Romania

From the JTA >> A writers association in Moldova reportedly has nominated Paul Goma, a Romanian author accused of writing anti-Semitic texts, for the Nobel Prize in Literature. “Paul Goma’s claims to fame is only by denying the Holocaust, falsifying historical facts and anti-Semitic attacks,” Iosif Belous, vice president of the East European Association of Former Prisoners of Ghettos and Concentration Camps, is quoted as saying on Enews.md, a news site from Moldova. Belous was reacting to the Union of Moldovan Authors’ nomination of Goma, a Romanian nationalist, for the Nobel Prize, according to Adevarul, a Bucharest-based daily. Marco Maximillian more »

From Jewish Heritage Europe : A $50,000 fund-raising campaign coordinated under the auspices of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee has been launched to restore the synagogue in Gherla, Romania. Built in 1903, the synagogue is in danger of collapse unless urgent structural repairs are executed. Currently the roof has large gaps allowing water and snow freely into the building. Proposals for the emergency structural roof repairs have been in the $50,000 range. Fundraising efforts yielded only $20,000 from a few very generous donors. There is an urgent need for an additional $30,000 to repair the roof and create the more »

From the Gatestone Institute The virus of antisemitism is alive and well in Eastern Europe, and so is the denial of the Holocaust. It is particularly disconcerting that a younger generation in Romania, and more than likely everywhere else in the world, should be infected with this virus, and is — or claims to be — ignorant of the real treatment of Jews in the 20th century. Dan Sova, a 39 year old Romanian lawyer and Social Democrat, who has been a Senator in the Parliament since 2008, was promoted to the position of Minister for Parliamentary Relations by the more »

From the Associated Press A Holocaust research center in Romania says public funds were used to finance a children’s poetry book that features on its cover Romania’s World War II-era fascist leader. The National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania blasted a local council on Tuesday for helping publish the book by 100-year-old George Ungureanu, a former member of a pro-Hitler group active in Romania during the World War II. The book has Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, the founder of the fascist Iron Guard legion, in its cover. There was no immediate reaction from Ungureanu or Romanian authorities. more »

From The Economist DAN ŞOVA, a spokesman for Romania’s opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD), is paying the price for his poor grasp of history. On March 5th, discussing the Holocaust live on television, he said: “On the territory of Romania, no Jew suffered”. He added that “24 Jews died” as a result of the notorious government-backed Iasi pogrom of 1941. Most historians put the figure at 12,000 or more. It didn’t take long for Mr Şova to feel the consequences. The PSD distanced itself from his comments, removed him from his post and dispatched him to the Holocaust Memorial Museum more »

From the European Jewish Press A Romanian lawmaker who stirred an outcry by denying late pro-Nazi dictator Ion Antonescu’s responsibility in the Holocaust was punished Wednesday by his Social Democrat Party (PSD). Opposition senator Dan Sova had said that “historical data show that a total of 24 Jews were killed during the Iasi pogrom by the German army.” He also claimed on a television programme that “no Jew suffered on Romanian territory, thanks to marshal Antonescu”. “Mr Sova made a tremendous blunder. From now on he is no longer the PSD spokesman,” the Social Democrats’ leader Victor Ponta told a more »