Remarks on the Implementation of Ordinance 23 during the Transnistrian Governorate
Remarks on the Implementation of Ordinance 23 during the Transnistrian Governorate

Summary/Abstract: From November 1941 until the withdrawal of the Romanian administration from Transnistria, the legal framework that determined how Jews lived there was laid down in Ordinance 23 of the Transnistrian Governorate. In this article, we aim to examine how those responsible for implementing the regulations of the ordinance were held accountable after the war for their actions, decisions, and abuses committed against the Jews. The different understanding and implementation of Ordinance 23 by the gendarmes, prefects, and praetors shows that, in Transnistria, improvisation, personal projects and stakes, as well as the sensitivities and moral and ideological views of the individuals who were part of the administration were essential explanatory factors in understanding the relationship between authority and victim. Representatives of the authorities who came into direct contact with the Jews (whether they were deported to Transnistria or ghettoized local Jews) received signals and clues from their superiors that the survival of the Jews in Transnistria was not a political or administrative objective of the Romanian State.

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