Iron Guard
The Iron Guard (Romanian: Garda de Fier) was a Romanian pro-Nazi[1] militant group founded by Romanian ultranationalist[2][3] Corneliu Zelea Codreanu (1899–1938) in 1930 during the Great Depression and rise of fascism in Europe.[2][3]
Founding
changeWhen Codreanu was at university in 1922, he was one of the founders of the Association of Christian Students, allied with the League of National Christian Defense (Romanian: Liga Apărării Național Creștine, LANC) between 1923 and 1927. In 1927, he broke with the LANC to form the Legion of the Archangel Michael,[4] the military wing of which became the Iron Guard.[2][3]
The Iron Guard was featured by violent antisemitism and mystical Christian nationalism,[1][4][5][6] which earned them backing from radical nationalist peasants, intellectuals[3][6] and the Romanian Orthodox Church (Romanian: Biserica Ortodoxă Română).[7] Student mobilization contributed to the Iron Guard's rise.[6][8]
Rise
changeIn 1937, the Iron Guard became the third-largest party in Romania's parliament by winning 15.81% of votes and 66 out of 387 seats.[9] It also became the third-largest far-right movement in Europe, with 200,000 members within Romania.[2][3] Due to the Iron Guard's violent extremism, it faced crackdown in 1938[10] and 1941 respectively, the first time under King Carol II, in which its founder Corneliu Codreanu was executed, and the second time under the Nazi-backed Ion Antonescu.[11]
Antonescu was an Iron Guard member himself, who was appointed by King Carol II as the Prime Minister on 5 September 1940.[2][3] He recruited some Iron Guard members into his cabinet and ran the short-lived totalitarian National Legionary State (Romanian: Statul Național-Legionar, SNL) from 14 September 1940 until 14 February 1941.[12][13] After the SNL ended, Antonescu continued ruling Romania as a tyrant[12][13] and killed as many as 400,000 Jews[14] until 23 August 1944, when he was overthrown in a coup led by King Michael I.[15]
Antisemitism
change
As mentioned, the Iron Guard was violently antisemitic.[1][16] They believed the Jews to be Freemasons who controlled everything.[17] They instigated various antisemitic riots, one of which was the Bucharest pogrom on 21–23 January 1941, which killed 125 Jews.[18]
Downfall
change
Horia Sima, the Iron Guard leader, had a strained relationship with the Nazi-backed Prime Minister Ion Antonescu. Antonescu was wary of the Iron Guard's influence as a paramilitary.[11][12] He persuaded Sima to transfer him the Iron Guard's leadership. However, not only did Sima refuse, but also he demanded all major offices to be held by Iron Guard members, which angered Antonescu.[19]
On the same day as the Bucharest pogrom, the Iron Guard launched the Legionnaires' rebellion against Antonescu. Antonescu suppressed the rebellion and outlawed the Iron Guard. 9,000 Iron Guard members were sentenced to jail.[11][12] Some of them, including the Iron Guard leader Horia Sima, fled to Nazi Germany and received protection from Hitler's tyranny.[3][19] Many jailed members were later released by Antonescu to participate in the Iași pogrom and the broader Holocaust in Romania.[20]
Horia Sima in exile
changeHoria Sima fled Romania with the help of the Nazi SS. Sima and his allies were resettled in Berkenbrück, Germany and monitored strictly. In 1942, he escaped to Italy, but was sent back to Nazi custody by Italy's dictator Benito Mussolini.[21] The Nazis were discontented with the trouble caused by Sima. They placed him and his allies in the Buchenwald concentration camp.[21] Sima was later moved to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he remained until August 1944, when Romania defected to the Allies. The Nazis tried to use him for setting up a pro-Nazi Romanian government-in-exile, but the Nazis were soon defeated by the Allies.[21]
After WWII, Sima fled to Spain, which was under Franscisco Franco's anti-communist dictatorship. Many Iron Guard ex-members cut ties with Sima as they blamed him for their movement's failure,[22] though he continued to lead Iron Guard fronts in certain Western countries throughout the Cold War.[23]
Death
changeSima lived in Spain until death in 1993.[24]
Ideology
changeThe Iron Guard's beliefs are classifiable as follows.[4][12]
Political
change- Fascism
- Antisemitism
- Christian nationalism tied to the Romanian Orthodox Church
Economic
changeCultural
changeRelated pages
changeReferences
change- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2
- "RUMANIA: Again, Chaos". Time Magazine. February 3, 1941. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
- Yavetz, Zvi (1991). "An Eyewitness Note: Reflections on the Rumanian Iron Guard". Journal of Contemporary History. 26 (3). Sage Publications, Ltd.: 597–610. JSTOR 260662. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
- Meale, Jordan (2016). "The Romanian Iron Guard: Fascist Sacralized Politics or Fascist Politicized Religion?". Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe. 36 (5). George Fox University. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
- "St. Michael's Cross". Anti-Defamation League (ADL）. May 25, 2022. Retrieved December 7, 2024.
- "Prosecutor's Office Launches Investigation Following Legionary Propaganda By Diana Șoșoacă". Romania Journal. October 7, 2024. Retrieved December 7, 2024.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Iordachi, Constantin (September 2, 2020). "Fascism and Terrorism: The Iron Guard in Interwar Romania". The Oxford Handbook of the History of Terrorism. Oxford University Press. pp. 384–402. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199858569.013.40. ISBN 9780199858569. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6
- "Corneliu Codreanu | Romanian nationalist, anti-Semite, leader". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
- "Iron Guard | Fascist Movement, Antisemitism & Nationalism". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
- Payne, Stanley G. (February 21, 2017). ""A Unique Death Cult" How the Romanian Iron Guard blended nationalistic violence with Christian martyrdom to spread a singularly morbid fascist movement". Slate. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2
- Iordachi, Constantin (2004). "Charisma, politics and violence: The legion of the "Archangel Michael" in inter-war" (PDF). Trondheim Studies on East European Cultures and Societies. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
- Clark, Roland (2012). "European fascists and local activists: Romania's Legion of the Archangel Michael (1922–1938)". University of Pittsburgh ProQuest. ProQuest 1048228009. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
- Iordachi, Constantin; Daskalov, Roumen; Mishkova, Diana (November 12, 2013). "Fascism in Southeastern Europe: A Comparison between Romania's Legion of the Archangel Michael and Croatia's Ustaša". Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume Two. pp. 355–468. doi:10.1163/9789004261914_006. ISBN 978-90-04-26190-7. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
- ↑ "Community in Romania". World Jewish Congress. 2023. Retrieved November 2, 2024.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Laqueur, Walter (July 30, 2009). "Towards the Holocaust". The Changing Face of Antisemitism: From Ancient Times to the Present Day. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 9780195341218. Retrieved November 3, 2024.
- ↑
- Oldson, William O. (2002). "Alibi for prejudice: eastern orthodoxy, the Holocaust, and Romanian nationalism". East European Quarterly. 36 (3). University of Colorado at Boulder. Retrieved November 8, 2024.
- Shapiro, P.A. (2007). "Faith, murder, resurrection: The Iron Guard and the Romanian Orthodox Church". Antisemitism, Christian Ambivalence, and the Holocaust. Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253116741. OCLC 191071016. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
- Biliuță, Ionuț Florin (2013). "The Archangel's Consecrated Servants: An Inquiry in the Relationship between the Romanian Orthodox Church and the Iron Guard (1930–1941)" (PDF). Central European University. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
- Popa, Ion (2017). The Romanian Orthodox church and the holocaust. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-02989-8. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
- Ciobanu, Răzvan (2024). "The Fascist Faith of the Legion" Archangel Michael" in Romania, 1927-1941: Martyrdom and National Purification". Philobiblon: Transylvanian Journal of Multidisciplinary Research in Humanities. 29 (1). doi:10.26424/philobib.2024.29.1.19. ISSN 1224-7448. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
- ↑
- Davidescu, Constantin (2002). "Totalitarian Discourse as Rejection of Modernity: The Iron Guard, a case-study". Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change Series VIA. Eastern and Central Europe (PDF). Vol. 22. Retrieved November 8, 2024.
- "The Intellectual Unemployment in Interwar Romania: Public Perception and Subjective Perspectives" (PDF). Romanian Cultural History Review. Retrieved November 8, 2024.
- Deletant, Dennis (August 19, 2022). Romania, 1916–1941 (1 ed.). London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003171218. ISBN 9781003171218. Retrieved November 8, 2024.
- ↑
- Rus, Ionas Aurelian (1999). "The Electoral Patterns of the Romanian Right in the Interwar Years III". Arhivele Totalitarismului. Institutul National pentru Studiul Totalitarismului: 8–32. Retrieved November 7, 2024.
- Hriscu, Marius (2011). "A Political Issue of Interwar Romania: Nicolae Titulescu's Involvement in the Dissolution of the Iron Guard". Analele Ştiinţifice ale Universităţii »Alexandru Ioan Cuza« din Iaşi. Ştiinţe politice (6). Editura Universităţii »Alexandru Ioan Cuza« din Iaşi: 98–104. Retrieved November 7, 2024.
- O'Rourke, Kevin H.; Eichengreen, Barry; de Bromhead, Alan (2012). "Right-Wing Political Extremism in the Great Depression". National Bureau of Economic Research. doi:10.3386/w17871. Retrieved November 7, 2024.
- ↑ "23 Apr 1938 - Iron Guard Suppressed - Trove". National Library of Australia. April 23, 1938. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2
- Gillen, Andrew Bennett (2020). "The Legion of the Archangel Michael: The Past and Present Appeal of Decentralized Fascism". Providence College. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
- Praisler, Alexandru; Gheorghiu, Oana Celia (July 11, 2022). "Hate speech revisited in Romanian political discourse: from the Legion of the Archangel Michael (1927–1941) to AUR (2020–present day)". Humanities & Social Sciences Communications. 9. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
- Axinia, Anca Diana (October 5, 2023). "'In this country, women are also soldiers': interrelations between age and gender in the women's section of the Romanian Legionary Movement". European Review of History: Revue européenne d'histoire. 31 (3): 468–491. doi:10.1080/13507486.2023.2231487. Retrieved November 8, 2024.
- Reifer, Thomas Ehrlich (2023). "A Century of Populist Demagogues: Eighteen European Portraits, 1918–2018 by Ivan T. Berend (review)". Antisemitism Studies. 7 (1): 222–230. doi:10.2979/ast.2023.a886002. Retrieved November 8, 2024.
- Adam, Thomas (2024). "The Introduction of Totalitarian Rule". Germany and the World since 1815. pp. 159–173. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-63390-4_11. ISBN 978-3-031-63389-8. Retrieved November 8, 2024.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4
- Haynes, Rebecca (1993). "German Historians and the Romanian National Legionary State 1940-41". The Slavonic and East European Review. 71 (4). Modern Humanities Research Association: 676–683. JSTOR 4211380. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
- Deletant, Dennis (2006). "Antonescu and the National Legionary State". Hitler's Forgotten Ally: Ion Antonescu and his Regime, Romania 1940-1944. Palgrave USA. pp. 52–68. doi:10.1057/9780230502093_4. ISBN 9781403993410. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
- Platon, Mircea (2012). "The Iron Guard and the 'Modern State'. Iron Guard Leaders Vasile Marin and Ion I. Moţa, and the 'New European Order'". Fascism. 1 (2). Brill: 65–90. doi:10.1163/22116257-00201002. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
- Rusu, Mihai Stelian (2021). "Staging Death: Christofascist Necropolitics during the National Legionary State in Romania, 1940–1941". Nationalities Papers. 49 (3). Cambridge University Press: 576–589. doi:10.1017/nps.2020.22. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
- Cercel, Cosmin Sebastian (May 30, 2023). "Fascist Claims to Sovereign Power: Law, Politics and the Romanian Legionary Movement". Contemporary European History. Retrieved November 8, 2024.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1
- Sorin, Arhire (2008). "The Foreign Policy of the Legionary Movement during the National-Legionary Regime in Romania". Transylvanian Review. 17 (3): 120. ISSN 1221-1249. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
- Rusu, Mihai Stelian (September 16, 2016). "The Sacralization of Martyric Death in Romanian Legionary Movement: Self-sacrificial Patriotism, Vicarious Atonement, and Thanatic Nationalism". Politics, Religion & Ideology. 17 (2–3): 249–273. doi:10.1080/21567689.2016.1232196. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
- Drăguşin, Nicolae (2018). "War, Legionarism and Jewry in the Official Press of Romanian Orthodox Church during the National Legionary State (1940-1941)". Holocaust. Studii şi cercetări (11). Institutul National pentru Studierea Holocaustului din Romania ELIE WIESEL: 311–344. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
- ↑ "Murder of the Jews of Romania". Yad Vashem. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
Romania [...] had a Jewish population of about 757,000 before World War II. [...] In total, 380,000 – 400,000 Jews [...] were murdered in Romanian-controlled areas under the dictatorship of Antonescu.
- ↑
- "World War II – 60 Years After: Former Romanian Monarch Remembers Decision To Switch Sides". Radio Liberty. May 6, 2005. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
- "King Michael of Romania, Who Ousted a Hitler Puppet, Dies at 96". The New York Times. December 5, 2017. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
- "King Michael: Romania bids farewell to former monarch". BBC. December 16, 2017. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
- ↑ "Working Definition Of Antisemitism". World Jewish Congress. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism :- Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.
- Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.
- Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.
- Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust).
- Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.
- Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.
- Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
- Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
- Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.
- Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.
- Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.
- ↑
- Chioveanu, Mihai (2007). ""The Harvest of Anger". Politics of Salvation and Ethnic-cleansing in 1940s Romania: Fascist Thinkers and Authoritarian Doers". Studia Politica. Romanian Political Science Review (2). Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti: 293–311.
- Biliuță, Ionuț (2016). "Sowing the Seeds of Hate - The Antisemitism of the Orthodox Church in the Interwar Period". S:I.M.O.N. Shoah: Intervention. Methods. Documentation. (1). Wiener Wiesenthal Institut für Holocaust-Studien: 20–34. Retrieved November 7, 2024.
- Biliuță, Ionuț (2019). "Antisemitism in Orthodox Guise: Accommodating Fascist Antisemitism with Newspaper Rhetoric in Interwar Romania". Anuarul Institutului de Cercetări Socio-Umane »Gheorghe Şincai« al Academiei Române (22). Institutul de Cercetări Socio-Umane Gheorghe Şincai al Academiei Române: 180–205. Retrieved November 7, 2024.
- Ladouceur, Paul (January 6, 2023). "Orthodoxy, religious nationalism, and the Jews in Romania". International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church. 22 (4): 306–323. doi:10.1080/1474225X.2022.2162682. Retrieved November 7, 2024.
- Marincea, Adina (2023). "Behind the Memes: Old and New Visual Antisemitism in Romania. The Jewish "Happy Merchant" as Yesterday's Communist and Today's Nazi". Holocaust. Studii şi cercetări (16). Institutul National pentru Studierea Holocaustului din Romania ELIE WIESEL: 195–233. Retrieved November 7, 2024.
- ↑
- Ioanid, Radu (April 1, 1992). "THE POGROM OF BUCHAREST 21–23 JANUARY 1941". Holocaust and Genocide Studies. 6 (4). Pergamon Press Limited: 373–382. doi:10.1093/hgs/6.4.373. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
- "Pogrom in Bucharest Synagogue, Romania, January 1941". Yad Vashem. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
- "On This Day: Bucharest Jews tortured, raped, killed in Holocaust pogrom". The Jerusalem Post. January 21, 2022. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Payne, Stanley G. (June 27, 1996). A History of Fascism, 1914-1945 (1 ed.). Routledge. ISBN 9781857285956. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
- ↑ "Jews From Iaşi (Jassy) Who Survived the Transports". JewishGen. September 15, 2005. Retrieved November 2, 2024.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Tiu, Ilarion (2010). The Legionary Movement After Corneliu Codreanu: From the Dictatorship of King Carol II to the Communist Regime (February 1938-August 1944). Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780880336598. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
- ↑ Bujea, Eleanor (2009). Romanians in Canada. Lulu.com. ISBN 978-1-929200-14-6. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
- ↑ Cragg, Bronwyn (April 23, 2024). "Letters from Exile: Canadian Media, the Romanian Diaspora, and the Legionary Movement". Journal of Romanian Studies. 6 (1). Liverpool University Press: 47–70. doi:10.3828/jrns.2024.4. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
- ↑ Ionescu, Șerban N. (1994). Who was who in twentieth century Romania. East European Monographs. ISBN 0880332921. OCLC 685552068. Retrieved November 5, 2024.