Massacre & deportation · Romania · 1940–1944
Romanian authorities enacted their own lethal policies against Jews.
Explore RomaniaPublished by WTJPublication updated
1940–1944
Massacre & deportation · The regime does more than follow another country
Romanian authorities enacted their own lethal policies against Jews.
The Bucharest and Iași pogroms
The Iron Guard’s January 1941 rebellion included murderous attacks on Jews in Bucharest. In June 1941, Romanian authorities and others participated in the Iași pogrom and death transports. These events reveal domestic actors pursuing anti-Jewish violence in identifiable political and military settings.
Deportation to Transnistria
Antonescu’s regime deported Jews from Bessarabia and Bukovina to Romanian-administered Transnistria. Hunger, disease, exposure and massacres killed enormous numbers. Transnistria here names a wartime occupation zone. The persecution was imposed through Romanian policy and administration, not only through German orders.
Different regions, different fates
Jewish experiences differed across territories and changing borders. Northern Transylvania, then under Hungarian rule, followed the Hungarian deportation history. Many Jews in Romania’s older core territories survived despite severe persecution. Those differences require explanation and do not lessen responsibility for the people murdered elsewhere.