Ion Moța | |
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| Born | (1902-07-05)5 July 1902 |
| Died | 13 January 1937(1937-01-13) (aged 34) |
| Cause of death | Killed in action |
| Occupation | Politician |
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Ion I. Moța[a] (5 July 1902 – 13 January 1937) was the deputy leader of the RomanianfascistLegionary Movement (Iron Guard), killed in battle during theSpanish Civil War.
Son of the nationalistOrthodox priestIoan Moța, who edited a journal calledLibertatea ("Liberty"), Ion I. Moța completed his baccalaureate at Bucharest'sSaint Sava National College, then studied law at theUniversity of Paris (1920–1921),Cluj, andIași.[1] After being suspended from attending university in Romania, he returned to France.[1] His thesis, finished in 1932 at theUniversity of Grenoble, was entitled "Juridical Security in the Community of Nations",[citation needed][dubious –discuss] later published in Romania as "TheLeague of Nations as a Vicious and Dangerous Ideal".[2]
AtCluj, he foundedAcțiunea Românească ("Romanian Action"), a nationalist group inspired byCharles Maurras'Action Française. This organization fused withA. C. Cuza'sNational-Christian Defense League in 1925.[3] Moța metCorneliu Zelea Codreanu at a meeting ofantisemitic students in August 1923.
In late 1923, Moța, Codreanu, and other ultranationalist students formed a plan toassassinate Romanian politicians and leaders ofRomanian Jewry seen as traitors and corruptors of Romanian national life. They were arrested inBucharest on 8 October 1923 and sent toVăcărești Prison.[4] At the trial, Moța shot Aurelian Vernichescu, the member of their conspiracy who betrayed it to the authorities.[5] Despite the shooting and a confession of guilt, the jury found the group not guilty and they were released on 29 March 1924. Moța spent two months in Galata prison inIași for the murder of Vernichescu before being acquitted and released on 29 September 1924.[6]
Codreanu made Moța leader ofFrăția de Cruce ("Brotherhood of the Cross"), a fascist organization of peasants and students who would "fight for nationalistic renewal" (founded on 6 May 1924). Moța attended, together with A. C. Cuza, the September 1925World Anti-Semitic Congress inBudapest; upon the founding of theIron Guard (theLegion of the Archangel Michael) on 24 June 1927, he became deputy Captain to Codreanu.
Later that year, on 18 August 1927, he married Codreanu's sister, Iridenta.[7] Together they had two children: Mihail and Gabriela.
Ion Moța represented the Legion at the 1934Fascist International meeting inMontreux. He was vice-president of the Iron Guard political creation, theEverything for the Country Party. From 1934 through 1936, he served as a correspondent forWelt-Dienst ["World-Service"], an anti-Jewish publication founded byUlrich Fleischhauer inErfurt, Germany. Fleischhauer was a staunch believer in the veracity of the antisemitic propaganda pamphletThe Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and appeared as an "expert witness" for the pro-Nazis at the famousBerne Trial. Moța had previously translatedThe Protocols... into Romanian.[3]
In late 1936, Moța formed a Legionary unit to fight against theRepublican forces in theSpanish Civil War. He andVasile Marin (another prominent Legionary) were killed on theMadrid Front on the same day of fighting (13 January 1937). Their funerals in Bucharest (13 February 1937) were an immense and orderly procession (seeFunerals of Ion Moța and Vasile Marin), attended by theMinisters ofNazi Germany,Fascist Italy, andFrancisco Franco'sSpain, representatives of fascistPortugal,Japan (at the time in the earlyShōwa period), and delegates of thePolish Patriotic Youth.
On the commemoration of the deaths of Moța and Marin on 13 January 1938, Codreanu created a special order in the ranks of the Legionary units: the Moța-Marin Corps under the direction ofAlexandru Cantacuzino. The members of this elite corps hadReady to Die as their slogan.
A monument commemorating their deaths was erected atMajadahonda, on 13 September 1970, with the support ofFranco's government.[8]
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