Mișu Benvenisti, also known as Mishu or Moshe Benvenisti, sometimes Benveniste (; July 1, 1902 – 1977), was a Romanian-Israeli lawyer, Zionist militant, and leader of the Romanian Jewish community. Born into a family of printers and publishers, he was one of the few Sephardi Jews to reach prominence in political life during the Romanian Kingdom era. His association with Zionism began in his teenage years, and saw him emerging as leader of the Zionist Youth Organization (part of the HeHalutz, HH) in the early 1920s. Benvenisti was then primarily affiliated with the Renașterea Noastră group in Bucharest, joining the small Jewish National Party by 1930; through these, he participated in the formation of a nation-wide Jewish Party (PER), wherein he was youth organizer and general secretary. After 1936, he was also a member of the Romanian office of the World Jewish Congress (WJC), serving as its lawyer and as a rapporteur on the growth of local antisemitism.
During the late 1930s, Romania drew closer to Nazi Germany and gradually introduced discrimination against Jews; the National Renaissance Front banned the PER, along with all other Romanian political parties, in early 1938. Zionists were allowed to form non-political bodies, which encouraged a wave of emigrations into Mandatory Palestine. As Nazi pressures increased with the arrival in power of Ion Antonescu, Benvenisti considered emigrating, but accepted appointment as chairman of the Zionist Executive. His political line there was one of moderation: he expressed loyalty toward Romania and increased control over the rebellious HH, intervening as a negotiator between the regime and the Jewish community. His stance was criticized by Jews on the right, including A. L. Zissu, as a form of collaborationism, especially due to his contacts with the submissive Central Jewish Office.
Faced with the Holocaust occurring on Romania's borders, Benvenisti also cultivated the Jewish resistance—in particular by helping Hungarian, Slovak and Polish Jews find temporary shelter in Romania, or by assisting survivors of Antonescu's own deportations to Transnistria. Benvenisti and other Jewish leaders persuaded the Antonescu government to relax pressures on the Jews, though the Executive also had to agree to collect large sums as contributions and bribes. The Romanian Zionists' role in sabotaging the Holocaust was documented by the local Judenberater, Gustav Richter. As a result of his investigations, Romanian authorities reluctantly arrested Benvenisti in January 1944. He was released in March, by which time he had lost the confidence of his peers, being replaced at the head of the Executive by his rival Zissu. For the rest of 1944, Benvenisti presided upon his own splinter party, the Zionist Democratic Group Klal.
Antonescu's downfall in August 1944 revived Romania's multi-party regime; consequently, Zissu and Benvenisti returned as factional leaders of the PER, with the former holding the party chairmanship. Benvenisti was moving toward the Jewish left, and embracing cooperation with the Romanian Communist Party and the Jewish Democratic Committee (CDE). In mid-1946, he replaced the anti-communist Zissu as president of both the WJC chapter and the PER, drawing the latter into an alliance with the CDE before the November elections. With the communists' turn to anti-Zionism, Benvenisti shut down the PER, criticized illegal emigration, and took political advice from CDE cadres such as Bercu Feldman. When the Romanian communist regime took over on the last days of 1947, he ended his Zionist involvement, though he and his wife Suzana still applied for emigration to Israel. Benvenisti was arrested in 1950 by the Securitate, tortured into confessing that he was a spy for Israel, and appeared at a show trial, alongside Zissu, in 1954. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, but later freed and allowed to settle in Israel, which became his home for the final two decades of his life.
Biography Early life and career The Benvenistis belonged to the Sephardi minority ( or evrei spanioli) within the larger Jewish community. They were first noted locally for their contribution in publishing: in 1876, two family members, Sandu and David, created Frații Benvenisti—a major Jewish printing press, centered on Craiova city.C. D. Fortunescu, "Inceputurile tipografiei în Craiova", in Almanahul Graficei Române, 1926, p. 121. See also Cajal Marin, p. 83; Moraru, pp. 175–176, 204 Memoirist Mariu Theodorian-Carada recalled in 1938 that "Benvenisti the elder was the only Craiova Jew to wear a fur-lined caftan".Mariu Theodorian-Carada, "Note și comunicări. Privitor la negustorimea craioveană", in Arhivele Olteniei, Vol. XVII, Issues 97–100, May–December 1938, p. 387 Mișu was born to Simon Benvenisti and Ernestina Schlanger on July 1, 1902.Wexler & Popov, p. 238 His maternal grandfather, Adolf Schlanger, was Romania's oldest traveling salesman at the time of his death in December 1906.See death announcement for Adolf Schlanger in Dimineața, December 25, 1906, p. 3 Mișu's father, who lived between 1870 and 1943,Moraru, p. 248 had worked for Frații Benvenisti library and then for Editura Alcalay company, until establishing his own editorial imprint, Editura Ancora.Cajal Marin, p. 83. See also Moraru, p. 248 He was highly respected in the Romanian literary community, and noted especially for his role in promoting figures such as Eugen Lovinescu, George Bacovia, and Liviu Rebreanu.Cajal Marin, pp. 83–85 In 1922, Simon was sponsoring an annual Benvenisti Prize, awarded by the Romanian Writers' Society to debuting poets.Constantin Călin, "Note despre premii", in Cardan Cultural, Vol. I, Issue 3, September–October 2018, p. 21 His elder son Felix preserved the family tradition as director of Bicurim publishers;Moraru, pp. 204, 248 born in Bucharest in 1900, Felix was working as a clerk during the 1950s. Maternal cousins of Felix and Mișu included Dolfi Urseanu, who worked at the State Opera Theater.
By his own account, Mișu was a native Craiovan, and a graduate of Carol I National College.Ciuceanu, pp. 294, 477 As the second-born son, was primarily interested in the legal profession and politics. In 1918 or 1919, soon after hearing about the Balfour Declaration, and influenced by his colleague Carol Singer, he joined a Zionist youth group called Hatalmid.Wexler & Popov, pp. 229, 238, 245, 335, 441, 443, 445, 857 He served as its president in 1919–1920, during which time he was acquainted with more senior Zionist figures, including activist Leon Mizrachi, Mișu Weissman, and Chief Rabbi Jacob Itzhak Niemirower.Wexler & Popov, pp. 335, 445 In 1920, while studying law at the University of Bucharest, he was recruited by the Jewish students' organization, Hașmonea, and, on Mizrachi's proposal, was elected chairman of the Zionist Youth Organization of Romania (1923–1924).Wexler & Popov, pp. 229, 238, 245, 249, 335, 443, 445, 857. See also Moraru, p. 248 This period saw him involved in at least one scuffle with antisemitic colleagues: on January 31, 1923, they tried to prevent Benvenisti and Samuel Steinberg from hearing a lecture by Mircea Djuvara; "other Jewish students arrived in" to assist, after which the two groups fought each other, leaving three Jews and one Romanian slightly injured."In jurul agitațiilor studențești. Un incident la Facultatea de drept", in Viitorul, January 31, 1923, p. 4 His brother, meanwhile, had embraced anti-Zionism, joining the Association of Romanian Jews in Brăila, which declared itself in favor of complete Jewish assimilation."Evreii și politica. Inițiativa de la Brăila", in Mișcarea, June 6, 1920, p. 1
In 1925, Mișu Benvenisti joined Cornel Iancu's new Zionist lodge, Renașterea Noastră ("Our Rebirth"), where he remained an active member until the early months of 1944.Wexler & Popov, pp. 238, 245, 249–250, 335–336, 419, 429, 443 A hostile A. L. Zissu recalled in 1951: "All that I now when it comes to Benvenisti's political activity in the interwar is that he was a very active member of the Zionist group Renașterea, and very ambitious about rapidly acquiring offices, ahead of those who were older and more committed, that he was extremely conceited about his own political genius, going as far as to imagine himself a predestined leader."Wexler & Popov, p. 102 Benvenisti graduated in 1924. After completing a one-year mandatory term in the Romanian Land Forces (at Timișoara), he registered with the bar association in Ilfov County.Wexler & Popov, pp. 336, 418, 443, 527, 944 He was also involved in business ventures by 1926, when he joined Grigore Trancu-Iași in founding a paper-distributing company named after Costache Negri."Intreprinderi noui. Ilfov", in Argus, February 13, 1926, p. 2 In early 1928, he was providing legal services for Renașterea Noastră, with Moți (Motti) Moscovici as his secretary.Wexler & Popov, p. 863 Moscovici recounts that, in 1928–1929, Benvenisti also went on a study trip to Paris, where he intended to become a Doctor of Law: "He was absent for about a year, but never graduated."Wexler & Popov, p. 857
In July 1929, Benvenisti and I. Schechter were among the 15 delegates of the Romanian Jewry to the Sixteenth Zionist Congress in Zürich. They were also the only two Romanians to have been elected by "radical" Zionist lodges, against a "centrist" mainstream."Congresul sionist din Zuerich. Delegații din România", in Dimineața, August 6, 1929, p. 3 By August 1929, Benvenisti had returned to Bucharest. The Jewish members of Parliament, who had since established an ethnic club, elected him to represent them at a Tomis Hall meeting protesting the anti-Jewish incidents in Mandatory Palestine;"Ultima oră. Evreii din Capitală protestează contra masacrelor din Palestina", in Universul, September 4, 1929, p. 7 by 1930, he was officially the Jewish club secretary.Wexler & Popov, pp. 730, 857 In November, he challenged a clerk, Ștefan Iacobescu, to duel him on Luterană Street (Iacobescu never showed up)."Cutia cu scrisori. O chestiune de onoare", in Adevărul, November 26, 1929, p. 3 Benvenisti's major client as a lawyer was the firm Frații Buhler, a Swiss–Romanian importer of grinding machines.Wexler & Popov, pp. 443, 857, 863 This job initially provided him with "modest revenue" that, from about 1932, he was forced to share with his gravely ill father.Wexler & Popov, p. 352 Around 1932, he met and fell in love with the seven-years-younger bank clerk Suzana Mărculescu, but could not live with her full-time, as both had to attend to their ailing parents. According to his recollections, she did not share his Zionist ideals, and maintained "irony and regret for the time and energy I spent on matters such as politics".Wexler & Popov, pp. 352–353 They were only wed under Jewish law in May 1944—making Benvenisti cousins by marriage with composer Ricu Mălineanu and with singer Mara Ianoli-Mălineanu.Wexler & Popov, pp. 238, 352
PER creation
By March 1930, Benvenisti and Sami Stern had joined a Bucharest-based Jewish National Party, inspired by the views of Adolphe Stern. In speeches he made at the time, he noted that the group's existence was not directed "against the Romanian parties, but against all organizations which trample upon the Jewish population's needs.""Intrunirea partidului național-evreesc", in Adevărul, March 4, 1930, p. 4 In August, shortly after the Sighet Jewish Temple had been set ablaze, the "General Council of Romanian Jews" delegated him to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where he demanded details on the investigation."O anchetă la Sighet", in Cuvântul, August 17, 1930, p. 2 The same month, with local elections held in Bucharest, he submitted his candidacy on the "Jewish group" list for Bucharest Sector II (Black), second on that list after Sami Stern."Alegerile comunale dela 10 August", in Universul, August 2, 1930, p. 5