Gheorghe Buzatu
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Gheorghe Buzatu (6 June 1939 – 20 May 2013)"Istoricul Gheorghe Buzatu, fost senator PRM, a încetat din viață"
''Gandul.info''.
was a
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
n historian, politician, and professor of history at the
University of Iași The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University ( Romanian: ''Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza"''; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in Iași, Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former Academia M ...
. Elected to the
Romanian Senate ) is the upper house in the bicameral Parliament of Romania. It has 136 seats (before the 2016 Romanian legislative election the total number of elected representatives was 176), to which members are elected by direct popular vote using party-list ...
for
Iași County Iași County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in Western Moldavia, with the administrative seat at Iași. It is the most populous county in Romania, after the Municipality of Bucharest (which has the same administrative level as that of a c ...
in 2000 on the lists of the nationalist party
Greater Romania Party The Greater Romania Party ( ro, Partidul România Mare, PRM) is a Romanian nationalist political party. Founded in May 1991 by Eugen Barbu and Corneliu Vadim Tudor, it was led by the latter from that point until his death in September 2015. The ...
, he served as a vice president of that body over the next four years.Profile
at the Romanian Chamber of Deputies site
He is best known for his controversial publications about the Jews and the Holocaust in Romania during World War II.


Biography

Born in
Sihlea Sihlea is a commune located in Vrancea County, Romania. It is composed of four villages: Bogza, Căiata, Sihlea, and Voetin. The commune is located in the southern extremity of the county, from the county capital, Focșani. Sihlea is situated o ...
,
Vrancea County Vrancea () is a county ( județ) in Romania, with its seat at Focșani. It is mostly in the historical region of Moldavia but the southern part, below the Milcov River, is in Muntenia. Demographics In 2011, it had a population of 340,310 and ...
, Buzatu finished elementary and high school in the city of
Râmnicu Sărat Râmnicu Sărat (also spelled ''Rîmnicu Sărat'', , german: Rümnick or ''Rebnick''; tr, Remnik) is a municipiu, city in Buzău County, Romania, in the historical region of Muntenia. It was first attested in a document of 1439, and raised to the ...
and later studied history and linguistics at the
University of Iași The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University ( Romanian: ''Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza"''; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in Iași, Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former Academia M ...
. In 1971, he received his PhD in history. Between 1961 and 1992, he worked as a researcher at the Iași institute for archeology and history and was the chief researcher in the Center for History and European studies of the
Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its byl ...
. In 1992, he became the director of this center.


Publications

Buzatu published 25 books and was involved in the writing of several others. One of his best-known works is the book ''Românii în arhivele Kremlinului'' (Romanians in the Kremlin's archives), published in 1996. The book's chief thesis is that the Jews were responsible for the mass suffering and massacre of Romanians by the communist regime. A chapter in the book, " Aşa a început Holocaustul împotriva poporului român" (Thus began the Holocaust against the Romanian people) was published in 1995 as a brochure by the extreme right group "The Legionnaires". In this chapter, Buzatu claimed that the Jews have the main responsibility for the Holocaust of the Romanian people which began in 1940 with the
Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina The Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina took place from June 28 to July 3, 1940, as a result of an ultimatum by the Soviet Union to Romania on June 26, 1940, that threatened the use of force. Bessarabia had been part of the Kin ...
. In July 2001, Buzatu organized a Symposium on the subject of the Holocaust of the Jews in Romania. This symposium, titled "Holocaust în România?", mainly questioned the existence of the Holocaust of the Jewish people in Romania and the responsibility of the Romanian government for the mass murders committed on Romanian-controlled territories taken from the Soviet Union in 1941.
After the symposium, Buzatu established "Liga pentru Combaterea Antiromânismului" (the league against anti-Romanianism) with himself as president. Holocaust historian Randolph Braham described Buzatu as a "Holocaust denier historian and an expert in manipulating public opinion".


Political career

Between 2000 and 2004, Buzatu represented
Iași County Iași County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in Western Moldavia, with the administrative seat at Iași. It is the most populous county in Romania, after the Municipality of Bucharest (which has the same administrative level as that of a c ...
in the
Romanian Senate ) is the upper house in the bicameral Parliament of Romania. It has 136 seats (before the 2016 Romanian legislative election the total number of elected representatives was 176), to which members are elected by direct popular vote using party-list ...
. In 2002, after parliament passed a law forbidding
Holocaust denial Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: ...
, Buzatu offered to change the definition of "Holocaust". According to the proposal, the definition should be "a mass organized annihilation of Jewish population in Europe, committed by the Nazi authorities". Thus, Buzatu's proposal would have had the effect of saying there was no Holocaust in Romania because Nazi Germany did not directly rule Romania during the war. In 2004, Buzatu was awarded the
Order of the Star of Romania The Order of the Star of Romania (Romanian: ''Ordinul Steaua României'') is Romania's highest civil Order and second highest State decoration after the defunct Order of Michael the Brave. It is awarded by the President of Romania. It has five r ...
by president
Ion Iliescu Ion Iliescu (; born 3 March 1930) is a Romanian politician and engineer who served as President of Romania from 1989 until 1996 and from 2000 until 2004. Between 1996 and 2000 and also from 2004 to 2008, the year in which he retired, Iliescu ...
."Romanian anti-Semitism continues"
''National Post'' via ''o.canada.com''
Buzatu died in 2013.


See also

* Historical revisionism *
Holocaust denial Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: ...


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buzatu, Gheorghe 1939 births 2013 deaths People from Vrancea County Alexandru Ioan Cuza University alumni 20th-century Romanian historians Romanian nationalists Romanian Holocaust deniers Greater Romania Party politicians Members of the Senate of Romania Recipients of the Order of the Star of Romania Recipients of the Order of Honour (Moldova) Alexandru Ioan Cuza University faculty