It is the authors' observation that most people make
the mistake of not considering socio-political phenomena in their natural context
in order to discover the legitimate causes, the true sense of their
development, and especially their importance in the environment which fostered
them. Carried away by the passion of political convictions or by the hope of
immediate benefits, they reduce every phenomenon to a linear problem: good or
bad, to be accepted or rejected.
Moreover, governments, the authorities, "reason" in the same
manner. This maintains an atmosphere of suspicion and misunderstanding and is
detrimental to the awakening of consciousness to what we believe are certain
essential truths. In addition, when the age has been ravaged by bloody
conflicts and when bad memories or hates are not yet dissipated, nothing is
easier then to maintain this partial and prejudiced way of judging matters each
time that circumstances bring the discussion of such a problem before the
public.
This disposition of the public to a puerile partisanship is manipulated
by those who are interested in compromising, or even in annihilating, a
historical, political, or social truth. They know that the mass man:
Therefore, playing upon these attitudes of the mass man, it is easy for
dishonest people to direct even the most liberal and intelligent opinion and to
lead the most honest and just people into error. That is not surprising, for,
if the coalition af detractors is always powerful
(because it works on the ease of emotional and uncontrollable arguments), those
who are the target of this relentless propaganda are most often those who are
ill-equipped to defend themselves. People are not sufficiently distrustful of
this kind of sporadic attack, which is of little documentary importance. In the
long run, for lack of pertinent refutation, these hoaxes end up being
considered as authentic documents and the game is won.
Thus prejudice and the distortion of reality come
lethal weapons capable of confusing the soundest minds and creating an
undercurrent of hate or distrust toward certain socio-political doctrines which
are valuable. Such is the case of the Romanian Legionary Movement. The purpose
of this synthesis is to help the public reach a more accurate understanding of
the movement, as viewed by its former members.
Those who have read only the stories spread by the persistent detractors
of the thinking, educational methods, and activities of this spiritual movement
have acquired a picture of a blood-thirsty terrorist organization. That is
totally unjust and far from the truth.
A doctrine which seeks to modify an individual's spiritual structure in
order to make him a better, more intelligent and more honest person, a doctrine
whose foundations are morality and love can certainly not be terrorist,
racist or oligarchic. It addresses itself to every individual, regardless of
race, social or professional position, regardless of culture, religion or
philosophical opinion.
What is important in the realization of this "New Man" is the
transformation of an ordinary person into an individual of quality. This new
person can surpass himself by renouncing every tendency towars hate,
materialism and the taste for power.
One young Italian writer had the courage to go beyond the prejudices
imposed by the enemies of the Legion of the Archangel Michael (The Legionary
Movement) and to go to the legitimate sources of Legionary Doctrine. This is
what he says about the Legionary Movement:
Above all, one thing should be very clear to everyone: The Legion of the
Archangel Michael is not a party as we understand it, nor a pressure group, nor
a para-religious organization, nor in anyway denominational. It is an
absolutely original movement whose primary goal and purpose are: a spiritual
and moral renewal, and the creation of a new individual -- an individual who
will stand in contrast to the democratic homo œconomicus, who is
essentially pragmatic and egotistical. (1)
If, up until now, the Legionary Movement has been presented in a
derogatory light, it is because the foundations of its doctrine, as well as its
educational precepts, ran counter to the political conceptions based on
materialism and immorality . In it people discovered a
powerful renewing force which in the long run would be capable of overthrowing
the dominant conception of our mixed-up and indecisive world - not only at the
philosophical level, but also at the practical socio-political level. A
national mission and universal vocation were perceived in the strength of its
exceptional norms. Such ideas could not help but disturb the political factions
which were dominant or dreaming of domination.
That may seem unlikely, given that the doctrine in question arose from a
small country, from the bosom of a people without expansionist tendencies or
pretensions. In the Legionary substance there is, nonetheless, a spiritually
based messianism which addresses every honest man who is conscious of his human
value and who wishes to change the course of history. Change is brought about
through the use of moral norms in peoples' behavior and in nations' lives;
these norms replace the egoism which is presently dominant. Such modification
is surely difficult, but certainly not impossible. This explains the doggedness
with which the I.egionary doctrine and its members are still attacked today, 40
years after the Communist takeover of
The accusations, insinuations and lies about the Legionary movement are
well known. Every opportunity is taken to forbid its precepts or to savagely
attack those near or far who envision this doctrine as the path of salvation
for the Romanian Nation. It will take many years to re-establish an equilibrium and to give the original and highly spiritual
content of Corneliu Zelea Codreanu's doctrine its proper value in the eyes of
the world.
The following work is one sincere effort among others to put some
explanation of what the Romanian I.egionary Movement really is at the disposal
of those who have the conscience and the courage to look beyond the sordid
propaganda. This is not a detailed analysis of the Legionary phenomenon, but a
synthesizing summary of the various phases and attitudes assumed by the Legion
of the Archangel Michael during its first fourteen years of existence: it is,
up to
In the face of the ferociously materialistic, morally bankrupt
tendencies which dominated the national scene, it was felt that nothing but the
authority of the Commandments, a return to religious sources and the force of
sacrifice could stop the slide towards total ruin.
For that reason, since the beginning.
the Legionary Movement is set on original foundations:
Under these conditions. Corneliu
Zelea Codreanu did not address the crowds in order to organize them and turn
them into an opposition party. He was not interested in electoral change but in
the internal change of the individual. He sought to modify a mentality.
He wanted above all to create a school which would prepare people for the
future - people who would be honest, hard-working, moral, intelligent and
willing to make sacrifices for the common good.
Nowhere in the Legionary norms and precepts can an incitement to social,
racial or religious hate be found. The basis of the Legionary Movement and education
is love. Love in the purest sense of the word: that of respect for one's
fellow man, whatever he may be; that of respect for work, even the
most humble; that of respect for each person's opinion, no matter how
absurd or contradictory it may be.
Germans, Hungarians, Turks, and Tartars entered the Legion ranks because
the Legionary ideal was not posed in racial or religious terms. They were
engaging in a battle against a mentality which could dominate the masses of
another race just as well as the Romanian masses. Everyone had the right and
the obligation to participate. There was only one essential condition: each
person had to blend himself body and soul into the great spiritual revolution.
That was the only way to be able to comprehend the profound sense of the
political vision of Corneliu Codreanu.
The beginnings of the Movement were extremely difficult. There were
numerous reasons for that difficulty, and many of them were justified:
It literally started from absolute zero. It was not supported by
any monetary power: bank, capitalist group, etc.
It is for these reasons that Codreanu based his Movement on the value of
its unusual principles:
He placed it under the insignia of personality, capacity for sacrifice
and will.
The basic unit of the Legion of the Arehangel Michael is not an assembly
of members who have a political center, but a small group of individuals
recruited one by one by the person who is going to become their leader. This
unit, called a "Nest," is an independent unit, but it is
hierarchically attached to a higher unit, and so on up to the top of the pyramid
to the Leader of the Legion. (2)
This organization does not depend on committees and subcommittees which
seek the satisfaction of particular interests. It is a hierarchical system
ending with the I,egionary Senate and Chief of the
Legion, who are dedicated entirely to the nation, its well-being and its
harmonious development.
This constitutes the most important part of the Legionary purpose. The
goal is to provoke a radical transformation in the mental sttucture and the
morals of the nation through continuous work on the individual. Therefore, the
Legionnaire continually seeks to educate according to moral and ethical norms,
by rules of comportment, and by voluntary submission to a spiritual discipline.
In the long run, this spiritual discipline will give rise to other impulses,
other attitudes, other convictions about the meaning
of life in society and about man as the central element of society. (3)
The establishment of the resources which are indispensable to the
activity of the Movement was definitely removed from the usual system of
financing owed to particular interest groups, to social monopolies or to even
more obscure organizations. It was decided that in order to arrive at a
fundamental modification of the reigning mentality, the Legionary Movement would
set the example of independence. It would support itself by means of its own
resources. The self sufficiency of a movement which desires to be respectcd
signifies its independence of all other groups and gives it the opportunity to
face its fight without fearing anyone. From this painful beginning up to the
present the Legionary Movement has fed its efforts by the dues and donations of
its members and sympathizers.
The following is a chronological history of the Movement:
Today.
August l, 1927: The bi-monthly magazine Pamantul Stramosec (The
Land of the Ancestors) appears. This is the first publication and the
official organ of the Movement under the direction of Codreanu.
Summer 1928: Legionary commerce based on the new principles begins. The
team responsible uses the truck to transport staples and fruits (produced by
another Legionary team in a rented garden) to health resorts where they are
sold.
During the same meeting, the Legionary Senate is formed. The first
members are: Hristache Solomon, General Macridescu, General Ion Tamoschi, Spiru
Pecieli, Colonel Paul Cambureanu, Professor Ion Butaru, and Traian Braileanu.
Summer 1929: As a follow-up to the decision to use the dynamic
educational system, Corneliu Codreanu organizes two educational levels whose
goal is: to develop the will; to accept a hard life; and to impose the
obligation for each person to be strict with himself.
January 1930: Corneliu Codreanu decides to intensify Legion propaganda
among the peasant masses. Legionary teams begin to penetrate the districts of
June 1930: Codreanu decides to launch a new national organization for
combating the communist propaganda in
At a meeting with his co-workers the formation and name of the new
organization was discussed. Mr. Granganu proposed the name of the organization
to be The Iron Guard. (The Iron Guard later became the political party of the
Legionary Movement.)
An authorization from the government for the march by the Iron Guard was
obtained from Mr. Vaida-Voevod, at that time the Minister of Internal Affairs.
Later, however, Mr. Vaida-Voevod, under pressure from the controlled press,
withdrew the approval of the planned march into
Corneliu Codreanu issues a Manifesto-Notice in which he criticizes the
maneuvers of the Jewish leaders and of bribed politicians. He calls upon spiritually
upright Romanians to fight An extremely violent
campaign against the Legionary Movement is begun by the press.
December 1930: Without saying anything to anyone, an exasperated
Legionnaire, Dumitiescu-Zapada, attempts to assassinate Socor, a Communist
journalist who is the director of the newspaper Dimineata (The Morning).
End of February, 1931: In the trial of the first dissolution of the Iron
Guard and the Legion of the Archangel Michael, the Tribunal of Ilfov delivers a
unanimous verdict for acquittal.
June l, 1931: The Legionary Movement participates in the general
elections for the first time and obtains 43,183 votes but no deputy is elected.
Next he expounds on the fundamental problems of the time for
On this occasion, he also stipulates the Legionary position on foreign
affairs for the first time: "As for our position, if it is a question of
choosing between these two extremes (Fascism or Communism), we are among those who
believe that the Sun does not rise in
March 1932: The Iorga-Argetoianu government disregards the law and
dissolves the Iron Guard for the second time. This does not keep the propaganda
teams from continuing their efforts, but it makes it impossible for Codreanu to
defend his cause in Parliament.
The press makes accusations and injurious statements and urges the
annihilation of the Iron Guard. Scores of Legionnaires are beaten and
imprisoned by the authorities.
The Movement's periodicals have reached 35,000 copies per issue. The
Legion owns a print shop and two trucks.
April 1933: A propaganda team dubbed "The Team of Death"
leaves on a two-month journey to include the provinces of Oltenie,
June 1933: The first court case is brought against the "Team of
Death" at Arad (Banat). All are acquitted.
Beginning of July, 1933: Second trial of the "Team of Death"
at Alba Iufia (
July-August 1933: A ferocious press campaign is launched against the
Legion and its social activities. During this campaign of calumnies, the
Legionary Movement is accused of having set up a counterfeiting ring at
Rasinari (
The electoral campaign is very favorable to the Legionary Movement. The
government unleashes an unheard of terror against the legal activity of the
Iron Guard: arrests, prohibition of placarding and meeting, suspension of the
Legionary press, etc.
December 1933: Gheorghe Bujgoli a Romanian Macedonian,
is assassinated in the
From this time on, The Central Headquarters of the Legionary Movement is
established in the home of General Gheorghe Cantacuzino at 3 Gutenberg Street,
Bucharest.
After this acquittal the prestige of the Legionary Movement grows
greater and greater. The great period of education through work begins for the
Legionnaires. Community work camps spring up in every region of the country.
The most famous are: Giulesti, near Bucharest (commercial truck garden and
brickyard), Dealul Negru in Transylvania (construction of a school), Rarau, in
Bucovina (construction of a convalescent home for the Legionnaires made ill
from the prisons), Cotiugenii Mari in Bessarabia (reconstruction of a church in
ruins) and Movila Techirghiol in Dobroudja (rest camp for the wounded).
September 5, 1934: A plot against Corneliu Codreanu is discovered.
Mihail Stelescu, Legionary Commander and Deputy, and a very ambitious man,
falls under the influence of forces which are trying to destroy the Legionary
Movement. Stelescu is plottmg to poison Codreanu.
January 1, 1935: Memorandum by Codreanu containing the log of the terror
of the liberal government of Romania.
March 20, 1935: Codreanu institutes Totul Pentru Tara (Everything
for the Country) as a legal party under the presidency of General Gheorghe
Cantacuzino.
June 1935: Hundreds of Community Work Camps are inaugurated.
July 5, 1935: The work camp, Carmen Sylva, begins on the coast of the
Black Sea. 800 Legionnaires work there under the direction of Codreanu.
September 13, 1935: The inauguration of Legionary Commerce. The first
Legionary Co-operative appears.
September 19, 1935: Memorandum on Legionary Commerce. Codreanu gives
instructions to Department leaders. He ends his memorandum with the following
words: "Legionary commerce signifies a new phase in the history of
commerce which has been stained by the Jewish spirit. It is called: Christian
commerce - based on the love of people and not on robbing them; commerce based
on honor.
October, 1935: The first meeting of the Leaders of the 13 Legionary
Regions is held. These 13 regions comprise the framework of the Movement on the
national level.
November 26, 1935: On the occasion of a difference of opinion between
the Legionary Movement and the nationalist newspaper Porunca Vremii (The
Order of Time), Corneliu Codreanu recalls in a memorandum one of the main
principles of the Legionary Doctrine: "According to Legionary dogma, we
are not permitted to behave dishonorably even toward our enemy. How he behaves
or will behave toward us is his business."
April 5, 1936: Codreanu finishes the first volume of his book Pentru
Legionnaires (For My Legionnaires).
April 22, 1936: The first Legionary camps and work projects of the year
begin and throughout the country more than a thousand appear.
May 30, 1936: Memorandum concerning the external politics of the
Romanian government. Codreanu denounces Nicolae Titulescu's maneuvers to draw
Romania nearer to the U.S.S.R.: '"That would be an act of treason on the
part of the Romanian people toward God and toward the moral order of this
world."
July 16, 1936: Mihail Stelescu, traitor to the Legion who continued his
betrayal and infamy in his newspaper Cruciada Romanismuliu (The Crusade of Romanianism),
is killed by a group of ten comrades who are historically to bear the name of Decemviri
(The Ten Men).
The same day, Legionnaire Gheorghe Gligor is killed by Communists at
Cernauti (Bucovina).
October 1, 1936: Even though it is banned throughout the country,
Corneliu Codreanu's book comes out in Sibiu (Transylvania).
October 25, 1936: The "Corps of Legionary Workers" is
organized.
November 5, 1936: Corneliu Codreanu addresses a Memoire on
foreign policy Problems to the king, the politicians, and the country. In this
publication he affirms: "There is neither a Petite Entente nor a Balkan
Entente. Whoever believes in all that proves that he understands nothing...
"Two worlds are face to face. All diplomatic liaisons will crumble
under their pressure in time of war. These two worlds: the States where there
have been national revolutions which fight to defend the cross and a millenial
civilization, and Bolshevism which, with its dependencies, fights to destroy
nations and to topple Christian civilization.
"Today all those who are on the line of destiny and national
history have a duty to demand and to enforce that both internal and external
Romanian politics be removed from the influence and control of Free Masonry, of
Communism, and of Judaism. This is the only salvation for the future of this
nation."
January 13, 1937: Legionnaires Ion Mota (brother-in-law of Corneliu
Codreanu) and Vasile Matin fall on the Spanish front at Majadahonda near
Madrid.
January 26, 1937: Codreanu writes a Memorandum in which he clarifies the
meaning of Legonary victory: "... The Legionary Movement will never resort
to the idea of a plot or coup d'état in order to win. The Legionary Movement
can only win by accomplishment of an internal process of conscience of the
Romanian Nation. The victory that we await in this manner is so great, so
luminous, that we will never accept that it be replaced by a cheap, fleeting
victory born of a plot or a coup d'état."
"That is why you are going to swear that you understand that being
a Legionary elite in our terms means not only to fight and win, but it also
means above all a permanent sacrifice of oneself to the service of the Nation;
that the idea of an elite is tied to the ideas of sacrifice, poverty, and a
hard, bitter life; that where self-sacrifice ends, there also ends the
Legionary elite."
February 13, 1937: Mota and Marin are buried in the mausoleum of the Casa
Verde. The funeral procession is several kilometers long. Attendance is
estimated at several hundred thousand people.
The pro-Legionary wave takes on significant proportions. The government
becomes uneasy. A new campaign of calumnies and provocations is organized
against the Legionary Movement with the help of the press. There is increasing
talk of the plots and the "coup d'état" that the Legion is supposedly
fomenting.
March 2, 1937: The liberal government of Gheorghe Tatarescu begins a new
phase against the Legionary Movement:
April 27, 1937: The Council of War condemns the Decemviri.
Eight are condemned to life at hard labor, two to ten years hard labor.
June 18, 1937: Memorandum by Codreanu on the occasion of ten years of
Legionary existence. This memorandum ends with the following words: "Be
proper, be just, be pure, be of good humor as you would want every Romanian to
be and to behave in his Legionary county."
July 14, 1937: Corneliu Codreanu rejects the government-demanded control
by the O.E.T.R. (Office of Education of Romanian Youth) over the Legionary work
camps.
October 12, 1937: Gheorghe Clime, an engineer, Commander of the Buna
Vestire, is proclaimed the new party leader of Totul Penhu Tara.
October-December 1937: Legionary business takes on national proportions.
Restaurants, canteens, boarding houses, cooperatives, factory warehouses, etc.,
are opened everywhere.
November 11, 1937: Codreanu opens the electoral campaign for the general
elections which will take place on December 20.
November 30, 1937: Corneliu Codreanu's declaration on foreign policy.
Among other things, he says: "I am against the great Western Democracies;
I am against the Petite Entente; I am against the Balkan Entente; and I have no
attachment to the League of Nations in which, I do not believe. I am for a
Romanian foreign policy at the side of Rome and Berlin at the side of the
States which have had national revolutions. Against
Bolshevism. Forty-eight hours after the victory of the Legionary
Movement, Romania will have a new alliance with Rome and Berlin and will thus
begin on the path of her historical mission in the world: for the defense of
the Cross, of culture and of Christian Civilization."
December 20, 1937: General elections. The Legionary Movement party
obtains 16% of the votes and 66 seats in Parliament in spite of the terror
unleashed against its members.
December 28, 1937: Having lost the elections, the Tatarescu government
resigns. Octavian Goga is commissioned to form the new Cabinet.
January 13, 1938: On the occasion of the commemoration of the deaths of
Mota and Marin, Codreanu creates a special order in the ranks of the Legionary
units: "The Mota-Marin Corps" under the direction of Alexandru
Cantacuzino. The members of this elite corps have as their slogan "Ready To Die." The pro-Legionary movement among the masses is
growing at a tremendous rate.
February 8, 1938: Following the infamous campaign of calumnies of the
Cuza-Goga government and the deaths of several Legionnaires killed by the
myrmidons of a "nationalistic government," Corneliu Cordreanu reveals
his decision to remove the Legionary Movement from electoral propaganda.
February 10, 1938: The Cuza-Goga government is dismissed by the king.
The patriarch Miron Cristea sets up the new government.
February 21, 1938: Codreanu decides upon the self dissolution of the
party Totul Pentru Tara and the liquidation of Legionary commerce in
order to avoid conflict with the authorities.
February 22, 1938: Codreanu sends a letter of protest to the royal
Councillors in which he denounces coup d'état and the imposition of the new
Constitution.
March 25 1938: Codreanu sends Professor Nicolae Iorga a letter
concerning the latter's campaign of calumny undertaken against the Legionary
Movement in his newspaper Neamul Romanesc (The Romanian People). In this
letter, Codreanu brands Professor Nicolae Iotga's lack of character with infamy
before the nation and before history: "...From the depths of my battered
soul, I cry to you and I will cry even from the depths of the tomb: you are
a spiritually dishonest being who has without reason mistreated our
innocent souls. Neither you, Professor, nor those who have assumed
responsibility for a bloody and unjustifiable oppression will encounter any
violence or even any opposition on our part."
March 29, 1938: Codreanu addresses a letter to the director of the
newspaper Neamul Romanesc in which he denounces the attitude of
Professor Nicolae Iorga who had published his reply to Codreanu's letter
without also publishing the text of that letter. He demands that his letter of
March 26 be published as the code of honor prescribes.
March 30, 1938: Professor Nicolae Iorga, instead of replying goes to the
public prosecutor and demands the opening of a lawsuit against Codreanu for
insult and injury. This suit constitutes the basis of all later government
action which culminates in the assassination of Corneliu Codreanu on
April 17, 1938: Codreanu is arrested at Predeal. This is the beginning
of the Great Persecution unleashed by King Carol and his Minister, Armand
Calinescu. Hundreds of well-known Legionnaires are sent to concentration camps.
Tens of thousands of militants are arrested and imprisoned.
April 19, 1938: Codreanu is condemned to six months in prison (the
maximum penalty) by the Council of War at Bucharest in the suit filed by
Professor Iorga. At the same time, the government is preparing another suit in
which he is to be presented as a traitor to the country, a betrayer to the
Nazis and the organizer of a revolution against the regime.
May 27, 1938: The Council of War delivers the sentence for second trial
of Codreanu: the latter is condemned to ten years at hard labor on the
basis of imaginary accusations.
June 16, 1938: The Legionnaires who have not been arrested organize. Ion
Belgea reconstitutes the "Chain of Command of the Legionary Movement."
Those who take part: Ion Belgea, Iordache Nicoara, Horia Sima, Ion Antoniu,
Constantin Papanace and Gheorghe Dragomir-Jilava.
July 11, 1938: Ion Belgea is arrested. Ion Antoniu takes command. A few
days later, he, too, is arrested. Constantin Papanace follows him.
July 23, 1938: Constantin Papanace is arrested and freed immediately.
However, he passes the command to Horia Sima before disappearing in the country
to throw off police searches.
September 8-12, 1938: New concentration camps are created and quickly
filled by floods of Legionnaires who are arrested everywhere. Hunted
Legionnaires are tortured and assassinated.
Beginning of October 1938: Second reorganization of Legionary Command:
Vasile Cristescu, Alexandru Cantacuzino, Father Dumitrescu-Borsa, Horia Sima,
Constantin Papanace and Nicolae Petrascu.
October 1938: This is the month of "Manifestos" and
"Memorials" launched by the Legionary Command, student organizations,
officers, etc., for cessation of the terror. A
revision of the
case of Corneliu Codreanu is brought up for consideration, as well as the issue
of responsibility in case the conflict between the king and the nation should
continue to worsen.
November 10, 1938: On the occasion of Carol II's departure abroad, the
Legionary Command sends a "Manifesto-Communiqué" in which Armand
Calinescu's already extant plan to assassinare Corneliu Codreanu is denounced.
November 13, 1938: King Carol II leaves for London and Paris.
November 30, 1938: Under the direct order of Armand Calinescu, Minister
of the Interior, Codreanu, the Nicadori and the Decemviri are
assassinated by the police 30 km. from Bucharest in the forest of Tancabesti
during a transfer from one prison to another.
December 1, 1938: A manifesto is signed by Vasile Christescu and
Dumitrescu-Borsa, a priest in which peace and self-control are recommended to
the Legionnaires.
The Legionary Movement begins a new clandestine life. The raids,
arrests, summary executions and executions without process intensify. The
tension between the king and
government and the
nation revolted by the injustice and barbaric methods employed, intensifies to
the point of paroxysm.
December 15, 1938: Beginning of Legionary exile. The first group of
Legionnaires passes secretly into Poland.
January 8, 1939: A second Legionary group also passes into Poland.
January 26, 1939: Professor Vasile Christescu is assassinated by the
police.
February 4, 1939: Accompanied by a group of Legionnaires, Horia Sima
crosses the border into Hungary, and four days later, they arrive in Berlin.
February 8, 1939: A Legionary team (Enache Nadoleanu, Martin Vucu,
Gherman, Dragos Popovici and Dr. Ion Iovu), which is preparing an attempt on
the life of Armand Calinescu, Codreanu's assassin, is arrested and its members
are shot on the spot, after which their bodies are thrown into the crematory
oven.
February 27, 1939: With a group of Legionnaires, Constantin Papanace
takes refuge in Berlin after passing through Czechoslovakia.
May 1939: In Berlin the New Legionary Command is organized: Father Ion
Dumitrescu-Borsa, Constantin Papanace, Horia Sima, Ion Victor Vojen, Victor
Silaghi and Alexandru Constant.
September 21, 1939: Armand Calinescu, the executioner of the Legionary
Movement, is cut down by a team of nine Legionnaires, later dubbed Rasbunatorii
(The Avengers): Miti Dumitrescu, Cezar Popescu, Traian Popescu, Nelu
Moldoveanu, Ion Ionescu, Ion Vasiliu, Marin Stanciulescu, Isaia Ovidiu and
Gheorghe Paraschivescu.
After the execution of the tyrant, the team announces the punitive measure
on the radio in these terms: "Armand Calinescu, President of the Council
of Ministers, has been executed by a team of Legionnaires. We are sons of
Romanians of Prahova, and we have accomplished a painful necessity. We have
punished the one by whose consent the great Romanian, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu,
was executed."
After that, they turned themselves in. After torturing them for eight
hours, the police executed them without trial. Their bodies were thrown on a
public square to be exposed to the view of passers-by.
September 21-22, 1939: The great massacres. The new government of
General Argeseanu orders execution on the spot of all Legionary directors in
concentration camps and prisons in Romania. A total of 252 Legionnaires are
thus massacred among the thousands who are imprisoned. Later several hundred
others pay with their lives for being Legionnaires.
January 1940: Father Dumitrescu-Borsa, Alexandru Constant and Victor
Vojen voluntarily withdraw from the directing group in Berlin and the
leadership falls to Horia Sima and Constantin Papanace.
January-March 1940: In Romania a Legionary delegation made up of Ilie
Gameata, Corneliu Georgescu, Radu Mironovici (all three founders of the
Legionary Movement), Augustin Bidianu and Dr. Vasile Noveanu, continues the
bargaining for a detente which was begun in December,1939,
with King Carol II.
March 28, 1940: The first Legionary delegation (Radu Mironovici and
Constantin Stoicanescu) arrives in Berlin with the official mission of setting
forth the condition of the case for detente and to negotiate the return of the
Legionary refugees.
May 2, 1940: The second Legionary delegation (Constantin Stoicanescu and
Augustin Bidianu) airrves in Berlin. Horia Sima and Constantin Papanace send
letters, addressed to King Carol II, in which the Legionary Movement's point of
view on external politics (anti-communist) is specified.
May 5, 1940: Horia Sima, accompanied by a group of Legionnaires, leaves
Germany to secretly penetrate into Romania where he is arrested on May 19.
June 13, 1940: Horia Sima is set free.
June 23, 1940: Horia Sima is given an audience with the king.
July 3, 1940: The Tatarescu government resigns. Three Legionnaires
(Horia Sima, Dr. Vasile Noveanu and Augustin Bidianu) take part in the new
Gigurtu government.
July 7, 1940: Horia Sima resigns. He is replaced by another Legionnaire
Radu Budisteanu.
End of July, 1940: The "Legionary Forum," whose decisions
become unassailable, is created. The members are Horia Sima, Col. Zavoianu,
Popescu-Buzau, Aristotel Gheorghiu, Vasile Iasinschi, Corneliu Georgescu, Ilie
Gameata, Mile Lefter, Prof. Traian Braileanu, and Radu Mironovici.
August l6 1940: There is a collective audience of Legionary directors,
Horia Sima, Traian Braileanu, Corneliu Georgescu and Radu Mironovici, with King
Carol II. No acceptable result is attained.
September 3, 1940: Following a Manifesto drawn up by Horia Sima on
September 1, in which the abdication of King Carol II was demanded, large
anti-Carolist demonstrations take place in the urban centers of the country.
During these demonstrations, eight Legionnaires meet their deaths.
September 4, 1940: General Ion Antonescu is assigned to form a new
government.
September 5, 1940: General Antonescu receives complete powers. The
Constitution of 1938 is suspended. The Legionnaires arrested on September 3 are
freed.
September 6, 1940: Abdication of King Carol II under pressure of the
Legionary forces. The Legionary Movement is requested to take part in the
formation of a new government.
The same day, the Legionary Forum, the supreme entity of the Movement,
represented by Corneliu Georgescu (one of the founders of the Legion) salutes
Horia Sima as the successor of Corneliu Codreanu.
September 14, 1940: The "National Legionary State" is
proclaimed. Several Legionnaires take pact in the government directed by
General Antonescu:
November 23, 1940: Legionary Romania joins the Tripartite Pact which was
signed on September 27, by Germany, Italy and Japan.
November 25, 1940: At the prison of Jilava, work is begun to exhume
Corneliu Codreanu, the Nicadori and the Decemviri who were
assassinated the 29/30 of November, 1938 at
the order of Armand Calinescu
and with the consent of the government and of King Carol II.
November 29, 1940: General Antonescu initiates official steps to oust
the Legionary Movement from the government.
January 13, 1941: Legionary circles learn that that the General has been
preparing a personal rapprochement with Hitler for a long time and is leaving
for Berlin the next day for an interview with him. The same day, Berlin
requests by telegram that Horia Sima participate in that conference. Notified at the last moment. the
Movement's leader, in agreement with the other Legionary directors, refuses to
take part in it.
January 14, 1941: General Antonescu discusses with Hitler the question
of Romanian participation in the eventuality of a war with the U.S.S.R. He
appears disposed to such participation under certain conditions. One of the
conditions is German neutrality in case of a settling of accounts between
him and the Legionary Movement. His principal argument is that the army is
entirely on his side and ready to follow him. The chain of events shows that
the argument evoked carried more weight in Hitler's calculations than the
Legionary Movement's ideological kinship to and spiritual influence on the
Romanian nation. On the other hand if General Antonescu posed the problem that
way, it was because he envisioned taking action against the Legionary Movement
shortly.
January 15, 1941: The General returns. He resumes his activities without
acquainting Horia Sima, Vice-President of the Council and leader of the
Legionary Movement, with the results of his interview with the Führer.
The same day, Mr. Constantin Greceanu, Romanian Minister to Berlin, is
recalled to Bucharest for "consultation." It was only later that the
astuteness of this re-call was understood. General Antonescu was contemplating
replacing several Legionary Ministers as the first step in his plans for the
coup d'état. Therefore, it was necessary that there be no one in Berlin who
could promptly appeal to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and protest this use
of force.
January 16, 1941: It is learned that the German Embassy, by order of
Ambassador Fabricius (a confessed enemy of the Legionary Movement), is
spreading false news about the atmosphere brought about by the attitude of the
Legionnaires. That false news goes so far as to state that in the large cities
the Legionnaires are scuffling with the army; that their behavior is provoking
a growing anxiety in the population; that the army can no longer put up with
the audacity and provocations of the Legion's troops; that General Antonescu
will be obliged to take exceptional measures.
Such news circulated everywhere. The General, approving these rumors,
waited for the psychological reparation of public opinion to reach the optimum
point to proceed to his political-military offensive.
On the other side, the German Embassy collected those "internal
events" (which it spread) and transmitted them to Berlin in the form of
libel against the Legionary Movement.
According to them, the Legionary Movement was undisciplined, incapable
of facing up to difficult political moments, questionable for the Reich in a
conflict with the U.S.S.R, etc.
The Legionary Movement had to be discredited to that extent in Romania
as in Berlin before the General's authoritarian action.
January 17-18, 1941: While Legionary Ministers devote themselves to
their daily work, and the organization is far from suspecting anything, General
Antonescu and the forces supporting him take the last steps to assure that the
coup d'état will succeed and that the guilt will fall on the Movement.
January 19, 1941: Doring, a German major, head of the military
transports bound for Bulgaria, is assassinated. The anti-Legionary coalition
which is preparing the coup d'état immediately releases word that the German
major's death was a consequence of the negligence of the Minister of the Interior,
General Petrovicescu. The goal was two-fold: it was an admirable pretext for
eliminating a Legionnaire from one of the most important Cabinet posts: it was
an exceptionally good way to anger Hitler and turn him against the Movement.
By the time the assassin was arrested and it was ascertained that it was
a Greek who had come to
General Antonescu unilaterally decides to dismiss the Commissioners of
Romanization (all Legionnaires).
January 20, 1941: General Antonescu takes a series of anti-Legionary
measures without consulting the Council of Ministers, which shows that coup
d'état had been ready for a long time. He removes General Petrovicescu
(Minister of the Interior) from office without warning or reason. Michel
Sturdza (Minister of Foreign Affairs), another Legionnaire, had already been
dismissed on December 8, 1940, for reasons which were just as insignificant.
The elimination of the Minister of the Interior completed a plan which was
already well-established and nearing its culmination.
If in Legionary circles everyone thought Minister Michel Sturdza's
dismissal was one of General Antonescu's customary whims - a whim which would
pass in the long-run - the dismissal of General Petrovicescu put them on guard.
It was too abusive. In Bucharest, huge protests took place.
At this time, to increase his chances of winning, General Antonescu
summons all the Legionary Prefects of the entire country to be in Bucharest the
next day. January 21, for administrative reasons. The
majority of those Prefects will later be arrested, tried and condemned.
January 21, 1941: While the Prefects arrive in the Capital, believing
they are there for an administrative convocation, military Prefects are
assigned to their places. The lists of the military Prefects had already been
prepared for several days. The take-over of the Prefectures was made manu
militari, without respecting the slightest rule of transmission of power -
as happens in coup d'état.
Two other Legionaires are dismissed for no official reason other than
General Antonescu's wish: Alecu Ghica (Head of Security) and Radu Mironovici
(Chief of Police of Bucharest). Still more evidence of the General's true
intentions.
When the news of General Petrovicescu's dismissal spread through the
country, there was a reaction on the part of Legionnaires. Where they were able
to assemble, they barricaded themselves in and resisted the military forces.
The Coup D'Etat of January 21, 1941
One of the most unusual accusations which hovers over the Legionary past
is that only four and one-half months after the birth of the National Legionary
State, the Legionary Movement is supposed to have provoked a rebellion for
motives which are poorly defined and which the authorities of Antonescu's
government have always avoided discussing. After those unhappy days of January,
1941, a host of Legionary leaders were condemned to harsh prison sentences as
high as 25 years at hard labor, but never for reasons in direct relation
to that famous "rebellion." That is because there was a painful
discomfort among the ranks of the "conquerors" who knew quite well
the real truth of the matter in which the Legionary Movement was only the victim.
One thing must be clear from the beginning: the uprising of
First, the Legionary Movement had no plausible motive to do it because:
On the other hand, the Legionary Movement was in power, and it had no
reason to want to overthrow General Antonescu. The duties of the two forces
present (the army and the Legionary Movement were perfectly defined.
The Legionary Movement, in accordance with its doctrine, faced a vast
education of the masses according to its principles, which would require
several years of arduous social, scholastic and cultural efforts. One can even
advance the argument that General Antonescu's presence as the head of the
government was considered indispensable. A patriotic, energetic man who kept a
tight rein on the armed forces, he could not help but play the desired role of
allowing the Legionary Movement to accomplish its preliminary projects and
prepare the administrative and political ranks it was lacking.
For the Legionary Movement, the essential problem was not the presence
or absence of General Antonescu at the head of the government. but the Communist danger which was an unceasing menace in
the East, and the actions of the political survivors of the old regime who were
maneuvering in the wings to regain their former status.
With this in mind. the reconciliation between the Legionnaires and the forces
supporting General Antonescu was fraternally accepted. For the same reason, a
host of privileges for the army was also accepted. It was necessary to maintain
internal harmony and to give evidence of complete understanding.
Why? Because the Legionaty Movement was perfectly aware that political
circumstances demanded a continual sacrifice on its part. The supreme
leader of the Legion was not preoccupied by being first in the government, and
even less by the idea of starting a revolution to take the place of a capable
ally. The most elementary principles of Legionary life precluded such a
solution. After years of persecution, irreparable losses and continual tension,
the Legionary Movement hoped for a period of relative tranquility to rebuild
itself and complete its mission.
The idea of breaking off collaboration with Gettetal Antonescu
especially under the circumstances of that time, and even less by force, never
existed in the leading circles of the Legionary Movement. Such an idea went
against the most intimate convictions of the Legionary Movement whose
fundamental principle is never to resort to brute force or to foul play: and
for the Legionary Movement principles are not slogans meant to trick people.
They are current, obligatory standards of conduct. It is only in submitting to
those standards that the Legionnaire becomes a different man.
In addition, in accepting entrance into a government directed by General
Antonescu, the Legionnaires had sworn fidelity to him, and nothing in the world
could make them become pejurors.
Finally, it must be taken into account that the new political order proclaimed
by the King and General Antonescu was based upon militant Legionary formations.
The State itself bore the name of "National Legionary State." Is it
humanly possible to revolt against oneself?
The most convincing evidence of Legionary innocence in this matter is
that the military forces that took part in the coup d'état under the direct
order of General Antonescu, encountered a massive but totally unorganized
resistance. It was, therefore resistance and not offensive attack or an
organized plan on the part of the Legionary forces. They simply answered the
military forces' attempts to seize administrations. prefectures,
city halls, police stations, etc. which were officially directed
by Legionnaires.
Logically. what revolutionary
force in the world would start a revolution without preparing it, without
having a plan of attack, without having a part of the army on its side, without
starting off it's "revolution" with a general offensive in several
parts of the country, and without trying before everything else, to seize some
members of the government in order to break constitutional continuity? That is
the least that could be demanded of such an action. Not one of these
characteristics can be attributed to the Legionary Movement, which only
defended itself against the deliberate action of General Antonescu. In
fairness, if the Legionary Movement had decided to take recourse to armed
action in order to eliminate the non-legionary Ministers from the government,
the famous "rebellion" would have had a different complexion and
would not have ended in the defeat of those accused of having stirred it up.
Then there is the question of who planned this revolt and why.
History written by the conquerors almost always presents the conquered
as the instigators of all the trouble: from evil intentions right up to the
secret preparation of the operation - from the unleashing of the action up to
the most odious crimes committed during the conflict. In this case, things were
no different. And since after this episode the Legionnaires were either in
Romanian prisons or in German concentration camps, it was impossible for them
to bring out the truth. And that truth absolves them of all guilt and heaps it
completely upon General Antonescu.
With the perspective of time, there is no longer any doubt in the minds
of those who took the trouble to dissect the events of the time. The entire
plot and execution of this said "affair" is on the General's
shoulders. It was he who decided to break the pact of collaboration with the
Legionary Movement and to bring about conflict permitting him to expel the
Legionnaires from power in order to become the absolute master of the
government and if possible, of the entire Movement. This was all the easier to
accomplish because the Legionnaires, in their sincerity and loyalty, did not
suspect anything and believed firmly in the political rapports established
between themselves and General Antonescu under the aegis of the National
Legionary State.
But why would the General have made such an illogical, anti-national,
hazardous decision? For one and only one reason - which for
millenia has brought about the worst conflicts and brought on the most
disastrous consequences: ambition. Those who knew him confess that one
could rarely encounter a more ambitious individual or one who longed more for
greatness or was more exclusive in command. It went to such a point that he was
nicknamed "the red dog" not as much because of the color of his hair
as because of his character. In a book which was laudatory of General Antonescu
and venomous toward the Legionary Movement, that person is described in the
following manner:
Antonescu did not owe his nickname "the red dog" to the
fidelity and devotion which are characteristic of the canine race. If he passed
for a dog, it was in the pejorative sense. "He bites when one expects it
the least" said the officers who had served under him. The first feeling
that he inspired was fear. His severity, his insensitivity which caused him not
even to know the meaning of the verb to pardon, certainly had a part in that.
But it must be added that he was not of our time: in him lived again a man of
the primitive kind which was only slowly domesticated through the ages. What
feeling other than fear could be caused by the anachronistic presence among us
of a direct descendant of the tricky, savage warriors of long ago? (4)
These lines are taken from a book extremely favorable to General
Antonescu, written by a person in his entourage who cannot be suspected of
sympathy for the Legionnaires. Caught in the web of his ambition, the General
could not accept or even envision, sharing a power which he considered
rightfully his. The presence of a Legionary hierarchy, and especially the
existence of Horia Sima as supreme leader of a political movement which escaped
his personal influence, weighed heavily upon him. There was one organization in
the State which, in spite of its loyalty, escaped him as an organized power and
foundation of the new regime.
General Antonescu would have liked for the Legion Movement to be
dependent on him and to recognize him as the sole leader of the Movement. He
even tried to win the sympathy of the Legionary masses by wearing the green
shirt and trying to talk and act like a Legionnaire,
while trying to outdo Horia Sima's personality. These were vain efforts, for he
in no way possessed the qualities indispensable to such a feat. He even went to
the point of demanding that the Legionary forces recognize him as supreme
leader of the Movement. This attempt also met with total failure.
Nothing was left for General Antonescu in order to satisfy his boundless
ambition but to eliminate the Legionary Movement by indirect means. The circumstances leant themselves
marvelously to such actions:
The contingencies were favorable to General Antonescu's intentions, as
the chain of political circumstances which ended the events of January 21,
1941, and in Antonescu's dictatorship shows. The facts interlock like pieces of
a puzzle, revealing the true character of the affair provoked and executed
under General Antonescu's orders.
The entire drama effectively unfolds between the 21st and 23rd of
January, 1941, when the legitimate Legionary reaction takes place against the
abuse of power perpetrated by the head of the government. However, the
antecedents are of such a nature that there is no longer any doubt about the
General's guilt in the preparation and execution of the coup d'état.
General Antonescu's entourage, made up of a military coterie (Colonel
Rioseanu at the head), a great part of the politicians ousted by the new
regime, and some camouflaged Communists had been counting for a long time on
the General's megalomaniac ambition. That was his weakness on which the
Legionary Movement's enemies played thoroughly.
Nothing was easier than to make him think that the presence of a supreme
Legionary leader diminished his authority and his prestige, and that the only
way to regain his "rights" was to eliminate that obstacle. The
"reason-excuses" for such an action were not lacking. It was a
post-revolutionary period full of enthusiasm, of painful adjustment, of
exaggerations, even of errors. In addition, it was not easy for a regime with a
Legionary doctrine to exist harmoniously next to General Antonescu, an
authoritarian, exclusive person, who considered any initiative not emanating
from him as a direct attack on his pre-eminent position. That
state of mind lead him to see the supreme Legionary leader as a
threatening shadow to his political grandeur.
Naturally, the others did not miss a chance to poison the fraternal relations
established between the two forces which made up the foundation of the
nationalist government. The Legionary Movement's enemies used three principal
means of preparing the General's coup d'état:
These three methods all bore their fruit and brought about an
irresolution in people's minds in regard to the Legionary Movement, just at the
moment when General Antonescu instigated his coup d'état. Furthermore, seen in
the light of consecutive facts, the coup d'état of January 21,1941 had been
premeditated quite far in advance (perhaps even from the first day that General
Antonescu and Horia Sima, leader of the Legionary Movement, were united in the
same government). In the anti-Legionary book, Mémorial Antonescu -- The Third
Man of the Axis, which appeared in 1950, the author states that following some
conflicts between the General and the Legionary Movement,
Under Berlin's pressure, Antonescu consented to keep the Legionnary
Movement in his government even though his faith in the possibility of
collaboration with it was definitively shaken. But from that moment on, he
waited only for a favorable opportunity to dismiss the Legionary Ministers. (5)
And later, when he recounts the preliminaries of the coup d'état (which
he calls the "Legionary rebellion"), the
author affirms however that for the army, "The disposition for the fight
had already been carefully studied." (6) In the same book are found
innumerable passages which demonstrate German complicity in ousting the Legionary
Movement in addition to the premeditation of coup d'état. Germany found it
easier to get along with General Antonescu than with the indomitable Legionary
Movement. Thus in the course of a visit with Hitler, in the midst of a
discussion on the modern revolution, General Antonescu made the following
remark:
"And what do you do with the fanatics, for it would be difficult to
make a renovating movement without them?"
"You have to get rid of them," replied Hitler without
hesitation, and he smilingly threw the General a look of complicity. (7)
Hitler ended his exposition with these sentences;
The man who allows himself to be dispossessed of his command - and he
stared at the General with insistance - proves that he does not know how to use
a machine gun. A 20th century dictator cannot be overthrown. If he falls, it is
because he committed suicide...
Back in Bucharest, Antonescu maintained absolute silence about the
matters discussed during the fifteen minutes he spent alone with Hitler. The
conversation which had taken place in the presence of witnesses gave the
impression that he had gotten satisfaction as far as his conflict with the
Legionary Movement was concerned ... (8)
There appears to be a kind of stabilization of positions and
expectations of the two sides. In certain regions there is even collaboration
between the army and the Legionnaires. Some local incidents have taken place in
Bucharest, Braila and Prahova where several Legionnaires but no military fell.
The most serious problem for General Antonescu arises on January 22,
1941, because of the attitude of the peasant masses. By the hundreds of
thousands they begin to penetrate into the cities to help the besieged
Legionnaires.
In the meantime, negotiations take place during the day between the
German representative, Neubacher and Horia Sima for the cessation of
hostilities. Result: The Legionary Movement agrees to stop all resistance.
General Antonescu pledges not to take any action against the Legionary Movement
or its militants. However, parallel to those negotiations, General Antonescu
increases his intrigues, his accusations against the Legionnaires and his
military offers to Hitler. All of those accusations only completed the series
of calumnies made in Berlin against the Legion and worsened the Legionary
position in Hitler's eyes. Under those circumstances, nothing could be more natural
than the order received during the night of January 22- 23 by the German troops
stationed in
Therefore, it was the Germans who determined the fate of General
Antonescu's coup d'état.
January 23, 1941: The troops being unable to rout the Legionnaires from
the official buildings they occupy, General Antonescu gives the order to employ
artillery against them. At the same time, the troops in the Capital receive
orders to fire into the crowd of passers-by who are automatically considered as
partisans of the Legionary Movement. Several hundred who had nothing to do with
politics or the Legionary Movement were killed. These were premeditated actions
which were to be charged to the Legionary Movement and presented to the Germans
as undisciplined and unconscionable actions on part of the Legonaires.
And yet at dawn, Horia Sima had ordered that the resistance cease and
that the buildings be evacuated. It should be pointed out that in many cases, the public buildings occupied by the Legionnaires
were first turned over to the German army, which then turned them over to
Romanian military authorities so that all possibility of conflict would be
entirely avoided.
The pact accepted by Horia Sima and General Antonescu before the German
diplomat was categorical: total liberty for Legionnaires. Nonetheless, that
pact was not respected by the General nor even considered by the Germans. A few
hours after the Legionnaires' capitulation, General Antonescu gave the order
for repression. The enactment of that repression registered several hundred
killed and tens of thousands arrested. The Legionary Movement entered a new
phase of persecution.
April 9, 1941: Horia Sima, leader of the Legionary Movement, arrives in
Berlin as an ordinary refugee.
April 18, 1941: The Legionary refugees in Germany are informed that they
will be confined from then on to compulsory quarters in certain areas (Rostock,
Berkenbruck, etc.) as a result of agreements between the German and
Romanian governments.
This work does not pretend to serve the immense flood of problems and
questions that the Legionary Movement's doctrine and behavior bring up. Its
intentions are much more modest and are confined to some aspects of a past
which has not succeeded in destroying the image of this organization so
different from all others.
The world is still unaware of many truths which were through the care of
some powers of the time. It is especially unaware of the positive. and therefore real and beneficial, side of nationalist
movements. They are habitually called Nazi, terrorist, dictatorial, etc.,
and all possible defects are imputed to them. The truth is something different,
and it must came out as soon possible. before the wind of hate which is blowing everywhere sweeps
away the last vestiges of good sense and humanity. The wave of calumny must
cease, and society must become aware that there are two sides to the coin.
The Legionary Movement is among those nationalistic movements that have
been shamelessly abused and upon which the most unlikely accusations have been
heaped even today. It is even surprising that it is possible to be so
persistent and repeat the same lies about problems which are either totally
invented or out-of-date for 30 or 40 years without saying one word about what
is really the essence of the Legionary Movement! These are unworthy methods
which play the game of the political speculators who hope to eliminate from
their way the forces which are conscious of the danger they constitute for the
future of the world.
As wisdom says, "patience, too, has its limits." As for us,
Legionnaires of the Legion of the Archangel Michael (Legionary Movement), we
have reached the limits of our patience. We have decided to put an end to all
the calumny, lies and absurd accusations which continue to be thrown at us with
a persistence worthy of a better cause.
This work is only a beginning, an introduction to the subject, to
establish certain points of reference. It does not treat any aspect in depth.
It only gives a synthesizing account of some pressing problems as well as a
chronological relation of the Legionary march in the midst of a politically
hostile world ravaged by the lack of morality and by spiritual decomposition.
It is, therefore, a focus on some truths.
The process of explaining the Legionary phenomenon was begun a long time
ago in European countries. Important works on the question have appeared in
French, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Italian. Only the Anglo-Saxon world
remained closed to these awarenesses. We hope that other works will follow to
complete this indispensible information.
The authors of the following article are both members of and avowed partisans
of the Legionary Movement. The history of the Romanian Legionary Movement has
most often been portrayed in an antagonistic light. We feel that this actively
partisan treatment, based as it is on Movement documents and extensive
interviews with Movement members, will help in its way as an alternate reading
and alternate primary source on this controversial period of Romanian and
European history.
|
1) |
Sburlati, Carlo, Codreanu, il Capitano, p.
63, Ed Volpe, Rome, 1970. (Translation by authors.) |
|
2) |
See: Corneliu Codreanu: Carticica sefului de cuib,
Ed. Omul Nou, |
|
3) |
See: Faust Bradescu: Les trois épreuves
légionnaires, Ed. Promethee,
Paris,1973. |
|
4) |
Mémorial Antonescu, p.
14, Coll. Documents Politiques, Ed. de la Couronne, Paris,1950. |
|
5) |
Mémorial
Antonescu,
ibid., p. 38. |
|
6) |
Mémorial
Antonescu,
ibid., p. 104. |
|
7) |
Mémorial
Antonescu,
ibid., p. 73. |
|
8) |
Mémorial
Antonescu,
ibid., p. 74. |