Defining hatred: On the memory of the Holocaust
Dina Porat describes the national Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony in Romania, held in Bucharest on October 9, and points to the gap between official efforts to combat antisemitism and the extremist atmosphere on the streets. The ceremony, organized by the Elie Wiesel Institute, included speeches by senior Romanian officials who acknowledged Romania's responsibility for Holocaust crimes. Alongside this, the author notes that despite the adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism by many bodies, antisemitism is on the rise.
Dina Porat describes the national Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony in Romania, which took place in Bucharest on October 9, marking the beginning of the deportation of 150-180 thousand Jews from Bukovina and Bessarabia to Transnistria. The impressive ceremony, held since 2004, included speeches by the Foreign Minister, the President's representative, Deputy Israeli Ambassador Erez Golan, and representatives of the US and German embassies. The speakers, including Dragos Huta, coordinator of the National Interministerial Committee for Combating Antisemitism, openly acknowledged the responsibility of Romanians for the crimes of deportation and the brutality carried out by the Romanian gendarmerie, which included looting, rape, and murder. The organizing body, the Elie Wiesel Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania, was established in 2005 following the recommendations of an international commission. That same year, the UN declared an International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Also present at the ceremony was a representative of the Roma community, who noted that about 25,000 Roma were deported along with the Jews and most perished, expressing hope for improved treatment of them today. A day before the ceremony, a conference was held marking a decade since the adoption of the working definition of antisemitism by the IHRA in Bucharest. The definition has been adopted by about 1,250 bodies and 45 countries. However, the chairman of the Jewish community cried out that antisemitism is erupting and intensifying, and the author concludes that the main problem is the gap between official efforts from above and the extremist atmosphere on the streets.