Wiesenthal Center Urges Romania to Improve Implementation of Existing Laws Against Anti-Semitism and Holocaust Denial

Jerusalem- On April 29, the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Director for Israel and Eastern European Affairs, Holocaust historian Dr.Efraim Zuroff, hosted Romanian MP Alexandru Muraru, the Romanian government's Special Representative for Combatting Anti-Semitism, as well as State Secretary Irina Dumitrita Solomon, who headsthe Committee for Implementing the National Strategy for Combatting Anti-Semitism, Racism and Xenophobia, for a frank and constructive meeting about ways to improve and enhance the Romaniangovernment's campaign against anti-Semitism.

Thanks to the Wiesenthal Center's decades-long cooperation with the Bucharest-based MCA Romania, the Center for Monitoring andCombatting Anti-Semitism, headed by Marco Katz, Dr. Zuroff was well-informed on the pertinent issues and was in a position to offer some constructive suggestions to the government officials, whowere receptive to his advice.

According to Zuroff:

"I was glad to learn that both MP Muraru and State Secretary Solomon have concrete plans to focus very seriously on efforts toensure that Romanian laws against anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial will be fully implemented and offenders duly punished, which has not been the case to date. Anti-Semites such as VasileZarnescu, a former officer of the Romanian Secret Service, and Holocaust deniers such as Bucharest University professor Ion Coja have been able to spread their lies and hatred for too long andmust be punished severely."

For additional information please contact the Israel Office of the Wiesenthal Center: Tel: 972-2-563-1274 or Tel: 972-50-721-4156,follow the Center on Facebook, or @simonwiesenthal and @EZuroff for news updates sent directly to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member familiesin the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).