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Anti-Semitism in public speeches, more education on the Holocaust and on some politicians' negative attitude at the Jews were among the issues raised in yesterday's debate, arranged by the US Embassy in Romania and the 'Ellie Wiesel' National Institute for Holocaust Studies.

The US congratulated Romania for the progress made with the approach to the Holocaust due to the making of the National Institute for Holocaust in Romania in 2005. Mark Taplin, a representative of the US ambassador to Bucharest, reminded that almost 400,000 of the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust had come from Romania.

Christian Kennedy, the US special envoy for Holocaust matters, was also present and he mentioned one problem unsettled after the Shoah: the return of properties, houses and valuables that had belonged to the Jewish community. He argued that the restitution of such properties would help to the cleaning of national consciousness. He also reminded about the art collections confiscated by the Nazis and mentioned the US was helping 15 nations settle it.

Historian Radu Ioanid, a head of the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies in the Holocaust Memorial in Washington D.C., emphasized how important it was to point to Anti-Semite acts, unfortunately still present and tolerated in Romania. Here are the other attendants of yesterday's round table: Rodica Radian Gordon, Israel's ambassador to Romania, David Oren, future Israeli ambassador, US congressman Alcee Hastings and Otto Adler, president of the Association of Holocaust Survivors in Romania. (D.E.)

Articol disponibil la adresa http://www.ziua.net/display.php?id=221883&data=2007-06-07