Early life Born in
Bucharest on the first day of 1883 (
New Style: January 13), Aristide was the son of
Mauriciu Blank. Through his paternal lineage, he belonged to the
Sephardi minority within the
local Jewish community, and was distantly related to linguist
Moses Gaster. His clan, originally known as Derrera el Blanco, had first settled in
Wallachia during the 18th century, but their
Judaism prevented them from obtaining naturalization. Martinho de Brederode, Portuguese ambassador to Romania in 1920, described Aristide as the first Jew to have ever made his way into Romania's high society. By then, the family's ethnic background was still largely unknown to the Romanian public, with the Jewish publication
Mântuirea noting in 1920 that Aristide was of "obscure origin". As reported in 1924 by ''L'Univers Israélite
, he was fully assimilated, "Jewish only in origin"; the same year, Opinia'' newspaper assessed that Blank was "a
Semite seen by other Jews as a renegade [...] assimilated to the point of exhibiting all Romanian vices, [and] the parent of Romanian Christian children". In the early 1910s, the junior banker reportedly endorsed
Radu D. Rosetti's movement in support of
cremation. Around 1880, Mauriciu was entering the financial elite of the newly established
Principality of Romania, having served as head of the
Marmorosch Blank Bank (BMB) since 1874. At the time of Aristide's birth, it was the most powerful private bank in the fledgling
Romanian Kingdom. Blank's political friend and enemy,
Constantin Argetoianu, claims that Mauriciu had a
marriage of convenience to Aristide's mother Betina Goldenberg, who was "ugly as well as vulgar, avaricious as well as venomous". She was contrarily described by her Rabbi,
Jacob Itzhak Niemirower, as "pious" in her Judaism, "a symbol of the Hebrew concept of life [as] both festive and holy." One of Aristide's sisters was married off to another financier, Adalbert Csillag, who would experience complete bankruptcy. The family finally received Romanian citizenship in 1883, shortly after Aristide's birth. According to a hostile note by French journalist Jean Mourat, Blank Jr was "raised in luxury, so as to keep up with good traditions." Aristide received an elite education, and was possessed of an artistic sensibility; however, Argetoianu portrays him as "highly intelligent [but] lacking a serious culture", his main attributes being ambition, jealousy, and eventually paranoia. He became a published poet in his teenage years. In 1899
Foaia Populară put out his debut poem,
Bătrâna; this was followed in April 1900 by
Despărțire, a
pastiche from
Eduard von Feuchtersleben that he signed as "Aristide Blanc", also in
Foaia Populară in April 1900. Blank took a graduation diploma from the
University of Bucharest Faculty of Law and Philosophy. He experimented in other fields as well: in March 1905, he played violin for attendees of a BMB banquet; he was also interested in automobiles, and in early 1908 was issued
license plate "118", as one of Romania's first registered car-owners. He had spent most of 1905 undergoing specialization at banks in the
City of London, and had been appointed branch subdirector at the BMB. In late 1906, he had also toured the
Aromanian communities in
Salonica vilayet, donating 1,500
lei for the upkeep of their schools. In October 1908, he announced his engagement to Marietta Culoglu, daughter of politician
Emanoil Culoglu, the "distinguished nationalist", and herself noted as an activist for
women's suffrage. As argued by Culoglu's critics, their relationship was engineered by
Alexandru C. Constantinescu of the
National Liberal Party (PNL), who thus obtained Blank as an asset for his clique. Aristide and Marietta were wed in January 1909, during a civil ceremony attended by
Vintilă Brătianu,
Emil Costinescu, and
Vasile Morțun. In June of that year, he became a Knight of the
Order of the Crown of Romania. After giving up his law practice, Blank Jr closely followed his father's career in finance. By 1910, he was providing free lessons in
political economy for the benefit of BMB employees, and also serving on the board of directors for various BMB branches, including Moldova Bank of
Iași and the Aromanian Bank of Commerce. He was inducted into the Order of Commercial and Industrial Merit in 1912, In June 1913, Blank was blackmailed by
Seara newspaperman
Alexandru Bogdan-Pitești, who had inaugurated a smear campaign against the BMB. According to notes left by
Searas
Mateiu Caragiale, Blank "trapped" Bogdan-Pitești with direct support from the
Romanian Police. This refers to a
sting operation at Flora Restaurant, where Blank heard Bogdan-Pitești and his associate Adolf Davidescu state their demands while policemen were standing by. Obtaining legal assistance from
Take Ionescu, Blank took Bogdan-Pitești to court and won, resulting in his rival's imprisonment. A month after, Romania entered the
Second Balkan War, with Blank enlisted as a
Land Forces officer in
Southern Dobruja.
World War I Upon the expedition's end, Blank Jr helped to establish and finance two BMB naval transport enterprises—respectively operating on the
Black Sea and the
Danube. In the winter of 1914–1915, he was sent to the
United Kingdom by
Ion I. C. Brătianu's PNL government, in order to secure a loan for the state, establishing neutral Romania's closer ties to the
Triple Entente. He and George Danielopolu also formed a two-man delegation to the United States, reaching
New York City in early December 1914. This mission caused much controversy at home:
Foreign Minister Emanoil Porumbaru refused to sign his name to the deal, believing that it compromised Romania's policy of non-alignment; Porumbaru was consequently forced to resign. During June 1915, he was involved in the
grain trade out of
Brăila, and criticizing the administration for imposing caps on the exports of foodstuffs. In September, he served as executive of an
anonymous partnership for the manufacture and sale of ammunition. This had been established by his father with participation from Culoglu,
Alexandru Kirițescu, and
Mihail Săulescu. As reported by Argetoianu, Blank Jr still had connections in the
German Empire, which he used to plant his protege Felix Wieder in a German consortium—a position which Wieder then used to defraud that firm. The
Treaty of Bucharest brought Romania into the war as an Entente ally, then its
invasion by Germany. Again drafted as a Lieutenant, Blank enlisted in the
Romanian Air Corps. One report by
Alexandru Lapedatu suggests that Blank transited through
Moscow, in the
Russian Republic, where he personally witnessed the
November Revolution. He was evicted "by some Englishmen" during the
Red Guards' attack on
Hotel Metropol. During the exodus of 1917, Blank arrived on a special mission to
Vladivostok; from this outpost, he sponsored Ioan Timuș's extended trip to
Japan, asking him to act as an informant on Japanese cultural norms, and "therefore of use to our country". Blank himself lived for a while in the
Shanghai International Settlement. As recalled by fellow expatriate businessman Gheorghe Pallade, he was engaged in currency speculation, and paraded through the
French Concession in an automobile decked in
Romanian tricolors. According to this report, Blank, who still wore his officer's uniform, was "terribly enraged" when a
Chinese Jew sent him a gift of
matzah, seemingly because it exposed his ethnic heritage. By his own account, Blank was in
Republican China when Romania
sued for peace with Germany in early 1918. In October 1918, he sailed across the
Indian Ocean, the
Red Sea, and into Europe, ultimately reaching
France; he had intended to join the
French Army, but his services were no longer required after the
Armistice of November. He remained in French territory after that date, working primarily as a propagandist and financier for Romanian nationalist causes. Historian identifies Blank and
Paul Brătășanu as the two main backers of
La Roumanie newspaper, which campaigned for the creation of a
Greater Romania. Before the end of 1918, Blank was allegedly in
Nice, alongside
Octavian Goga, the
Transylvanian poet-activist. Goga returned in 1919 to his native region, which had been
newly united with Romania, with a check for 100,000
kronen, donated for the establishment of Romanian-language libraries. By early 1920, Blank was also networking with pro-Allied nationalists from both the
Old Kingdom and Transylvania, including Take Ionescu and
Alexandru Vaida-Voevod. Vaida's private correspondence notes that Ionescu, Blank and Constantinescu were colluding to bring the former in as Prime Minister, which required them to manipulate the market against the national interest—a "solidarity of bandits". Lapedatu also claims that Blank, rather than acting as a philanthropist, recovered all the money he had lent to Romanian politicians in 1918–1920. Before the Armistice, Blank had visited the
Société des Avions Bernard, which were creating
a bomber plane capable of reaching
Berlin. In the aftermath, he calculated that the same investment could be used to create
airline services between Paris and Bucharest. According to diplomat
Nicolae Petrescu-Comnen, Blank was one of the "men of culture" and "patriots" who personally assisted him in countering the propaganda put out by the
Hungarian Republic, which vied with Romania for control of Transylvania. In 1919, when he was decommissioned as a Captain in the Second Cavalry Regiment, The following year, he sponsored French editions from Iorga's own works:
Histoire des Roumains et de leur civilisation and
Anthologie de la littérature roumaine. Lapedatu recounts that, in doing so, Blank saved the former book from being shelved by
Hachette.
Social rise flights At some point before 1919, Blank consolidated his art collection by purchasing most of
Nicolae Grigorescu's paintings in the
Alexandru Vlahuță collection. He took painter
Jean Alexandru Steriadi as his adviser, and finnced his wife
Nora's ceramist workshop. Around 1920, he sparked controversy with his wholesale purchase of canvasses by
Adam Bățatu and
Sabin Popp, "without even looking over the paintings." By then, his profile in culture and politics was intertwined with his personal life. Around 1919, he was briefly married to Ecaterina Caragiale, daughter of the playwright
Ion Luca Caragiale and Mateiu's half-sister. After a long courtship, he wed pianist
Cella Delavrancea, orphaned daughter of writer
Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea, at some point before April 1920. Cella called her husband
Aladin, and noted that she fulfilled all her financial demands; with her new-found wealth, she funded her own literary club, called Maison d'Art. Their marriage ended in divorce. By then, Blank had fathered a son, Patrice-Aristide, reportedly born "Aristide Blank Satinover" or "Tuchner Satinover" to a French mother. Following the establishment of Greater Romania, Aristide and Mauriciu sold BMB to a rival firm, but continued to hold controlling shares between them. Fleurieu had worked as a minor clerk at the bank, until Blank became aware of his fighter-pilot record and his belief in the future of civil aviation. Theirs was the first airline to offer a direct Paris–Bucharest flight, with an extension to
Istanbul; According to Argetoianu, Blank also involved himself in setting up the , because doing so would bring him closer to Carol, himself an aviation enthusiast. Blank had remained involved in debates related to postwar recovery of Romania, and of Europe at large. Before 1922, he authored an essay on
Soviet Russia's
New Economic Policy, which was hosted by
John Maynard Keynes in the
Manchester Guardian. It was read by
Karl Polanyi, the Hungarian exile economist, who argued that, though an "excellent professional", Blank had greatly exaggerated the hurdles faced by Russia. Polanyi also criticized some of Blank's proposals (including the division of Russian territory as trade zones, and the creation of "huge warehouses" of foreign goods) as more like the science fiction of
Jules Verne than scholarly proposal. In 1921, Blank had founded the BMB's General Building Society, which managed construction firms in Bucharest and
Câmpina. Though a card-carrying member of the PNL, Blank was infuriated when his bank could not obtain a
tax rebate of 35 million lei. In late 1920, Brederode noted that the BMB and
Paribas both sponsored an effort to orient Romania toward
free trade—a policy which was embraced by the
Peasants' Party, the
People's Party, and Ionescu's
Conservative Democrats. When Averescu returned as Prime Minister of a People's Party cabinet in 1920, Blank helped it negotiate a four-year loan of 15 million
French francs with Belgian bankers such as Lucien Kaisin. As reported by politician
Alexandru Marghiloman, in early 1920 Blank Sr was already funding the Peasantists, whose leading member was a BMB employee. His son took up the same cause and, in 1921, was providing funds for
Nicolae L. Lupu's Peasantist daily,
Aurora. By contrast, PNL doctrinaire
Vintilă Brătianu viewed Blank as one who opposed attempts of rebuilding Romania's economy into a "national framework". The PNL's central organ,
Viitorul, reported that, as the Conservative-Democratic Minister of Agriculture,
Constantin Garoflid had leased 100,000
hectares of Romanian arable land to an investment firm,
Progresul Agricol. According to this source, the latter was registered in Romania with Blank as its representative, but was merely the facade of a "foreign consortium". A lasting feud ensued between Blank and the National Liberals: by 1923, Blank has set himself the task of ensuring that the party never returned to power. The BMB was staffed exclusively with adversaries or dissidents of the PNL—including Goga, Vaida-Voevod, Constantinescu, and
Nicolae Tabacovici. which was for a while managed by sociologist
Mihai Ralea. Having secured a contract for the transfer of scholarships for Romanian students in France, As seen by historian Petre Țurlea, Iorga's relationship with Blank was "highly profitable for [Romanian] culture". According to historian Lucian T. Butaru, Iorga appreciated Blank's cultural endeavor, and this may have helped tone down his otherwise entrenched antisemitism. Blank also provided funds for Iorga's son Mircea to study abroad, which, Argetoianu claims, effectively meant that the Iorga family was in his debt; Iorga responded to such accusations, noting that his son was under no obligation to work for Blank.
Adevărul and literary circle In addition to being a gifted orator, He himself debuted as a pseudonymous dramatist in Paris and Bucharest. According to Argetoianu, his work in the field was merely "idiotic", though Blank was admitted to the Romanian Dramatists' Society in 1930. In 1932, the celebrated critic
George Călinescu published some positive remarks regarding Blank's work in the field—though, as noted by writer
Florin Faifer, these were entirely conjectural. Faifer himself argues that Blank's contribution to
literary modernism was affected by "snobbery", though not worthless. Arghezi would later complain that the banker had tried to humiliate him by forcing publishers not to engage with him. Blank had also agreed to sponsor Arghezi associate
Gala Galaction, who asked for a grant of 160,000 lei in order to translate the Bible into Romanian. However, Galaction failed to keep up with the writing schedule. In 1921, Blank partly withdrew his support, and only advanced Galaction 36,000 lei for his version of the
New Testament. Blank had by then decided to begin direct investments in the publishing industry. By 1929, the BMB had acquired, and Blank himself was managing, four out of all six paper mills operating in Romania—respectively located at
Câmpulung Moldovenesc,
Petrești-Sebeș,
Piatra Neamț, and
Scăeni. During the preceding decade, he had founded or financed a series of cultural institutions of his own. These included
Cultura Națională publishing house, which was established and named on Iorga's advice He "put out books that are not just neatly printed, but artistic; encouraging the authors and helping the readers, for these books are sold cheaper than the cost of production." During those months, Blank was building up his a press empire of his own. He sponsored
Grigore Filipescu, a BMB associate, helping him relaunch the conservative daily
Epoca. He maintained some say in
Epocas editorial policy, preventing
Liviu Rebreanu from publishing an article that was critical of Blank himself. Blank purchased the left-wing dailies
Adevărul and
Dimineața, which became BMB and Cultura Națională assets. Reportedly, this investment cost him 7 million lei. The circumstances for Blank's takeover, whereby journalist
Constantin Mille renounced his most valuable enterprise, were debated by the staff, and remain mysterious. Shortly thereafter, Mille used the money to launch another newspaper,
Lupta, which competed with Blank's consortium and opened its offices just opposite. Blank immediately reassured its readers that the newspaper would remain a strong voice on the traditional left. According to memoirist and lawyer
Petre Pandrea, he intended to take over as Minister of Finance, and for this reason surrounded himself with intellectuals such as Pârvan and
Nae Ionescu. At Cultura Națională, he oversaw luxury editions from works by both Caragiales, possibly intended as homages to his former wife. Blank also took personal charge of the Economics Collection, which he then assigned to a specialist—
Mihail Manoilescu, who used it to publish his own tract,
Politica producției naționale ("The Policy of National Production"). Until 1923, Cultura Națională's printing offices put out the literary magazine
Gândirea, managed by
Cezar Petrescu and
Nichifor Crainic. As reported by Crainic, this partnership broke down when Pârvan attempted to prevent them from hosting criticism of Blank. Also in 1923, Nae Ionescu purchased his Bucharest villa using an affordable credit obtained from the financier; a year later, Blank sponsored
Constantin Daicoviciu's research at
Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa. A rapprochement between Nae Ionescu and Blank began in 1922, when the former publicly praised the latter for endorsing
dirigisme, to an even higher degree than the National Liberals. Ionescu was employed by Cultura Națională, but left after a public row with its patron. The issue of contention was Ionescu's fraudulent management of the Central Book Office, a literary agency and subsidiary of Cultura Națională, which allegedly brought Blank losses of 800,000 lei. As narrated by journalist
Pamfil Șeicaru, Blank caught on only after attending Ionescu's lavish house-warming party, and later discovered that Ionescu had forged Pârvan and Gusti's signatures on the company's
balance sheets. Blank shielded Ionescu from prosecution, but forced him to write a letter of confession. Photocopies of this were kept by all those whom Ionescu had defrauded, while Blank had the original, which he reportedly showed to Argetoianu after Ionescu made attempts to return as a politician.
Far-right attacks and Regency intrigues Blank's involvement with youth and left-wing causes during the process of
Jewish emancipation saw him engaged in a prolonged conflict with the antisemitic far-right, and in particular with
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, who would emerge as a regional leader of the
National Christian Defense League (LANC). Codreanu first identified Blank as an enemy during the Student Congress of 1920, when he attempted to pass motions for religious discrimination; this was opposed by other youth leaders, whom Codreanu then accused of being Blank's agents. According to Carandino, around 1922 antisemitic students also heckled one of Blank's lectures on monetary policy, which was attended by Argetoianu, Vintilă Brătianu,
Virgil Madgearu, and
Grigore Iunian. Seemingly imperturbable, Blank carried own with his speech and his blackboard demonstration. Upon finishing, he left the hall though rows of "hooligans", "his back straight, his right arm on his shoulder"; his pose impressed the hecklers, and reduced the uproar. In late 1923, police agents captured Codreanu,
Ion Moța, and other LANC activists, accusing them of plotting to assassinate members of the Romanian political and financial elite, including the Blanks. Though cleared of the crime, Codreanu later acknowledged that he and Moța wished to rid Romania of those who had "corrupted all of Romania's parties and politicians", identifying Aristide as a leading sponsor of the
National Peasants' Party (PNȚ). The latter rumor was replicated in other sources, with one unsigned denouncer claiming that the PNȚ's debt to the BMB ran higher than 30 million lei in 1930. having allegedly been "pulled by the hair [...] and trampled upon." As part of their conflict with Iorga,
Lăncieri youths openly confronted him, asking him why had "sold himself to banker Blank"; details about such contacts were popularized by LANC leader
A. C. Cuza and by Madgearu, who had since joined the PNȚ. The
Iron Guard, founded by Codreanu after his split with the LANC, put up Blank and Constantinescu's names on an enemies' list which also included
Constantin Banu,
Wilhelm Filderman, and
Gheorghe Gh. Mârzescu. As reported by Argetoianu, Blank held the top position on that list, and was effectively marked for death. The Guard, along with other far-right groups, also singled out
Adevărul and
Dimineața as propaganda for anti-Romanian concepts. In March 1925, Blank married Vota Vesnić, orphaned daughter of
Yugoslav Premier Milenko Radomar Vesnić. Their Paris wedding was attended by numerous figures in politics and social life, including the then-Yugoslav Premier
Nikola Pašić, Maharajah
Jagatjit Singh, diplomat
Nicolae Titulescu, banker
Robert de Rothschild, and writers such as
Marcel Prévost and
Elena Văcărescu. A LANC newspaper covered the event, noting: "Blank must be reminded that this international and Jewified society does not impose itself on the Romanian public, who still feels the same way about him as those students who pummeled him out [...] in late March 1924." In honor of his new wife, Blank sometimes used the pseudonym
Votaris, which combined their given names. In June 1926, she gave birth to the financier's son, Milenko Blank. Also in March 1925, Iorga was enraged by Blank, who had presented a complete list of BMB sponsorships for Iorga's ventures; the two men parted ways. Claudiu Secașiu also notes that Blank and Carol enjoyed a "great rapport" in 1927, when Blank "supported him financially." Following the death of
King Ferdinand I that same year, Carol was sidestepped in the succession list, and the throne went to his minor son
Michael. A Council of Regents oversaw matters relating to the court; one of its members was
Gheorghe Buzdugan, who, in 1929, declared having "particular high esteem for Aristide Blank, the banker who is a remarkable personality, a man with a big heart and a philanthropist." Mauriciu, who had withdrawn from active participation at the BMB, Betina carried on with her philanthropic activities to her own death, in March 1930. According to Argetoianu, he went on to severely weaken the company with a project to destroy the National Liberals' influence in high finance, as well as with unwise investments—such as opening a BMB subsidiary on
Place Vendôme. From 1923, the group had three additional international offices—in Istanbul, Vienna, and
New York City. The company had troubles in the western Romanian city of
Timișoara, where it had acquired control of
Zsigmond Szana's local bank. In early 1928, he stepped in to obtain records of Szana's unsuccessful ventures in currency speculation, and demanded that he stop "lead[ing] him by the nose". Another issue hindering the bank's activities was the growing rivalry between Blank and his associate Richard de Söpkéz, with both engaged in drawing up capital on their respective side. According to Argetoianu, they each took at least 13.5 million lei in yearly stipends, while also collecting dividends from companies credited by the BMB, and through which Blank defrauded associates such as
Ion G. Duca and
George II of Greece. A later investigation suggested that Blank had used large sums of money for
graft, and that his staff was engaged in
accounting fraud. By 1930, the BMB had
defaulted after registering 1.6 million lei in deficit. The enterprise went bankrupt in October 1931, immediately after being exposed to the consequences of the
Great Depression—though, Argetoianu notes, the world crisis only served to obscure the effects of Blank's own managerial "insanity". This crash sparked a national scandal, after allegations that some investors had
market moving information, allowing them to withdraw deposits in advance. Blank himself argued that withdrawals were made possible by rumors of a looming war between Romania and the
Soviet Union, but his explanation failed to convince the general public. Shortly before the BMB's crash, Carol returned home abruptly, deposing his son and taking over as King. As a result, Blank made his way into the
camarilla, a secretive para-legal circle which decided on political and financial matters. Also frequenting this circle, Argetoianu noted that Blank was a second-wave inductee into the
camarilla, arriving in at the same time as Tabacovici and "the pimp"
Alexandru Mavrodi; but also that, during the first year of Carol's reign, he became his most influential adviser, to the point of "ruling over Romania". The same memoirist further contends that Blank and Carol shared a psychological pathology, namely "hyperacute sexual excitement" and "
erotomania", which prevented them for going through with any project. Blank continued his work as a literato, with the 1929 historical drama
Satele lui Potemkin ("
Potemkin's Villages"), which Faifer sees as echoing the theater of
Luigi Pirandello. Blank was billed as "Andrei Dănescu". Argetoianu describes such contributions as "childish inventions" and "theoretical jugglery", noting that "not even Tabacovici would read them"—but also that Carol was highly impressed, for being "entirely ignorant on financial and economic matters." The monarch also recognized Blank's achievements in the transportation, welcoming him into
Meritul Aeronautic order of chivalry. As Argetoianu claims, the king eventually grew aware that Blank was not fully competent, but continued to seek his advice. Argetoianu argues that this was because Blank had since earned the confidence of Carol's lover
Magda Lupescu, buying her a villa and making it so that she would befriend Tabacovici and Wieder. Reportedly, the only
camarilla businessman who could still mitigate his influence at the court was
Nicolae Malaxa. Like Malaxa and
Max Auschnitt, Blank belonged to Meșterul Manole Lodge, a branch of
Romanian Freemasonry which was intimately involved in sponsoring cultural projects by fellow Masons. In 1930, however, Blank gave up on his main investment in the cultural field, allowing Cultura Națională to be acquired by the State Printers and
Monitorul Oficial. An anonymous report of the period claims that this liquidation resulted in massive payoffs for all the stakeholders, including Crainic and
Puiu Dumitrescu. Two years later, Blank's CIDNA was taken over by the French state and became a component of the state carrier,
Air France. Argetoianu and Blank were instrumental in helping Carol reach a settlement with his former wife,
Queen Helen. In January 1931, Argetoianu also sent Blank to approach Titulescu in
St. Moritz, hoping to ensure his own political survival as part of a Titulescu cabinet. A rumor circulating at the time alleged that Titulescu owed 14 million lei to the BMB. The cabinet, which was never sworn in, was to include Blank as one of the ministers. In addition to endorsing Carol, Blank was going public as a critic of PNȚ governments in matters of economic policy. According to
Grigore Gafencu, he was using
Adevărul and the Carlist newspaper
Cuvântul to criticize attempts at contracting a new loan in France. Blank and his colleagues described these as a sure path to economic enslavement. According to PNȚ man
Ioan Hudiță, Gafencu was in fact Blank's connection inside both party and government. Hudiță reports several accounts according to which Blank had arranged Gafencu's wedding to an actress, and that she had earlier been his mistress. A later article by the communist C. Pavel indicates that this claim referred to Esmée Nouchette Gafencu, a professional dancer.
Camarilla clashes A Iorga government was instead sworn in, with Argetoianu holding several ministerial portfolios. Over the following months, he and Blank came to clash over the issue of Romania's Alcohol Monopoly. Blank associated himself with the "international gangster" Reschnitzer to obtain a lease on that enterprise, but, Argetoianu reports, "didn't get anything out of it, because
I myself stood in [their] way" (emphasis in the original). He recalls agreeing to give Reschnitzer's consortium a
pre-emption right to the Monopoly, thus placating Blank, but also that he never actually intended to sell the company. The two
camarilla figures were also at odds over Blank's creation of Discom, a private enterprise which served as a retailer for the Tobacco, Salt, and Matches Monopolies. Under his guidance, this business never produced an actual profit for the state, as most surpluses were drawn into covering BMB losses. The company was led by Aristide's nephew, Béla Blank-Csillag, who had squandered his own fortune while financing intrigues against the
Greek Republic. Carol intervened to get Discom a share from the Alcohol Monopoly, as well as control over
Loteria de Stat; through the king's pressures, the
General Council of Bucharest also spent 500 million lei on acquiring Blank's allotment in
Otopeni. In June of that year, Blank himself was dispatched to
Berlin, kicking off trade negotiations between Romania and
Weimar Germany. By then, the BMB affair had presented an opportunity for Manoilescu, also a
camarilla man, who became Governor of the National Bank that same year. Manoilescu claimed that Argetoianu's demands for a bailout were feudal in nature, and could only serve to demolish whatever remained functional of Romania's industry and agriculture. According to Argetoianu, Manoilescu was "determined to destroy Aristide", unaware that the king had issued orders to protect Blank at all cost. The point is underscored by Pandrea, who also notes that a resentful Nae Ionescu played a part in forcing Manoilescu to push for Blank's bankruptcy. In that context, Premier Iorga took Carol's side, writing in '''' that the state had a moral duty to rescue Blank's business. As a BMB associate,
Grigore Filipescu openly asked Manoilescu to refinance Blank's enterprise. Once his request was denied, he publicized Manoilescu's
conflict of interest and pushed for an audit. Manoilescu sued him, alleging forgery, but failed to make his case in court. This parallel scandal continued to 1937, when Filipescu was able to demonstrate in front of a jury that Manoilescu, despite being publicly antisemitic, had been bribed by Jewish finance. As noted by Argetoianu, Blank and Manoilescu also continued to attack each other as "scoundrels and profiteers", and were equally right: "their readers should embrace [the respective] half of what each one writes down". Among the later authors, Oprițescu notes that Manoilescu was essentially right, and that Argetoianu, as a BMB stakeholder, was "try[ing] to profit from this situation". As he reports, Stoicescu also played a part in this controversy. He "had poor Aristide grilled and spinning over burning coals", finally obtaining Blank's resignation and replacement with Söpkéz. His shares in the company were then handed in as a loan collateral to the Romanian state. As claimed by Argetoianu, Blank continued to defraud his own bank by cashing in a check for 43 million lei, which he then deposited for safekeeping with Blanche Ulman-Vesnić, his mother-in-law. He and Argetoianu, working together, collected a dossier showing Manoilescu's own history in illegal trading. Reassured by Carol's support, Blank was ultimately victorious and, as a result, Manoilescu lost his
camarilla privileges in November 1931. Argetoianu himself was eventually replaced after proposing that the BMB merge with other credit enterprises into a single private entity supervised by the National Bank. As he reports, his fall was made possible by a businessmen's coalition, which included Manoilescu and "even the right honorable Aristide Blank"; the most vocal opposition came from smaller banks, which were threatened with liquidation. According to Sebastian, Blank and Froda had threesomes with actress . Sebastian also claims to have had a sexual encounter with Blank's daughter Dorina, who "offered herself" to him.
Return and marginalization As argued by Oprițescu, the "political dimension" of the BMB crash showed that Blank was in a position to blackmail Romania's elite, but also that Carol "grew tired of bankers". He also focused on philanthropic work, and, in 1933, opened up Caritas Hospital with a ceremony attended by Carol. He left the architectural planning to
George Matei Cantacuzino, who envisaged the entire town as a
Streamline Moderne project. A sport aficionado, in 1933 Vota organized a tennis tournament at the Blanks' own villa in Techirghiol. In June 1932, Elena Blank, who was Aristide's daughter from one of his earlier marriages, married judge Horia Bogdan. Reportedly, Blank still had leverage in February 1935, when he obtained the sacking of
Finance Minister Victor Slăvescu. He could also communicate his views with articles in
Universul daily—the paradox was highlighted at the time by journalist István Bálint, who noted that the newspaper was otherwise antisemitic. A Transylvanian magazine,
Ellenőr, commented on Blank's return an economic expert, seeing it as an insolent act: "our press and above all those in charge should teach Aristid Blank a lesson, namely that he has no authority to produce statements on public finances. If Mr Aristid Blank had not so carefully demarcated his huge private wealth from his bank house, which is also his property but operates on a separate joint stock company basis, and had not also been living with the splendor of an Oriental
maharaja, he would have paid back those millions". In preparation for Slăvescu's sacking, Blank had published an
op ed in
Universul of January 28, detailing his own solutions to economic problems. In his diaries, Argetoianu referred to his contribution as "intelligent, though occasionally veering into utopia." The two were again on friendly terms, since, as Argetoianu argued, "it's better to have him on my side then against me." He heard Blank's "interesting plan" for developing
tourism in Romania. Blank also expressed an interest in funding
Haig Acterian's project to pioneer
television in Romania, then supported creating an Italo–Romanian film company under
Cines, but ultimately withdrew from both. According to historian Grigore Traian Pop, in 1934 Blank and
Victor Iamandi also worked to undermine Carol's protege Auschnitt, by depicting him as a sponsor of the Iron Guard; Pop sees the allegation as false. Argetoianu noted that Blank's political agenda involved keeping a low profile, but also that he was regaining his influence on Lupescu, even as Wieder was losing his. He reports that Carol's sister,
Elisabeth Charlotte, detested Blank and Malaxa, asking her brother to remove them from his entourage; Carol allegedly replied that he had a set of obligations toward Blank. Also according to Argetoianu, Blank's intrigues also resulted in
Mitiță Constantinescu's appointment as Governor of the National Bank, who then proceeded to persecute investor Oskar Kaufmann, Elisabeth's alleged lover. Constantinescu and Blank formed a clique which opposed Slăvescu's attempts to regain control of credit institutions, and obtained conditional support from Premier
Gheorghe Tătărescu. This conflict reflected splits inside the PNL, between Tătărescu and
Dinu Brătianu's factions (the latter of which included Slăvescu). At the time, Argetoianu claimed to have discovered Blank's actual stake in such affairs—namely, that he hoped Constantinescu would allow the BMB to survive by returning it control over Discom, which had remained profitable. In March 1934, the newspaper
Credința "launched an extremely violent attack on Aristid Blank", publishing revelations that he had been transferring his personal debt to Discom, "so that he is now free of encumbrances." Argetoianu looked back on 1935 as the worst year in Romanian history, only similar to the period of
Ottoman dominion over the
Danubian Principalities: "It would still appear as the better alternative to be trampled on by the
Padishah than by that Yid Aristid Blank or the alms-giver Malaxa." As reported to Argetoianu by Elisabeth's lover, Sandi Scanavi, Blank was deemed "public enemy number 1" by the conservative establishment, with Malaxa a close second. In early 1936, Argetoianu claims, Blank was the "real master of this Romanian land", but had also registered a defeat when Slăvescu returned to the National Bank leadership. When Kaufmann began a legal battle against journalist
Alfred Hefter, Argetoianu argued that the latter was being paid to calumny by Blank. As he noted: "that the bankrupt Blank has enough money on him to get Hefter moving, that is after all his own business, and at most something that would interest the prosecutor's office. The plot thickens and the issue turns messy because Mitiță Constantinescu also gets involved
into this personal conflict, and that the wheeler-dealer Aristid goes out of his way to also involve the King" (emphasis in the original). On the night of May 4–5, 1936, an Iron Guard youth narrowly missed a chance to assassinate Blank outside Hefter's editorial offices, and, out of frustration, physically assaulted Hefter himself; in the aftermath, Blank spread rumors that the attempt was a
false flag operation by Kaufmann's own clique. By August, Blank was reportedly attempting to gather support for a "strongman government" that would quell Guardist agitation, and proposed either Argetoianu or
Alexandru Averescu for the premiership. In January 1937, British plenipotentiary
Reginald Hoare left comments on Blank's newfound enthusiasm for regaining control of the BMB, as well as on his limited competence. In June 1937, the Guardist paper
Buna Vestire announced that the anti-internationalist drift of European politics, also manifested in the Soviet
Great Purge, was a bane for the "social and political systems born out of conspiratorial Judaism's boorish and anti-historic spirit". This meant bad news for Romanian democrats, including "Aristide Blank's cronies". Blank and Auschnitt, together with Filderman and
Armand Călinescu, had by then drafted a plan for the mass emigration of Romanian Jews to
Mandatory Palestine. This attempt to settle the issue was foiled by German and British opposition. By 1939, the National Bank had taken over the BMB's patrimony. Blank also lost his father's home on Dionisie Street, which was bought by
Eduard Mirto, and then leased to the American Legation. Following
national elections in December 1937 and a resulting
hung parliament, Carol allowed the fascist
National Christian Party, a successor of the LANC, to form government; Blank's erstwhile friend,
Octavian Goga, took over as Premier. As reported by Sebastian, the passage of
antisemitic legislation was played down by Blank, who argued that the "continuation of the Goga government" was in then Jews' best interest, since "what would come after it would be infinitely worse."
Outcast and hostage Adevărul was finally banned on Goga's orders. After Carol engineered a self-coup and formed the
National Renaissance Front, Blank made attempts to regain his standing in political life. He followed Carol on his final trip to Britain in November 1938, and was registered with the royal retinue at
Claridge's of London. This prompted Argetoianu to comment that Carol was still unable to renounce his "gang of tricksters", comprising Blank, Hefter, and
Eugen Titeanu. He reports meeting the "all-too-serene" Blank visiting the
Wallace Collection alongside diplomat Dimitrie N. Ciotori: "I never asked him why he was in London: I don't doubt for a moment that he's here to pick up scraps from the table that's being set for King Carol". Blank returned to publishing with two other plays.
Iarna la Hangerli ("Winter at Hagerli's"), a sample of historical theater, was partly taken up in
Viața Românească in 1939;
Rhapsodie des dieux ("Gods' Rhapsody", which is Blank's take on the
Odyssey, noted by Faifer for its
interxtual refinement) was published entirely in 1940. Such radicalization was followed in September by Carol's ouster, and afterward by the establishment of an Iron Guard-led "
National Legionary State". This new regime blocked all of Blank's Romanian assets in October 1940, and instituted a special commission for re-litigating the BMB affair. In January 1941, the
Guard rebelled and was ousted by Antonescu. Before and during the clashes, the Guardists intensified antisemitic terror. A female member of the family, whom doctor Arthur Meiersohn identifies as Aristide's mother, was among those targeted, and attempted suicide with an overdose of
phenobarbital. The investigative commission resumed work after the events, and determined that Aristide owed the Romanian state 600 million lei. Both he and his host resigned themselves by June, when Blank also circulated rumors about Romania's imminent participation in the
invasion of Soviet territory. He still owned a paper mill, which was ordered to prepare for distribution in
Bessarabia. According to Sebastian, Blank argued in late 1941 that the war would only last for two more years, but was then "disgusted at the British lack of seriousness
in Libya." Blank had by then sent his son to study abroad, in the United States. After a while being stranded with his mother in the
Portuguese Republic, Milenko managed to sail out of Europe; he took American citizenship and returned with the
United States Army. Blank's older son, Patrice, was a graduate of the
ELSP. Actress
Hélène Duc, who hid him in her home, reports that Patrice hid his Romanian ancestry from his colleagues, generally presenting himself as a grandson of
Vladimir Lenin. According to one report, Blank left Romania in 1941, together with members of the British Legation. In late 1942 or early 1943, Blank was included on a list of Jewish hostages, presented by the
Central Jewish Office as a guarantee of its loyalism toward the Antonescu regime; also featured were writers
Henric Streitman and
Iosif Brucăr. In early 1943, Sebastian notes, Blank was "looking for some refuge in the countryside." He finally left Bucharest in April, at the peak of
Allied bombing raids, and by June was living in
Butimanu. The family's fortunes were restored in August 1944, which saw both the
Liberation of Paris and the
King Michael's Coup. Patrice emerged from the underground to serve as the youngest member of the
Provisional Consultative Assembly. In January 1945, Blank (whose domicile was on Ferdinand Boulevard) reopened Cultura Națională as its majority stockholder. His new associates on this project were Teodorescu-Braniște, Sebastian, J. A. Steriadi, and
Alexandru Rosetti. In July 1945,
România Liberă, as a central organ of the
Romanian Communist Party (PCR), published his proposals for a
progressive tax, whereby the rich would have financed Romania's post-armistice debt.
Convict and emigrant From 1946, Blank rejoined the ranks of Romania's Freemasonry, which was reemerging after years of repression; this time around, he became an affiliate of Lanțul de Unire Lodge, under
Horia Hulubei. The group, which also included Auschnitt, Malaxa,
Nicolae Ciupercă, and
Mihail Ghelmegeanu, was highly selective, to the point where its activities were kept secret from other Romanian Lodges. Blank also helped Rosetti and with printing an art magazine,
Lumină și Culoare. In April 1946, the
Court of Cassation cancelled the debt owed by Blank, finding that the Antonescu regime had misruled on this issue. Blank persisted in attempting to have the BMB assets returned to him, initially by cultivating National Peasantists such as Hudiță, but later focusing his efforts on the more powerful PCR. In September 1947, he was included on a provisional commission supervising the Romanian publishers' association—where he was again colleagues with Rosetti, but also with
Eusebiu Camilar,
Petre Năvodaru, and
Cicerone Theodorescu. In reviewing this decision, the left-wing paper
Viața Sindicală noted that all those serving on the body were "guarantees that the issue of publishing houses and the healthy purpose of books will be steered along the justest path". One of Blank's final activities at Cultura Națională was putting out the first edition of
Pavel Chihaia's novel,
Blocada, which was immediately removed from bookshops by
communist censors. The publishing house was shut down that same year. Blank himself was arrested as a spy on April 18, 1952, and put on trial for high treason with his meeting with foreigners and some of his papers used as evidence, then sentenced to a 20-year imprisonment in May 1953. Memoirist
Ion Ioanid, who was held with Blank in
Jilava Prison for a while in 1954, recalls that the financier was well groomed, and still wearing a two-piece suit. According to Ioanid, Blank missed his son Milenko, whom he believed he would never see again, but resented him for choosing a career in the army: "I feel like a hen that's been hatching a duck's egg!" Novelist
Matei Călinescu remembers that one of Blank's former wives was living at a part-nationalized villa in
Floreasca in 1954, alongside her daughter, Elena Blank-Bogdan (known to Călinescu as Helen), and two granddaughters, Mab and Manola. Elena's husband Horia was also serving a jail term. Another one of Blank's former wives, Ecaterina Caragiale (married Logadi), was also a prisoner around 1952. Blank's defense team was able to show that his conversations with foreigners were not covered by the
Penal Code, and that papers found in his home and used against him in his trial were actually the early drafts of a novel. he relied on medical support from the French Embassy. His visits brought him attention by Securitate operatives, and he was placed under surveillance. All of his father's applications for emigration were denied by the Romanian side until March 1958, when he was finally allowed to leave for Paris. Aristide Blank died there on January 1, 1960, his official birthday. ==Posterity==