Ion Antonescu - Knowledge

2988:"national-totalitarian regime" vs. "Jewish morality". Antonescu believed that the liberal humanist-democratic-capitalist values of the West and Communism were both invented by the Jews to destroy Romania. In a lengthy speech just before the war, Antonescu attacked democracy in the most violent terms as it allowed Jews equal rights and thus to undercut the Romanian "national idea". As such, Antonescu stated what was needed was a "new man" who would be "tough", "virile" and willing to fight for an ethnically and religiously "pure" Romania. Despite his quarrel with Sima, much of Antonescu's speech clearly reflected the influence of the ideas of the Iron Guard that Antonescu had absorbed in the 1930s. Antonescu's anti-Semitism and sexism went so far that he tacitly condoned the rape of Jewish women and girls in Bessarabia and northern Bukovinia by his forces under the grounds that he was going take away all of the property that the Jews had "stolen" from the Romanians, and as far he was concerned, Jewish females were just another piece of property. Since the Jewish women were going to exterminated anyway, Antonescu felt there was nothing wrong about letting his soldiers and gendarmes have "some fun" before shooting them. 1906: 2955:. Antonescu had been made aware of the plan by German envoys, and supported it enthusiastically even before Hitler extended Romania an offer to participate. On 18 June 1941, Antonescu gave orders to his generals about "cleansing the ground" of Jews when Romanian forces entered Bessarabia and Bukovina. Right from the start, Antonescu proclaimed the war against the Soviet Union to be a "holy war", a "crusade" in the name of Eastern Orthodox faith and the Romanian race against the forces of "Judeo-Bolshevism". The propaganda of the Antonescu regime demonized everything Jewish as Antonescu believed that Communism was invented by the Jews, and all of the Soviet leaders were really Jews. Reflecting Antonescu's anti-Slavic feelings, despite the fact that the war was billed as a "crusade" in defence of Orthodoxy against "Judeo-Bolshevism", the war was not presented as a struggle to liberate the Orthodox Russians and Ukrainians from Communism; instead rule by "Judeo-Bolshevism" was portrayed as something brought about the innate moral inferiority of the Slavs, who thus needed to be ruled by the Germans and the Romanians. The Romanian force engaged formed a 6853:'s direct control over Old Kingdom Jews drew some objections from Mihai Antonescu, but the two sides agreed to a common policy with reference to Soviet Jews. In various of his early 1940s statements, Ion Antonescu favorably mentions the Axis goal of eliminating the Jewish presence in the event of victory. The unrestrained character of some Romanian actions toward Jews alarmed Nazi officials, who demanded a methodical form of extermination. When confronted with German decisions to push back Jews he had expelled before the occupation of Transnistria, Antonescu protested, arguing that he had conformed with Hitler's decisions regarding "eastern Jews". In August 1941, in preparation for the Final Solution's universal application, Hitler remarked: "As for the Jewish question, today in any case one could say that a man like Antonescu, for example, proceeds much more radically in this manner than we have done until now. But I will not rest or be idle until we too have gone all the way with the Jews." 2922:

Romania can continue to play its role as an anti-Slavic buffer for the benefit of Germany." Ancel wrote that Romanian anti-Slavic racism differed from the German variety in that the Romanians had traditionally feared the Slavic peoples whereas the Germans had traditionally held the Slavic peoples in contempt. In Antonescu's mind, the Romanians as a Latin people had attained a level of civilization that the Slavs were nowhere close to, but theoretically the Slavic Russians and Ukrainians might be able to reach under Romanian auspices, although Antonescu's remarks to Hitler that "We must fight this race (i.e. the Slavs) resolutely" together, "with the need for 'colonization' of Transnistria," suggests that he did think this would happen in his own lifetime. Subsequently, the Romanians assigned to Barbarossa were to learn that as a Latin people, the Germans considered them to be their inferiors, albeit not as inferior as the Slavs, Asians and Jews who were viewed as

6398:, the local administration deported large numbers of Jews into the fighting zone, in hopes that they would be exterminated by the Germans. Antonescu himself stated: "I am in favor of expelling the Jews from Bessarabia and Bukovina to the other side of the border . There is nothing for them to do here and I don't mind if we appear in history as barbarians . There has never been a time more suitable in our history to get rid of the Jews, and if necessary, you are to make use of machine guns against them." He also explained that his aim was: "the policy of purification of the Romanian race, and I will not give way before any obstacle in achieving this historical goal of our nation. If we do not take advantage of the situation which presents itself today we shall miss the last chance that history offers to us. And I do not wish to miss it, because if I do so further generations will blame me." He made a contradictory statement about the murder of Jews in 7155: 2747: 3064:

to take a major Soviet city and one of the largest Black Sea ports like Odessa would be a sign of how far Romania had been "regenerated" under Antonescu's leadership. Much to Antonescu's intense fury, the Red Army were able to halt the Romanian offensive on Odessa and 24 September 1941 Antonescu had to reluctantly ask for the help of the Wehrmacht with the drive on Odessa. On 16 October 1941 Odessa fell to the German-Romanian forces. The Romanian losses had been so heavy that the area around Odessa was known to the Romanian Army as the Vale of Tears. Antonescu's anti-Semitism was sharpened by the Odessa fighting as he was convinced that the only reason why the Red Army had fought so fiercely around Odessa was that the average Russian soldier had been terrorized by bloodthirsty Jewish commissars into fighting hard. When

1918: 6336: 3091: 2511:, granting protection to the royal train when it was attacked by armed members of the Iron Guard. The regime of King Carol had been notorious for being the most corrupt regime in Europe during the 1930s, and when Carol fled Romania, he took with him the better part of the Romanian treasury, leaving the new government with enormous financial problems. Antonescu had expected, perhaps naïvely, that Carol would take with him enough money to provide for a comfortable exile, and was surprised that Carol had cleared out almost the entire national treasury. For the next four years, a major concern of Antonescu's government was attempting to have the Swiss banks where Carol had deposited the assets return the money to Romania; this effort did not meet with success. 2897:"war of extermination" to be fought without any mercy; Hitler even showed Antonescu a copy of the "Guidelines for the Conduct of the Troops in Russia" he had issued to his forces about the "special treatment" to be handed out to Soviet Jews. Antonescu completely accepted Hitler's ideas about Operation Barbarossa as a "race war" between the Aryans, represented by the Nordic Germans and Latin Romanians on the Axis side vs. the Slavs and Asians, commanded by the Jews on the Soviet side. Besides anti-Semitism, there was an extremely strong current of anti-Slavic and anti-Asian racism to Antonescu's remarks about the "Asiatic hordes" of the Red Army. The Asians Antonescu referred were the various Asian peoples of the Soviet Union, such as the 2456:, first advised Carol to appoint Antonescu as Prime Minister as the solution to the crisis. Pop's reasons for advising Carol to appoint Antonescu as Prime Minister were partly because Antonescu, who was known to be friendly with the Iron Guard and who had been imprisoned under Carol, was believed to have enough of an oppositional background to Carol's regime to appease the public and partly because Pop knew that Antonescu, for all his Legionary sympathies, was a member of the elite and believed he would never turn against it. When Carol proved reluctant to make Antonescu Prime Minister, Pop visited the German legation to meet with Fabricius on the night of 4 September 1940 to ask that the German minister phone Carol to tell him that the 3228: 6224: 3782:, were infiltrated by PCR supporters. Both consistently failed to admit that Antonescu's foreign policies were overall dictated by Romania's positioning between Germany and the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, and although references to the mass murders formed just 23% of the indictment and corpus of evidence (ranking below charges of anti-Soviet aggression), the procedures also included Antonescu's admission of and self-exculpating take on war crimes, including the deportations to Transnistria. They also evidence his awareness of the Odessa massacre, accompanied by his claim that few of the deaths were his direct responsibility. One notable event at the trial was a testimony by PNȚ leader 6934: 2733: 5883: 3110: 2537: 6434:. On 11 October 1941, the chief of the Federation of Jewish Communities, Wilhelm Filderman issued a public letter to Antonescu asking him to stop the deportations, writing: "This is death, death for no reason except that they are Jews." Antonescu replied to Filderman in a long letter explaining that because the entire Jewish community of Bessarabia had allegedly collaborated with the Soviets during the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia, his policies were a justified act of revenge. On 11 November 1941, Antonescu sent Filderman a second letter stating no Jews would be allowed to live in the "liberated territories" and as for the Jews of the 6646: 5528: 8699: 5590:, Antonescu deliberately waited before stepping in, in order for the Guard to be "profoundly discredited" and for himself to be perceived as a "savior". In April 1941, he let his ministers know that he was considering letting "the mob" deal with the Jews, "and after the slaughter, I will restore order." Lucian Boia notes that the Romanian leader was indeed motivated by antisemitic beliefs, but that these need to be contextualized in order to understand what separates Antonescu from Hitler in terms of radicalism. However, various other researchers assess that, by aligning himself with Hitler before and during 17654: 8606: 3288: 2860:

glorious history of Romania and the perfidy of the Hungarians—a curious reversal for a man who was more accustomed to regaling visitors with tirades of his own." In later statements, Hitler offered praise to Antonescu's "breadth of vision" and "real personality." A remarkable aspect of the Hitler-Antonescu friendship was neither could speak other's language. Hitler only knew German, while the only foreign language Antonescu knew was French, in which he was completely fluent. During their meetings, Antonescu spoke French, which was then translated into German by Hitler's interpreter

8664: 8579: 8539: 8490: 2786:. While Hitler did not produce a clear endorsement for clamping down on Sima's party, he made remarks interpreted by their recipient as oblique blessings. On 14 January 1941 during a German-Romanian summit, Hitler informed Antonescu of his plans to invade the Soviet Union later that year and asked Romania to participate. By this time, Hitler had come to the conclusion that while Sima was ideologically closer to him, Antonescu was the more competent leader capable of ensuring stability in Romania while being committed to aligning his country with the Axis. 6912:

regime's previous guilt and, at the same time, looked forward to payments to be made in exchange for each person saved. The contrary implications of Romanian nationalism, manifested as reluctance to obey German commands and discomfort with drastic change in general, are occasionally offered as further explanations of the phenomenon. While reflecting upon the issue of emigration to Palestine, Antonescu also yielded to pleas of Jewish community leaders, and allowed safe passage through Romania for various Northern Transylvanian Jews fleeing the

7119:, Brătianu signed statements condemning the isolation, persecution and expulsion of Jews, which prompted Antonescu to threaten to clamp down on them. However, both parties were occasionally ambiguous on racial issues, and themselves produced antisemitic messages. Brătianu is also known for publicly defending the cause of Romani people, opposing their deportation on grounds that it would "turn back the clock on several centuries of history", a stance which drew support from his civilian peers. In parallel, some regular Romanians such as nurse 1593: 2380: 8431: 1182: 3165:. Antonescu's planned that once the war against the Soviet Union was won to invade Hungary to take back Transylvania and Bulgaria to take back the Dobruja with Antonescu being especially keen on the former. Antonescu planned on attacking Hungary to recover Transylvania at the first opportunity and regarded Romanian involvement on the Eastern Front in part as a way of proving to Hitler that Romania was a better German ally than Hungary, and thus deserving of German support when the planned Romanian-Hungarian war began. The 5711: 8295:("The Marshal's Destiny"), was distributed by state-owned companies, a matter which raised concern. After the Wiesel Commission presented its findings and such public endorsement was outlawed, statues in Antonescu's likeness were torn down or otherwise made unavailable for public viewing. An unusual case is that of his Saints Constantine and Helena Church, where, after lengthy debates, his bust was sealed inside a metal box. Outside of this context, the publicized display of Antonescu's portraits and racist slogans by 6623:, but get them out of Odessa. I don't want to know. A hundred can die, a thousand can die, all of them can die, but I don't want a single Romanian official or officer to die." Defining the presence of Jews in occupied Odessa as "a crime", Antonescu added: "I don't want to stain my activity with such lack of foresight." As a result of this, around 35,000–40,000 Jewish people were deported out of Odessa area and into other sectors of Transnistria. Several thousands were purposefully driven into 2565:, and was named as the Guard's honorary commander. Sima became Deputy Premier and leader of the Guard. Antonescu subsequently ordered the Guardists imprisoned by Carol to be set free. On 6 October, he presided over the Iron Guard's mass rally in Bucharest, one in a series of major celebratory and commemorative events organized by the movement during the late months of 1940. However, he tolerated the PNȚ and PNL's informal existence, allowing them to preserve much of their political support. 3862: 98: 2016: 3211:). The Romanian force engaged in the war reportedly exceeded German demands. It came to around 500,000 troops and thirty actively involved divisions. As a sign of his satisfaction, Hitler presented his Romanian counterpart with a luxury car. On 7 December 1941, after reflecting on the possibility for Romania, Hungary and Finland to change their stance, the British government responded to repeated Soviet requests and declared war on all three countries. Following 27424: 5487: 8523: 6791:, which nevertheless remained in use everywhere outside the Old Kingdom and, in theory, to any Romanian Jews elsewhere in Axis-controlled Europe. Assessing these contradictions, commentators also mention the effect of Allied promises to prosecute those responsible for genocide throughout Europe. In the late stages of the war, Antonescu was attempting to shift all blame for crimes from his regime while accusing Jews of "bring destruction upon themselves". 3794: 19019: 19722: 8566: 27463: 4116: 2272:. By that time, revising his earlier stance, Antonescu had also built a close relationship with Codreanu, and was even said to have become his confidant. On Carol's request, he had earlier asked the Guard's leader to consider an alliance with the king, which Codreanu promptly refused in favour of negotiations with Goga, coupled with claims that he was not interested in political battles, an attitude supposedly induced by Antonescu himself. 8712: 8619: 8448: 8399: 27508: 3377:

Portugal and Switzerland to see if were possible for Romania to sign an armistice with the Western powers. The Romanian diplomats were informed that no armistice was possible until an armistice was signed with the Soviet Union, a condition Antonescu rejected. In parallel, he allowed the PNȚ and the PNL to engage in parallel talks with the Allies at various locations in neutral countries. The discussions were strained by the

2932: 3011:. In a report to Berlin, a German diplomat wrote that Marshal Antonescu had syphilis and that "among cavalry officers this disease is as widespread as a common cold is among German officers. The Marshal suffers from severe attacks of it every several months." Antonescu took one of his most debated decisions when, with Bessarabia's conquest almost complete, he committed Romania to Hitler's war effort beyond the 7853:, Vadim Tudor vowed to be a new Antonescu. Boia remarks that this meeting of extremes offers an "extraordinary paradox". Drăgan also openly resumed his activities in Romania, often in collaboration with Vadim Tudor's group, founding three organizations tasked with campaigning for Antonescu's rehabilitation: the media outlet Europa Nova, the Ion Antonescu Foundation and the Ion Antonescu League. His colleague 27491: 12904:, pp. 121–125, 208–209; Ancel (2005 a), pp. 11–12, 15–19, 22–23, 26–33, 40–46, 49–51, 57–58, 69–70, 73, 100–110, 130, 141–154, 158–169, 238–247, 274, 290–293, 325, 422–427; Deletant, pp. 137–140, 252, 276, 317; Ioanid, p. 233; Trașcă, pp. 398–399. According to Ioanid, German participation in the Romanian-coordinated operation resulted in, at most, 3,000 of the deaths of a total 10,000 to 12,000. 8650: 27: 6686:, the Transnistria deportations from other areas account for around 145,000 deaths, while the number of local Transnistrian Jews killed could be as high as 280,000. More conservative estimates for the latter number mention some 130,000–180,000 victims. Other overall estimates speak of 200,000 to over 300,000 Jews purposefully killed as a result of Romania's action. According to historians 3073:, southern Bukovina and southern Transylvania into Transnistria as the prelude to killing them, but this operation was vetoed by Germany, who complained that Antonescu had not finished killing the Jews of Transnistria yet. This veto was largely motivated by bureaucratic politics, namely if Antonescu exterminated all of the Jews of Romania himself, there would be nothing for the SS and the 6916:. He was doing the same for certain Northern Transylvanian Romani communities who had escaped southwards. In that context, Nazi German ideologues began objecting to Antonescu's supposed leniency. Antonescu nevertheless alternated tolerance of illegal immigration with drastic measures. In early 1944, he issued an order to shoot illegal immigrants, which was probably never enforced by the 3069:

admitted, simply to cause us heavy losses". Antonescu ended his letter with the claim that Russian Jewish commissars had savagely tortured Romanian POWs and that the entire Jewish community of Romania, Filderman included were morally responsible for all of the losses and sufferings of the Romanians around Odessa. In the fall of 1941, Antonescu planned to deport all of the Jews of the

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people in the Romanian government for the first time questioning the wisdom of fighting on the side of the Axis. Outside of the elites, by 1943 the continuing heavy losses on the Eastern Front, anger at the contempt which the Wehrmacht treated their Romanian allies and declining living standards within Romania made the war unpopular with the Romanian people, and consequently the

5857:, who notes that the fascist label relies on both Antonescu's adoption of some fascist "trappings" and the "dichotomy of wartime and postwar evaluation" of his regime, also notes that post-1960 interpretations "do more to explain his behaviour than the preceding orthodoxy." Deletant contrasts the lack of "mass political party or ideology" with the type of rule associated with 27451: 5818:, who attributes to the Iron Guard the position of a subservient fascist movement, while others identify Antonescu's post-1941 rule as a military rather than a fascist dictatorship. Several other scholars prefer "conservative" as a defining term for Antonescu's policies. Antonescu described himself as "by fate a dictator", and explained that his policies were " 5950:. However, Deletant notes: "Romania retained her sovereignty throughout the period of the alliance . Antonescu had, of course, his own country's interests uppermost in his mind, but in following Hitler, he served the Nazi cause." He describes Romania's contribution to the war as that of "a principal ally of Germany", as opposed to a "minor Axis satellite." 6667:, the flaws of Antonescu's 1946 trial notwithstanding, his responsibility for war crimes was such that he would have been equally likely to be found guilty and executed in a Western Allied jurisdiction. The often singular brutality of Romanian-organized massacres was a special topic of reflection for Jewish Holocaust escapee and American political theorist 3032:

until June 1940 and that had Romanian majorities – the conflict had been very popular with the Romanian public opinion. But the idea of conquering Transnistria was not as that region had never been part of Romania, and a minority of the people were ethnic Romanian. Soon after the takeover, the area was assigned to a civil administration apparatus headed by

6990:. One such letter, signed by both, claimed that, while earlier steps had been "legitimized by the entire soul of the nation, the Romanian people will never consent to the continuation of the struggle beyond our national borders." Maniu specifically mentioned the possibility of Allied victory, accused Antonescu of diverting attention from the goal of 2809:, while closing down all of the Legionary-controlled "Romanianization" offices. Various other clashes prompted him to demand the resignation of all Police commanders who sympathized with the movement. After two days of widespread violence, during which Guardists killed some 120 Bucharest Jews, Antonescu sent in the Army, under the command of General 6534:

but arbitrary exceptions were immediately made to this rule, in particular by using the vague notion of "undesirable" to define some members of sedentary communities. The central authorities noted differences in the criteria applied locally, and intervened to prevent or sanction under-deportation and, in some cases, over-deportation. Antonescu and

7404:. Antonescu himself recounted having contemplated using the death penalty against "sects" who would not allow military service, and ultimately deciding in favor of deporting "recalcitrant" ones. On 9 September 1940, the Ministry of Culture and Art issued a list of confessions that were recognized and protected by the regime. The list included the 8228:

fragile democratic system." The book sought Antonescu's rehabilitation for his attitudes on the Bessarabia-Northern Bukovina issue, but did not include any mention of his antisemitic policies, of which Preda himself may have been ignorant. An international scandal followed, once negative comments on the book were published by the Soviet magazine

15043:, pp. 316, 339; Ancel (2005 b), pp. 235–256; Weber, pp. 152–159, 164–167. Ancel discusses in particular the influx of Zionists fleeing Soviet rule in the late 1940s, the renewed antisemitic violence of the period, as well as the various clashes between Romanian officials and Jewish community leaders both before and after the communist takeover. 8382: 7551:. Five years later, she was sent into internal exile, and died of heart problems in 1964. After 1950, a large number of convicted war criminals, even some sentenced to life imprisonment, were deemed fit for "social cohabitation" (that is, fit to live amongst the general population) and released, while some suspects were never prosecuted. 4070:. Similar verdicts are provided by other researchers. Another Romanian historian, Ottmar Trașcă, argues that Antonescu did not wish to annex the region "at least until the end of the war", but notes that Antonescu's own statements make reference to its incorporation in the event of a victory. In addition to early annexation plans to the 6402:, claiming that their perpetrators were "bastards" who "stained" his regime's reputation. Antonescu saw the "war" against the Jews as being just as important as the war against the Soviet Union, and regularly demanded reports from his officers in Bessarabia and Transnistria about their measures against the Jews. In late August 1941, in 6957:. According to Gledhill and King: "Romanian liberals had been critical of their government's warm relationship with Hitler, which had been developing throughout the 1930s, but the Soviet attack on Romanian territory left them with little chance but to support Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union." Other authors also cite the 2280:, resigned in protest of Codreanu's arrest. Antonescu's mandate ended on 30 March 1938. He also served as Air and Marine Minister between 2 February and his resignation on 30 March. He was a celebrity defense witness at the latter's first and second trials. During the latter, which resulted in Codreanu's conviction for 2449:, where they discussed how best to manage the political situation. While these negotiations were carried out, the monarch himself was being advised by his entourage to recover legitimacy by governing in tandem with the increasingly popular Antonescu, while creating a new political majority from the existing forces. 1858:. Opinions on his role in the events diverge: while some historians believe Antonescu was a particularly violent participant in quelling the revolt, others equate his participation with that of regular officers or view it as outstandingly tactful. In addition to restricting peasant protests, Antonescu's unit subdued 6566: 3405:. The events also prompted hostile negotiations aimed at toppling Antonescu, and involving the two political parties, the young monarch, diplomats and soldiers. A major clash between Michael and Antonescu took place during the first days of 1943, when the 21-year-old monarch used his New Year's address on 2244:. Particularly concerned about Hungarian demands in Transylvania, he ordered the General Staff to prepare for a western attack. However, his major contribution in office was in relation to an internal crisis: as a response to violent clashes between the Iron Guard and the PNC's own fascist militia, the 6911:

According to Oldson, by the final stage of the war Romania rejected "all extreme measures against Jews who could not be proven to be communists." The planned transports to Palestine, the prospect of which irritated Nazi German observers, implied a hope that the Allies' focus would shift away from the

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or the "Old Kingdom" to the German-run death camps in Poland, but then cancelled the deportation. The principal reasons for his change of mind were signs of disapproval from court circles, a warning from the American government passed on by the Swiss ambassador that he would prosecuted for war crimes

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The question of the Yids is being discussed in Berlin. The Germans want to bring the Yids from Europe to Russia and settle them in certain areas, but there is still time before this plan is carried out. Meanwhile, what should we do? Shall we wait for a decision in Berlin? Shall we wait for a decision

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and plotting against the authorities, with Antonescu himself ordering that the entire community be expelled from the city on such grounds. The discourse appealed to local antisemites, whose murderous rampage, carried out with the officials' complicity, resulted in several thousand deaths among Jewish

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notes that, like Salazar, Romania's dictator crushed a competing fascist movement, "after copying some of techniques of popular mobilization." Political scientists John Gledhill and Charles King discuss the Iron Guard as Romania's "indigenous fascist movement", remark that Antonescu "adopted much of

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The new Romanian authorities declared peace with the Allies and advised the population to greet Soviet troops. On 25 August, as Bucharest was successfully defending itself against German retaliations, Romania declared war on Nazi Germany. The events disrupted German domination in the Balkans, putting

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In this context, the Romanian leader acknowledged that Germany was losing the war, and he therefore authorized his Deputy Premier and new Foreign Minister Mihai Antonescu to set up contacts with the Allies. In early 1943, Antonescu authorized his diplomats to contact British and American diplomats in

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under Romanian military occupation, while granting control over all resources to Germany. In September 1941, Antonescu ordered Romanian forces to take Odessa, a prize he badly wanted for reasons of prestige. Russians had traditionally been seen in Romania as brutal aggressors, and for Romanian forces

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Ancel (2005 a), p. 321; Bucur (2004), pp. 173–176; Chant, pp. 84–85, 124–125, 303; Cioroianu, pp. 50–55; Deletant, pp. 3–4, 241–246, 265–266, 343–346; Gella, p. 172; Guran & Ștefan, p. 112; Ioanid, pp. 235–236; Kelso, p. 129; Kenney, p. 93; Kent, p. 52; King, p. 94; Morgan, p. 188; Nicholls, pp.

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remark that the novel is "admittedly not best work", and discuss his "complex representation" of Antonescu as "an essentially flawed but active leader who tried to negotiate some maneuvering room between the demands of Germany and the threats of the Soviet Union led to the dismantling of Romania's

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survivors, and to the open hostility of some communists toward liberal Jewish community leaders. Jews also faced conflict with the new authorities and with the majority population, as described by other researchers. There were, nonetheless, sporadic trials for Holocaust-related crimes, including one

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notes, few Romanians involved in organizing the Holocaust were prosecuted, and, of those, none were executed after the Antonescu trial. He attributes this to nationalist resistance within the administrative and judicial apparatus, to communist fears of alienating a too large number of people, to the

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into Transnistrian camps, a measure it took an interest in enforcing in late 1942. Deportations of Jews ceased altogether in October of the same year. A common explanation historians propose for this reassessment of policies is the change in Germany's fortunes on the Eastern Front, with mention that

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Purportedly the largest single massacre of Jews in the war's history, it involved mass shootings, hangings, acts of immolation and a mass detonation. Antonescu is quoted saying that the Romanian Army's criminal acts were "reprisals, not massacres". Survivors were deported to the nearby settlement of

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Between 21–24 and 28–31 December 1941, Romanian gendarmes and Ukrainian auxiliaries killed about 70,000 Jews at the Bogdanovca camp; the massacre was Antonescu's way of dealing with a typhus epidemic that had broken out among the Jews of Transnistria owing to the poor living conditions that had been

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Topics relating to the Holocaust in Romania were distorted during the communist era. Ceaușescu himself mentioned the number of survivors of the deportations (some 50,000 people) as a total number of victims, failed to mention the victims' ethnic background, and presented most of them as "communists

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made reference to the Antonescu regime's "slaughter of large number of Jews in the areas ceded to the Soviet Union in 1940 when those areas were retaken in 1941 as well as in Transnistria", but commented: "the government of Marshal Ion Antonescu preferred to rob and persecute Jews ; the government

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noted that Antonescu could not "decently" be viewed as a rescuer of Jews, but that there still is a fundamental difference between the effects of his rule and those of Hitler's, concluding that the overall picture is not "completely dark." For Dennis Deletant, this situation is a "major paradox" of

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denomination. As Antonescu admitted during his trial, he personally supervised these operations, giving special orders to the Gendarmerie commanders. In theory, the measures taken against Romani people were supposed to affect only nomads and those with a criminal record created or updated recently,

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and further territories). Like the decision to continue the war beyond Bessarabia, this earned Antonescu much criticism from the semi-clandestine PNL and PNȚ. Insofar as the war against the Soviet Union was a war to recover Bessarabia and northern Bukovina – both regions that been a part of Romania

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Antonescu traveled to Germany and met Hitler on eight more occasions between June 1941 and August 1944. Such close contacts helped cement an enduring relationship between the two dictators, and Hitler reportedly came to see Antonescu as the only trustworthy person in Romania, and the only foreigner

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Deletant, pp. 52–68; Gella, p. 171; Geran Pilon, p. 59; Kelso, pp. 96–97; Kenney, pp. 92–93; Morgan, p. 85; Ornea, pp. 326–327; Veiga, pp. 281–282, 296, 327. According to Kelso and Ornea, Antonescu was turned down by all political forces except the Iron Guard. Deletant (pp. 55–56) notes that these

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has said Antonescu has a "pseudo-sacred aura" and many Romanians consider the attempts to diminsh this to be an affront to their national dignity: "In post-Communist societies, fantasies of persecution offer immense gratification to large strata of frustrated individuals". These national views are

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alone lost some 150,000 men (either dead, wounded or captured) and more than half of the country's divisions were wiped out. The loss of two entire Romanian armies who all either killed or captured by the Soviets produced a major crisis in German-Romanian relations in the winter of 1943 with many

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into Transnistria and told him he would be better off deporting the Jews to the death camps in Poland that the Germans were already busy building. Since Romania had almost no arms industry of its own and was almost entirely dependent upon weapons from Germany to fight the war, Antonescu had little

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of Romanian ships in British-controlled ports. On 12 June 1941, during another summit with Hitler, Antonescu first learned of the "special" nature of Operation Barbarossa, namely, that the war against the Soviet Union was to be an ideological war to "annihilate" the forces of "Judeo-Bolshevism," a

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Horia Sima's subsequent cooperation with Antonescu was endorsed by high-ranking Nazi German officials, many of whom feared the Iron Guard was too weak to rule on its own. Antonescu therefore received the approval of Ambassador Fabricius. Despite early promises, Antonescu abandoned projects for the

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pleaded with Antonescu personally for the fate of Romani musicians. Similar acts of solidarity were performed by various prominent intellectuals and artists. In August 1942, King Michael received a manifesto endorsed by intellectuals from various fields, deploring the murders in Transnistria, and

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throughout the siege, although both an inquiry he had ordered and German assessments pointed to the ill-preparedness of Romanian soldiers. While the local command took the initiative for the first executions, Antonescu's personal intervention amplified the number of victims required, and included

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carried out by the Romanian Army and Gendarmes, took the lives of a minimum of between 15,000 and 25,000 to as many as 40,000 or even more than 50,000 Jewish people of all ages. The measure came as the enforcement of Antonescu's own orders, as retaliation for an explosion that killed 67 people at

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Many deaths followed, as the direct results of starvation and exhaustion, while the local German troops carried out selective shootings. The survivors were sent back over the river, and the German commanders expressed irritation over the methods applied by their counterparts. Romanian authorities

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after the recovery of Bessarabia. However, transcripts of the Hitler-Antonescu conversations do not validate his interpretation. Another version has it that Hitler sent Antonescu a letter informing him that Bessarabia's political status still ultimately depended on German decisions. In one of his

2781:

Antonescu's plan to act against his coalition partners in the event of further disorder hinged on Hitler's approval, a vague signal of which had been given during ceremonies confirming Romania's adherence to the Tripartite Pact. A decisive turn occurred when Hitler invited Antonescu and Sima both

7944:

wrote: "the perverse image of Antonescu is not the product of a propaganda campaign led by right-wing extremists, but a pervasive myth fed by historical debates and political contests, and which the public seems indifferent to or accepts unproblematically." After the Revolution, archival sources

6681:

mention that between 280,000 and 380,000 Jews were killed by Romanian authorities under Antonescu's rule. The Transnistria deportations account for 150,000 to 170,000 individual expulsions of Jews from Romania proper, of whom some 90,000–120,000 never returned. According to Romanian-born Israeli

6538:

had been made aware of the problems Transnistria faced in feeding its own population, but ignored them when deciding in favour of expulsion. With most of their property confiscated, the Romani men, women and children were only allowed to carry hand luggage, on which they were supposed to survive

6442:

We decided to defend our Romanian rights because our all-too-tolerant past was taken advantage of by the Jews and facilitated the abuse of our rights by foreigners, particularly the Jews...We are determined to put an end to this situation. We cannot afford to put in jeopardy the existence of our

6308:

circled the countryside in the extreme heat of the summer, and periodically stopped to unload the dead. At least 4,000 people died during the initial massacre and the subsequent transports. Varied estimates of the Iași massacre and related killings place the total number of Jews killed at 8,000,

5941:

as punishment for most public forms of political expression. In Deletant's assessment, his regenerative program was more declarative than factual, and contradicted by Antonescu's own decision to allow the informal existence of some opposition forces. At the same time, some historians believe his

3068:

wrote a letter to Antonescu complaining about the murder of Jews in Odessa, Antonescu wrote back: "Your Jews, who have become Soviet commissars, are driving Soviet soldiers in the Odessa region into a futile bloodbath, through horrendous terror techniques as the Russian prisoners themselves have

3835:

on 1 June 1946. Ion Antonescu's supporters circulated false rumours that regular soldiers had refused to fire at their commander, and that the squad was mostly composed of Jewish policemen. Another apologetic claim insists that he himself ordered the squad to shoot, but footage of the event has

3259:

wrote that: "The string of broken German promises of equipment and support, the disregard of warnings about Soviet offensive preparations, the unfriendly treatment of retreating Romanian units by German officers and soldiers and the general German tendency to blame their own miscalculations and

2921:

that he believed it was necessary to "once and for all" eliminate Russia as a power because the Russians were the most powerful Slavic nation and that as a Latin people, the Romanians had an inborn hatred of all Slavs and Jews. Antonescu went on to tell Hitler: "Because of its racial qualities,

2859:

wrote that Hitler after first meeting Antonescu "...was greatly impressed by him; no other leader Hitler met other than Mussolini ever received such consistently favourable comments from the German dictator. Hitler even mustered the patience to listen to Antonescu's lengthy disquisitions on the

2527:

lobby and the Iron Guard. He later justified his choice by stating that the Iron Guard "represented the political base of the country at the time." Right from the outset, Antonescu clashed with Sima over economic questions, with Antonescu's main concern being to get the economy growing so as to

2400:

Romania's elite had been intensely Francophile ever since Romania had won its independence in the 19th century, indeed so Francophile that the defeat of France in June 1940 had the effect of discrediting the entire elite. Antonescu's internment ended in August, during which interval, under Axis

6920:(who occasionally turned in Jewish refugees to the German authorities). The Antonescu regime allowed the extermination of the Romanian Jewish diaspora in other parts of Europe, formally opposing their deportation in some cases where it appeared Germany was impinging upon Romania's sovereignty. 4086:

among Romanian peasants, to which he added: "I'll take this population, I'll lead it into Transnistria, where I shall give it all the land it requires". Several nationalists sympathetic to Antonescu acclaimed the extension of Romanian rule into Transnistria, which they understood as permanent.

1995:. Romania broke the treaty later in the year, on the grounds that King Ferdinand I had not signed it. During the interval, Antonescu, who viewed the separate peace as "the most rational solution," was assigned command over a cavalry regiment. The renewed offensive played a part in ensuring the 5661:

ones, were given to criminal behavior. The regime did not act consistently on this belief: in various cases, those deported had close relatives drafted into the Romanian Army. Although racist slogans targeting Romani people had been popularized by the Iron Guard, it was only under Antonescu's

7723:

Earlier accounts of the massacres, which had already been placed under restricted use, were completely removed from public libraries. While a special politicized literature dealt with the Holocaust in Hungary, the entire Ceaușescu period produced only one work entirely dedicated to Romania's

11914:

in his recommendations to the Romanian administrators is "ethnic purification", as confinement to "labor camps, where Jews and other foreigners with doubtful attitudes will not be able to exercise their prejudicial influences." (Ioanid, p. 232); Achim, p. 167; Browning, p. 276; Trașcă, pp.

5920:, heroic, military-typed education, because economic education and all the others follow from it." According to Boia, his arrival in power was explicitly meant to "regenerate" Romania, and his popularity hinged on his being perceived as a "totalitarian model" and a "saviour" figure, like 7268:, opposing both the formal leadership and the so-called "Muscovite" communists who had taken refuge in the Soviet Union before the war. While maneuvering for control within the PCR during and after 1944, "prison" communists destroyed a third group, formed around the PCR's nominal leader 6706:

views Antonescu's policies as characterized by "violence, inconsistency and inanity", but places them in the wider context of local antisemitism, noting some ideological exceptions from their respective European counterparts. These traits, he argues, became "providential" for the more

2568:

There followed a short-lived and always uneasy partnership between Antonescu and Sima. In late September, the new regime denounced all pacts, accords and diplomatic agreements signed under Carol, bringing the country into Germany's orbit while subverting its relationship with a former

6803:. It nevertheless took the regime more than a year to allow more selective Jewish returns from Transnistria, including some 2,000 orphans. After Transnistria's 1944 evacuation, Antonescu himself advocated the creation of new camps in Bessarabia. In conversations with his cabinet, the 1843:. Reportedly, Antonescu was a zealous and goal-setting student, upset by the slow pace of promotions, and compensated for his diminutive stature through toughness. In time, the reputation of being a tough and ruthless commander, together with his reddish hair, earned him the nickname 2987:

of the Romanian elites and their adherence to Western notions of universal democratic values and human rights. Antonescu made it clear that his regime rejected the moral principles of the "demo-liberal world" and he saw the war as an ideological struggle between his spiritually pure

8126:). The Heroes' Cult organization received expropriation rights to Bucharest's Jewish cemetery in 1942, and proposed to replace it with a major monument of this category, but that plan was eventually abandoned. Antonescu and his wife preferred donating to Orthodox churches, and were 8118:. Owing to austere guidelines on culture and to the circumstances of wartime, this period's direct imprint is less than that of other periods in the country's history. Few large heroes' memorials were built during the war years. Memorials produced at the time were mainly roadside 12047:

According to Achim (pp. 167–170, 179, 182–183, 185) and Deletant (pp. 189–190), the measures reflected Antonescu's views on "social problems" more than a racist perspective. However, Kelso (pp. 99–100) believes the report was a notable factor in the decision to deport the Romani

1819:. During his childhood, his father divorced his mother to marry a woman who was a Jewish convert to Orthodoxy. The breakup of his parents' marriage was a traumatic event for the young Antonescu, and he made no secret of his dislike of his stepmother, whom he always depicted as a 7957:, and attributed the death toll exclusively to German units. In parallel, some continued an exclusive focus on Northern Transylvanian massacres. Local authors who have actively promoted Antonescu's image as a hero and wrote apologetic accounts of his politics include historians 13433:, pp. 151–153, 245; Deletant, pp. 171–172, 253; Trașcă, pp. 392–394. Antonescu's initial order defines the intended victims as "communists", but a later conversation with his ministers exclusively uses "Jews" for the same categories (Deletant, pp. 171–172; Trașcă, pp. 393–394). 2675:. His condemnation of the killings was nevertheless limited and discreet, and, the same month, he joined Sima at a burial ceremony for Codreanu's newly discovered remains. The widening gap between the dictator and Sima's party resonated in Berlin. When, in December, Legionary 7257:'s decapitation, many Legionaries who opposed the regime, and whom Antonescu himself believed were "communists in green shirts", were killed or imprisoned. An Iron Guardist underground was nevertheless formed locally, and probably numbered in thousands. Some of Antonescu's 2595:. Other than these generic commitments, Romania had no treaty binding it to Germany, and the Romanian-German alliance functioned informally. Speaking in 1946, Antonescu claimed to have followed the pro-German path in continuation of earlier policies, and for fear of a Nazi 3905:. Although Hungary and Romania were technically allied through the Axis system, their relationship was always tense, and marked by serious diplomatic incidents. The Romanian leader kept contacts with representatives of ethnic Romanian communities directly affected by the 2633:, which accused him of leniency and was subsequently forced to change its editorial board. By then, the Legionary press was routinely claiming that he was obstructing revolution and aiming to take control of the Iron Guard, and that he had been transformed into a tool of 2358:

with the acquiescence of France and the United Kingdom, leaving locals to fear that, unless reoriented, Romania would follow. Angered by the territorial losses of 1940, General Antonescu sent Carol a general note of protest, and, as a result, was arrested and interned at

3342:, the Special Representative for Economic Problems. A recurring problem for Antonescu was attempting to obtain payments for all of the oil he shipped to Germany while resisting German demands for increased oil production. The situation was further aggravated in 1942, as 7020:

and Michael rapidly deteriorated after he began advising the royal family on how to conduct its affairs. Dissent from Antonescu's policies sometimes came from inside his own camp. Both the officer corps and the General Staff were divided on the issue of war beyond the

3310:

s only source of natural oil after the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 to August 1944 (Germany also had synthetic oil plants operating from 1942 onwards), and as such for economic reasons, Romania was always treated as a major ally by Hitler. While Germany

3130:

The Romanian Army's inferior arms, insufficient armour and lack of training had been major concerns for the German commanders since before the start of the operation. One of the earliest major obstacles Antonescu encountered on the Eastern Front was the resistance of

7579:. In this context, the main effort to document and expose the Antonescu-era massacres came from Jewish Romanians. This began in 1945, when Jewish journalists Marius Mircu and Maier Rudrich contributed first-hand testimonies. In 1946–1948, the Jewish community leader 8471:

Romania's highest military decoration. Upon crossing the River Tisza, King Ferdinand took the Order of Michael the Brave from his own uniform and presented it to Antonescu, saying "Antonescu, no one in this country knows better than the King how much they owe you."

5566:. His earliest thoughts on Codreanu's ideology criticize the Legionary leader for advocating "brutal measures" in dealing with the "invasion of Jews", and instead propose "the organization of Romanian classes" as a method for reaching the same objective. Politician 5841:" to define Antonescu, adding: "generally regarded as an authoritarian conservative incorporated fascism into his regime, in the shape of the Iron Guard, rather than embodying fascism himself." "Para-fascist" is also used by Griffin, to denote both Antonescu and 5633:

troops. In a summer 1941 address to his ministers, Antonescu stated: "The Satan is the Jew. is a battle of life and death. Either we win and the world will be purified, either they win and we will become their slaves." At around the same time, he envisaged the

13728:, pp. 68–69, 117–118, 120, 168, 171–172, 201, 210, 253–254, 385; Ancel (2005 b), pp. 231–232, 234–235; Deletant, pp. 100–101, 112–113, 121–124, 125, 206, 213–214, 311; Oldson, pp. 7–8, 10–11, 162; Ornea, pp. 394–395; Penkower, pp. 148, 153–155; Weinberg, p. 239 14170:, pp. 68–69, 168–172, 252–253, 384; Deletant, pp. 211, 213–219; Oldson, p. 7; Weinberg, pp. 239–240. In February 1943, Romanian officials announced to the world that they were going to allow "70,000 Jews" to depart from Transnistria to Palestine on ships with 2156:. The officer's political credentials were on the rise, as he was able to establish and maintain contacts with people on all sides of the political spectrum, while support for Carol plummeted. Among these were contacts with the two main democratic groups, the 7221:" position, Antonescu ordered authorities to compile lists comprising "the names of all Jewish and communist agents", who were to be kept under close surveillance. Among people arrested on suspicion of communism, Jews were sent to Transnistrian sites such as 5794:, as rulers of "either purely military dictatorships, or else authoritarian governments run by civilian politicians", and thus a category apart from the leaders of "Fascist states." For Schulze, the defining elements of such governments is the presence of a " 13677:, pp. 68–69, 117–118, 168–172, 243, 249, 383, 385–386; Ancel, p. 231; Boia, pp. 260–261; Deletant, pp. 2, 4, 114–115, 205–229, 235, 334; Ioanid, pp. 232, 233, 235; Oldson, pp. 4–11, 161–163; Ornea, pp. 394–395; Penkower, p. 148sqq. In these definitions, the 7598:

faction emerged as the winner of the interior PCR struggles and incorporated nationalist discourse. That faction claimed a decisive role in toppling Antonescu, even though a majority of its members had been jailed for most of the period. In accordance with

7005:. However, some early communiqués he addressed to Brătianu also feature offers of resignation, which their recipient reluctantly rejected. The Germans objected to such ambiguities, and Hitler once advised Antonescu to have Maniu killed, an option which the 3675:, but transcripts of their conversations were never sent back to Romania by the Soviet authorities. Later research noted that the main issues discussed were the German-Romanian alliance, the war on the Soviet Union, the economic toll on both countries, and 2817:, helped Antonescu eliminate the Iron Guardists, but several of their lower-level colleagues actively aided Sima's subordinates. Goebbels was especially upset by the decision to support Antonescu, believing it to have been advantageous to "the Freemasons." 2105:

officer, with whom she had a son, Gheorghe (died 1944), and then to a Frenchman of Jewish origin. After a period as Deputy Chief of the General Staff, he was appointed its Chief (1933–1934). These assignments coincided with the rule of Carol's underage son

2423:). The latter grant caused consternation among large sections of Romania's population, causing Carol's popularity to fall to a record low and provoking large-scale protests in Bucharest, the capital. These movements were organized competitively by the pro- 2003:, who wrote that "his intelligence, skill and activity, brought credit on himself and invaluable service to the country." Another event occurring late in the war is also credited with having played a major part in Antonescu's life: in 1918, Crown Prince 5924:

and Carol II before him. The "providential" and "saviour" themes are also emphasized by historian Adrian Majuru, who notes that Antonescu both adopted such ideals and criticized Carol for failing to live up to them. Seeing his rule as legitimized by the

2055:. Antonescu was known for his frequent and erratic changes of mood, going from being extremely angry to being calm to angry again to being calm again within minutes, behaviour that often disoriented those who had to work with him. The Israeli historian 14717:, pp. 62–63; Achim, p. 169; Deletant, pp. 71–72, 302–303, 311; Griffin (1993), p. 127; Laqueur, p. 205; Ornea, pp. 219, 346; Veiga, pp. 299, 313. Antonescu notably ordered the execution of 7 out of 20 Guardists sentenced to death for their roles in the 7898:, who complemented an emerging pro-authoritarian lobby while depicting their common opponent King Michael and his supporters as traitors. Similar attempts to deny the role of Antonescu in the Holocaust were also made by the main opposition parties, the 6896:

and crimes against humanity after the Allies had won if the deportation went ahead, and most importantly because Hitler would not undo the Second Vienna Award and return northern Transylvania to Romania. Antonescu saw the deportation of the Jews of the

5981:("The General Plebiscitary Assembly of the Romanian Nation") and convoked only twice— he took charge of hierarchical appointments, and personally drafted new administrative projects. In 1941, he disestablished participative government in localities and 7910:, the latter party's president, publicly describing the wartime leader as a "great Romanian" who tried to defend the Jews. Sections of both governing and opposition groups contemplated the idea of rehabilitating the wartime leader, and, in May 1991, 7091:

in Antonescu's Romania. Cassulo and Bălan together pleaded for the fate of certain Jews, including all who had converted to Christianity, and the former publicly protested against deportations. While Romania and the United States were still at peace,

7048:

laws and Romania's participation in the Holocaust earned significant objections from various individuals and groups in Romanian society. One noted opponent was Queen Mother Helen, who actively intervened to save Jews from being deported. The Mayor of

6694:: "none of these massacres was carried out by the Germans, although certainly encouraged such actions and, in some cases, may have coordinated them." The Romani deportations affected some 25,000 people, at least 11,000 of whom died in Transnistria. 5869:

writes: "The authoritarian regimes of Antonescu and Franco purported to be 'traditional', but actually their fascist-derived corporatism was a new immanent ideology of the right." Another distinct view is held by Romanian-born historian of ideas

2664:, and several other acts of violence. As retaliation for this insubordination, Antonescu ordered the Army to resume control of the streets, unsuccessfully pressured Sima to have the assassins detained, ousted the Iron Guardist prefect of Bucharest 10143:, pp. 43, 46, 62–63, 103, 112–115, 181, 208, 382; Ancel (2005 a), pp. 33, 402–403, 408; Browning, pp. 211–212; Deletant, pp. 64–68, 71–72; Ioanid, pp. 232, 236; Ornea, pp. 219, 250, 284, 343–348; Penkower, pp. 148–149; Veiga, pp. 297–304, 312–313 2213:, Antonescu repeatedly demanded the office of Defense Minister, which he was eventually granted. His mandate coincided with a troubled period, and saw Romania having to choose between its traditional alliance with France, Britain, the crumbling 3822:

from Antonescu's lawyer and his mother, and reputedly considered asking the Allies to reassess the case as part of the actual Nuremberg Trials, taking Romanian war criminals into foreign custody. Subjected to pressures by the new Soviet-backed

1814:

family with some military tradition. He was especially close to his mother, Lița Baranga, who survived his death. His father, an army officer, wanted Ion to follow in his footsteps and thus sent him to attend the Infantry and Cavalry School in

3192:(October 1941 – January 1942), Romania was asked by its allies to contribute a larger number of troops. A decisive factor in Antonescu's compliance with the request appears to have been a special visit to Bucharest by Wehrmacht chief of staff 5662:

unchallenged rule that solving the "Gypsy problem" became official policy and antiziganist measures were enforced. After a February 1941 inspection, Antonescu singled out Bucharest's Romani community for alleged offences committed during the

2626:

and the Guard's frequent recourse to street violence. He drew much hostility from his partners by extending some protection to former dignitaries whom the Iron Guard had arrested. One early incident opposed Antonescu to the Guard's newspaper

7732:

claimed that Romania was not responsible for any deaths among Jews. Other official texts made more radical claims, openly denying that Antonescu's regime was antisemitic, and that all those killed were victims of Germany or of circumstance.

6882:

by autumn 1942, but the government eventually decided to postpone these measures indefinitely as was done with most other deportations to Transnistria. Antonescu's new orders on the matter were brought up in his conversations with Hitler at

3260:

disasters on their allies all combined to produce a real crisis in German-Romanian relations." For part of that interval, the Marshal had withdrawn from public life, owing to an unknown affliction, which is variously rumoured to have been a

9609:, pp. 43, 46, 54, 62, 109–112; Browning, p. 211; Deletant, pp. 1–2, 57–68; Gella, p. 171; Geran Pilon, p. 59; Griffin (1993), p. 126; Ioanid, pp. 231–232; Kelso, pp. 96–97; Nicholls, p. 6; Ornea, pp. 58, 215–216, 327–329; Veiga, pp. 281–283 7788:, a prominent Romanian-born political scientist, referred to Antonescu's "pseudo-sacred" image with the post-1989 public, and to the phenomenon as "fantasies of persecution." The wartime dictator's image appealed to many politicians of the 6969:

colleagues that the new "government of generals" was "the best solution possible to the current crisis", urging the group to provide Antonescu with "all the support we can give him." An early point of contention between Antonescu and the

7457:, as well as its participation in the war alongside the Allies. However, it also saw the early stages of a communist takeover—which culminated with King Michael's forced abdication on 30 December 1947 and the subsequent establishment of 6603:

specific quotas (200 civilians for every dead officer, 100 for every dead soldier). By the time of the explosion, the Jewish population was already rounded up into makeshift ghettos, being made subject to violence and selective murders.

1838:

Antonescu helped save a number of his coreligionists. After graduation, in 1904, Antonescu joined the Romanian Army with the rank of Second Lieutenant. He spent the following two years attending courses at the Special Cavalry Section in

6611:, and kept in inhumane conditions. Alexianu himself intervened with Antonescu for a solution to their problems, but the Romanian leader decided he wanted them out of the Odessa area, citing the nearby resistance of Soviet troops in the 3223:

within five days. These developments contrasted with Antonescu's own statement of 7 December: "I am an ally of the Reich against , I am neutral in the conflict between Great Britain and Germany. I am for America against the Japanese."

7241:(the category also included those who had tried to escape forced labor). According to one estimate, people held on charges of being communists accounted for just under 2,000 people, of whom some 1,200 were jailed in Romania proper. 2651:

Disorder peaked in the last days of November 1940, when, after uncovering the circumstances of Codreanu's death, the fascist movement ordered retaliations against political figures previously associated with Carol, carrying out the

3450:. After a new visit to Germany and a meeting with Hitler, Antonescu opted to continue fighting alongside the remaining Axis states, a decision which he later claimed was motivated by Hitler's promise to allow Romania possession of 6727:

Alongside the noticeable change in fortunes on the Eastern Front, a main motivator for all post-1943 changes, noted by various historians, was the manifold financial opportunity of Jewish survival. Wealthier Jews were financially

5646:, he encouraged the army commanders to resist the counteroffensive, as otherwise the Soviets "will bring Bolshevism to the country, wipe out the entire leadership stratum, impose the Jews on us, and deport masses of our people." 7624:

of Antonescu and his regime. Historians who focused on this period believe that the revival of nationalist tenets and the relative distance taken from Soviet policies contributed to the rehabilitation process. After a period of

6810:

The policies applied in respect to the Romani population were ambivalent: while ordering the deportation of those he considered criminals, Ion Antonescu was taking some interest in improving the lives of Romani laborers of the

12253:, pp. 115–116, 237, 313, 316, 322–324, 384–385; Achim, pp. 167, 180; Ancel (2005 b), pp. 234, 245, 255; Boia, pp. 118–119; Gella, pp. 171, 172, 173; Ioanid, pp. 232, 235, 237–238, 244, 245; Kenney, pp. 92–93; Nicholls, p. 6. 7272:(whom they kidnapped and eventually killed). The PCR leadership was still suffering from a crisis of legitimacy after beginning talks with the larger parties. The Soviets and "Muscovite" communists campaigned among Romanian 7587:("The Black Book"), a voluminous and detailed account of all stages of the Holocaust. After forming a secondary element in Antonescu's indictment, the deportation of Romani people was largely ignored in official discourse. 5874:, who describes Romania's "military fascist regime" as a successor to Iron Guardist "mystical nationalism", while mentioning that Antonescu's "national ideology was rather more traditionally militaristic and conservative." 9782:, pp. 19–20, 31, 103, 109–113, 181–183, 185–190, 202–208, 382–385; Achim, pp. 163, 167; Browning, p. 211; Deletant, pp. 59, 62–63, 103–108, 251–252; Kelso, pp. 100–101; Ornea, pp. 331, 393–394; Veiga, pp. 289–290, 296, 301 2468:

as a preliminary measure, while Sima, another leader sought after for negotiations, could not be found in time to express his opinion. Antonescu partly complied with the request but also asked Carol to bestow upon him the

2500:

Michael ascended the throne for the second time, while Antonescu's dictatorial powers were confirmed and extended. On 6 September, the day Michael formally assumed the throne, he issued a royal decree declaring Antonescu

1968:. Being described as "a talented if prickly individual", Antonescu lived in Prezan's proximity for the remainder of the war and influenced his decisions. Such was the influence of Antonescu on General Prezan that General 6288:

occurred just days after the start of Operation Barbarossa, and was partly instigated, partly tolerated by the authorities in Bucharest. For a while before the massacre, these issued propaganda claiming that the Jews in

3737:. Despite the idea having earned support from several sides of the political spectrum, the procedures were politicized in a sense favourable to the PCR and the Soviet Union, and posed a legal problem for being based on 2275:

Soon afterward, Călinescu, acting on indications from the monarch, arrested Codreanu and prosecuted him in two successive trials. Antonescu, whose mandate of Defense Minister had been prolonged under the premiership of

16273: 7009:

rejected because of the PNȚ leader's popularity with the peasants. While tolerating contacts between Maniu and the Allies, Antonescu arrested the clandestine British envoys to Romania, thus putting a stop to the 1943

14692:

Frankowski, p. 217. According to Deletant (p. 72), 72 communists believed to be Soviet agents or partisans were executed in 1940–1944, from a total of 313 PCR members sentenced to death. The rest had their sentences

2308:, based on a false claim that her divorce had not been finalized. Defended by Mihai Antonescu, the officer was able to prove his detractors wrong. Codreanu himself was taken into custody and discreetly killed by the 6872:, while the Romanian side was represented by Jewish Affairs Commissioner Lecca (reporting to Antonescu himself). Richter directed Lecca in setting up the Central Jewish Office, which he assumed would function as a 3558:. On this occasion, the German leader reportedly explained that his people had betrayed the Nazi cause, and asked him if Romania would go on fighting (to which Antonescu reportedly answered in vague terms). After 3937:

to the point where war between the two countries became a possibility. Such incidents made Germany indefinitely prolong its occupation of the region. The Romanian authorities issued projects for an independent

7611:

that excluded focus on such negative aspects of Romanian behavior during the war as antisemitism and the Holocaust, and obscured Romania's participation on the Eastern Front. Beginning in the mid-1960s, when

6819:, although it had claimed the existence of a "Gypsy problem", the Antonescu regime "did not count it among its priorities." By 1943, Antonescu was gradually allowing those deported to return home. Initially, 1594: 6071:

was extended to an unprecedented level. He personally set standards for nightclub programs, for the length of skirts and for women's use of bicycles, while forcing all men to wear coats in public. His wife

3817:

had supervised the tribunal. They were both rejected within six days, in compliance with a legal deadline on the completion of trials by the People's Tribunals. King Michael subsequently received pleas for

2180:

arranged a meeting between Ion Antonescu and the movement's leader, Corneliu Codreanu. Antonescu is reported to have found Codreanu arrogant, but to have welcomed his revolutionizing approach to politics.

21872: 10058:, pp. 62–63, 113; Browning, p. 211; Deletant, pp. 62–68; Griffin (1993), p. 127; Harvey, p. 497; Morgan, pp. 85–86, 188; Nicholls, p. 225; Ornea, pp. 338–339, 342, 345; Roper, p. 8; Veiga, pp. 295–297, 327 13661:, p. 230; Kelso, p. 109). Around 6,000 survivors were recorded alive by late 1944 (Achim, p. 179; Deletant, p. 195; Kelso, p. 130). However, the actual number of survivors may in theory be twice as high ( 6145:, as well as all the seemingly independent newspapers and some ten new periodicals the government founded for this purpose. Among the individual journalists involved in propaganda were Crainic, Petrescu, 3683:(defined specifically as crimes against "peaceful Soviet citizens"). At some point during this period, Antonescu attempted suicide in his quarters. He was returned to Bucharest in spring 1946 and held in 3365:). Official sources from the following period amalgamate military and civilian losses of all kinds, which produces a total of 554,000 victims of the war. To improve the Romanian army's effectiveness, the 6028: 2717:

stood by Antonescu. The latter group was concerned that any internal conflict would threaten Romania's oil industry, vital to the German war effort. The German leadership was by then secretly organizing

15431:, pp. 349, 350, 351, 353–354, 359, 373–374; Boia, pp. 340–341; Bucur (2004), p. 178; Deletant, pp. 6, 269–271; Geran Pilon, pp. 67–71; Ioanid, pp. 246, 250–252; Laqueur, pp. 203–205; Shafir, pp. 214–215 6406:, Antonescu called a secret conference attended by himself, the governors of Bessarabia and Bukovina and the governor-designate of Transnistria to discuss his plans regarding the Jews in those regions. 1777:

against Antonescu, who was arrested; after the war he was convicted of war crimes, and executed in June 1946. His involvement in the Holocaust was officially reasserted and condemned following the 2003

9830:, pp. 46, 109–113, 117–118, 181–182, 186; Ancel (2005 a), pp. 32–33, 317; Deletant, pp. 55–57, 58–68, 104–105; Gella, p. 171; Griffin (1993), pp. 126–127; Ornea, pp. 332–341; Roper, p. 8; Veiga, p. 282 5965:. According to historian of fascism Philip Morgan: "Antonescu probably wanted to create, or perpetuate, something like Carol's front organization." Much of his permanent support base comprised former 15997: 8027:

compiled by the Commission brought the official recognition of Ion Antonescu's participation in the Holocaust. After that moment, public displays of support for Antonescu became illegal. Antonescu's

2460:

wanted Antonescu as Prime Minister, and Fabricius promptly did just that. Carol and Antonescu accepted the proposal, Antonescu being ordered to approach political party leaders Maniu of the PNȚ and

7914:

observed a moment of silence in his memory. The perceived governmental tolerance of Antonescu's rehabilitation raised international concern and protests. While the FSN-supported Romanian President

7497:

organized the capture of certain Romanian citizens, as well as the return of war refugees from Romania proper into Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. Both the arrestees and the returnees were often

7361:

calling for a realignment of policies. Another such document of April 1944 called for an immediate peace with the Soviet Union. On a more intimate level, a diary kept by philosopher and art critic

3763: 7953:, remained largely inaccessible. Although confronted with more evidence from the newly opened archives, several historians, including some employed by official institutions, continued to deny the 13657:, pp. 226, 230, 235–237, 241, 382; Achim, pp. 169, 174–175, 179, 182; Deletant, pp. 4, 6, 171, 195, 254; Ioanid, p. 234; Kelso, pp. 109, 130. The authorities themselves counted 24,686 deportees ( 2507:(leader) of the state. The same decree relegated the monarch to a ceremonial role. Among Antonescu's subsequent measures was ensuring the safe departure into self-exile of Carol and his mistress 3565:

more than once stated that the Soviet Union was not going to require Romanian subservience, the factions opposing Antonescu agreed that the moment had come to overthrow him, by carrying out the

15711:

Bucur (2004), p. 178; Ioanid, p. 245. According to Ioanid, these Romanian-sourced interpretations affected historiographic accounts at an international level, when they were republished by the

7699:

described this as "the spectacular confrontation between the two contradictory myths into historical and mythological terms a fundamental fissure which divides the Romanian society of today."

7041:. Various other military men extended their protection to persecuted Jews. Overall, Antonescu met significant challenges in exercising control over the politicized sectors in the armed forces. 6451:, confiscated or left available for plunder. With its own Jewish population confined and subjected to extermination, Transnistria became infamous in short time, especially so for its five main 6744:, and some others were even allowed to return despite antisemitic protests in their home provinces. Economic exploitation was institutionalized in late 1941-early 1942, with the creation of a 2225:. Antonescu's own contribution is disputed by historians, who variously see him as either a supporter of the Anglo-French alliance or, like the PNC itself, more favourable to cooperation with 6878:

to streamline extermination policies. According to such plans, only some 17,000 Jews, labeled useful to Romania's economy, were to be exempt. The transports had already been announced to the

6321:

was also advanced as a possibility. The subsequent attempts at a cover-up included omissive explanations given by the central authorities to foreign diplomats and rewriting official records.

6245:" was his pressing concern, and that he considered himself "haunted" by the large Jewish presence in Moldavian towns. Antonescu's crimes against the Jewish population were inaugurated by new 2441:. In this troubled context, Antonescu simply left his assigned residence. He may have been secretly helped in this by German intercession, but was more directly aided to escape by socialite 2118:. In his capacity as Deputy Chief of Staff, he ordered the Army's intelligence unit to compile a report on the faction, and made a series of critical notes on Codreanu's various statements. 18525: 6313:, a matter which later allowed the authorities to shift blame from themselves and from Antonescu—who was nonetheless implicated by the special orders he had released. The complicity of the 4039:

between Greater Romania and the Soviet front line." At his 1946 trial, Antonescu claimed that Transnistria had been occupied to prevent Romania being caught in a "pincer" between Germany's

7547:. Arrested in September 1944 and held 1945–1946 in Soviet custody, she was re-arrested at home in 1950, tried and ultimately found guilty of economic crimes for her collaboration with the 6823:

allowed the families of soldiers to appeal their deportation on a selective basis. Romanian authorities also appear to have been influenced by the objections of Nazi administrators in the

8031:

interrogations were recovered from the Russian archives and published in 2006. Despite the renewed condemnation and exposure, Antonescu remained a popular figure: as a result of the 2006

8020: 6908:

that Romania would be rewarded with the return of Transylvania in exchange for handing over its Jews, Antonescu cancelled the deportation until the Germans would make him a better offer.

5850:

the ideology of the Guardists", and conclude that the regime he led was "openly fascist". References to the fascist traits of Antonescu's dictatorship are also made by other researchers.

1446: 8045:

using the portion dedicated to Antonescu to expose and condemn him, giving voters reasons not to see the dictator as a great Romanian. The approach resulted in notable controversy after

7002: 6486:

who acted with the consent of central authorities, Transnistrian localities became the sites of mass executions, particularly after the administrators became worried about the spread of

6314: 5718:

together with Horia Sima during a mass rally in October 1940. Historians are divided on whether Romania under Antonescu was a fascist regime or merely a right-wing military dictatorship.

3369:

was developed starting in late 1942. Marshal Antonescu, after whom the vehicle was named, was involved in the project himself. The vehicle later influenced the development of the German

2497:, were planning to have him killed. In reaction, he forced Carol to abdicate, while General Coroamă was refusing to carry out the royal order of shooting down Iron Guardist protesters. 7264:

Although repressed, divided and weak, the PCR capitalized on the Soviet victories, being integrated into the mainstream opposition. At the same time, a "prison faction" emerged around

2142:). The king consequently ordered him out of office, provoking indignation among sections of the political mainstream. On Carol's orders, Antonescu was placed under surveillance by the 2121:

As Chief of Staff, Antonescu reportedly had his first confrontation with the political class and the monarch. His projects for weapon modernization were questioned by Defense Minister

1905: 27708: 7296:. The Romanian cultural elite regarded Antonescu's policies for the most part with sympathy." Nevertheless, other researchers record the dissent of several cultural environments: the 6837:

for Romani people who did not adhere to a behavioural code. As the Romanian administrators abandoned Transnistria, most survivors from the group returned on their own in summer 1944.

12940:, pp. 66, 125, 128–134, 141, 175–177; Ancel (2005 a), pp. 21, 361–365, 402; Browning, pp. 275–277; Deletant, pp. 127–128, 143–149, 275, 314, 319–321; Ioanid, p. 233; Penkower, p. 149 6663:

A common assessment ranks Antonescu's Romania as second only to Nazi Germany in its antisemitic extermination policies. According to separate works by historians Dennis Deletant and

5629:, the Jews had organized themselves and attacked Romanian soldiers. In part, this notion exaggerated unilateral reports of enthusiasm among the marginalized Jews upon the arrival of 25363: 19544: 19501: 19416: 7548: 6745: 3976:

Antonescu thought Hitler willing to revise his stance on Northern Transylvania, and claimed to have obtained the German leader's agreement, using it to justify participation on the

2622:

that, unless engaged in "sabotage," "the Jewish population will not suffer." Antonescu did not reject the application of Legionary policies, but was offended by Sima's advocacy of

27673: 15921: 11864:, pp. 82–86, 247, 285; Deletant, pp. 15–20, 140–142, 318; Ioanid, p. 232; Trașcă, p. 387. Several researchers mention violence committed by retreating Romanian troops against the 2393: 27698: 6833:. By January 1944, the central authorities ordered local ones not to send back apprehended fugitives, instructed them to provide these with some food and clothing, and suggested 27693: 27683: 8245:

During the 1990s, monuments to Antonescu were raised and streets were named after him in Bucharest and several other cities. Among those directly involved in this process were

7001:

Antonescu is known to have publicly admonished opposition leaders for their disobedience, which he equated with obstruction, and to have monitored their activities through the

6495:

that concerns us? Shall we ensure their safety? Pack them into catacombs! Throw them into the Black Sea! As far I am concerned, 100 may die, 1,000 may die, all of them may die"

23586: 19256: 7857:

endorsed such projects while accusing Jews of being "a long-term noxious factor" and claiming that it was actually ethnic Romanians who were victims of a communist Holocaust.

6171:. Antisemitism was notable and virulent at the level of Romanian Army units addressing former Soviet citizens in occupied lands, and reflected the regime's preference for the 3475:

However, Antonescu's non-compliance with the terms of Wilson's ultimatum also had drastic effects on Romania's ability to exit the war. By then, Antonescu was conceiving of a

3161:

among them). The city subsequently became the administrative capital of Transnistria. According to one account, the Romanian administration planned to change Odessa's name to

2363:. While there, he commissioned Mihai Antonescu to establish contacts with Nazi German officials, promising to advance German economic interest, particularly in respect to the 2257:

The Goga cabinet ended when the tentative rapprochement between Goga and Codreanu prompted Carol to overthrow the democratic system and proclaim his own authoritarian regime (

18439: 16369: 11852:, pp. 101, 209–211, 243–247, 384; Deletant, pp. 15–20, 116–120, 128–129, 138, 140–141, 210–211, 259, 276–277, 318; Ioanid, pp. 232–233; Penkower, p. 182; Trașcă, pp. 387–389. 7869:

repeatedly argued in favor of Antonescu's rehabilitation, also making xenophobic claims; similar views were sporadically present in national dailies of various hues, such as

6063:

The regime was characterized by the leader's attempts to regulate even remote aspects of public life, including relations between the sexes. He imposed drastic penalties for

27648: 19790: 19183: 11910:, pp. 120–122, 127–142, 169, 175–177, 321; Ancel (2005 a), pp. 15–19, 291, 402; Deletant, pp. 79, 116–118, 127–130, 142–150, 155–156, 319; Polonsky, p. 27. The term used by 3462:

to the north and the lower Dniester to the east. This normalized his relations with Nazi German officials, whose alarm over the possible loss of an ally had resulted in the

3992:

I will not be swayed by anyone not to extend this military cooperation into new territory." Antonescu's ideological perspective blended national sentiment with generically

2031:

Lieutenant Colonel Ion Antonescu retained his visibility in the public eye during the interwar period. He participated in the political campaign to earn recognition at the

25981: 21857: 7066: 6949:

The circumstances of wartime accounted for cautious and ambivalent approaches to Antonescu's rule from among the Romanian political mainstream, which grouped advocates of

2206: 19745: 19163: 8041:, viewers nominated Antonescu as the 6th greatest Romanian ever. The vote's knockout phase included televised profiles of the ten most popular figures, and saw historian 7841: 22021: 19850: 19825: 3147:

suffered losses of some 100,000 men. Antonescu's popularity again rose in October, when the fall of Odessa was celebrated triumphantly with a parade through Bucharest's

674: 19795: 12330: 8066:

against the Soviet Union, which would make Article 3 of the 1933 Convention for the Definition of Aggression inapplicable in his case (as well as in those of Alexianu,

7185:

underground which aided Jews to pass through or flee the country, the regime was confronted with local political movements of contrasting shades. One of them comprised

5768:", noting that all of them "were not deceived by a propaganda trying to place them in the same category ." A similar verdict is provided by German historian of Europe 1952:. Antonescu took part in an important decision involving defensive efforts, an unusual promotion which probably stoked his ambitions. In December, as Prezan became the 27728: 6190:. Romania's other enemies were generally treated differently: Antonescu himself issued objections to the anti-British propaganda of explicitly pro-Nazi papers such as 3836:

proven it false. However, he did refuse a blindfold and raised his hat in salute once the order was given. The execution site, some distance away from the locality of

1370: 19592: 19138: 16044: 15178:, pp. 283–284, 340–348; Ancel (2005 a), p. 423; Boia, pp. 118–119, 336, 340; Deletant, pp. 4–5, 265–269; Geran Pilon, pp. 59–66; Ioanid, pp. 236–245; Oldson, pp. 3–4 7498: 7217:, although it was able to coordinate the policies of several other small leftist groups. Speaking shortly before the invasion of the Soviet Union, and adopting the " 4467: 3752: 19662: 19647: 12673:, pp. 91–107, 117, 204, 284–285, 383, 385; Ancel (2005 a), pp. 406–408; (2005 b), pp. 231–232, 234–235; Bucur (2006), p. 186; Deletant, pp. 114, 138, 140; Neubauer 6887:, where both leaders show themselves aware of the fate awaiting Jewish deportees to Poland. By then, German authorities charged with applying the Final Solution in 19935: 19925: 19910: 19539: 12393:

Harvey, pp. 544–545; Steven Béla Várady, "Hungarian Americans during World War II: Their Role in Defending Hungary's Interests", in Mieczysław B. Biskupski (ed.),

10185:, pp. 43, 46, 103, 112–115, 208, 382; Ancel (2005 a), pp. 402–403; Browning, pp. 211–212; Deletant, pp. 66, 71–72, 299–300; Ioanid, p. 232; Veiga, pp. 298–299, 301 5670:, to join the ranks of a local community of manual labourers. In 1942, he commissioned the Romanian Central Institute for Statistics to compile a report on Romani 5570:, who met General Antonescu during that interval, recalled that, although antisemitic "to the core", he was capable of restraint in public. According to historian 4031:, in exchange for delivering the whole of Transylvania to Hungary (and relocating its ethnic Romanian majority to the new provinces). American political scientist 3170: 2928:("sub-humans"). Hitler's promise to Antonescu that after the war, the Germanic and Latin races would rule the world in a partnership turned out to be meaningless. 1380: 19755: 19228: 12819:, pp. 120–123, 200, 208–209, 244, 329; Ancel (2005 a), pp. 11–12, 40–46, 49–51, 57–58, 69–70, 73, 100–110, 130, 161–163, 169, 274, 325; Deletant, pp. 130–134, 138 2878:). In parallel, Romania's relationship with the United Kingdom, at the time the only major adversary of Nazi Germany, erupted into conflict: on 10 February 1941, 2062:

He became attache in Paris in 1922. He negotiated a credit worth 100 million French francs to purchase French weaponry. He worked together with Romanian diplomat

27678: 19441: 18573: 7096: 3779: 2284:, Antonescu vouched for his friend's honesty while shaking his hand in front of the jury. Upon the conclusion of the trial, the king ordered his former minister 409: 19985: 19865: 19632: 5953:

Although he assigned an unimportant role to King Michael, Antonescu took steps to increase the monarchy's prestige, personally inviting Carol's estranged wife,

5666:, and called on his ministers to present him with solutions. Initially, he contemplated sending all Romani people he considered undesirable to the inhospitable 3985:

ideological motivation: "I confirm that I will pursue operations in the east to the end against that great enemy of civilization, of Europe, and of my country:

1956:, Antonescu, who was by now a major, was named the head of operations, being involved in the defence of Moldavia. He contributed to the tactics used during the 27778: 22456: 21797: 19970: 19652: 19266: 19104: 18312: 7926:, who in 1997 became the first Romanian officeholder to recognize the collective responsibility of Romanian authorities. Nevertheless, during the same period, 7249:-like activists, while the vast majority of communist prisoners in Rîbnița were massacred in March 1944. At the other end of the political spectrum, after the 5989:

structure appointed by prefects whom he named. In stages between August and October 1941, he instituted civilian administration of Transnistria under Governor

4544: 3734: 3315:

Romania's exports, it defaulted on most of its payments. Like all countries whose exports to Germany, particularly in oil, exceeded imports from that country,

2867:

The German military presence increased significantly in early 1941, when, using Romania as a base, Hitler invaded the rebellious Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the

2668: 1196: 21356: 7982: 6426:, the decision involved specific quotas, and the transports, most of which were carried out by foot, involved random murders. In conjunction with Antonescu's 2059:

wrote that Antonescu's frequent changes of mood were due to the syphilis he contracted as a young man, a condition he suffered from for the rest of his life.

1747:. The system in place was nevertheless characterized by singular inconsistencies, prioritizing plunder over killing, showing leniency toward most Jews in the 27030: 19960: 19173: 7676: 5998: 5626: 4405: 3443: 2687: 2343: 19955: 19740: 19688: 15994: 12835:; Browning, pp. 276–277; Deletant, pp. 133–140; Ioanid, pp. 233, 236; Laqueur, p. 206; Penkower, p. 149; Polonsky, p. 27; Veiga, pp. 300, 312; Weber, p. 167 12795:, pp. 19–20, 63, 92, 117, 168–169, 181–182, 185–195, 202–203, 238, 250, 384–385; Deletant, pp. 106–108, 123, 210–211; Kelso, pp. 100–101; Ornea, pp. 393–394 6490:

from the camps and into the surrounding region. At a Cabinet meeting on 16 December 1941 to discuss the fate of the Jews of Transnistria, Antonescu stated:

6094:, although the regime allowed women "to participate in the war effort on the front in a more regularized, if still marginal, fashion", the general tone was 3272:

he had contracted earlier in life. He is known to have been suffering from digestive problems, treating himself with food prepared by Marlene von Exner, an

27748: 27593: 19975: 19760: 19481: 19271: 17504: 16759: 15877: 15397:, pp. 349, 352–353, 360–361; Boia, pp. 340–341; Bucur (2004), p. 178sqq; Deletant, pp. 269–271, 312; Ioanid, p. 246sqq; Kenney, p. 93; Laqueur, pp. 205–206 12759:, pp. 118–119, 197–199, 201, 206, 291–292; Browning, p. 211; Deletant, pp. 103, 108–113, 120, 123–124, 159, 201, 207, 211, 310–311, 381; Kelso, pp. 100–101 8224: 8071: 8067: 7490: 7477:

and its allies began using the implications of his trial as an abusive means of compromising some of their political opponents. One such early example was

6820: 6535: 6257:) instead of the inaccessible military service, mixed Romanian-Jewish marriages were forbidden and many Jews, primarily those from strategic areas such as 4697: 3652: 3644: 3636: 2886: 2844: 1847:("The Red Dog"). Antonescu also developed a reputation for questioning his commanders and for appealing over their heads whenever he felt they were wrong. 309: 19133: 6891:

completely abandoned their plans with respect to Romania. In August 1942, Antonescu had worked out plans with the SS for deporting all of the Jews of the

5642:

of all Jewish Romanians, as an early step toward their expulsion. In this context, Antonescu frequently depicted Jews as a disease or a poison. After the

3617: 3479:

with the Western Allies, while maintaining contacts with the Soviets. In parallel, the mainstream opposition movement came to establish contacts with the

2971:" (in reference to the Bessarabian border between Romania and post-1940 Soviet territory). A few days after this, a large-scale pogrom was carried out in 2797:." This came after the mysterious assassination of Major Döring, a German agent in Bucharest, which was used by the Iron Guard as a pretext to accuse the 1877:

to congratulate him in front of the whole garrison. The following year, Antonescu was promoted to Lieutenant, and, between 1911 and 1913, he attended the

27718: 27653: 19840: 18235: 17111: 7397: 6703: 6082: 2368: 1427: 435: 19905: 19870: 9399: 7865:

notably produced radical claims relying on fabricated evidence and deflecting blame for the crimes onto the Jews themselves. Several journals edited by

6156: 5829:

Nevertheless, other historians theorize a synthesis of fascist and conservative elements, performed by Antonescu and other European leaders of his day.

3306:, whom Hitler agreed to replace. In parallel with the military losses, Romania was confronted with large-scale economic problems. Romania's oil was the 2039:("The Romanians. Their Origin, Their Past, Their Sacrifices and Their Rights"). The booklet advocated extension of Romanian rule beyond the confines of 27713: 20574: 19835: 19534: 19391: 6697:

The Jewish population in the Old Kingdom, numbering between 300,000 and 400,000 people, survived the Holocaust almost intact. Reflecting on this fact,

26846: 18945: 2606:" of Jewish-owned enterprises became standard official practice. Immediately after coming into office, Antonescu himself expanded the anti-Jewish and 1340: 27753: 27633: 27548: 26493: 20788: 19995: 19336: 19198: 19158: 18974: 18894: 18887: 18873: 17037: 15847: 13860:, pp. 252–253; Ancel (2005 b), pp. 231–234; Deletant, pp. 100–101; Ornea, p. 394; Penkower, pp. 153, 161. The decision appears to have been taken by 12222: 7462: 7154: 5798:" which ensured "social stability" by extending the control of a "traditional state" (thus effectively blocking "revolutionary suggestions" from the 4032: 4015:

as compensation for the Transylvanian areas, and that he therefore considered the matter closed. According to the Romanian representative in Berlin,

2802: 2494: 2149: 1220: 623: 19426: 17310:

Petru Weber, "Die Wahrnehmung des »Domestic Holocaust« im Rumänien der Nachkriegsjahre", in Regina Fritz, Carola Sachse, Edgar Wolfrum (eds.),

14662:, pp. 104–105, 143; Cioroianu, pp. 42–52, 132–134; Deletant, pp. 116, 123, 196–198, 219, 225, 238–239, 254, 303, 311, 332–333, 335–336, 340, 343–344 7084: 6293:, whose numbers had been increased by forced evictions from smaller localities, were actively helping Soviet bombers find their targets through the 4035:

writes: "There was never any attempt to annex the occupied territory , for it was generally considered by the Romanian government to be a temporary

3077:

to do. Killinger informed Antonescu that Germany would reduce its supplies of arms if Antonescu went ahead with his plans to deport the Jews of the

2138: 2007:(the future King Carol II) left his army posting to marry a commoner. This outraged Antonescu, who developed enduring contempt for the future king. 27703: 27668: 27638: 27568: 27045: 25358: 19980: 19885: 19582: 19476: 19396: 19208: 18951: 18549: 7930: 7899: 7845:

magazine is known to have equated Antonescu and Ceaușescu, presenting them both as "apostles of the Romanian people". In his bid for the office of

7620:

course, the celebration of 23 August as the inception of the communist regime was accompanied by a contradictory tendency, which implied a gradual

7523: 7026: 6753: 6131: 5571: 3910: 3775: 3744: 2122: 1315: 363: 290: 17264: 6443:

nation because of several hundred thousand Jews, or in order to salvage some principle of humane democracy that has not been understood properly."

2789:

The Antonescu-Sima dispute erupted into violence in January 1941, when the Iron Guard instigated a series of attacks on public institutions and a

27598: 27578: 21570: 19920: 19496: 18786: 18279: 17538: 13782:, pp. 120, 200, 207–210, 247; Deletant, pp. 71–72, 114, 120–122, 125, 216, 311, 317–318; Ioanid, p. 234; Penkower, pp. 152–153, 157, 161, 169–170 7989:

were noted as early critics of attempts to exculpate Antonescu. The matter of crimes in Transnistria and elsewhere was first included within the

7854: 7729: 7629:, the increasingly authoritarian Ceaușescu regime revived the established patterns of personalized rule, and even made informal use of the title 7580: 7250: 6551:. Once caught, escapees who made their way back into Romania were returned by the central authorities, even as local authorities were objecting. 6266: 5587: 5567: 4815: 4702: 3704: 2794: 2442: 1689: 1493: 946: 19466: 6715:, Polonksy and Mihlic note: " raises important questions about the thin line between the desire to expel an unwanted minority and a small-scale 1692:

of 1941. In addition to being Prime Minister, he served as his own Foreign Minister and Defense Minister. Soon after Romania joined the Axis in

26292: 21550: 19950: 19860: 19810: 19775: 19321: 19143: 16565: 6816: 5514: 5410: 3767: 3157:

of the Jewish population, ordered by the Marshal as retaliation for a bombing which killed a number of Romanian officers and soldiers (General

2269: 1232: 13174:, pp. 144–146, 178–179, 382; Ancel (2005 b), p. 231; Deletant, pp. 127, 128, 170–171, 177–180, 314–315, 329–331; Ioanid, pp. 231, 233–235, 236 7940:

To a certain degree, such pro-Antonescu sentiments were also present in post-1989 historiography. Reflecting back on this phenomenon in 2004,

6182:" or "Yids" in English). The religious aspect of anti-communism surfaced in such venues, which frequently equated Operation Barbarossa with a 5638:("cleaning out") of Jews from the eastern Romanian-held territories. However, as early as February 1941, Antonescu was also contemplating the 26771: 26287: 21565: 21362: 20941: 19805: 19008: 16955: 8280: 7534: 7401: 6460: 6265:. The expulsion of Jewish professionals from all walks of life was also carried out in the National Legionary period, and enforced after the 5583: 3955: 2756: 2644:). The political conflict coincided with major social challenges, including the influx of refugees from areas lost earlier in the year and a 14983:, pp. 313–331; Cioroianu, pp. 130–131, 265–268, 295–297; Deletant, pp. 264, 347, 349; Gella, p. 173; Ioanid, pp. 235–237; Weber, pp. 158–159 14634:, p. 324; Cioroianu, pp. 44–45, 55, 126–132, 151–154; Deletant, pp. 238–239, 344; Gella, p. 172. In addition to the PCR, these included the 12783:, pp. 63, 183–214, 220–221, 238, 290–291, 381; Browning, p. 211; Deletant, pp. 103–106, 198–199, 308–314; Ioanid, p. 232; Ornea, pp. 393–394 8185: 6783:). On a personal level, Antonescu's encouragement of crimes alternated with periods when he gave in to the pleas of Jewish community leader 2528:

provide taxes for a treasury looted by Carol, while Sima favored populist economic measures that Antonescu insisted there was no money for.

27283: 27111: 27106: 27101: 27096: 25413: 21545: 19178: 16053: 13749:

Ancel (2005 b), pp. 231–232, 234–235. Ancel places blame for the discontent provoked among locals on Antonescu's earlier propaganda themes.

12967:

Browning, pp. 275, 276, 277. He also notes (p. 275): "Hungarian soldiers seem to have largely abstained from following the German example".

9794:, pp. 19–20, 31, 43, 87, 116–117, 183–199, 320, 384; Deletant, pp. 103–108, 131, 308–314; Ioanid, pp. 231–232; Ornea, p. 391; Weber, p. 160 7994: 6423: 6167:, whom he reportedly despised). Much of the propaganda produced during the Antonescu era supported the antisemitic theses put forth by the 4801: 4472: 4400: 3496: 2577:. Germans troops entered the country in stages, in order to defend the local oil industry and help instruct their Romanian counterparts on 1980: 1522: 12119:, "Staging the Nation's Rebirth: The Politics and Aesthetics of Performance in the Context of Fascist Studies", in Günter Berghaus (ed.), 2473:

for Romanian heads of state. Carol yielded and, on 5 September 1940, the general became Prime Minister, and Carol transferred most of his

26361: 24813: 23062: 22775: 21248: 9257:

The Organization and Order or Battle of Militaries in World War II: Volume VII: Germany's and Imperial Japan's Allies & Puppet States

8079: 7764:

that was largely set in place in the 'Ceaușescu era' ". It was also popular at the time to see the 1944 Coup exclusively as the onset of

7485:, who was accused of being a fascist and an Antonescu sympathizer, mainly for having shaken his hand during the trial. The enlistment of 6986:, which Antonescu dismissed. Maniu and Brătianu also issued several condemnations of Antonescu's decision to continue the war beyond the 6468: 5993:, whose status he made equivalent to that of a cabinet minister. Similar measures were taken in Bukovina and Bessarabia (under Governors 5087: 3247: 2619: 2350:, was seeking to align its policies with those of Germany. Ion Antonescu himself had come to value a pro-Axis alternative after the 1938 2089:

After returning to Romania in 1926, Antonescu resumed his teaching in Sibiu, and, in the autumn of 1928, became Secretary-General of the

15918: 15220:, p. 348; Boia, pp. 160–161, 259, 340; Deletant, p. 269; Geran Pilon, pp. 67, 116; Ioanid, pp. 246, 251; Laqueur, p. 205; Shafir, p. 215 8203:

portrayed Antonescu and the other secondary Axis leaders as villains and servile dog-like creatures, representations notably present in

6702:

Antonescu's time in power: "more Jews survived under rule than in any other country within Axis Europe." American historian of Romania

5578:

was not averse to the Iron Guard's "Legionary principles", but wanted antisemitism to be "applied in an orderly fashion", as opposed to

3827:

executive, he issued a decree in favour of execution. Together with his co-defendants Mihai Antonescu, Alexianu and Vasiliu, the former

2686:, perceived as more sympathetic to the Iron Guard, Antonescu promptly took over leadership of the ministry, with the compliant diplomat 27603: 25423: 22755: 22316: 19097: 16274:"În țara cu nouă străzi care poartă numele lui Antonescu, Guvernul tace o săptamâna în cazul distrugerii cimitirului evreiesc din Huși" 13093:; Deletant, pp. 116, 123–126, 141–142, 152–230, 275, 321–341; Ioanid, pp. 231, 233–234; Kelso, pp. 100–101; Ornea, pp. 394–395; Weber, 8175:. He also had sporadic contacts with the artistic and literary environment, including an interview he awarded to his supporter, writer 7918:

publicly opposed attempts to rehabilitate Antonescu and acknowledged the "crimes he committed against the Jews", it was his successor,

7858: 6472: 5227: 3946:

communities, while an official memorandum on the Timok Valley, approved by Antonescu, made mention of "Romanian" areas "from Timok to

3559: 17653: 7025:, although it is possible that the majority agreed it would bring Northern Transylvania back to Romania. A prominent case was that of 6430:

ambitions, it is possible that the ultimate destination for the survivors, once circumstances permitted it, was further east than the

5610:

made the Germans "evidently willing to accept that organized Christianity in Romania was very different from what it was in Germany".

3691:, to whom he complained about the conditions of his detainment, contrasting them with those in Moscow, while explaining that he was a 1668:, in which he also served as Air and Marine Minister. During the late 1930s, his political stance brought him into conflict with King 27583: 22785: 22466: 22011: 21852: 21268: 8597:

Nazi Germany's highest decoration for its military and paramilitary forces during World War II. First Romanian to receive the award.

8219: 4383: 3733:. The Romanian legislative framework was drafted by coup participant Pătrășcanu, a PCR member who had been granted leadership of the 2241: 2176:

and the Iron Guard sought to attract Antonescu to their side. In 1936, to the authorities' alarm, Army General and Iron Guard member

15310:, pp. 284, 302, 340–348; Ancel (2005 a), pp. 414, 418; Deletant, pp. 264, 269; Ioanid, pp. 241–245; Oldson, p. 3; Weber, pp. 164–165 14002:, pp. 66, 133, 134, 383; Browning, pp. 276–277; Deletant, pp. 146, 150–151, 177; Ioanid, p. 235; Oldson, pp. 2, 10; Penkower, p. 149 6056:

as early as 1940 and, in 1943, an accord between Antonescu and Hitler automatically sent ethnic Germans of recruitable age into the

2746: 27658: 27563: 27122: 25830: 24682: 23082: 22668: 22183: 20190: 17497: 17196:

Sabrina P. Ramet, "The Way We Were—And Should Be Again? European Orthodox Churches and the 'Idyllic Past' ", in Timothy A. Byrnes,

16924: 16392: 8141: 7728:, it shifted the blame from Romanian authorities and advanced a drastically reduced death toll. In its preface, official historian 6736:, and even by the Army. From the beginning, the regime had excepted from deportations some Jews who were experts in fields such as 6301:

In the aftermath of the pogrom, thousands of survivors were loaded into the so-called "death trains". These overcrowded and sealed

1917: 1350: 21671: 14880:

Christianity under Stress. Vol. III: Protestantism and Politics in Eastern Europe and Russia: The Communist and Postcommunist Eras

7107:

and into Palestine. Dinu Brătianu also condemned antisemitic measures, prompting Antonescu to accuse him of being an ally of "the

6235:

Three weeks after gaining power and inaugurating the National Legionary regime, Ion Antonescu declared to Italian interviewers at

1481: 27808: 27743: 27543: 20931: 18228: 17140: 13245:, pp. 226–241, 250, 252; Achim, pp. 168–180; Deletant, pp. 187–196, 331–332; Ioanid, p. 234; Kelso, pp. 98, 100sqq; Weber, p. 151 7292:. According to Romanian literary historians Letiția Guran and Alexandru Ștefan, "the Antonescu regime did not affect negatively 6249:

laws: urban Jewish property was expropriated, Jews were banned from performing a wide range of occupations and forced to provide

6198:: it revisited the Iron Guard's history to minimize Sima's contributions and to depict him as radically different from Codreanu. 4019:, various German and Hungarian officials recommended the extension of permanent Romanian rule into Transnistria, as well as into 3015:—that is, beyond territory that had been part of Romania between the wars—and thrust deeper into Soviet territory, thus waging a 13320:

Achim, pp. 173–174; Deletant, p. 191; Ioanid, p. 234; Kelso, pp. 110–114. Ioanid mentions that 40 pounds was the accepted limit.

7033:, whose objection to the massive transfer of Romanian troops to the Eastern Front resulted in his demotion and replacement with 4601: 27803: 27127: 27082: 26628: 26513: 25479: 25383: 22820: 22541: 22516: 22371: 22306: 21962: 21540: 21525: 21123: 19113: 18919: 17528: 16445: 7377: 6966: 5395: 3633: 3330:). On the German side, those directly involved in harnessing Romania's economic output for German goals were economic planners 3095: 2157: 2090: 1657: 255: 27643: 22131: 10688:, pp. 150–157, 245, 321, 323; Ancel (2005 a), p. 291; Deletant, pp. 171–177, 248–253, 261, 276–277, 328–329; Trașcă, p. 389sqq 8019:, an international group of expert historians whose mission was the study of the Holocaust in Romania, later succeeded by the 7973:

in the United States. Although criticized for denying the uniqueness of the Holocaust and downplaying Antonescu's complicity,

7749:

was well liked by portions of the general public. This tendency, Lucian Boia argues, was similar to a parallel trend favoring

3483:(PCR), which, although minor numerically, gained importance for being the only political group to be favored by Soviet leader 1715:

perpetrators, Antonescu enforced policies independently responsible for the deaths of as many as 400,000 people, most of them

27608: 27020: 26954: 23132: 22962: 21696: 21555: 21184: 19718: 19090: 18680: 18000: 17319: 16666: 16523: 16254: 8265:, whose resignation from the Army was subsequently requested and obtained. Also during that interval, in 1993, filmmaker and 8176: 6856:

By summer 1942, German representatives in Romania obtained Antonescu's approval to deport the remaining Jewish population to

5426: 4167: 2676: 2355: 500: 14905: 12327: 5702:, who saw the Romani presence as a major racial problem. The exact effect of the report's claims on Antonescu is uncertain. 3786:. Reacting against the aggressive tone of other accusers, Maniu went on record saying: "We were political adversaries, not 3401:). Antonescu was also alarmed by the possibility of war being carried on Romanian territory, as had happened in Italy after 27092: 26277: 26262: 26037: 24505: 23087: 22536: 21947: 21897: 19710: 18317: 17396: 16418: 14209: 13575: 9424:

Haynes, Rebecca " Germany and the Establishment of the Romanian National Legionary State, September 1940" pp. 700–725 from

7683:, a former Iron Guard member who had come to endorse both Antonescu's rehabilitation and the national communist version of 6861: 6711:

Jewish communities of the Old Romanian Kingdom, while exposing Jews perceived as foreign. Discussing Antonescu's policy of

5306: 4279: 4269: 4222: 4212: 3503: 2967:

began without a formal declaration of war, and was consecrated by Antonescu's statement: "Soldiers, I order you, cross the

2879: 1672:

and led to his detainment. Antonescu rose to political prominence during the political crisis of 1940, and established the

21625: 20694: 20267: 17261: 16041: 10859: 10039: 9411:

Haynes, Rebecca "Germany and the Establishment of the Romanian National Legionary State, September 1940" pp. 700–725 from

9211:"Relațiile regimului autoritar al lui Carol al II-lea cu opoziția. Studiu de caz: arestarea conducerii Mișcării Legionare" 8924: 8011:

In 2003, after a period in which his own equivocal stance on the matter had drawn controversy, Constantinescu's successor

5916:

In theory, Antonescu's policies had at least one revolutionary aspect. The leader himself claimed: "I want to introduce a

27558: 27479: 27035: 26877: 26761: 26593: 26242: 25099: 23092: 22932: 22795: 22770: 22601: 22571: 21957: 21892: 21666: 21560: 21372: 19726: 18779: 17490: 15972: 15950: 15888: 14903:"Jehovah's Witnesses in East Central, South Eastern and Southern Europe. The Fate of a Religious Minority (book reviews)" 8571: 8351: 8087: 7850: 7093: 7030: 6612: 4809: 4722: 4388: 4299: 4262: 3511: 3406: 3090: 2992: 1953: 1878: 1653: 1025: 974: 641: 16938: 7037:(January 1942). Șteflea issued similar calls, and Antonescu's eventually agreed to preserve a home army just before the 6569:

Map of the Holocaust in Ukraine. Odessa ghetto marked with gold-red star. Transnistria massacres marked with red skulls.

6335: 3601:

on 12 September, the country was still perceived as an enemy by the Soviets, who continued to take Romanian soldiers as

2205:. Goga's appointment was meant to curb the rise of the more popular and even more radical Codreanu. Initially given the 27733: 27688: 27588: 27553: 26959: 26751: 26421: 25961: 25850: 25373: 25179: 23181: 23067: 22616: 22591: 22411: 22381: 22311: 21922: 21877: 21862: 21827: 21779: 21382: 21031: 20836: 20452: 18259: 18221: 17024: 16851: 15609: 12916:, pp. 121, 122; Ancel (2005 a), pp. 21–22, 26–30, 50–51, 149, 328, 391, 414, 416; Deletant, pp. 137, 317; Weber, p. 167 8611: 8284: 7891: 5507: 5420: 5007: 4591: 4378: 4346: 4324: 4284: 4182: 3357: 3174: 1996: 1762: 1268: 1238: 1030: 26776: 16293: 2177: 2110:

and his regents, and with Carol's seizure of power in 1930. During this period Antonescu first grew interested in the

2035:

of 1919 for Romania's gains in Transylvania. His nationalist argument about a future state was published as the essay

1320: 27818: 27763: 27663: 27573: 26913: 26578: 26217: 25403: 25393: 24677: 22790: 22750: 22521: 22496: 22436: 22089: 21725: 20916: 20028: 19001: 18244: 17375: 17336: 17298: 17248: 17227: 17213: 17191: 17166: 17148: 17127: 17106: 17088: 17074: 17053: 17032: 17014: 16997: 16989: 16975: 16932: 16911: 16884: 16859: 16841: 16809: 16775: 16754: 16729: 16694: 16645: 16622: 16604: 16581: 16573: 16560: 16455: 16428: 16352: 16124: 16097: 15699: 15374: 14891: 14493: 12706:, p. 94; Ancel (2005 a), pp. 403, 407; Deletant, pp. 81–82, 83, 92–93, 101, 304–305; Harvey, p. 498; Nicholls, p. 225 12545: 12402: 12287: 12238: 12206: 12132: 12104: 12073: 11660: 10971: 10083: 9638: 9068: 8266: 7895: 5400: 4715: 4611: 4524: 4395: 3933:. Reportedly, Germany's initial designs of granting Vojvodina to Hungary enhanced the tensions between Antonescu and 3153:, and when many Romanians reportedly believed the war was as good as won. In Odessa itself, the aftermath included a 2125:, leading Antonescu to present his resignation. According to another account, he completed an official report on the 1921:

Ion Antonescu (bottom row, center) with the other officers of the Section "Operations" of the wartime General Staff (

1851: 1633: 1208: 891: 26170: 22136: 9547:

organization, who, although inclined to support Sima, advised the latter to let the general take hold of government.

9313:

Deletant, pp. 46–47. Deletant notes the determining factor for this decision was Antonescu's link to the Iron Guard.

3227: 2868: 2602:

During the National Legionary State period, earlier antisemitic legislation was upheld and strengthened, while the "

2066:; the two became personal friends. He was also in contact with the Romanian-born conservative aristocrat and writer 1181: 27813: 27788: 27773: 27758: 27337: 26979: 26872: 26583: 23005: 22780: 22501: 22079: 21912: 21620: 21580: 21367: 21293: 21288: 20793: 14957: 13457:, pp. 151–153, 323; Trașcă, pp. 391–394. The detonation was a method of execution ordered by Antonescu personally ( 12140: 7903: 7433: 5930: 4623: 4497: 4329: 4309: 3848:, while stating the belief that posterity would reconsider his deeds and accusing Romanians of being "ungrateful". 3844:("Valley of the Peach Trees"). His final written statement was a letter to his wife, urging her to withdraw into a 2935:

King Michael I and Antonescu at the border, on the river Prut, watching the deployment of the Romanian Army in 1941

2736: 2707: 1515: 187: 26371: 15157:, pp. 280–281, 283–284, 335–339, 347, 385; Deletant, pp. 264–265; Ioanid, pp. 236–237; Weber, pp. 158–159, 166–167 14303:, pp. 284–285, 320, 324; Deletant, p. 319; Gella, p. 171; King, pp. 93–94; Trașcă, pp. 378–379; White, pp. 157–158 14204:, pp. 69, 171–172, 383; Deletant, pp. 121–122, 210; Oldson, pp. 4, 8–11, 161–163. According to Penkower (p. 153), 7937:

procedure to overturn sentences passed against Antonescu and other 1946 defendants, which he eventually withdrew.

6961:

agenda of the Antonescu executive as a reason behind the widespread acquiescence. The tendency was illustrated by

6849:, as applied in territories under direct Nazi control from 1941. At an early stage, German attempts to impose the 6547:, Romani survival being largely dependent on occasional government handouts, the locals' charity, stealing and an 6223: 5527: 4692: 27768: 27087: 26673: 26473: 26007: 25976: 25699: 24964: 24833: 23077: 22859: 22715: 22695: 22678: 22121: 22084: 21882: 21774: 21253: 21169: 20604: 11587:, pp. 171–172; Deletant, pp. 61–62, 75–76, 79, 167; Haynes, pp. 106–110, 120; Ioanid, p. 245; Trașcă, pp. 380–385 7604: 7522:, based on transcripts of the Cassulo-Antonescu conversations. It also used such allegations to pressure several 6975: 6599: 5733:, itself integrated within a larger debate about the aspects and limits of fascism. Israeli historian of fascism 5237: 4650: 4616: 4151: 3914: 3281: 3182: 2944: 2874: 2614:, while tens of new anti-Jewish regulations were passed in 1941–1942. This was done despite his formal pledge to 2474: 2229:'s Germany. At the time, Antonescu viewed Romania's alliance with the Entente as insurance against Hungarian and 27628: 26212: 26207: 24515: 22126: 20506: 18444: 8283:) apologetically. The rehabilitation trend was also represented at an October 1994 commemorative exhibit at the 3813:

during peacetime, while noting that, contrary to the armistice agreement, only one power represented within the

1774: 1769:

prompted Antonescu to open peace negotiations with the Allies, which were inconclusive. On 23 August 1944, King

26756: 26438: 26381: 26082: 26077: 25398: 25303: 25064: 24798: 24662: 23766: 22937: 22391: 21887: 21691: 21575: 20936: 18772: 18264: 17119: 16967: 14965: 12694:

soldier and people!" and "The war was provoked by the kikes of the entire world. Fight against the warmongers!"

12686:

Trașcă, pp. 387, 389. Among these, Trașcă cites (p. 387): "The Romanian and German armies are fighting against

9671: 8350:

of 1919. He also received several decorations from foreign countries. He was the first Romanian to receive the

7923: 7470: 7466: 7380:

Christian denominations, first outlawed under the National Legionary regime. Several thousand adherents of the

7214: 6905: 6358: 5937:("poltroonishness"). Accordingly, Antonescu formally outlawed all political forces in February 1941, codifying 5082: 5072: 4732: 4660: 4440: 4334: 4008:, "It seems that Hitler was not even perturbed by the militant Christian orientation of the Antonescu regime". 3710: 3664: 3432: 3045: 2939:

In June of that year, Romania joined the attack on the Soviet Union, led by Germany in coalition with Hungary,

2814: 2683: 2202: 2190: 1976: 1831: 1724: 1720: 1095: 22283: 20470: 14918: 13876:, pp. 218–220, 251–252, 383–384; Ancel (2005 b), pp. 232–234; Deletant, pp. 118–119, 203–204, 215–225, 338–340 12136: 7949:, were made more available to researchers, but documents confiscated or compiled by Soviet officials, kept in 6933: 5783: 2367:, in exchange for endorsement. Commenting on Ion Antonescu's ambivalent stance, Hitler's minister to Romania, 2078:

who had an influence on Fascism. Bibesco saw Antonescu as a new version of 19th century nationalist Frenchman

27723: 27295: 26613: 26396: 25876: 25368: 24718: 22967: 22688: 21842: 21455: 21278: 20736: 20227: 20215: 19516: 18514: 18509: 17952: 12346: 12274:, "The Sources of Social Power Revisited: A Response to Criticism", in John A. Hall, Ralph Schroeder (eds.), 11840:, pp. 116, 127–128, 181–182, 184, 202–203, 323, 325, 383, 385; Deletant, pp. 1, 128–129; Trașcă, pp. 388–389. 9663: 8704: 8418:

Romania's highest military decoration at the time. Only received by one other officer in the army during the

8338:

Antonescu received a number of awards and decorations throughout his military career, most notable being the

8250: 7789: 7564: 7242: 6464: 6418:, there ensued a systematic deportation of Jews from Bessarabia, with additional transports of Jews from the 6343:

Right upon setting up camp in Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, Romanian troops joined the Wehrmacht and the

6068: 5695: 5500: 5464: 5359: 5301: 4997: 4747: 4430: 3917:. Antonescu's Romania did not partake in the military action, but laid a claim to the territories in eastern 3810: 3610: 3488: 3343: 2843:, members of an Iron Guardist wing which had virulently opposed Sima, and whose leader was Codreanu's father 2829: 2825: 1957: 1755:. This was made possible by the fact that Romania, as a junior ally of Nazi Germany, was not occupied by the 1600: 923: 26928: 7831:

or neofascist messages and the legacy of Ceaușescu's national communism. Founded by party leader and former

27783: 26416: 26282: 26140: 26107: 25529: 25313: 24056: 23186: 23142: 23117: 23035: 23015: 22416: 22326: 22321: 22223: 22218: 22213: 21984: 21932: 21907: 21585: 21422: 21397: 21340: 21046: 20783: 20073: 18994: 18064: 17740: 17725: 17158: 16686: 16658: 16322: 16299: 14174:

insignia, in exchange for payments. The project was sabotaged by the Nazis, reportedly upon the request of

11652: 10416: 8086:, as well as criticism by historians of the Holocaust. The Court of Appeals decision was overturned by the 7946: 7502: 7494: 7461:. The Antonescu trial thus fit into a long series of similar procedures and political purges on charges of 7454: 7388:

were reportedly jailed in compliance with his orders. Persecution targeted groups of religiously motivated

7381: 6904:

for the return of Transylvania and unable to obtain satisfactory promises from the German Ambassador Baron

6273:" commissions resumed their work under the supervision of a National Center, and their scope was extended. 5761: 5348: 4655: 4628: 4445: 4353: 4341: 3977: 3967: 3806: 3621: 3232: 3178: 2964: 2952: 2732: 2260: 2032: 1766: 951: 679: 26598: 26272: 25219: 24979: 24510: 24495: 23676: 23440: 20638: 18764: 16699:"Women's Stories as Sites of Memory: Gender and Remembering Romania's World Wars", in Nancy M. Wingfield, 15844: 12979:, pp. 65–66, 134–136, 176–177, 244–245, 383; Deletant, pp. 128, 142–152, 171, 321–322; Polonsky, pp. 27–28 9878:, pp. 46, 110–111; Deletant, pp. 60–61, 297–298, 302; Ornea, pp. 335–341, 347; Veiga, pp. 291–294, 311–312 6732:

in order to avoid community work and deportation, and the work of some professionals was harnessed by the

6513:, or Holocaust-related crimes against the Romani people, when he ordered the Transnistrian deportation of 3774:

whom he had first consulted with a day before the procedures were initiated. The prosecution team, led by

27793: 27623: 27618: 27497: 26533: 26406: 26401: 26117: 25800: 25509: 25338: 24622: 23040: 22947: 22884: 22832: 22760: 22531: 22461: 22141: 21937: 21752: 21505: 21118: 20926: 20479: 17638: 17618: 17392: 17240: 14584: 13278:, pp. 226–230; Achim, pp. 171–175; Deletant, pp. 190–192; Kelso, pp. 101, 103–104, 105, 108, 112, 124–127 12338: 12135:. Griffin also draws direct comparisons between Antonescu's conflict with the Iron Guard on one hand and 10075: 8638: 7742: 7277: 7206: 7103:

diplomats unsuccessfully sought American approval for transferring Romanian Jews to safe passage through

7017: 6971: 6657: 6415: 5954: 5385: 4294: 4012: 3020: 2334: 2324: 2161: 1988: 1744: 1608: 1508: 1274: 25009: 22044: 20670: 20579: 17593: 8051:

newspaper criticized Cioroianu, who defended himself by stating he had an obligation to tell the truth.

6005:, and his direct orders to the Army overrode civilian hierarchies. This system allowed room for endemic 3366: 3292: 27738: 27613: 27441: 27268: 27160: 26653: 26057: 25443: 25333: 24929: 24041: 23561: 23137: 23122: 23047: 23025: 23020: 22957: 22673: 22635: 22491: 22471: 22446: 22243: 22208: 22203: 21927: 21730: 21656: 21615: 21480: 21377: 21325: 21213: 21006: 20946: 20866: 18812: 18430: 18425: 18269: 17990: 17897: 17348:

Chioveanu, Mihai. "A Deadlock Of Memory The Myth And Cult Of Ion Antonescu In Post-Communist Romania."

17290: 17205: 17183: 16637: 15366: 14039:, pp. 66–69, 167–172, 243, 249, 286, 383; Deletant, pp. 205–215, 334–336; Ioanid, p. 234; Weber, p. 150 12279: 12271: 12065: 10485:

edited by Michael Berenbaum and Abraham Peck, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998 pp. 464, 467.

9060: 8436: 8347: 8339: 7421: 7352:

also stood out against the official guidelines, and, in 1941, took a risk by publishing a synthesis of

6825: 6456: 6448: 6367: 6310: 6033: 5962: 5866: 4795: 4242: 3394: 3109: 2861: 2847:. Antonescu again sought backing from the PNȚ and PNL to form a national cabinet, but his rejection of 2536: 2264: 1999:. After the war, Antonescu's merits as an operations officer were noticed by, among others, politician 1992: 1280: 1010: 904: 25229: 24485: 24374: 21837: 19381: 15575:

Boia, pp. 340–341; Deletant, pp. 269–270; Ioanid, pp. 247–250, 251–252; Kenney, p. 93; Laqueur, p. 205

15136:

Boia, p. 119; Bucur (2004), pp. 173–176; Deletant, pp. 243, 265–266, 269, 344; Roper, pp. 13–14, 41–42

14133:

edited by Michael Berenbaum and Abraham Peck, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998 pp. 475–476.

13224:

edited by Michael Berenbaum and Abraham Peck, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998 pp. 471–474.

13162:, pp. 139–140, 185–186, 201, 244–246; Ancel (2005 b), p. 232; Deletant, pp. 107–108, 152–155, 207, 329 10551:, p. 320; Boia, pp. 270–271; Deletant, pp. 51, 84–87, 90–91, 254; King, pp. 93–94; Trașcă, pp. 377–380 8246: 8144:, where both the Marshal and his wife are depicted in a mural. After floods took a toll on his native 7890:

Various researchers argue that the overall tendency to exculpate Antonescu was endorsed by the ruling

7680: 6645: 6009:

and administrative confusion. The Romanian leader also tolerated a gradual loss of authority over the

5853:

The synthetic aspect of Antonescu's rule is discussed in detail by various authors. British historian

2828:—and to other Legionaries in similar situations. The Guardists were detained in special conditions at 26608: 26237: 26072: 25820: 25418: 24617: 24141: 23102: 22927: 22879: 22874: 22765: 22596: 22556: 22451: 22253: 22198: 22193: 21645: 21590: 21535: 21500: 21432: 21345: 21298: 21233: 20338: 19900: 19491: 19486: 19061: 18804: 17932: 17513: 17429: 17419: 17021:

The Lonely Cold War of Pope Pius XII: The Roman Catholic Church and the Division of Europe, 1943–1950

16946: 12529: 8055: 7417: 6500:

forced to endure. The last wave of Jewish deportations, occurring in June 1942, came mainly from the

5658: 5370: 5242: 4412: 4207: 4202: 4195: 4051:

communities to the east, while denying charges of having exploited the region for Romania's benefit.

3582: 3578: 3570: 2960: 2833: 2810: 2645: 2194: 1612: 1214: 749: 226: 155: 23420: 20614: 20543: 19800: 19326: 18081: 16609:" 'The New Jewish Invasion' – The Return of the Survivors in Transnistria", in David Bankier (ed.), 11957:, pp. 225–228, 240–241; Achim, pp. 168–169; Deletant, pp. 189–190; Ioanid, p. 234; Kelso, pp. 97–98. 8557:

Awarded for bravery in battle as well as other military contributions in a battlefield environment.

6339:

Romanian soldiers participating in the deportation of Jewish families (German photograph, July 1941)

5738: 3577:

refused, and was promptly arrested by soldiers of the guard, being replaced as Premier with General

2477:

to him. The latter's first measure was to curtail potential resistance within the Army by relieving

26918: 26668: 26643: 26538: 26523: 26336: 26185: 26067: 26027: 25966: 25840: 25614: 24828: 24530: 24161: 23904: 23863: 23465: 23112: 22992: 22952: 22917: 22864: 22815: 22645: 22586: 22486: 22476: 22441: 22431: 22426: 22366: 22331: 22171: 22069: 21902: 21867: 21530: 21485: 21402: 21387: 21207: 21036: 20803: 20178: 20143: 20083: 19703: 19386: 19238: 18613: 16708: 16655:

The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939 – March 1942

16303: 16089: 15727:, pp. 348, 350, 355–356, 357–359, 361, 367; Bucur (2004), p. 178; Deletant, pp. 7, 270–271, 352–353 14179: 14175: 8698: 7801: 7621: 7527: 7474: 7405: 7385: 7194: 6879: 6653: 6514: 6330: 6302: 6207: 5966: 5882: 5698:, whose numeric presence it usually exaggerated. Among those who signed the report was demographer 5431: 5415: 5365: 5247: 4742: 4304: 4177: 4146: 4024: 4005: 4000:

traits. British historian Arnold D. Harvey writes that while this ideology seems a poor match with

3997: 3882: 3718: 3676: 3616:

Placed in the custody of PCR militants, Ion Antonescu spent the interval at a house in Bucharest's

3523: 3480: 3439: 3402: 3295:, named after Marshal Antonescu, who was involved in its development. It later inspired the German 3049: 2836: 2782:

over for discussions: whereas Antonescu agreed, Sima stayed behind in Romania, probably plotting a

2553: 2169: 1811: 1728: 1673: 1622: 1451: 1262: 1202: 918: 414: 25759: 25154: 23706: 23556: 23354: 19622: 19296: 16542: 7653: 5750: 3655:. They were subsequently kept in luxurious detention at a mansion nearby the city, and guarded by 27243: 27117: 26411: 26267: 26257: 26175: 25810: 25499: 25438: 25318: 25298: 25054: 24873: 24313: 23237: 23010: 22421: 22406: 22178: 22166: 21651: 21520: 21417: 21088: 21063: 21016: 20911: 20682: 19431: 18968: 18880: 18853: 17917: 17887: 17367: 17262:"Ocuparea orașului Odessa de căre armata română și măsurile adoptate față de populația evreiască" 17066: 16650: 16294:

Centrul de Istorie și Civilizație Europeană (Academia Română); Fundația Culturală Română (1995).

15361:, "The Past is Another Country: Myth and Memory in Post-war Europe", in Jan-Werner Müller (ed.), 14149:

edited by Michael Berenbaum and Abraham Peck, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998 p. 476.

13211:

edited by Michael Berenbaum and Abraham Peck, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998 p. 472.

13150:

edited by Michael Berenbaum and Abraham Peck, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998 p. 469.

13029:

edited by Michael Berenbaum and Abraham Peck, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998 p. 468.

12230: 11482:, pp. 240–241, 252, 321–322; Achim, p. 168; Deletant, pp. 73, 252–255, 261, 276–277; Kelso, p. 97 10507:

edited by Michael Berenbaum and Abraham Peck, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998 p. 467.

10131:

edited by Michael Berenbaum and Abraham Peck, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998 p. 466.

9220: 8806:

edited by Michael Berenbaum and Abraham Peck, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998 p. 465.

8223:

displays the Ceaușescu regime's ambiguous relationship with Antonescu. Critics John Neubauer and

8106:

Beyond their propaganda and censorship efforts, Antonescu and his regime had a sizable impact on

7805: 6998:

included), and stressed that Romania's ongoing participation in the Axis was "troubling enough".

6649: 6615:

as a ferment for similar Jewish activities. His order to Alexianu specified: "Pack them into the

6476: 6362: 6163:

purposefully ignored support from Carol's former adviser, corporatist economist and newspaperman

6077: 5921: 5380: 5132: 4982: 4869: 4373: 4314: 4217: 4141: 3730: 3464: 3382: 3326: 2980: 2806: 2364: 2309: 2115: 2020: 1325: 1244: 1081: 53: 25609: 24758: 24525: 20457: 7695:

embraced the image of Michael I as its counterpart to the increasingly official Antonescu myth.

7567:

make isolated mentions of the Holocaust, the heavily politicized official discourse inspired by

7261:

from both camps were given a chance to redeem themselves by joining units on the Eastern Front.

3007:

by royal decree on 22 August, in recognition for his role in restoring the eastern frontiers of

2164:, parties known respectively as PNL and PNȚ. He was also engaged in discussions with the rising 26949: 26781: 26563: 26453: 26252: 26222: 26200: 26165: 26155: 26150: 26042: 25892: 25769: 25569: 24939: 24818: 24667: 24021: 23858: 23807: 23711: 23072: 23057: 22847: 22630: 22566: 22376: 22356: 22336: 22268: 22258: 22228: 22161: 22146: 22049: 22016: 21676: 21610: 21510: 21442: 21335: 21283: 21220: 21140: 21098: 21041: 20951: 20891: 20731: 20567: 20323: 20272: 18838: 18622: 18403: 17965: 17870: 17860: 17795: 16876: 16108: 14213: 8314: 8033: 7777: 7608: 7595: 7591: 7389: 7265: 7198: 6917: 6800: 6522: 6386: 5887: 5787: 5778: 5603: 5390: 5353: 4922: 4539: 4534: 4368: 4363: 4319: 4274: 4252: 4247: 4227: 3566: 3418: 3378: 3216: 3207: 3188:

As the Soviet Union recovered from the initial shock and slowed down the Axis offensive at the

3140: 3098: 2765: 2739: 2710: 2634: 2424: 1874: 1637: 1375: 1250: 966: 933: 37: 25169: 25014: 24475: 24348: 22611: 20491: 17563: 16832:

Stanislaw Frankowski, "Post-Communist Europe", in Peter Hodgkinson, Andrew Rutherford (eds.),

15259:, pp. 283–284, 302, 345–346; Ancel (2005 a), p. 424; Bucur (2004), pp. 174–175; Ioanid, p. 240 14051:, pp. 66–69, 172; Deletant, pp. 205, 209, 212, 334–335; Ioanid, pp. 234, 235; Penkower, p. 152 11362:, pp. 317–331; Cioroianu, pp. 295–296; Deletant, pp. 245–261, 346–350; Frankowski, pp. 218–219 10560:

Achim, pp. 171, 184; Browning, p. 277; Deletant, pp. 86–87; King, pp. 93–94; Trașcă, p. 380sqq

8605: 8098:

tribunal rejected their request, citing laws which confiscated the property of war criminals.

7785: 7716: 6309:

10,000, 12,000 or 14,000. Some assistance in their murder was provided by units of the German

5957:, to return home. However, his preferred military structures functioned in cooperation with a 2557:, was officially proclaimed on 14 September. On that date, the Iron Guard was remodelled into 27798: 27399: 27226: 26715: 26658: 26618: 26558: 26528: 26356: 26130: 25694: 25689: 25664: 25654: 25644: 25519: 25348: 25144: 25109: 25019: 24969: 24913: 24863: 24858: 24778: 24449: 24131: 23812: 23651: 23052: 23030: 22982: 22922: 22912: 22869: 22710: 22581: 22561: 22481: 22341: 22074: 21996: 21979: 21917: 21847: 21832: 21686: 21145: 21113: 21108: 21068: 21058: 20991: 20921: 20886: 20861: 20405: 20262: 20021: 19820: 19765: 19356: 19351: 19261: 19121: 18933: 18795: 18714: 18582: 18534: 18018: 17912: 17830: 17775: 14883: 11693:

Achim, p. 184; Boia, p. 270; Deletant, pp. 167, 326; Trașcă, pp. 380–385; White, pp. 157–158.

8962: 8387: 8304: 8115: 7911: 7824: 7568: 7425: 7409: 7353: 7309: 7045: 6995: 6673: 6578: 6246: 5974: 5625:

and the Soviet Union. His arguments on the matter involved a spurious claim that, during the

5490: 5318: 5097: 4785: 4775: 4765: 4687: 4670: 4492: 4482: 4462: 4457: 4358: 4289: 4237: 4232: 4099: 3902: 3866: 3671:. There, Antonescu was interrogated and reputedly pressured by SMERSH operatives, among them 3640: 3451: 3435: 3287: 2574: 2524: 2409: 2198: 2094: 2044: 1930: 1665: 1286: 1005: 867: 565: 314: 239: 25514: 24454: 23616: 21709: 20626: 19880: 19572: 19346: 19218: 17825: 17810: 17785: 17765: 17750: 17573: 17558: 16178:, pp. 359–361; Bucur (2004), pp. 158, 178; Ioanid, pp. 251–252; Kenney, p. 93; Ramet, p. 173 14099:, pp. 69, 171–172, 243, 249, 383; Deletant, pp. 127, 208–215, 334–336; Penkower, pp. 152–153 13344:, pp. 230, 236; Achim, pp. 178, 180; Deletant, pp. 191, 195–197; Kelso, pp. 121–123, 127–128 12831:, pp. 120–126, 200, 204, 208–209, 243–244, 285–286, 315, 323, 323, 327–329; Ancel (2005 a), 12482:, pp. 139, 141; Deletant, pp. 72, 87–88, 152–153, 166–171, 277, 321–327; Trașcă, pp. 384–385 10468:, pp. 120–126, 200, 204, 208–209, 243–244, 285–286, 315, 321, 323, 327–329; Ancel (2005 a), 8199:, viewing it as a self-promotion and dubbing him the "Auto-Marshal". During the war, Soviet 7792:, and sporadic calls for his rehabilitation were issued at the highest levels of authority. 6517:

from the Old Kingdom, transited through camps and resettled in inhumane conditions near the

3970:, whose pro-Romanian policies had brought them into conflict with other Aromanian factions. 2360: 2144: 1948:

The Romanian royal court, army, and administration were subsequently forced to retreat into

27538: 27533: 27170: 27132: 26989: 26964: 26766: 26323: 26319: 26232: 26160: 26047: 25971: 25897: 25835: 25724: 25659: 25544: 25343: 25214: 25209: 24974: 24520: 24459: 23868: 23000: 22889: 22725: 22720: 22511: 22386: 22001: 21822: 21661: 21475: 21407: 21392: 21189: 21103: 21093: 21053: 20981: 20961: 20871: 20846: 20645: 20528: 20333: 20328: 20210: 20200: 19915: 19750: 19529: 19471: 19301: 19148: 19041: 18939: 18848: 18684: 18657: 18480: 18419: 18172: 18144: 18075: 17881: 17700: 17633: 17613: 17197: 16746: 14635: 13678: 12096: 10962: 8481: 8343: 8296: 8230: 8083: 8059: 7990: 7981:

Romanian historian to openly acknowledge his country's participation, while his colleagues

7966: 7954: 7846: 7836: 7757: 7704: 7662: 7210: 7099:

repeatedly attempted to make his superiors aware of Romanian actions against the Jews, and

7038: 7012: 6913: 6799:

Antonescu was considering using the Jewish population as an asset in his dealings with the

6574: 6560: 6419: 6390: 6277: 6014: 6006: 5947: 5791: 5643: 5591: 5551: 5474: 5281: 5232: 5177: 4935: 4875: 4760: 4549: 4063: 3756: 3660: 3469: 3361: 3243: 3154: 3113: 3037: 2848: 2770: 2720: 2544: 2520: 2293: 2268:). The deposed Premier died in 1938, while Antonescu remained a close friend of his widow, 2107: 1972:

used the formula "Prezan (Antonescu)" in his memoirs to denote Prezan's plans and actions.

1965: 1770: 1748: 1736: 1732: 1693: 1124: 1077: 1015: 956: 351: 27394: 25564: 25134: 24480: 23313: 22111: 20548: 19612: 19602: 19597: 19451: 19341: 19028: 19022: 18666: 18647: 17907: 17780: 17675: 17474: 15856: 15097:, pp. 321–331, 335–339, 347, 385; Deletant, pp. 3–4, 262–263; Weber, pp. 157, 159, 166–167 14579:, pp. 287–312; Ancel (2005 a), pp. 288–299; Deletant, pp. 135–136. A list of Romanian and 11181:

Cioroianu, pp. 51–52; Deletant, pp. 237–240, 343–344; Gella, p. 172; Roper, pp. 8–9, 13–14

8090:

in May 2008. The same year, Maria Antonescu's collateral inheritors advanced a claim on a

7613: 7166: 4011:

It is also possible that, contrary to Antonescu's own will, Hitler viewed the transfer of

3515: 2979:. Antonescu had followed a generation of younger right-wing Romanian intellectuals led by 2482: 2315:

Carol's regime slowly dissolved into crisis, a dissolution accelerated after the start of

2304:). Attempting to discredit his rival, Carol also ordered Antonescu's wife to be tried for 1604: 961: 803: 428: 8: 26994: 26341: 26227: 26092: 26087: 26032: 25855: 25845: 25785: 25599: 25594: 25094: 24908: 24773: 24566: 24490: 24444: 24424: 24379: 24206: 24176: 24046: 23889: 23833: 23450: 23410: 23323: 23303: 23201: 22810: 22745: 22705: 22006: 21991: 21969: 21681: 21495: 21462: 21330: 21320: 21078: 20956: 20851: 20714: 20689: 20123: 20108: 19930: 19845: 19696: 19421: 19046: 18698: 18633: 18603: 18464: 18302: 18041: 17975: 17449: 17324: 16864: 16259: 14735: 14497: 13633:

Deletant, pp. 2, 127, 171, 314; Laqueur, p. 206; Polonsky, p. 28; Weber, pp. 150–151, 164

12847:, pp. 125–126, 209, 295; Ancel (2005 a), pp. 12, 130, 151–344; Deletant, pp. 134–137, 317 11644: 9210: 7919: 7877: 7754: 7489:

into Nazi German units, as approved by Antonescu, was used as a pretext for a Soviet-led

7246: 7178: 6834: 6765: 6720: 6582:

Romanian headquarters on that city. Antonescu believed that the original explosion was a

6548: 6544: 6382: 5982: 5871: 5842: 5727: 5599: 5323: 5222: 5215: 4906: 4586: 4529: 4487: 3959: 3930: 3922: 3906: 3743:

decisions. The first such local trial took place in 1945, resulting in the sentencing of

3606: 3398: 2699: 2592: 2431:, and the pro-Nazi Iron Guard. The latter group had been revived under the leadership of 2419: 2222: 2004: 1669: 693: 176: 49: 25074: 24287: 23415: 22188: 22116: 22099: 19945: 19617: 19461: 19456: 18869: 17902: 16781:

Letiția Guran, Alexandru Ștefan, "Romanian Literature under Stalinism", pp. 112–124

16611:

The Jews are Coming Back: The Return of the Jews to Their Countries of Origin after WWII

15115:

Ancel (2005 a), pp. 17–18, 427–428; Deletant, p. 273; Ioanid, p. 236; Weber, pp. 160–161

13864:

at a time when the leader was incapacitated by his 1942 disease (Deletant, pp. 209–211).

13077:, pp. 66, 136–137, 200–201; Deletant, pp. 124, 146–149, 152–153, 184–187; Ioanid, p. 233 11969:, p. 229; Achim, p. 169; Deletant, p. 192; Ioanid, p. 234; Kelso, pp. 101, 105, 124–127. 11649:

Plundered Loyalties: Axis Occupation and Civil Strife in Greek West Macedonia, 1941–1949

11293:, p. 316; Cioroianu, p. 51; Deletant, pp. 247–248; Kelso, p. 130; Nicholls, pp. 167, 225 9503:

Cioroianu, p. 54; Deletant, pp. 52–55; Griffin (1993), p. 126; Kelso, p. 96; Roper, p. 8

8381: 8189:

journal. Political humor of the 1940s preserved distinct images of the Romanian leader.

8180: 7349: 7127: 6590:

by the retreating Soviets. In addition, Antonescu blamed the Jews, specifically "Jewish

3801:

Ion Antonescu was found guilty of the charges. This verdict was followed by two sets of

2210: 2153: 1649: 27216: 26969: 26190: 26097: 26002: 25871: 25795: 25709: 25704: 25629: 25489: 25459: 25433: 25428: 25353: 25328: 25239: 25069: 24999: 24893: 24888: 24883: 24708: 24404: 23899: 23797: 23333: 21747: 21735: 21011: 20996: 20726: 20709: 20538: 20420: 20297: 20247: 19815: 19785: 19524: 19316: 19291: 19248: 19193: 19168: 19125: 19066: 19051: 18828: 18387: 18367: 18353: 18337: 17850: 17840: 17815: 17800: 17770: 17662: 17568: 16801: 16370:"The Marshals as Key Symbols of the Romanian – Finnish Cooperation during World War II" 15506:

Deletant, pp. 271, 352. Theodoru stands out for his complete form of Holocaust denial (

15340:, pp. 319, 322, 330–331; Boia, pp. 340–341; Bucur (2004), p. 178; Deletant, pp. 270–271 13120:, pp. 26, 139–140, 210–211; Deletant, pp. 152–165, 171; Penkower, p. 149; Weber, p. 151 12928:, p. 124; Ancel (2005 a), pp. 12, 158, 175–189, 317–328, 379–422; Deletant, pp. 138–139 9743:

Deletant, pp. 1, 2–3, 61–62, 280; Haynes, pp. 102, 107; Nicholls, p. 225; Veiga, p. 296

8683: 8453: 8404: 8323: 8195: 8107: 7617: 7486: 7297: 7289: 7258: 7193:

elements, which Antonescu's rise to power had caught in an unusual position. The minor

7158: 6857: 6812: 6452: 6294: 6250: 6141: 6010: 5994: 5667: 5663: 5291: 5197: 5117: 5102: 4945: 4828: 4823: 4770: 4680: 4450: 3939: 3890: 3594: 3562: 3492: 3316: 3144: 3116: 3004: 2516: 2478: 2300:(and later removing him after Antonescu expressed sympathy for Guardists imprisoned in 2168:, antisemitic and fascist movements; although in competition with each other, both the 1969: 1870: 1808: 1705: 1641: 1457: 1420: 1105: 863: 853: 628: 180: 85: 61: 57: 43: 25024: 24272: 23480: 21227: 19895: 19366: 19286: 19203: 18833: 18327: 17937: 17790: 17705: 17690: 17680: 17670: 17643: 17628: 17583: 16516:

Kunnian ruletti: Korkeimmat ulkomaalaisille 1941-1944 annetut suomalaiset kunniamerkit

15995:"Bătălie în justiție pe vila de un milion de euro din Predeal a mareșalului Antonescu" 15443:, pp. 349, 350, 373; Boia, p. 340; Bucur (2004), p. 178; Deletant, pp. 6, 269, 281–282 9866:

Deletant, pp. 21, 24, 26, 131, 139–140, 318; Veiga, pp. 282–283, 290–291, 300–301, 305

7666: 7453:

The period following Antonescu's fall returned Romania to a democratic regime and the

7131: 6422:(especially Moldavia-proper). Based on an assignment Antonescu handed down to General 5754: 5182: 5012: 3573:, where he presented him with a request to take Romania out of its Axis alliance. The 2486: 27352: 27258: 26999: 26725: 26135: 25917: 25912: 25714: 25579: 25524: 25504: 25378: 25323: 25029: 24808: 24733: 24601: 24338: 24282: 24252: 24191: 24111: 24016: 23955: 23894: 23761: 23656: 23636: 23470: 23430: 23267: 23127: 23097: 22972: 22740: 22653: 22506: 22298: 22248: 22238: 22233: 22106: 22094: 22059: 22036: 21802: 21789: 21490: 21238: 21199: 20976: 20966: 20584: 20415: 20400: 20388: 20343: 20153: 20113: 19830: 19677: 19411: 19371: 19361: 19331: 19056: 18554: 18435: 17715: 17371: 17332: 17315: 17294: 17244: 17223: 17209: 17187: 17175: 17162: 17144: 17123: 17102: 17084: 17070: 17049: 17028: 17010: 16993: 16971: 16928: 16907: 16880: 16855: 16837: 16805: 16771: 16750: 16725: 16690: 16662: 16641: 16618: 16600: 16577: 16556: 16548: 16519: 16451: 16424: 16384: 16348: 16344: 16120: 16093: 15695: 15605: 15541: 15370: 14961: 14887: 12541: 12398: 12283: 12234: 12225:, "Romania since 1989: Living beyond the Past", in Sharon L. Wolchik, Jane L. Curry, 12202: 12128: 12100: 12069: 11656: 11398:, pp. 313–331; Cioroianu, pp. 295–296; Deletant, pp. 245–261; Frankowski, pp. 218–219 10967: 10230:

Browning, p. 212; Deletant, p. 87; Harvey, p. 498; Morgan, p. 188; Veiga, pp. 301–302

10079: 9667: 9656: 9634: 9064: 9052: 8419: 8270: 8016: 8006: 7769: 7712: 7692: 7518: 7458: 7369: 7333: 7269: 7218: 7181:

in Antonescu's Romania were comparatively small-scale and marginal. In addition to a

7170: 7143: 7135: 6950: 6884: 6830: 6784: 6691: 6678: 6628: 6281: 6164: 6047: 5990: 5942:

monopolizing of power in the name of a German alliance turned Romania into either a "

5926: 5795: 5675: 5618: 5614: 5559: 5341: 5077: 4857: 4727: 4638: 4606: 4564: 3963: 3814: 3787: 3739: 3668: 3629: 3542:'s troops. In reaction, Antonescu attempted to stabilize the front on a line between 3535: 3339: 3265: 3065: 3033: 3016: 2882: 2679: 2615: 2404: 2339: 2079: 2063: 1961: 1934: 1910: 1882: 1827: 1804: 1779: 1701: 1587: 1355: 898: 546: 368: 295: 26678: 25734: 25224: 25194: 24944: 23661: 23601: 23455: 23298: 22054: 20650: 20465: 19276: 18732: 18720: 18708: 18116: 18052: 18047: 17598: 14429:, pp. 286, 288, 290, 300; Deletant, pp. 212, 337; Ioanid, p. 234; Weber, pp. 158–159 12892:, pp. 126, 382; Ancel (2005 a), pp. 11, 15, 390–393; Deletant, p. 316; Weber, p. 167 10957: 10472:; Deletant, pp. 130–140, 316–317; Ioanid, p. 233; Trașcă, pp. 398–399; Weber, p. 167 8511: 8430: 7647: 7276:

in order to have them switch sides in the war, and eventually managed to set up the

7058: 3331: 3052:

and Jews from Moldavia proper (that is, the portions of Moldavia west of the Prut).

2489:. Shortly afterward, Antonescu heard rumours that two of Carol's loyalist generals, 2437: 2379: 2086:, who was to become his close friend, legal representative and political associate. 27455: 27416: 27253: 27040: 26984: 26908: 26730: 25815: 25674: 25204: 25159: 25079: 25059: 25044: 25034: 24989: 24768: 24698: 24627: 24591: 24586: 24500: 24429: 24409: 24384: 24318: 24156: 24136: 24126: 24106: 24091: 23960: 23945: 23884: 23792: 23751: 23721: 23701: 23666: 23641: 23531: 23521: 23308: 23277: 23196: 22907: 22837: 22346: 21469: 21448: 21273: 21258: 20826: 20427: 20282: 20220: 20098: 20088: 20014: 19770: 19567: 19311: 19233: 18593: 18544: 18161: 18013: 17745: 17735: 17720: 17710: 17272: 16889: 16869:

The Bloody Flag. Post-Communist Nationalism in Eastern Europe. Spotlight on Romania

16848:

Development of Class Structure in Eastern Europe: Poland and Her Southern Neighbors

16734: 15600:(2010). "Romania's tortuous road to facing collaboration". In Stauber, Roni (ed.). 14878:

Earl A. Pope, "Protestantism in Romania", in Pedro Ramet, Sabrina P. Ramet (eds.),

11865: 9651: 9538: 8413: 8288: 8168: 8042: 7974: 7927: 7642: 7572: 7510: 7329: 7073: 6795: 6787:. In one such instance, he reversed his own 1942 decision to impose the wearing of 6757: 6712: 6664: 6616: 6586:

act, rejecting the possibility of the building in question having been fitted with

6483: 6354: 6136: 6106: 6002: 5742: 5730: 5635: 5167: 5112: 5052: 4917: 4675: 4519: 4477: 4172: 4041: 3913:

clergy. Another aspect of Antonescu's nationalist policies was evidenced after the

3898: 3874: 3726: 3554:, deep inside Romanian territory. On 5 August, he visited Hitler one final time in 3539: 3261: 3256: 3189: 3120: 3041: 2948: 2856: 2821: 2695: 2587:, where his signature sealed Romania's commitment to the main Axis instrument, the 2351: 2075: 1890: 1740: 1716: 1541: 1330: 27514: 26195: 24257: 23716: 23232: 20906: 19990: 19667: 19506: 19376: 18637: 18561: 18166: 18155: 18122: 17980: 17820: 17116:

A Providential Anti-Semitism. Nationalism and Polity in Nineteenth-Century Romania

16677:"Edifices of the Past: War Memorials and Heroes in Twentieth-century Romania", in 15190:, pp. 339–340; Boia, pp. 119, 340; Deletant, pp. 4–5, 266–269; Ioanid, pp. 239–240 11084:, p. 252; Cioroianu, p. 51; Deletant, pp. 230–240, 341–344; Penkower, pp. 153, 161 8074:, Sima, and various Iron Guard politicians). This act raised official protests in 7907: 7069: 6962: 6942: 5746: 5710: 5699: 3934: 2461: 27428: 27248: 26933: 26448: 26145: 26125: 25639: 25584: 25308: 25164: 25004: 24959: 24843: 24803: 24783: 24748: 24657: 24551: 24439: 24389: 24308: 24211: 24201: 24171: 24166: 24151: 24071: 24051: 24031: 23990: 23980: 23950: 23930: 23925: 23843: 23741: 23596: 23571: 23526: 23107: 22735: 22278: 22273: 22156: 22151: 21812: 21807: 21769: 21741: 21631: 21001: 20881: 20876: 20856: 20813: 20663: 20599: 20594: 20523: 20410: 20307: 20292: 20232: 20068: 19875: 19607: 19577: 19153: 18371: 18332: 18127: 18058: 17685: 17603: 17552: 17388: 17282: 17268: 17171: 16814: 16793: 16048: 16001: 15925: 15892: 15851: 14951: 14947: 14922: 14909: 14902: 14718: 14147: