AJC Addresses Moldova Holocaust Commemorations

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Jan 30, 2015, 01:05 ET

CHISINAU, Moldova, Jan. 30, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An AJC official addressed a Holocaust memorial ceremony and conference marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. It was hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Moldova together with the country's Jewish community.

"It is symbolic that for the first time the Holocaust commemoration conference in Moldova is organized in close cooperation between the government and the vibrant Jewish community," said Sam Kliger, AJC Director of Russian Jewish Affairs, at the opening session.

Hundreds attended the gathering in Chisinau, including diplomats representing Israel, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, the United States, the EU and Council of Europe, as well as Moldovan government officials.

A session at the conference on anti-Semitism in the media was co-chaired by Natalia Gherman, Moldova's acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, and AJC's Kliger.

It was the third visit to Moldova by AJC in the past eight months. AJC signed an association agreement with the Jewish Community of Moldova during a visit last September, which included a ceremony at the memorial for the 1903 and 1905 pogroms in the city, then known as Kishinev.

"We attach particular importance to this partnership, as AJC traces our very founding to the pogroms here," said AJC Executive Director David Harris at the time. Following reports of deadly violence, a group of American Jews came together and founded AJC in 1906, with the goal of using advocacy to help secure the well-being of Jews around the world.

"Moreover, AJC fully recognizes what's at stake in Moldova's future. We have visited Chisinau and met with Moldovan diplomats in an effort to stress our strong support for the Moldovan people's aspiration for a European and transatlantic orientation," Harris added.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee