Conclusion

Abstract

By the end of the Antonescu regime (August 1944) Romanianization had taken a harsh toll on Jews. Houses had been expropriated, Jewish owners evicted, buildings rented to gentiles, and Jewish employees fired. Yet the authorities had failed to achieve the complete Romanianization of real estate, businesses, and jobs. Antonescu’s bureaucrats were frustrated in their efforts to seize all Jewish buildings targeted for Romanianization, not to mention the distribution of this real estate to deserving ethnic Romanians. Romanianization of employment was almost a complete failure: ethnic Romanians should have replaced all Jewish workers by 31 December 1941. However, in the summer of 1944 at least several thousand Jewish employees still worked for private companies in Bucharest. Furthermore, some Jewish entrepreneurs obtained a legal reversal of the Romanianization of their businesses. The Antonescu regime hesitated to adopt radical laws for the Romanianization of businesses, fearing that such action would paralyze the economy during the war. State bureaucrats tried to increase the share of ethnic Romanians in the business sector using special loans for would-be Romanianizers and administrative restrictions against Jews and other ethnic minorities. Ultimately, it was in vain.