Posted on 08/14/2010 8:26:26 PM PDT by mainsail that
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization, on Friday criticized Israeli President Shimon Peres who paid tribute to Romania for "rescuing 400,000 Jews" during World War II.
...
Romania had long denied its participation in the Holocaust, triggering criticism from Israel and Jewish organizations.
An international commission of historians set up in 2003 established that some 270.000 Romanian and Ukrainian Jews died between 1940 and 1944, during marshal Ion Antonescu's pro-Nazi regime, while some 25,000 Gypsies were deported, half of whom died.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
Other than that, Mrs . Lincoln , how did you enjoy the play?
Rot. Romania was one of the very worst, most anti-semitic countries in Eastern Europe.
Bodies were hung in front windows and labeled “kosher meat”;
and heads were piled in baskets
in pogroms in Bucharest.
An international commission of historians set up in 2003 established that some 270.000 Romanian and Ukrainian Jews died between 1940 and 1944
The two statements are not inherently contradictory. Well over half of Romanian Jews survived the war, in stark contrast to the rate in much of eastern Europe.
The Romanian government, and to a large extent the people, were highly anti-semitic, but they never put it into systemic effect in the same way it was done in much of the rest of the Europe where the Germans had more direct control.
The Romanians killed over 250,000 Jews, but didn't get around to killing somewhere around 450,000. I'm not sure that should be classified as "rescuing" them, but it's certainly better than what happened in Poland.
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