The Women’s Antifascist Front, 1934-1938
The Women’s Antifascist Front, 1934-1938

Summary/Abstract: This chapter analyzes the Romanian branches of the Women’s Antifascist Front between 1934 and 1938, focusing on three organizations: the Women’s Antifascist Committee, the Society for the Protection of Mothers and Children, and the Women’s Front. Based on archival surveillance files of the Siguranță, press coverage, and international documentation, the study shows that these organizations became prime targets of both state repression and the antisemitic discourse. The Women’s Antifascist Committee was outlawed in 1934; the Society for the Protection of Mothers and Children was dissolved after its members got arrested during the “Milk Week” protest in 1935; and the Women’s Front, despite its broad appeal and participation in international peace campaigns, was dismantled in 1938. The press played a crucial role in conflating communism with the Jewish identity, exemplified by the trials of Ana Pauker and others. The chapter highlights how gender, repression, and antisemitism intersected in interwar Romania.

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