Union of Councils for Soviet Jews: World War II Moldovan Dictator Rehabilitated, Honored by Nationalists

[an error occurred while processing this directive] World War II Moldovan Dictator Rehabilitated, Honored by Nationalists

Excerpts from the article "Pro-Antonescu Campaign in Moldova" by Anatoly Kogan of Nezavisimaya Moldova (Independent Moldova).
(January 6, 1998)

Trns. by Lena Cochran [11/19/97]

Translator's note: Ion Antonescu (1882-1946) was a Romanian marshal and dictator. King Carl II named him premier in 1940; Antonescu promptly forced the king's abdication in favor of Prince Michael. In World War II, Antonescu led the nation into the AXIS camp and gave Hitler virtual control of the country. He was executed at the end of the war.

During the war, hundreds of AXIS camps were created on Romanian territory (which included present-day Moldova), which were ruled by Antonescu. 300,000-350,000 Jews were killed in these camps. At one time, Antonescu ordered shot 200 Jews for every killed and 100 Jews for every wounded Romanian soldier.

According to the official Romanian date, 37,765 buildings (industrial and dwelling houses), that belonged to Jews were confiscated in Bessarabia, and 22,155 in Bukovina.

The whole page of the weekly newspaper of the National Christian-Democratic Front of Moldova Tsara(The Country) on October 24, 1994 was occupied with new materials from the series "The Romanian Army during the World War II: the Liberation of Bessarabia and the Southern part of Bukovina." An article about Ion Antonescu described him as a true hero of the War…

These publications are the only small part of the campaign of the National-Patriots of Moldova and their newspapers-Tsara, Golos natsii(The Voice of the Nation), and Literatura I iskusstvo (Literature and Art)-that rehabilitate Antonescu. Two years ago, the National Christian Party of Moldova announced a competition to design a monument to this "national hero and martyr" of Moldova. This monument was supposed to be placed in the center of Kishinev, the capital of Moldova. They even suggested naming a main street in this city after him.

Tsara always supported these ideas and described Antonescu as an intelligent and humane officer, prominent patriot and statesman. As it turned out, according to this new view of Antonescu, this general (he later became marshal) was against the destruction of the Jews and even told Hitler about his stance on them. His faithfulness to Hitler was hidden. Schoolteacher Ion Pilipchanu knew Antonescu from a long time ago and described him in the newspaper Svatul Tserij: "He was a modest man; his speech was measured and affectionate; a special culture and intelligence were in his nature."

But here is the order, in fact, that this man with the "affectionate speech" gave to his army on July 8, 1941: "I ask you to be merciless. Sugary and incorporeal humanism is inappropriate in this situation…I think that the Jews should be forced to leave Bessarabia and Bukovina. And Ukrainian people must leave the country also...I am not disturbed if the world should consider us barbarians. You can use machine-guns if it is necessary. And I tell you that the law does not exist...So, let us give up all the formalities and use this complete freedom. I assume all the responsibility and claim that the law does not exist."

Here is another order he gave to the occupation authorities. It was also about Jews: "Drive them into the catacombs, drown them in the Black Sea. Let hundreds, thousands, even all of them die…"

The huge network of ghetto and concentration camps was created on the territories of Bessarabia and Transnist (it is the part of Ukraine that was given to Rumania by the Third Reich) during that time. People were starved, shot, burned alive and drowned in lakes and rivers. About 350,000-400,000 Jews were killed during the years of occupation in this region. Most of them were women, children and old people…

The owner of "special intellect" taught his soldiers to be cruel. And he was valued by the fascists for it. Once the Fuhrer said: "In the sphere of the Jewish problem, such people like Ion Antonescu are acting much more resolutely than we did until now…"

Antonescu placed all the resources of Romania, first and foremost the lives of its soldiers, at the service of Hitler's Reich. The Romanian Army lost 800,000 people during the inglorious "Western Campaign." However, the National Patriots, who support the idea of reuniting of the two Romanian states (Moldova and Romania) continue to admire him…( Published November 26, 1994)