Smil Marcovici

MARCOVICI

Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name derives from a Gentile or vernacular personal name.

Marcovici, like many Jewish personal and family names, are forms of the Roman name Marcus. The Romanian ending "-ovici" means "of/from" and can stand for "son of". Marcus, which in Latin means "belonging to Mars" (the Roman god of war), became widespread among Jews following the Roman conquest of the Near East, particularly in the talmudic period (the first five centuries of the Common Era). A very early example is that of Markah. According to Jewish legend, it has the same numerical value as the Hebrew Moshe (in English, Moses), which no other human being was allowed to bear. But actually, it is an Aramaized form of the Latin name Marcus. Markah was the name of a well-known 4th century Samaritan poet, venerated as the "fountain of wisdom", who wrote in Aramaic. According to one expert, this name, as exemplified by some of its variants, could also come from the Hebrew Mar Kushi ("dark gentleman/Mr. Black"). In the Diaspora, Marcus and its different forms were frequently used as 'kinnui'm ("secular names") for the Hebrew Moses, Mordechai, Manasse and Menachem, later becoming the basis for family names. The abbreviated French variant Marc is documented in the 13th century in Paris (France); the original Marcus in 16th century Morocco. The 17th century records Marculis in Prague (Bohemia), Markwitz in both Poland and Germany, and the Italian diminutive Marcello. In Eastern Europe, the root syllable was combined with Slavic patronymic suffixes (indicating descent in the male line) "-ov"/"-itz"/"-ich"/"-ici" and others; in Germany it formed variants such as Markhoff (which could be a Germanized Russian patronymic); Markwald and Markheim (belonging to the toponymic category of family names appearing to derive from place names); in France it became Marcel and in Romania Marcu. Other variations, which do not always correspond to the countries in which they are found, range from Marks/Marx to Marcous/Markusz; Marcus Marcus/Markus is also an acronym (a name created from the initial letters of a Hebrew phrase, and which refers to a relative, lineage or occupation) of the Hebrew 'Morenu Rabbenu Kadosh Ve Zakkai', that is "our holy teacher and Rabbi Zakkai". It was used to designate the great 1st century Tanna ("rabbinic sage"), Jochanan Ben Zakkai/Sakkai, whose surname means "innocent" in Hebrew.

Marcovici is recorded as a Jewish surname in 19th century Romania with the soldier Daniel Marcovici, who fought in Romania's war of independence in 1877.

Iasi

Iași; in English: Jassy

A city nin north-eastern Romania.

First settled there in the second half of the 15th century. Their number increased when Polish Jews took refuge there during the Chmielnicki massacres (1648-49). In 1650 and 1652 many Jews in Jassy were murdered by Cossacks. There were new disturbances in 1726 when the populace, aggravated by a blood libel, sacked the houses of the Jews in Jassy and desecrated a number of synagogues. In 1742 Prince Constantin Mavrocordat, wishing to attract Jews from Poland, exempted those who settled in the town from taxes. By the middle of the 19th century the Jews had taken the place of the Turks and the Greeks as bankers and moneychangers. Many Jews were also goldsmiths, tailors, hatters, furriers, and shoemakers. A number of these crafts had their own unions, some possessing their own synagogues. The Jewish population numbered 31,015 persons in 1859 (47% of the population), 39,441 (50.8%) in 1899, and 35,000 in 1910.

During the Greek war of independence in 1821, Greek rebels killed hundreds of Jews at Jassy, although a large sum of money had been paid to their leader Alexander Ypsilanti for protection. In 1867 Jews having no legal documents of residence were declared vagrants and expelled from the country. Toward the end of the 19th century Jassy became the center of anti-Semitism in Romania. In 1882 and 1884 two economic congresses were held there with the aim of promoting a boycott on Jewish commerce and industry. During this period, 196 Jewish shops were closed down in 1892, and many Jewish tradesmen were expelled from the town. The University of Jassy became the center of anti-Semitism in Romania, with A.C. Cuza, who taught at the university, as its main proponent.

From 1662 to 1832 the affairs of the Jewish community of Jassy were administered by the "guild of the Jews", headed by the Chakham Bashi, who was the chief rabbi of Moldavia and Walachia, and three parnasim. From the taxes on kosher meat which it levied, the synagogues, talmud torah institutions, shelter for transients (hekdesh), and cemetery were maintained. After the guild was dissolved in 1834, associations were formed according to countries of origin (Russia, Austria, Prussia). The first modern school for boys was founded in 1852 but remained open for only five years because of opposition from orthodox circles.

Modern Jewish schools were again founded in 1893, after Jewish pupils had been expelled from public schools. There were 5,000 pupils attending the community schools in 1910.

In 1834 the administrators of the hospital, which was founded in 1772, took over the management of the community affairs, receiving the principal income from the tax on kosher meat. The orphanage and old age home were founded in 1890. In 1915 the Dr. L. Gelehrter hospital for children was founded. The Caritas Humanitas association with a membership of 2,000, was active up to the eve of World War II, providing medical assistance and aid for widows. There had been pro-Zionist groups at Jassy even before the Chibbat Zion. From 1878 to 1898 the Ohalei Shem association propagated the Hebrew language and Jewish culture. The Yishov Eretz Israel movement also had an important center in Jassy, headed by Karpel Lippe, who had initiated the two above mentioned associations. The poet Naphtali Herz Imber, author of Ha-Tikvah, lived in Jassy at the end of the 1870s. Following the appearance of Theodor Herzl, nine Zionist organizations were founded in Jassy, which amalgamated in 1910.

Jassy had long been the spiritual center for Jews living in both Romanian principalities (Moldavia and Walachia) through the influence of important rabbis who lived there.

The first of note, Solomon Ben Aroyo, a kabbalist and physician to the prince of Moldavia, lived in Jassy at the end of the 16th century and Pethahiah Ben David Lida served there in the 17th century. In the 18th century chasidism began to spread to Jassy and brought a number of chasidic leaders there, including Abraham Joshua Heschel of Apta, who lived in Jassy at the beginning of the 19th century. In the second half of the 19th century Jassy became a center of talmudic learning with scholars like Joseph Landua of Litin and Aaron Moses Ben Jacob Taubes. Among eminent chasidic scholars there the most important was Isaiah Schorr. In 1897 J.I. Niemirover began his rabbinical activity and remained in Jassy until 1911.

In 1919 the community was reorganized. In the same year elections were held for the first communal administration.

The community was recognized as a public body by the ministry of religion in 1927. In 1939 there existed in Jassy 112 synagogues, one kindergarten, three elementary schools for boys and four for girls, four religious schools (talmud torah), one yeshivah, one secondary school, one general hospital, one children's hospital, two sanatoria for invalids, an orphanage, and an old age home. A Zionist weekly Tribuna Evreeasca was published in Romanian at Jassy between the two World Wars. The continual troubles caused by the anti-Semitic organizations and economic persecution by the authorities, led to progressive pauperization among the Jewish masses in Jassy. In consequence the Jewish population diminished from 43,500 in 1921 to 35,465 (34.4% of the population) in 1930.

On November 8, 1940, two days after the Antonescu government had seized power, Jassy was proclaimed the "capital of the iron guard". The persecution of the Jewish population began immediately, accompanied by arbitrary arrests, torture, blackmail, confiscation of places of business, and attempts to stage trials on such charges as Communism. However, the Jewish community leaders soon managed to reach an agreement with the leaders of the iron guard, who promised to stop the persecution in exchange for the sum of six million lei to be paid in installments. Consequently, until the iron guard were forced out of the government (January 1941), there were few further anti-Semitic incidents in the city.

The final installment of the "subsidy" was paid during the Bucharest pogrom which occurred when the iron guard rebelled against Antonescu's government, and, as a result, the Jews of Jassy remained unharmed. In the summer of 1941, on the eve of the outbreak of war against the Soviet Union, many German army units moved to Jassy. German and Romanian patrols, accompanied by local residents, murdered some Jews and rounded up thousands more in the courtyard of the police station, where they were shot the next day. Immediately afterward, 4,330 Jews were dispatched to concentration camps, 2,650 of them suffocating on the way from the terrible overcrowding of the train cars. The exact number then killed at Jassy is unknown, but at the trial in 1948 of those responsible for this slaughter the prosecutor referred to 12,000 victims.

In 1969 there were about 2,000 Jewish families in Jassy, and 11 synagogues. Courses in Hebrew and Jewish history with about 80 participants were held.

Romania

România

A country in eastern Europe, member of the European Union (EU)

21st Century

Estimated Jewish population in 2018: 9,000 out of 19,500,000.  Before the Holocaust Romania was home to the second largest Jewish community in Europe, and the fourth largest in the world, after USSR, USA, and Poland. Main Jewish organization:

Federaţia Comunităţilor Evreieşti Din România - Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania
Str. Sf. Vineri nr. 9-11 sector 3, Bucuresti, Romania
Phone: 021-315.50.90
Fax: 021-313.10.28
Email: secretariat@fcer.ro
Website: www.jewishfed.ro

Odessa 

In Ukrainian: Одeса; in Russian: Одeсса

Capital of Odessa Oblast, Ukraine.

The presence of the first Jews in Odessa dates back to the year 1789. Between the end of the eighteenth century and the outbreak of World War II, the Jewish population of Odessa grew to180,000 (nearly 30% of the total population of the city).

From the start the Jews from Odessa engaged in export and wholesale trade, banking and industry, the liberal professions and crafts.

The community was made up of Jews from all over Russia and also from other countries. The influence of the Maskilim (those belonging to the Enlightenment movement) in Odessa was considerable and also reached other parts of Russia.

The Pogroms
Anti-Jewish outbreaks occurred on five occasions (1821, 1859, 1871, 1881, 1905) in Odessa, as well as many attempted attacks or unsuccessful efforts to provoke them.

Intensive anti-Jewish agitation shadowed and accompanied the growth of the Jewish population and its economic and cultural achievements. Almost every sector of the Christian population contributed to the agitation and took part in the pogroms; the monopolists of the grain export (especially the Greeks in 1821; 1859; 1871) in an attempt to strike at their Jewish rivals, wealthy Russian merchants, nationalist Ukrainian intellectuals, and Christian members of the liberal professions who regarded the respected economic position of the Jews, who were "deprived of rights" in the other towns of the country, and their Russian acculturation as "the exploitation of Christians and masters at the hands of heretics and foreigners" (1871; 1881). The government administration and its supporters favored the pogroms as a means for punishing the Jews for their participation in the revolutionary movement; pogroms were also an effective medium for diverting the anger of the discontented masses from
opposition to the government to hatred of the Jews. After the revolution, during 1917-19, the association of Jewish combatants was formed by ex-officers and soldiers of the Russian army. It was due to the existence of this association that no pogroms occurred in Odessa throughout the civil war period.

Zionist and Literary Center
From the inception of the Hibbat Zion movement Odessa served as its chief center. From here issued the first calls of M.L. Lilienblum ("the revival of Israel on the land of its ancestors") and L. Pinsker ("Auto-emancipation") which gave rise to the movement, worked for its unity ("Zerubbavel", 1883), and headed the leadership which was established after the Kattowitz conference ("Mazkeret Moshe", 1885-89).

The Benei Moshe Society (founded by Achad Ha-Am in 1889), which attempted to organize the intellectuals and activists of the movement, was established in Odessa.

The social awakening of the masses gave rise to the popular character of the Zionist movement in Odessa. It succeeded in establishing an influential and ramified organization, attracting a stream of intellectual and energetic youth from the towns and villages of the pale of settlement to Odessa - the center of culture and location of numerous schools - and provided the Jewish national movement with powerful propagandists, especially from among the ranks of those devoted to Hebrew literature.

The group of authors and activists which rallied around the Zionist movement and actively participated in the work of its institutions included M.L. Lilienblum and Achad Ha-Am, M.M. Ussishkin, who headed the Odessa committee during its last decade of existence, and M. Dizengoff, Zalman Epstein and Y.T. Lewinsky, M. Ben-Ammi and H. Rawnitzky, Ch.N. Bialik and J. Klausner, A. Druyanow and A.M. Berakhyahu (Borochov), Ch. Tchernowitz, S. Pen, M. Gluecksohn and V. Jabotinsky.

These had great influence on the youth, who were not only initiated into Jewish national activity, but were enriched in Jewish culture and broadened in general education.

During the 1920's and 1930's
With the advent of the Soviet regime, Odessa ceased to be the Jewish cultural center in southern Russia. The symbol of the destruction of Hebrew culture was the departure from Odessa for Constantinople in June 1921 of a group of Hebrew authors led by Bialik. The Yevsektsiya chose Kharkov and Kiev as centers for its activities among the Jews of the Ukraine. Russian-oriented assimilation prevailed among the Jews of Odessa in the 1920's (though the city belonged to the Ukraine). Over 77% of the Jewish pupils attended Russian schools in 1926 and only 22% Yiddish schools. At the University, where up to 40% of the student role was Jewish, a faculty of Yiddish existed for several years which also engaged in research of the history of Jews in southern Russia.

The renowned Jewish libraries of the city were amalgamated into a single library named after Mendele Mokher Seforim. In the later 1930's, as in the rest of the Soviet Union, Jewish cultural activity ceased in Odessa and was eventually completely eradicated. The rich Jewish life in Odessa found vivid expressions in Russian-Jewish fiction, as, e.g., in the novels of Yushkevich, in Jabotinsky's autobiographical stories and his novel Piatero ("They Were Five," 1936) and particularly in the colorful Odessa Tales by Isaac Babel, which covered both the pre-revolutionary and the revolutionary period and described the Jewish proletariat and underworld of the city.

The Holocaust Period
After June 21, 1941, many Jews from Bukovina, Bessarabia, and western Ukraine fled from German and Rumanian rule to Odessa. Some Jews in Odessa were called up to the Red Army, and many others left during the two months' siege of the city.

On October 22, 1941, an explosion wrecked a part of the building of the Rumanian military general headquarters (the former headquarters of the Soviet secret police). General Glogojeanu, the city's military commander, and many Rumanian and German officers and soldiers were killed. In the first reprisals carried out the following day, 5,000 persons, most of them Jews, were killed. Many of them were hanged at crossings and in the public squares. Ion Antonescu ordered the execution of 200 communists for every officer who had been killed, and 100 for every soldier, and ordered that one member of every Jewish family be taken hostage. Nineteen thousand Jews were arrested and brought to the square at the harbor, doused with gasoline, and burned. Another 16,000 were taken the following day to the outskirts, where all of them were massacred. Another 5,000 Jews were subsequently arrested, and soon after the massacres, deported to camps set up in Bogdanovka, Domanevka, Krivoye Ozero, and other villages, where about 70,000 Jews, all from southern Transnistria, were concentrated. During December 1941 and January 1942, almost all of them were killed by special units of Sonderkommando (Russia) aided by Rumanian police soldiers, Ukrainian militia, and, especially, by the SS units, made up of former German colonists in the region. On Dec. 7, 1941, Odessa became the capital of Transnistria. The governor, G. Alexianu, and all the administrative institutions transferred their headquarters from Tiraspol to Odessa. Subsequently, steps were taken to make Odessa Judenrein. After the last convoy left on February 23, 1942, Odessa was proclaimed Judenrein. The local inhabitants and the occupying forces looted Jewish property. The old Jewish cemetery was desecrated and hundreds of granite and marble tombstones were shipped to Rumania and sold.

Soviet troops under general Malinovsky returned to Odessa on April 10, 1944. It is estimated that at the time of liberation, a few thousand Jews were living in Odessa, some of them under false documents or in hiding in the catacombs. Others were given shelter by non-Jewish families. There had been numerous informers among the local Russians and Ukrainians but also persons who risked their liberty and even their lives to save Jews.

During the 1950's and 1960's
After the Jewish survivors returned, Odessa became one of the largest Jewish centers of the Soviet Union. However, there was no manifestation of communal or cultural life. In 1962 private prayer groups were dispersed by the authorities and religious articles found among them were confiscated. A denunciation of the Jewish religious congregation and its employees appeared in the local paper in 1964. Baking of Matzah by the Jewish community was essentially prohibited during the period 1959-65. It was again allowed in 1966. In the 1959 census 102,200 Jews were registered in Odessa, but the actual number has been estimated at about 180,000 (14-15% of the total population).

From 1968 several Jewish families were allowed to emigrate to Israel, following the increased demand for exit permits of Soviet Jews in the wake of the Six-Day War (1967). The emigration to Israel and other countries increased during the 1970's and especially after the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Community Institutions
Contemporary Odessa has a variety of institutions serving the needs of its Jewish population, which today numbers about 45,000 (3.5% of the city's total population). Community life has been particularly developed since 1991, when the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee opened its first office in the city.
The religious life of the Community is concentrated around the Osipova Street Synagogue.

The Odessa Municipal Jewish Library opened its doors in 1994. It contains books and periodicals in Hebrew, Yiddish, Ukrainian, Russian and English. The library functions as a community center.

The Odessa Jewish Cultural Society was founded in 1989. The Society organizes activities through its Migdal Education and Arts Center, Association of Former Jewish Victims of the Ghetto and Nazi Camps, Di Yiddishe Leed (Jewish song workshop), Drama Workshop Theater and Mame Loshn Magazine.

Gmilus Hesed is a welfare organization which helps the needy, disabled and solitary Jews of Odessa. Its range of activities includes medical consultations, Sunday meals program, visits to the homes of the elderly and loans of medical equipment.

There are two kindergartens, two day schools, and four Sunday schools.

Of the three cemeteries in Odessa, two (the Old Cemetery and the First Jewish Cemetery) were destroyed in 1936 and 1978 respectively and today only the Third Jewish Cemetery functions.

Bucharest

Romanian: Bucuresti

Capital of Romania

The historic Jewish district of Bucharest used to be centered around the Choral Temple, and spread from Piata Unirii east towards Dristor. However, most of the Jewish buildings that stood there were destroyed during the 1980s in order to make way for the Bulevardul Unirii. As of 2015, there remain a handful of points of Jewish interest in Bucharest, serving the community of approximately 3,500. The Choral Temple, the Yeshua Tova Synagogue, and the Great Polish Synagogue, continue to hold services; the latter also hosts the city's Holocaust Museum. The Beit Hamidrash Synagogue, which dates back to the late 18th century, is abandoned and decaying, though the structure itself is still (barely) standing. Another abandoned synagogue whose building still stands is the Hevra Amuna (Temple of Faith).

The Jewish History Museum (Muzeul de Istorie a Evreilor din Romania) is located in what was once a synagogue called the Holy Union Temple. The synagogue building itself was constructed in 1836; it began serving as a Jewish history museum in 1978. Mozes Rosen, the chief rabbi of Romania from 1964 until his death in 1994, founded the museum and provided a number of items for its collection.

The State Jewish Theater, which is located in Bucharest, is the oldest uninterrupted Yiddish-language theater in the world. The theater features plays by Jewish playwrights, plays about Jewish topics, and Yiddish plays that run simultaneous Romanian translations through headphones. The theater is located next to the Lauder-Reut Jewish school, which has over 400 students enrolled in its kindergarten, elementary, and middle schools.

HISTORY

The Jewish community of Bucharest was formed both by Sephardic Jews who arrived from the south, chiefly from the Otooman Empire, and later by Ashkenazi Jews arriving from the north. A responsum by the rabbi of Solonika during the 16th century that mentions a Sephardic community is the first documented evidence confirming the presence of Jews in Budapest. The Jewish community began to grow and prosper; some were even the creditors of the ruling princes. This economic success, however, eventually came at a steep price (pun intended); when Prince Michael the Brave revolved against the Turks in November 1593, he ordered that his creditors be killed, among whom were a number of Jews.

Ahskenazi Jews began arriving and establishing their own community towards the middle of the 17th century, drawn there after fleeing the Khmielnitski Massacres taking place in Ukraine. Their numbers grew, and eventually the Ashkenazi community became larger than the Sephardic community. For tax purposes, the Ashkenazi and Sephardic communities were organized into a single community by the state, and were forced to pay a fixed tax to the treasury. Meanwhile, the general population, afraid of economic competition, was intensely hostile towards the Jews. In 1793 residents of the suburb Razvan petitioned Prince Alexander Moruzi to expel the Jews who had recently settled in the area and to demolish the synagogue that they had built. Though the prince ordered that the synagogue be closed, he did not remove the Jews from Razvan and, in fact, issued a decree confirming his protection of them. In 1801 there were anti-Jewish riots following blood libel accusations, and 128 Jews were killed or wounded.

In 1819 Prince Alexandru Sutu officially acknowledged both the Sephardic ("Spanish") and Ashkenazi ("Polish") communities, allowing them to operate as separate entities. This continued until 1949 when the Communist regime once again forced the two communities to join together. By 1832 there were 10 Ashkenazi and one Sephardi synagogues in Bucharest. The Great Synagogue, which was Ashkenazi, was dedicated on Rosh Hashanah, 1847.

In spite of the impressive Great Synagogue, the Ashkenazi community of Bucharest had to deal with a number of fissures and tensions during the 19th century. There were tensions between those were born in Romania, and those who immigrated to Bucharest, who were not under the same system of taxation as the native Romanians. This led the immigrants within the Jewish community, who were considered "foreign subjects" to refuse to pay the tax levied on kosher meat. This was a problem, as this tax constituted the sole income of the community council. The authorities, who were drawn into the conflict, at first upheld the traditional rights of the Jewish communal organization. However, following repeated complaints from both sides, as well as constitutional changes that took place in Romania in 1832, the community was given a new constitution that greatly curtailed its autonomy. Instead of operating autonomously, it fell under the direct authority and close supervision of the municipality. Eventually, in 1851, the Prussian and Austrian subjects (about 300 families) were officially permitted to found a separate community.

The increasing influence of the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment), also led to tensions within the Ashkenazi community. It is important to note that this conflict also reflected the economics of the community; those in favor of the Haskalah and who wanted the community to undertake more progressive reforms tended to be from the upper classes, while those who were more traditional tended to be further down the socioeconomic ladder. At that time, the Bucharest Ashkenazi community was torn by strife between the Orthodox and progressive factions. The controversy began to center around a school with a modern curriculum that opened in 1852, as well as the proposal in 1857, led by Ya'akov Lobel, to build a Choral Temple, that would incorporate modern ideas and principles into its services. The appointment of Rabbi Meir Leib Malbim in 1858 as the chief rabbi did not help quell the disputes. Malbim was a fierce and uncompromising opponent of the Reform movement, and he quickly made enemies among Bucharest's Jewish elite. The conflicts between Malbim and those who were in favor of the Reform Movement came to a head in 1862, when Malbim was arrested. He was freed only after Sir Moses Montefiore intervened, and on the condition that he leave Romania. The Choral Synagogue was completed in 1867, and became the center for the modernists of the community.

Among the most prominent spiritual and religious leaders of the community before World War I were Antoine Levy and Moritz (Meir) Beck, who were rabbis of the Choir Temple Congregation from 1867 to 1869 and 1873 to 1923, respectively. Other outstanding figures within the Choir Temple community were Iuliu Barasch and Yitzchak Leib Weinberg. Yitzchak Esiik Taubes was the rabbi of the Orthodox Congregation from 1894 until 1921. The most prominent lay leader was Adolf Stern. Moscu Asher led the Sephardic community, and Rabbi Hayim Bejarano was a noted scholar and poet. Later, the lawyer and politician Wilhelm Filderman would become the president of the Union of Romanian Jews, and Rabbi Jacob Isaac Niemirower would be the country's first chief rabbi. Filderman, in fact, would in 1941 work successfully to annul the decree forcing Jews to wear an identifying badge.

Between the two World Wars the Bucharest community grew in both numbers and importance. The Jewish population of the city, which had become the capital of Greater Romania and attracted immigrants from all parts of the country, increased from 44,000 in 1912 to 74,480 (12% of the total population) in 1930 and 95,072 in 1940. Most Jews worked as artisans, merchants, clerks, and bankers. Others were active in professions such as medicine and law. Several ironworks and foundries were established by the end of the 19th century. Major Jewish business leaders at that time included Leon Abramovici, Sigmund Prager, and Adolph Solomon.

There were a number of Jewish schools in Bucharest, particularly at the turn of the 20th century. Among the most influential was the abovementioned school established in 1852 by Yisrael Pick and Naftali Popper. These founders sought to imbue their school with the Haskalah principles that they believed in, and the school became extremely influential on Jewish education in Romania. There were also vocational institutions serving Jewish workers, including the Ciocanul (Hammer) school which trained Jewish craft workers.

Communal institutions included over 40 synagogues, two cemeteries, 19 schools, a library and museum, two hospitals, a clinic, two homes for the elderly, and two orphanages. There was also a B'nai B'rith, as long as a number of social and cultural organizations serving the community. A number of newspapers also served the community; the first Jewish newspaper, "Israelitul roman," was founded in 1855 and written in Romanian and French. Other publications included "Fraternitatea," "Revista Israelita," "Egalitatea," and "Curierul Israelit." Yiddish and Hebrew language publications included "Et LeDaber," "HaYoetz," and the Zionist newspapers "Mantuirea" and "Hasmonaea." A Yiddish theater was established in the late 1870s, and reached its peak during the interwar period. This theater would later be banned under Ion Antonescu.

Anti-Semitism continued to be a problem for the Jews of Bucharest. In 1866 the visit of Adolph Cremieux, a French lawyer who advocated for the political emancipation of the Jews, resulted in Jewish synagogues and shops being vandalized. The rise of prominence of nationalist leader Alexandru C. Cuza spurred the development of a number of anti-Semitic organizations, many of which were centered at Bucharest University.

In September 1940, with the rise of the Antonescu-Iron Guard coalition, Bucharest became one of the new regime's main centers of the anti-Jewish activities. This culminated in a pogrom during the rebellion of the Legionary Movement; 120 Jews were killed, thousands were arrested and tortured, synagogues were desecrated, and Jewish homes, shops, and community buildings were looted and destroyed.

Until the end of the Antonescu regime in August 1944, the Jews of Bucharest were subjected anti-Semitic legislation and persecution. Jews were legally downgraded to second-class citizens. They could no longer access state-funded education or health care, and their property was confiscated. These restrictions had major economic effects on the community: in 1942 only 27.2% of the city's Jewish population of about 100,000 were registered as employed, compared with 54.3% of the non-Jewish population. In September 1942 several hundred Jews were deported to Transnistria, where many eventually perished. Thousands of other Jews, particularly the young, were required to work as forced laborers.

The lack of access to education, combined with the growing poverty of the Jewish community, spurred the need for the community to greatly expand their own educational and social welfare activities. In 1943 the Jewish community ran 27 schools and 21 soup kitchens. Bucharest became the center of relief activities for Romanian Jews.

The Jews of Bucharest were saved after Antonescu was deposed on August 23, 1944 and German forces were not able to entering the city. Though Adolf Eichmann had begun making preparations to deport Romania's Jews, the fierce opposition on the part of the Romanian army, coupled with the entry of the Soviet Army on August 30, 1944, prevented any of these plans from being carried out.

After World War II, large numbers of Jewish refugees and concentration camp survivors began arriving in the city; by 1947 the Jewish population had grown to 150,000. The Communist regime, which came to power in 1947, gradually closed all Jewish national, cultural, and social institutions in Bucharest. The welfare institutions were nationalized and the schools were absorbed into the general educational network. A state Yiddish school was opened in 1949, but closed a few years later. A State Yiddish Theater was founded in 1948 and a Yiddish drama school was established in 1957. Two Jewish newspapers, the Romanian "Unirea," followed later by "Viata Novua" and the Yiddish "Ikuf Bleter" were published. Of the 44,202 Jews (3.6% of the total population) registered in the city in the 1956 census, 4,425 of them declared Yiddish to be their mother tongue. In spite of the difficulties in living under a Communist regime, Rabbi Mozes Rosen was able to successfully navigate the opaque policies of the Romanian government, allowing Bucharest to continue to serve as the center of Jewish communal and cultural life.

The rise of Nicolae Ceausescu, who was the dictator of Romania between 1965 and 1989, prompted mass emigrations to Israel. In 1969 it was estimated that there were 50,000 Jews living in Bucharest; by the turn of the 21st century there were only about 4,000.