Ion Antonescu

Ion Antonescu
Official portrait, 1942
Conducător of Romania
In office
6 September 1940 – 23 August 1944
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byPosition abolished
43rd Prime Minister of Romania
In office
5 September 1940 – 23 August 1944
MonarchsCarol II
Michael I
DeputyHoria Sima (1940–1941)
Mihai Antonescu (1941–1944)
Preceded byIon Gigurtu
Succeeded byConstantin Sănătescu
Additional positions held in the Government
Minister of War
In office
22 September 1941 – 23 January 1942
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byIosif Iacobici
Succeeded byConstantin Pantazi
In office
4 September 1940 – 27 January 1941
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byConstantin Nicolescu
Succeeded byIosif Iacobici
In office
28 December 1937 – 31 March 1938
Prime MinisterOctavian Goga
Miron Cristea
Preceded byConstantin Ilasievici
Succeeded byGheorghe Argeșanu
Minister of Culture and Religious Affairs
(Acting)
In office
11 November 1941 – 5 December 1941
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byRadu R. Rosetti
Succeeded byIon Petrovici
Minister of Foreign Affairs
(Acting)
In office
27 January 1941 – 29 June 1941
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byMihail R. Sturdza
Succeeded byMihai Antonescu
Minister of Air Transport and Marine
(Acting)
In office
10 February 1938 – 30 March 1938
Prime MinisterMiron Cristea
Preceded byRadu Irimescu
Succeeded byPaul Teodorescu
Chief of the Romanian General Staff
In office
1 December 1933 – 11 December 1934
MonarchCarol II
Preceded byConstantin Lăzărescu
Succeeded byNicolae Samsonovici
Personal details
Born(1882-06-14)14 June 1882[1]
Pitești, Argeș County, Kingdom of Romania
Died1 June 1946(1946-06-01) (aged 63)
Jilava, Ilfov County, Kingdom of Romania
Cause of deathExecution by firing squad
Political partyNone[a]
Spouse
(m. 1927⁠–⁠1946)
ProfessionSoldier
Known forRecapture of Bessarabia and Bukovina
NicknameCâinele Roșu ("Red Dog")
Military service
AllegianceKingdom of Romania
Branch/serviceRomanian Army
Years of service1904–1944
RankMarshal of Romania
CommandsCommander-in-Chief of the Romanian Armed Forces
Battles/wars
See list
Awards
Criminal conviction
Criminal statusExecuted
Conviction(s)War crimes
Crimes against peace
Crimes against humanity
Treason
TrialRomanian People's Tribunals
Criminal penaltyDeath
Details
VictimsRomanian Jews
Ukrainian Jews
Romani people
a. ^ Formally allied with the Iron Guard (1940–41)

Ion Antonescu (/ˌæntəˈnɛsk/; Romanian: [i'on antoˈnesku] ; 14 June [O.S. 2 June] 1882 – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and marshal who presided over two successive wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II. Having been responsible for facilitating the Holocaust in Romania, he was tried for war crimes and executed in 1946.

A Romanian Army career officer who made his name during the 1907 peasants' revolt and the World War I Romanian campaign, the antisemitic Antonescu sympathized with far-right and fascist politics. He was a military attaché to France and later Chief of the General Staff, briefly serving as Defense Minister in the National Christian cabinet of Octavian Goga as well as the subsequent First Cristea cabinet, in which he also served as Air and Marine Minister. During the late 1930s, his political stance brought him into conflict with King Carol II and led to his detainment. Antonescu rose to political prominence during the political crisis of 1940, and established the National Legionary State, an uneasy partnership with Horia Sima of the Iron Guard. After entering Romania into an alliance with Nazi Germany, he eliminated the Guard during the Legionary Rebellion of 1941. In addition to being Prime Minister, he served as his own Foreign Minister and Defense Minister. Soon after Romania joined the Axis in Operation Barbarossa, recovering Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, Antonescu also became Marshal of Romania.

An atypical figure among Holocaust perpetrators, Antonescu enforced policies independently responsible for the deaths of as many as 400,000 people, most of them Bessarabian, Ukrainian and Romanian Jews, as well as Romanian Romani. The regime's complicity in the Holocaust combined pogroms and mass murders such as the Odessa massacre with ethnic cleansing, and systematic deportations to occupied Transnistria. The system in place was nevertheless characterized by singular inconsistencies, prioritizing plunder over killing, showing leniency toward most Jews in the Old Kingdom, and ultimately refusing to adopt the Final Solution. This was made possible by the fact that Romania, as a junior ally of Nazi Germany, was not occupied by the Wehrmacht and preserved a degree of political autonomy.

Aerial attacks on Romania by the Allies in 1944 and heavy casualties on the Eastern Front prompted Antonescu to open peace negotiations with the Allies, which were inconclusive. On 23 August 1944, King Michael I led a coup d'état against Antonescu, who was arrested; after the war he was convicted of war crimes, and executed in June 1946. His involvement in the Holocaust was officially reasserted and condemned following the 2003 Wiesel Commission report.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference d37 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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