World War II and subsequent communist rule both established hatreds and xenophobic feelings which still influence

contemporary Romanian discourse.

Anti-iganism
In Wallachia and Moldavia, Gypsies have been for centuries slaves belonging to the state, church, or boyars until slavery was gradually abolished during the 1840s and 1850s. Racism is mostly directed against Gypsies, who are routinely discriminated against by the state, local authorities and private enterprises, in matters of housing, employment and education. Belonging to the lowest social classes, the Gypsies are caught in a vicious circle of poverty reinforced by segregation. Gypsies are discriminated on the access to healthcare, which leads to a generally poorer health status, the life expectancy of the Gypsy minority being 10 years lower than the Romanian average. Within the Romanian education system there is discrimination and segregation, which leads to higher drop-out rates and lower qualifications for Gypsy students. Prejudice against Gypsies is common amongst the Romanians, who characterize the Gypsies as being thieves, dirty, and lazy. Violence against Gypsies is also common in Romania, especially police brutality, such cases of excessive force being not adequately investigated or sanctioned. Several anti-igan riotsoccurred in the last decades, notable of which being the Hdreni riots of 1993, in which a mob of Romanians and Hungarians, in response to the killing of a Romanian by a Gypsy, burnt down 13 houses belonging to the Gypsies, lynched three Gypsies, and forced 130 people to flee the village.

In Baia Mare, Mayor Ctlin Chereche announced the building of a 3metre high, 100-metre long concrete wall to divide the buildings in which the Gypsy community lives from the rest of the city, arguing that this would bring "order and discipline" into the area.

Anti-Semitism
The presence of Jews in Romania is documented back to the 17th century. Since then the level of discrimination has varied. It increased sharply in the 1930s under the influence of Nazism and fascist politician Ion Antonescu, leading to pogroms such as the Iai and the Bucharest pogroms. Romania also organized death camps for Jews in the occupied Transnistria Governorate, such as the one at Bogdanovka and the Romanian Army was involved in the 1941 Odessa massacre. After World War II, most of those Jews who had survived emigrated to Israel. Prejudice continued under the Ion Iliescu government (2000-2004), although the desire to join the European Union led to a greater acknowledgement of past Romanian crimes, with Iliescu finally admitting to the deportation of Romanian Jews in 2004.[1]