Momentul antisemit din 1902. Vizita lui Bernard Lazare în România. Documente inedite
The Anti-Semitic Moment of 1902. Bernard Lazare’s visit to Romania. Unpublished documents

Summary/Abstract: At the beginning of the 20th Century, the mass emigration of Romanian Jews, with its aspect of saddest fame – the pedestrian migrants, “fussgeier” in Yiddish – drew the attention of diplomats, the press and the public opinion of many countries. The most important Western reactions in their favor came from the French journalist Bernard Lazare (1855-1903), the first defender of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, and from the US Secretary of State, John Hay. This article describes the anti-Semitic outburst that took place in Bucharest on the occasion of Bernard Lazare’s visit, against the background of the promulgation of the Trades Law (1902) and the Jewish exodus. Forced to shorten his trip, following the anti-Semites’ violence and threats, he sent a letter of protest to the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Théophile Delcassé. Lazare’s articles and writings, translated into several languages, revealed the persecution of the Romanian Jews, rendered “foreigners not subjected to a foreign protection” by a despotic legislation. Numerous newly discovered documents from the archives of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Alliance Israelite Universelle bring new and precious information in regard to the Romanian authorities’ policy towards Jewish emigration, as well as the reaction to this policy of the Western governments and main Jewish organizations.

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