PM Ponta: On National Holocaust Remembrance Day, Romania pays homage to memory of victims

On the National Holocaust Remembrance Day, Romania pays homage to the memory of the innocent lives taken during that dark period, Prime Minister Victor Ponta wrote on his Facebook page on Thursday.

"More than seventy years have passed since the moment when the authorities in Romania made a fundamental mistake towards humanity and wrote one of the most tragic pages in the history on this country. On the National Holocaust Remembrance Day, Romania pays homage to the memory of the innocent lives that were taken during that dark period. The atrocities committed by an oppressive and destructive regime during the Second World War left a deep scar on our national memory, but today we have the obligation as a state to assume this disturbing guilt," Ponta wrote.
Victor Ponta's message also says that "we have the moral duty to do everything in our power for this tragedy to be never forgotten."
"The lesson for future generations regards responsibility: fight for democracy, fight against extremism, stay true to the values of tolerance, diversity and freedom. Now we need a moment of silence and decency, to show respect to the memory of the Holocaust victims," the message also reads.
Holocaust Remembrance Day in Romania was marked for the first time on Oct. 9, 2004 and was introduced under a government resolution (HG no. 672/May 5, 2004) at the proposal of the International Commission on the Holocaust Study in Romania, headed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, and of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Romania. October 9, 1941 is the starting date of the forced deportation of the Bessarabia and Bucovina Jewish population to Transnistria (nowadays autonomous region on the territory of the Republic of Moldova).AGERPRES