Florin Citu: State institutions' effort to safeguard memory of Holocaust victims must resolutely continue

The effort of state institutions to safeguard the memory of Holocaust victims and fight extremism must resolutely continue, interim Prime Minister Florin Citu said in a message on the occasion of the National Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is observed each year on October 9, agerpres reports.

"Today, October 9, 2021, we mark eight decades since the start of deportations of Romanian Jews from south Bucovina to Transnistria, an episode that is part of the dark Holocaust events the Romanian authorities of the 1940s under the Antonescu regime have been fully engaged in. Romania has a fundamental moral duty to keep alive for eternity the memory of the victims, to provide support to the victims' descendants as well as to the survivors, those last witnesses of the Holocaust in Romania. Moreover, the authorities and the entire society have a duty to wash away ignorance, oblivion and lack of interest in the tragic events of national history," Florin Citu said, as cited in a release.

He notes that the Holocaust was made possible "by using state institutions against their own citizens, by fomenting anti-Semitism and hate speech", which were promoted and disseminated by Romanian intellectuals and politicians as well before the Second World War.

"But at the same time, heedlessness to evil or passivity in the face of abuse and violations have contributed to the greatest tragedy humanity has been through. In those terrible moments when death was everywhere, there also were compatriots who understood that the life of any fellow man is priceless, regardless of their ethnicity or religion, and who put everything on the line for this. They, Romania's 'Righteous Among the Nations' recognized by the state of Israel, must also be honored today!," he adds.

Voicing his indignation over the attitude of certain parliamentary parties, the acting Prime Minister notes that he is "today even more outraged to see extremist parties in the Romanian Parliament, to see how symbols of Holocaust victims are trivialized in public protests and the Holocaust history being relativized or even denied. All these inadmissible slippages are a signal that the state institutions' effort to safeguard the memory of Holocaust victims and fight extremism must resolutely continue. I am determined to do everything in my power in this direction!"

According to him, more institutional coordination and consolidation are needed, but also new tools to stimulate Holocaust education.

"Thus, in order to protect the memory of the Holocaust victims and fight against the phenomena spawned by hate, I appointed in the past year a Special Representative of the Government for the combat of anti-Semitism, and in May the Executive adopted the first National Strategy for preventing and combating anti-Semitism, xenophobia, radicalization and hate speech for the period 2021 - 2023. These days, a new inter-ministerial committee made of representatives of civil society institutions and organizations will begin working to implement the strategy for educating the young generation about the dangers of anti-Semitism and xenophobia, for promoting tolerance towards others, and prevent or sanction acts of anti-Semitism, xenophobia, or those associated with radicalization and hate speech," Citu writes.

He goes on to note that 80 years after the deportations from Bucovina, we must understand that owning up to the past and preserving the memory of the Holocaust victims remain a profound duty.

"We must always remember them, their dreams and hopes, and the contribution of the Jewish community to the development of Romania. So let us remember all those who perished in the Holocaust and pray every day for their memory to endure! The memory of the victims will never die! They will live through us!," he says in the conclusion of the message.