Mihai I. Poliec - The Holocaust in the Romanian Borderlands: The Arc of Civilian Complicity

The Holocaust in the Romanian
Borderlands

This volume examines the changing role which ordinary members of society played in the state-sponsored persecution of the Jews in Bukovina and Bessarabia, both during the summer of 1941, when Romania joined the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, and beyond. It establishes different patterns of civilian complicity and discusses the significance of the phenomenon in the context of the exterminatory campaign pursued by the Romanian military authorities against the Jews living in the borderlands

Mihai I. Poliec holds a PhD in History from Clark University, USA.

Mass Violence in Modern History

Edited by Alexander Korb and Uur mit ngor

1 Knowledge and Acknowledgement in the Politics of Memory of the Armenian Genocide

Vahagn Avedian

2 Local Dimensions of the Second World War in Southeastern Europe

Edited by Xavier Bougarel, Hannes Grandits and Marija Vulsica

3 The White Terror

Antisemitic and Political Violence in Hungary, 19191921

Bla Bod

4 The Holocaust in the Romanian Borderlands

The Arc of Civilian Complicity

Mihail I. Poliec

The Holocaust in the
Romanian Borderlands

The Arc of Civilian Complicity

Mihai I. Poliec

First published 2019

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2019 Mihai I. Poliec

The right of Mihai I. Poliec to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Names: Poliec, Mihai I., author.

Title: The Holocaust in the Romanian borderlands: the arc in the Romanian borderlands/Mihai I. Poliec.

Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: New York, NY: Routledge, [2019]

| This volume examines the changing role which ordinary members of society played in the state-sponsored persecution of the Jews in Bukovina and Bessarabia, both during the summer of 1941, when Romania joined the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, and beyond. It establishes different patterns of civilian complicity and discusses the significance of the phenomenon in the context of the exterminatory campaign pursued by the Romanian military authorities against the Jews living in the borderlandsProvided by publisher. | Includes index. | Includes bibliographical references.Identifiers: LCCN 2019006990 | ISBN 9780367218188 (hardback) | ISBN 9780429266294 (ebook) | ISBN 9780429561269 (epub)Subjects: LCSH: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)Bukovina (Romania and Ukraine)Citizen Participation. | Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)Bessarabia (Moldova and Ukraine)Citizen Participation. | RomaniaHistory1914-1944. | JewsPerscecutionsBukovina (Romania and Ukraine) | JewsPerscecutionsBessarabia (Moldova and Ukraine) | Bukovina (Romania and Ukraine)Ethnic relations. | Bessarabia (Moldova and Ukraine)Ethnic relations.Classification: LCC DS135.R72 B845 2019 | DDC 940.53/1809476dc23LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019006990

ISBN: 978-0-367-21818-8 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-429-26629-4 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman

by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India

In honor of Corina and Mihai Poliec and in memory of the Romanian Jews betrayed by neighbors and country during the Holocaust.

The end preexists in the means.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Maps

Figure

Behind this book there is a long journey which was shaped by institutions and people with whom I have come into contact during my academic and personal life. I wish to thank Clark University and the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. The advancement in my research and the successful completion of the doctoral project were achieved almost entirely with the financial support of The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference), to which I am most grateful. During my archival research I have benefited from the assistance of the staff at the Library and Archives of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and I wish to thank them for that. Many thanks to my doctoral dissertation committee: Thomas Khne, Vladimir Solonari and Radu Ioanid.

My academic growth was first nurtured on the Old Continent and for that I wish to acknowledge the formative contributions of the Goldstein-Goren Center for Hebrew Studies at the University of Bucharest, the Rothberg School for International Students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Paideia The European Institute for Jewish Studies in Sweden.

I wish to also thank all my professors as well as the researchers and scholars with whom I crossed paths and engaged in inspiring conversations. I am grateful to Paul Shapiro for his important suggestions during my research. I want to acknowledge the receptivity and assistance of the Consiliul Naional pentru Studierea Arhivelor Securitii (CNSAS) in Bucharest, and to thank Adrian Cioflnc. Special praise goes to all those living in and outside Romania who are perennially committed to promoting historical responsibility for the Holocaust in that country.

I would like to express special thanks to Routledge and its editorial staff for improving the manuscript which was entrusted to them and for ensuring the materialization of the project. The same appreciation goes to the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments.

During my postgraduate studies I was able to rely on a support network whose solidarity alleviated some of the burden. To all my family and friends, it was a privilege to have you by my side, especially when sailing in the stormiest of waters!

Lastly, I direct my profound gratitude to the Holocaust survivors whom I have encountered in my lifetime. You gave me a sense of the excruciating helplessness which extreme victimization imposes upon the victimized.