From Taboo to Acceptance: Romania, the Jews, and the Holocaust

Waldman, Felicia

From Taboo to Acceptance: Romania, the Jews, and the Holocaust

Author(s)

Waldman, Felicia

Publication Name

Osteuropa

Publication Date

2008

Abstract

The existence of Jews on Romanian territory was suppressed under Communism. Romania’s complicity in the Holocaust was a taboo. In the post-Communist era, attitudes were slow in changing. President Ion Iliescu’s remark that there had been no Holocaust on Romanian territory represented a particularly low point. Only with the integration of Romania into international organisations and the convening of the Elie Wiesel commission of inquiry did the climate change. Now Romania is increasingly willing to accept responsibility, to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust, and to integrate the country’s Jewish heritage into its national remembrance culture.