Romania. Prime Minister of Romania Adrian Nestase said that the idea of immortalization of dictator marshal Ion Antonesku by erecting him a monument should be rejected forever. In times of World War II Antonesku was a devoted adherent of Hitler and established a fascist dictatorship in the country. Under him half out of 800 thousand Romanian Jews were sent to fascist death camps. Nilu Andronovich, Head of the Romanian Jewish community, spoke approvingly of Prime Minister's decision.

Croatia. The Holocaust museum in Washington passed documents with photos and letters of Yasenovatz concentration camp prisoners to the Croatian Embassy. These documents were brought from former Yugoslavia to the USA in the early 90s in order to protect them from the civil war reverses. About 500 thousand (including 17 thousand Jews) people were tormented to death in Yasenovatz, also called "the Balkan Oswiecim".

Latvia. The country began the compensation payout to former prisoners of ghettos and Nazi death camps. The compensation amount makes up 15 thousand DM. Prisoners, who were kept in other confinement places, are to receive 6 thousand DM each. Prisoners sentenced to forced work receive 4 thousand 200 DM, workers of the service, health and culture spheres - 1.5 thousand DM each. 1 thousand DM is the amount assigned to people, who were forcedly moved within the USSR. Agricultural workers are eligible for 1.5 thousand DM.

Czechia. Jewish quarter in Trebich town will be included in the UNESCO World List of Historical Monuments. The Trebich quarter numbers 125 buildings. It had been built for 6 centuries. Recently the ancient buildings have been reconstructed at the expense of a special $1 million grant donated by the USA.

Poland. Archaeologists discovered unknown mass burial places on the territory of a former Nazi concentration camp Sobibor.

It was the first time since the end of World War II that such thorough excavations were carried out in this death camp in Eastern Poland. The new excavations will allow to specify the old information about the number of Nazi victims - mainly Jews, executed in Sobibor gas chambers. According to official Polish sources, the Nazi executed around 250 thousand people in Sobibor.

Hungary. The Israeli government awarded Hungarians, who participated in rescuing Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust years. "We shall never forget those Christians, who forever testified their adherence to high moral values in the epoch of evil", - said Judith Varnai Shorer, Israeli Ambassador in Hungary, at the award ceremony in Budapest.

Poland. The only Warsaw synagogue that survived the Holocaust celebrated its 100th anniversary this Hanukkah. This synagogue is symbol of the Jewish community of Poland. Nozik is a functioning synagogue. An exhibition "Memory: Jewish memorials in Warsaw" in honor of the anniversary opened on the first Hanukkah day in the synagogue.

The Nozik synagogue, built at the expense of a rich Jewish family of Zalman and Rivka Nozik, was one out of 440 Warsaw synagogues. During the Second World War it was in the Warsaw ghetto. During the Bloody Insurrection the synagogue building was destroyed, and the Nazi used it as a stable.

Today there is no precise data about the number of Jews living in Warsaw. Despite all attempts of reviving the city Jewish community after the communist regime collapse, the number of Jews in Warsaw reaches only several thousands. Nevertheless, the Nozi synagogue is a part of the modern Warsaw Jewish complex. The neighboring building accommodates Jewish clubs, offices, flats, educational and charitable institutions, kosher restaurants and cafes. There is also a Jewish theatre and cultural center in the neighborhood. The city also has a Jewish school founded by Ronald S. Lauder. More than 165 children study there.