Journal Analele Banatului N.S. Archaeology-History

Antonio Faur

Reflectarea în memorialistică (1946–1976) a activităţii de salvare de la moarte a evreilor din Ungaria şi Transilvania de nord (1944) / The Actions to Save Hungarian and Northern Transylvanian Jews from Death as they Were Reflected in Memorial Writings (1944)

Jan. 1, 2011

Abstract

Memorial testimonies have been written in Romania and abroad by the people who were involved in or were the witnesses of the rescue actions of the Jews from Hungary and Northern Transylvania, by their illegal crossing over the border in Romania and their subsequent travel to Bucharest. The author focuses on two of these memorial documents written by David Arnold Finkelstein (published in Tel Aviv, in 1958) and by the General Consul Dr. Mihai Marina (in Oradea), whose evocation was published in the pages of Magazin istoric (from 1976, no. 6). The references given by these two authors to the issue of the Jews’ rescue are of obvious historical value, referring to the areas of Cluj-Turda and Oradea-Beiuş-Arad, where, by means of organised channels (by Jews and Romanians), thousands of Jews were helped to cross the mentioned border. Once they had reached – with the help of guides (mostly Romanian peasants from the villages near the border) – the territory of Romania (of that time), they were guided towards towns like Turda and Arad (where the Jews, who had crossed the border in Bihor area, were expected) in order to be given documents and transported to the country’s capital. The two memoirists have concurrent information and commentaries, which reinforce the truth of the existence of efficient channels to save the Jews in the above mentioned areas.