Iohannis, on Holocaust Remembrance Day: Democracy, freedom, diversity

Democracy, peace, diversity and respect for human rights represent the fundamental values of the European construct that we need to defend with all our energy, President Klaus Iohannis said, on Tuesday in the message sent with the occasion of the Holocaust Remembrance Day in Romania.

"In less than three months we will take over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, a mandate that will have as its objective consolidating the European values and countering anti-Semitism, racism and intolerance, included. We are doing this, aware of the urgency and importance of the times we are living in, in which populism, chauvinism, extremism and non-liberalism represent dangerous threats that jeopardize the security and peace in Europe and that can only be countered by promoting solidarity and cohesion between member states. Democracy, peace, liberty, diversity and respect for human rights represent the fundamental values of the European construct that we need to defend with all our energy. To us, Europeans, history has fully proven that straying away from these solid cornerstones leads to hatred, violence and death," the head of state says in his message.

He reminds that the Holocaust represents the saddest page in humanity's history.

"Today, our pious thoughts are going towards the victims of the cruelty triggered by anti-Semitic policies. Jewish Romanians were forced 77 years ago to give up a normal life and to face the inhumane conditions of the concentration camps and Transnistrian ghettos. We have a duty to keep the memory of the victims unaltered and to avoid repeating such atrocities, that soiled our souls and mutilated our history," the president said.

Klaus Iohannis mentions that recovering the memory of the Holocaust, as well as countering anti-Semitism have represented for Romania "priority objectives in the last decade and a half, and the results are noteworthy."

"We have a very well defined legislation, that prohibits organizations and symbols of a fascist, racist or xenophobic nature, and the principles of equality and non-discrimination are enshrined in the Constitution. In the educational field, significant progress was recorded, and for a deeper understanding of the Jewish community's history in our country, we are in the process of establishing the Holocaust and Jewish History Museum in Romania. On an international level, Romania is directly involved in the efforts of combating anti-Semitism," Iohannis highlighted.

The head of state shows that 2018 is a year in which Romania marks the Centennial of the Greater Union, a "good opportunity to carefully evaluate the history of the past century, with the good and the bad."

"Intolerance, racism, radicalism and xenophobia, then the systematic violation of the rule of law and human rights have led to 50 years of dictatorship and straying away from the aspirations of the Greater Union of 1 December 1918. Let us learn how the Greater Union could be achieved, but also how totalitarian political regimes could develop in Romania. Proving to have mastered the lessons of the past, Romania must remain, in the second century of modernity, strongly attached to the democratic principles. May the memory of the victims forever be in our hearts!," Klaus Iohannis ends his message on the Holocaust Remembrance Day.

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