‘My only mistake was to have feelings for a Jewish woman’: love, antisemitism, and state power in interwar Romania

This article examines Jewish-non-Jewish relations in interwar Romania through a microhistorical reconstruction of a relationship between a Jewish woman and a Romanian police officer in Târgu Frumos. Based on police records, administrative documents, and newspapers, it traces how family members and state authorities responded to the relationship. The case shows that ethnic and religious differences did not always appear explicitly in official records but nevertheless influenced institutional responses. It also highlights the shifting positions of the police officer, who had been accused by Jewish residents of antisemitic violence but later claimed discrimination because of his relationship with a Jewish woman.