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| Europe |
| Romania: Ohhhh.......that Holocaust. |
| 2003-06-17 |
| JPost - Reg Req'd Just days after denying that there was any Holocaust inside Romania's borders, the government on Tuesday acknowledged that the country's former leaders participated in the Holocaust during World War II by deporting and exterminating Romanian Jews. The government's earlier denial sparked a storm of criticism, outraging Romanian Jews and straining the country's relations with Israel. Its statement Tuesday acknowledged that the government "was guilty of grave war crimes, pogroms, and mass deportations of Romanian Jews to territories occupied or controlled by the Romanian army" from 1940 to 1944. The pro-Nazi Romanian regime employed "methods of discrimination and extermination, which are part of the Holocaust," the statement added. The government said Prime Minister Adrian Nastase and his Cabinet consistently had condemned the wartime persecution and killing of Jews, but did it not explain why it changed its view since Friday, when it claimed that "within the borders of Romania between 1940 and 1945 there was no Holocaust." Romania was home to 760,000 Jews before World War II. More than half of them were killed during the war. More than 20,000 Romanian Gypsies also died after being deported to camps. Most victims died after being deported to the areas in the former Soviet Union, where Romania's pro-Nazi dictator, Ion Antonescu, ran concentration camps. About 130,000 Romanian Jews died after being deported by Hungarian authorities who temporarily ruled parts of Romania. Large-scale pogroms took place in the northeast city of Iasi in 1941, when over 10,000 Jews were killed by Romanian and German soldiers, according to historians. President Ion Iliescu on Tuesday criticized the government's initial Holocaust denial, saying that it reopened a "useless debate." He added that though some Romanians took part in the Holocaust, the persecutions of Jews in Romania were not on the same scale as in Germany. After the war, Romania has been slow to come to terms with its past, with many Romanians still refusing to believe Romanian authorities killed Jews during World War II. Last year, Romania outlawed fascist and xenophobic organizations and symbols, and a monument honoring Holocaust victims was erected with government support. Critics said the moves were part of a drive to secure American support for Romania's NATO bid. Authorities also have ordered the removal of statues and other monuments honoring Antonescu. Some were erected as recently as 2000. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt |
| Posted by:Frank G |