Two representatives of Agudah World Organization's
International Committee for Protection and Preservation of
Jewish Cemeteries described a recent Washington meeting with
Romania's Ambassador to the U.S., Sorin Ducaru, and other
officials of the Romanian government as "much like knocking
on an open door."
Also present at the meeting were Geta Juverdeanu, Romanian
press and cultural attache; Stefan N. Maier, communication
and science attache; Joel Barries, executive director of the
U.S. commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage
Abroad; and Katrina A. Krzysztofiak, the Commission's
program manager.
According to Professor Moshe Zvi Reicher, chairman of the
International Committee for Protection and Preservation of
Jewish Cemeteries and AIWO's Director of International
Affairs and United Nations Representative; and Rabbi Chaskel
Besser, senior member of the Committee, Agudath Israel of
America presidium member and member of the U.S. Commission
for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, the
foreign officials were "warm and friendly and very receptive
to the issues we raised."
Discussion centered mainly around the activation of the U.S.-
Romanian Joint Cultural Heritage commission, provided for by
a 1992 Treaty by the United States and Romania for the
protection and preservation of cultural properties,
including synagogues and cemeteries.
"We were deeply gratified by how warmly and sensitively
Ambassador Sorin Ducaru greeted the proposal," Professor
Reicher said.
He added that the Ambassador had in fact noted that the
suggestion melded well with his embassy's planned project
for the preservation of Romanian Jewish heritage, which is
aimed at identifying, restoring and highlighting the
cultural and historic Jewish heritage of Romania.
"The Ambassador made it clear that the Jewish heritage is
regarded by the government as one of the most significant
aspects of the revival of ethnic contributions to the
Romanian national heritage."
The International Committee for Protection and Preservation
of Jewish Cemeteries, established last year at a meeting of
AIWO's Executive Committee in Bournemouth, England,
coordinates the various aspects of AIWO's work in cemetery
preservation and draws on its unique consultative status at
the United Nations and its expertise in international law
and diplomacy to advance the cause of cemeteries at national
levels.
Included in the numerous proposals and resolutions set forth
at the committee's inaugural meeting, held at Agudath
Israel's Rabbi Moshe Sherer National Headquarters in
February, was to seek national legislation proclaiming the
sanctity and inviolability of cemeteries and providing
detailed procedures for their protection and
preservation.
In pursuit of that end, approximately one month before the
Washington meeting, Professor Reicher and Rabbi Besser took
part in a week-long AIWO mission to Romania led by Rabbi
Shmuel Halpert MK, Deputy Speaker of the Knesset and deputy
chairman of the committee.
The delegation met with Romanian president Ion Iliescu, its
Minister of Culture, the President of the Senate and other
Romanian officials to discuss proposed national legislation
for the protection and preservation of Jewish cemeteries in
Romania.
Addressing the officials at the presidential palace in
Bucharest, Rabbi Halpert gratefully acknowledged that many
of the country's 800 Jewish cemeteries are indeed guarded
and protected.
He went on, however, to voice his deep distress over the
many others that have been neglected, desecrated and even
destroyed.
Rabbi Halpert expressed particular concern -- shared, he
said, by the many Romanian expatriates living in the U.S.,
Israel and other countries throughout the world -- regarding
the fate of those cemeteries located in areas where Jews no
longer reside. The protection of Jewish cemeteries can only
be ensured through legislation explicitly prohibiting their
desecration and destruction, the rabbi told the
officials.
More than half a century after the Holocaust, Jewish
cemeteries in Europe are still seriously threatened, Rabbi
Besser declared in his remarks at the meeting, effectively
illustrating his point by citing a number of cemeteries that
have been turned into sports arenas or stadiums.
The senior member of the delegation, Rabbi Besser had also
come to Romania in his capacity as a member of the U.S.
Commission for the Protection and Preservation of America's
Heritage Abroad, which was instrumental in the 1992
Treasury; and in his capacity as chairman of the Ronald S.
Lauder Foundation, which among other undertakings, operates
a Jewish school and museum in Bucharest.
Characterizing the issue of protection and preservation of
Jewish cemeteries as "humanitarian in nature and involving
international human rights as well as freedom of religion,"
Professor Reicher pointed out to the Romanian officials that
"help and cooperation from Romania in catering to our
religious beliefs and sensitivities has the potential to
generate much good will among Jews the world over and to
foster positive relations with the United States and
Israel."
The President of the Senate indeed acknowledged the
excellent relations that exist between Romania and Israel
and expressed his hopes for continued goodwill between the
two countries.
Israel's Ambassador to Romania, Avraham Milo, was also
present at the meeting as well as at others throughout the
week, lending the full backing of the Israeli government to
the AIWO mission.
The delegation succeeded in securing an agreement in
principle regarding the enactment of national legislation
for the protection and preservation of Jewish cemeteries and
resolved that an interim executive decision be promulgated
while legislation is being prepared.
"The mission to Romania as well as the meeting in Washington
represent a major breakthrough in the area of cemetery
protection and preservation in Romania," said Professor
Reicher.
"We look forward with keen anticipation to working with the
appropriate Romanian officers in drafting the legislation
that will give effect to the goodwill and agreements in
principle that were arrived at in Bucharest."
