Anti-Semitic Graffiti Causes Little Outrage in Romania

Police in Sighetu Marmatiei in northern Romania on Monday were investigating who was responsible for anti-Semitic graffiti sprayed on Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel's childhood home at the weekend.

The bright red graffiti was discovered on Saturday morning. Among the messages left on the house's walls were "Nazi Jew lying in hell with Hitler" and "Public toilet - anti-Semite paedophile", and "F..k Merkel, Trump and Putin!"

But the incident drew little reaction from senior officials and politicians in the country.

The US embassy in Bucharest condemned the graffiti on Monday morning.

"We call on all to denounce this act and speak up wherever and whenever there is an expression of hatred or prejudice. The Embassy encourages anyone with information about the crime to come forward to assist the Romanian authorities in their investigation," a US embassy statement said.

But in Romania, there was little official condemnation outside rights organisations and specialised research institutes.

The Romanian Institute for the Study and the Memory of the Holocaust, which bears the name of Elie Wiesel, called on the local authorities on Saturday on to investigate the incident.  

MP Silviu Vexler, a Jewish Community representative, said on Saturday also asked for an urgent investigation.

"Should I say I'm disgusted? It's too little," he wrote on Facebook.

Romania's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a short statement on Saturday, expressed regret and condemned "any anti-Semitic gestures and any behavioural and linguistic deviance promotiing intolerance and xenophobia".

The Romanian Academy, the country's leading science and arts institution also issued a statement saying that that "Romania and...