Far right Romanian party opposes Holocaust education

From Balkan Insight:

The Alliance for the Union of Romanians party, AUR said on Monday that the Holocaust and sex education represent “minor issues” and that teaching them in schools would ” undermine the quality of education in Romania”.

The AUR was responding after the upper house of Romania’s parliament voted  by a large majority in November 2021 for a law making teaching about the Holocaust and Jewish history compulsory in schools from 2023.

“The ideological experiments on children in Romania must stop! Real education is classical education, which makes citizens aware of their rights and responsibilities, their culture, history and origins,” the AUR said in a press release.

The party argued that introducing new classes on the Holocaust and sex education will reduce the importance of subjects like sciences, the Romanian language and literature, and national history.

The AUR has 13 representatives in the 136-member Romanian Senate and 30 in the 330- member Chamber of Deputies. It appears to have little chance of changing the law but is hoping to put pressure on the education ministry.

AUR has been accused of downplaying the Holocaust.

 According to the Elie Wiesel Institute for the Study of the Holocaust, there are at least 17 places in Romania with streets, busts, or institutions named after war criminals, who helped send hundreds of thousands of Jews to their deaths.

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