Romanian president: Holocaust `not unique to Jews'
By Grig Davidovitz

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.

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."

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.

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.

"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."

Protest sent to Romania over president's Holocaust comment
By The Associated Press

Israel has issued Romania a stern rebuke after the country's president
told Haaretz the Holocaust was "not unique to the Jews."

The Romanian ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Ministry and Israel's
ambassador to Bucharest was ordered to submit a strong protest at "this
miserable statement," ministry spokesman David Saranga said. This is the
second time in two months that Romanian ambassador Valeria

Mariana Stoica has been taken to task over her country's statements
about the Holocaust.

On June 13 the Romanian government denied any Holocaust took place inside
the country's frontiers. Following protests from Israel and the Romanian
Jewish community, the government acknowledged that its former leaders had
deported and exterminated Romanian Jews during World War II.

In an interview with Haaretz newspaper published Friday, Romanian
President Ion Iliescu was quoted as saying: "The Holocaust was not unique
to the Jewish population in Europe. Many others, including Poles, died in
the same way. In the Romania of the Nazi period both Jews and Communists
were treated equally," Iliescu said, adding that his father, a communist,
was sent to a camp and died a year after being released.

But Dorel Dorian, a Romanian lawmaker who represents the Jewish community,
said: "The Holocaust has a precise meaning, as the application of the
final solution to Jews. It's true that tens of millions of Poles,
Ukrainians, communists and others also died, but for Jews it was a planned
process of extermination," Dorian said.

Israel asked the Romanian ambassador to clarify whether Iliescu's
statements reflected the view of the Romanian government or just the
president, said Saranga. Iliescu was quoted as saying he as surprised by
Israel's reaction to his comments.

"I don't understand the reaction. I said the Holocaust was a phenomenon
that affected the entire Europe. There is no Romanian, or German or Polish
Holocaust. It was a general process, and some of its European components
happened on Romania's territory," Iliescu was quoted as saying by
Romania's Mediafax news agency.

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