The aliyah (immigration of the Jewish diaspora to the so-called "Land of Israel") of Jews from Romania has been recorded since the 18th century, when the Chief Rabbi of Bukovina emigrated to the city of Safed.
After the conference, many Jews emigrated in caravans to modern-day Israel, establishing various settlements such as Rosh Pinna and Zikhron Ya'akov once they arrived.
These constituted large percentages of the population in some regions, such as Western Moldavia (6.5%), Bessarabia (7.2%, with many still speaking Yiddish), Transylvania (10%) and Bukovina (10.8%).
Subsequently, Ion Antonescu, ruler of Romania, issued a draft order to establish a government directorate for the subject of Jewish emigration, which could never be carried out due to the Legionnaires' rebellion of 1941.
During the following years would begin the nationalization of the industrial sector, leaving around 140,000 Jews without any source of income, which increased the desire for aliyah among them.
Nevertheless, the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) began to pressure the Jews to make aliyah during this period, most likely due to the secret intention of reducing the national Jewish population.
[1] Romanian Jews were, under their own will, were "sold" or "exchanged" to Israel in the 1950s with the help of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee for about 8,000 lei (about 420 dollars).
[4] When Romania was under control of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, he received 10 million dollars per year, and only he had the access to the money transferred to the secret account.
There have been some cases of Romanian Jewish families returning from Israel to Romania in the hope that with the country's accession to the European Union and NATO, the situation would have improved.