The Jewish Party, in full the Jewish Party of Romania (, PER; ; , Idishe partey) or the Jewish National Party (Partidul Național Evreiesc or Evreesc, PNE; ), Adrian Niculescu, "O lecție a istoriei (II)", in Observator Cultural, Issue 72, July 2001Crăciun (2011), p. 80 was a right-wing political party in Romania, representing Jewish community interests. It originally followed an undercurrent of Zionism, promoting communitarianism as a prerequisite of resettlement in Palestine, and later progressed toward Religious Zionism and Revisionism. Founded by Tivadar Fischer, József Fischer, and Adolphe Stern, it had particularly strong sections in Transylvania and Bessarabia. In the Old Kingdom, where it registered least support, it was mainly represented by A. L. Zissu, Mișu Benvenisti, and Renașterea Noastră newspaper.

The PER was strongly opposed to the liberal and assimilationist program of Wilhelm Filderman and his Union of Romanian Jews (UER). Its core belief in Jewishness as a distinct political body was controversial, opposed by Filderman's disciples, by members of Orthodox and Sephardi groups, as well as by Romanians who wanted Jews to be socially desegregated; likewise, the PER's appreciation for Religious Zionism, including its recruitment of clerics such as Yehuda Leib Tsirelson, was resented by secular Jews. The Fischers managed to undermine the UER's spread into Transylvania and other regions, presenting its own candidates in elections for Parliament for most of the 1930s, and emerging as a vocal opponent of antisemitism. Repeatedly stating its respect for the central tenets of Romanian nationalism, the PER was generally committed to collaboration with the non-Jewish groups, including the National Peasantists and the National Liberals, but also the Magyar Party.

Effectively pushed out of national politics due to unfavorable circumstances which existed during the elections of 1933, the PER formed a Central Council of Romanian Jews together with the UER. The Fischers' alliances compromised the party's reputation during the 1937 legislative elections, when it had a non-aggression pact with the National Peasantists; by proxy, this deal also involved the antisemitic Iron Guard. During the final months of its existence, it fought against the antisemitic laws introduced by Prime Minister Octavian Goga, including by organizing an economic boycott. The PER was ultimately banned, together with all other political groups, in early 1938; the National Renaissance Front, formed later that year, explicitly barred entry to the Jews. The PER's support base was scattered by territorial changes which occurred during World War II, and it was decimated during the Holocaust. Some of its leaders, in particular Zissu, were involved with a Zionist network of resistance, and helped over 10,000 Jews illegally emigrate into Palestine.

The PER reemerged days after the anti-Nazi coup of 1944, with Zissu as its chairman. It was more successful in its competition with the similarly reestablished UER, managing to draw away supporters of the latter. Its brand of nationalism clashed with the Romanian Communist Party and its satellite Jewish Democratic Committee, as well as with Ihud-type Labor Zionism. After failing to obtain government recognition for its communitarian platform, the party was split between two camps. One, which was anti-communist, supported Zissu's platform of mass emigration into Palestine, and stood by the Revisionists during their conflict with Britain. The other camp, led by Benvenisti, was more open to cooperation with the communists, and it was in control of the PER by October 1946. Under Benvenisti, the PER adhered to a communist-controlled "Jewish Representation", presenting officially vetted candidates during the elections of November 1946. Within two years, the communist regime dissolved all of the Zionist organizations, imprisoning Zissu and Benvenisti. The PER's youth wing was absorbed by the National Federation of Democratic Youth, with which it merged into the Union of Working Youth in 1949.

History

Origins The PER came into being as a result of dissensions within the Jewish community. These followed the Jewish emancipation decrees of the early 1920s, and were aggravated by cultural and political differences between the regions of Greater Romania. Filderman's Union of Native Jews (as the UER was known before 1923) believed that a separate Jewish party was unnecessary, as it would isolate the Jews politically after they had struggled for decades to win Romanian citizenship. The Union stated that specific demands could be obtained more easily by participating in Romanian parties and collaborating with the Romanian government.Ioan Scurtu (ed.), Enciclopedia partidelor politice din România, 1859-2003, pp. 58–59. Bucharest: Editura Meronia, 2003. As Filderman argued, the "specific interests" of the Jews "are not in disagreement with the general interests of the Romanian state".Crăciun (2011), p. 101 According to historian Henry Eaton, its stance was "politically cooperative" toward Romanian parties, seeking to "deflect the charge that Jews in Romania represented a separate and alien nation".Eaton, p. 39 More generally, the UER stood for a platform of Jewish assimilation: it was "rather supportive of integration", or even "moderate Romanianization".Gidó (2009), p. 81 However, the UER was not fundamentally adverse to Zionism, with Filderman himself noting: "a Romanian Jew cannot oppose the creation of a Jewish national state".Crăciun (2011), p. 92

The UER's assimilationist viewpoint was not shared by a group led by Tivadar (Theodor) Fischer, József Fischer, and Adolphe Stern. Stern, who represented the "Old Kingdom" regions, had been the original leader of the Union of Native Jews, serving from 1909 to 1923, in which capacity he supported emancipation and criticized the growth of violent antisemitism as embodied by the National-Christian Defense League (LANC).Nastasă (2011), pp. 9, 209 His original outlook was "moderate assimilationism" in ideological succession to Joseph Brociner.Herșcovici & Ionescu, p. 100 Stern embraced Zionism in 1919, collecting funds for the Third Aliyah and engaging in the "struggle to regroup and transform the Jewish social and economic structure."A. Mibashan, "Caleidoscopul vieții intelectuale. Adolf Stern și sionismul", in Adevărul, October 26, 1931, p. 2 He had been elected to the Assembly of Deputies in 1922, as an ally of the non-Jewish Peasants' Party, caucusing with the Bukovina Zionist group headed by Mayer Ebner.Gidó (2009), pp. 82, 89 The UER itself had opted for an alliance with the National Liberal Party (PNL), perceived by its Jewish sympathizers as the party of "order and peace".Nastasă (2011), p. 364

Tivadar Fischer and József Fischer were Hungarian Jews from Transylvania. According to one account, they were sons of an Alba Iulia rabbi, stranded in Romania upon the end of World War I.Kinga Frojimovics, Géza Komoróczy, Viktoria Pusztai, Andrea Strbik, Jewish Budapest: Monuments, Rites, History, p. 136. Budapest & New York: Central European University Press, 1999. Historian Attila Gidó writes that they were unrelated by blood, but united by their common defense of Orthodox Judaism; József Fischer had been a critic of Zionism, before being drawn into it by other Transylvanian activists, to become "one of Transylvanian Zionism's most important personalities".Gidó (2014), pp. 184–185, 192 As noted by political scientist Randolph L. Braham, "political culture" in the Fischers' constituency "was forged by their earlier experiences in the Hungarian Kingdom."Braham, p. 6 As founders of the Transylvanian Jewish National League (EZNSz/UNET) and the single-issue Transylvanian People's Party, they had expressed their opposition to the UER as early as 1923, calling for its transformation into a "general union" of loosely affiliated bodies. Against the position taken by pro-UER Transylvanians such as Miksa Klein, they advised in favor of communitarianism, rejecting assimilation into the Romanian mainstream.Gidó (2009), pp. 86–87, 89; (2014), pp. 163–164

On February 26, 1928, the EZNSz/UNET, which doubled as a local branch of the World Zionist Organization,Sch. D., "Dr. Fischer Tivadar", in Új Kelet, June 23, 1972, p. 12 held a special meeting to address antisemitic riots which had occurred in Cluj and Oradea. It publicized its intention of forming the "Jewish political party", announcing that the UER had been persuaded into fusing with the latter."Evreii transilvăneni se agită contra guvernului. Ei se vor adresa Regenței", in Cuvântul, February 24, 1928, p. 5 The effort had failed to materialize before parliamentary elections in December 1928. The EZNSz/UNET formed a cartel with the National Peasants' Party (PNȚ), which won both Fischers seats in the Assembly. They coalesced into a "parliamentary club" with Ebner and the Bessarabian Zionist Michel Landau, calling themselves segments of a "country-wide Jewish party".Gidó (2009), pp. 87, 89–90. See also Politics and Political Parties..., p. 290; Eaton, p. 40 Lawyer Mișu Benvenisti, previously affiliated with the Hatalmid organization in Bucharest, was assigned as general secretary of their faction.Wexler & Popov, pp. 730, 857. See also Moraru, p. 248

Their calls for the establishment of a registered party were not welcomed by the governing Democratic Nationalists; Jewish deputies accused the authorities of "inertia" and unwillingness to confront LANC antisemitism, and registered with the opposition.ISAS, "En Roumanie. 1931. — Contagion hitlérienne", in Paix et Droit: Organe de l'Alliance Israélite Universelle, Vol. 11, Issue 10, December 1931, p. 5 Constantin Argetoianu, the Minister of the Interior, opined: "Beyond equality as citizens, the Israelites cannot state any demand. Those of an ethnic nature, as taken up by a national Jewish party, would trap the Israelites in a political ghetto and would render difficult the matter of their integration."ISAS, "En Roumanie. À la veille des élections parlementaires", in Paix et Droit: Organe de l'Alliance Israélite Universelle, Vol. 11, Issue 5, May 1931, p. 7 Columnist Constantin Bacalbașa also reacted against plans to create a "party of the Zionist Jews", noting: "Romania's parliament is a national parliament, it may only include parties that represent currents born within the country itself. But as long as the basis and rationale of the Zionist party is the Palestinian agenda, what logical purpose is there for it to be represented in a Romanian chamber? [...] I venture to believe that many Jews, who are now Romanian citizens, hold the same opinion as me."Constantin Bacalbașa, "Ori... ori!", in Universul, November 30, 1928, p. 1

Original PER Creation