Monuments in the Jewish Cemetery in Bacau have been desecrated, the ‘Elie Wiesel’ National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania said Tuesday.
The vandalism comes amid a rise in far-right parties and displays of anti-semitism in Romania. Nationalist parties who have shown sympathy to war criminals such as Marshal Ion Antonescu control about one-third of parliamentary seats after December parliamentary elections.
An 18-year-old young man suspected of causing the damage at the cemetery in eastern Romania was detained for questioning. The vandalism featured swastikas drawn on graves and on places of worship in the cemetery.
“In the meantime, (look what happened) in Bacău…”, officials from the National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania “Elie Wiesel wrote on Tuesday.
They posted several photographs of the vandalism, which featured swastikas and Nazi symbols on several graves and other monuments in the cemetery.
The incident was reported on March 19 by the cemetery administrator. Bacau Police detained an 18-year-old man.
The police drew up a criminal case under the aspect of committing the crimes of desecration of graves, desecration of places of worship and public use of anti-Semitic symbols. The Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Court of Bacău is coordinating the investigation.
Calin Georgescu, the Kremlin-friendly former presidential candidate barred from standing for president after reports of Russian help in elections last year has been indicted for “supporting fascist, racist, xenophobic, or antisemitic organizations” after he expressed sympathy for the pre-World War II militant Iron Guard party.
Georgescu who improbably won the first round of elections last November has called Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, the leader of the Legionary Movement, known for its fascism, and for violent attacks against Jews, Roma, and political assassinations and Nazi-allied leader Antonescu, “martyrs” of the Romanian people, who “also did good deeds”.
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.
Last Holocaust survivor in Bucharest fears the rise of far-right in Romania
