MINELRES: Romania: Ethnic Diversity Briefs, No.76, October 27, 2003

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No. 76 / October 27, 2003 
  
DIVERS
- reporting ethnic diversity - 
 
SUMMARY
 
1. ROMANIA ESTABLISHES HOLOCAUST COMMISSION
2. ROMANIANS PROVE TENDENCY TO EXTREMISM AND INTOLERANCE
3. ETHNICAL MINORITIES' FAIR 

FEATURE
4. ROMA STRIKE AT THE CITY HALL
 

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ROMANIA ESTABLISHES HOLOCAUST COMMISSION

BUCHAREST - Romania said on October 22 it had set up a commission to
bring to light its World War Two role in the murder of thousands of Jews
after a diplomatic row over a government denial the Holocaust took place
there, Reuters reported. 

Although hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed in Romania during
World War Two, as recently as this summer the government denied the
Holocaust ever took place in the Balkan country, prompting protests from
Israel and Jewish leaders. "We want to be able to offer... to all
teachers, students, to all Romanians as well as historians and
international public opinion documents, studies and other materials
needed for knowing and understanding the Holocaust in Romania,"
President Ion Iliescu told reporters. 

*After the diplomatic row, Bucharest agreed to a series of measures,
including the commission, which is to be headed by Nobel Peace Prize
laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. In an effort to polish its
image ahead of joining NATO in 2004 and the European Union in 2007,
Romania has banned the use of fascist symbols, such as images of
war-time marshal Ion Antonescu, blamed for the killing and deportations
of Jews. 
Romanian-born Wiesel, 75, a prolific writer on the Holocaust best known
for his book "Night," drawn from his own experiences in Nazi death camps
will be joined by Tuvia Friling, the head of the Israeli Archives and 27
Holocaust survivors, experts and historians from Israel, United States,
Romania and Europe. In a letter sent to Iliescu, Wiesel said Romania
must take responsibility for its past if it wants to join the EU and
embrace western European democratic values. Historians say the
ex-communist country, an ally of Nazi Germany during World War Two, has
hitherto done little to uncover the truth about its role in the
Holocaust. "We would like to give Romania a clear picture of what the
Holocaust meant, with rigorous analysis, data and photos," Radu Ioanid,
director of the Holocaust Memorial in Washington and vice-president of
the Wiesel commission told Reuters. "The public will understand what
happened in the past if the findings of the investigation are properly
disseminated," Ioanid said. "The Holocaust must be included in history
school books."
 
Simon Wiesenthal Center's top Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff launched a
search for Holocaust criminals in Romania last month hoping to bring the
culprits to justice. He is advertising in the Romanian press a $10,000
reward for any information leading to the prosecution of Romanian war
criminals. According to the Encyclopedia of the Holocaust some 420,000
people from Romania's pre-war Jewish community of 750,000 perished,
including more than 100,000 Jews from Transylvania - then under
Hungarian rule - who were deported to Auschwitz. Only 13,000 Jews now
live in Romania. Pogroms in Bucharest, Iasi and other towns left
hundreds dead. Antonescu was tried and executed as a war criminal, but
no other Romanian was ever brought to justice over the Holocaust.
(DIVERS)
 
 
ROMANIANS PROVE TENDENCY TO EXTREMISM AND INTOLERANCE

BUCHAREST � Poll presented last week indicates that numerous Romanians
prove strong tendency to authoritarianism and intolerance, of ethnical
nature inclusively. Therefore, despite the fact that approximately 40
per cent of the Romanians live in varied social environment, in terms of
ethnicity and religion, thus the prejudices and discriminatory attitudes
towards certain groups of people are widely spread. Approximately 1 to
10 Romanians express racist behavior, stating that black people, Chinese
and Roma people should not live Romania. There is great support in some
discriminatory attitude against the Roma from Romania: two thirds of
Romanian citizens believe that Roma people should not be allowed to
travel abroad because they jeopardize our country�s image, about half of
the canvassed upholds the idea of demographic politics to limit the
increasing of Roma population, while 36 per cent deems that Roma should
not live apart from the rest of the society because consequently they
cannot get integrated. 82 per cent of the Romanians share the same
prejudice according to which most of Roma people break the law, and
about 3 of 10 Romanians are in favor of assimilating Roma people only in
case of giving up to their customs and traditions.

The Romanian people tend to share negative opinions also in case of
claims raised by the Magyar ethnics from Romania. Therefore, 81 per cent
of the Romanians do not agree with the Magyars using their mother
language while deploying relations with the public administration in the
areas where this ethnicity is prevailing and 88 per cent are against
granting higher autonomy to the counties where Magyars prevail. 46 per
cent are against education held in Magyar language and State financed.

Anti-Semitism is not quite spread conviction in Romania, only 10-15 per
cent of the canvassed agreeing with discriminatory statements against
the Jew. Since the historical truth about the Jews' fate in Romania is
less known by the people, strong enough tendency to deny the Holocaust
can be identified. Therefore, approximately a quarter of the Romanian
believe that Jewish people rather dramatize over the persecutions they
have been subjected to. (DIVERS) 
 
 
ETHNICAL MINORITIES' FAIR

BUCHAREST � On October 31 � November 2, the Romanian Peasants' Museum is
organizing the Ethical Minorities� Fair. Facing its first edition, the
fair aims at marking out everything left by now out of crafts activities
practiced by the members of the ethnical communities living for
centuries in the territory of our country. So far, fairs addressed to
Magyars, Roma, Ukrainians have been held, yet in turn, for each one as
sole ethnicity. The fair in question is part in "Laolalta" (Together)
project, presenting the ethnical communities from Romania in the museum.
The organizers expect for the presence of numerous representatives of
the minorities currently living in the territory of Romania. (DIVERS) 
 
 
FEATURE 
  
ROMA STRIKE AT THE CITY HALL

Viorel Zdreteanu had his hand cut off and sewed back on in an accident
at his working place and can no longer work. The 32-year-old Roma man
from Bucharest is has been living for the last three months under bridge
in the Carol Park with his wife and his two little girls of eight and
nine years old.

He moved in the center of Bucharest, in front of the City Hall of
District 5, on the 3rd of October and for the last four days he has been
in a hunger strike demanding a home. "My only income is the pension of
1,700,000 lei per month," said Zdreteanu. One of his daughters only has
one lung, and both of the girls don't go to school because he can't
financially sustain them, he said. Zdreteanu is one of the 20 Roma
people who were living in front of the City Hall of the District 5 in
the very center of Bucharest for four cold days in the first week of
October. Children stuck to their parents or hanged around the improvised
carton beds covered with blankets that read "Hunger strike for a house".
They were demanding houses in Bucharest area Ferentari, the Roma city
corner. "I ask only for a little room or a little parcel of land so I
can build a room from adobe and to be able to send my children to
school," Zdreteanu said. The General City Hall has been renting houses
for the population since 1971 at prices from 100,000 lei to one million
lei depending on the surface of the flat, on the number of the people
living in the house or on other special needs of the person asking for a
rent. The average price for rent through agencies is $150 per month. The
old department that administrated all the flats, Constructions Repairs
and Locative Administration Enterprise (ICRAL) has divided into small
private commercial units in 1993 and are now administrating the flats
that belong to the City Hall. On the other hand, City Hall of District 5
representatives said the commercial units not only administrate the
flats, but actually own them and they take the money for the rent.

The administrating units build or take notice of available houses for
rent, and announce the General City Hall, which transmits the data to
each district City Hall, which later give the houses for rent to the
people who requested it. A case can be solved in a few years, a few
moths or a few days, depending on the houses available, according to
Stefan Gheorghe, counselor on Roma issues at City Hall from District 5.
Some say it is a question of luck. "Since 1991, I have asked the City
Hall 23 times for a state house repartition, and got no answer," said
Zdreteanu. "Today I asked once more."

In order to get a repartition for a government apartment, one person has
to file at the district City Hall ten different papers including income
or alimony certificate on the last 12 months, photocopy of certificate
of working years or the pension decision, fiscal certificates of all the
member in the family if appropriate age, declaration from notary that
you don't own or didn't own another house etc.

Liliana, 32, from Bucharest has been living in front of the City Hall
and suffer of hunger demanding for a small room to live with her two
children and paralyzed husband. "Seven months ago, my husband suffered a
vascular accident, was operated on the brain, but remained paralyzed,"
said Liliana. Her parents told them they couldn't live together with
them in two rooms. Liliana's family survives with 1,500,000 lei income
per month that represents her social aid, she said. They moved in an
empty apartment for two months, but meanwhile ICRAL gave that apartment
to another woman. When that woman saw Liliana�s situation, she didn�t
want to kick the family out, and took on hunger strike for another
repartition. The two women lived in front of the City Hall for four
days. Liliana is asking for a lawful repartition on the house she has
been living in for the last tow months, and the other woman asking for
another house.

Eufrosina Tudorache, 53, from Bucharest has been in the hunger strike
since the 25th of August and has been living in front of the City Hall
for three days, asking for a house for her 8-months pregnant daughter.
"We want a repartition on a free house we checked at ICRAL that it
wasn't given to somebody else," said Tudorache. "The people from the
City Hall told us to wait but we have been waiting for too long and my
daughter needs a home to give birth to her child," said Tudorache. She
said her daughter keeps the furniture in the hall of the block of flats
and the neighbors are watching lest there should be stealing. The Roma
people said clerks in the City Hall were not happy to let them inside
the building. "The bodyguards didn't let us in even though now the City
Hall had hours with the public," said Tudorache. "They jump on us, they
grabbed us by the shoulders and kicked us out," recalled Tudorache.

Zdreteanu said he tried to get inside, too. "The bodyguards slammed the
door in our faces and told us to go jump in the head or die out of
hunger."

The bodyguards denied the accusations: "It is not possible for us to
have done that," said one of the bodyguards. "We are in a public
institution where people are respected."

While the Roma people were freezing outside in October cold, the City
Hall held a cozy atmosphere. Inside the Roma Experts office the girls
were having fun on the computer. Ionela Carlan, one of the experts
smiled first, but soon she became grave and said she was a private
person in that office, even though there was quarter to the finishing
working hour. She said "I don't deal with the situation in front of the
City Hall, but there is one counselor who does." She was unable to name
him. "I have no information on this issue and you know from your
journalism books that an interview is always planned," she also said. 

The Roma counselor at the City Hall of District 5, Stefan Gheorghe, said
through telephone: "We don't have any houses available now in district 5
because nothing has been built in 15 years." Gheorghe said it is also a
matter of bureaucracy, because the houses people claim are not really
free in the ICRAL files, even though there is no one living in them.
That is why they can't be given away. But if there are no houses
available at all, "We have no solution for these people and they should
stay where they have stayed until now."
 
Gheorghe also said in most of the cases the people end up in the street
because they don't pay their rents. "We gave house repartitions, but
they were kicked out because they didn't pay their rent for 3 months and
the contracts have been canceled." He said the Roma people work on the
black market, because they are not trusted in other positions and
therefore are paid very few money with which they can barely support
their families. 
On the 7th of October, Friday, Stefan Gheorghe said three studio flats
were to be given in the Ferentari area and the strike was going to be
over soon. A clerk from the ICRAL confirmed minutes later they had sent
three home places to the City Hall of District 5, but she refused to
identify herself for fear she would be fired for revealing information
to the press. 

The Roma people left the entrance of the City Hall around 3.30 PM that
day, but one young man was still sleeping on the ground on some
cardboard that read "Hunger strike for a house". He said "Dinca and
Vultur tricked them again," he said. "But I really need the house and I
better stay here until I get the paper be sure I have it". He also the
people from the City Hall lied when they promised Roma people they will
give them houses Monday morning, when the mayor will be there to sign
the papers. Monday morning, the City Hall of District 5 entrance was
clean and no one was sleeping on the ground. 

When contacted on the phone for further details, Gheorghe hung up the
phone after a short conversation. Gheorghe later said he was going to
reveal the new addresses of the Roma people who were given houses, but
he didn�t come at the meeting with the journalist and repeatedly didn�t
answer his phone when contacted. (Gabriela Vieru - DIVERS) 
 
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