Kingdom of Romania Regatul României (Romanian) | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1937–1938 1940–1944 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Motto: Nihil Sine Deo ("Nothing without God") | |||||||||||||||||||
| Anthem: Trăiască Regele ("Long live the King") | |||||||||||||||||||
.svg) The Kingdom of Romania in 1942 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Capital and largest city | Bucharest | ||||||||||||||||||
| Official languages | Romanian[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Common languages | |||||||||||||||||||
| Religion | Romanian Orthodox (State Religion)[2] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Demonym | Romanian | ||||||||||||||||||
| Government |
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| Prime Minister | |||||||||||||||||||
• 1937–1938 | Octavian Goga | ||||||||||||||||||
• 1940–1944 | Ion Antonescu[a] | ||||||||||||||||||
| King | |||||||||||||||||||
• 1937–1940 | Carol II | ||||||||||||||||||
• 1940–1944 | Michael I | ||||||||||||||||||
| Legislature | Assembly of Deputies | ||||||||||||||||||
| Senate | |||||||||||||||||||
| Assembly of Deputies | |||||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||||
• Rule began(first start) | 28 December 1937 | ||||||||||||||||||
• Establishment of theNational Legionary State(first end) | 14 September 1940 | ||||||||||||||||||
• Disestablishing of theNational Legionary State(second start) | 14 February 1941 | ||||||||||||||||||
• 1944 Romanian coup d'état(second end) | 23 August 1944 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||||||||
• 1941 | 13.5 million | ||||||||||||||||||
| GDP (nominal) | estimate | ||||||||||||||||||
• Total | $2.834 billion | ||||||||||||||||||
| Currency | Romanian Leu | ||||||||||||||||||
| ISO 3166 code | RO | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Today part of | |||||||||||||||||||
TheKingdom of Romania was underfascist rule from 1937 to 1940 and 1941 to 1944. These were theNational Christian Party between December 1937 and February 1938; and the dictatorship ofIon Antonescu in 1940 and from 1941 to 1944.
The National Christian Party was created in 1935, from the merger betweenOctavian Goga'sNational Agrarian Party andAlexandru C. Cuza'sNational Christian Defense League. This new party had a strong fascist tinge, particularly in trying to emulate Italiancorporatism. Following the1937 Romanian general election, Goga was appointed prime minister on 28 December 1937. His term ended on 10 February 1938. During his cabinet's brief rule, antisemitic laws were introduced and Romania's foreign policy was shifted towardsGermany,Italy, andJapan.[3]
Goga's cabinet was divided between pro-Western and pro-Axis ministers. Such division reflectedKingCarol II's decision to steer a neutral course between the Great Powers. Thus, the King was still ultimately in control of foreign policy. At that time, Goga was likely the most well-known Romanian in Germany. Noteworthy pro-Germans in Goga's cabinet includedIon Gigurtu (Minister of Trade and Industry) andEugen Savu [ro] (Minister of Finance), while pro-Westerners were represented byArmand Călinescu (Minister of the Interior) and GeneralIon Antonescu (Minister of National Defense). The Minister of Foreign Affairs wasIstrate Micescu, a member of the National Christian Party and thus a pro-German. However, he pledged to follow Carol's commands. He made contradictory statements: on the one hand he pledged to create lasting links between Romania and the Axis (31 December 1937), but later pronounced himself in favor of theLeague of Nations andCzechoslovakia. Goga himself, stated his wishes for a new commercial treaty with Germany, but also for keeping the traditional links with France as well as strengthening ties withBritain. Ultimately, upon taking office as prime minister, he sent telegrams of friendship to Czechoslovakia,France,Poland,Yugoslavia, Italy, and Germany. Despite being a Germanophile, Goga still made it clear toHitler, in his New Year telegram, that close ties with Germany would depend on the Reich's recognition of Romanian territorial integrity. Unwilling to alienate Hungary, Hitler simply sent Goga his "gratitude" for the declaration. Despite all these, Goga's cabinet was the first to include a vocal pro-German element for the first time since theFirst World War, and Hitler described the coming to power of his government as the "first happy event of the New Year".[4]: 43–5
As Goga was unable to form a parliamentary majority, his party having secured only 9% of the vote, he dissolved the Parliament before it could convene.[5] Since Goga's government issued laws and decrees without the backing ofParliament, his regime was effectively a dictatorship.
On 8 February, Goga came to an understanding withCorneliu Zelea Codreanu, the leader of the Iron Guard. Because the main reason King Carol appointed Goga as prime minister to begin with was to serve as a measure against the Iron Guard, Goga was promptly dismissed within forty-eight hours.[6]
Goga's government inaugurated a radical antisemitic internal policy. It introduced legislation aimed at curtailing what was seen by many Romanians as the disproportionate position of the country'sJewish minority in the economy and higher education. As a result,Jews boycotted work and withdrew their money from the banks, thus bringing the economy to a standstill. In the end, Western displeasure at Goga's antisemitic policies contributed to his fall from power on 10 February 1938, when he was dismissed by the King.[4]: 45–6 By choosing the antisemitic National Christian Party to form a government, the King hoped to draw off support from the more popular Iron Guard, which had gained 15.6% of the votes during the December 1937 election (by comparison, the National Christian Party gained less than 10% of the votes). Under Goga, antisemitism became state policy. On 30 December, several "Jewish" newspapers were banned. Other measures included the interdiction of Jews to sell alcohol and tobacco, a ban on hiring foreigners (including Jews) in cafes and restaurants, and the suspension of the right to practice their job of 1,540 registered Jewish lawyers in Bucharest. These measures culminated in a decree promulgated on 21 January 1938, which stripped 225,222 Jews of their Romanian citizenship. Although the Goga government soon fell, this decree was not cancelled, and this large batch of Jews all had their rights as Romanian citizens revoked by 15 September 1939. Despite the fall of Goga,antisemitism had become too strong of a policy for any subsequent government to afford ignoring it.[7] Goga's appointment asprime minister on 28 December 1937 was seen as a formal approval of fascist violence. Romania slipped into chaos within weeks: Jew-beating became a daily occurrence, tens of thousands ofLăncieri (the paramilitary wing of the National Christian Party) carried out street violence and gang warfare against the Iron Guard, shops were closed, and the exchange rate collapsed. Romania appeared to be on the brink of civil war.[8]
Goga's government was the second antisemitic government in interwar Europe, after that of Nazi Germany, stripping one third of Romanian Jews of their citizenship.[9] Because of its antisemitic measures, the Goga-Cuza government has been referred to as "more Nazi than the Germans".[10]
The Romanian King used the failures of the Goga government to proclaim his own royal dictatorship and to blame the country's condition on the system of parliamentary democracy. He actually took full power in order to personally deal with the rising Iron Guard. Before February was out, a newConstitution came into force under which the Parliament had been relegated to an advisory role, with the real power being held by the King and his Crown Council. Goga's successor as prime minister was PatriarchMiron Cristea.[11]
Octavian Goga is today remembered as one of Romania's national poets, his entire political career being almost completely forgotten by the Romanian public. For instance, the "Octavian Goga County Library" inCluj-Napoca is named after him.[12]
Ion Antonescu (/ˌæntəˈnɛskuː/;Romanian:[iˈonantoˈnesku]ⓘ; 14 June [O.S. 2 June] 1882 – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer andmarshal who presided over two successivewartime dictatorships asPrime Minister andConducător during most ofWorld War II. Having been responsible for facilitatingthe Holocaust in Romania, he was overthrown in 1944, before being tried for war crimes and executed two years later in 1946.
ARomanian Army career officer who made his name during the1907 peasants' revolt and theWorld War I Romanian campaign, theantisemitic Antonescu sympathized withfar-right andfascist politics. He was amilitary attaché toFrance and laterChief of the General Staff, briefly serving asDefence Minister in the National Christian cabinet ofOctavian Goga as well as the subsequentFirst Cristea cabinet, in which he also served as Air and Marine Minister. During the late 1930s, his political stance brought him into conflict with KingCarol II and led to his detainment. Antonescu rose to political prominence during the political crisis of 1940, and established theNational Legionary State, an uneasy partnership withHoria Sima of theIron Guard. After entering Romania into an alliance withNazi Germany, he eliminated the Guard during theLegionary Rebellion of 1941. In addition to being Prime Minister, he served as his own Foreign Minister and Defence Minister. Soon after Romania joined the Axis inOperation Barbarossa, recoveringBessarabia andNorthern Bukovina, Antonescu also becameMarshal of Romania.
An atypical figure amongHolocaust perpetrators, Antonescu enforced policies independently responsible for the deaths of as many as 400,000 people, most of themBessarabian,Ukrainian andRomanian Jews, as well asRomanian Romani. The regime'scomplicity in the Holocaust combined pogroms and mass murders such as theOdessa massacre withethnic cleansing, and systematic deportations to occupiedTransnistria. The system in place was nevertheless characterized by singular inconsistencies, prioritizing plunder over killing, showing leniency toward most Jews in theOld Kingdom, and ultimately refusing to adopt theFinal Solution. This was made possible by the fact that Romania, as a junior ally of Nazi Germany, was not occupied by theWehrmacht and preserved a degree of political autonomy.
Aerial attacks on Romania by the Allies in 1944 and heavy casualties on theEastern Front prompted Antonescu to open peace negotiations with the Allies, which were inconclusive. On 23 August 1944, KingMichael I leda coup d'état 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 2003Wiesel Commission report.
