Romanian Senate Reiterates Opposition To Holocaust Denial

Jerusalem, 1 February, 2023 (TPS) -- The Romanian Senate adopted on Wednesday a declaration to strengthen legislative efforts and its role in order to prevent and combat any form of incitement to hatred or extremist, anti-Semitic or denial of the Holocaust, as well as for the commemoration of the victims of the Holocaust.

The initiative belonged to Save Romania Union (USR) senator Anca Dragu, chair of the Human Rights Committee in the Senate.

The adoption of the declaration took place in the presence of a survivor of the Holocaust, Octavian Fulop, who showed, in the plenary sitting of the Senate, that he is the only one in his family who returned home. Octavian Fulop recalled the horrors experienced when he was only 13 years old.

The declaration starts from the founding principle of the United Nations Charter and the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that “disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbaric acts that have outraged the conscience of mankind.”

Through the Declaration, presented by Anca Dragu, it is reaffirmed that “The Holocaust, which resulted in the killing of a third of the Jews in Europe, together with countless members of other minorities, will forever be a warning to all people about the dangers of hatred, bigotry, racism and prejudice.”

In the document adopted by the Senate it is reiterated that the role and responsibilities that fall to the Holocaust victims and their memory are fully understood and for “any act of prevention and drastic combating of any tendency to repeat it.”

It is recalled that “the Romanian state understands its responsibilities regarding the commemoration and honoring of the victims of the Holocaust and those who fought against it, a fact proven last year by the adoption of a law which provides that, starting from the 2023-2024 school year, the discipline ‘The History of the Jews. The Holocaust’ will be included in the framework plans of high school education, and in 2019 Law No. 174/2019 was adopted on the establishment of the National Museum of the History of the Jews and the Holocaust in Romania.”

Through this document, the Senate undertakes to amend the Parliamentarian’s Code of Conduct in order to introduce sanctions regarding hate speech or extremist, anti-Semitic, Holocaust denial attitudes and to strengthen legislative efforts to commemorate and honor the victims of this scourge and condemnation of the Holocaust.

According to the Senate’s Declaration, the defense and guarantee of human rights “is not an option, but the origin and basis of all our actions and decisions.”