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The Legionnaires' rebellion and the Bucharest pogrom occurred in Bucharest, Romania, between 21 and 23 January 1941.
As the privileges of the Iron Guard were being cut off by Conducător Ion Antonescu, members of the Iron Guard, also known as the Legionnaires, revolted. During the rebellion and pogrom, the Iron Guard killed 125 Jews and 30 soldiers died in the confrontation with the rebels. Following it, the Iron Guard movement was banned and 9,000 of its members were imprisoned.[1][2]
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Following World War I, Romania gained many new territories, turning it into "Greater Romania". However, the approval of Union with these territories came with the condition of granting rights to ethnic minorities. The new territories, especially Bessarabia and Bukovina, included large numbers of Jewish people, whose presence stood out, because their clothing, customs, and language were different from those common in Romania. Intellectuals, a wide array of political parties and the clergy led an anti-Semitic campaign; many of these eventually came to cast their political lot in alliance with Nazi Germany.[1][2]
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (August 1939) gave the Soviet Union a green light to take back Bessarabia in June 1940 (see June 1940 Soviet Ultimatum, and Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina), and in August 1940 Germany and Italy's mediation of Romania's disputes with Hungary about Transylvania (resulting in the Second Vienna Award), and with Bulgaria about Dobruja (resulting in the Treaty of Craiova), caused large areas of Romania to be transferred back to Hungarian and Bulgarian control.[1][2]
During the Romanian Army's withdrawal from Bessarabia, some of the local residents demonstrated their joy. Attacks on the soldiers by locals are also documented. Various reports speak of attacks on the retreating soldiers by Jews, though their veracity is disputed, and some have been proven to be fabrications. Additionally, although the reports defined all of them as "Jews", among the celebrators and attackers were Ukrainians, Russians, pro-Communists, newly-released criminals, and ethnic Romanians. These reports, regardless of veracity, did much to incite many Romanians against Jews, strengthening existing Anti-Semitic sentiment.[1][2]
The Romanian people were traumatized and frustrated by giving up these areas without a war, and the regime's position weakened significantly. The government scapegoated the Jews, with the press' support:
The anti-Semitic legislation that began with the "Jew Codex" in Romania, and the establishment of the National Legionary State government, which set in motion the laws of Romanianization, which deprived Jewish people of their property and distributed among supporters of the new regime, created an atmosphere in which anti-Semitism was seen as legitimate, and even invited. [1][2]
Politically, control was in the hands of the Conducător Ion Antonescu, and of an Anti-semitic fascist government, assembled by Horia Sima, who headed the Legionnaire movement, the Iron Guard (earlier the Legion of the Archangel Michael; throughout this article, only the name "Legionnaires" is used). There was a great deal of tension between the leaders due to the theft from the Jewish population. Antonescu believed the robbery was done in a fashion detrimental to the Romanian economy, and the stolen property did not benefit the government, only the Legionnaires and their associates. Besides the Jewish issue, the Legionnaires, achieving power after many years of persecution by the former regime of King Carol II (which even killed their former leader, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu), were vengeful toward anyone associated with the regime.[1][2]
The disagreement between Antonescu and the Iron Guard about the robbery of the Jews was not about the robbery itself, but about the method, and the final destination of the stolen property. Antonescu held that the robbery should be done by way of expropriation, gradually, through an orderly process of passing anti-Semitic laws.
The Legionnaires were keen on robbing as much as possible, as quickly as possible, utilising methods based not in law, but in terror, murder and torture. The Legionnaires had an additional quarrel, with the German minority in Romania. According to the laws of Romanianization, the Jews were forced to sell many of their businesses, a fact used by the Romanians to purchase those businesses for close to nothing. The German minority introduced a level of competition, by offering the Jews a better price than the one offered by the Legionnaires (on average, about a fifth of the real worth). The local Germans had capital received as a loan from Germany, Romanian money paid to the Germans for keeping military units in their territory (to protect them from the Soviets). Antonescu demanded that the Legionnaires cease their terror tactics, and the Legionnaires began plotting to usurp Antonescu and take over sole control of the country.[3]
Initially, the Legionnaires began "defaming" Antonescu, mentioning his family relation to Jews (his stepmother and his ex-wife, whom he had married when was on a diplomatic mission to France, were Jews). They also accused him of being linked to the Freemasons. According to Nazi propaganda, the Freemasons were enemies of humanity, second only to the Jews in wickedness.[1][2]
In the 20 days preceding the rebellion, the level of anti-Semitic propaganda was greatly increased, using all the tools at the Legionnaires' disposal. The propaganda emphasized the need for solving the "Jewish problem".[1][2]
Horia Sima and his comrades sought the sympathy of the Nazi regime in Germany, and built upon the ideological similarities between their movement and the Nazi movement, and had quite a few supporters within the Nazi establishment.[1][2]
General Antonescu, who had the support of Romania's military, met with Adolf Hitler on January 14, 1941, in Germany. During this meeting, Antonescu promised Hitler the cooperation of Romania in a future German conflict with the Soviet Union, and gained Hitler's silent agreement to eliminating Antonescu's opponents in the Legionnaire Movement.[1][2]
On January 17-January 19, the Legionnaire movement conducted a series of "lectures" throughout Romania, designed to demonstrate the National Socialist nature of their movement, and to show Hitler their loyalty.[1][2]
Antonescu took measures to curb the actions of the Legionnaires, and on 19 January issued an order canceling the position of Romanization Commissars: well-paying jobs, held by Legionnaires. Additionally, Antonescu fired the persons responsible for terror acts committed by Legionnaires, from Minister of the Interior Constantin Petrovicescu, to the commanders of the Security Police and the Bucharest Police. He appointed loyal military men in their place. The military also took control of strategic installations, such as telephone exchanges, police stations and hospitals. The district officers, Legionnaires, were called to the capital for an important economic consultation, and were arrested in the middle of the meeting.[1][2]
On January 20, 1941, a German officer (thought to be Major Döring, the chief of German espionage in the Balkans) was murdered in Bucharest by a Greek citizen. This affair remains unsolved to this day, but it was the spark that lit the Legionnaire Rebellion. As previously mentioned, Antonescu had replaced the commanders of the Security Police and the Bucharest Police, but their subordinates, who received their orders from Horia Sima, refused to allow the new commanders to take their place. Legionnaires armed with firearms captured the Ministry of the Interior, police stations and other government and municipal buildings, and opened fire on soldiers trying to regain these buildings.[4]
Antonescu's public addresses, intended to calm the public, were not published or broadcast, as the media was under Legionnaire control. The Legionnaires called the people to rise up against the Freemasons and the Jews (hinting at Antonescu's relations).[4]
The people who were possible targets for assassination by the Legionnaires were held, for their own protection, at the Ministry of the Interior. The Legionnaires' leaders, headed by Horia Sima, went underground. The Legionnaires held mass drafts at neighboring villages, and masses of peasants flooded the streets of Bucharest, answering the call to defend to country against the Jews and Freemasons. The Legionnaires took over gas stations and tankers, and used burning oil cans as a weapon against the soldiers. Only 15 loyal officers remained with Antonescu in his palace.[4]
For two days, the Romanian Military defended itself, and tried to besiege the Legionnaires' strongholds, but did not initiate attacks, and gave them a free hand. During this time, the Legionnaires published announcements claiming that the Jews had "revolted". During the days of the rebellion, the Legionnaires' newspapers (the only ones active during this time) engaged in vigorous propaganda against the Jews. At the end of the articles would appear the motto - "You know who to shoot".[4]
The Bucharest pogrom was not a side effect of the rebellion, but a parallel event, purposefully organized to give legitimacy to the rebellion, and to equate the Legionnaires' opponents with Jew sympathizers.[1][2]
Many parties took part in the riots against the Jews: police officers loyal to the Legionnaires, various Legionnaire organizations, the workers' union, student union, high-school students, Gypsies, and criminals. The attacks on the two Jewish boroughs (Dudeşti and Văcăreşti) began a few hours before the rebellion. Minister Vasile Iasinschi gave the order to set the Jewish neighborhoods on fire, and the masses stormed Jewish homes, synagogues, and other institutions. The Legionnaires' headquarters became torture centers, and Jews kidnapped from their homes were brought to them. Jews' homes were set on fire, and the Jews themselves were concentrated in places where they could be tortured to take their property, and women raped. Jews were murdered at random, but also at planned executions. Some Jews were thrown from the top floors of the police headquarters building, and others killed in the slaughterhouse.[1][2]
Military men did not take part in the pogrom, nor did police officers loyal to Antonescu. Those officers were forced to surrender their weapons and uniforms, and put under arrest.[1][2]
Besides the purpose of extorting the Jews for their hidden property, sadistic youth (including teenagers) took part in the torture, for their own pleasure. The torture continued for hours and even days and nights, the torturers taking turns. The Jews were robbed of any possessions on their person, and sometimes even their clothes. They were made to give property hidden elsewhere, private or communal, and were often shot afterwards, as happened to the community's treasurer. Jews were coerced into writing suicide notes before being killed.[1][2]
The torturers were headed by Mircea Petrovicescu, the son of the Minister of the Interior who was deposed by Antonescu. Petrovicescu tied Jews to targets and shot them, aiming not to hit them, but to draw a line around them. He also used Jewish women stripped naked and tied with their backs to the target. After he was done shooting, they bore into the women's breasts with a drill, or cut them. Only one woman survived this treatment, but she was executed with other Jews.[1][2]
Legionnaire women also took part in the pogrom; all survivors noted their involvement in the torture, and some of the worst acts of abuse were at their hands. According to the witnesses, legionnaire women stripped Jewish men and hit their genitalia.[2]
On January 23, a few hours before the rebellion was quelled, a group of Legionnaires selected 15 Jews, at random. They took them in trucks to the local slaughterhouse, where they were shot. Five of the Jews, including a five year old girl, were hung on the slaughterhouse's hooks, still alive. They were tortured, their bellies cut, and their entrails hung around their necks in a parody of shochita, Kosher slaughter of cattle. The bodies were labeled "Kosher". The slaughterhouse was closed for a week to purge and clean the house of the results.[2] When Antonescu appointed a military prosecutor to investigate the events at the slaughterhouse, he reported that
Of the slaughterhouse episode, the Romanian author Virgil Gheorghiu later wrote:
During the pogrom, 125 Bucharest Jews were murdered: 120 bodies were eventually counted, and five never found. Other Jews, not from the Bucharest community, who happened to be in Bucharest at the time, may have also been killed.[6]
During the riots, 1,274 businesses, shops, workshops and homes were badly damaged or destroyed. After the suppression of the rebellion, the army took the Legionnaires' loot in 200 trucks (not including money and jewellery).[1][2]
The Legionnaires ignited the Jewish synagogues and danced around the flames roaring with joy. To accomplish their mission, they used a fuel tanker, sprayed the walls of Kahal Grande (the great Sephardi Synagogue), and lit it. It was completely burnt.[1][2]
In the various synagogues, the Legionnaires robbed the worshipers, abused them, took all valuables, tore up the Holy Scriptures and ancient documents. They destroyed everything, even the lavatories.[1][2]
Some synagogues were partly saved. The large Heichal Hakorali synagogue was saved from burning completely, because the Legionnaires didn't bring enough fuel. In the large synagogue was a Christian servant named Lucreţia Canjia. She begged the rioters not to burn the synagogue, and reminded them of their Christian teachings. The synagogue was saved.[1][2]
During the days of the rebellion, Antonescu avoided direct confrontation with the Legionnaires, but brought military units, including 100 tanks, into Bucharest from other cities. As the chaos spread, worrying even Hitler, who was interested in Romania as an ally, the horrific picture of the Pogrom became clear. As stories spread, the military's fury against the Legionnaires grew (the Legionnaires had assaulted captured soldiers, stripped them of their uniforms, and even burned several of them). When Antonescu thought the moment was most appropriate, he gave the order to crush the rebellion. The military, led by General Ilie Şteflea, quelled the rebellion in a matter of hours with little difficulty. The Legionnaires could not defend against the military's cannons and tanks. As soldiers stormed their strongholds, the Legionnaires fled. During the skirmishes, 30 soldiers were killed and a hundred were injured. The number of legionnaires killed during the rebellion was approximately 200,[7] though in later years Horia Sima claimed there were 800 legionnaire casualties.[2]
After the rebellion was suppressed, Antonescu addressed the public on the radio, telling them "the truth", but never mentioning the pogrom. He asked the German garrison, which had sat idly by throughout the rebellion, to show their support. The German troops were sent marching through the streets of Bucharest, ending in front of the Prime Minister's building, where they cheered Antonescu.[8]
After the Legionnaires' fall, the trend reversed, and all the opportunists who joined them earlier then fled. The press stopped supporting the Legionnaires, but remained anti-Semitic and nationalistic. Some of the Legionnaires' leaders, including Horia Sima, fled to Germany. Around 9,000 members of the Legionnaires' movement were sentenced to prison.[1][2]
The Legionnaires who led the anti-Semitic trend in Romania had fallen and never regained power. However, the movement continued even without them, although it was set back for a while, as the atrocities of the Bucharest Pogrom gradually became known to the Romanian public. A few months later, those atrocities paled in severity compared to those of the Iaşi pogrom.[1][2]
One leader of the pogrom, Valerian Trifa, gave up US citizenship in 1982 and left the United States rather than be deported.[1][2]