Ion Antonescu
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Ion Victor Antonescu | ||
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| Office | Prime Minister, Conducător of Romania | |
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| Term of office | from September 4, 1940 until August 23, 1944 |
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| Profession | Soldier, politician | |
| Political party | none, formally allied with the Iron Guard | |
| Spouse | Rasela Mendel | |
| Date of birth | June 15, 1882 | |
| Place of birth | Piteşti, Romania | |
| Date of death | June 1, 1946 | |
| Place of death | Jilava, Romania | |
Ion Victor Antonescu (June 15, 1882, Piteşti – June 1, 1946, near Jilava) was the prime minister and conducător (Leader) of Romania during World War II from September 4, 1940 to August 23, 1944.
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[edit] Early life and military career
Antonescu was born into a bourgeois family with some military tradition. He attended military schools in Craiova and Iaşi, and graduated the Cavalry School as top of class in 1904, then, in 1911, the military academy.
As lieutenant, Antonescu took part in the repression of the 1907 peasants' revolt in and around the city of Galaţi. His ruthlessness gained him the name Câinele roşu (the red dog). In 1913, he fought in the Second Balkan War against Bulgaria; the Bulgarian army was already deployed against the Serbs and Greeks so Romania's entering the war led to Bulgaria suing for peace. Following the 1913 war (which brought the Cadrilater into Romania), Antonescu received Romania's highest military decoration.
During Romania's involvement in World War I (1916-1918), Antonescu acted as chief-of-staff for General Constantin Prezan. In August 1916, Romanian armies crossed the Carpathian Mountains, attempting to take Transylvania (then a territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but mainly inhabited by Romanians), but their offensive was later stopped by the Austro-Hungarian armies, with German help. The disaster at Turtucaia (August 24) showed that the Romanian army was not ready for the war. With German and Bulgarian troops pushing through Dobruja and with Allied Russian troops retreating (their orders were to defend the Danube line), the Romanian Army was forced to retreat from Transylvania and defend the Carpathian borders. Upon enemy troops crossing the mountains into the Old Kingdom, Antonescu was ordered to design a defense plan for the Romanian capital of Bucharest. The battle for the capital was lost, due to the capture by enemy troops of an officer carrying the battle plan. The Romanian royal court, army and administration were forced to retreat into Moldavia. Antonescu participated in the defense of Moldavia in 1917, when the Romanian Army, instructed by the French Mission, and led by General Alexandru Averescu managed to stop the advance of the German Army headed by Field Marshal Mackensen. He was both observer and coordinator for the battle of Mărăşti-Oituz. However, in late 1917 the Russian revolution took place. Russia soon made peace with Germany, leaving Romania the only enemy of the Central Powers on the Eastern front. In these conditions, Romania had to make peace with Germany and her allies. In 1918, Romania broke the peace treaty and declared war on the Central Powers again just a day before Germany surrendered. The war for Romania however continued until 1919. Taking advantage of the chaos in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Romania took back all Transylvania. Upon reaching the river Tisa, King Ferdinand took his own decoration and gave it to lieutenant-colonel Antonescu saying: "Antonescu, no one in this country knows better than the King how much they owe you."
Between 1922 and 1926 he was a military attaché of Romania in France and Great Britain. After returning to Romania he was the commander of the "Şcoala Superioară de Război" (Upper School of War) between 1927 and 1930, Chief of the General Staff between 1933 and 1934 and Defense Minister between 1937 and 1938.
[edit] Political power
[edit] Ascension
General Antonescu was appointed Prime-Minister by King Carol II on September 6, 1940, after Romania was forced to surrender Bessarabia and northern Bukovina to the USSR (June 28, 1940), the northern half of Transylvania to Hungary (August 30, 1940), and Cadrilater to Bulgaria (September 5, 1940). Only two days after his appointment, he forced King Carol to abdicate. Carol's son, Crown Prince Michael, was proclaimed the new King, although his powers were essentially ceremonial duties such as supreme Head of the Army. Antonescu named himself Conducător (Leader) and assumed dictatorial powers.
After the traditional, democratic, parties of Romania refused to send competent members into the Government, Antonescu approached the Fascist anti-Semitic Iron Guard party and offered them seats in the Government (September 15, 1940). Antonescu desired to bring the Iron Guard under his direct control, because their paramilitary activities were undermining the authority of the state. The ensuing period was known as the 'National Legionary State' (Statul naţional-legionar). Eventually, after their demands for extended powers were repeatedly turned down by Antonescu, the Iron Guard rebelled (January 21, 1941). Antonescu quickly crushed the rebellion (with the consent of Germany, whose economic and military interests demanded stability in Romania), outlawed the Iron Guard and had their top leaders imprisoned or expelled from the country.
[edit] Alliance with Germany
Antonescu formed an alliance with Nazi Germany, thereby ensuring stability and strategic material, such as the extensive Romanian oil reserves, could be used by the Axis Powers. Further, Antonescu was delighted with the prospect of war against the USSR, because of his hatred of Bolshevism, and hoped this would guarantee the reconquest of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina. Also, by participating in the war on the Eastern front, Antonescu hoped to persuade Hitler to give back the northern half of Transylvania to Romania after the hostilities were over. He was informed by Hitler himself about Operation Barbarossa ten days before its launch.
Romanian troops joined the German Wehrmacht in their attack against the Soviet Union (June 22, 1941) and reoccupied the lost territories of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina. For retaking these territories, he was later made Maresal. The province of Transnistria also came under Romanian administration. Soon after the capture of the city of Odessa, the Romanian headquarters were blown up, supposedly by communists hiding amongst the civilian population. Antonescu ordered retaliation, which culminated in the Odessa Massacre. After the recapture of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina, Antonescu took the Romanian army deeper into Soviet territory, determined to follow the German troops until the complete conquest of the Soviet army (as he stated during his trial: "When a country is in a war, the army of this country must go to the end of the earth to win the war. It's one of the basic principles of war, that has been applied from the time of the Romans to this very day. Search into the history of wars, any nation, any century, and you will see that no one stops with the army at the borders, but goes farther, aiming to destroy the enemy army. So did Scipio Africanus who took his army to the destruction of Carthage, so did Napoleon, who went to the center of Russia, so did Alexander of Russia, who went all the way to Paris."). This decision was met with disapproval both by Romanian politicians (of the traditional parties) and by the Allied powers. Although Antonescu devoted most of his time to military affairs he failed to prepare the Romanian army for the protracted campaign. To satisfy Hitler, Antonescu sent to the front entire divisions with limited weaponry, Germans armed them only prior to combat. After German and Romanian armies suffered huge losses in the Battle of Stalingrad and the Russians started their offensive which would only end in Berlin, Antonescu's popularity declined sharply.
[edit] Fall
In 1943 representatives of Antonescu (members of the traditional parties) twice approached Americans and British (Cairo and Istambul) asking for separate peace but the Allies demanded Antonescu to make peace with the Russians first. Antonescu refused unconditional surrender to the Russians, but continued negotiating with them through his representatives in Stockholm. In August 1944, when the Russians had already entered Romanian territory, Antonescu received an armistice proposal from Madame Kolontay (Stalin's agent in Stockholm). This armistice proposed that German armies had 15 days to leave the country, the Russians would only pass through the north of the country (the south and the capital were to remain Russian-free), and offered recognition of Romanian claims to Hungarian-occupied Northern Transylvania. Considering the overwhelming superiority of the Soviet forces, this generous offer was interpreted as either allowing the Soviet troops to maintain its push against the German army or as a bluff. On August 22, 1944 Soviet armies attacked the Iasi-Chişinău-Cetatea Albă line, determined to occupy the Romanian capital before any armistice could be signed. Antonescu had prepared 9 elite divisions at the Focsani-Namoloasa-Galati line which he hoped could hold out against the Soviets for several weeks until the treaty's approval by both parties. The telegram from Stockholm arrived on August 22, but was intercepted by opposition leader Iuliu Maniu, who was plotting together with the King, other opposition members from the historical parties, and even the Romanian communist party, to overthrow Antonescu's regime. On August 23, 1944, King Mihai invited Antonescu at his Royal Palace. After Antonescu had explained the situation on the warfront, the King asked him if he would sign unconditional surrender to the Russians. Antonescu told the young King about the armistice he was about to sign, although he had no proof (such as the telegram). He also stated that "signing unconditional surrender to the Russians is like jumping out of a plane without a parachute".
The King retired into a backroom, where his communist advisors urged him to arrest the Maresal. The King returned and dismissed Antonescu and his cabinet. At the same time, soldiers rushed in and arrested Ion Antonescu and his minister, Mihai Antonescu, then locked them up in the Palace safe. Later, they were taken by communists, who handed them over to the Soviets. At the same time, King Mihai declared a ceasefire on the Romanian side. The Soviet army however had no intention of stopping fighting. The Russians broke the frontline and took prisoner over 600,000 Romanian soldiers, who wouldn't fight. The Germans did not recognize the authority of the new Sanatescu Government and attacked the capital. The Romanian army however managed to hold on to it. A few days later, the Soviets occupied Bucharest. The treaty of peace, in fact, unconditional surrender, was signed only with the Soviets, on the 12 September 1944.
[edit] Trial and death
After returning from the Soviet Union, in May 1946 Antonescu was put on trial by the Bucharest People's Tribunal, by the Communist dominated government, and found guilty of betraying Romanian people for the benefits of Nazi Germany, economic and political subjugation of Romania to Germany, cooperation with Iron Guard, murder of his political opponents, mass murder of civilians and crimes against peace, and for participation in the German invasion of the USSR. He was sentenced to death and executed on June 1, 1946 in Jilava Prison.
[edit] Antonescu and the Holocaust
Antonescu's government is held responsible for killing of between 280,000 and 380,000 Jews and over 10,000 Roma in Romania and the territories it occupied. In the past there was debate about Antonescu's personal role in Romanian participation in the Holocaust. A report produced by a special commission led by Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel and officially accepted by the Romanian government in 2004 states that Antonescu bore direct responsibility.
Immediately after coming into office, Antonescu expanded the anti-Jewish laws passed by Gigurtu, though Antonescu's stepmother, Frida Cuperman, was Jewish, as was his first wife, Rasela Mendel, whom he married as a military attaché in London in the 1930s. During 1941 and 1942, 80 anti-Jewish regulations were passed, all sharply anti-Semitic. Starting at the end of October, 1940, the Iron Guard began a massive anti-Semitic campaign, torturing and beating Jews and looting their shops, culminating in the failed coup and a pogrom in Bucharest in which 120 Jews were killed. Antonescu stopped the violence and chaos caused by the Iron Guard and brutally suppressed the rebellion. By the time Romania entered the war, however, atrocities against the Jews had become common, most notably in the Iaşi pogrom, where over 10,000 Jews were killed in July 1941.
In 1941, following the advancing Romanian Army and the attacks by Jewish "Resistance groups" (especially in Bessarabian towns with a large Jewish population such Edineţ and Ismail) Antonescu ordered the deportation to Transnistria of Jews from Bessarabia and Bukovina (between 80,000 and 150,000) who were either not Romanian citizens or were considered "Communist agents" by the Romanian administration. Few managed to survive transportation and the concentration (labor) camps set up in Transnistria.
Further killings perpetrated by Antonescu's soldiers targeted the Jewish population that the Romanian army managed to round up during the occupation of Transnistria. Over 100,000 of these were killed in massacres perpetrated in Odessa, Bogdanovka and Akmecetka in 1941 and 1942.
Antonescu did temporarily halt deportations in Transnistria despite German pressure in 1943, as he began to seek peace with the Allies. At the same time he levied heavy taxes and forced labor on the remaining Jewish communities.
About 25,000 Roma (approximately 11,500 nomadic and 13,000 non-nomadic Romas) were deported to Transnistria where an estimated 11,000 perished. These deportations included many people found guilty of crimes, which was presented as a solution to maintain safety in the country while most of the men were at the frontline.
See also: Romania during World War II#Romania and the Holocaust
[edit] References
- Antony Beevor, "Stalingrad" (New York, 1999)
- Jean Ancel, Transnistria, 1941-1942, The Romanian mass Murder Campaigns, 2003, Tel Aviv. Vol. I, (English) pp. 860; Vol. II, (Romanian) pp. 1044; Vol. III, (Romanian) pp. 1048
- Radu Ioanid, The Holocaust in Romania: The Destruction of Jews and Gypsies Under the Antonescu Regime, 1940-1944, Ivan R. Dee Publisher, December 1999
- Florin Constantiniu, "An honest history of the Romanian people", Bucharest, 2002
- Josif Constantin Dragan, "Antonescu", Venice, 1990
[edit] External links
- The report of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania was submitted to President Ion Iliescu in Bucharest on November 11, 2004
- Video - Ion Antonescu and Horia Sima - 1940
- Actual footage of Antonescu's death before a firing squad. (May be unsuitable for sensitive viewers)
| Preceded by Ion Gigurtu |
Prime Minister of Romania 1940 September 4 – 1944 August 23 |
Succeeded by Constantin Sănătescu |
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Alexandru Averescu | Constantin Prezan | Ion Antonescu |
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Categories: Prime Ministers of Romania | Chiefs of the General Staff of Romania | Eastern Orthodox Christians | Romanian fascists | Field Marshals | Romanian World War I people | Romanian World War II people | World War II political leaders | People convicted of war crimes | People from Piteşti | The Holocaust | People executed by firing squad | Romanian executions | Executed politicians | 1882 births | 1946 deaths
