The Ransom of the Jews by Radu Ioanid; & Elie Wiesel & Cristina Marine

Author:Radu Ioanid; & Elie Wiesel & Cristina Marine
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing
Published: 2021-06-20T00:00:00+00:00

According to Leibovici-Lais, in the late 1960s the West German government probably discovered that Romania was selling its Jews to Israel. In fact, West Germany had started to buy ethnic Germans from Romania through Jakober. Gradually, as had been the case with the state of Israel, the middlemen were excluded. One way or another, irrespective of the chronological order, the Romanians suggested to the Germans that the two countries begin to discuss the emigration of ethnic Germans from Romania. “But, from habit, they imposed one condition: keep this a secret, and don’t tell the Israelis anything.”61

The West German government defied Romania’s caution and queried the Israeli government directly. According to Shaike Dan, “On more than one occasion our ambassador in Bonn, Arthur Ben-Nathan, was asked by ministers in the German government how Israel manages to get the Jews out of Romania. Golda Meir was even asked to come and explain it.”62

In 1967, when diplomatic relations between Romania and West Germany were first established, “roughly 60,000 ethnic Germans requested permission to emigrate.” According to the same U.S. report, by 1978 “some 80,000 had departed for West Germany.”63 Ceaușescu’s sale of ethnic Germans to West Germany was no different from his sale of Jews to Israel: “In 1978 the two countries negotiated an agreement concerning the remaining German population, which had decreased from 2 percent of the total population in 1966 to 1.6 percent in 1977. Romania agreed to allow 11,000 to 13,000 ethnic Germans to emigrate each year in return for hard currency and a payment of 5,000 deutschemarks [$2,414] per person [under the pretext] of reimbursing the state for educational expenses. In 1982 that figure rose to $3,122–$3,568 [7,000–8,000 deutschemarks] per person. In the decade between 1978 and 1988, approximately 120,000 Germans emigrated, leaving behind a population of only about 200,000, between 80 and 90 percent of whom wanted to emigrate.... In 1987 an entire village of some 200 ethnic Germans applied en masse for emigration permits.”64

As with the sale of Jews to Israel, Romania obtained interest-free or low-interest loans from West Germany in exchange for its ethnic Germans. The negotiations, however, were fraught with challenges. In 1979, West Germany’s chancellor Helmut Schmidt visited Bucharest and “extended credit guarantees of approximately $368 million in return for Romanian pledges to facilitate the reunification of ethnic German families.”65 In 1983 the question of emigration was again discussed as Ceaușescu sought to increase the “education tax” per ethnic German emigrant from the equivalent of $2,632 to $42,105. Both Bavarian premier Franz Joseph Strauss and West German foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher visited Romania and agreed to pay approximately $5,263 per emigrant. According to press reports, the agreement remained in effect through June 1988 and provided for the annual emigration of 11,000 to 13,000 Transylvanian Saxons. In January 1989, Romania agreed to maintain this rate of emigration.

Romania’s relations with West Germany—at their most cordial during Willi Brandt’s chancellorship—deteriorated in the 1980s. In a 1984 visit to Bonn, Ceaușescu sought to exploit a setback in West German relations with Bulgaria, East Germany, and the Soviet Union.

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