Iron Guard

   Founded in 1927, the Romanian fascist Iron Guard was characterized by extreme anti-Semitism matched only by that of the Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS). Meshing Christian mysticism with a cult of death, the Iron Guard appealed to the country’s peasantry, which constituted 80 percent of Romania’s population. A primary objective of the fascist group was to exclude Jews from all aspects of Romanian life as well as to deprive them of their civil rights. Iron Guard propaganda blamed Jews for all of the ills that afflicted Romania, and during the 1930s, the Iron Guard forged ties with the Nazis. Seeking to exploit the Iron Guard for their own political purposes, various Romanian governments invariably underestimated the movement’s appeal.

   In 1938, King Carol II dissolved Romania’s political parties in order to stymie the growing power of the Iron Guard and to maintain Romania’s neutrality as tensions intensified between Germany and Great Britain and France. Following Poland’s defeat at the hands of Germany in September 1939, Romania tilted toward the Third Reich. At the beginning of World War II, King Carol II found himself forced to appoint Ion Antonescu as prime minister and Horia Sima, the leader of the Iron Guard, to an important government position. Subsequently, the Iron Guard became the country’s only legal party and celebrated its accession to power two months later, when it commenced a campaign of terror against Romania’s Jewish population.

   The excesses of the Iron Guard brought a prompt response from Adolf Hitler, who required a stable and disciplined Romania in preparation for his attack against the Soviet Union in June 1941. Hitler supported both Antonescu’s suppression of the Iron Guard and his establishment of a military dictatorship in Romania. Owing his position to Hitler’s support, Antonescu proceeded to move Romania even closer to Nazi Germany. This new arrangement between the two countries resulted in Romania becoming “Hitler’s favorite ally.” Despite its fall from power in January 1941, the Iron Guard continued to exert its influence on Romania’s policy toward the Jews. In March 1941, Antonescu succumbed to pressure from the Iron Guard and enacted a series of laws that practically removed Jews from Romanian life. Ultimately, Romania’s participation in the Final Solution, which resulted in the extermination of 420,000 of Romania’s 770,000 Jews, can in part be explained by the radical anti-Semitism that the Iron Guard legitimized in Romania.