BUCHAREST, Oct. 22 — Romania said on Wednesday it had set up a commission to bring to light its World War Two role in the murder of thousands of Jews after a diplomatic row over a government denial the Holocaust took place there.

Although hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed in Romania during World War Two, as recently as this summer the government denied the Holocaust ever took place in the Balkan country, prompting protests from Israel and Jewish leaders.

''We want to be able to offer... to all teachers, students, to all Romanians as well as historians and international public opinion documents, studies and other materials needed for knowing and understanding the Holocaust in Romania,'' President Ion Iliescu told reporters.

After the diplomatic row, Bucharest agreed to a series of measures, including the commission, which is to be headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.

In an effort to polish its image ahead of joining NATO in 2004 and the European Union in 2007, Romania has banned the use of fascist symbols, such as images of war-time marshal Ion Antonescu, blamed for the killing and deportations of Jews.

Romanian-born Wiesel, 75, a prolific writer on the Holocaust best known for his book ''Night,'' drawn from his own experiences in Nazi death camps will be joined by Tuvia Friling, the head of the Israeli Archives and 27 Holocaust survivors, experts and historians from Israel, United States, Romania and Europe.

In a letter sent to Iliescu, Wiesel said Romania must take responsibility for its past if it wants to join the EU and embrace western European democratic values.

Historians say the ex-communist country, an ally of Nazi Germany during World War Two, has hitherto done little to uncover the truth about its role in the Holocaust.

''We would like to give Romania a clear picture of what the Holocaust meant, with rigorous analysis, data and photos,'' Radu Ioanid, director of the Holocaust Memorial in Washington and vice-president of the Wiesel commission told Reuters.

''The public will understand what happened in the past if the findings of the investigation are properly disseminated,'' Ioanid said. ''The Holocaust must be included in history school books.''

Simon Wiesenthal Center's top Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff launched a search for Holocaust criminals in Romania last month hoping to bring the culprits to justice. He is advertising in the Romanian press a $10,000 reward for any information leading to the prosecution of Romanian war criminals.

According to the Encyclopaedia of the Holocaust some 420,000 people from Romania's pre-war Jewish community of 750,000 perished, including more than 100,000 Jews from Transylvania -- then under Hungarian rule -- who were deported to Auschwitz.

Only 13,000 Jews now live in Romania.

Pogroms in Bucharest, Iasi and other towns left hundreds dead. Antonescu was tried and executed as a war criminal, but no other Romanian was ever brought to justice over the Holocaust.