A Romanian coin bearing the likenesses of former governors of the National Bank of Romania from left) Ion I. Câmpineanu, Mihail Manoilescu and Ion I. Lapedatu. The coin is one of a series of three in gold, bronze and silver. (Romanian National Bank)
BUCHAREST, Romania — The US Embassy in Romania on Friday criticized the country’s central bank for releasing a coin bearing the image of a former bank governor who it said actively promoted anti-Semitism.
The embassy called the bank’s decision to honor Mihail Manoilescu, the former governor of the National Bank of Romania, “disappointing.” In a statement, it said he was “an active promoter of and contributor to fascist ideology and anti-Semitic sentiment.”
Manoilescu was foreign minister in 1940, when Romania was allied with Nazi Germany. A supporter of the fascist Iron Guard, he signed a diktat under which Romania lost large swaths of territory to Hungary.
It said in a statement that the coin was part of a series minted in mid-April honoring former bank governors and noted that Manoilescu had been governor in 1931, a year of economic crisis.
A Romanian coin bearing the likenesses of former governors of the National Bank of Romania from left) Ion I. Câmpineanu, Mihail Manoilescu and Ion I. Lapedatu. The coin is one of a series of three in gold, bronze and silver. (Romanian National Bank)
It said that the coins it minted were not intended to offend any community or “send a message with an offensive, xenophobic or discriminatory nature.”
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It added it was examining the criticism and would establish working procedures to “avoid potential regrettable situations in the future.”
Manoilescu died in a Communist prison in 1950.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.
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