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http://www.somethingjewish.co.uk/articles/1477_selling_romanian_jew.htm

Selling Romanian Jews
by: Baruch Cohen, Ynetnews
[...]
Ransom of the Jews is the result of years of intensive research through thousands of documents and interviews with surviving participants, mainly Israeli Mossad intelligence agents and businessmen involved in the episode. Stories ranged from then-Romanian Foreign Minister Ana Parker, to the chief Rabbi of Romania Moses Rosen, and numerous other players.

Due to World War II, the extreme shortage of foreign currency (American dollars), and inefficient management, Romania’s economy during

the late 1940s was devastated. According to Ioanid, the idea of selling Jews to Israel started in late 1949 and early 1950, with a ransom of between USD 50 to USD 100 per Jew. Between late 1949 and the end of 1989 (after dictator Ceausescu’s overthrow in Romania), close to 300,000 Romanian Jews were sold to raise American dollars for the cash-strapped country.

Romania had the greatest post-war population of Jews in Europe. Out of a population of almost 800,000 Jews before the war, 350,000 survived the Nazi inflagration. With the rise of Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1965, the selling of Jews emerged as a priority. By 1978, writes Ioanid, payments reached between USD 2,000 to USD 50,000 per person.
[...]