Ceausescu Condemns Anti-semitism; Says Manifestations Must Be Fought

— President Nicolae Ceausescu of Rumania twice condemned anti-Semitism this month, first at a meeting in Bucharest April 2 with Rabbi Arthur Schneier of New York, chairman of the World Jewish Congress American Section, and again yesterday in an address to the Rumanian Worker Conference, the WJC reported here. On both occasions, his remarks were widely reported on Rumanian television and radio and in the press.

Schneier, who is also president of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, met with Ceausescu at the offices of the Communist Party Central Committee in Bucharest. They reviewed current problems on the international scene which, Ceausescu stressed, required supreme efforts for peaceful resolution of conflicts. In that connection, he underlined the need to combat neo-fascist, terrorist and racist activities and deplored the new anti-Semitic manifestations in various parts of the world, the WJC reported.

In his address yesterday, the Rumanian President returned to the theme of vigilance against fascism, racism and anti-Semitism, “We must combat decisively retrograde conceptions, mysticism and superstition as well as any nationalist, chauvinist, racist or anti-Semitic manifestations which were and are foreign to the revolutionary workers ideals. Such manifestations have always served the oppressor class to divide working men in order to exploit them more easily.”

Continuing, Ceausescu said, “In conditions of a worsening international situation of an economic crisis… we are now observing the intensification of a policy of creating animosity and disunity of the masses; the intensification of fascist organizations to end democratic liberty, acts of terrorism, international enmity and recrudescence of racism and anti-Semitism.”

Schneier also had a two-hour meeting with Rumanian Foreign Minister Stephen Andrei at which they discussed international issues of specific concern to the American Jewish community. In addition, he met with Rumania’s Minister of Religious Affairs Ion Roseanu, accompanied by Chief Rabbi Moshe Rosen of Rumania.