We are going through a period marked by mistrust and polarisation, in which racist and xenophobic rhetoric is trying to gain more and more ground, President Nicusor Dan said on Friday ahead of European Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma.

'In the face of these unacceptable drifts, our response must be firm: more knowledge, more dialogue, more tolerance,' the chief of state added.

The message was presented by Diana Punga, state adviser on civil society, during the ceremony organised at the Holocaust Victims Memorial in Bucharest.

'Today we have come together to honour the memory of the Roma killed, deported and persecuted during WWII and to pay tribute to all those who suffered because of hatred and discrimination. The genocide committed against them is a deep wound in the history of Europe and one of the most terrible tragedies in the past of the Roma community in Romania,' the president's message reads.

Dan said that 'persecution and marginalisation did not begin with the Nazi regime, but were painful realities, perpetuated over time.'

After the end of the war, the trauma of deportations and genocide continued to mark the lives of survivors and their descendants, a suffering that they often endured in silence, he said.

'The Roma Holocaust remains an insufficiently known and little-discussed chapter in the contemporary public space. Education has an essential role in the correct transmission of information about the Holocaust, about the crimes of communism and about the period of slavery. We have an obligation to ensure that young people understand the past, distinguish truth from lies and reject hatred and xenophobia, thus contributing to building a society anchored in justice and solidarity,' the president said.

Thus, he added, the full integration of Roma and the eradication of inequalities are responsibilities that we all share in a democracy based on respect for human rights. AGERPRES (RO - editing by: Oana Ghita; EN - writing by: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu)