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Friday September 6, 2002

Romania bans busts honoring ex-dictator

ADAM B. ELLICK
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

BUCHAREST -- Just off the main thoroughfare here, hidden among endless blocks of massive Stalinist high-rise apartments, stands a bronze bust of Marshal Ion Antonescu, the Romanian fascist dictator who cooperated with Hitler and whose war crimes led to the deaths of a quarter-million Jews during World War II.

In recent years the statue, along with five other Antonescu monuments around this vast country, hardly seemed to embarrass the Romanian government, though they enraged world Jewish leaders who urged that the statutes be dismantled.

The statues were erected and streets were named for Antonescu in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Socialist dictatorship, when much of the Romanian public felt an affinity to anything anti-Soviet.

But now Romania's self-interest is spurring it to action. The country hopes to join the NATO military alliance in November, and is stepping up its cooperation with Jewish groups and Western governments concerned about how Eastern European governments handle Jewish affairs.

Antonescu ruled Romania from 1940 to 1944. He was responsible for the deaths of about 250,000 Jews and 25,000 gypsies, either by having them murdered in Romania -- such as the infamous pogrom in Iasi -- or by deporting them to death camps abroad.

In 1944, with two Soviet armies advancing deep into Romania, Romania's King Michael arrested Antonescu. He was tried and executed as a war criminal on June 1, 1946.

The government passed an emergency ordinance last month prohibiting all fascist remnants and the glorification of war criminals.

The move comes just four months after the U.S. Ambassador to NATO was quoted as saying that Romania would not enter NATO as long as it continues to honor Antonescu.

Jewish leaders concur that the emergency legislation is a "good first step," but some wonder about a loophole in the law that may not ensure Antonescu will be laid to rest.

The law mandates the removal of Romania's six Antonescu statues. It also requires the renaming of some 30 streets and parks that honor Antonescu, and prohibits fascist organizations like the Antonescu Foundation, a historical foundation that promotes the dictator's legacy.

The government already blocked plans by four municipalities to erect Antonescu monuments since October 2001, when Prime Minister Adrian Nastase visited the United States and discussed the matter with President Bush.

"The statues send the wrong message at a particular time when Romania is seeking to enter Europe's mainstream," said Daniel Mariaschin, executive vice president of B'nai Brith International, who has discussed the matter with Romanian officials.

Under the emergency law, it is forbidden to erect or maintain such statues "in public places, except museums." But four of Romania's six Antonescu statues stand on private property, including the one in Bucharest, which rests in the garden of an Orthodox Church that Antonescu founded.

"What is a public place?" asked a prominent Romanian diplomat who requested anonymity. "Are we talking about ownership of land, or in public sight?"

"In theory they could have passed a law banning such statues completely. But unfortunately that was not done," said Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Israel. "You have a government tying to have its cake and eat it too -- banning statues in public places and knowing full well that the majority exist on private property."

Rabbi Andrew Baker, international director of the American Jewish Committee, who has actively prodded Romanian leaders to remove the statues, said the public-versus-private debate is of no concern.

The Romanian government "has its ways of persuading" private groups to take down the statues -- "if it wants to," Baker said.

"If there is a will to remove them, a way can be found," Mariaschin agreed.

Mariaschin hopes the statues will be removed at the same time as a Holocaust Education Program may be implemented in the military and secondary schools.

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