six years, the rabbinic
chair of Timişoara was filled by Dr.
Moritz Löw (Löwy Mor) in 1879. The rabbi had studied at Hochschule
für die Wissenschaft des Judentums at the Department of Humanities within
the University of Berlin and at the University of Würtzburg. Highly appreciated
by his co-religionists for his knowledge, Löw was committed to the study of
Talmud, he wrote many works about the history of the Jews and studies on
Judaism; he became known through his teaching activity within the circles of the
famous rabbis of Central Europe. This example speaks for itself about the
outstanding importance of the rabbinical center of Timişoara. That
indicates a excelent match of the Judaism professed in Banat with that professed
throughout the empire.
Indeed the prosperity of the
Jews of Banat is revealed by the new wave of settlers in Timişoara. From
1860 to 1910 the Jewish population in the capital city of Banat tripled its
number. In 1860, 425 Jewish families (2,360 people) lived in the city. They
practiced their religion in four synagogues24. In 1871, from a
population of 34,000 of inhabitants, the number of Jews was 3,982, or 12.36 %.
In 1880, statistics indicate 4,019 persons, or 12 % of the total inhabitants of
the city. In 1890 their number increased to 4,870, or 12 %; in 1900 to 6,057, or
14.2 %; and in 1910 to 6,728, or 15.5 %25. It should be mentioned, as
well, that during the second half of the 19th century the
Austro-Hungarian Empire became a favorite place for the Jews. This partly
explains the sense of the demographic movement in Banat. If, in 1840, the number
of the Jews was 239,000 throughout the empire, their number increased to 826,000
in 1900 and to 910,000 in 1910, representing five percent of the total
population of the empire26.
Another relevant issue is that of assimilation. The use of the
“Hungarian Mosaic confession” wording, introduced by Hungarian policy makers
who intended to transform the empire into a nation-state, had a tremendous
effect on the Jews, especially in the regions under Hungarian jurisdiction.
Disregarding the religious orientations defined during the Jewish Congress in
1868-1869, many Jews preferred the assimilation as a form of their intellectual,
social and economic progress. Even under these circumstances, it was a matter of
appropriation of the Hungarian language as mother tongue, rather than religious
assimilation. In 1890, the 55.6% of Jews in the empire accepted Hungarian, and
in 1910 it was 73.3%27.
As for the evolution in the religious life, mixed families appeared
without considerably modifying the structure of the communities during this
period. From 1869 to 1909 the Jewish community belonging to Hungary lost 4,666
faithful28. Statistics indicate certain tendencies departing from the
framework and customs of traditional life. New documentary research shows that
the Magyarization process took place more rapidly in the case of the Neologue
Jews than in that of the Orthodox Jews which continued to speak Hebrew, Yiddish
and German languages. The situation did not differ in Banat. Hungarian, as the
spoken language moved into the first place. Yiddish remained in many cases the
language used in the family exclusively or in the communitarian milieu. German
became a secondary language in more than half of the Jewish families, and
bilingualism (Hungarian and German) continued to be practiced. The ratio between
the German and the Hungarian as spoken languages by the Jews of Banat, from 1880
to 1910, was inverted. According to the Statistic
Bulletin of Hungary, in 1910 the percentage of the Jews who spoke Hungarian
was 65.3 in Timişoara and 96.1 in Arad. The highest percentage in the
regions of Banat, Partium, Maramureş and Transylvania, altogether, was in
Oradea, namely 97.4% (according to Erdélyi
Magyar Évköny 1918-1929, No. I., Kolozsvár: Juventus, 1930, p.109).
Hebrew was taught in Jewish schools and continued to be preferred in the
Orthodox’s sermons. The mixed families resulted from inter-marriages increased
in number as a consequence of the diverse social and multi-cultural composition
of Banat. This happened during the
last decades of the empire, and it would be repeated in Romania during the
interwar period.
A more accurate picture is found in the statistical data resulting from
documentary research. The marriage registers in the Archive of the State of
Marriage of the City of Arad record for 1890-1940 a significant number of
marriages between Jews and Roman-Catholics, Protestants, Greek-Catholics and
Orthodox29. However, during the above-mentioned period, the marriages
within the same (Jewish) religion prevailed, oscillating from 7 in 1895 to 23 in
1911, 45 in 1919, 36 in 1925, 27 in 1933, 35 in 1935, 22 in 1938 and 12 in 194030.
Statistics show continuity in the Judaic religious life, and that the
appropriation of one or other of the regional languages and cultures did not
mean loss of identity. The cultural Magyarization had not always been equivalent
with assimilation; the meandering path of the history of Banat seldom made that
possible. On the contrary, the building of synagogues at the end of the previous
century is convincing evidence of the preservation and continuation of religious
life. This must be acknowledged in order to avoid confusion between integration
and assimilation. The Jews of Banat were integrated into the social, economic
and administrative life of the region. At other times, they were the group that
stimulated the forming of the civic society.The cultural pluralism and the
multilingualism of Banat stimulated the appropriation of the ideas of
self-respect, trans-community communication, loyal competition and professional
ethics. The Jews had often been an example in this part of the world situated at
the periphery of the Austro-Hungarian Empire -- a region that compared with
others had less been touched by the vainglory of ethnicity. Therefore it was not
about assimilation in the classical sense of the term. After the unification of
Banat with Romania in 1918, the policy of the Banat Jews showed that one of
their important tendencies would be to assume a distinct religious identity.
The nationalist and communist historiographies in Romania granted
circumstantial interest to the history of the minorities in general and of the
Jews in particular. That is why the political ideas and the contributions to the
country’s culture brought by the linguistic and religious minorities are very
little known. Hence a confused understanding of history has often resulted,
reducing the approach of the past to an ethnicist interpretation. The community
diversity of Banat, more likely visible in the urban milieu, enabled Timişoara
to have more initiatives in organizing a civic society beyond the ethno-national
identity of its citizens. The Romanian-Hungarian-Serbian dispute at the end of
the war concerning the inclusion of the region in one of the three nation-states
which were outlined at the time (namely Romania, Hungary and Yugoslavia),
explains why many political circles in Timişoara, were interested in a
trans-national political solution31. In any case, the basic idea of
such initiatives was not to create barriers based on confessional and/or
ethno-national belonging.
In such a context, the Jews divided themselves into many fractions. The
choice of some of them was reduced to the struggle for a social position and
implicitly for equality of rights with all citizens. Under the impact of the
Hungarian revolution in Budapest, there were heard “voices” that embraced
the socialist ideas. To better understand the situation, it should be noted that
the social-democratic movement in Banat was much stronger than in the
neighboring regions. Timişoara and Reşiţa were two centers with a
great number of workers and with a strong trade-union organization. The presence
of the Jews in the social-democratic movement of Banat had an important role.
There were intellectuals among the many handicraftsmen and workers, for example
Alfred Horowitz and Ernst Burger32.
Along with Jews and Magyars, an important part of the German population
embraced a social-democratic orientation. Romanians, too, took over these ideas,
but their number was small compared to that of the minorities. Parallel to the
socio-democratic orientation, there were Jewish groups that wished to be
recognized as a distinct national minority within the Romanian state. For this
reason, on November 12, 1918 a meeting of the Jewish population of Timişoara
was held, in which 400 handicraft workers, traders, physicians, lawyers and
military officers participated33. It should be highlighted that some
of the Jews were involved in the policy-making of the city and the whole area,
at times succeeding to key positions. Otto Roth's case, appointed as
governmental commissioner of Banat by the authorities of Budapest, was
characteristic for the diversity of the Jews’ condition in Timişoara in
that historical period of time. Otto Roth was a political figure deeply involved
in the changes that occurred in the capital city of Banat. He proclaimed the
Republic of Banat within the borders of Hungary, and himself its civil
commissioner. After this event, he worked in favor of an autonomous republic of
Banat. In fact, he represented the concerns of many political groups and social
communities in whose name he acted. As for the Jewish question, Roth was of the
opinion that an equality of rights was enough. He accepted that there would be
no contradiction between the promotion of social democracy and assuming a
national identity34. The difference between Roth's vision and that of
the mass of the Jews (which was to provoke prolonged contradictions) was that
the former understood by ‘identity’ either assimilation to the Magyar nation
or recognition of a supra-identity. As an outcome of the November 12th
meeting, there was set-up the National Jewish Council of Banat, which later
became the National Jewish Union of Transylvania and Banat.
The reorganization of Central and Eastern Europe after the war, the
creation of the nation-states on the basis of the peace treaties signed at Saint
Germain and Trianon, provoked changes in the Jews’ consciousness. The Jewish
bourgeoisie, who had a very important role in Timişoara, Lugoj, Reşiţa,
Caransebeş and Arad was compelled to adapt to the new political
circumstances. Such bourgeoisie was strongly connected to the economic life of
the empire and integrated into Hungarian society. It belonged to a cosmopolitan
life and the styles of communication specific to the empire; that is, it
belonged to the past. The newly established Romanian administration required the
Jewish bourgeoisie to adjust to the new circumstances and to make the necessary
steps in this sense, namely: to appropriate another language and culture – the
Romanian one; to set up a new community administration in view of the new
organizational forms; to appropriate Romanian legislation, regarding minority
rights; to obtain political representation within the frame of the new state; to
establish contacts with authorities; and to define political options correlative
to their religion or nationality. By that time the Jews of Banat distinguished
themselves in the region's economy, social life and culture. They were educated
in Hungarian schools and were in contact with the Hungarian administration. Many
of them took up the Hungarian citizenship having Jewish religion. In 1917, for
example (only one year before the fall of the empire), when 200 years of
community existence were celebrated in Arad, the Jews still showed their loyalty
to the Austro-Hungarian Empire35. Therefore the shift of views was
not an easy one. It supposed not only solving the dilemma of identity -- which
implied a quite large segment of the population, but also a quick reorganization
in light of the new political situation. More precisely, compared to other
minority communities, the Jews of Banat had to face the situation of the
so-called "double background" assumed during the Austro-Hungarian
Empire, namely the Hungarian and the Mosaic ones, which presumed the
redefinition of the terms concerning identity. Many debates occurred, often
similar to those of the emancipation period.
Unlike in other European regions, the Neologues were in the majority in
Banat, hence the problem of unification of the communities with the aim of
recognizing their minority condition within the Romanian State. Such unification
happened in 1922, due, among other causes, to the pressure of the Jewish
Orthodox Congregation of Timişoara, which expressed its fear before the
increase of the Neologue Jewish community36. Thus it felt a need to
represent the Jews' political interests within the former Austro-Hungarian
provinces by the Jewish National Union of Transylvania and Banat. As far back as
1918, this political body played an important role in solving the Jewish
question. During the interwar period, Jewish solidarity with the Zionist ideal
was spread successfully. National awareness on the part of the Jews was promoted
by all Zionist organizations which were set up in the cities of Transylvania and
Banat regions. Among the initiators of the Zionist movement in these regions
there could be mentioned the jurist Ioan Ronai of Alba Iulia, the rabbi Jordan
Alexandru of Făgăraş, Moses Samuel Glasner and dr. Chaim
Weiszburg of Cluj. The outstanding progress of the Zionist movement was owed to
Alexandru Marmorek's activity, a first rank public figure of the European
Zionism. As university professor and director of the Pasteur University of
Paris, Marmorek knew quite well the concerns and problems of the Hungarian
Jewry. He was born in Vienna, where he worked along with Theodor Herzl for a
time. While working in Paris, he was elected president of the Zionist
organization of France. He arrived in Timişoara at the end of the World War
I, as physician attaché around the French troops of Antanta, entrusted with the
prevention of the potential Romanian-Hungarian-Serbian conflict in Banat. Under
those circumstances he decisively contributed to the commitment of the Timişoara
Jewry to the Zionist ideal37. In December 1918, the representatives
of the Jewish Zionists delegated Alexandru Marmorek to represent them in
international meetings. This happened when Marmorek left for Switzerland, the
Netherlands and France, where he would meet leaders of the European powers. In
an article published in "Uj kelet" newspaper in Cluj it was asserted
that the Timişoara Jewry called the attention, through this professor, to
the unhappy situation caused by the nationalism that surrounded them everywhere
in Central and Eastern Europe. They also mentioned that, during the new postwar
period, only a very good organization, based on Jewish national criteria, could
save them from the pogroms that were not far away. Things must be assessed
differently from one region to another, the differences being relatively
important in the behavior of the new authorities. The "Uj keket" daily
in Cluj (1918-1940) and the "Neue Zeit - Uj kor" daily in Timişoara
(1920-1940) regularly advocated the ideological reorientation of the Jews. The
latter became the official body of the Union of the Jews of Transylvania and
Banat.
In Arad, where the branch of the above-mentioned Union was set up in
1920, the support for the Zionist movement was felt through the agency of the
Orthodox Jews, of the Aviva-Barisia,
Noar-Haţioni and Şomer
Hatzair music groups, the Hakoah Sport
Club and of the Wiza Women
organization38. However, controversies concerning identity would
prevail in community life of Arad during 1920-1936. While Dr. Eugen Singer and
Josif Kalmár, the president and vice-president respectively of the Arad branch
of the National Union of the Jews of Timişoara and Banat, asserted that the
Jews represented a nation, the president of the Neologue rite community, Dr.
Henrik Shütz, argued that they were only a religious denomination. "The
Jews of Arad account themselves as Magyars", said Shütz. This opinion was
shared by the Chief Rabbi, Dr. L. Válvölgyi and by his homologous in Oradea,
the Neologue Chief Rabbi, L. Kecskeméti39. Despite
misunderstandings, Zionism in Arad won many sympathizers, and the pro-Magyar
assimilation trend lowered its intensity. The reasons for such a turn were
enough: the rising anti-Semitism, spread by the extreme right circles in
Hungary; the acts through which the Jewish students were terrorized in the Superior
Dacia University in Cluj, the uncertain status for the liberal professions,
and the policy of removing Jews from the public offices40. All were
situations that required the adoption of measures of self-defense.
In Timişoara things were only partly similar to Arad. The
controversies were between the cosmopolitan liberal-bourgeoisie and the
Zionists. Generally speaking, the retort addressed to the supra-national liberal
groups came from the political organizations, either Jewish, Schwab or Hungarian41.
In Lugoj, another multicultural city in the Banat region, there were three local
dailies namely the "Banater Bote", "Lugoscher Zeitung" and
"Drapelul". These newspapers reflected both the multicultural and the
intercultural aspirations of the population, on the one side, and the
ethno-national, on the other. Therefore, one can conclude that the cultural life
in Lugoj continued the pluralist tradition of the city.
The Jews rallied around the "Banater Bote" magazine whose
patrons were the Schlingers, while the Germans rallied around the "Lugoscher
Zeitung", which belonged to the leader of the German movement, Heinrich
Anwender. "Lugoscher Zeitung" became a propaganda publication which
advocated the political rights of the German community. The Jewish-German
publications in Lugoj promoted convergent ideological trends, providing about
the Unitarian cultural life of the Germans, Romanians, Hungarians and Jews. The
Romanian intelligentsia had not always shared this kind of approach of the local
cultural phenomena. A notice published by
"Lugoscher Zeitung" on May 8, 1921 is notable because it quite
faithfully described the state of mind of the city in that period: "We did
not make any distinction among Germans, Romanians, Magyars and Jews to the
present because we show our respect for other cultures"42. The
debates on the cultural and political orientations of the Jewish community in
Lugoj directly followed Banat’s entering into the composition of the Romanian
state. The meetings were lead by Dr. Henrik Berdach, and there were discussed
the possibilities of an efficient organization. The financing of the activities
related to worship and children's education in the Jewish schools were the
topics much emotional disscussion43. From 1920 to 1922, the Zionist
ideal had not yet been formulated in the Jewish milieu of Lugoj. It would be
appropriated by some representatives when a group deputized by the Lugoj
community took part to the great reunion in Timişoara on May 27, 1923, the
so-called "Great Meeting of the Jews of Banat and Transylvania
Regions", or more precisely the Banat and Timişoara. The city of Lugoj
was represented by Dr. Henrik Berdach, the president of the community, Chief
Rabbi Emanuel Manó, Dr. Moritz Deutsch, Dr. Jacob Klein, Dr. E. Neumann and dr.
L. Sebestyén44. That seems to have been the moment when the Zionist
ideology began to be outlined for a part of the Lugoj Jewry.
At this meeting delegates discussed the so-called unification of the
Jewish movement in Banat and Timişoara. The intention was explicitly
formulated on May 14, 1923 by the presidium of the Israelite community of Timişoara
through a notice to the prefect of the Timiş County:
"The Jews of Transylvania and Banat
would like to merge in order to support their common interests. For this
purpose, they will hold a general top-level meeting on May 27, the current year
[1923, n.n], at 5:30 p.m. in the consultation room of the Israelite Community of
Timişoara, situated on Mărăşeşti street"45.
A few days later, on May 17, the representatives of the Native Jewish
Union of Bucharest, too, led by the well-known lawyer, Wilhelm Filderman,
expressed their desire to organize a conference on the issue of the unification
of all the Jews in Romania. Filderman addressed himself to the president of the
Jewish Community of Timişoara, lawyer Adolf Vértes, as follows:
“The exceptionally grave circumstances,
which we are passing through, show that the anti-Semites -- in their fight for
our extermination -- do not stop to consider legal issues or human reasons. The
harsh pain we experience is due, for everyone who attentively examine the facts,
to the complete lack of cohesion between the Jews in the new territories and
those in the Old Kingdom. The Native Jewish Union has thus far, the difficult
mission of providing a legal situation for the Jews in the Old Kingdom through
the inscription of their emancipation in the Constitution, protecting in the
meantime (in cooperation with the Jewish members of the parliament) the Jews'
rights within the new territories. This Union calls today the Jews in the new
territories to organize, being deeply convinced that it is the sole and the most
effective way to fight against the anti-Semites. In order to achieve our
purpose, we have the honor kindly to ask you to participate in the meeting to be
held in Bucharest on May 27-28, this year, at 4:00 p.m. in the building of the
Union of the Jews of Romania, 11, Soborului Street (Cultura
Gymnasium). For this occasion we call together notables from all the provinces.
On this occasion there will be laid the foundation on which the Union of the
Jews in Romania will be created. The organization will comprise all Romanian
citizens of Jewish extraction and will decide upon the calling of a general
congress of the Jews from Romania”46.
Though similarities existed, the problems of the Jews in the Banat and
Transylvania communities were not the same as those in the Old Kingdom.
Therefore, no approach to the problem was the same. Since 1920, the question
arose of correlation of the Jewish communitarian activities among all
Romania’s regions. The above-quoted letters between the state bodies and
communities, as well as between the Union of the Native Jews and the Israelite
Community of Timişoara, reveal such a tendency. It could be concluded that
the inter-community relations were developed more or less pro
forma, keeping a distance, and not always showing great promise. It is not
less true that the different history of the communities from one side to another
of the Carpathians hindered adaptation and rapid merging. Also the different
moments of emancipation delayed merging. Last but no least, the ignorance of the
Romanian language by the majority of the Jews of Banat and Transylvania
(especially during the first decade after the unification) was a difficult
obstacle to overcome.
Where did the lack of functionality come from? The Grand Meeting held in
Timişoara indicated that the Jews in the new regions of Romania were
interested in clarifying their aspirations, trying to overcome their accents in
speaking, owed to their multiple extractions. If, from linguistic and cultural
points of view they belonged -- as we have seen -- to the cosmopolitan area of
Central Europe, as for the rite they oscillated between the Jewish Orthodox and
the Jewish Neologue trends. Against such an intricate background, the Zionists
were those who tried, and also succeeded, to provide another option; one that
not only did not exclude the existent religious rites but promised to enrich
them. Zionism had to offer the hope of coming into the light. The participation
of the three Jewish communities of Timişoara, namely the Neologue, the
Orthodox and status quo, in the above-mentioned meeting, has always been cited
as an example of successful cooperation. Personalities of the Banatian and
Transylvanian Judaism were present such as Miksa Drechsler and Jacob Singer,
Chief-Rabbis of Timişoara; Ernst Deutsch, Chief-Rabbi of Caransebeş;
Jacob Rothbart, the President of the National Union of the Jews of Timişoara;
Dr. Henrik Shütz, the President of the Neologue Community of Arad; Dr. Miksa
Klein, the Vice-President of the National Union of the Jews of Cluj; the
President of all communities of Timişoara; and numerous intellectuals who
represented small communities such those
in Deta, Reşiţa, Lipova, Chişinău-Criş, Sînnicolau
Mare and Curtici.
The wording of the interacting viewpoints had a great resonance among the
participants. At the meeting, the approach of the identity question was
essential. Issues relating to denominations, to scheduling cultural and sports
activities, to the national propaganda and to the awakening Jewish identity
awareness were also highlights of the meeting. Ways of putting into practice the
spiritual awakening programs were mentioned. Dr. A. Vértes expressed the aim of
the meeting in the following words:
“We have considered that the time has come to
invite envoys from the Transylvanian and Banatian communities and from the
national associations to our great reunion held today (May 23, 1923) and
dedicated to the great ideal of unification of our dispersed forces in different
political orientations, so that we could direct them to the universal benefit of
the Jewry”.
The aspiration toward a national identity was more than obvious. The Jews
of Banat, Crişana and Transylvania not only intuited the importance of
their reorganization based on new principles and with different aims from the
previous ones, but were fully aware that their survival would depend on the
unification of their movements. The constitution of a statute would have been
considered a symbol of the idea of liberation. The meeting of Timişoara on
May 23, 1923 set the basis of a firm Zionist trend. Its success depended to a
great extent on the understanding of the priorities in the new emancipation
process47.
The Zionist policy openly affirmed by the Banat Jews did not mean lack of
loyalty to the Romanian State. The majority of the Jews made this option without
detriment to the security of the state where they lived. It should be noted that
-- especially during the first phase of their existence under the jurisdiction
of the Romanian State – the Jews of Banat and Transylvania wanted to set up
their own representative body. This was not only because their concerns were
particular to those regions, but also because the parties to which they were
oriented, namely the Romanian National Party (which later became the National
Peasant Party) and the Magyars' Party, disappointed them by neglecting their
situation. For example, on the occasion of the 1927-1928 elections, on the lists
of the Magyars' and the Liberal Party, the Jews of Banat and Transylvania
succeeded in obtaining only two places in the Romanian Parliament (see the
political situation of the Jews in "Erdélyi Magyar Évkönyv", 1930,
p. 119).
The government in Bucharest frequently stimulated the tendency toward
cultural and linguistic division, especially by favoring the policy of
Romanianization. Diplomatically led some times, and by force at others, the
relationship with the interwar Romania minorities was part of a medium and
long-term strategy, through which either their assimilation, or determining
their emigration was aimed by the authorities48. Even though the
Zionist movement had already been affirmed, the Jews of Banat continued to
support cultural convergence, pleading for multilingual and trans-communitarian
communication according to the social and cultural structure of the region. From
the perspective of the history of political ideas, the segregation based on the
so-called ethnic criterion was counterbalanced by the liberal and
social-democratic aspirations in Banat. This attitude would be found again
later, during Ceauşescu’s nationalist-communist dictatorship49.
Almost always the relationship between the Jews and the Romanian authorities was
ambiguous, an aspect to which other researchers call attention, as well. On the
one hand, the officials in the interwar Romania allowed the functioning of the
Jewish-owned commercial and industrial firms and also accepted the opening of
Jewish schools; while on the other, the community was labeled -- according to
some police reports – as being “dangerous and non-integrable”50.
At some other times, the intelligence service reports stated that the Jews
distinguished themselves through “speculation which is their everyday
bread”. Finally, in the documents that offer information about the development
of the 1920 strike, they are considered “elements of propaganda and
agitation"51. Was all that fear at all justified? Were the Jews
in the regions of the former empire interested or, moreover, able to jeopardize
the integrity of the Romanian state set-up as a consequence of the Versailles
Peace Treaty? Taking into consideration the presentation of the Jews' situation
and their preoccupations during the transition period from the Austro-Hungarian
jurisdiction to the Romanian one, there is no basis to believe that they being
suspected and under surveillance would have been justified. As for the
anti-Semite political orientation of the authorities, it can be affirmed that
this already had a tradition in the cultural and political life of the Old
Kingdom.
The activities undertaken by the Banat Jewry during the aftermath of the
World War I reflect a particular attraction toward the liberal professions such
as engineering, law, teaching, medicine, chemistry, manufacturing and trade.
Their prestige during the last decades of the Empire show the acknowledgement of
the social and economic usefulness of their activity and confidence in their
practice of these professions.
The traditional professions were, in turn, advantageous and to a great
extent could be turned into business in the new Romanian State. For example, 38%
of the Arad Jews and of the neighboring area were handicraftsmen at the
beginning of the 20th century52. Meanwhile, commerce
acquired a privileged place in every city of Banat and in the rural milieu, as
well. Therefore, 55% of the Arad Jews were merchants53; they would
contribute as much as they did in the empire to the economic development of the
interwar Romania. Nor did things differ in Lugoj. In every family, at least one
member was involved in mercantile activities54. There were a quite
large number of petty merchants among the Jews of Reşiţa and Oraviţa,
but also educated traders coming from the large centers of the former empire55.
The Jewish trade firms were highly appreciated in Timişoara and the
cooperation among businessmen lent economic and political stability to the city.
The sense of style, of Viennese origin, practiced by the Jewish merchants, was
also appreciated both by the city's inhabitants and by visitors, as well. This
aspect, too, contributed to the development of special relationships between the
Jews and the Germans, the Magyars and the Romanians. The admiration of their
ability for organization and their dynamic contribution to the various aspects
of life has to be taken into consideration whenever we try to understand the
Jews' position in Timişoara’s and Banat’s society.
The entrepreneurs had special success as the Romanian state was bound to
use their professional and managerial abilities against the background of its
general shortage of specialists. It is equally true that the prestige of the
Jews’ spirit of initiative among the population of Banat dampened, for a
while, the tendencies of Brătianu’s National Liberal Party to substitute
Jewish with Romanian entrepreneurs. As the number of minorities was high in
Banat during the interwar period, interest in the region’s economic growth
prevailed over theories and actions based on ethnicity which came from the
interwar Romanian governments. The textile industry in Timişoara benefited
from substantial contribution from the Jewish entrepreneurs, since the owner,
the co-owner, or the director of the wool mill were Jews56. The names
of the Singers and of the director and shareholder, Theodor Hecht, among others,
should be noted. The glove, shoes and hat factories in Timişoara were
either managed or owned by Jews. Quite often the most capable foremen and
workers of those enterprises came from among the Jewish milieu. The same was the
case of the brewery in Timişoara, where their presence was traditional57
and was resumed during the World War II when the Jewish contribution was once
again of first importance in the functioning of this industrial sector in the
city. The examples are numerous; among them the chief engineer, Francisc Theiss,
the production manager of the factory from 1979 to present.
The economic life of the city of Arad, too, was enriched by the Jews.
Along the Magyars and German Schwabs, they formed the middle class of the city.
The textile mill of the Neumanns, set-up in 1900, was famous during the interwar
period. In 1940 this textile mill was lead by the most famous member of this
family, namely the baron Franz von Neumann (or known also as Ferenc Neumann of Végvár).
The Jewish participation in the textile industry of Arad was significant; out of
a total of 13 textile mills, seven belonged to Jews. In the chemical industry,
out of 12 enterprises, four were Jew-owned. In the field of construction
material, out of 4 enterprises three were owned by Jews. Out of 16 printing
houses existing in the city, seven belonged to Jews. The vinegar factories of
Arad (as well as in Lugoj and Timişoara) belonged to Jewish entrepreneurs.
The Jewish participation in the wood industrialization is indicated by the Czettel
Factory, set up in 1926. The car industry experienced continuous
development, as a consequence of the activity of the Grundman enterprise set up
in 1924. The numerous handicraft shops are other examples of their economic
involvement58. The Jewish properties in the villages of Arad County
are also conclusive arguments for their contribution to the region's prosperity;
ten mills, three timber factories, one spirits factory, three oil press mills, a
weaving mill, a ballast pit, and a stone exploitation. These data come from the
expropriation provisions of the Jews in the rural milieu of Arad during 1942,
expropriations dictated by General Ion Antonescu’s regime59. The
presence of a few large banks highlight the major role of the Jewish bankers. It
is especially about the Arader Allgemenine
Sparkasse, Arader Comitats Sparkasse,
the Italian Bank and the Romanian
Bank Society60.
A reconstitution of the industrial and commercial life of interwar Lugoj
indicates the massive presence of the Jewish capital investments. In a city with
18-20,000 inhabitants, where the Jewish population increased to about 1,000, its
activity grew manifest in the pharmaceutical industry, where the Carol
Brothers and Bodi Vértes Bros. became renown; in grist and bakery where the Klára
Mill held the monopoly; in the textile industry where the Braun,
Barat & Lengyel and The Textile
Enterprise (the later being the property of the Krammer Brothers, having around 700 workers) were very well
developed; and in the toy industry which was led by Sidon and Jaulusz. There were three prosperous printing houses which
also functioned in Lugoj, namely the Auspitz
-- whose patrons were the Schlingers; Husvét
and Höffer -- led by Maximillian Dreichlinger; the Sepher printing and publishing house led by Lajos Giskalay and
Sziklay. All these printing houses had bookshops in order sell their own
products. In the period from 1925 to 1935 Weicherz banker managed the well-known
Cărăşana Bank.
Moreover, the Jewish handicraftsmen played a special role in maintaining the
specific features of the urban life of the former empire. Watchmakers and
jewelers had a tradition which dates back to 1872, the Braun family being the
most renown in these fields. The Bronfeld tailor shop offered up-to-date
clothes; the Bristol Café of Stefan
Solomon’s was one of the most appreciated restaurants in downtown Lugoj. As in
Arad, in Timişoara, too, the main boulevards were renown not only as
promenade, but as shopping rows, as well. Among them, there were properties of
Jewish families61.
The Jews of Banat were not only the bourgeois middle class, nor the
ferment of the economic life. Being concerned, to the same extent, with the
cultural life and assuring a relaxed multi- and intercommunity life, they
promoted a civic society, as they had in many of the empire's centers over time.
Composer Gheorghe Kurtag who was awarded with the Herder Prize, singer Oskár Kálmán
who performed as vocalist in the Budapest Opera, professor of medicine Hugo
Strausz who was the dean of the Faculty of Medicine in Cluj, Rabbi Emanuel Lenke
and the family of the famous physicist Teller, all are relevant examples of the
aspirations of Lugoj Jewry. In almost all cities of the Banat, the Jews created
-- through their education, cultural tradition and economic standard -- the
proper environment for stimulating artistic and scientific values. The merits of
the composer Max Eisikovics from Timişoara were known by all music lovers
in Romania. The stimulating activity of the Arad Philarmonics’ players, among
whom Magda Weil, Tiberiu Kalusner, Maria Berend and many others, contributed to
the development of Romanian's cultural patrimony. Jews who achieved a great
international reputation originated in this region, as for example Gabriel Banat
(Jean Gabriel Hirsch) who made a brilliant career in the U.S.A., being launched
in New York by George Enescu.
The inter-communitarian relationship functioned, which partly explains
the continuation of relatively good living standards in the case of the Banat
Jewry during the interwar period. The situations of conflict were insignificant
until the setting up of Charles II's and Ion Antonescu's dictatorships. As the
Jews assimilated the language of the newly established state they naturally
cooperated with the Romanians. Less in the Banat and more often in Transylvania
and Crişana, the suspicions of the Romanian population against the Jews
were due to the use of the Hungarian language by the latters. The authorities
supported these suspicions, which were echoed among the youth. This happened in
Cluj in 1922, when Jewish stores were devastated, and Jewish students were
expelled from the Superior Dacia University,
their synagogues destroyed, and their prayer books burned in front of the statue
of Mathias Corvin. This sore festered when a number of faculty members of the
above-mentioned university joined the anti-Semite manifestation. These did not
include those with a social democratic orientation and some, such as Professor
Papilian from the Faculty of Medicine, maintained flawless behavior defending
the students and faculty members of Jewish origin62. Where during
1921-1922 academic year the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Cluj had
357 students of Jewish origin, in 1927-1928 their number decreased to 13. The
total number of students in this department was 151, which means a percentage of
5.5 Jews (according to "Az Erdélyi Zsidó főiskola halgatók",
in Erdélyi Magyar Évkönyv, 1930,
p.117). Given the above-mentioned circumstances, many Jewish students in the
Banat and Transylvania had to do their studies in the capital cities of Central
and Western Europe. The non-liberal policy of the so-called ‘liberals’ in
Romania and the neo-Phanariot orientation of the ruling political groups who
undermined democracy were some reasons for the extent of the anti-Semitic trend.
Eventually this policy was echoed in the western part of the country, in the
most cosmopolitan region of Romania which had long been exempted from extremist
political trends.
Notes
1.
The number of
the Jews increased during the Revolution of 1848. For instance, the Jews in the
Caraş-Severin Committal were spread – according to the imperial
statistics drawn up in 1848 – in the main cities such as Lugoj, Caransebeş,
Oraviţa and Reşiţa, and in many rural places like Cliciova,
Şuşani, Sudriaş, Tîrgoviştea, Balinţ, Gruin, Sîlha,
Coşteiu Mare, Coşteiu Mic, Făget, Bîrna, Rădmăneşti,
Bara, Cladova, Remetea, Ohaba Lungă, Lăpuşnic,
Ierşnic, Pădureni, Topleţ, Ohaba Sîrbească, Jdioara, and
many others. In the middle of the 19th century the Jews in the
villages of Banat had diverse professions. They were tailors, soap makers,
shopkeepers, physicians and innkeepers. There were 87 Jewish families in Lugoj
in 1848, with an average of four children each. That situation prevailed and
would even grow during the second half of the 19th century, according
to Conscriptio Judaeorum. 1848 Zsidó öszeirások, Komitate Krasso.
Aufbewahrt, Budapest, Filmtár B, 1722, Magyar
Országos Levéltár [The Hungarian State Archive]. In 1852, the Jewish
population of Timişoara was 1,551 in a total population of 20,500
representing 7.5% of the total population, according to J.N. Preyer: Monographie der Königliche Freistadt Temesvár. Monografia oraşului
liber crăiesc Timişoara [The Monography of the Free Princely Town
of Timişoara], re-edited by Adam Mager, Eleonora Pascu and Ioan Haţegan
(Timişoara: Amarcord Publishing House, 1996), p. 240.
2.
See Hannah
Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism,
(Harvest Books, 1973). The interpretation of the Jewish role as a tool of
modernization used by the state only partially corresponds to the situation in
Hungary and Banat. It is true that the leaders involved in finance and business
continued to develop the kind of activity undertaken by the old noble families
in the empire, that is, to serve state interests. A change of the situation took
place with the development of a liberal bourgeoisie, which took initiatives to
modernize the economy. The industrialists, entrepreneurs and merchants would
have not only a considerable weight, but also a stimulating role within the
East-Central European societies, which were considerably less developed as
compared to the western ones. The Jewish participation in the Revolution of 1848
in Hungary and Austria was a clear sign of their involvement in the new process.
See in this respect the presence of the Timişoara and Arad Jewry in the
most important events. According to J.N. Preyer, op.cit., p.213; The History of
the Arad Jewry, drafted by Dr. Schönfeld
Iosif, Glück Eugen, Kovách (Eichner) Gheorghe, Krausz Avraham (Ştefan),
Prof. Kovács Géza, Engineer Waldmann Johannes, D.R. Gordon (Újhelyi) Toma,
(Tel-Aviv: Minimum Publishing House, 1996), p.58.
3.
See The Archive of the Jewish Community of Timişoara (AJCT),
File no.3, diverse documents, records, regulations, bills, and proceedings for
the period of time from 1850 to 1859.
4.
Ibidem,
sheet 130. Letter to the Chief Rabbi, David Oppenheimer, signed by the town and
regional officials, dated January 18, 1856 and holding the seal with the
following inscription: “Bürgermeisteramt des Landes Haupstadt Temesvar”.
5.
Ibidem, see File no.2: Diverse
documents, registers, sheet 28, which is a copy of a document from 1813 sent
by the Jewish community of Timişoara to the authorities, through which they
requested citizenship. In the same sense of very strict control of demographic
movement in Timişoara, see also sheet 29, which is a copy of a document
required by the Austrian officials dating back to 1815. From the documents it
results that 62 Jewish families lived in the Cetate
district, 33 families in the suburbs of the Cetate
district, and 13 families waited for a solution to their uncertain situation.
According to Ibidem, File no. 2, sheet
112 -- which is a document dating back to 1835 – it results that the Jewish
community of Timişoara requested the naturalization of 10 German Jews and
of 10 Spanish Jews. Everything was under the control of the authorities and
especially the financial contribution, which was checked to the last penny.
6.
Johann Nepomuk
Preyer, op.cit. pp. 213-214. In the
days of March 1848 a lot of minor incidents took place, namely the
demonstrators’ anti-Semitic outbursts. They were kept under control by the
authorities.
7.
AJCT,
File no. 56/1922-1926, sheets 123-4 which contain an ample table about the
existence and functioning of the above-mentioned communities at the end of the
19th century. According to Ibidem,
File no.8/1871: Diverse documents,
proceedings, correspondence, bills, sheet 22, the communities in the
above-mentioned places were subordinated to “Hoher Israelitischer
Landescongresz”. Moreover, there were communities in Vinga, Ineu, Cernei and
Şipet, too. In Vinga, (a locality which gained the rank of municipality
during Maria Theresia, with a majority of Bulgarian population of Catholic
denomination) the existence of a community is proved by the Jewish cemetery. In
Ineu, where a synagogue was standing up to the 1960s, there are also signs of an
old Jewish cemetery situated in the southern extremity of the small town.
8.
In Ibidem, File no.6/1870, sheets 3-12 see, for example, the statutes
of the Jewish communities of Lipova (a small town located in today Arad County),
which contain the rights and obligations of its members, the developing of the
cult proceedings and the functioning of the synagogue. In this sense, see also
“Statut für die isr. Religionsgemeinde Şimand” (1870), Ibidem,
sheets 13-19. The statutes of the Arad communities can be found in the Archive
of the Jewish Communities of Arad (AJCA), File no.5/1845, sheets 1-12 and
1-60. In the second half of the 19th century the relations between
the communities of Arad and Timişoara were very close, the community of
Arad being even subordinated to the one in Timişoara. For example, the
statutes of the Israelite society of Arad were sent for approval to the Landesrabinate
of the capital city of Banat (Timişoara). See such statute in AJCT,
File no.5/1865-1869, sheet 215-218.
9.
The Archive of Mayoralty of Arad, years 1895, 1896, 1897, 1898, positions 1, 2, 10,
11.
10. AJCT,
File no.4 from 1860-1864, sheets 41-55, containing the reference material on the
expenses supported by the members of the Neologue community of the Cetate
district in Timişoara to build the synagogue situated in what today is Mărăşeşti
street.
11. AJCT,
File no.4, sheets 104-105 from 1863.
12. Ibidem,
sheets 88-90 from 1863.
13. Ibidem,
sheets 189 from 1864.
14. Ibidem, File no.4, sheets 78-79, year 1863. See also file no.5/ 1865-1869,
sheets 40,41,43 from 1865.
15. Jacques
Le Rider, Modernitatea vieneză şi
crizele identităţtii [The Viennese Modernity and the Crisis of
Identity], Romanian edition by Magda Jeanrennaud,
(Iaşi:“A.I. Cuza” University Press, 1995), p.33.
16. Victor
Neumann, The Temptation of Homo Europaeus
(The Genesis of the Modern Ideas in Central and Southeastern Europe),
(Boulder, New York: Columbia University Press, East European Monographs, 1993),
chapter V. Idem, “National Political Cultures and Regime Changes in Eastern
and Central Europe” in The History of
Political Thought in National Context, edited by Dario Castiglione and Iain
Hampsher-Monk, (Cambridge University Press, 2001), pp. 228-247.
17. See
the memorial plaque at the entrance of the synagogue, recording the presence of
the Emperor Franz Joseph I at the time of the
opening, in 1872. The plaque is of white marble, by the Kerschek
& Kubichek Timişoara firm. Regarding the celebration organized on
the occasion of the synagogue’s inauguration, see also Singer Jacab’s Temesvári
rabbik a XVIII-ik században [Rabbies of Timişoara during the 18th
Century], (Seini, 1928), p. 43.
18. See
engineer Francisc Theiss’s, Album
jubiliar, 275 de ani 1718-1993. Fabrica de bere din Timişoara [Jubilee
Album: 275 years of the Timişoara Brewery. 1718-1993], (Timişoara,
1993).
19. See
The Romanian National Archives. Timişoara County Branch,
Documentary Wool Industry Stocks, file of 1904. The Ministry of Commerce informs
the Municipal Council of Timişoara about the intention to build a wool
factory and about fulfillment of his project beginning with 1905.
20. Jakab
Singer, op.cit., p.47.
21. Ibidem,
p. 37 and p.27 note 1.
22. AJCT,
File 77/1943, sheets 357-360. Written
statement addressed by the Timiş-Torontal County Office of the Jews to the
Jewish Center of Bucharest. The document presents a brief history and the way of
organizing the communities of Timişoara during its different stages.
23. Singer
J., op.cit., p.48-49.
24. Ibidem,
p.41.
25. Josef
Geml, Alt-Temesvar im letzten
Halbjahrhundert 1870-1920, (Timişoara, 1927), p.128.
26. George
Barany, Magyar Jew or Jewish Magyar? (To
the question of Jewish Assimilation in Hungary) in “Canadian-American
Slavic Studies”, vol.8/1974, 1, p.1-144. According to Hildrun Glass, Zerbrochene
Nachbarschaft. Das deutsch-judische Verhäldnis in Rumänien (1918-1938), (München:
R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 1996), p.36.
27. According
to Magyar Zsidó Lexicon [Hungarian
Jewish Lexicon], (Budapest, 1929), p.232.
28. According
to Hildrun Glass, op.cit., p.37.
29. According
to the Archive of Arad Mayoralty: The
Register of Marriages for 1895-1940.
30. Ibidem.
31. Hildrun
Glass, op.cit.
32. Ibidem, p.138. The author highlights that a clear distinction was made between
the social-democratic trend and the communist one.
33. “Temesvarer
Zeitung” daily, November 12, 1918. Also according to “ Temesvári hírlap”
daily, November 12, 1918.
34. Among
the politicians who advocated for the recognition of the national minorities and
the social democrat ones there were no contradictions as alleged by certain
books that approach the topic monoculturaly. In this sense it must be emphasized
that many books written by Romanian historians are still tributary to the
totalitarian political regimes. So far, the approach to the history of the
region in discussion through a nationalist perspective is often obvious. This
results not only in ignorance of the Banat minorities’ issue, but a deliberate
ignorance of the complex history of the region.The emotional reasoning invoked
in recovering the past draws upon an obvious reserve on behalf of the educated
people. The presentation of the facts in the ways favorable to the majority or
corresponding to the myths sketched about the past is still a common practice in
the Eastern and Southeastern European countries. A value judgment of the history
of political thought which marked the transition of the Banat from the
Austro-Hungarian administration to the Romanian state depends firstly on
thorough documentary research and on the familiarity with the Romanian,
Hungarian and international bibliography on the topic under discussion.
35. See
Istoria evreimii arădene [The history of the Arad Jewry], p.64.
36. “Temesvarer
Volksblatt”, March 27, 1922.
37. See
in this respect the article entitled: Mármorek
professzor, a kelet és Délmagyarország zsidóság külföldi képviselője
[Professor Mármorek, the Overseas Representative of the Jewry of Eastern
and Southern Hungary], in “Új
Kelet”, no.1/1918.
38. Apud
Istoria evreimii arădene [History of the Arad Jewry], p.68.
39. Ibidem,
p.67-68. The contradictory viewpoints were formulated in interviews and articles
published in “Új Kelet”, no.73/October 6, 1920, no.145/July 7, 1921, as
well as in “Aradi közlöny” on October 5, 1921.
40. Ibidem,
p.66 and 69.
41. Hildrun
Glass, op.cit., p.291.
42. “Lugoscher
Zeitung”, May 8, 1921. See also Hildrun Glass, op.cit.
43. AJCT,
File no. 55/1920, sheets 105-110 (Jegyzőkönyv
felvetetett Lugoson a Lugosi izr. Hitközségnek 1920 éve október 31-én
tartott rendes közgyülésen) [Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting Held at the
Israelite Community in Lugoj, on October 31, 1920], including a notice on the
Lugoj community leadership discussions about the organization and orientation of
the local Jewry. Forty interventions are mentioned in the document.
44. Ibidem, File no. 56/1922-1926, sheets 273-289 (Az 1923 évi május hó 27-en megtartott bánáti és aradmegye országos
zsidó nagygyülés) [The Banat and Arad County Jewish meeting held on May
27, 1923].
45. Ibidem,
File no. 56/1922-1926, year 1923, sheet 339.
46. Ibidem, File
no56/1922-1926, year 1923, sheet 317. For the reorganization process of the
Jewish communities of Banat and Transylvania in accordance with the new
political context, see also Ibidem,
File no. 55/1920, sheets 73-75, including a copy of the letter sent by the
Israelite community of Timişoara to the Ministry of Arts and Religions, as
a reply to the ordinance no. 38 095/1920, given by the same Ministry.
47. Ibidem, File no. 56/1922-1926,year 1923, sheets 273-289.
48. See
Istoria evreilor din Banat [History of the Jews of Banat], Atlas
Publishing House, Bucureşti, 1999. See the chapters about Carol II and Ion Antonescu’s Regimes.
49. Victor
Neumann, “Multicultural Identities in the Europe of Regions. The Case of Banat
County”, Public Lecture presented at the Institute for Advanced
Study/Collegium Budapest, on February 22, 1996 (discussion Papers Series no. 34,
September 1996). See also Idem, “National Political Cultures and Regime
Changes in Eastern and Central Europe” in The
History of Political Thought in National Context, edited by Dario
Castiglione and Iain Hampsher-Monk, (Cambridge University Press, 2001), pp.
228-247.
50. Hildrun
Glass, op.cit., p. 100. Dr. Glass’s
documentary survey highlights the German-Jewish relationships in the Romanian
regions which were parts of the late Austro-Hungarian Empire. She describes the
adaptation, integration or isolation modalities of the two minority communities
as well as the type of relationship between them and the Romanian communities. A
good German-Jewish coexistence in Banat, in 1918-1938, results from her book, a
phenomenon that will take a different turn during Carol II’s and Ion
Antonescu’s dictatorships.
51. Hildrun Glass mentions that the Jewish question in
Transylvania and Banat approached by the intelligence services of the General
Headquarters of the Army in 1920 (June 5-12 and October 18-24), referring in
this respect to the National Archives of Bucharest, Royal House Stocks, 20/1920;
6th Army Corps, the Service of the General Headquarters, Office II,
no.6; The weekly informative bulletin
concerning the internal situation, Historical Archive, Stocks II, no. 432
and 437. According to H. Glass, op.cit.,
p.100.
52. See
Istoria evreimii arădene [History of the Arad Jewry], p.61.
53. Ibidem.
54. According
to a conversation with Mr. Ladislau Bloch in Lugoj on May 5, 1996. Mr. Bloch was
technician and a swimming and polo instructor who lived his whole life in Lugoj.
He knew most of the Jewish families which played an important role in the
economic and cultural life of the town. He comes from a handicraft family, very
much appreciated in the interwar and postwar Lugoj. The Jewish Community Archive
of Lugoj disappeared during the communist regime, because of the negligence of
the previous community administration.
55. According
to the dialogue with Ms. Piroska Farkas in Timişoara, on March 26, 1996;
she was born in Bozovici (Caraş-Severin County) in 1903 in a Jewish family,
which identified itself with the state of mind of the former Austro-Hungarian
Empire. She was a pediatrician and lived a complex life. She witnessed all the
political changes of the 20th century, each of them being a new
experience for her from both its human and her Jewishness points of view. She
provided detailed information about the social life of the Jewry involved in the
economic life of Reşiţa and Oraviţa; she also described the
customs of that time. She gave many reasons to support the Jews’ integration
into the wider multicultural community of the Banat.
56. See
the Romanian National Archives. Timiş County Branch, The Wool
Industry Stocks.
57. Indeed, after World War II, the presence of the Jews in the
brewery as engineers, accountants and brewers was constant. See the employees’
list in F. Theiss’s Album jubiliar, 275
de ani 1718-1993. Fabrica de bere din Timişoara [Jubilee Album, 275
years of the Timişoara brewery.1718-1993.], (Timişoara, 1993). We
could mention, among others, the director Francisc Weinbach, the chief engineers
Ernst Klein and Francisc Theiss, and the chief accountant Francisc Salzberger.
58. See
the statistics made by the historian Géza Kovács of Arad in Istoria
evreimii arădene [History of the Arad Jewry], p.149.
59. Ibidem, p.151.
60. Ibidem.
61. Among
the well known commercial firms in Lugoj we should mention: Pick & Nach
(photoshop), Hirsch (clothes shop), Carol Vértes (chemist’s), Neumann
(clothes shop), Schwartz (clothes shop), Kincs&Tauber (grocery), Reisz
(spicery), Popper (haberdasher’s), Klein (general store), Filinger (clothes
shop), Neumann (liquor shop), Rechenbach (candle shop), Holzer (cloths shop),
Spitzer (clothes shop). Reconstitution was possible thanks to the dialogue held
with Mr. Ladislau Bloch on May 5, 1996.
62. According to