Exposed at an early age to anti-Semitism, Corneliu Z. Codreanu participated widely in anticommunist and anti-Semitic activities during his university years at Iasi. In 1922 he helped found the Association of Christian Students, where, from 1923 to 1927, he became affiliated with the League of National Christian Defense (LANC), headed by the anti-Semitic university professor A.C. Cuza. Codreanu was arrested and imprisoned in 1923 for threatening to kill "traitors"; arrested again on a murder charge in 1925, he was acquitted.
Corneliu
Z.Codreanu, "Captain" of the Iron Guard, 1927-1938
The
miserable failure of the LANC convinced Corneliu Codreanu of the necessity of
founding a different type of movement that was more in line with his own
beliefs. On the evening of June 24th
1927 Corneliu Codreanu issued his Order of the Day Number One, where he
announced the founding of the Legion of the Archangel Michael under his
leadership. The Legion was the only
fascist movement to be founded under the protective symbol of a religious icon
that had a profound impact on their ideology.
This ideology blended with nationalism to such an extent that it is
impossible to draw the line between them.
The
first few months of the Legion were unfavorable.
There was very slow progress in the formation of their central groups,
called nests, and the financial problems were enormous.
An Orthodox priest improved their finances by putting his nationalistic
paper at the legion’s disposal. By
1927 subscriptions stood at 2,586, which helped stabilize their finances
somewhat. In December 1929 the
Legion was more than two years old, and their religious activities were not
solving many of the groups objectives. Corneliu Codreanu admitted to himself
that in order to accomplish the group's objectives, like getting rid of the
large Jewish community within Rumania “only a political road was open.
A road that demanded that they get in touch with the broad masses.” (Talavera)
After going from town to town delivering speeches, Corneliu Codreanu
decided to found a combat organization to enroll what he called “militant
youth organizations to combat Jewish communism.” (Talavera)
These new subdivisions within the Legion were to be called the Iron
Guard. The masses, especially the young people and the peasants whose National
Peasant party was not well organized, found relief and promise in the charisma
and the nationalism offered by the Legion.
As democracy broke down and depression widened, the Iron Guard rapidly
increased its appeal and strength and the most dissatisfied and militant
elements of the Rumanian people joined its ranks. By July 1931, in an election in Neamt, Corneliu Codreanu was
elected to parliament. The Iron
Guard was becoming something more than a small group of moral people. In the new
elections of July 1932, amid a string of violence from the government towards
the Iron Guard, the Legion more than doubled its votes and won five mandates.
From
the fall of 1933 until the first months of 1941, the history of Rumania is
thoroughly connected with that of the Iron Guard.
In the years 1933-35, King Carol and the Prime Minister maintained
ambiguous relations with the Iron Guard. The
Legion could not be easily ignored with their growing numbers.
As the Legion grew in importance, it had to take stands on certain
practical issues and formed the Corps of Legionary Workers in 1936 and built
dozens of labor camps. In less than a year the Battalion of Legionary Commerce
opened a string of grocery stores,
restaurants and repair shops. Besides
the commercial endeavors there was also a Legion welfare organization.
And although many tried to stop the Iron Guard, its growth was enormous.
There were 4,200 Legionary nests by 1935; 12,000 by January 1937 and by the end
of the year there were 34,000. Despite
sporadic government abuses during the election, the Legion won 16.5% of the
vote; it received sixty-six deputies and became the third largest party in the land.
However
on February 12th 1938, King Carol suspended the democratic
constitution, dissolved all political parties and promulgated a fascist
constitution. Corneliu Codreanu’s end had come because King Carol, who
had a Jewish mistress and several close Jewish friends and advisors, believed
that the Iron Guard was a threat. On
November 24, a relative of the Minister of the Interior, Armand Calinescu, was
shot by Iron Guard members. Shortly
thereafter, on November 30th, Corneliu Codreanu was “shot while
trying to escape.” But in reality
he along with several other members of the Iron Guard where tied up, loaded into
a truck strangled and shot on a deserted road.
As retribution, the remaining Legionary hostages in Calinescu's camps took it upon themselves to destroy Calinescu for revenge, knowing full well that they were committing suicide. Indeed many conspirators were killed, but six legionaries succeeded in shooting the Premier and killing him, whereupon they turned themselves into police. Retribution was swift and violent. The conspirators were murdered and prefects in every county were order to execute three legionaries immediately. Their corpses were hung on poles, placed in public places and remained there for days to remind others of their deeds. In the concentration camps between 68 and 92 legionaries were murdered, but rather than dampen the spirit of the movement, it restored the faith of those who had been disenchanted.
Though
reinvigorated, the loss of leadership devastated the Iron Guard, which never
fully
recovered. Although it gained power on
September 1940, most of its strong leaders were dead.
The new commander of the Iron Guard was Horia Sima, who along with
General Antonescu formed a new government. Antonescu was appointed prime
minister on Sept. 4, 1940 after
Romania had lost one third of its territory, partitioned among the Axis powers
and the U.S.S.R. (June-September 1940). Antonescu
established a conservative dictatorship and openly embraced the Axis powers. His
"National Legionary State" briefly brought the Iron Guard to power;
but, after a period of Guardist revolutionary and criminal excesses, he
suppressed the organization with the help of Adolf Hitler (1941).
Ion Antonescu, middle, seen here with Horia Sima, left and Radu Mironovici.
Sources:
Nagy-Talavera, Nicholas M. The Green Shirts and Others: A History of Fascism in Hungary
and Romania. Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1970.
Seton-Watson, Hugh. Eastern Europe Between the Wars, 1918-1941. New York: Archon
Books, 1967.