How I Left Romania
This is what I share with the Honduran and other Central American Refugees: a burning desire to live in USA. This scared US administration into sending 5,100 troops to stop these desperate people reaching US
When I lived in Romania they were 350,000 Jews. Today they are maybe 6,000. A couple of books document this
One is from Radu Ioanid, The Cold War’s Strangest Bedfellows How Romania Sold Its
Jews to Israel, and What they got in exchange, and a few more other books
But the best coverage is from the film Selling the Romanian Jews (unfortunately it has no English subtitles and it takes over one hour to watch)
The movie is directed by Radu Gabrea , who spent three years in research.
Israel in the 1950 paid 3,000 dollars for each Jew allowed to emigrate. This is for Jews who had no families to pay for them. The money came in hand held suitcases brought up by Shaike Dan from Israeli secret service and General Gheorghe Marcu from Romanian Security Agency
Other source was Henry Jacober, a Jewish businessman based in London who, in the 1950s and early 1960s, acted as a middleman between Romanian Jews’ relatives — who had the money to pay for exit visa. His operation was for his profit
My mother met Jacober at a luxury hotel in Bucharest, after waiting for him for weeks in a row.
"Don't look at me: I am a honorable lady (O doamna, in Romanian) said my mother seeing Jacober desperate face
According to Radu Ioanid book, Shaike Dan stopped Jacober to deal for profit in Ceasusescu exit visa. He was competing with the Government of Israel
We asked our relatives from South America, now living in Florida, US to send us a $3,000 check. We went to the only bank. the central bank, in Bucharest. Nothing happened. My mother asked for an audience at secret service. She dressed humble. I went with her, but waited outside
My mother had a well rehearsed message; "my husband is in prison", she said. "He paid enough his crime of organizing a business with 80 employees. Can they accept this money and let my father free?
There was a long silence, keeping my mother in tension. "Madam" the security agent, a colonel, barked: "where do you think you are? This is the communist government , not a "talcioc" (older dirty street version of EBay)
My mother face went yellow. She thought she will be detained. She started sobbing.
The colonel went on." but if you add another 5,000 dollars, we may consider your petition "
This is how I left Romania
The burning desire to be an American is now fulfilled .
Fulfilled, but I am happier? I leave the answer open. There is still violent anti-Semitic movement in US. Stupidity, that happens to the most intelligent people and superficiality of values.
A great achievement. I think I know who I am. I know prestigious minds who taught me, but at the end I know I am right, just as Lady Gaga knows she is better than anyone else at what she does
In Romania I may have been happier, but in Romania I wouldn't know who I was. We act when no one tells us what to do. We are best when clarity comes out from inside. This is what America did to me
---------------------------------
When I lived in Romania they were 350,000 Jews. Today they are maybe 6,000. A couple of books document this
One is from Radu Ioanid, The Cold War’s Strangest Bedfellows How Romania Sold Its
Jews to Israel, and What they got in exchange, and a few more other books
But the best coverage is from the film Selling the Romanian Jews (unfortunately it has no English subtitles and it takes over one hour to watch)
The movie is directed by Radu Gabrea , who spent three years in research.
Israel in the 1950 paid 3,000 dollars for each Jew allowed to emigrate. This is for Jews who had no families to pay for them. The money came in hand held suitcases brought up by Shaike Dan from Israeli secret service and General Gheorghe Marcu from Romanian Security Agency
Other source was Henry Jacober, a Jewish businessman based in London who, in the 1950s and early 1960s, acted as a middleman between Romanian Jews’ relatives — who had the money to pay for exit visa. His operation was for his profit
My mother met Jacober at a luxury hotel in Bucharest, after waiting for him for weeks in a row.
"Don't look at me: I am a honorable lady (O doamna, in Romanian) said my mother seeing Jacober desperate face
According to Radu Ioanid book, Shaike Dan stopped Jacober to deal for profit in Ceasusescu exit visa. He was competing with the Government of Israel
We asked our relatives from South America, now living in Florida, US to send us a $3,000 check. We went to the only bank. the central bank, in Bucharest. Nothing happened. My mother asked for an audience at secret service. She dressed humble. I went with her, but waited outside
My mother had a well rehearsed message; "my husband is in prison", she said. "He paid enough his crime of organizing a business with 80 employees. Can they accept this money and let my father free?
There was a long silence, keeping my mother in tension. "Madam" the security agent, a colonel, barked: "where do you think you are? This is the communist government , not a "talcioc" (older dirty street version of EBay)
My mother face went yellow. She thought she will be detained. She started sobbing.
The colonel went on." but if you add another 5,000 dollars, we may consider your petition "
This is how I left Romania
The take away
There is no difference between the Honduran people and the Jews in Romania in the 1950. A simple arithmetic shows 75 million dollars with get all the 15,000 South American desperate refugees. Any buyers, Mr. Trump? Much cheaper than sending troopsThe burning desire to be an American is now fulfilled .
Fulfilled, but I am happier? I leave the answer open. There is still violent anti-Semitic movement in US. Stupidity, that happens to the most intelligent people and superficiality of values.
A great achievement. I think I know who I am. I know prestigious minds who taught me, but at the end I know I am right, just as Lady Gaga knows she is better than anyone else at what she does
In Romania I may have been happier, but in Romania I wouldn't know who I was. We act when no one tells us what to do. We are best when clarity comes out from inside. This is what America did to me
---------------------------------
Comments