International Religious Freedom Report 2010 (2)

The government continued to make progress in its efforts to teach the true history of the Holocaust in the country. Compulsory seventh-grade history courses included the Holocaust as a dimension of World War II, and a ninth-grade history course had a full chapter on the Holocaust. The Holocaust was taught in connection with World War II in 10th-grade; as a specific theme in 11th-grade; and in the chapter on national minorities in the 12th-grade curriculum. There was also an optional course on "History of the Jews and Holocaust" for the 12th-grade. The government continued to train teachers in Bacau, Cluj, Bucharest, Iasi, and Craiova to teach about the Holocaust. In addition the teachers received training for programs offered jointly by the Ministry of Education and the Yad Vashem Institute. In 2009 30 history teachers received training at Yad Vashem and at the Shoah Memorial in Paris. The Ministry of Education maintained a Web site that included a guide to assist teachers nationwide who instructed courses on the Holocaust. The Ministry of Education also continued to distribute books and supplementary materials to help teach the Holocaust and continued to sponsor national and international seminars on the Holocaust, the teaching of its history, the combating of anti-Semitism, and national contests regarding the Holocaust.

On May 7, 2010, on the occasion of a visit from the Holy See, the Orthodox Patriarch released a statement declaring that the Orthodox Church wished to resume the dialogue with the Greek Catholic Church to jointly identify solutions to resolve outstanding disputes, which include the restitution of churches and church property; the implementation of court decisions on the property disputes; the issuance of construction permits for new churches; the provision of access to local cemeteries in accordance with the law; and the resolution of lawsuits currently before the court. The dialogue had not yet started by the end of the reporting period.

In April 2010 parliament adopted a law stipulating that Muslims may take their deceased family members from a hospital in less than 24 hours after the death occurred. Previously, 24 hours was the minimum.

In January 2010 government officials and members of parliament attended and addressed a series of events commemorating the 1941 pogrom in Bucharest in which 125 Jews were killed by the Iron Guard, (also known as Legionnaires), a pro-Nazi, anti-Semitic organization.

On October 8, 2009, National Holocaust Remembrance Day, the president dedicated a Holocaust memorial in Bucharest. A large number of government and foreign officials attended the ceremony. On the same day parliament held a solemn special joint session at which Holocaust survivors and other officials spoke. Several other events took place elsewhere in the country.

The president also awarded the Order of Merit to the Romanian members of the Wiesel Commission and various other medals to rabbis, international and Romanian researchers, and public personalities active in the research and teaching of the Holocaust.

Several religious groups, including Jehovah's Witnesses, the Greek Catholic Church, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church, reported that they enjoyed free access to detention facilities.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church noted that both the authorities and the population at large have improved attitudes toward this denomination and its social activities. During the reporting period the written media covered Adventist social, educational, humanitarian, and health care projects with greater frequency than in the past.

Section III. Status of Societal Respect for Religious Freedom

There were reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice.

During the reporting period, anti-Semitic views and attitudes were expressed by participants during talk show broadcasts by private television stations and in discussion forums on the Internet.

The modern incarnation of the Legionnaires (the Legion of the Archangel Michael, also called the Iron Guard, an extreme nationalist, anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi group that existed in the country in the interwar period) continued to republish inflammatory books from the interwar period and to publish magazines such as Cuvintul Legionar (Legionnaire Word) carrying anti-Semitic articles. Some groups held public events or made statements with anti-Semitic themes.

Acts of anti-Semitism, including desecration and vandalism of Jewish sites, continued during the reporting period with no appreciable change in frequency compared to previous reporting periods. According to the NGO Center for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism (MCA) in the country, authorities tended to rule out any anti-Semitic motivation behind these acts of vandalism, blaming them on children, drunkards, or persons with mental disorders. MCA noted that Jewish establishments appeared to be targets of choice for the "vandals," and expressed the belief that the investigations were not thoroughly conducted, adding that the recurrence of such acts was encouraged by the lack of prosecutions under the law.

During the night of May 3, 2010, a group of youths threw stones at the house of the guard of the Jewish cemetery in Craiova. The Jewish community called the police, which took steps to restore order in the area.

On April 16, 2010, unidentified individuals broke into the chapel of the stone carving workshop of a Jewish cemetery in Bucharest. On April 13, 2010, unidentified individuals stole some assets from the administrative building of a Jewish cemetery in Bucharest. In both cases the Jewish Communities Federation filed complaints with the relevant authorities.

In April 2010 local media reported that unidentified individuals drew swastikas on the walls of several buildings and on a memorial in Galati and noted that the relevant authorities thought the perpetrators were rebellious teen-agers, not pro-Nazi individuals. In December 2009 a swastika also was painted on the walls of a building in Bucharest. The relevant authorities stated the action was merely the result of "youthful bravado."
During the night of July 7, 2009, unidentified individuals destroyed five tombstones in the Jewish cemetery in Ploiesti. The Jewish Communities Federation urged the relevant authorities to identify the perpetrators.

Extremist organizations occasionally held high-profile public events with anti-Semitic themes. The New Right Organization, Professor George Manu Foundation, and the Party for the Nation continued to sponsor events commemorating legionnaire leaders, including holding religious services, symposia, and marches. Such events took place in Sibiu on May 25 and January 13, 2010, in Tancabesti Forest on November 28 and 30, 2009; in Predeal on September 20, 2009; in Iasi on September 13, 2009; and in Timisoara on July 16, 2009. Participation in these events was usually limited to small numbers of people. These organizations also continued to promote the ideas of the Iron Guard in the media and on the Internet.

During the reporting period, the publications of the extreme nationalist Greater Romania Party (PRM), headed by MEP Corneliu Vadim Tudor, continued to carry statements and articles containing strong anti-Semitic remarks.

On June 15, 2010, the 121st anniversary of national poet Mihai Eminescu's death, PRM Secretary General Gheorghe Funar stated that Eminescu was killed by Jews who did not like his political writing and poems. He added that a Jewish doctor poisoned the poet with mercury. The Executive Director of the Wiesel Institute labeled the statement anti-Semitic and underscored that Funar did not offer any evidence in its support.

On May 13, 2010, a memorial cross commemorating heroes of both world wars and anti-communist fighters, most of them pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic Legionnaires, was dedicated by four Greek Catholic priests in Dragomiresti, Maramures County. The family of an anti-communist fighter erected the cross.

Following an appeal filed by the president, on November 18, 2009, the High Court of Cassation and Justice returned to the Bucharest Court of Appeal for a new trial the case regarding the withdrawal of the Star of Romania medal from PRM leader Corneliu Vadim Tudor. The lawsuit began in 2007 after the president withdrew the medal because of Tudor’s numerous xenophobic and anti-Semitic comments. Tudor challenged the legality of the president’s decree, and the Bucharest Court of Appeals ruled in Tudor's favor in April 2009. The High Court had not issued a final ruling by the end of the reporting period.

Minority religious groups alleged that some members of the Orthodox clergy provoked isolated incidents of organized group intimidation, impeded their efforts to proselytize, and interfered in religious activities.

The CNCD received five complaints of discrimination on religious grounds from July 1, 2009, through June 1, 2010. During that period the CNCD started investigations of these five complaints and, in addition, 26 incidents of possible discrimination in which no complaint was received.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church complained that Orthodox, Roman-Catholic, and Greek Catholic priests in some cases pressured authorities not to rent cultural houses or public halls for public events sponsored by the Adventist Church and attempted to discourage believers from attending.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church reported several conflicts with Orthodox priests. On May 23, 2010, in Cosereni (Ialomita County) a group of Adventist believers was distributing books when two local Orthodox priests verbally and physically abused four Adventists. The police allegedly stated that the Adventists’ claims were accurate, but did not take any measures against the Orthodox priests. A similar case occurred in Barcanesti, Prahova County, where Adventists believers were assaulted by an Orthodox priest, who snatched the books they were distributing and tore them up.

In Persinari (Dambovita County) an Orthodox priest disrupted an Adventist Bible-study meeting that took place in the house of an Adventist believer and tried to intimidate the participants, according to the Adventist Church. A police officer and the mayor allegedly arrived on the scene, declared the meeting to be illegal and threatened to fine the Adventists if they held such meetings again. The Adventist minister explained the legal framework to the authorities, who relented. Subsequent meetings continued to take place.

Mormons continued to report isolated incidents of harassment of missionaries by residents in several locations and complained that apartment managers frequently barred missionaries from accessing apartment houses, although they observed appropriate hours and behavior.

The Greek Catholic Church reported that in many localities its believers were subjected to harassment and intimidation by Orthodox priests and sometimes by local officials.

The Greek Catholic, Adventist, and Baptist churches continued to report that Orthodox priests allowed the burial of non-Orthodox believers in confessional or even public cemeteries (often treated as confessional by Orthodox priests in rural areas) only when certain conditions were met; they allowed burials only in isolated sections of the cemetery if non-Orthodox religious services were not used. Although the 2006 religion law allows religious groups access to cemeteries belonging to other churches, such incidents continued during the reporting period, albeit less frequently. The Adventist Church reported that in some cases--for example, in Alunis, Salaj County--the local Orthodox priest allowed the burial of an Adventist believer in the Adventist rite only after the intervention of the mayor's office and high-ranking Orthodox clergy, and then only at the margin of the public cemetery. In February and January 2010, in Persani, Brasov County, an Orthodox priest reportedly did not allow an Adventist minister to use the Adventist rite to bury two deceased Adventist believers. In one of the cases, the Adventist minister was allowed to speak and pray for 15 minutes, while in the other case, the Orthodox priest buried the believer in the Orthodox rite. In a village in Vaslui County, the Adventist church encountered a similar situation. In Galati the Adventist Church reported several instances in which it could place its deceased believers in the chapel of a public cemetery only after the intervention of the Orthodox Bishopric of Galati.

According to the Adventist Church, the authorities failed to implement a provision of the religion law requiring them to allocate burial land to all religious groups. The Baptist Church reported that, although it received land for a cemetery in Starchiojd, Prahova County, the local Orthodox parish occupied approximately one third of the land. In Potcoava, Olt County, the Baptist Church filed a lawsuit against the Orthodox Church because an Orthodox priest did not allow the burial of Baptist believers in a public cemetery. It also asked the mayor's office to allocate land in the cemetery for the burial of Baptist believers. The lawsuit was in progress at the end of the reporting period. In May 2010 the Orthodox priest in Potcoava, supported by his bishop, did not allow the burial of a Baptist believer on the basis that he could not be buried in the same grave with Orthodox believers (the Baptist believer's parents belonged to the Orthodox faith). A similar case was reported by the Baptist Church in Milailesti, Giurgiu County, where in December 2009 the Baptist congregation had to end the religious service for a deceased believer at the gate of the cemetery because the Orthodox priest denied them access to the cemetery. Over the years Orthodox priests have denied the Baptist Church access to the public cemeteries in Tufeni, Bacea, and Movileni (Olt County).

Orthodox priests also denied Greek Catholics access to many cemeteries in various locations including Pesceana (Valcea County), Damuc (Neamt County), Ungheni (Mures County), Vintu de Jos (Alba County), Magina (Alba County). Radesti (Alba County), Telec-Bicaz (Neamt County), Bicaz-Chei (Neamt County), Targu Lapus (Maramures County), and Desesti (Mures County). In Budesti (Maramures County) the Greek Catholic Church still did not have access to a cemetery even after a favorable court ruling. The Greek Catholic Church complained that in Urisiu de Jos (Sanmihaiu de Padure) and Chiheru de Jos (Mures County), the Orthodox priests pressured the relatives of Greek Catholic deceased to bury them according to the Orthodox rite.

Relations between the Greek Catholic Church and the Orthodox Archbishopric of Timisoara continued to be amicable and cooperative, with the latter restituting almost all of the Greek Catholic assets during the post-revolution period. The Orthodox bishopric of Caransebes continued to have similarly positive relations with the Greek Catholic Church.

For the most part, however, Orthodox leaders opposed and delayed returning churches to the Greek Catholics, taking the view that places of worship belonged to the congregations and not to the religious denomination. In this view the same religious communities that were Greek Catholic before 1948 and are presently Orthodox are using the churches. The Greek Catholic Church of the eparchy of Lugoj continued to report that the Orthodox bishopric of Arad, Ienopole, and Halmagiu was still using more than 90 Greek Catholic churches and refusing to restitute them or hold alternate religious services.

In Zalau (Salaj County) after the Orthodox Bishopric of Salaj refused to hold alternate services with the Greek Catholic Church in the chapel of a hospital for more than a year, the hospital manager offered a separate room for Greek Catholic use beginning in October 2009.

In several localities with two churches (one of which had belonged to the Greek Catholic Church) and only one Orthodox priest, the Orthodox Church has alternated religious services between the two locations, either locking the Orthodox church and holding services in the former Greek Catholic church or establishing a second Orthodox parish at the former Greek Catholic church. In one town Tautii de Sus in Maramures County, to avoid restituting a church to the Greek Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church uses the Greek Catholic church as a mortuary chapel. During the reporting period, the Orthodox Church continued to keep more than 15 former Greek Catholic churches closed. Meanwhile, Greek Catholics held religious services in more than 130 unofficial locations, such as in believers' homes and houses of culture.

In Salonta (Bihor County) the Orthodox Church continued to build a new church next to the old Greek Catholic church, which was partially demolished despite a four-year ongoing lawsuit for its restitution. After the Greek Catholic Church won the lawsuit, the High Court of Cassation and Justice returned the case to the Timisoara Court of Appeal for retrial with the Orthodox Church demanding a list of names of the Greek Catholic believers. The Orthodox Church in Salonta also opposed the allocation by the local authorities of land to the Greek Catholic Church for the construction of a new church.

In April 2009 in Sapanta (Maramures County) under the pretext of renovating the local church (which was Greek Catholic before 1948), the Orthodox Church demolished its steeple, announcing its intention to rebuild it in a different style. The renovation works were partially funded by the Ministry of Culture. Greek Catholic sources suspected the Orthodox Church had objected to the Catholic neo-Gothic style of the steeple. The Greek Catholic Church held property deeds for both the church and its cemetery and obtained a court injunction to suspend the demolition and construction works, which the Orthodox Church observed for a short time after completing demolition of the steeple. In July 2009 the Maramures County tribunal rejected the injunction, giving the Orthodox Church clearance to continue construction. Greek Catholic appeals to the local and national government remained unanswered according to Greek Catholic sources, but the lawsuit initiated by the Greek Catholic Church for the restitution of the church was still ongoing at the end of the reporting period. The Orthodox Church rebutted Greek Catholic statements, asserting that the church is the property of the local (now Orthodox) community and not of the Greek Catholic Church. The Orthodox Church had begun extensive restoration, rehabilitation, and consolidation work on the church in 2007. It further accused the local Greek Catholic parish of holding religious services in an unauthorized place of worship for over eight years. According to the Orthodox Church, the Greek Catholic believers in Sapanta number only 10 people, while the Orthodox believers are 3,300 and the Greek Catholic Church reclaimed the church, the cemetery, land, and other properties "without complying with the proportionality principle and the wish of the 3,300 Orthodox believers."

On May 18 and 19, 2010, unidentified persons broke into two churches (one Greek Catholic and one Reformed), vandalized them, and stole valuable items.

On April 23, 2010, unidentified individuals set fire to a Greek Catholic church in Timisoara.

On October 3, 2009, an Orthodox priest set fire to an historic formerly Greek Catholic wooden church built in 1777, in Soconzel (Satu Mare County). Reports said that the priest accidentally threw a cigarette butt in the dry grass in the churchyard.

Representatives of minority religious groups complained that charitable activities carried out by their groups in children's homes and shelters often were negatively interpreted as proselytizing, adding that Orthodox priests engaging in such work faced no such perceptions.

After the dialogue between the Greek Catholic and Orthodox Churches halted in 2004, disputes between the two religious groups over church property increased in number and intensity. Greek Catholic communities decided in many cases to build new churches because of the lack of progress in restituting their properties either through dialogue with the Orthodox Church or in court. However, in some cases the Orthodox Church and the local authorities hampered their efforts. Tensions continued in at least 21 localities where the Orthodox Church refused to comply with court rulings ordering restitution or where the Greek Catholic Church had initiated lawsuits for restitution.

In Dumbraveni (Sibiu County) the Orthodox Church continued to refuse to enforce a previous court ruling to share a local church with the Greek Catholic Church. Although the Orthodox Church had signed a protocol promising to return the Greek Catholic church after construction of a new Orthodox church, it continued to refuse to do so after the construction was complete.

A Roman Catholic Csango community, a group that speaks a Hungarian dialect, continued to complain that they were unable to hold religious services in their mother tongue because of opposition by the Roman Catholic Bishopric of Iasi. On October 17, 2009, however, there was progress in addressing these complaints when a service was held in Romanian, Hungarian, and Latin in the village of Vladnic (Bacau County).

Section IV. U.S. Government Policy

The U.S. government discusses religious freedom with the government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.

The U.S. government maintained active public outreach on religious freedom. The embassy maintained close contact with a broad range of religious groups and NGOs in the country, including Muslim groups and other minority religious groups, to monitor and discuss religious freedom. The ambassador and other embassy representatives regularly met and raised religious freedom concerns with religious leaders and government officials who worked on religious affairs.

The ambassador hosted a meal to break the fast following the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur and an iftar dinner following the Muslim holiday of Ramadan. In addition the ambassador, deputy chief of mission and other embassy officials attended various events celebrating the different religions practiced in the country.

The ambassador, chargé d'affaires, and other embassy officials repeatedly raised concerns about the slow restitution of religious properties, particularly of Greek Catholic churches, with government officials, including the president, prime minister, and the minister of culture and religious affairs. The embassy also encouraged the Romanian Orthodox and Greek Catholic Churches to resume dialogue aimed at reconciliation and the resolution of outstanding property disputes.

U.S. officials continued to advocate in government circles for fair and equal treatment on property restitution matters, including religious and communal properties, and for nondiscriminatory treatment of all religious groups. The embassy also specifically raised its concerns with government authorities and with the Orthodox Church over the continuing destruction of the historic Greek Catholic church structures in Ungheni and Sapanta. The embassy encouraged a renewal of dialogue between the Orthodox and Greek Catholic Churches.

Throughout the reporting period, embassy representatives and other U.S. government officials discussed with government officials at multiple levels the importance of full official recognition of the Holocaust in the country, improvements in Holocaust education in school curricula, and full implementation of the 2004 recommendations of the Wiesel Commission. The embassy supported visiting delegations focusing on matters related to the Holocaust. Embassy personnel and visiting U.S. officials repeatedly discussed the Holocaust in the country with local and international members of the Wiesel Institute and supported its work. Among many other events, embassy officials participated in the commemoration of National Holocaust Day in October 2009 and the dedication of the Holocaust Memorial. The embassy supported the activities of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and its efforts to further Holocaust education in the country.