A recent statement by the right-wing, populist Alliance for the Union of Romanians party that Romania's school system should cut back on Holocaust education and focus on "Romanian national values" has caused an uproar in the eastern European country.
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The party published a declaration calling on the government to focus on "meaningful subjects" such as "hard sciences, Romanian language and literature, and the history of the Romanian nation" and criticizing the school system for teaching what it deemed "minor matters": the Holocaust and sex education.
"The government is trying to undermine the quality of education in Romania and raise a weak generation that does not know its values," the party's message stated.
Regarding the statements minimizing the tragedy of the Holocaust:
I firmly condemn the insulting attitude and statements made by some political leaders in #Romania who have found it right to qualify the genocide of the #Holocaust as a "minor topic" for the educational system. 1/6 pic.twitter.com/gXPgeTC10E— David Saranga (@DavidSaranga) January 4, 2022
Israeli Ambassador to Romania David Saranga responded to the party's message on Twitter, saying that it fell under the criteria of antisemitism and asking the party for a retraction.
Co-president of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians Claudiu Târziu tweeted a response to Saranga's objections: "We're Christians, so we can't be antisemitic."
Târziu acknowledged the "horrors perpetrated by the Nazis," but did not mention that Romania's fascist regime had cooperated with the Nazis. Anywhere from 280,000-380,000 Romania Jews were murdered during the Holocaust.
The Romanian government official in charge of combating antisemitism, Alexandru Muraru, said that the party's message was "unacceptable" and hinted that the party should be disqualified from running in future elections.
"The party is a threat to the constitutional order in the country," Muraru said.
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