Great Britain, British Jews, and the international protection of Romanian Jews, 1900-1914: a study of Jewish diplomacy and minority rights

 
 
66
 
emigration and, secondly, of provoking agitation against Romania at the 
moment of Romania’s economic vulnerability.
31
  
 
Thus, both the Romanian government and the Western Jews campaigned 
internationally on behalf of their own interpretation of the situation and 
quarrelled over the causes of the emigration. The British Jewry was not very 
deeply involved in the debate — the continental Jewries were more active. The 
same went for the newspaper articles; the propaganda war was waged mainly 
on the European continent, and only a small number of articles appeared in the 
British mainstream press. The Jewish Chronicle obviously was a different matter. 
It featured a large number of articles on Romanian Jewish emigration and the 
situation in Romania. 
 
There are not many primary sources on Romanian Jewish emigration that 
were produced by the emigrants themselves. Otherwise, information can be 
obtained from the contemporary press, the reports of Jewish organisations, and 
the official publications of the receiving countries, such as Britain and the 
United States. However, there is one major group of original documents written 
by Romanian Jewish emigrants themselves: the letters sent to Rabbi Moses 
Gaster in England. Most of the letters came from groups or representatives of 
groups that wished to emigrate, but some were sent by private individuals. 
Prospective emigrants were of different social positions; most of them were 
poor, but some were affluent. The prospective emigrants did not seem panic-
stricken like the Russian Jewish emigrants did, who were threatened by 
pogroms. They seemed to plan their move rather carefully.
32
       
 
The motives of the emigrants, as analysed by Eliyahu Feldman, can be 
divided between economic and political factors. The majority of writers 
emphasised the discriminatory politics in Romania, and consequently, Feldman 
argues that the anti-Jewish policy of the Romanian government was the main 
motive for emigration and that the economic factors were only secondary. 
However, political and economic conditions were also entwined, as anti-Jewish 
legislation was connected with economic issues.
33
 To conclude, Jewish mass 
emigration from Romania could not be attributed to any single factor. The 
causes for emigration were complicated and multi-faceted, as both Romanian 
government policy as well as economic and social factors played a role. 
 
 
                                                           
31
  
Szajkowski 1951, 55. 
32
  
Feldman 1980, 63-67. Because Feldman has analysed a number of letters of emigrants 
in Gaster’s collection and reprinted some of them in his article, the original letters in 
the Gaster Papers have not been consulted for this work. In addition to letters, 
emigrants also wrote some poems and leaflets. Jill Culiner’s study features extensive 
quotations from Jacob Finkelstein’s autobiographical account, ‘Memoirs of a 
Fusgeyer from Romania to America’, originally published in YIVO Bleter 26/1945, 
translated from Yiddish by Culiner. See Culiner 2004, especially 24-25 for an 
explanation of the source. 
33
  
Feldman 1980, 66-67. 

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67
3.3  ‘Fusgeyers’ — the first wave of emigrants 
 
 
In 1900, the Western and Central European press paid considerable attention to 
the emigration of Romanian Jews. This was partly due to some sensational and 
extraordinary features of the emigration. Thousands of Romanian Jews left the 
country for Austria-Hungary planning to travel through Europe to major 
Western European ports and from there to America. Some of them travelled on 
foot, hence the Yiddish term fusgeyers, meaning walkers.
34
 
 The 
fusgeyer movement appeared to have begun already in 1899, but it 
began to draw widespread attention only in spring 1900. The first groups of 
walkers left from Moldavia, from the areas with the heaviest concentration of 
Jewish population, intending to walk at least to the border between Romania 
and Austria-Hungary. From the border, they planned to travel through Europe 
by other means, although some groups were determined to continue across the 
continent by foot. The fusgeyer bands mostly comprised of young males who 
were attached to a common local synagogue and who were artisans by 
profession. Pioneering groups were relatively well organised and prepared. 
Some even wore special uniforms. In general, there was a great idealistic spirit 
among the first fusgeyers. However, as the movement caught on, all kinds of 
individuals, not necessarily very fit and strong, began to join the trek. On their 
way, the fusgeyers collected money by singing, acting, and distributing leaflets. 
Both Jewish communities and gentiles helped by offering food or providing a 
place to stay the night.
35
 There were also some groups of women among the 
fusgeyers, such as a society of seamstresses from the town of Galaţi.
36
 
 
It has to be remembered that the fusgeyers formed only a minority of the 
emigrants, although the movement of the walkers was the detail of emigration 
which attracted most attention at the time. According to Joseph Kissman, the 
number of emigrants involved in the fusgeyer movement is not known, although 
he offers a tentative estimate of ‘a few thousand people’, which appears 
reasonable enough. Neither is it known how many groups there were. The size 
of a fusgeyer group varied a lot, but, according to several estimates, it consisted 
of 40-300 persons.
37
 
 
The unusual migration pattern adopted by the fusgeyers did not please 
Romanian political leaders, who argued that emigration acquired a markedly 
political character as the Jews marched across the country singing, making 
                                                           
34
  
The Yiddish word is often used in this context, sometimes with an incorrect spelling. 
Sometimes the terms ‘wanderers’ or ‘wayfarers’ are used. In her book that combines 
history with travel writing, Culiner tells about her journey in the steps of the 
fusgeyers. She crossed Romania on foot in 2001, following the route Jacob Finkelstein 
took in 1900. Culiner 2004, 23-26, 28-29.  
35
  
Culiner 2004, 20-23; Kissman 1947, 163-166. An extensive account of the fusgeyers can 
be found in Bar-Avi 1961, 49-82.  
36
  
JC, 27 July 1900. 
37
  
Kissman 1947, 165. 

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