"During my academic career, I became intrigued by the range of possible perspectives on the recent past," explains Dr. Fisher. "I was especially drawn to social and cultural-historical approaches, and curious about the interconnections and tensions between different (national) historical master narratives within and beyond Europe. During my interdisciplinary Master's degree at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, I specialized in the history of Romania––its minorities and its borderlands.
"My current work on the Jewish leadership in Romania during the Holocaust was born out of curiosity about a range of apparent contradictions and a perceived research gap. Most notably, while there is a great deal of research on the Holocaust in Romania and considerable evidence of the crimes committed, these events are often described as forgotten, unknown, or silenced. Enduring antisemitism and Holocaust denial and minimization in postwar and even post-communist Romania has undoubtedly contributed to this situation. But I believe the distinct character of power relations in Romania during the war and the Holocaust, which resulted in both unique forms of persecution and unique opportunities for survival, is another reason for this paradox."
Indeed, the history of Romania in the Holocaust is itself contradictory. While the country's leadership was responsible for the murder of more Jews than any other ally of Nazi Germany, and was second only to the Germans in terms of killing (between 280,000-380,000 individuals), more Jews survived on Romanian territory during the war in absolute numbers than any other country, and postwar Romania boasted the second largest Jewish population (after the Soviet Union). In addition, most Romanian Jewish leaders survived the Shoah, and many Jewish institutions continued to operate throughout.
The main aim of Dr. Fisher's research was to explore systematically how Jewish leaders and institutions confronted and responded to changing forms of oppression. It investigates the strategies, arguments and alliances they developed and deployed in the period between 1938 and 1948, as well as the diverse beliefs, ideologies and power asymmetries that determined and restricted their options.
As a fellow at Yad Vashem, Dr. Fisher was able to explore sources from a wide range of archives.
"Especially useful were the personal statements and papers of key Romanian Jewish figures," she says. "The Filderman Collection, a large compilation of documents put together by Wilhelm Filderman, the foremost Romanian Jewish leader in the early twentieth century, is an exceptional resource. Another fascinating find was the oral history interview with Filderman’s personal secretary, Charles Gruber."
Indeed, in her fellowship lecture, Dr. Fisher highlighted these two figures, and their changing viewpoints and strategies regarding the Romanian leadership, and in particular the Romanian authoritarian dictator Ion Antonescu.
"To understand the paradox of Romanian Jewry during the Holocaust, one needs to look at who the Romanian Jewish leaders were, how they worked, who they worked with, and what specific ethical and practical dilemmas they faced with the changing situations of the war," Dr. Fisher explained.
Bringing the example of petitions to specific leaders during the war (a common practice in different countries across Europe), Dr. Fisher looked at a particularly personal petition from Filderman to Marshall Antonescu in October 1941 decrying the deportation of Jews from Bukovina and Bessarabia to Transnistria. "This is death, death, death of innocent people with no other fault than that of being Jews," he wrote. The petition reflects Filderman's courage and stature, as well as the personalist character of the regime and how the Jewish leadership believed the authorities might be persuaded or manipulated into changing course. "The fact that the petition had no immediate effect is not relevant here," commented Dr. Fisher.
"What is important is the leadership's perception of its own ability to act. This could be key to unlocking the Romanian paradox."
This article originally appeared in the "Yad Vashem Jerusalem Magazine," volume 96.
