135 - Judaica

Judaica Certificat de Calatorie. (Romanian travel document for travel to Israel.) Bucharest: Issued by the Romanian Ministry of the Interior, 1960. Official, printed single sheet, filled out in ink, with a black-and-white portrait photo of the holder affixed. On the reverse side are completed and signed transit visa stamps from the Israeli (mission). After the Holocaust, Romania was home to the largest surviving Jewish population in Eastern Europe, numbering around 300,000 people. With the rise of communism and the establishment of the State of Israel, the desire for aliyah—emigration to Israel—grew among the country’s Jews. The communist leadership, however, did not want to let them leave for free. It regarded the minorities as valuable hostages, and so negotiations with Israel began regarding a ransom. Shortly after the fall of the Iron Curtain following World War II, Henry Jacober, a British businessman of Jewish descent, began helping Romanian Jews flee their country. In the early 1950s, the smuggling operation shifted to the official level: the Romanian secret service recruited Jacober, and he conducted secret negotiations with Israel to persuade the Jewish state to pay for the emigrating Jews. In the initial phase, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, then the communist leader of Romania, agreed to allow 500 Jewish families to leave in exchange for the construction of a chicken farm. By the mid-1960s, Israel had financed numerous agricultural projects in Romania through Jacober: chicken, turkey, and pig farms; automated slaughterhouses; warehouses and packaging plants; and even a factory for Kellogg’s Corn Flakes—each in exchange for Jewish families. Between 1958 and 1966, an average of 14,000 Jews left Romania each year. When Ceaușescu took power in 1965, he restricted Jewish emigration and suspended all previous agreements for about two years. It was only when Israel agreed to pay cash per person—an average of $4,000—that he resumed the program. The ransom payments continued until the fall of the Iron Curtain. Romanian, Israeli, and American intelligence sources agree that the total amount exceeded $1 billion. Those permitted to leave the country received an official travel document such as this one, a “Certificat de Calatorie.” Those affected were automatically expelled from schools, universities, and their jobs and branded as “enemies of the people.” The holder of the document is Emilia Nathan, born in 1906 in Constanța, a Romanian port city on the Black Sea with a small Jewish community of about 1,500 people. At the time she applied, she was already living in Bucharest. The stamps from the diplomatic missions on the document confirm that she left the country in 1965, first to Hungary, then via Austria to Italy. She presumably reached Israel by ferry across the Mediterranean Sea. - Folded twice; damaged at the folds. Edges bumped. Overall in fair condition. - A rare and significant historical document. (Romanian Travel Document to Israel.) Bucharest: Issued by the Romanian Ministry of Internal Affairs, 1960. Official printed single sheet, completed in ink, with a mounted black-and-white portrait photograph of the holder. On the reverse, there are completed and signed transit visa stamps from the Israeli legation. Folded twice, damaged along the folds. Chipped at the edges. Overall in fair condition. After the Holocaust, Romania had the largest surviving Jewish population in Eastern Europe, numbering about 300,000. As communism grew stronger and the State of Israel was founded, the desire for aliyah—emigration to Israel—grew among the country’s Jews. The Communist leadership, however, was unwilling to let them leave for free. It regarded the minorities as valuable hostages, and so negotiations with Israel over a ransom began. Shortly after the Iron Curtain came down following World War II, Henry Jacober, a British businessman of Jewish origin, began helping Romanian Jews escape from their country. In the early 1950s, the smuggling operation became official: the Romanian secret service recruited Jacober, and he conducted secret negotiations with Israel to persuade the Jewish state to pay for the emigrating Jews. In the first phase, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, then the Communist leader of Romania, agreed to allow 500 Jewish families to leave in exchange for the construction of a chicken farm. By the mid-1960s, Israel, working through Jacober, had financed numerous agricultural projects in Romania: chicken, turkey, and pig farms; automated slaughterhouses; warehouses and packing plants; and even a factory for Kellogg’s Corn Flakes—each in exchange for Jewish families. Between 1958 and 1966, an average of 14,000 Jews left Romania each year. When Ce