- BUCHAREST -- "The Holocaust
was not unique to the Jewish population in Europe. Many others, including
Poles, died in the same way," Romanian President Jon Iliescu says
in an interview to Haaretz.
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- According to the president, "in the Romania of the
Nazi period, Jews and communists were treated equally. My father was a
communist activist and was sent to a camp. He died at the age of 44, less
than a year after he returned."
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- As for the Romanian government's June 13 declaration
denying that a Holocaust took place inside the country, Iliescu says "the
government amended the declaration because its contents were presented
inaccurately. The Holocaust was a general phenomenon in Europe ... and
such events also took place inside Romania's territory; the massacres in
Bucharest and Iasi (in Moldova) in 1941 and the sending of Jews to concentration
camps in Transnistria took place in Romania, and the leaders of that time
are responsible for those events. However, it is impossible to accuse the
Romanian people and society of this," Iliescu stresses.
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- The Romanian president believes that in view of the country's
current dire economic situation, the restitution suits demanding the return
of Jewish property must be either postponed or rejected.
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- "People are struggling with shortages, and at the
same time, people are coming forward with claims because in Romanian history
during World War II and afterward, property was nationalized. Does that
mean the wretched Romanian citizen of today has to pay for what happened
then? Is it worth it to skin those who are living today in distress? And
just to compensate others? I don't find that appropriate."
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