Jewish Intellectuals’ Responses to the Emancipation and Minority Protection Law in Post-World War One Romania

Camelia Craciun

Panel 6 The Jewish Minorities

Abstract

This paper analyzes the Jewish intellectuals’ response to the Emancipation granted in 1919 in relation to the Romanian Minorities Law and 1923 Constitution. I will focus on the public discourse and the changes to the terms of identity construction as they were publicly assessed by the Jewish intellectuals in word and print.

As a trend towards asserting Jewish identity became visible, a counter-trend of Jewish identity subsumed also emerged. This paper hence focuses on how and why this divide emerged, and seeks to investigate how the new, post-World War One political realities influenced these rival positions.