Romania’s Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă on Thursday said memorial museums honoring the victims of communism were a ‘priority’ for Romania.
Mr Ciuca spoke Thursday after talks with Edwin Feuler, the founder of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank and the chairman of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation at the government.
The visit comes as Romania prepares to mark 32 years since communism ended in an uprising where at least 1,100 people were killed. More than three decades since the revolt, a proper investigation into who ordered the killings has repeatedly stalled.
“Memorial museums for the victims of communism are a priority for Romania,” the prime minister said. “Romania’s citizens suffered atrocities and abuses of the communist system from 1945 to 1989,” when a revolution toppled the communist regime.
Romania is currently building three museums for the hundreds of thousands who died or suffered abuse during communist rule.
One will be in the capital and another in Ramnicu Sarat, northeast of Bucharest which had one of the most notorious communist-era prisons where inmates were tortured, and starved. Another museum will be built in Timisoara when the uprising began on December 16, 1989.
“They will help show future generations the crimes and abuses suffered by Romanians for 44 years. This way they will know the horrors of the communist regime.”
The prime minister and Mr Feuler analyzed the current Black Sea security situation amid growing tensions with Russia. They also talked about Romania’s role as a security provider for NATO and the EU. The premier thanked him for adding value to the strategic partnership between Romania and the U.S.
The Victims of Communism Memorial is planning to build a Memorial museum in Washington dedicated to the victims of communism.
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation is a non-profit anti-communist organization in the U.S. Its purpose is to „educate Americans about the ideology, history and legacy of communism.”
