US embassy cable - 05BUCHAREST899

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BUCHAREST 000899 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE DEPT FOR EUR/NCE - WILLIAM SILKWORTH; EUR/OHI - JOHN 
BECKER 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, SOCI, RO, Antisemitic, biographic information 
SUBJECT:  ROMANIAN SENATE PRESIDENT DENIES ROMANIAN 
ANTISEMITISM, MINIMIZES ROMANIAN ROLE IN HOLOCAUST 
 
 
1. (SBU) Summary.  Social Democratic Party (PSD) Senate 
President Nicolae Vacaroiu denied the existence of anti- 
Semitism in Romania and downplayed Romania's role in the 
Holocaust during an April 7 meeting with visiting U.S 
Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad 
Chairman Warren Miller.  Vacaroiu recognized the role of 
Romania's World War II dictator in atrocities and pledged 
support for establishment of a Holocaust remembrance 
memorial in Bucharest.  However, many of his comments 
indicated a failure to acknowledge core facts presented by 
the Wiesel Commission and mainstream commentators on 
Romanian anti-Semitism and participation in the Holocaust. 
Charge is sending Vacaroiu a letter correcting the latter's 
fallacious assertions.  End Summary. 
 
2.  (SBU) U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's 
Heritage Abroad Chairman Warren Miller traveled to Bucharest 
April 5-8 for a series of meetings with key figures to 
discuss efforts to help protect sites of historical and 
cultural importance to Jews and other groups who were 
victims of the Holocaust in Romania.  Senior officials in 
the Liberal-Democratic (PNL-PD) alliance led government, 
such as Presidential Advisor Andrei Plesu and Minister of 
Culture Mona Musca, expressed strong support for Romanian 
efforts to redress its Holocaust past and commitment to 
implementing recommendations found in the Wiesel Commission 
report.  These include establishment of a Holocaust memorial 
in a prominent location in Bucharest.  However, discussions 
with center-left Social Democratic Party (PSD) Senate 
President Nicolae Vacaroiu on April 7 raised concerns about 
lingering unwillingness to confront the country's past among 
prominent members of the political class. 
 
3.  (SBU) Vacaroiu, a longstanding PSD leader and power 
broker within the party, initiated the conversation by 
asserting that Romania began redressing its past involvement 
in the Holocaust immediately after the 1989 revolution.  He 
lauded the GOR's "positive relations" with Israel.  He also 
acknowledged the role of Romania's World War II era dictator 
Antonescu in the 1941 Iasi Pogrom, in which some 15,000 Jews 
were killed.  After that discussion, however, much of the 
conversation focused on Vacaroiu's attempt to diminish 
Romania's role in the Holocaust or effort to deny the 
existence of anti-Semitism in Romania today.  He also 
claimed that 95 percent of the atrocities committed against 
over 400,000 Romanian Jews during World War II occurred in 
the occupied territories of Bessarabia and Transnistria, 
with limited--if any--involvement of Romanian soldiers.  He 
inaccurately stated that atrocities were committed almost 
exclusively by members of the Iron Guard and Legionaire 
movement, both associated with extreme nationalism before 
and during the War.  The view that only a few Romanians 
participated in atrocities - and not the Romanian army - is 
dismissed by mainstream historians and, conversely, 
typically expressed by extreme nationalist Holocaust 
deniers.  Vacaroiu's focus on Bessarabia and Transnistria 
has also been used by extreme nationalists who claim that 
the Holocaust did not happen in Romania, although the 
territories were part of Romania at the time and it is a 
fact that numerous Jews resident in the traditional Romanian 
territories were expelled to Transnistria and were there 
subject to various atrocities. 
 
4.  (SBU) When Chairman Miller asked his views about the 
existence of anti-Semitism in Romania today, Vacaroiu 
unequivocally replied that it "absolutely is not a problem." 
When pressed, Vacaroiu retorted that over half of Romania's 
communist government was Jewish (again, a view rejected by 
mainstream historians).  He further stated that observers 
would find it difficult to find more than "a handful of 
individuals" in Romania who espouse anti-Semitic views. 
This view disregards the continued presence of the many 
members of the extreme nationalist Greater Romania Party 
(PRM), a party which has been a strong anti-Semitic movement 
for most of its post-1989 history and which gained some 13 
percent of the vote during fall 2004 elections. 
 
5. (SBU) Chairman Miller pushed back and cited the 
controversial 1997 and 1998 rehabilitation by Romania's 
Supreme Court of two Romanian Generals, Radu Dinulescu and 
Gheorge Petrescu, who were lead perpetrators of Holocaust 
atrocities.  He also took note of growing anti-Semitism, 
wrapped in anti-Israel discourse, throughout Europe. 
Vacaroiu responded that he had no knowledge of the court 
decision on Dinculescu and insisted that the Romanian 
people, as a whole, "accept Romania's past" and hold "no 
trace of anti-Semitism." 
 
6. (SBU) Vacaroiu conceded that continuing education on the 
Holocaust is needed, in line with recommendations by the 
Wiesel Commission.  Chairman Miller conveyed that the Wiesel 
Commission urged Romania to establish a national Holocaust 
memorial, funded by the GOR and located in a prominent place 
on government property.  Chairman Miller noted that the U.S. 
also urges this important step and Vacaroiu pledged support 
for the memorial, while remarking that some parliamentarians 
may hold "somewhat differing views" on the topic.  Vacaroiu 
did not relent when pressed on his earlier comments on anti- 
Semitism and the Romanian role in the Holocaust, even when 
queried as to how Romania's Jewish population was reduced 
from some 750,000 before World War II to roughly 300,000 
immediately after. 
 
7. (SBU) Comment:  Aside from Vacaroiu, all other officials 
in Chairman Miller's meetings acknowledged Romania's role in 
the Holocaust and the fundamental importance of education on 
the issue.  This included often enthusiastic support for a 
Romanian Holocaust memorial.  Their general attitude was a 
sign of the tremendous progress Romania has made in 
acknowledging its role in the Holocaust, a historical truth 
that was largely suppressed under communism.  Nonetheless, 
Vacaroiu's comments -- sometimes couched in language that 
seemed to support efforts to redress the past -- demonstrate 
there are still influential pockets where old attitudes 
prevail.  Vacaroiu's assertions were similar to public 
statements made in 2003 by former President Iliescu and 
former Culture and Religion Minister Razvan Theodorescu 
denying the Holocaust occurred within Romanian borders and 
diminishing the participation of the Romanian government and 
army in atrocities.  Iliescu subsequently apologized and 
agreed to establish the Wiesel Commission to compile an 
accurate history of the Holocaust in Romania and recommend 
steps to improve education on the historic facts. 
 
8. (SBU) Comment Continued:  Charge is sending a letter to 
Vacaroiu, with a copy of the Weisel Commission report, 
refuting the inaccurate assertions Vacaroiu raised during 
the meeting with Chairman Miller.  More broadly, the Embassy 
will continue to press the GOR to establish a comprehensive 
program on Holocaust education, not just at the elementary, 
secondary and university level, but also programs aimed at 
officials and opinion leaders.  The mandatory inclusion of 
Holocaust education in the curriculum of the National 
Defense College, a feature for the past several years, is an 
example of "continuing education" targeting officials who, 
like Senate President Vacaroiu, are ignorant about Romania's 
true role in the Holocaust. 
 
9. (U) Amembassy Bucharest's reporting telegrams, as well as 
daily press summaries, are available on the Bucharest 
SIPRNET Website:  www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/bucharest. 
 
DELARE