June 17, 2003
ROMANIA AND THE HOLOCAUST
Washington, June 17, 2003 — The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is deeply concerned that an official statement of the government of Romania would deny Romanian involvement in the Holocaust. The historical record makes it abundantly clear that the Romanian civil and military authorities were directly involved in the massacres of Jews in Transnistria, a former Soviet territory under Romanian occupation, 1941-44. In the territories of Bessarabia and Bukovina, part of Romania, tens of thousands of Jews were massacred and another 140,000 were deported to their deaths in Transnistria. In addition, thousands more, for example, 12,000 in the town of Iasi alone, were murdered by Romanian army and police units. Moreover, tens of thousands of Ukrainian Jews were killed in Romanian-controlled Transnistria. It is especially tragic that the Romanian government denials take place on the 62nd anniversary of the pogroms in Iasi.
While we appreciate Romanian government cooperation in opening archives of the Second World War, we cannot condone statements that deny the facts of Romanian involvement in the Holocaust.
It is especially appropriate that this week a special OSCE meeting on anti-Semitism is taking place in Vienna. The Romanian government has an opportunity to say and do the right thing.
