Moses Rosen - Criticism of His Relationship With Communist Authorities

Criticism of His Relationship With Communist Authorities

According to Elvira Groezinger, in the Stalinist era, Rabbi Rosen's articles in the Yiddish-language weekly IKUF-Bleter showed him to be "one of the staunchest leaders of the anti-Zionist and anti-Israel campaigns, and one who praised the Romanian Communist leaders."

Hadassah magazine wrote in 2000 of the "alliance" between Nicolae Ceauşescu, "From Rosen's viewpoint, anything he could do to help Romania's Jews was legitimate. So he became as close to Ceauşescu as he could-in the name of preserving Jewish life in Romania and keeping the exit doors open. After the Six-Day War Romania did not break diplomatic relations with Israel. In return Rosen praised Ceauşescu in the West, undoubtedly contributing to the Romanian chief's reputation as a benign Communist leader. What didn't become clear until later was that he was extorting a princely sum for his leniency toward the Jews." In this connection Rabbi Rosen, in his short 1987 piece "The Recipe", quoted Charles de Gaulle: "I have no enemies, I have no friends, I have interests," and added "I succeeded in convincing the Romanian Government that, by doing good to the Jews, by meting out justice to them, it could obtain advantages in matters of favourable public opinion, trade relations, political sympathies... The 'business transaction' was profitable to both sides." Millions of Jews, he wrote, were living "in Eastern Europe, in a socialist society. No matter if one likes this or not, it represents a reality... Can they, somehow remain Jewish? The answer given by the past 40 years of the life led by a Jewish community in socialist Romania is categorical and irrefutable. Yes, indeed. They can. "Our 'balance-sheet' proves that, without making any noise, demonstrations or rows, we have succeeded in making Romania's interests correspond to ours..." He also wrote proudly of the fact the Jews who had left Romania had overwhelmingly made aliyah to Israel: "More than 90 per cent of the Romanian Jews reached Lod. They did not 'lose their way' heading for other continents..."

In the 1980s in his opposition to antisemitism and xenophobic trends which were sometimes encouraged by Ceauşescu himself, dr Rosen dared to rise his voice even against some protégés of the regime as the poet Corneliu Vadim Tudor. the writer Eugen Barbu and the literary historian Dumitru Vatamaniuc who edited posthumously, and without adequate critic notes, the antisemitic articles of the Romanian national great poet, Mihai Eminescu.