In observance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, historian Dr George Enache presents a collection of short biographies documenting Romanian Orthodox bishops who supported and protected Jewish communities during the Holocaust, 1941–1944.
Dr George Enache is a Professor at the Faculty of History, Philosophy, and Theology of the University of Lower Danube in Galați, Romania.
Rooted in rigorous historical research, the narratives bring to light concrete examples of courage, conscience, and solidarity shown by hierarchs of the Romanian Orthodox Church during one of the darkest chapters of European history.
Far from abstract commemorations, these biographies focus on identifiable persons and documented actions. They reveal how, in the years of extremist violence and state-sponsored persecution, certain Orthodox hierarchs chose responsibility over silence and human dignity over fear. Their interventions—often carried out at great personal risk—demonstrate that moral resistance was possible even under conditions of terror, ideological pressure, and lethal legislation.
By highlighting figures such as Patriarch Nicodim Munteanu, Metropolitans Tit Simedrea and Nicolae Bălan, and Bishops Andrei Magieru and Nicolae Colan, Dr Enache places historical memory within a framework of ethical accountability. These church leaders acted not as political strategists, but as moral agents guided by faith, compassion, and an understanding that the value of human life transcends ethnic or religious boundaries.
Presented in the context of Holocaust remembrance, these biographies invite reflection not only on the past but also on the present. They affirm that remembrance must include truth, nuance, and acknowledgement of both failure and courage. Above all, they underscore a lasting responsibility: to defend human dignity, resist hatred, and cultivate solidarity whenever and wherever it is threatened.
Patriarch Nicodim Munteanu
In August 1941, Manfred von Killinger pressed the government in Bucharest to require Romanian Jews to wear the “yellow star”. Several prominent figures appealed to Ion and Mihai Antonescu to revoke this discriminatory measure. Among the most outspoken were Dr Nicolae Lupu and Patriarch Nicodim. The senior hierarch repeatedly threatened Mihai Antonescu with resignation from the leadership of the Romanian Orthodox Church as a form of protest against the anti-Jewish measures.
Chief Rabbi Alexandru Șafran testifies that on 6 September 1941, he addressed a memorandum to Patriarch Nicodim, in which he stressed: “The wearing of a distinctive sign will undoubtedly have the most serious repercussions on public order, the economy and the country’s finances. Moreover, since the chosen sign is the Star of David, and since this star is equally sacred to both the Christian religion and the Mosaic faith, it is beyond doubt that this order violates religion, exposing one of its holiest emblems to mockery.”
Following this memorandum, Patriarch Nicodim met with the Chief Rabbi and promised to intervene with the authorities. On 10 September 1941, Ion Antonescu signed an ordinance stipulating that Jews would not be required to wear any distinctive sign.
Also in the summer of 1941, Ion Antonescu decided on the ghettoisation and subsequent deportation to Transnistria of the Jewish population of Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia. The leaders of Romania’s Jewish community, Dr W. Filderman and Chief Rabbi Dr Alexandru Șafran, sought support to secure the cancellation of the deportations. Dr Filderman appealed to Queen Mother Elena, who promised to intervene with Antonescu “to put a stop to the savagery”.
At the same time, Alexandru Șafran obtained assurances of protection from Patriarch Nicodim. The Patriarch and the Queen Mother held discussions with Ion Antonescu, who nevertheless remained determined to continue the deportations. Even so, the Queen Mother and the Patriarch succeeded in slowing the process and securing a postponement for those who had not yet been deported.
Metropolitan Tit Simedrea
Also, in the context of the 1941 deportations, given the grave situation in Chernivtsi, Alexandru Șafran appealed to the Metropolitan of Bukovina, Tit Simedrea, for support. Deeply shaken by the sight of a convoy of Jewish deportees at Chernivtsi railway station, the Metropolitan promised that he would intervene with Mihai Antonescu.
The result was an order issued by Mihai Antonescu on 14 October 1941, suspending the deportations from the ghettos of Chernivtsi and Chișinău and exempting a group of up to 20,000 Jews from Cernăuți—workers, intellectuals and merchants—who were to remain in place as necessary to the economy.
“He received me and confessed,” Șafran recounts, “to my great surprise, that what he had seen was still troubling him. I urgently asked him to convey his impressions to the Marshal and to ask him to halt the deportations. He did so, and did so effectively, because the convoys leaving Cernăuți were stopped.”
Metropolitan Tit Simedrea acted in concert with the mayor of Chernivtsi, Dr Traian Popovici—later recognised as Righteous Among the Nations—who sought to avoid the ghettoisation of the Jewish population and to exempt a further 3,000 Jews from deportation, beyond the officially permitted limit of 20,000. These “selection” actions were delayed until 15 November 1941, when Antonescu ordered that Jews who had not yet been deported should remain in place.
Marcel Slacman (who later became Meir Shai after emigrating to Israel) was 11 years old when his family was sent to the Chernivtsi ghetto, facing deportation to Transnistria. His father, David Slacman, an employee of the Bukovina Metropolitanate’s printing house, appealed to Gheorghe Rusu—a painter and sculptor, artistic adviser to the Metropolitanate and himself recognised as Righteous Among the Nations—who, with the approval of Metropolitan Tit Simedrea, placed him on the list of Jews allowed to remain in the city, his services being deemed indispensable.
Ultimately, the entire family was removed from the ghetto and hidden in a basement of the Metropolitanate for two years, with the approval of Metropolitan Tit Simedrea, despite the fact that in October 1941 an ordinance had been issued stipulating that those who sheltered Jews were punishable by death.
Metropolitan Nicolae Bălan
Although Jews in the Old Kingdom, Banat and southern Transylvania had been given assurances that they would not share the fate of the Jews of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina, in the summer of 1942, under Nazi pressure, Antonescu decided to begin preparations for the deportation of all Romanian Jews beyond the Dniester River. The ultimate aim of the Nazi authorities was to take control of Romanian Jews and transfer them to the extermination camps in Poland.
Among the figures most actively involved in saving Jews from the “Final Solution” was Metropolitan Nicolae Bălan of Transylvania. Chief Rabbi Alexandru Șafran asked the Metropolitan to come to Bucharest, where he requested an audience. In his memoirs (Snatched from the Flames), Șafran describes in detail how the meeting unfolded: his emotional plea for the Jewish cause, the telephone call made by Metropolitan Bălan to request an audience with Ion Antonescu, and the later call received by the Chief Rabbi from the Orthodox hierarch, informing him that the Marshal had decided to halt the deportations to the German camps.
Later, in 1946, Alexandru Șafran would publicly defend Nicolae Bălan against those who sought to challenge or discredit him.
It should also be recalled that Nicolae Bălan defended, before the state authorities, the right of the Orthodox Church to baptise Jews and opposed those laws that removed Jews who had converted to Christianity from the protection of the Orthodox Church.
Bishop Andrei Magieru and Bishop Nicolae Colan
In the summer of 1944, in northern Transylvania, the Hungarian authorities, in collaboration with Nazi Germany, began deporting the Jewish population to extermination camps. Among the senior Transylvanian churchmen who openly condemned racist legislation from the pulpit was the Orthodox Bishop of Cluj, Nicolae Colan. At the same time, priests such as Archpriests Titus Moga and Florea Mureșan became involved in helping Jewish families cross the border into Romania, where they survived the Holocaust.
Bishop Andrei Magieru of Arad was also involved in organising the escape of Jews from northern Transylvania. On another occasion, he defended the children of baptised Jews, so that they would be allowed to attend state primary schools.
During the days of the Hungarian occupation of Arad in 1944, Bishop Andrei Magieru sheltered Chief Rabbi Nicolae Schönfeld and his brother in his own home, at a time when the Horthyist military authorities had ordered the enforcement of anti-Jewish laws and were preparing the Jews of Arad for deportation.
The Chief Rabbi remained at the Orthodox bishop’s home for three days, until the Hungarian troops withdrew from Arad.
Photo: public domain
