Despite its significant extent, relevance, and effects, Jewish forced labor in World War II Romania has so far been the object of a surprisingly small number of research works. Briefly touched upon as a side issue in several volumes and articles written by historians preoccupied with the anti-Jewish public policies enforced by the Romanian authorities before and during the Holocaust, the fate of those targeted by these laws has been largely under-researched. In this context, Dallas Michelbacher's new book, with its thorough analysis of the topic, is not just a most welcome initiative, but a much needed addition to this (rather short) list.
Divided into an introduction, six chapters and a conclusion, the volume takes the reader on a chronological path that follows the unfolding of World War II events, providing a coherent and comprehensive overview of the historical context, relevant legislation, alternative policies, highlights and failures, as well as the cracks in the system that made Romania such a special case. It also reveals the author's familiarity with both older and more recent specialized literature, as well as with less known and not easily available primary archival material from Romania. Michelbacher's readings are quite impressive and cover a variety of perspectives, sources, and languages. Moreover, his choice of authors demonstrates excellent insight, as he avoids the works of certain historians who have advanced apologetic views of the Romanian far right movement and wartime dictator Ion Antonescu, although some of these works may seem “objective” to the untrained eye.
Michelbacher looks at the Romanian case from a wider perspective, comparing it to the German and Hungarian ones, much better documented in recent historiography, which allows him to draw a useful discussion framework. Moreover, in an innovative twist, instead of simply describing the historical context, he presents in a balanced overview the (sometimes diverging) interpretations of the main historical events of the time by the most important scholars in the field.
Another interesting contribution brought by Michelbacher to the study of the Romanian Holocaust is his contextualization of Romanian anti-Jewish legislation, with a particular emphasis on the Romanianization process, from the end of the nineteenth century until the 1940s. While this legislation has been the object of quite thorough analyses before, his idea to highlight its direct connection with the political and military developments of the time brings a new insight into the matter, because it (partly) explains the legal inconsistencies.
The book gives a previously unavailable and therefore helpful detailed description of the manner in which Jewish forced labor was used, misused, and abused in wartime Romania. It also includes a review of the so far largely under-researched internment camps, with their history and practices, viewed from the perspective of both available archival material (which is often hardly reliable), and witness accounts (meant to corroborate or rebuff the information), in an original approach.
An account of the attempts to “review” and “improve” Jewish forced labor management, with its ups and downs, including its effects of the rampant corruption that made it possible for so many Jews to get exemptions for the (sometimes real, sometimes false) reason that they were more useful in their regular jobs, provides Michelbacher with the opportunity to look at the situation from a new viewpoint: instead of the victims’ responses, he focuses on the measures taken by the government, following historian Mihai Chioveanu's argument that in understanding the Romanian Holocaust it is important to grasp the dynamic—and logic—of the authorities’ actions, given that “while thousands were killed or injured during forced labor because of the ‘inhumane conditions,’” “the Romanian perpetrators were not directly trying to kill the Jewish laborers” (7).
Michelbacher's demonstration of why on top of their lack of effectiveness due to poor management and corruption, the anti-Jewish laws were also extremely inconsistent is important, because together with the political development that led to the 1942 last minute abortion of the decision to deport all Romanian Jews of the so-called Old Kingdom to the German concentration camps in Poland, it explains how roughly half of the Romanian Jews survived the Holocaust. It can be said that with this book Michelbacher documents a number of general statements about the Romanian Holocaust that are considered “common knowledge” but have not really been addressed in detail until now.
The variety of sources, innovative approaches, and original insights recommend the volume as a significant contribution to the historiography of the Romanian Holocaust. Its only downside is that it did not look at any Jewish primary sources, despite the fact that they are available and relevant: the Center for the Study of Romanian Jewish History of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania has a number of files on Jewish forced labor during the Holocaust. This, however, does not make the book any less important as a very useful tool for both researchers and students in the field of Holocaust studies.
