Romania
RomaniaYossi Zamir / Flash 90

A well known Romanian Jewish actress and her children were sent death threats at the beginning of Passover which are being investigated by police.

Maia Morgenstern, an award-winning film and theater actress who runs the Jewish State Theatre in Bucharest, published the threatening email.

The message’s author threatens Morgenstern, saying they will kill her and her children. The message also threatens to burn down the Jewish State Theater with its staff inside, reported Reuters.

The email said it was written "on behalf of the far right Alliance for Uniting Romanians (AUR).”

The group’s leader, George Simion, issued a condemnation. He said the email was not written by the party. He urged police to speedily arrest whoever wrote it.

Law enforcement stated they were investigating the IP of the email’s sender.

The AUR is a four-year old nationalist party that made surprising gains in last December’s elections, surging to fourth place. Before the result, Romania did not have a popular far-right party in its parliament.

During the Holocaust, Romania allied with Nazi German until 1944. Between 280,000 and 380,000 Romanian Jews were murdered.