Romanian central bank denies antisemitism in coin row

THE governor of Romania's central bank said yesterday that it was not antisemitic despite minting a coin commemorating a prime minister who stripped Jews of their citizenship before the Second World War.

Governor Mugur Isarescu set up a commission to analyse the coin depicting the late Patriarch Miron Cristea, who led the Romanian Orthodox Church from 1925 to 1939 and was prime minister from 1938 to 1939. The commission will report in a few days and could recommend scrapping the coin if it is considered antisemitic, which is illegal in Romania. The coin is one in a series commemorate five Romanian Orthodox patriarchs.

Last week, Radu Ioanid, who runs the Holocaust Museum's international archives, called for the withdrawal of the coin.

Cristea was responsible for revising the citizenship law, stripping about 225,000 Jews, 37 percent of the Jewish population, of citizenship.

Mr Isarescu said the coins were made to celebrate Romania's Orthodox Church.

"We respect the values of the nation and democracy," he said.