Waiting for Jerusalem

In this volume, the first English-language account of the underground Jewish resistance in Romania, I. C. Butnaru examines the efforts that resulted in some 300,000 Romanian Jews surviving the Holocaust. After detailing the rise of the fascist Iron Guards and the consequences of German domination, Butnaru describes the organization of the Jewish resistance movement, its various contacts within the government, and its activities.

While emphasizing the role played by Zionist youth organizations which smuggled Jews from Europe and arranged illegal emigration, Butnaru also describes the role of Jewish parachutists from Palestine, the links between the resistance and the key international Jewish organizations, and even the links with the Gestapo. Waiting for Jerusalem is the most comprehensive study of the efforts to save the Jewish population of Romania, and, as such, will be of considerable use to scholars and students of the Holocaust and Eastern European Studies.