Unlike most Legionnaires, who were imprisoned by Antonescu following the suppression of the coup attempt, Sima escaped imprisonment. Being secretly housed first at the
Sicherheitsdienst headquarters in Bucharest, Sima was evacuated on 23 January and hidden in the home of the Gestapo representative to Romania, but soon moved to his sister's residence in Bucharest. Soon after he was again moved by the Sicherheitsdienst to
Brașov, and finally to
Sibiu, disguised as an
SS officer. where they were placed in a villa in
Berlin, with a large group of Legionnaires living in nearby
Berkenbrück. Though at first enjoying freedom of movement in Berlin, Sima and his companions were moved to Berkenbrück on 19 April 1941 and placed under strict surveillance. to ensure his permanent exile. but was soon extradited back to Germany on the orders of
Galeazzo Ciano. In his political journal, on 26 December 1942, Ciano wrote that, "Since [Sima] got out of Germany with a false passport,
Himmler demands his extradition. For my part, I advised
the Duce to grant his extradition forthwith, especially since his presence here would create friction with Antonescu. And then, all things considered, there will be one less crook." After travelling to Italy, having disobeyed a contract signed with Germany meant to limit the political activities of the exiled Legionnaires, would later describe Sima as a "terrorist", noting that he "[took] advantage of and abused... his connections", and that Sima possessed "non-discipline... [and] a dangerous dilettantism, not to mention infantilism." Legionnaires increasingly began to blame Sima's leadership of the Iron Guard for the death of Codreanu, citing his previous actions as commander in 1938 as "terroristic" and "tumultuous". This controversy was to enforce the split which is still present in the political legacy of the Iron Guard. By 1943, the Iron Guard — now in exile in
Rostock, Germany — had split into at least three distinct groups with separate leadership, not including the Legionnaires who considered Sima their legitimate leader. Sima was transferred to
Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg in April 1943, When Romania changed sides in
World War II, joining the
Allies in August 1944, Sima was released and instructed to create a pro-Nazi puppet government-in-exile in
Vienna, and would broadcast instructions to fascist battalions via German radio. As the
Soviet offensive proved unstoppable, he fled to
Altaussee under the alias
Josef Weber. Living in
Paris, in Italy, and finally in
Spain, he was sentenced to death in Romania in 1946. During his exile, the question of leadership within the Iron Guard was still a salient issue, and the now-disjointed organization was fraught with infighting and factionalism. In January 1954, Sima was formally and publicly "disowned" by the Legionary Movement through a 13-page document published in
Vatra magazine after controversy arose over the alleged existence of an illegitimate child: forwarded a letter to Legionary leaders alleging that Sima had illegitimately fathered the child of a fellow Legionnaire identified only as "B" while in France, a claim supposedly backed by the mother of the child and a number of other Legionnaires. The publication of these accusations in
Vatra, alongside other political tensions, caused the resignation of a number of members of the Guard, as well as the foundation of a new faction named "Moța-Marin" under the leadership of Ovidiu Găină. where he had previously been sentenced to death following two separate trials. In addition to this split and the formation of the "Moța-Marin" group, there also existed controversies surrounding Sima's politics and policies: one splinter group denounced Sima's leadership as "reactionary" and "doomed to failure," and a further number of distinct groups with conflicting ideologies, tactics, and leadership formed. Until the 1990s, Sima attempted to form connections with mainstream ideologies of
anti-Communism, insisting on the Guard's allegiance to the
Free World. This adoption of a new image was, in part, successful — beginning in 1949, the United States helped to fund
NATO missions to parachute Iron Guard members into Romania in an attempt to undermine the socialist government. In Spain, Sima forged close connections with several
Francoist and
Falangist politicians, including
Luis Carrero Blanco and
Blas Piñar. He also continued to lead (or be affiliated with) Legionary front organizations in Canada, the United States, Germany, Austria, and France. He was buried near his wife Elvira Sima in
Torredembarra, near
Barcelona, Spain. ==Selected writings==