Profir Grigore

Profir, Grigore Grigore Profir, an engineer, was the manager of the Dacia flour mill in Iaşi. Jews worked at the flour mill as forced laborers, some in painting the mill to camouflage it against air attacks, in addition to loading and unloading sacks of flour. On Sunday, June 29, 1941, the first day of the pogrom in Iaşi, some of the Jews were working unloading sacks of flour. When Profir learned that Jews were being rounded up, taken to police headquarters and shot, he decided to add more workers to unload a military train. He took Jews to the mill and assigned them to unload sacks of flour, and by doing so saved them from being murdered. Romanian and German troops that arrived at the mill to collect the Jews met with Profir’s opposition. He threatened to complain that they were hindering him from carrying out the orders of the Romanian army and claimed that there would be a shortage of bread to the city. A soldier beat Profir and even threatened to shoot him, but he did not back down. Profir stayed at the mill around the clock, and repulsed any attempt to take the Jews away. He permitted them to hide behind piles of wheat and among the sacks, and thanks to him about 100 Jews were saved during the pogrom. Also owing to Profir’s efforts, the Jews who worked for him were paid for their labor. Profir also saved Jews by providing the Jewish community with flour, food and medicine, and also helped the deportees to Transnistria who passed through the city. In addition, he hid in his home a Jewish family that was in danger of being deported, and from 1941-1944 helped orphans and widows who had survived the pogrom, as well as impoverished Jews who were forced laborers and prisoners in Transnistria. For his acts of rescue, Profir was tried in a military trial and punished. On November 13, 1991, Yad Vashem recognized Grigore Profir as Righteous Among the Nations.