US embassy cable - 05BUCHAREST914

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BUCHAREST 000914 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE DEPT FOR EUR/NCE - WILLIAM SILKWORTH; EUR/OHI - JOHN 
BECKER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, SOCI, RO, minority rights, museum, Antisemitic 
SUBJECT:  SPECIAL ENVOY FOR HOLOCAUST ISSUES AMBASSADOR 
EDWARD O'DONNEL MARCH 20-23 VISIT TO ROMANIA 
 
1.  (U) Summary: Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues 
Ambassador Edward O'Donnell March 20-23 met with senior GOR 
figures and members of the Romanian Jewish community to 
discuss property restitution and other concerns related to 
Romanian efforts to redress its Holocaust past.  The 
Romanian delegation to the International Taskforce on 
Holocaust Education and the Ministry of Education 
underscored a commitment to improving Holocaust education 
curricula in Romanian schools.  Slightly off-key were 
opinions offered at the MFA and Presidency that pointed to a 
more protracted and less decisive approach to the rescinding 
of an award given to a notorious Romanian anti-Semite and 
extremist.  End Summary. 
 
2. (U) Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues Ambassador Edward 
O'Donnell traveled to Bucharest March 20-23 for a series of 
meetings with key figures involved in Romanian efforts to 
recognize, commemorate, and redress the country's 
involvement in the Holocaust.  In most cases, officials and 
private citizens were receptive to U.S. interest in these 
core human rights issues and optimistic that Romania was 
finally come to terms with this tragic period in history. 
Presidential Advisor: Basescu "Moved" by Holocaust Museum 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
3. (SBU)  In his meetings with Senior Presidential Advisor 
Claudiu Saftoiu and other senior GOR figures, Ambassador 
O'Donnell underscored the importance for the success of the 
Romanian restitution process to strive for transparency, non- 
discrimination and relaxed standards of documentation.  He 
also stressed the need for swift action by the GOR in 
resolving the awarding of a Star of Romania medal of honor, 
Romania's highest decoration, to known anti-Semite and 
extreme nationalist party leader Corneliu Vadim Tudor. 
Saftiou stated that a Commission of Honor, already announced 
in the official monitor, will convene for the first time in 
coming weeks and will have the authority to revoke awards. 
(Note:  Saftoiu subsequently told PolChief April 7 that the 
independent commission will actually review the status and 
conduct of all recipients of the Star of Romania, although 
Commission members will no doubt focus on Tudor and recent 
revelations that in the early 1990's he "procured" under- 
aged girls for sexual purposes for Eugen Barbu, the now 
deceased founder of his political party.  End note.) 
 
4. (U) Saftoiu remarked that Basescu was "moved" by his 
visit to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and had told his 
advisers that he had previously been, like many Romanians, 
"a victim of misinformation about the Holocaust."  Saftoiu 
also underscored that Basescu strongly supports the GOR's 
intention to introduce new legislation regarding the 
Holocaust and punishment for hate crimes.  He asked for 
advice on a possible "role model" among other former Soviet 
Bloc countries who have recently passed similar legislation. 
Separately, Saftoiu observed that Basescu is personally 
committed to restituting communal religious property to its 
rightful owners, whenever possible, or alternatively, 
finding a suitable compensation solution for owners. 
 
MFA State Secretary: Anti-Semitism still a Problem 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
5. (U) Ministry of Foreign Affairs State Secretary Teodor 
Baconschi observed that latent anti-Semitism remains a 
problem in Romania, stemming from misconceptions about 
Romanian Jews, sometimes combined with a misdirected 
nationalism.  He suggested that a dialogue between the 
Romanian Orthodox Christian and Jewish communities would be 
one way of helping to resolve remaining anti-Semitic 
attitudes.  "We need to dismantle clichs about Jews and 
communist rule," he stressed, referring to the view that 
Jews were disproportionately involved in Romanian Communist 
regime.   Baconschi expressed support for Culture Minister 
Mona Musca's proposed establishment of a museum of Romanian 
Jewish history and culture.  Turning to restitution, 
Baconschi noted that "restitution issues are extremely 
complex" but that the GOR is committed to finding a 
transparent resolution of restitution cases.  On the Star of 
Romania, Baconschi noted that it was important that the GOR 
move cautiously so as to avoid the impression that revoking 
the award to Tudor would be "viewed as an attack on the 
former government." 
 
New Moves Toward Property Restitution 
------------------------------------- 
6. (U) Delegate Minister Bogdan Olteanu, chairman of the 
Prime Minister's inter-ministerial working group on 
restitution, and Prime Ministerial Counselor Vlad Moisescu 
discussed at length the GOR's intention of comprehensively 
reforming the restitution process. (Note:  The Prime 
Minister recently formed the inter-ministerial working group 
consisting of representatives from the Ministry of Culture 
and Religion, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Finance and 
other concerned GOR bureaus when he moved restitution into 
his personal mandate. End note.)  Olteanu stated that the 
GOR would introduce an amendment to the current legislation 
that would revamp what he characterized as the inefficient 
and nontransparent current model.  Olteanu criticized the 
former Government's Restitution Commission, which he 
insisted aimed to "halt restitution," rather than justly 
return properties or compensate their owners. 
 
7.  (U) Moisescu and Olteanu energetically discussed 
possible legislative solutions, to include, "GOR bond 
issuances by way of compensation" and sanction (including 
removal from office) of local officials.  The latter is 
aimed at mayors who refuse to obey current legislation and 
restitute properties which have met the restitution criteria 
or for which favorable decision by the Restitution 
Commission has been given.  Olteanu emphasized that the GOR 
views overhauling the restitution legislation as critical 
and is considering presenting that legislation by way of a 
"no confidence" vote in Parliament.  He underscored that the 
current government is "serious" about restitution, observing 
that his own National Liberal Party (PNL) headquarters would 
be returned to its rightful owners.  Olteanu and Moisescu 
acknowledged, however, that the GOR is "still working on 
financial issues," but concluded that the GOR is firmly 
committed to "fair financial compensation." 
 
8. (U) State Secretary for Restitution Ingred Zaarour 
stressed her first priority is to assist the inter- 
ministerial working group with reforming the existing 
restitution legislation through amendments created in 
consultation with the parties involved, including religious 
denominations, property owner associations and ethnic 
groups.  They hope to introduce this legislation to the 
Parliament for approval by the end of May 2005.  Another 
priority is to review all of the pending cases and contact 
the petitioners with regard to any missing documentation 
which is slowing the pace of restitution decisions.  The 
Secretariat hopes to soon have a website where petitioners 
 
SIPDIS 
can inquire electronically as to the status of their pending 
case.  After a number of dossiers have been completed the 
Restitution Commission will meet weekly to approve the 
backlog of cases.  Additionally, the Secretariat is 
launching a new program of independent "inspectors" who will 
survey buildings and land to determine the situation of 
properties subject to claim as well as to assess the value 
of the properties which cannot be returned owing to special 
circumstances. 
 
9. (U) Tova Ben Nun, Chairperson of local Jewish charity 
Caritatea Foundation, remarked the Foundation is pleased 
with recent promises made by the Prime Minister on the 
reformation of the restitution system, including the goal of 
restitution in kind whenever possible.  However, they remain 
cautious, as none of the statements have been transformed 
into actions.  She mentioned they do not have a preference 
among restitution in kind, monetary compensation for 
demolished buildings or awarding of a like property.  The 
Foundation is particularly troubled by the great number of 
restitution cases being challenged in court. Caritatea has 
55 active cases, most of which were introduced by local 
government agencies.  Ben Nun presented a letter to 
Ambassador O'Donnell, as well a dossier of documents 
explaining the most egregious restitution problems. 
Ambassador O'Donnell subsequently raised the examples of 
restitution problems provided by Ben Nun with senior GOR 
representatives. Of particular concern is a situation where 
the Mayor of Iasi sold restituted land without the 
permission of the Foundation who was to receive the land 
back from the Restitution Commission.  Ms. Ben Nun has 
contacted the State Secretariat for Restitution as well as 
Prime Ministerial Advisor, Vlad Moisescu, for help in 
resolving the issue.  While she has received verbal 
assurances of help from the GOR, no firm steps have been 
taken at this time. 
 
10. (U) Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania Acting 
President Iulian Sorin also noted how pleased the Community 
was with the recent statements made by the Prime Minister 
regarding the property restitution process and his 
participation in the opening ceremonies of the New Holocaust 
Museum at Yad Vashem in Israel.  He too is cautious as such 
promises have also been heard in the past.  He remarked that 
the Jewish Community claims are being processed and followed 
by the Caritas Foundation (Tova Ben Nun), as the Jewish 
Community has little financial support.  Its resources are, 
in fact, entirely devoted to social welfare projects. 
President Sorin expressed that the restitution process must 
be sped up and local authorities punished for abusing the 
system through court challenges.  On another note, the 
Jewish Community is concerned about lack of state funding to 
maintain and restore synagogues.  President Sorin remarked, 
"The newest Synagogue is 80 years old and we do not have the 
resources to save these historical monuments." Jewish 
community leaders also expressed concern about signs of 
resurgent anti-Semitism, providing Ambassador O'Donnell 
copies of recent quasi-underground and overtly anti-Semitic 
Romanian journals. 
 
Improvements in Holocaust Education 
----------------------------------- 
11. (U) State Secretary Joszef Koto, Director of Curricula 
Development and Liliana Popescu from the Ministry of 
Education stated that they are very happy that Romania has 
been accepted onto the International Taskforce for Holocaust 
Education.  They hope to use the membership to further 
develop both the Holocaust school curriculum, as well as 
increase the teacher training programs.  Popescu noted that 
new text books are being developed for use in secondary 
schools with improved sections on Jewish history and the 
Holocaust in Romania. The textbooks will be reviewed and 
approved by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of 
Religions and Culture in the near future.  They hope to have 
them in use in schools by the beginning of the next academic 
year.  The Ministry is particularly pleased with the 
development of optional Holocaust and Jewish History courses 
at the local and regional level. Several schools have 
developed regionally based optional courses for secondary 
students.  Some of these courses are being approved at the 
National Level, with input from outside experts such as Yad 
Vashem, for use by all teachers.  They hope to have a 
website soon where teachers will be able to download and 
share online curricula. 
 
12. (U) Popescu also mentioned that several hundred teachers 
have participated in one of many teacher training programs 
both in Romania and abroad in the last two years.  The 
Ministry of Education is currently working with "pre- 
teaching" courses at Universities to add a component on the 
Holocaust to all teacher preparation courses.  Teaching 
centers in Bucharest, Iasi, Cluj and Craiova are offering 
Holocaust education short courses and seminars.  Finally, 
the Ministry of Education wants to build upon the success of 
the first annual Holocaust Remembrance day held in October 
2004.  The activities sponsored by the Ministry and the 
individual schools sparked a great deal of interest with the 
students.  The Ministry would like to further encourage the 
use of Holocaust speakers, movies, literature and other 
creative media in schools. 
 
13. (U) Stelian Stoian, MFA Director General for UN Global 
Affairs chaired the first meeting of the new Romanian 
delegation to the International Taskforce for Holocaust 
Education.  Romania became a full member of the Taskforce at 
the Triste in December.  Ambassador O'Donnell addressed the 
group on their future role as Romania's representatives to 
the Taskforce.  He stressed that education is in integral 
part of a three step process (education, legislation and law 
enforcement) in combating Holocaust deniers and anti- 
Semitism.  Also in attendance were the Israeli Ambassador to 
Romania and representatives from the French and Polish 
Embassies. 
 
14. (U) Comment: The meetings with the GOR and other 
representatives were, on the whole, positive.  The 
intentions to reform the restitution process are good, well 
laid out with timelines for completion and appear to be 
moving forward. We now look to the GOR to match these plans 
with credible actions.  Less impressive are current plans to 
lift the "Star of Romania" from leading anti-Semite and 
xenophobe Vadim Tudor.  The process envisioned to strip him 
of this recently awarded honor has become more complex and 
less focused.  Without outside encouragement, it may fail to 
live up to the expectations.  The Embassy will continue to 
push for results in this endeavor - in a reasonably brief 
time. 
 
15.  (U) This cable has been cleared by Ambassador 
O'Donnell. 
 
16. (U) Amembassy Bucharest's reporting telegrams are 
available on the Bucharest SIPRNET Website: 
www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/bucharest . 
 
DELARE