Romania, regional model when it comes to assuming Holocaust, fight anti-Semitism

Romania could be seen as a regional model as regards the assuming of the Holocaust and the fight against anti-Semitism, on Sunday said president Klaus Iohannis, answering the invitation of the organisers of the annual commemorative event at the Auschwitz-Birkenau state Museum, in a message on the occasion of the European Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day. "On the occasion of the European Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day we recall the atrocities suffered by the Roma in Europe, during the World War II, and bring tribute to the memory of these innocent victims. This commitment is crucial for Romania. The remembrance is a paramount dimension in our lives. Almost half a million of Roma children, women and men were murdered during the Nazi occupation in Europe. In Romania, 25k Roma were deported to Transnistria, at the order of the Romanian dictator and Nazi ally Ion Antonescu. Approximately 11k Roma have lost their lives. An unbearable grief, caused by an irreversible loss. Many of them have lost their lives to diseases, cold or starvation. Undoubtedly, it has been an act of deliberate, systematic murder. Discriminated, humiliated, deprived from their rights, excluded from the society and eventually locked up and murdered, the Roma were victims to a criminal regime, characterised by racism, discrimination, terror, propaganda, persecution and human rights' infringement. We admit with grief that among the artisans were also Romanians," Iohannis says in his message. "We must preserve vivid the memory of the victims and consolidate the efforts of fighting anti-Semitism, xenophobia and Holocaust negation. Our paramount duty is to make sure that each generation acknowledges and keeps the truth. The genocide against the Roma is frequently ignored and less studied. Therefore, it is important that it is acknowledged and studied in schools, publicly debated, openly remembered. By assuming the Holocaust and the atrocities that happened in that period, we can prevent the mistakes of the past be repeated," Iohannis added.AGERPRES(RO - editor: Georgiana Tanasescu; EN - editor: Maria Voican)