Far-right candidate stokes fear among Romania's Jews

DW (English)

A right-wing extremist could be elected president in Romania this Sunday. The Jewish community is already feeling the impact of the country's recent shift to the right.

Transcript

00:00Swastikas, SS runes, right-wing codes.

00:04Traces of Romania's shift to the right can be found on walls around the capital, Bucharest.

00:10Earlier this month, Georges Simeon won the first round of the presidential election,

00:15which means that a right-wing extremist could be elected president in the run-off on Sunday.

00:20Adina Marincia, of the National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania,

00:25says that recent developments are an expression of the profound discontent felt by many Romanians.

00:31They vote for extremist parties because they are dissatisfied with how the political class

00:39has handled previous crises like the Covid-19 pandemic,

00:44or also they are dissatisfied with their economic conditions

00:50that are not sufficient for them to lead a decent life.

00:57As right-wing extremism has increased, so too has anti-Semitism, especially in recent months.

01:03While the current Romanian government supports Israel

01:06and introduced into the school curriculum the subject of the Holocaust and the history of the Jews,

01:11Marincia says that anti-Semitism in Romanian society is becoming more noticeable.

01:16Right-wing extremist parties use anti-Semitism to find an easy explanation for different problems in the society,

01:27and to find the scapegoats that they can blame for the things that are not functioning in the society.

01:36So it is easier for them than to come with the actual political and economic solution.

01:43The State Jewish Theatre in Bucharest is a cultural meeting place.

01:47It too has experienced extreme animosity.

01:50Just a few months ago, a threat to set fire to the theatre and kill everyone inside was posted on TikTok.

01:58We are living probably one of the worst periods of Europe after the Second World War.

02:08There are wars all around us.

02:11This country is in big trouble, as you know, after the elections.

02:17The premiere of the performance Song of Songs is due to take place here in a week's time.

02:30The Song of Songs, a book in the Bible, tells the story of two lovers.

02:35But this performance doesn't just focus on love.

02:38They are about people in terrible situations that can find a way out.

02:45Because to me, survival is the most incredible human quality,

02:52somebody that can go through hardship, through terrible political situations,

02:57and still come on talk.

03:00The play will be performed in Yiddish.

03:07For director Andrej Montianu, working in this language is something very special.

03:13Here is the place where I can stage Yiddish classics in the language that I know,

03:20and that I can express all my feelings better.

03:25The State Jewish Theatre has a long history.

03:28The first Jewish theatre in the world was founded in the city of Yash,

03:32in what was then the Principality of Romania, in 1876.

03:37Almost 150 years later, this tradition continues in Bucharest,

03:41even though Romania's Jewish community is now very small,

03:45and only has about 12,000 members.

03:48The theatre wants to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive and build bridges,

03:53especially as the majority of people who come here are not Jewish.

03:58They can understand better the Jewish culture,

04:02and on this way we can avoid some conflicts

04:07and maybe some presumptions on the Jewish folk, on the Jewish tradition,

04:13what is true, what is not true.

04:16Mediating, remembering, preserving.

04:20Regardless of the outcome of Sunday's presidential election,

04:23the State Jewish Theatre in Bucharest just might be more relevant than ever before.

04:29The University of Utah is prided by Ashraf Gowoms.

04:34He's helped me to study themindedness that is the New York of the National Public Television.

04:37For more information, visit the local and public islands.

04:39For more information, visit the website.

04:40The Community of the National Public Officials

04:41for more information, visit theach 지que.

04:43The Cylumber of the National Public sitä

04:45The National Public Television is more relevant than ever before.

04:47The National Public Television is more relevant than ever before.

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