Andrew Baker, a leading expert on anti-Semitism in Europe has denounced Romanian presidential candidate Calin Georgescu for fanning ‘the flames of antisemitism’ and ‘challenging the essential purpose of NATO’.
Mr. Georgescu who was reached the December 8 runoff, has praised interwar fascist leaders such as Legionaire leader Corneliu Zelea Codreanu and is known for his NATO and EU skeptic views.
In a letter to President Klaus Iohannis and Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu, the director of the American Jewish Committee said that the November 24 first round had seen “the victory of a candidate…who fans the flames of antisemitism, who personally promotes Holocaust revisionism, and who by his political views challenges the essential purpose of NATO. Surely, this cannot be indicative of Romania today.”
Romania’s Parliament voted in 2021 to make Holocaust history compulsory learning in schools. It was previously optional.
The Elie Wiesel International Committee for the Study of the Holocaust published a report in 2004 saying that Romanian authorities were responsible for the deaths of 280,000 to 380,000 Jews and 11,000 Roma from 1940 to 1944 during World War II.
Some 135,000 Jews living under Hungarian control in northern Transylvania were also killed in the Holocaust. Most surviving Jews emigrated to Israel under communism. There are about 3,000 Jews in Romania today.
Rabbi Baker who is the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chair-in-Office on Combating Anti-Semitism, has received the National Order for Merit for combating antisemitism and in strengthening US-Romania relations. Former President Traian Basescu honored him 15 years ago with a similar award.
“Romania has implemented the recommendations presented by the Wiesel Commission on which I served. They led to the establishment of a Holocaust research center in Bucharest, the proper memorialization of Holocaust victims in Romania, and the correct and critical teaching of the subject, which is now a required component of every student’s school curriculum,” the letter said.
Rabbi Baker met Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu for the recent international conference on Holocaust distortion and education, held in cooperation with the OSCE, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, and the Foreign Ministry.
There “Romania’s own programs and policies were recognized to be among the “best practice” examples which were recommended for other states to follow.
He ended his letter saying that Romanian voters would decide on who to elect. “I very much hope they recognize what is at stake and act with care and responsibility.”
“All I can do with this letter is voice my concerns to you and to others who may hear it,” he ended his letter.
