Justice and Restitution in Post-Nazi Romania : Rebuilding Jewish Lives and Communities, 1944–1950

After the collapse of the pro-Nazi dictatorship of Ion Antonescu in 1944, Jewish survivors in Romania sought to recuperate their rights and assets. This study analyzes both the attempts of the transitional government to repeal antisemitic legislation, and the later communist nationalizations that once again dispossessed Jewish communities.

On 23rd August 1944, following the collapse of the pro-Nazi dictatorship of Ion Antonescu, Romania changed sides and abandoned the Axis to join the Allies. Justice and Restitution in Post-Nazi Romania explores the hopes, struggles and disappointments of Jewish communities in Romania seeking to rebuild their lives after the Holocaust. Focusing on the efforts of survivors to recuperate rights and property, Stefan Cristian Ionescu demonstrates how the early transitional government enabled short term restitution. However, from 1948, the consolidated communist regime implemented nationalizations which dispossessed many citizens. Jewish communities were disproportionality affected, and real estate and many businesses were lost once again. Drawing on archival sources from government documentation to diaries and newspaper reports, this study explores both the early success and later reversal of restitution policies. In doing so, it sheds light on the postwar treatment of Romanian Jewish survivors, and the reasons so many survivors emigrated from Romania.