US ambassador Klemm: Romania has taken an important step by promulgation of Law establishing Holocaust Museum

Romania has taken an important step this week following President Klaus Iohannis's signing into law the Bill on the establishment of the National Museum of Jewish History and the Holocaust, US ambassador in Bucharest Hans Klemm said on Thursday. 

This important event is the result of the tireless work of the 'Elie Wiesel' Institute, of deputy [Silviu] Vexler, of the Jewish communities and all their supporters. This museum will be a symbol of Romania's continuous development as a nation and a democratic society, a symbol all Romanian citizens can be proud of, said the American diplomat at the wreath laying ceremony at the Holocaust Victims Memorial in Bucharest. 

The diplomat deplored the fact that despite this historical achievement, anti-Semitic and anti-Roma rhetoric continues to be present in public discourse, and anti-Semitic and fascist historical figures are still being commemorated in some of Romania's cities and villages. 

In this regard, the diplomat mentioned the desecration of several tombstones at the Husi Jewish cemetery and the vandalisation of the 'Elie Wiesel' memorial house in Sighetu Marmatiei with profoundly offensive anti-Semitic messages. 

Hans Klemm also remarked that anti-Semitism is not specific to Romania alone. 

A remembrance and wreath laying ceremony was held on Thursday at the Holocaust Victims Memorial in Bucharest, attended by representatives of the Presidency, Parliament, the government, the diplomatic corps, the Jewish community and the civil society. 

Organized by the 'Elie Wiesel' National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania, the event marked the 78th anniversary of the commencement of the deportation of the Jews from Romania to Transnistria and the 75th anniversary of the deportation of the Jews from Northern Transylvania to Auschwitz.