The government also has programs for compensating religious organisations for property confiscated during World War II and during the rule of the Socialist Republic of Romania.
[6] Although Jews living in territories belonging to Romania prior to the beginning of the war largely avoided this fate, they nevertheless faced harsh antisemitic laws passed by the Antonescu government.
[6] During the Socialist era following World War II, the Romanian government exerted significant control over the Orthodox Church and closely monitored religious activity, as well as promoting atheism among the population.
[7] Dissident priests were censured, arrested, deported, and/or defrocked, but the Orthodox Church as a whole acquiesced to the government's demands and received support from it.
[18] Villages were allowed to elect their own pastors, but in practice, only the Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist, and Unitarian faiths received privileged status.
This power sharing agreement was unstable, and the Iron Guard staged a coup in 1941, which included an anti-Jewish pogrom in Bucharest, and which was crushed by Antonescu with German support.
[36] Romania entered World War II following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941,[37] occupying Bessarabia, Bucovina, and Transnistria.
[6] However, the vast majority of the Jewish population of Moldavia, Wallachia, Banat and Southern Transylvania survived,[39] although their fundamental rights were limited.
[40] In early 1943, Antonescu reversed some anti-Jewish policy and halted the deportation of Jews to extermination camps as he began to seek reconciliation with the Allies.
[41] After the German occupation of Hungary in March 1944, about 132,000 (mainly Hungarian-speaking) Jews were deported to extermination camps from Northern Transylvania with the Hungarian authorities' support.
[47] Monastery closures were halted, and new churches were constructed with state backing, and the observation of Orthodox rites by communists was tolerated.
[47] Following the death of Patriarch Justinian in 1977, the state began a new anti-church campaign, engaging in urban renewal projects that entailed the destruction of churches.
[7] With the exception of an evangelical Protestant minority, religious leaders largely avoided criticising the government or its policies until the very end of the socialist regime.
It stipulates all religions are independent from the state and have the freedom to organise "in accordance with their own statutes" under terms defined by the law.
The law forbids public authorities or private legal entities from asking individuals to specify their religion, with the exception of the census.
Their registration falls under the provisions of law governing the establishment of foundations, associations, and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), which require a minimum membership of three individuals.
It transferred all places of worship and parish houses to the Romanian Orthodox Church and most other properties (land and buildings) to the state.
[1] Under the law, if a confiscated property is used "in the public interest," such as for a school, hospital, or museum, and is returned to its previous owner, the current occupants are allowed to stay in it for 10 years after the restitution decision and pay a capped rent.
Religious groups may use the points only to bid on other properties in auctions organised by the National Commission for Real Estate Compensation (NCREC).
The law establishes a 240-day deadline by which claimants must submit additional evidence in their cases at the specific request of the entity in charge of resolving their restitution claim.
[1] The law nullifies acts of forced "donations" of Jewish property during WWII and the socialist era, and lowers the burden of proof for the previous owners or their heirs to obtain restitution.
[1] The law prohibits establishment of fascist, Legionnaire, racist, or xenophobic organisations, which it defines in part as groups that promote violence, religiously motivated hatred, or antisemitism.
[1] The Jehovah’s Witnesses reported that in several areas of the country, some members have encountered opposition to their activities and threats from Romanian Orthodox priests, police, and public authorities.
According to statistics released by the government, during the year, the national-level Prosecutor General’s Office compiled a list of 42 cases to be resolved.
The Elie Wiesel Institute has also identified several streets named after, and statues erected in honour of, Legionnaires and other Nazi-collaborators who were apologists for antisemitism and convicted of war crimes.
[1] Human rights organization have criticised the governmental approach to Gregorian Bivolaru and his Movement of Spiritual Integration into the Absolute.
[55] According to the Romanian press agency Agerpres, citing the website of EUROPOL, "Bivolaru is wanted for [...] trafficking in human beings in Finland and France in 2008-2013".
[1] The percentage of schoolchildren opting to take religion classes remained at almost 90 percent and, according to the media, NGOs, and parents’ associations, continued to be the result of manipulation and pressure by the Romanian Orthodox Church as well as the failure of school directors to offer parents alternatives to the religion classes.
[1] There have additionally been instances of vandalism against Jewish cemeteries, and antisemitic rhetoric can be found in print and on social media in Romania.
[1] In a 2019 survey conducted by the National Anti-Discrimination Council, Romanians expressed high distrust of Muslims, Jews, and other religious minorities.