1. The last official national census taken before 1939. The data regarding Jews in this census did not change considerably during the next ten years, until June 1940.

2. For the official national census taken by the Antonescu government, citizens of Jewish ethnicity were registered in a separate column. In Bessarabia and Bucovina and in territories surrendered to the Soviet Union in June 1940, and occupied in the summer of 1941, no official census was taken, only an official count, which was carried out by the Rumanian civil and military authorities on September 1,1941.

3. The special counting of citizens of Jewish race.

4. The situation as indicated on September 1, 1945. Apparently, thousands of Jews were still alive in German concentration camps. They had not yet returned home.

5. The report can be found in the 1943 "Transnistria" section of the secret archives of the Ministry of the Interior. It is neither signed nor dated. It was compiled by the ex-Deputy Secretary of State, General C. Z. Vasiliu. Its contents show that it was destined for the President of the Council of Ministers in November 1943. Among other things it contains this unedited extract:

"In the framework of the measures of autumn 1941 [99] aimed at cleansing Bessarabia and Bucovina, following the reoccupation of these territories by the Rumanian army, the transfer of Jewish elements to Transnistria for subsequent execution by military police forces has been ordered. It was only possible to calculate the number following the gradual reinstatement of Rumanian administrative authority, while German troops were in the process of surrendering the territories.

Based on data now in our possession, the number of evacuees in 1941 was the following:

During 1941 and 1942 some of these died of infectious diseases, the result of a lack of medical care and preventative treatment in territories close to the front line; accordmg to the count carried out on September 1, 1943 some 50,741 Jews remained alive, the greater proportion of these was transferred to Moghilev, Tulcin and Golta counties, and the rest to other counties.

The figures referring to the number of deported Jews do not seem exact. They are even contradicted by certain documents prepared during their deportation. The summarised report prepared by the Central Office of the Gendarmerie between December 15, 1941 and January 15, 1942, under the title "The Jewish issue," contains the following extract:

[100] "So far 118,847 Jews have been taken across the Dniester to bring them, via Iampolon (35,276), Moghilev (55,913), Tiraspol (872), Rabnita (2,457) and Iasca (2,216), to the river Bug."

It must be emphasised that this "information" was gathered in January 1942, before the deportations of the same year, in which more than 12,000 people were dragged away.

6. It can be said that these figures do not reflect reality since those Jews who escaped at the beginning of the war are not counted in them. Even if this statement were true, it would not alter the tragedy of these numbers. But it is not true. Verified information proves that the figure for those who tried to save their lives by escaping is very small. In Chernovitz there were hundreds, in the area of Kishinev thousands, and about the same number in Southern Bessarabia, in the vicinity of Cetatea Alba. The case could not have been otherwise if we consider the speed of the German-Rumanian attack. The offensive started near the river Prut on July 3, following the occupation of the town of Strojineti. Chernovitz, Vijnita, Herta, Noua Sulita and Edineti were occupied on July 5, Hotin on July 6, Balti on July 9, and Kishinev on July 17. A few days later the whole western bank of the Dniester was under their control.

The flood of those escaping was caught up in German-Rumanian motorised troops. There are many documents which verify this fact. Among others report No. 1108 of Lieutenant-Colonel Jean Poitevin, the military judge of the III Rumanian army, dated August 10, 1941 contains the following:

[100] "I report that on August 9 of this year near Rascov, a group of about 2,000 Jews moving in the direction of the Ukraine arrived at the abutment of the Vadu Rascu bridge. These people were escaping together with the Soviet army. The Jews were collected from the district by the Rumanian army, and were directed towards military court offices and their homes. The marching column, whose members were in a state of complete misery, was stopped on the eastern bank of the Dniester.

I sent an officer to the scene accompanied by 20 Gendarmes to push them back to the Ukraine as far as possible.

Telegraphic report No.602 dated August 17, 1941 from the Central Office of the Gendarmerie in Iasi, which was sent to the Military Tribunal Office, also referred to this issue:

"On the morning of August 17 the Germans took 12,500 Jews from Impel to Cosauti, from among those attempting to escape with the Red Army; these Jews were taken to a clearing near Cosauti where Gendarmes, frontier guards and "premilitaries" guarded them."

Of those who tried to save their lives by running away, only very few succeeded. Most of those went in the direction of Moscow, and the others went from Cetatea Alba to Odessa, and from there escaped by sea. [102]

14. The exact figure has not been established. Based on the announcements of a minister (I. Hudila) - the first to visit Iasi after the armistice - of the Rumanian government which came into being after 23 August 1944, it is clear that the combined number of victims of the Iasi pogrom and the death trains is more than 12,000.

15. Report No.4457 of the Third Office of the Gendarmerie in Iasi - dated July 6 - sent to the Central Superintendency of the Gendarmerie.

16. Ibid.

17. Ibid.

18. Ibid.

19. Report No.1324 dated July 4, 1941, from the Gendarmerie Legion of Romania to the Central Superintendency of the Gendarmene.

20. Report No.10952 of July 6, 1941 by the Gendarmerie Legion of Prahova to the Central Superintendency of the Gendarmene.

21. Minutes compiled by Sub-Lieutenant Triandaf Aurel, the commander of the train, and of the local civil and military authorities in Calarasi on July 6, 1941.

23. The protest was dated July 14, 1941, and signed by the General Chief of Staff of the XI German Army. It was forwarded by Rumanian General Headquarters to the judge of the military tribunal under order 1665/B of July

19, 1941.

The protest, which included the reports of witnesses and that of the German military secret police, also contains the following:

"The behaviour of certain representatives of the Rumanian army, which have been indicated in the report, will diminish the respect of both the Rumanian and German armies in the eyes of public here and all over the world."

In spite of all this, the case was closed because upon examination (report No. 258 of the Balti Gendarmerie Legion on August 14, 1941 sent to the Central Office of the Gendarmerie in Kishinev), it was concluded that nobody was found guilty and nobody could be held responsible.

24. Report No. 223 of July 17, 1941.

25. Report No. 2 of the committee established to examine contraventions in the ghetto in Kishinev. The members [104]of the committee were General C. Nicolescu, General St. Stroe, Military Judge, L. Preotescu, Chairman of the High Court of Justice, Traian Niculescu, Attorney General, L. Paunescu, Senior Supervisor of the National Bank, and A. Madarjac, Military Judge.

26. Ibid.

27. The report by telephone of the Central Office of the Gendarmerie in Kishinev (Colonel T. Meculescu) dated August 13, 1941 to the Highest Military Tribunal.

28. Ibid., and also the official report compiled by SS Untersturmfuhrer Heinrich Frolich and Captain Vetu Gheorghe loan of the Gendarmerie Legion of Chilia-Noua on August 9, 1941, which indicates that the former forwarded the order for execution to the latter on behalf of General Antonescu, and the latter executed the order. Captain Vetu was later found guilty by the Court of Justice, not, however, because he had killed so many innocent people, but for committing petty crimes while carrying out his duties: he stole watches and rings.

29. Report No. 121239 of September 17, 1941 by the Military Judge of the III Army, Lieutenant-Colonel Jean Poitevitin, sent to the Highest Military Tribunal contained the results of examinations conducted by the Gendarmerie Legion of Soroca in connection with this massacre. The following remark appears in the report:

"September 2, 1941. The case of the 200 Jews shot dead near the Dniester was examined by General Topor, who later closed the case. Illegible signature m. p."

[105]

30. Statements by witnesses against war-criminals who were commanders of the Jewish concentration camps in Vertujeni and Marculesti, from the indictment of the People's Tribunal (Collection VII, No. 23/945):

From the testimony of Colonel Alexandru Constantinescu:

"The 21-23,000 Jews brought from Bucovina and Bessarabia by the Gendarmerie Legions could not be accommodated in the small town of Vertujeni. This was the cause of despicable overcrowding. We could not even guarantee all of them a place to rest. Women, children, girls, men, the ill and dying, a mixture of people confined in conditions impossible to describe, and worse still, without eating facilities. The result: the growing number of deaths."

From the testimony of Dr. Epurescu Alexandru, a Lieutenant:

"These starving and ragged people brought from another forest camp were in terrible condition. The number of deaths increased."

From the evidence of witness Stefan Dragomirescu:

"When I arrived at Marculesti, I found thousands of deportees kept in indescribable conditions. The corpses of deportees lay everywhere, cellars, ditches, and in yards."

31. The above cited report (note 23) of the committee founded to examine contraventions committed in the ghetto of Kisinev, contains the following details:

[105] "This special order was given to him by the Commander of the Hotin Legion, Major Dragulescu, who informed him that, on orders from General Headquarters, Jews who were unable to keep up with marching columns due to either illness or tiredness, were to be executed. He was consequently ordered to send one reenlisted non-commissioned officer on each route, two days before the start of every marching column, to dig a hole every ten kilometres large enough to accommodate 100 bodies with the help of the Gendarmerie stations located on the way. Those unable to march with the columns were to be shot dead and buried in these holes. The "premilitaries" from the villages on the route of evacuation were to help them dig the holes and bury those shot dead.

Lieutenant Rosca executed the given orders with precision, and as a result 500 Jews were shot dead on the Secureni.-Cosauti route.

The same method was used in the case of the marching columns following the Edineti-Cosauti route, where the executioner was the same Lieutenant Popovici under the commission of Lieutenant Rosca Augustin."

32. Report No. 185 from the Gendarmerie Office in Transnistria (Colonel E. Brosteanu) on March 25, 1942 to the Head Office of the Gendarmerie.

33. Report No. 187 from the Gendarme Office in Transnistria (Colonel E. Brosteanu) on 24 March 1942 to the Head Office of the Gendarmerie.

35. It seems that 16 out of these 598 deported Jews managed to escape with their lives. On the list of Jews belonging to this category - contained in report No. 42411 of June 16, 1943 sent to the Ministry of the Interior by the Central Superintendence of the Gendarmerie - these 16 Jews were listed as "alive in Transnistria", while the other 582 were declared "missing".

36. Extract from Directive No. 55500, one of the General Directives of June 27, 1942, issued by the First Department of the General Chiefs of Staff, which controlled the labour service: "For minor misdemeanours (arriving late for assembly, negligence, undisciplined behaviour) committed by labour service troops, the commander shall use corporal punishment."

Extract from the Directive of September 12, 1942 from the First Department of the General Chiefs of Staff, which "supplements and clarifies" law No. 55500:

"Mr. Marshall does not want to see this work half-heartedly carried out but to be taken very seriously. Consequently, severe forms of punishment were also ordered: there were regular beatings and people were deported to Transnistria."

37. Report No. 22088 of June 25, 1941 issued by the Police Headquarters in Bacau, a town which was granted municipal authority, justifies the use of police force by [108] reporting that a woman from Daraban was made to get off the train because she went mad on the way to the concentration camp.

38. According to General Petrovicescu, Minister of the Interior, this action was "a battle to buy up Jewish shops and real estate."

39. Directive No. 38 of October 11, 1941, issued by General Corneliu Calotescu, Governor of Bucovina, is an instance of this.

40. Report No. 116 of October 31, 1941 referring to the crossing-place at Otac (without signature and issuing authority). It was addressed to the Military Judge of the army on November 2, 1941 and also contains the following extract:

"The information given by the local Gendarmerie makes it clear that gold was taken away from Jews by the kilo, and dollars as well as other valuables were confiscated from them. After they had crossed the river Dniester at Moghilev, their sacks were taken away together with the belongings they still had. All these were stocked in a large barn, and the Jews proceeded with the clothes they were wearing, and without money."

General Ion Topor, the Military Judge of the army, wrote this remark on the margin of the information report: "I think this report may be true". He ordered an investigation, which, naturally, did not produce any results.

41. In territories affected by mass-deportation, the cash of Jews underwent the following "transfiguration": in July 1940 Soviet administrative authorities obliged the citizens to exchange lei for rubles; 40 lei for 1 ruble.

In July 1941 the Rumanian administrative authorities obliged the citizens to exchange rubles for lei; 1 ruble for 1 leu.

In October 1941 the Rumanian National Bank obliged Jews to exchange lei for rubles; 40 lei for 1 ruble.

Later in Transnistria rubles were exchanged for German marks (Reichskassenschein); I mark for 60 rubles. In this way, if a Jew had had 1 million lei in savings on July 1, 1940, he received 25,000 rubles for it, and in July 1941 he was paid 25,000 lei for it, and for this amount he received 600 rubles in October 1941, and later for the same amount he received 10 RKKS marks, which was equal to the price of a loaf of bread.

42 Although the Bessarabian deportations started in September, and those in Bucovina at the beginning of October, the sending of aid was only permitted on December 10 (C.B.B.T. document No. 259 of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers to the Union of Jewish Religious Communities). The actual sending of aid became possible, however, only after February 10, 1942, when document No. 04687 of February 5, 1942 of the Governorship of Transnistria reached the Central Office of the Rumanian Jews; this document contained the exact orders regarding the sending of aid. By this time, however, in Transnistria almost 50,000 Jews had died of cold, hunger, starvation, disease and misery.

43. The report of the committee established to investigate the irregularities which took place in the ghetto of Kishinev contains the following regarding this issue:

"The peasants living next to the route, upon learning of the planned measures regarding the digging of holes and the subsequent burials, waited in hiding alongside the road, among the corn-fields and in other different hiding places for the execution to be carried out so that they could throw themselves on the bodies to rob them."

44. It is said that these flags were preserved, and towns in occupied Bessarabia and Bucovina were decorated with them.

45. General Order of the Ministry of the Interior No. 4147 on June 21, 1941, signed by I. Popescu, Deputy Secretary of State.

46. General Order of the Ministry of the Interior No. 4599 on June 30, 1941.

47. On September 1, 1941 the populations of Bessarabia and Bucovina were counted. These figures date back to these counts but have never been officially confirmed. However, they definitely reflect reality and this can easily be proved if we compare them with figures shown in contemporary official decrees and reports:

- According to report No. 7151 of September 1, 1941, from the Gendarmerie Head Office in Chernovitz, addressed to the Highest Military Tribunal, the number of Jews in concentration camps in Hotin county was as follows:

- According to report No. 1140 on August 30, 1941 of the Bessarabian Gendarmerie Head Office addressed to the Highest Military Tribunal, at this time there were 22,969 Jews in Vertujeni Camp.

- In the report of General Ion Topor, the Chief Military Judge of the army, compiled under order No. 5023 B. on September 4, 1941 from General Headquarters, there is also the figure 22,969 regarding the camp at Vertujeni. However, also according to this report, there were 10,356 Jews in Secureni, in Edineti 11,762 and in Kishinev, 10,400, who were locked up in camps. The deportation to Transnistria was ordered on the basis of this report. However, in instructions issued by the Gendarmerie Office of Kisinev (Colonel T. Meculescu), only 22,150 Jews were mentioned in relation to the deportation to the camp of Vertujeni.

48. The Jews of Chernovitz were ghettoised on October 11, 1941 by order of Directive No. 37 from General Corneliu Calotescu, Governor of Bucovina, issued on October 10.

49. In one report by Dr. C. Danulescu, Minister of Labour, dated March 1943, regarding the dismissal of Jewish [112] employees from their places of work, the situation is the following:

On August 1, 1941, 28,225 Jews were employed by 8,126 firms;

On December 13, 1941, 16,292 Jews were employed by 7,647 firms;

On March 1, 1943, 6,506 Jews were employed by 4,301 firms.

Antonescu wrote the following resolution in this report:

"Very good. The operation should be continued. However difficult this might be under present circumstances, we have to achieve total Rumanianization We will have to complete this by the time the war ends. The Ministry of Labour must do everything possible to find the most effective method of achieving this aim. It will be given a free hand on this issue."

50. The first directive in relation to this is by Ion Antonescu. It was formulated and signed by General I. Popescu (Jack), Deputy Secretary of State of the Ministry of the Interior - who died before atoning for his sins-; the text of Directive No. 5811 of July 18, 1941 is the following:

"General Antonescu, the Leader of the State, has formally ordered that Jews in labour camps or military prison camps should be used for physical labour.

If anyone escapes, every tenth person must be shot dead.

If they do not work as they should, no food shall be given to them, and neither should they be allowed to receive or buy food. [113]

Measures are to be taken to ensure the execution of this directive.

Brigadier-General Ion Popescu m. p.,

Deputy State Secretary, Rank of Minister"

51. General Directives No. 55500 of June 27, 1942 from the Chiefs of Staff, who regulated the labour service of Jews, ordered the following forms of punishment under point D.8:

"f/ to punish minor misdemeanours committed within the framework of labour force troops (arriving late for assembly, undisciplined behaviour, etc.) the commander will use corporal punishment based on the regulations of military service.

g/ Jews will be sent to Transnistria with their families (father, mother, wife, children) for physical labour, or to ghettos if they commit the following crimes:

- If they do not work conscientiously, or avoid work through means of fraud, bribes, the abuse of personal contacts; if they fail to present themselves after being called up for labour service; if they stop working without permission, or if they abstain from work, etc.;

- If they do not inform the Recruiting Centre of their change of address, regardless of whether they change address within the same town or move from one town to another, even if the Ministry of the Interior gives them permission to do so;

- If they establish sexual relationships with Rumanian women;

- If male criminals do not present themselves voluntarily, [114] or cannot be located by the police, their families will be sent to Transnistria."

52. The obligation to wear the distinguishing sign was extended to the whole country by Directive No. 8368 on September 2,1941 by the Ministry of the Interior, but was withdrawn on September 8 following the energetic protest of the President of the Union of Jewish Religious Communities.

53. Law No. 698 published on September 2, 1942 in edition No. 221 of the Official Gazette, ordered the death penalty for all Jews - male or female - over the age 15 who returned to the country illegally after being deported to Transnistria.

Dictator Antonescu wrote the following into report No. 36945 on May 10, 1944 by the Gendarmerie Office regarding the Jews who crossed the border to escape the hell in Hungary:

"The public must be notified.

Jews illegally crossing the border must be shot dead, as must those who offer them refuge or fail to report them.

Action must be taken within 24 hours.

I asked Ambassador Mr Killinger to send German guards to border crossings. These guards - along with our guards -will check all those who wish to cross.

If someone cannot identify himself, force should be employed to find out his identity.

The entire length of the frontier must be guarded strictly.

Raids must be held periodically throughout the whole country." [115]

The Military Cabinet of the Leader of the State ordered the Ministry of the Interior to execute these orders through Directive No. 205396 of May 16, 1944.

The law ordering the death penalty appeared under No. 301 in edition No. 123 of the Official Gazette on May 29, 1944.

54. Of the three governors of Bucovina, only General Corneliu Calotescu can be held accountable. Similarly, of the governors of Transnistria, only the first, G. Alexianu, a teacher, is guilty and can be held responsible.

55. In mentioning this statement made by the President of the National Party of Peasants, we must note the ambiguity and unclear formulation, which inevitably forces us to ask whether Mr Iliu Maniu included Jews in "all types of citizens"?