MINELRES: Romania: Ethnic Diversity Briefs, No.15

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: Mediafax <divers@mediafax.ro>


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No. 15 / July 8, 2002

DIVERS
- reporting ethnic diversity -

SUMMARY
1. THE USA DEMANDS AGAIN REMOVING SYMBOLS RELATED TO MARSHAL ANTONESCU
2. BREAKING IN SYNAGOGUE FROM VATRA DORNEI
3. ROMA NUMBER IN ROMANIA, BOOSTED
4. POLICE ADMITS THEY IDENTIFY SWINDLERS ACCOUNTING ON ETHNIC ORIGINS
5. TESTIMONIES IN DOCUMENTS ABOUT MAGYARS
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THE USA DEMANDS AGAIN REMOVING SYMBOLS RELATED TO MARSHAL ANTONESCU
BUCHAREST - The US Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(CSCE-Helsinki Commission) on June 28 asked for the Romanian
government to remove the symbols linked to the name of Hitler ally
during WWII, Ion Antonescu, out of the public areas, and no longer
block access of the representatives of Holocaust Museum to a series of
documents. Eight members of the commission, including co-president
Christopher Smith and senator Hillary Clinton, demanded Romanian Prime
Minister Adrian Nastase, through a letter, to take Ion Antonescu's
statutes from Bucharest and also from other three localities.
In his turn, Minister of Culture and Faiths, Razvan Theodorescu,
stated that the information consisted into the letter of the Helsinki
Committee referring to the statues of marshal Ion Antonescu "are not
accurate", as most of the statues have already been taken away. As for
the portrait of the marshal, posted within Government headquarters,
Theodorescu said that Antonescu used to be Prime Minister of Romania,
and his image is not posted into a public area. (DIVERS)

BREAKING IN SYNAGOGUE FROM VATRA DORNEI
SUCEAVA -On the night of June 28, some unknown persons broke in a
Jewish temple from Vatra Dornei locality (northern Romania).
Fortunately, the thieves could not take anything because cult objects
were put into a safe place. The attempted burglary happened exactly at
6 weeks after a similar deed happened, respectively when synagogue
from Falticeni (north of Romania) was profaned. (DIVERS)

ROMA NUMBER IN ROMANIA, BOOSTED
BUCHAREST - National minorities represent 10.5 per cent of population,
that is 2,2 million persons in real figures, according to the
preliminary results of the census held in March, announced last week
by the Romanian Government. The number of persons belonging to ethnic
minorities is smaller by 4.9 per cent than in year 1992, the time of
the last census, while the minorities' number is lower by 4.7 per
cent. In turn, the presence of Roma ethnics increased with almost
135,000 persons, while Turkish, Greek, Croatian and Italian persons
are also more in number than in year 1992. Magyars are fewer with
190,000 persons. The number of Germans, Serbians, Ukrainians and
Jewish people are in decrease as well. (DIVERS)

POLICE ADMITS THEY IDENTIFY SWINDLERS ACCOUNTING ON ETHNIC ORIGINS
BUCHAREST - Prime-deputy of Romanian Police Department, Toma Zaharia,
acknowledged on Wednesday, July 3, that the statistics recently
presented by police encloses also some indications relating to Roma
minority, yet pointing out that the reports do not "necessarily" focus
on this ethnic community. Zaharia pointed out that statistics on
delinquencies perform author identification considering many criteria,
such as age, sex, but also the ethnicity. "We are not holding special
purpose on this issue", said Police representative. The Romanian press
has recently published some details about a report making reference to
frequent mentioning of Roma minority within the police statistics
related to offense issue. (DIVERS)

TESTIMONIES IN DOCUMENTS ABOUT MAGYARS
CLUJ-NAPOCA - Ethno-Cultural Diversity Resource Center (CRDE) on July
4 launched "Testimonies in documents. Magyars from Romania
(1945-1955)" volume. The book was presented by history scientists Akos
Egyed, member of the Hungarian Academy and by Camil Muresan, member of
the Romanian Academy. The volume, lying in over 900 pages, consists of
impressive number of unpublished documents, including police reports
and minutes elaborated by the running members of the communist party.
CRDE has previously edited similar volume about Roma minority.
(DIVERS)


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