October 09, 2005

Romania marks Holocaust, pledges to teach youth
By Martin Dokoupil

BUCHAREST, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Romania, which for decades denied any part in the Holocaust, must teach its children that Jews were murdered on its territory, the foreign minister said on Sunday as Romania marked its second Holocaust Day.

"Admitting what happened, and a proper education of the young generation, will prevent similar events taking place," Foreign Minister Razvan Ungureanu was quoted as saying by state news agency Rompres .

Ungureanu was attending a memorial ceremony in the eastern city of Iasi for hundreds of thousands of Jews killed during Romania 's World War Two alliance with Nazi Germany. He later opened a Jewish Studies Centre in Iasi , where most of Romania 's pre-war Jewish population lived.

"The city of Iasi has a responsibility to study Jewish history in Romania and to present the Jewish contribution to Romanian culture," said Paul Shapiro, head of advanced studies at the Holocaust museum in Washington , who also attended.

Romania , which is a member of NATO and is due to join the European Union in 2007, only admitted its role in the Nazi genocide in 2003, when a government denial that Jews had perished on its territory sparked a diplomatic row with Israel . The country observed its first Holocaust Day last year.

Romanian children were not taught about the Holocaust during decades of communist rule that ended in 1989, and the subject was introduced into schools only last year following the spat with Israel .

Between 280,000 and 380,000 Romanian and Ukrainian Jews were killed by Romanian civilian and military authorities in the Balkan state and territories under its control.

Another 135,000 Romanian Jews living in then Hungarian-controlled Transylvania and 5,000 Romanian Jews living outside Romania were also killed, and over 25,000 Romanian Roma were deported, of whom 11,000 died.

Romania 's war-time marshal Ion Antonescu and his fascist Iron Guard are blamed for pogroms in Bucharest and other towns. Many Jews were killed in death trains or forced labour camps, most in the eastern Transnistria region.

"What happened during World War Two represents just a black chapter in the history of relations between Romanians and Jews but the rest is dominated by friendship," Romania 's Chief Rabbi Menahem Hacohen said on Sunday.

Only around 13,000 Jews now live in Romania .

More commemorative events are planned in Bucharest on Monday, including the opening of the Elie Wiesel Institute for Holocaust Studies.