Israeli President Herzog Commemorates 85th Anniversary of Iași Pogrom in Romania

Israeli President Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal participated in a state ceremony in Iași, Romania, marking 85 years since the Iași pogrom. The event took place at the Jewish cemetery in the city and included Romanian government officials, local leaders, and members of the Jewish community. The ceremony began with the recitation of Kaddish by Romania's Chief Rabbi Rafael Schaffer, followed by Herzog's speech honoring the victims. Herzog also took part in the reburial of the recently discovered remains of 22 pogrom victims.

Herzog emphasized the shared commitment of Israel and Romania to preserving the memory of the Holocaust and Romanian Jewry's history. He reflected on the brutal events between June 28 and July 6, 1941, which resulted in the murder of tens of thousands of Jews in Iași and its surroundings. Herzog questioned how such cruelty could occur in a once-thriving Jewish community, concluding that "the only answer is deafening silence." He cited Romanian-born Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, who described the perpetrators as ordinary people who showed no mercy.

The president stressed the importance of confronting this painful history to ensure it is never forgotten or reduced to a passive memory. He called for education about the atrocities and visits to the site by people worldwide. Herzog also highlighted the historical connection between Iași and the Zionist movement, noting that early Jewish Romanian pioneers helped establish some of the first settlements in Israel, such as Rosh Pina in 1882.

Concluding his remarks, Herzog warned that antisemitism is resurging across Europe, fueled by malign influences, and that the moral foundations built after the Holocaust are weakening. He urged a collective responsibility to recognize, name, and actively combat this threat. Herzog ended with a prayer for the victims, invoking their memory as a lesson for the future.