The Iron Guard Government

September 6, 1940 - January 21, 1941

General Ion Antonescu was promoted from virtual anonymity. On September 5,1940 he was summoned before the Presidium of the Council of Ministers. On the following day he was bestowed with dictatorial powers, and entrusted with governing the country.

Regaining consciousness from the dreadful shock caused by the dizzying train of the events, Rumanian public opinion was confused and at a loss when it came to receiving this unknown saviour.

Only very few had paid attention to his ephemeral and traceless roles in previous reactionary governments. Even fewer were aware of his activities in senior military institutions. He was said to be an energetic soldier who did not tolerate opposition, but also indecisive and easily influenced; there were whispers that he was vain, haughty, and that he loved both praise and servile fawning; everybody knew that he was wicked, quick-tempered and predisposed to violence. Throughout his entire career he was taunted with the name "Red Dog". The country, unhinged by the sequence of recent happenings, dazed by the political chaos, and hypnotised by the clever manipulation of the general [61] atmosphere, received him with doubt tempered with traditional indifference and skepticism. A certain section of the population sensed the unavoidable menace from the very outset. Hannibal had noisily and violently announced his arrival at the doors of Israel's tents.

The omens of the ensuing storm had appeared two months before. The pogrom in Dorohoi and the spread of its lesser effects to the towns and villages of South Bucovina; the murder of Jews thrown out of moving trains; the incitement to hatred and murder by the press; in the way state legislators Horia Sima and Radu Budisteanu were gnashing their teeth, and finally in the shameful anti-Semitic directives issued by I. V. Gruia, Minister of Justice, along with his vile reasoning. Collectively these facts represented the tornado that had entrapped the tormented Jews, and forced them to notice the thick black clouds towering over their heads; clouds which were to cover that sky for four years.

Days went by, and events unfolded. General Antonescu became the head of government, a leader of state endued with dictatorial power; the members of the Iron Guard, who were increasingly becoming the rulers of the streets, were marching, organising patrols and singing - for the meanwhile only singing - their songs of hatred, blood and death, and the sky had not yet burst, and the earth had not yet opened to swallow the Jews awaiting their "inevitable fate".

There were only one or two incidents, a little over-zealousness, or as the General said "some romance and fervour".

The scattered beatings of Jews on the streets, the looting [62] of some richer Jews, and attempts at organising an economic boycott urged Horia Sima to write a circular to Iron Guard groups, in which he admits - after hardly more than five days in government (on September 11, 1940) - that there have been insignificant incidents in the country as a consequence of the change in system".

The Jewish political leadership made its presence felt from the start, and the President of the Union of Jewish Communities turned directly to General Antonescu. At a meeting on September 14, Dr. W. Filderman lists the abuses and unlawful actions - committed either by petty thieves or ministers - which had piled up during only eight days of the new government. At this first meeting of the two leaders (between whom, from this time forth, there was to be a long, ruthless but unequal battle) the General is both kind and brimming with goodwill. He is surprised by what he hears, and promises to make amends for everything. He orders the removal of certain "Jewish shop" signs, instructs the Minister of Education to reverse the decision to abolish the Jewish religion, and shouts at the Minister of the Interior, on the phone: "Petrivicescu! Your "guys" are misbehaving, and bringing shame on me!". Finally, he asks for the support of Jews, asks them not to wind up their businesses, and says that they should pursue their own trades, and thus provides hope that situation will not worsen or a tragic event will not occur. He even backs up his promises in writing, and two days later the Office of the Leader sends a transcript from the Presidium of the Council of Ministers to the Union of Jewish Communities containing the following extract:

"I ensure Mr. Filderman that if his co-religionists do not openly or secretly sabotage the political or economic life of [63] the system, then no harm will be done to Jewish citizens. The words of General Antonescu are not to be taken lightly."

Even though "the words of General Antonescu are not to be taken lightly", abuses are growing nearby in the capital; beatings on the streets are multiplying; the houses of Jews are being searched, and winter food reserves are especially singled out for robbery; the automobiles of Jews are forcibly removed from garages and streets. As a result, the Minister of the Interior feels it necessary to make an announcement which does not attempt to hide the shameful situation:

"We would like to draw everybody's attention to the fact that recent abuses have been committed by forces alien to the Iron Guard movement so as to discredit the government's actions, which had been taken to ensure the reestablishment of order.'

The "guys" acted more conscientiously in the villages than in the capital. In Buzau the Iron Guard police arrested at least twenty young Zionists between the ages of 16 and 20. After torturing them into confessing to being communists, all of them were sent to the Military Tribunal. They were obviously acquitted, but later had to pay a terrible price for the Iron Guard's joke. They remained "stigmatized" in the files of the State Security Service and were later deported to Transnistria where almost all of them were killed.

In Arad about 40 Jews, selected from the leaders of the community, were arrested without reason, tortured, beaten, and kept in the police station for several days.

[64] In Calarasi Urziceni, Buzau, Ramnicul Sarat, Roman and elsewhere "Jewish shop" was scrawled on the shop windows and trade-signs of Jewish shops, and there were calls for a boycott. Furthermore, in Buzau Iron Guard patrols threateningly prevented people from entering Jewish shops. A synagogue was also attacked by a band of Iron Guards in the same place, during the first days. Praying people were searched, robbed and arrested for a night.

In Iasi, the birthplace of the Cuza hooligans, and later that of the Codreanu Iron Guards, the barbaric terror started in the first days. Hundreds of Jews were dragged into police cellars or Iron Guard "nests", where they were beaten, tortured and robbed. Later it turned out that this act of terror had been organized to extort money from the Jews. After they had come to an agreement with the leaders of the Iron Guard organization to pay them 6,000,000 lei, the violence against them ceased for a long time.

During the first days a few of the "guys,"' who later became ministers, were even more diligent than the petty thieves.

Radu Budisteanu, the Minister of Education, who felt how unstable the velvet chair under him was, through the famous directives of September 11, 1940, attempted to write himself into the annals of history by removing the Jewish religion from among the list of acknowledged religions thus making its practice impossible.

The same minister, who became the executioner of Jewish schools before 6 September, with his directive on August 31, 1940, was anxious to chase Jewish actors out of all [65] national and private theatres - before his resignation - and to forbid the purchase of religious relics from Jewish dealers. He resigned from politics on September 14, 1940 after a long talk with the Leader of the Union of Jewish Communities, Dr. W. Filderman and the chief-rabbi, Dr. Al. Safran; this time he invalidated his own directives, and suspended the measures he took against the Jewish religion. The following day he was no longer a minister.

His successor as Minister of Education, Professor Traian Braileanu surpassed his predecessor. He created a type of Jewish ghetto of artists with a prescribed repertoire, and obliged them to call themselves "Jewish Theater". He organized the boycott of Jewish book-shops by prohibiting officials, the staffs of schools and even school children from shopping there. He, however, also found it advisable to invalidate measures aiming the annihilation of the Jewish religion.

The Minister of Justice, I. V. Gruia, whose shirt was not as green as those of his colleagues, won gold stars for his preparation of the famous 'regulations for Jews'. But, he will be really successful only later, when he defends Jews - as their well-paid lawyer - in the course of legal actions taken against them based on laws prepared by him. At present he is busy chasing Jewish judges, bailiffs and public prosecutors from their posts, and forbidding Jewish lawyers - with the help of a special law - from holding executive positions in the Law Society and from practising their profession at military tribunals.

[66] During the first month of the existence of the National Iron Guard State, professional bodies, especially those of the intelligentsia, were very hard-working. Their list of activities is long, shamefully so. However, it is our duty to mention it.

Heading the list is the First Incorporated Law Society of the country. On September 6, 1940, simultaneously with the start of the new system, the Incorporated Law Society of the capital also secured its own day of historical importance by removing the first group of Jewish lawyers, who had identified themselves as Jews in compliance with the directives against Jews. Fifty-five lawyers were expelled on that day, only because the counsellors soon tired of the task.

During the following days they compensated for the backlog caused by the their weariness on the first day; through rushed, superficial and dictatorial decisions arrived at during six meetings (on September 6, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 13) out of the 1,479 Jewish lawyers only 177 escaped with the right to practice their profession.

One week later the Incorporated Law Society was followed by the Society of Rumanian Engineers, which expelled the first group of Jewish engineers from its membership on September 3, and went to great lengths to emphasise: it had no intention of abiding by any directive which would have enabled certain people to maintain their rights, and saw to it that the second and last group of Jewish engineers were also expelled. During the next meeting (on October 10), the Society's "cleansing of Jews" was completed.

[67] Then the flood gates opened. On September 20 the Sports Association invalidated the identity cards of Jewish journalists; on September 21 the Department of Social Security dismissed Jewish deliverers, and on the same day the Rumanian Opera dismissed its Jewish employees. On September 25 the Trade Union of Journalists excluded its Jewish members, on 25 the Union of Professional Journalists rid itself of Jews, on 29 the Council of the Association of the Chambers of Commerce "homogenised its leadership with the help of Rumanian elements".

At the beginning of October and November those embarrassed about lagging behind were anxious to close the gap. On October 4 the Union of Rumanian Writers, on 6th the Trade Union of Journalists of Bucovina, on 7th the Society of the Licensed Electricians, on 10th the National Union of Dentists, and on the same day the Society of Entrepreneurs for Public Works, on the following day the Society of Architects (on the occasion of their 50th anniversary), followed by the Trade Union of Artists (October 12), the Rumanian Society of Eye, Ear and Throat Specialists (October 12) the National Society of Chemical Engineers (October 17), the "Scenic Romania" Board of Tourism (October 26), the Campina Chamber of Commerce, the Society of Endocrinologists (October 30), the Society of Bucharest Abattoir Butchers (October 30), the Society of Rumanian Publicists (November 8), the Directorship of Boxers, Wrestlers, etc. (November 8), and last but not least, on November 10, the National Society of University Professors and the Society of Deaf and Dumb People expelled their Jewish colleagues and members.

[68] September ended with a sensational interview, given by General Antonescu to the Italian newspaper "Stampa"; this was made public by the Bucharest newspapers on September 30, together with detailed explanations and praise for the "leader" as well as insults and outbursts of hatred aimed at Jews.

This was the first time the general publicly and substantially dealt with the Jewish issue; this was the first time he started to make threats: changes, dismissals, expropriation, expatriation - this was what the Leader mentioned in his first announcement regarding the fate of a population of 400,000, which had set root in the country centuries previously, and played such an important role in its development, a role which could not be compared to that played by all the other minorities put together.

The general said the following, word for word:

"The economy and capital of Rumania is in the hands of the Jews. They also had a monopoly on credit. Real Rumanians have been sidelined by these aliens because the governments of Rumania have not provided them with credit and access to the economic market. However, companies directed by Rumanians also exist in Rumania, and these prove the excellent ability of our race.

I will solve the Jewish issue in the course of reorganising the state. I will gradually substitute Jews with Rumanians, first of all with members of the Iron Guard, who will prepare themselves for this in the meantime. We will expropriate the greatest part of Jewish property, and will compensate them [69] for this. Jews who entered the country after 1913, in other words after the second Balkan War, will be expatriated as soon as possible, regardless of whether they become Rumanian citizens in the interim. While this is taking place, we will substitute the others, as I have already said, step by step. Jews will have be allowed to live in this country, but will not have the opportunity to be the beneficiaries of its resources and wealth. Firstly, it must be the Rumanians who live in Rumania, they must assume worthier positions; the others can only come after them, if there are free places left."

If the first month of Iron Guard rule was the period of experimentation and randomly testing the water, the second was designed to lay sound foundations and organize everyting in the fur ther interest of the German Empire and Iron Guard movement.

During this period members of the Iron Guard penetrated into the deepest corners of the state and all sectors of the economy; this was the time of the dubious and unprepared elements which flooded all the large commercial and industrial companies as commissars of Rumanianization; this was the time when the Minister of the Interior and the managing director of the State Security Organisation, the trustees of peace and order, replaced the professional policemen of central and other police stations throughout the whole country with absolutely unprepared people (graduates from Arts Faculties, Business Colleges and schools, etc.). It was known that these would barbarically engage in acts of terror without any inhibitions and oblige in a way similar to the Iron Guard uprising already on the horizon; this was the time of the preparation and enactment of those foul bills [70] which would later become the basis for acts of looting and persecution.

On the basis of a prepared plan, into which the general atmosphere was calculated (the atmosphere which forced a constant climate of tension and panic on its victims), the racist laws of the Iron Guard system followed in quick succession in an endless flow of suffering. The racist legislation of the Iron Guard was not constructed on any basic tenets of law or justice; it lacked morality and logic and even its guiding ideology - be it nationalist or ultra-nationalist - was simply the shameful weapon employed by the state and its leaders to rob unprotected victims, just as lowly bandits used clubs and pistols.

The justification for these laws, which served as models for many clerks for four years, will remain as monuments to judicial stupidity, the misrepresentation of the truth and the cynical mockery of morality and benevolence.

The Iron Guard did not maintain the dizzying speed at which it introduced racist legislation, and neither did such legislation encompass all sectors at first under threat. The reasons for this lie neither in the benevolent hesitation of the Iron Guard leadership nor in any peculiar resistance by state governors. The Iron Guard's passion for fighting and looting did not let up for a moment, between September 6, 1940 and January 21,1941. In part, however, they achieved weak results through their recourse to the law since the spoils had to be shared with the state, which received the lion's share. Furthermore, terror used parallel with legislation proved much more effective because it excluded competition from [71] the state, thus securing for individuals themselves all that they had yearned for, or items to which they had laid personal claims. This can serve to explain the suspension of Iron Guard racist legislative activity in the middle of November, by which stage the terror had started to blossom and it was becoming increasingly clear why the Iron Guards were not expropriating Jewish real estate in towns or that belonging to commercial and industrial firms.

The shameful Iron Guard legislature started to work on October 3, 1940 by issuing a legally enforceable decree.

Bills providing for serious, organised and meticulous robbery were passed two days later. On the holiday of October 6, which the Iron Guards organised for themselves to celebrate their first month in control of the country, General Antonescu honoured the "guys" with many gifts.

The Captain of the Metropolitan Police, General Dona, was replaced by a member of the Iron Guard Senate, Colonel Stefan Zavoianu, whose criminal disposition could be used to extend the acts of terror (he appeared in a green shirt at the Iron Guard celebration); Zavoianu also announced the law concerning the appointment of the officer in charge of Rumanianization and the expropriation of rural Jewish property.

The simultaneous appearance of these two laws signalling the beginning of robberies and looting, is characteristic and significant.

[72] The law of October 14, which organised the ghettoisation of schools, was introduced soon after the announcement of these basic laws.

Two very important laws succeeded each other: one affecting doctors on November 15, and the other affecting company employees on November 16.

Every set of statistics indicates, and all avenues of research agree on the fact that one of the basic problems in Rumanian society was the lack of physicians, and the consequences of this were catastrophic for the Rumanian nation. The worrying spread of the so-called national diseases, and the infant mortality rate which was much higher than the average figures in other nations - these two facts were eloquently pointed out with an enormous amount evidence by all those who dealt with the basic issue of the health of the Rumanian nation. The solution recommended was always the same - irrespective of how much the political and social views of the researchers varied -, that the number of town and village doctors had to be increased, and more emphasis should be placed on health care.

In spite of this, there was a government, the Iron Guard government, which not only did nothing towards providing a remedy for the much warned endemic, but with a simple directive - aimed at satisfying the savage impulses of certain members - expelled a great number of doctors from the Board of Physicians, thus catastrophically diminishing the originally small number entrusted with caring for the health of a nation.

[73] With the law of November 15, 1940, under the threat of severe penalties, Jewish doctors were prohibited from treating non-Jewish patients. In order to avoid misunderstandings, Jewish doctors were forced to clearly indicate on all their prescription slips and advertisements that they were "Jewish doctors", irrespective of whether they had been university professors, or lecturers.

The other law enacted on November 16, 1940, which was named after its creator, Iascinski,/... / proved to be much more inhumane.

This law obliged all forms of public and private companies to dismiss all their Jewish employees within a given period of time, not later than 31 December, 1941, "regardless of the method of payment, the time spent in employment, and conditions of office, including all apprentices, trainees and those who worked for the owner without pay."

Obviously, the legislators, were not influenced by any human considerations. Such an attitude could only be expected from those who gave their unrepentant support to the doctrine and practices of the Iron Guard: in most cases no compensation was paid by the owners to those dismissed. Even though the national economy was seriously destabilised by the demolition of its structural order, not even the slightest worry concerning this could be detected in the new law. The application of the law meant the replacement - over a short period of time - of one social stratum, united by the experience of many years, with elements who, in most cases, were completely ill-prepared, even if any sign of good-will could be detected in them at all.

[74] The last shameful Iron Guard law, which appeared exactly on the day the revolt erupted, transformed the Jews' obligation to serve in the army into a compulsory financial and labour service.

What had previously been an patriotic obligation, now turned into a financial one. The legislature forced progressive taxes on Jews between the ages 18 and 50 based on a rate by which a young man who had not reached the age 24, paid tax not only consistent with his own income (if he had any) but also based on that of his parents, or his wife (and all taxable income of the spouse was to be included in the calculation). Consequently, a merchant to whom the unfortunate idea occurred of declaring an annual income of 1 million lei, was obliged to pay 249,235 lei in military tax as well as 415,392 in taxes and surtaxes.

Naturally, the activities of the Iron Guard legislature did not inhibit the endeavours of scoundrels, robbers, highway-men and barbarians, who created the atmosphere necessary for the massacres yet to come. In both the capital, and the remotest villages of the country, there were constant and unhindered acts of violence and looting, the aim of which was to weaken the resolve of Jews, both individually and as a community.

On October 31, following a discussion with the Chairmen of the Jewish Religious Communities, their leader, Dr. W. Filderman attended another meeting with General Antonescu. The general remarked, with his hypocritical kindness, well-known from the past, that he must surely be the only leader among the leaders of the Axis powers who [75] maintains such a relationship with a Jewish leader. After this the conversation continued basically as follows:

"I'm aware of why you have come. I've heard that there has been some mistreatment but I've already taken measures to ensure that this won't happen again. I can see that you've brought an entire library with you again, but there's no need for so many files and complaints, because nothing like this will happen again."

"General, you asked me to tell Jews to continue their activities and not to tell anyone to stop. All of us listened to you but Iron Guards come and terrorize us with revolvers. In Cerna-Voda, for example, the authorities themselves forced certain local Jews to hand over their companies, which were worth of millions, for tens of thousands of lei. Those who objected were beaten up and tortured. Women's hair was cut off and then all of them were chased out of town."

"Mr. Filderman, it won't happen again."

"You gave an order to end the erection of Jewish shop signs. Your order was not obeyed, on the contrary, the boycott is spreading, and this is affecting the economy of the entire nation, not just Jews. These signs have also been stuck up in Calarasi, Buzau, Turnu Magurele, Urziceni and Orastie. In Ramnicul Valcea Iron Guard groups stand in front of Jewish shops all the time, and they won't let anybody enter. This was reported to the county head, who answered, 'There's nothing else to be done, close your shops.'."

[76] "Don't worry about it, Mr. Filderman, it won't happen again."

"Jews are no longer able to travel by train. Travelling from one town to the other has become a form of torture for them. I receive letters and telegrams from everywhere reporting looting and torture, and all this happens in under the eyes of the authorities."

"I know. These have been reported to me, but they won't happen again."

"The day before yesterday Iron Guards with revolvers poured into a house in Bucharest, the headquarters of the Sephardic Jewish Community. The chief rabbi was chased out of his flat. The offices of the Community and the Music Conservatory were emptied, people were chased out of their flats, and others took their places without right or legal formalities."

"Mr. Filderman, it won't happen again."

"In the provinces lands are being expropriated, not just brutally and ironhandedly, but with much abuse, and sometimes there are shameless acts of looting. In Saveni whole herds of cattle were taken away from Jews who trade in livestock, but who never had any land. In Braila a committee appointed by the deputy county head seized hundreds of wagons of grain, even though that grain was the property of Jewish exporters who had never had land in the village. At this very moment legions of the Gendarmerie in the towns and villages are busy taking an inventory of Jewish [77] property. In certain places, like Ceice, in Bihar county, and Balaceanca, in Suceava county, these goods have been confiscated and removed. In Campulung-Bucovina the Mayor's Office has redrawn the town border 300 meters away from its original location to bring other parts of the towns within its jurisdiction, as villages, allowing for the expropriation Jewish property."

"This is indeed abuse. We do want to carry out the expropriation law gradually. But believe me, such abuses will cease."

"Also, in the name the expropriation law, the authorities have committed further abuses. Cemeteries, which are obviously on the outskirts of the town, have been deliberately expropriated so that they can be listed as council property. This has been the case in Ploesti, Buzau, Vaslui and even Bucharest. In Bacau, the town's agricultural engineer decided to sidestep the legal formalities of the expropriation law, and ordered the ploughing of the entire cemetery so that wheat could grow from the bones of Jews."

"He shouldn't have acted in that way. Look, I will order the return of the cemetery in Bucharest, and nothing like this will ever happen again."

"General, you are aware that because of laws and directives, our children have been chased out of state schools. Minister Braileanu scornfully remarked that he was not interested in the business of our education; we should organize this for ourselves. But our schools have been illegally confiscated and expropriated by force. Schools in [78] Buceacea, Harlau, Vaslu and some in Bucharest have been taken from us.

"It won't happen again.

"General, in Orastie...

"It won't happen again. There won't be a repeat of this. No, no, no! I've already ordered

Next day the terror started.

During the last three months of the Iron Guard government, Jewish citizens throughout the entire country lived in perpetual fear. During this time, in the territory of Rumania there were almost 400,000 inhabitants to whom protection by state authorities was not extended. They not only lost their existential security and the protection of their property, moreover, they felt under threat in all places, and at all times. Those who were beaten or tortured had no means of defending themselves, to those who were looted and robbed all channels of complaint were closed. It was the same in every part of the country: if a Jew left home in the morning to go somewhere, it was not sure that he would return home in the evening. Those who stayed at home were startled by every noise, every knock on the door caused them to panic. In the villages and towns, in centrally located block of flats and poor huts, in the offices of bankers and factory owners, in the wooden hovels of pretzel vendors, and at the make- [79] shift stalls of itinerant vendors, every Jew - regardless of how strong he was or how rich he was - lived in permanent agony from worrying about his own life and property or those of his neighbours.

Hundreds and thousands of Jews were tortured in the most horrible ways in the cellars of police stations and city halls, in the headquarters and nests of the Iron Guard, in their own flats or on the streets, on roads, meadows or in the depths of forests. Every murder and act of looting was committed with the support, initiation or direct supervision of organisations and persons whose duty in any normal, civilised state would be to protect the lives and property of its citizens.

Starting with the Minister of the Interior, General Constantin Petrovicescu, assisted by his Chef de Cabinet, Major Stelian Marinescu, but working independently of Lieutenant-Colonel Alexandru Riosianu; Alexandru Ghica, the Senior Director of the State Security Organisation, aided by Director Maimuca and Police Inspector Baciu; three successive Chief Commissioners of the Metropolitan Police Force, General Dona, Colonel Stefan Zavoianu and Radu Mironovicic; every county head in Rumania (all appointed under the directive of September 17, 1940) - a list modified only by one suicide and one dismissal for dishonesty, and finally almost every police superintendent in the country with outstanding contributions from the likes of Ilie Stanga (Bucharest), Paul Cojocaru (Ploiesti), Mazilu (Ploiesti), Hanu (Alba Julia), Ion Crisovan and Dr. Preda (Arad), Jura (Lugoj), Vespasian Lene (Sighisoara), Bucur Stavrescu (Targu Magurele), Vatasescu (Targoviste), Petre Zegheanu [80] (Caracal), V. Stefanescu (Brasov), Radu Popian (Ramnicul Valcea), etc., all attempted to surpass one another in cruel beatings and uninhibited robberies.

Naturally, these people could not have committed so many acts of terror without a whole army of gangsters, and professional and amateur champions of the club, pistol and other means of torture. They were recruited from every class and section of the population; there were public officials among them (especially from ministries and county and town offices), private clerks, merchants, factory workers, lawyers, hooligans, engineers, robbers, doctors and tramps. All of them, irrespective of whether or not they were green-shirts, grandiloquently called themselves Iron Guards and committed their barbarically heroic deeds in the name of the "Iron Guard movement". This was the only political representation of the country, and sanctioned as such by royal decree No. 3151 on September 14, 1940

From among the huge mass of lunatics, let us always remember the names of the following beasts: Mircea Petrovicescu, master of the torture centre in the cellars of the Town Hall in the third "Albastru" district of Bucharest; Iron Guard Commander Stoia (Constanta); Ilie Colhon (Alba Julia); Grigoras Constantin, (Mayor of Targu Neamt), Dr. Silviu Craciunas (Piatra Neamt); Stefan Georgescu-Gorjan (Petrosani), engineer; Deputy Mayor Olteanu (Aiud); Dr. Stefan Milcoveanu, Dr. Popovici Lupa and Dr. Ruptureanu (Bucharest); Zozo Grigorescu (Ploiesti), lawyer; Mitica Dancila, Ion Dancila (Turda); Willy Janischewschi (Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce in Craiova); C. Pivniceru (Vaslui); Ion Bolfan (Mayor of Harlau village); Nicodem [81] Borca (Deputy Mayor of the town of Deva); N. Craioveanu (Mayor of Lupeni); D. Ifrim (Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce in Bucharest); Professor Wertz (Arad), etc.

In this wilderness of hatred and brutality, not even one voice was raised in objection, not one whisper of hope could be heard. Naturally, I do not mean to suggest public statements or comments to the press. But, even at private gatherings, not one word of comfort was uttered for the sake of those had once been colleagues or friends.

It is also true that objections found their way onto the General's desk. In spite of being Rumanian, there were those who claimed to have wrongly suffered in some way, and who, in spite of the wrongdoings they suffered, did not fail to lend their support to measures introduced against Jews. Voicu Nitescu, a minister during the era of pseudo-democracy, while complaining that his six-year-old son had been threatened with a revolver by members of the Iron Guard, took care to congratulate the General on the occasion of his birthday at the beginning of his complaint, and did not forget to emphasise that during his time at the Ministry of Labour he went to great lengths to give labour an exclusively national character and to "remove from the field of labour those elements which constituted an obstacle to the complete nationalisation of labour". In the following he denies his Jewish connections and points out, "I do not participate in any enterprise which functions with Semite capital, or which is run by Semites"......

One protest, however, should not be forgotten: it was [82] delivered to General Antonescu by Mr. Iuliu Maniu, the former prime minister, on December 3, 1940, five days after the assassination of a number of politicians, including one of Mr. Maniu's close associates, Virgil Madgearu. Naturally, he was both hurt and enraged by these assassinations. However, the document also contained the following extract:

"On my part, General, I would like to ask you to reinforce the authority of the state without further delay; to entrust certain officials with ensuring order; to strive - through all means at your disposal - for a return to existential and financial security for all categories of citizens, since this alone can guarantee the continuity of productive work, which is so necessary for social and economic life. (55)

Iron Guard terror manifested itself in the most atrocious forms ever witnessed in the history of mankind. It began with arbitrary searches of houses, arrests, evictions, beatings, rape, torture; tying to shame-posts; individual and collective robberies, and culminated in the plundering and setting ablaze of churches, factories, shops and flats, and in the horrifying bloodbaths of the Iron Guard revolt.

This terror was organised by "the Iron Guard Movement" and by certain ministers led by the deputy prime minister, Horia Sima. However, the other members of the government encouraged them by tolerating their actions and providing them with immunity. The Leader of the State personally aided them through mindless legislation and administration.

The aims of Iron Guard terror varied according to the [83] person or institution targeted. The country's Christian community was intimidated in order to paralyse the awakening of remorse in the few people whose united action could have led to the formation of a certain type of public opinion. Jews were to be eliminated from economic life; their property was to be robbed so that - irrespective of whether it was to become the possession of "members of the Iron Guard Movement" - an enormous weapon could be forged to assist the final aim: Iron Guard control of state administration and regulatory forces.

Naturally, power seized by Iron Guard members was at the expense of the Jews. The fight was very easy, and the rewards for both the Iron Guard and individuals were well worth the trouble.

It seems that the signal for the outbreak of terror was given on November 1. Firstly, all kinds of thugs were allowed to operate freely, at most, they had to take into account local initiatives and instructions. This was how Iron Guard leaders tested the resistance of Jews and the possible reactions of the Leader of the State. The events of the first eight days, though characterised by violence, at times fatal, were nonetheless incoherent. In Turda a few Jews were tortured in order to acquire a long-envied distillery; in Caracal and Corabia a few shops were looted and the victims evicted; in Gaesti an attempt was made to violently acquire a few businesses; in Bucharest arrests became more and more widespread, beatings grew increasingly savage, etc. The first case of martyrdom occurred during these days: a child in Bucharest was tortured to death at the central police station.

[84] The leadership of the Iron Guard saw that the victims were not showing signs of resistance, and the Leader of the State merely delivered a paternal slap on the wrist during a cabinet meeting; it was at this point that it was decided to commence with organised terror. An historical date was chosen for this purpose, one which held a long tradition for the Rumanian police. The anniversary of the Russian Revolution had always provided an occasion for Jew-baiting. Around November 7 police and Iron Guard units went on patrol randomly arresting Jews that crossed their path. In Bucharest hundreds of Jews were dragged off to police cells or Iron Guard centres. The most horrifying torture centres were at the Bucharest Police Headquarters and the Iron Guard centres in Traian Street, Cercului Street and Roma Street. With neither pretext nor reason they tortured, tormented and mugged the incarcerated Jews, later releasing them to make room for new ones.

The catastrophic earthquake that struck the country the following night was not in the least perceived as a sign from heaven by those who had decorated their barbarity with mysticism and sanctimoniousness; on the contrary, it offered a fresh opportunity for persecution and terrorisation. In Panciu, close to the epicentre of the quake, Jews were evicted from the ruins of their houses, and not one of them was allowed to return for four years.

In Bucharest, Jewish physicians who had offered their services to care for the injured were beaten and tortured by their Christian colleagues.

In Ploiesti., the county head ordered the rounding up of [85] all able-bodied Jews, from manual labourers to representatives of the intelligentsia, and forced them to carry out the strenuous task of clearing the debris. Jewish hands were forced to demolish almost all of the synagogues and a large fraction of Jewish cultural institutions. Terror was used to paralyse any attempt at resistance: the same county head turned a blind eye to the arrest of sixty Jews by the Iron Guard Chief of Police in the synagogue during service. They were tortured barbarically for two weeks. The victims of the Iron Guard night of revenge were selected from these Jews. While in Jilava the nation's high-ranking dignitaries who either spoke out or rose up against the madness of the Iron Guards were being slaughtered, in Ploiesti eleven randomly selected Jews (headed by the community rabbi) were shot dead; their corpses were thrown into ditches along roads near the town. On that night Iron Guard hatred fused the pain of the Jews with the pain of the entire country. On the wooden floor of the Gendarme Legion building in Prahova - alongside Rabbi Filderman and Smuil Smilovici, the pretzel vendor - Nicolae Iorga, the apostle of Rumanian culture, and indirectly that of anti-Semitic intolerance, also lost his life.

Alongside the threats, beatings, torture and murders aimed at intimidating the Jewish population, mass looting campaigns were initiated. Following the above-mentioned sporadic and minor acts of theft, and similar events in Aiud, Orastie and Turnu Severin, a large scale attack was launched. On November 16, after all Jewish religious and cultural institutions had been violently occupied, Iron Guard members in Brasov dragged a large number of Jewish merchants out of their shops, and demanded that they sign contracts of [86] sale handing over Jewish businesses to "the Iron Guard Movement" or its members. All those who refused to sign were tortured until they did so.

This extremely swift campaign was almost a complete success. Within five days almost eighty per cent of Jewish businesses found their way into the hands of looters. The economic organisation of the Saxons, the "Deutche Handels Gremium zu Kronstadt" also made various attempts at looting, but were prevented by the vigilance of the Iron Guard.

In the wake of this easy victory, "the battle for Jewish businesses and property" - as it was referred to in official documentation - continued with increasing rage and violence, and spread to encompass the entire country. It started in Southern Transylvania, where the campaign had almost reached completion by the end of December (with the amazing exception of Timisoara),. and then continued in Oltenia, where it lasted until January 10, and later under the planning and supervision of the Economic Council headed by Garneata, encouraged and supported by the police force and administrative apparatus of Horia Sima, it spread throughout the country; by the time the Iron Guard revolt began, this campaign had already achieved almost all of its desired aims.

The intimidated, persecuted and partially impoverished Jewish population of the country, threatened primarily with the prospect of imminent and total annihilation had by this time no political organisation, either inside or outside the country, on whose support they could rely.

[87] After Nazi rule had spread from Brest to territories beyond the Vistula, and from Narvik to the Mediterranean Sea, at a time when the Wehrmacht had an increasingly firm foothold on Rumanian territory, the Minority Treaty offered no protection whatsoever.

Rumanian political parties showed understanding towards Jewish grievances only to the extent justified by election interests and political trends. ...

Traditional Jewish political organisations, i.e. the "Association of Rumanian Jews" and the "Jewish Party" had been disbanded in 1938, when the dictatorship of King Charles II began.

Due to either a miracle or the skilfulness of its leaders, the Zionist Organisation succeeded in retaining its legal status during Iron Guard rule, even until August 1942. Naturally, however, because of its function it could not act as an organisation defending Jews within the country. It was forced to remain passive.

Community organisations, religious communities and their unions remained the only institutions burdened with the difficult task of easing the suffering, whilst unable to avert it.

Realising the danger in advance, in May 1940 an attempt was made to create a strong central organisation capable of conducting political activity, and at the same time able to provide social aid. The Union of Jewish Religious [88] Communities operated for about one year on the initiative and energy of one individual, and was the only line of defence Jews had against the hatred mounted against them from all sides.

Naturally, during the Iron Guard reign of terror, when the executive and judicial authorities vanished completely, little could be expected from the activities of the Jewish leadership. It is true that they quickly established a relationship with the Leader of the State, and achieved certain concessions here and there, which - sporadically and fleetingly - alleviated Jewish suffering in certain places. However modest these concessions might have been, they were worth striving for incessantly. With a decreased staff and a poor budget challenging the indifference among Jews, which was just as dangerous as the hatred and rage on the opposing side, the Jewish leadership took up the fight against the Iron Guard system. This battle was unequal, on one side there was power, the club and the gun, on the other Jewish self-esteem and pride. Yet (at the expense of horrifying Jewish blood and property sacrifices), the latter triumphed during the first phase of Nazi persecution. The Iron Guard system drowned in blood and ashes, and the activity of the Jewish leadership was a contributory factor.

The hundreds of reports describing the grievances and suffering affecting Jews in every corner of the land, and outlining the terror and horror introduced everywhere by the murderous and destructive Iron Guard regime, were not intended to cause a change of heart in the Leader of the State, but sufficed to give this overzealous man a clear [89] picture of how the foundations of the state were crumbling and thus endangering his position. One such report - on December 9, 1940 - catalogued four hundred crimes in thirty-five locations, prompting General Antonescu to issue the following directive:

"It is the responsibility of the Ministry of the Interior, together with a member of the Iron Guard Forum, appointed by Mr. Sima, to immediately examine these cases. They should summarise their findings in a report, and deliver it to me without delay. Should the complaints prove justified, it is their sole responsibility to take immediate action to ensure that my promises to the citizens, and the Iron Guard's promises to me are not simply empty words. Should such cases occur in the future, I will not endlessly tolerate irregularities which turn the country upside-down. I am daily assured by the Minister of the Interior that everything is quiet, and nothing is happening. I am not defending the Jews, who are in great part to blame for the unfortunate events which have struck the country, however, as head of government, I cannot tolerate activities which compromise the consolidation I have introduced. For this I need calm and order. Some people's flippant activities are a daily hindrance to me. These people fail to understand how much damage they cause, both to the country and the Iron Guard movement. Lastly, I would like to ask for everybody's co-operation in exerting an influence on the Iron Guard - some through their positions of respect within the movement, and others through the weight of their position within the state apparatus (the Ministry of the Interior) - so that they will renounce methods which yield nothing and compromise everything.

[90] I would like General Petrovicescu to inform me in writing that he has taken note of this directive, and indicate the steps he has taken towards its immediate implementation."

This directive did not bring a change for the better. The opposite was true! One thread of the frayed rope linking the general to the Iron Guard Movement was torn. The Jewish leaders carried on with their campaign until the very last moment, thus contributing to the general's decision to scrap the institution of Officers of Rumanianization, and to expel some of the leaders behind the reign of terror from top positions in public offices: the Minister of the Interior, the General Director of Internal Security and the Chief of Police of Bucharest. This move was the signal for the so-called "uprising", which brought mourning, wailing and destruction to Jews, while closing a hellish chapter in Jewish suffering.

Belief and conjecture claiming that between September 6, 1940 and August 23, 1944 General Antonescu was concerned with the increasingly desperate plight of Rumanian Jews, that he wanted to take care of them, that he expressed feelings of good-will towards them, and that he worried about them, are false or even criminal.

Even more mistaken and criminal are the conclusions drawn from this premise culminating in the ridiculous assertion that through his actions the lives of some of Rumania's Jews were saved. Naturally, those passing judgement on the basis of the obviously false and artificial mentality which prevailed throughout Europe for five years, namely, that [91] whosoever saved the life of a Jew was a saint, are ready to find excuses, offer justification and propose absolution. Human intellect and conscience, free from fleeting influences, are aware of the eternal truth: he who tortures or kills an innocent or defenceless person is a villain. The always well-informed, General Antonescu began by tolerating aggressiveness, torture, robberies and murders committed against the Jewish population, which he could never accuse of anything other than that which was loudly and consistently proclaimed by national-socialist propaganda; and ended by initiating measures or issuing directives and orders which inevitably lead to the robbing and mass murder of this section of the population.

From among the 400,000 Jewish martyrs who perished on Rumanian soil during the time of the Hitlerian nightmare, more than 250,000 rest on the conscience of General Antonescu.

General Antonescu, while provoking the revolt, which at that dangerous moment saved the Jews from annihilation, was not motivated by altruistic or humane interests in regarding the most wretched victims of Iron Guard rule.

He instigated the revolt because he needed it.

The general had to prove his strength, as Hitler had to on June 30, 1934.

It seems the general had wished to put an end to his relationship with Iron Guard bands as early as the [92] beginning of December, immediately after the massacre in Jilava. There was no opportunity for this however, neither through the issuance of a decree on the dissolution of the Iron Guard police - because it would have been easy to bypass - nor at the outbreak of arguments provoked by him during negotiations with Iron Guard leaders, which first occurred at the meetings of the Council of Ministers, when he condemned, with hypocritical vehemence, crimes committed by the Iron Guard; he, who would give the order for similar actions less than a year later.

His decision was to become final on January 11, following the final meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Iron Guard government. The general's servile dependence, however, forced him to seek permission from his Fuhrer, or at least to strengthen his political position through yet another display of his trust. He rushed to Berchtesgaden and on January 14, complimented Hitler in the usual way, and - and with even greater haste - hurried back to the Rumania.

His confidants prepared a series of measures, out of which two held crucial importance:

1. The abolition of the Committees for Rumanianization; these committees were made up of Iron Guard robbers, who - for self-interest or purely for the sake of destruction - undermined the national economy.
2. The replacement of the main protagonists of Iron Guard terror: the Minister of the Interior, the General Director of the State Security Service and the Chief of Police of Bucharest.

[93] From then on everything followed naturally. It lasted for one entire day and night. The capital of the country was sizzling with preparation. Meetings, demonstrations, singing and speeches - in front of the crowd or hidden behind microphones - cheering, booing, shouting and the dashing of cars and motorbikes (couriers usually used motorbikes), and ... arrests, the arrest of Jews. Both rival camps were preparing for attack and defence. The third could do no more than wait helplessly for the disaster to happen.

The battle did not last long. From around midday of the first day until midday of the second the rebels were allowed to roam freely; overturn some trams; burn some fuel tanks; even attack a few official buildings, and commit atrocities against soldiers. However, when the general decided to quash the revolt, all he needed was a few hours: it took him from 2.00 p.m. that day until that night to put an end to everything.

Great force was not needed. A few small, well-armed troops deployed at the right places, accompanied by some small armoured cars, with strict orders to shoot at any suspicious person, took over the few Iron Guard pockets of resistance in quick succession, and following some gun battles succeeded in silencing them. The gunfire continued throughout the night sporadically up until 5.00 am, when Horia Sima, issued the surrender document from his hideout.

This was how the Iron Guard revolt ended in the northern quarter of the capital, in the environs of respected public buildings and the palaces of Rumanian nobility.

[94] There were casualties on both sides, broken windows, some damaged walls, one looted and burnt out public building, ruined public offices, some thousands of men, women and children with raised hands and bowed heads stumbling among soldiers in loathsome elongated marching columns. They signalled the end of the Iron Guard era, the beginning of which had been pathetically declared by Horia Sima not more than three weeks previously in his New Year's message.

The revolt took on an entirely different shape in the other half of the capital, where, as a consequence of chronic dilapidation, Jewish homes were crowded in on top of one another. Here, the bands did not have to battle against tanks, or soldiers' bullets, not even against the truncheons of policemen. All they had to fight here were the beaming eyes of pale faces, the pleas of parched lips, the tears of women and children, and occasionally a threshold or two which, for one brief moment, senselessly resisted the barbaric hatchets and pick-axes.

This was the part of the city most under threat, a fact well-known by those who did everything to instigate the revolt; in spite of this, no one took measures in time to save - if not the belongings - then at least the lives of the inhabitants. The result of this indifference or intent: almost 100,000 people were thrown into the paths of liberated beasts.

On the first indication of the revolt or even before, the Jewish quarters were flooded by bands of murderers and robbers. Starting from about midday on Tuesday, and continuing until the dawn of that Friday, long after the rebels [95] had surrendered, Jewish property and lives were at the mercy of Iron Guard pistols, pick-axes and boots. For almost 70 hours a swarm of several thousand men, women and children were unable to occupy themselves with anything other than assault, destruction, arson, robbery and murder.

All quarters and all targets were attacked at the same time. A walk of a couple of hundred metres through any of the Jewish quarters on January 21, would have ended in the sight of a burning temple, and the horrifyingly disgusting spectacle of dancers circling the flames to the music of "the sacred Iron Guard youth" or "the Death detachment". Farther on, one would have noticed some Jews with pistols aimed at them being pushed and punched towards Iron Guard headquarters or a terror centre; farther still there was a line of lorries: dozens of Jews were being taken to the abattoir, to Baneasa, Jilava, etc., where they were to be killed with terrible cruelty. Meanwhile, there was robbery and destruction all over Jewish streets, devoid of even minimal police protection. During these days suburbans poured into the Jewish quarter, secure in the knowledge that they could satisfy their desire for Jewish goods without the fear of legal penalties. Who could have resisted the temptation of becoming instantly wealthy, when there was no resistance, and no fear of ever having to pay for one's crimes?

There was no risk of mistaking those of a certain ethnic origin for the purposes of robbery or torture; signs on the homes of non-Jews clearly read "robbers have no business here". The sign that averted bands was "Christian property". Meanwhile, volunteer denunciators from the mass of [96] followers and those too shy to operate off their own bat pointed out Jewish shops or flats which could be safely attacked. During the pogrom, which lasted for three days, not one Christian household was inconvenienced: all of the victims were Jewish.

Psychologists state even more strongly than criminologists that criminals, independent of their inherited abnormality, at the moment of committing a crime completely lose their moral sense. Suppressed instincts inherited from their ancestors the gorillas or even more ancient monsters awake within them, and these alter not only the souls of these people but also their physical features. This is more likely to happen to an unrestrained band of criminals. Such a group

- when it meets with no resistance; when it allows itself to be carried away by rage, greed and destruction; when it becomes intoxicated with a thirst for blood - is transformed into a barbaric mob capable of perpetrating the most appalling acts. This is the only possible explanation of how such a mass of violent animals was able to come to the forefront of a nation whose chief characteristic is meekness, and how they managed to execute such an horrendous pogrom in Bucharest, the first in the series of horrifying acts committed by the fascist nations during World War II.

On January 24 military vehicles removed the heaps of stripped, mutilated and disfigured Jewish corpses from the outskirts of the city, while sorrowful groups of women and children examined the bodies at the collection depot to search for those who had gone missing, and those they [97] would never see again. Meanwhile, the ruins of Jewish temples and houses were still smoking, and Baron Manfred von Killinger arrived in the capital city as the Rumanian Ambassador of the Reich.

The first episode of Jewish suffering had drawn to a close, and Teutonic hatred had arrived to usher in the second.