Popa, Ion: The Romanian Orthodox Church and the Holocaust (Studies in Antisemitism). Editura Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 2017.

Riddled with antisemitism during the 1930s, the Romanian Orthodox Church energetically supported the Romanian state in the murder of at least 250,000 Jews and roughly 20,000 Roma during the Holocaust. Priests and theologians played an active role in fascist parties before the war, including in the National Christian Defense League, the National Christian Party, and the Legion of the Archangel Michael. The Patriarch Miron Cristea introduced antisemitic legislation during his term as Prime Minister, which was unprecedented in its cruelty toward Jews, and hundreds of clergy travelled to Transnistria as “missionaries” to establish a new metropolitanate there. These priests and bishops witnessed and gave their blessing to the murder of Jews and Roma in ghettos, concentration camps, and massacres in Transnistria. The story of the Romanian Orthodox Church's involvement in the Holocaust has already been outlined and documented by Jean Ancel, and this book adds only minor details to a story that still awaits a comprehensive treatment. Ion Popa elaborates on the rhetoric that accompanied the Church's involvement in Transnistria, and proves that attempts to distance the Church from the Holocaust are disingenuous. The book's real achievement is the way it unpacks the significance of the Holocaust for subsequent Church history.

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