Holocaust Era Mass Graves Found

Originally posted by amadeus30
Yes as a matter of fact I did read the article.

Did YOU read the article??

An international commission headed by Nobel laureate Wiesel said in 2004 that between 280,000 and 380,000 Romanian and Ukrainian Jews were killed in Romania and areas it during World War Two as an ally of Nazi Germany.

Yes, and as I have highlighted, it confirms my point that the area, and therefore any atrocities committed there, were the responsibility of Romanian and not German troops. I mean, credit where credit is due. Apart from a brief foray into Fascism under the Iron Guard, who made the original alliance with Germany, the Romanian military was in complete control over their country. The Romanians hardly had a history of kindness to Jews with the preceding century just consisting of one pogrom after another, mostly caused by inciting local prejudices with propaganda disseminated through the various Christian Churches. Very much the same as was happening throughout Europe at the time, but in Romania, Hungary and the Balkans, the rise of racialism was particularly impactive due to the diversity of the population. It took very little agitation on the part of Germany to set off the violence against the Jews in those regions, again, and it required the Romanian military to take command of the situation and arrest the puppet Dictator of the Iron Guard, and renegotiate terms with Hitler. Those terms consisted of no interference on domestic matters, and so, rather than being beaten to death by their former neighbours, the Jews were more summarily executed by the Romanian army.

Originally posted by amadeus30
You're correct to say it was Romanian troops that killed these Jews, however they were allies and occupied by Nazi Germany.

Germany would have had, maybe, a couple of Party officials, and their staff, perhaps a representative of the Gestapo or SS, but not really what you would call an occupation. Nobody had to force the Romanians to kill the Jews, they merely had to say it was 'OK' to kill them. I think that that is a distinction worth making.

reply to post by KilgoreTrout


Ok i see your point, i just felt there was a connection to the German lead holocaust as the article stated the country was "occupied" by Germany.

The word "occupied" was a little misleading i guess. Thanks for the clarification,

Romania has only recently started to come to terms with its role in the extermination of Jews, admitting for the first time in 2003 that it took part.

That section there lead me to believe that it was all part of the "German lead" campaign against the Jews, I wasn't aware of the history before that. .

Oh, there is a connection. Make no mistake about that. Many of the atrocities performed by the allies of Nazi Germany were tacitly, and/or overtly, condoned by the occupiers.

Jews, Romany, the infirm/handicapped, and a myriad of others deemed "enemies of the state" were condemned to death by the Nazis. If they didn't actually pull the trigger, they heartily approved.

It should be noted here, however, that not all Germans favored this. That is all too often lost in the rush to, with justification, condemn the atrocity that was the Holocaust.