Legionnaires' rebellion and Bucharest pogrom

Following World War I Romania gained many new territories, thus becoming "Greater Romania". However, the international recognition of the formal union with these territories came with the condition of granting civil rights to ethnic minorities in those regions. The new territories, especially Bessarabia and Bukovina, included large numbers of Jews, whose presence stood out because of their distinctive clothing, customs, and language. Intellectuals together with a wide array of political parties and the clergy led an antisemitic campaign; many of these eventually came to cast their political lot with Nazi Germany. The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (August 1939) allowed the Soviet Union to take Bessarabia and northern Bukovina in June 1940, leading to the June 1940 Soviet Ultimatum and Soviet occupation of those regions. In August 1940 Germany and Italy mediated Romanian disputes with Hungary about Transylvania (resulting in the Second Vienna Award) and with Bulgaria regarding Dobruja (resulting in the Treaty of Craiova). Large areas of Romania were ceded to Hungary and Bulgaria. During the Romanian army's withdrawal from Bessarabia, some local residents celebrated. Attacks on soldiers by locals are also documented. Various reports speak of attacks on the retreating soldiers by Jews—though the veracity of those reports is disputed—and some have been proven to be fabrications. Additionally, although the reports defined all of the celebrators and attackers as "Jews", some 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 antisemitic sentiment. The Romanians 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 support of the press: The antisemitic legislation that began with the "Jewish Codex" in Romania, and the establishment of the National Legionary State government, set in motion the laws of Romanianization, which deprived Jewish people of their property and distributed it among supporters of the new regime. This created an atmosphere in which antisemitism was seen as legitimate, and even sanctioned. Politically, control was in the hands of the Conducător Ion Antonescu, heading the antisemitic fascist coalition government, together with Horia Sima. The latter commanded the paramilitary Legionnaire militia known as the Iron Guard (originally called "The Legion of the Archangel Michael", hence the name "Legionnaires"). There was a great deal of tension between the two leaders due to Iron Guard seizures of Jewish property. Antonescu thought 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 killed their first leader and founder Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, "the Captain"), were vengeful toward anyone associated with the regime. ==Preparations for the rebellion==

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 antisemitic laws. The Legionnaires, on the other hand, wanted to rob as much as possible, as quickly as possible, utilizing 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, Jews were forced to sell many of their businesses, a fact used by many 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 one-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. Initially, the Legionnaires began "defaming" Antonescu, mentioning his family relation to Jews (his stepmother and his wife's previous husband were Jews). They also accused him of being linked to Freemasonry. According to Nazi propaganda, the Freemasons were enemies of humanity, second only to Jews in wickedness. The Legion also possessed a small, mostly symbolic armored force of four vehicles: two police armored cars and two Renault UE Chenillettes from the Malaxa factory. The Malaxa factory had been license-producing these French armored vehicles since mid-1939, and aside from the two such machines, the factory also supplied the Legion with machine guns and rifles. For transport, the Legion possessed almost 200 trucks in Bucharest alone. The legionnaires were further equipped and organized by the Schutzstaffel under the command of SS-Untersturmführer Otto von Bolschwing. ==The rebellion==

On 20 January 1941, a German officer (Major Helmuth Döring, chief of the transport department of the German Military Mission) was killed in Bucharest by a Greek citizen in the employ of Allied intelligence. This murder remains unsolved, but it was the spark that lit the Legionnaire Rebellion. 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. Armed Legionnaires captured the ministry of the interior, police stations and other government and municipal buildings, and opened fire on soldiers trying to regain these buildings. parked next to a burnt-out tanker truck in the aftermath of the rebellion 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). 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 the country against the Jews and Freemasons. The Legionnaires took over gas stations and tankers, and used burning oil cans as weapons against the soldiers. Only 15 loyal officers remained with Antonescu in his palace. 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 vicious propaganda against the Jews. At the end of the articles would appear the motto "You know whom to shoot". ==The Bucharest pogrom==

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 Jewish sympathizers. When Antonescu appointed a military prosecutor to investigate the events at the slaughterhouse, he reported that he recognized three of his acquaintances among the "professionally tortured" bodies (lawyer Millo Beiler and the Rauch brothers). He noted that "[t]he bodies of the dead were hanged on the hooks used by slaughterers." Gunther wrote he was especially shocked that one of the Jewish victims hanging on the meat hooks was a 5-year-old girl, writing that the cruelty displayed was unbelievable. 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. 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 main Sephardic synagogue) and lit it up. It burnt down completely. In the various synagogues the Legionnaires robbed the worshipers, abused them, took all their valuables and tore up the holy scriptures and ancient documents. They destroyed everything, even the lavatories. 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 jewelry). Some synagogues were partly saved. The large Choral Temple, the city's main Orthodox synagogue was saved from burning completely, because the Legionnaires did not bring enough fuel. In the large synagogue was a Christian, Lucreţia Canjia. She begged the rioters not to burn the synagogue, reminding them of their Christian teachings. The synagogue was saved. ==The rebellion in other places==

In Turda, Buhuși and Ploiești, hundreds of legionnaires marched down the streets while singing Legionary songs, but they eventually dispersed quietly. Two gangs of unarmed legionnaires in Vrata patrolled the main street of the village, interrogating anyone who tried to enter it. In Piatra Neamț, 600 Legionnaires gathered to support Sima, but they were peacefully dispersed by the intervention of local police. Nevertheless, a small group of legionnaires later vandalized Jewish homes in the town. In Buzău, legionnaires gathered at the police station, but they were surrounded by soldiers and trapped inside. In Târgu Frumos, the mayor deployed groups of teenage legionnaires by train to Iași on 20 January. He soon resigned, however, when situation deteriorated on the evening of 21 January. By far the most active spot of the legionnaire rebellion outside Bucharest was Brașov. Better organized than in other places outside the capital, the legionnaires occupied the gendarmerie, the council chambers, municipal offices, the treasury, the post office and telephone exchange, the radio station, as well as other gendarmerie posts in nearby villages. Five armed legionnaires seized a bus and held its passengers hostage for several hours. ==The quelling of the rebellion==

, arrested by the Army after the pogrom and anti-government rebellion 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 on 22 January. The military, led by Gen. Ilie Șteflea, quelled the rebellion with little difficulty within a day. The Legionnaires could not defend themselves against the military's superior firepower. As soldiers stormed their strongholds, the Legionnaires fled. During the skirmishes, 30 soldiers were killed and 100 were wounded. The number of Legionnaires killed during the rebellion was approximately 200, although Horia Sima would later claim there had been 800 Legionnaire casualties. 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. German troops were sent marching through the streets of Bucharest, ending in front of the Prime Minister's building, where they cheered Antonescu. After the Legionnaires' fall the trend reversed, and those who had joined them fled. The press stopped supporting the Legionnaires, but remained antisemitic and nationalistic. Some of the Legionnaires' leaders, including Horia Sima, fled to Germany with help from the SS. Around 9,000 members of the Legionnaires' movement were sentenced to prison. The Legionnaires who led the antisemitic movement 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 Iași pogrom, initiated at the orders of Antonescu. One leader of the pogrom, Valerian Trifa, became a cleric and emigrated to the US, where he became a citizen and rose to the position of Archbishop of the Romanian Orthodox Church in America and Canada, but he was stripped of his citizenship in 1982 and left the US rather than be deported. ==References==