Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Romania is sorry for deporting Gypsies

|
|
 
  
Published: Oct. 24, 2007 at 10:45 AM

BUCHAREST, Romania, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Romanian President Traian Basescu apologized for the country deporting thousands of Gypsies to Nazi death camps during World War II.

Basescu, in the first such apology to the Romany community, as Gypsies are officially addressed, said he was sorry for their prosecution during the Holocaust, the Serbian news agency Tanjug reported Wednesday.

Romania’s leaders have already apologized for the role of the Bucharest regime against Jews during World War II, Tanjug said.

At a ceremony Sunday in Bucharest, Basescu conferred orders on three Romanies who survived the Holocaust.

Basescu recalled that the Romanian regime some 65 years ago deported Gypsies from their homes to die in Nazi camps. As many as 500,000 Romanian Gypsies were killed during World War II.

Official statistics say about 500,000 Gypsies live in Romania but minority experts believe their number is close to 1 million.

Topics: Traian Basescu
© 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Protesters, police clash at NATO summit Notable deaths of 2012 2012 Billboard Music Awards
The 137th Preakness Stakes Annual Solar eclipse occurs in U.S. Chen Guangcheng arrives in the U.S.
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 29
Members of the Army's Old Guard place flags at Arlington National Ceremtery
View Caption
U.S. flags are seen in the rucksack of a soldier with the Army's 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment, The Old Guard, as he places flags at gravesites in Arlington National Cemetery as part of the Flags-In Memorial Day ceremony on May 24, 2012 in Arlington, Virginia. American flags were placed at each of the more than 220,000 grave markers in honor of those who served and Memorial Day. UPI/Kevin Dietshc
fark
Crimefighter who rides a chopper. In Afghanistan. And is a female. Don't mess with her
Daily Show writer partners with Slate to crowdsource ideas for amending and rewriting the Constitution....
Canada's national archives is being dismantled and scattered, who needs to remember the history...
Man disappears in Niagara Falls whirlpool; presumed to be spinning in his grave
Woman swallows toothbrush while brushing her teeth. Surgeons remove it before Oral B becomes Anal...
MSNBC Host Chris Hayes: I'm 'Uncomfortable' calling fallen military 'Heroes'