Romania, a former ally of Nazi Germany, marked its decision to make the Holocaust and Jewish history part of the school curriculum, with Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu saying facing up to a dark past was necessary for a strong democracy.
Romania was a German ally in World II until August 1944 and hundreds of thousands of Romanian and Ukrainian Jews and Roma were killed in areas it controlled.
“I am among those who do not hesitate to talk about patriotism,” Ciolacu said at the ceremony to mark the new class in Jewish history and the Holocaust, which was approved in 2021.
“However, I believe that for a strong, democratic nation, patriotism also means not hiding the dark parts of history and those who created them.”
The President of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania Silviu Vexler said that this initiative was ‘the first real move to fully take responsibility for what happened’ in the country.
