DOCSLIB.ORG

UC Riverside UC Riverside Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
UC Riverside UC Riverside Electronic Theses and Dissertations UC Riverside UC Riverside Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The Romanian Orthodox Church During World War II Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8wr74725 Author Pearce, William David Publication Date 2014 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE The Romanian Orthodox Church During World War II A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History by William David Pearce August 2014 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Georg Michels, Chairperson Dr. Ann Goldberg Dr. Kiril Tomoff Copyright by William David Pearce 2014 The Dissertation of William David Pearce is approved: Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside Acknowledgements I would like to thank first and foremost my wife for supporting me through graduate school. Without her this dissertation never would have happened. I would like to thank the University of California Riverside’s Department of History for taking me on even though I was not necessarily the best fit. Thank you to Dr. Kiril Tomoff and Dr. Randy Head for getting me here in the first place. Thank you to Dr. Ann Goldberg for her help on this project. Thank you to Dr. Tomoff also for his help on this dissertation. Special thanks to Dr. Georg Michels, who took me as a new graduate student and has supported me so much as my advisor these several years. Thank you to all the faculty at UCR who have helped me over the years. Thank you to Dr. Radu Ioanid for opening doors for me even though we have never met. Thank you to everyone in Romania who helped me with the archival research. Special thanks to my great-grandmother, Grandma Faye, who passed away shortly after my return from the archives. I used bonds she had given me in my childhood to help pay for my travels. Thank you to my parents for always supporting me. iv Dedicated to Theresa v ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION The Romanian Orthodox Church During World War II by William David Pearce Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Program in History University of California, Riverside, August 2014 Dr. Georg Michels, Chairperson This dissertation is an examination of records relating to the Romanian Orthodox Church during the Second World War. Using primarily resources from The Romanian National Archives in Bucharest, the research focuses primarily on the decisions made by the Church’s leaders in the Holy Synod. The Romanian government leading up to the war was a dictatorship led by a king and had a close relationship with the Church. During the war the Church remained close to the central government under Marshall Ion Antonescu, who was an ally to Germany’s Hitler. Publicly the Church was one of Antonescu’s greatest supporters. The Church’s leaders rationalized supporting the Romanian government before and during Antonescu’s regime using popular notions of Romanian nationalism. Antonescu reciprocated the Church’s support with laws and policies that favored the Romanian Orthodox Church legally and financially above other vi confessions. One of these policies was to put restrictions on certain minority religious groups and outlawing them. Their resources were confiscated and often gifted to local Orthodox parishes. Another important law prohibited Jews from becoming Christians. The Orthodox Church’s implementation of this law demonstrates that the Church supported the Romanian government’s anti-Jewish philosophy and policies. The actions of other Christians who ignored the prohibition are used as contrasting examples to the Orthodox Church’s policy. While the Church did not participate with the Romanian government and military in perpetrating the Holocaust, the Church’s strong presence in Transnistria indicates that the Church’s clergy had direct knowledge of the violence there. The failure to take action in this area represents a moral failure by an institution that touted itself as Romania’s moral compass. Based on the Church’s wartime actions it was complicit in the Antonescu regime’s crimes. Following the Antonescu regime’s collapse in August 1944 the Romanian Orthodox Church quickly reversed its stance on many of its wartime policies. vii Table of Contents Preface……………………………………………………………………………ix Introduction………………………………………………………………………1 Chapter 1: The Romanian People’s Church……………………………………...25 Chapter 2: The Romanian Orthodox Church and the Romanian Government…...45 Chapter 3: The Anti-Sectarian Campaign………………………………………...88 Chapter 4: Law 711: The Romanian Orthodox Church and Romanian Jews…….123 Chapter 5: The Church on the Eastern Front……………………………………..164 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………..187 Appendix…………………………………………………………………………197 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………205 viii Preface When writing about the Romanian Orthodox Church during the Second World War I refer to the Church generally and not individually, primarily addressing the Church’s leadership and not the Church’s membership. The archival materials I use do not tell the whole story of course. When planning my trip to the archives in winter 2012 I also tried to contact the Romanian Orthodox Church Archives. I emailed the people listed on the Church’s website that I was doing research on the Romanian Orthodox Church and that I would like to know if I could meet with an archivist when I was in Romania. I explained that although I planned on doing my research at the National Archives I thought that going to the Church’s archives would be even more beneficial to historical research about the Church. I justified that my research would be beneficial because there is so little published on the Romanian Orthodox Church in America. I explained I was eager and looking forward to meeting them. No one responded. I thought well maybe they think this is a joke. After all, no one has ever heard of me and why would some guy claiming to be from California go to Romania in the winter? Internet scams are quite common so maybe they thought I was a hoax. So when I arrived in Romania I called the archivist in Bucharest. I left several voicemail messages on what was indeed his phone as he identified himself in his voicemail box. I even purposefully put on an American accent while making several grammatical flubs on purpose in one message while speaking Romanian to make sure he could hear that I was telling the truth. There were no returned calls or messages. When I went to the address listed I was told that they had no idea what I was talking about and ix one person pretended not to understand me. Măi omule, vorbesc româneşte! [Hey man, I speak Romanian!] I should not have expected anything else. When I arrived at the Romanian National Archives, thanks to Dr. Radu Ioanid’s help the director met with me for an hour. We spoke about my project and he told me not to expect any cooperation from the Church. He explained that the National Archives had difficulties working with the Church and that even he found it frustrating. The wonderful ladies who worked in the office and were so helpful also were skeptical I would have success convincing anyone at the Church to let me in the Church’s archive. When speaking to some of the other researchers at the archives they spoke bluntly. Every older professor explained that there was no way the Church would help me. One of the older gentlemen tended to have the same grueling schedule as mine and often talked to me about my project in the coat hall. He told me he hoped that I could publish it because if any Romanian historian published what I was finding it would be career suicide. I cannot say it would be career suicide, but certainly it would ruffle a lot of feathers. Some of what I have written here may seem like a harsh criticism or analysis. I assure you it is not. The fact is that the Romanian Orthodox Church considers itself the direct descendant of the Ancient Church established by Christ’s apostles and that it bases its teachings on those found in the Bible. The Church sees itself as the Kingdom of God on the earth, as do most Christian confessions. And so it is expected to teach certain principles and behave in a certain way based on its own high standards. Should the Romanian Orthodox Church or any other Christian confession fail to meet these x standards then it should expect criticism, even from outsiders. These criticisms are based solely on the events found in the documents used and the Church’s own interpretation of what it means to be Christian. I hope that someday the Romanian Orthodox Church will give full archival access to outside scholars without worrying about its reputation. xi Introduction This dissertation examines the activities of the Romanian Orthodox Church during the Second World War with a special emphasis on the Church’s involvement in the persecution of the Romanian Jewry and religious minorities, and the Church’s close relationship with the Antonescu regime. It focuses on the Church generally as an institution, which necessitates a focus on the Church’s leadership, policies on interactions with other sects or faiths, and church leadership attitudes that affected the situation of Romanian Jews and other religious minorities. This is the first major study to focus solely on the Church during World War II. The historiography for Romania in all cases points to the Church as being adaptively supportive of the Romanian government from the end of World War I to the end of the socialist regime; even in the last days before Ceauşescu’s demise Patriarch Teoctist publicly gave his support to the regime in an attempt to retain the Church’s privileges given by the socialist regime vis-à-vis other confessions.1 But there are no studies that focus only on the Church during World War II.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Three Phases of Arendt's Theory of Totalitarianism*
    The Three Phases of Arendt's Theory of Totalitarianism* X~1ANNAH Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism, first published in 1951, is a bewilderingly wide-ranging work, a book about much more than just totalitarianism and its immediate origins.' In fact, it is not really about those immediate origins at all. The book's peculiar organization creates a certain ambiguity regarding its intended subject-matter and scope.^ The first part, "Anti- semitism," tells the story of tbe rise of modern, secular anti-Semi- tism (as distinct from what the author calls "religious Jew-hatred") up to the turn of the twentieth century, and ends with the Drey- fus affair in Erance—a "dress rehearsal," in Arendt's words, for things still worse to come (10). The second part, "Imperialism," surveys an assortment of pathologies in the world politics of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, leading to (but not direcdy involving) the Eirst World War. This part of the book examines the European powers' rapacious expansionist policies in Africa and Asia—in which overseas investment became the pre- text for raw, openly racist exploitation—and the concomitant emergence in Central and Eastern Europe of "tribalist" ethnic movements whose (failed) ambition was the replication of those *Earlier versions of this essay were presented at the University of Virginia and at the conference commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of The Origins of Toudilarianism hosted by the Hannah Arendt-Zentrum at Carl Ossietzky University in Oldenburg, Ger- many. I am grateful to Joshua Dienstag and Antonia Gnmenberg. respectively, for arrang- ing these (wo occasions, and also to the inembers of the audience at each—especially Lawrie Balfour, Wolfgang Heuer, George KJosko, Allan Megili, Alfons Sollner, and Zoltan Szankay—for their helpful commeiiLs and criticisms.
    [Show full text]
  • Selected Records Related to A.C. Cuza and the National Christian Party RG-25.059M
    Selected records related to A.C. Cuza and the National Christian Party RG-25.059M United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW Washington, DC 20024-2126 Tel. (202) 479-9717 e-mail: [email protected] Descriptive summary Title: Selected records related to A.C. Cuza and the National Christian Party Dates: 1834-1948 (inclusive) 1934-1943 (bulk) Accession number: 2009.267 Creator: Partidul Naţional Creştin. Liga Apărării Naţional Creştine Extent: 7,535 digital images 7 microfilm reels (digitized) Repository: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives, 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW, Washington, DC 20024-2126 Languages: Romanian Scope and content of collection Contains records relating to A. C. Cuza, a leading anti-Semite in Romania and the leader of the National Christian Party (PNC) which was in power December 1937 to February 1938. Also contains records relating to Istrate Micescu, the Justice Minister of the PNC administration. Administrative Information Restrictions on access: No restrictions on access. Restrictions on reproduction and use: Restrictions on use. Fair use only. Use only for scientific purposes (not for commercial use) Preferred citation: Preferred citation for USHMM archival collections; consult the USHMM website for guidance. Acquisition information: Source of acquisition is the Arhivele Naţionale ale României (Romanian National Archives), Fond personal A.C. Cuza (inv. 1139) and Fond personal Istrate Miscescu. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received the collection via the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum International Archives Program in November, 2009. Existence and location of originals: Arhivele Naţionale ale României Historical note The National-Christian Defense League (Romanian: Liga Apararii National Crestine or LANC) was a virulently anti-Semitic political party of Romania formed by A.
    [Show full text]
  • Rise of Totalitarianism Ch
    RISE OF TOTALITARIANISM CH. 14.1-Revolutions in Russia Objective Review 1. What led to the Russian Revolution? 2. What was the March Revolution? 3. What were Lenin’s reforms? Bolshevik Revolution • Lenin returns: Lenin in disguise, Petrograd, April 1917 w/o beard – Germany knows Lenin would stir unrest • Hurt Russian war effort • Returns in armored RR car, under German protection –* “Peace, Land, and Bread” Bolsheviks in Power • Red Guard – Armed Bolshevik enforcers • Arrest Provisional govt. officials, later disappear… • Royal family Murdered • * Russians support Bolsheviks -Call for Immediate peace with the Germans in WWI – Peasants receive farmland – Workers control factories – March 1918 sign Treaty of Brest-Litovsk Civil War Rages in Russia 1918-1920 • Red Army 1920 Lenin cleanses the earth – Bolsheviks • Vladimir Lenin is leader – Leon Trotsky military genius – Joseph Stalin political genius • White Army – Any one who was not a Bolshevik – Western nations, U.S. (sent aid) • Bolsheviks victorious • 14 million die (Due to Revolution) Lenin Restores Order • Lenin needs to restore industry • 1921 New Economic Policy (NEP) – Major industries, banks, ran by the state – Some small businesses, foreign investment encouraged – 1928 econ. back to pre- WWI levels Political Reforms • Nationalism seen as a threat Karl Marx 1818-1883 – Russia organized into small, self ran republics Known as: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics AKA: USSR, or Soviet Union • Bolshevik party becomes the Communist Party – Idea from Karl Marx – Est. dictatorship of the Communist Party not of the proletariat like Marx said Stalin Becomes dictator • 1922 Lenin suffers Leon Trotsky stroke – Who will take power? • Trotsky or Stalin • 1922-1929 struggle Joseph Stalin ensues – 1929 Stalin (political genius) forces Trotsky into exile – Stalin becomes leader (dictator) ET FINISH ALL NOTES 55…#13…BUT WAIT FOR MORE INSTRUCTIONS! Totalitarianism Chapter 14, Section 2 What is Totalitarianism? • A government that takes total control over every aspect of public and private life.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rise of Totalitarianism, the Start of World War II and the US Response
    The Rise of Totalitarianism, the Start of World War II and the US Response Overview Students will gain an understanding of the conditions that allowed totalitarian regimes to come to power throughout the world following World War I. Through a study of four nations (Russia, Italy, Germany, and Japan) students will gain insight into how the regimes came to power and how they maintained that power. Students will then be responsible for conveying what they have learned about their assigned regime by participating in a jigsaw activity. The lesson culminates with a debate between “isolationists” and “interventionists” analyzing the United States’ responses to the rise of Totalitarian regimes. Grade 11 NC Essential Standards for American History II • AH2.H.2.2: Evaluate key turning points since the end of Reconstruction in terms of their lasting impact • AH2.H.6.2: Explain the reasons for United States involvement in global wars and the influence each involvement had on international affairs • AH2.H.7.1: Explain the impact of wars on American politics since Reconstruction Materials • Election Ballots (attached) • “Rise of Totalitarianism Jigsaw” handout (attached) • “Rise of Totalitarianism in Russia, Italy, Germany, and Japan” handouts (attached) • “Rise of Totalitarianism” Viewing Guide (attached) • “Totalitarian Aggression and the Start of World War II” Power Point, available in PDF format at the Consortium’s Database of K-12 Resources o To view this PDF as a projectable presentation, save the file, click “View” in the top menu bar of the file, and select “Full Screen Mode” o To request an editable PPT version of this presentation, send a request to [email protected] • “Totalitarian Aggression and the Start of World War II” Guided Notes (attached) • Isolationists v.
    [Show full text]
  • Was Hitler a Darwinian?
    Was Hitler a Darwinian? Robert J. Richards The University of Chicago The Darwinian underpinnings of Nazi racial ideology are patently obvious. Hitler's chapter on "Nation and Race" in Mein Kampf discusses the racial struggle for existence in clear Darwinian terms. Richard Weikart, Historian, Cal. State, Stanislaus1 Hamlet: Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape of a camel? Shakespeare, Hamlet, III, 2. 1. Introduction . 1 2. The Issues regarding a Supposed Conceptually Causal Connection . 4 3. Darwinian Theory and Racial Hierarchy . 10 4. The Racial Ideology of Gobineau and Chamberlain . 16 5. Chamberlain and Hitler . 27 6. Mein Kampf . 29 7. Struggle for Existence . 37 8. The Political Sources of Hitler’s Anti-Semitism . 41 9. Ethics and Social Darwinism . 44 10. Was the Biological Community under Hitler Darwinian? . 46 11. Conclusion . 52 1. Introduction Several scholars and many religiously conservative thinkers have recently charged that Hitler’s ideas about race and racial struggle derived from the theories of Charles Darwin (1809-1882), either directly or through intermediate sources. So, for example, the historian Richard Weikart, in his book From Darwin to Hitler (2004), maintains: “No matter how crooked the road was from Darwin to Hitler, clearly Darwinism and eugenics smoothed the path for Nazi ideology, especially for the Nazi 1 Richard Weikart, “Was It Immoral for "Expelled" to Connect Darwinism and Nazi Racism?” (http://www.discovery.org/a/5069.) 1 stress on expansion, war, racial struggle, and racial extermination.”2 In a subsequent book, Hitler’s Ethic: The Nazi Pursuit of Evolutionary Progress (2009), Weikart argues that Darwin’s “evolutionary ethics drove him [Hitler] to engage in behavior that the rest of us consider abominable.”3 Other critics have also attempted to forge a strong link between Darwin’s theory and Hitler’s biological notions.
    [Show full text]
  • Rethinking Antifascism: History, Memory and Politics, 1922 to the Present Hugo Garcia, Mercedes Yusta, Xavier Tabet, Cristina Climaco
    Rethinking Antifascism: History, Memory and Politics, 1922 to the Present Hugo Garcia, Mercedes Yusta, Xavier Tabet, Cristina Climaco To cite this version: Hugo Garcia, Mercedes Yusta, Xavier Tabet, Cristina Climaco. Rethinking Antifascism: History, Memory and Politics, 1922 to the Present. Hugo Garcia, Mercedes Yusta Xavier Tabet, Cristina Climaco. France. 2016, Rethinking Antifascism: History, Memory and Politics, 1922 to the Present, 978-1-78533-138-1. hal-01493484 HAL Id: hal-01493484 https://hal-univ-paris8.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01493484 Submitted on 21 Mar 2017 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. • Introduction BEYOND REVISIONISM Rethinking Antifascism in the Twenty-First Century Hugo García, Mercedes Yusta, Xavier Tabet and Cristina Clímaco This book is the outcome of a collective effort by eighteen historians of seven different nationalities, and arose from historiographical question- ings with evident political implications. It has its origins in the realisa- tion, which stems from our research into three Mediterranean countries where antifascism played a leading role in the interwar period (Spain, Italy and Portugal), that the history of this movement, transnational while at the same time located within specific national contexts, has to a great extent yet to be written.
    [Show full text]
  • Religiosity and Devotion in Educational Actions
    RELIGIOSITY AND DEVOTION IN EDUCATIONAL ACTIONS Nicolae Bolea Abstract: The material has been structured following these aspects: Preliminaries – a general presentation of religious education in Romania and an emphasis on didactic imperatives nowadays. I. Secular educators involved in religious education; emphasis on their support and involvement. II. Religion in the postmodern world; an attempt to approach some of the avalanches of challenges addressed to the Christian Church and to religious education. III. The Church and education also represent an attempt to analyse society and the effort of the Church facing a society growingly influenced by the phenomenon of secularism. IV. This is what God established for us –a plea for the Romanian people, born Christian and the struggle to survive under the protection of the Church through the effort of religious education. Keywords: education, religion, school, christian, Church. Preliminarii În centrul învăţământului religios este nevoie de creare a unui climat bazat pe valori, astfel încât actul educativ să devină o mărturie vie a apostolatului în folosul semenilor. În ciuda pluralismului cultural, demnitatea şi unicitatea fiecărei persoane trebuie să se regăsească în miezul proiectului educaţional inspirat de valorile Evangheliei. Se prezintă aşadar provocarea de a deveni ora de religie primitoare şi fraternă, unde fiecare să se simtă binevenit, acceptat şi respectat, unde nimeni să nu ajungă marginalizat sau exclus, iar ora de religie să-i contamineze pe toţi, în sensul nobil al cuvântului – în PhD, Teacher at the „St. Simion Ştefan” Orthodox Theological Seminary, Alba Iulia, Romania; School Inspector for Religion at the Alba County School Inspectorate. 371 Young People in Church and Society egală măsură pe cei dinăuntru şi pe cei dinafară – de această bunătate şi fraternitate, generând astfel pace, dreptate, milă şi caritate.
    [Show full text]
  • The “CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM” of Nichifor Crainic
    The “CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM” of Nichifor Crainic reflected in his work from the th4 decade of the 20th century Iuliu-Marius Morariu The “CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM” of Nichifor Crainic reflected in his work from the th4 decade of the 20th century Presa Universitară Clujeană 2020 Referenți științifici: Prof. Univ. Dr. Inocent-Mária Vladimír Szaniszló OP, Universitatea Pontificală Angelicum, Roma Pr. Lect. Univ. Dr. Daniel Aron Alic, Universitatea „Eftimie Murgu”, Reșița Design: Dan G. Văscu © 2020. Autorul volumului. Toate drepturile rezervate. Reproducerea integrală sau parțială a textului, prin orice mijloace, fără acordul autorului, este interzisă și se pedep- sește conform legii. ISBN 978-606-37-0819-0 Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai Presa Universitară Clujeană Director: Codruța Săcelean Str. Hasdeu nr. 51 400371 Cluj-Napoca, România Tel./Fax: (+40) – 264 – 597. 401 e-mail: [email protected] http://www.editura.ubbcluj.ro/ Iuliu-Marius Morariu (hieromonk Maxim) is an Orthodox priest, PhD in Orthodox Theology in “Babeș-Bolyai” University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania and a PhD. Candidate in Social Sciences in Angelicum Pontifical University in Rome. He graduated as a vale- dictorian the Faculty of Orthodox Theology from the aforemen- tioned University in Cluj-Napoca (BA in 2014, MA in 2016) and also the Faculty of History and Philosophy there (BA in 2014, MA, 2016). He also graduated the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Ge- neva University (2018) and received a MA title in Social Sciences in Angelicum Pontifical University in Rome (2020). He published, edited, coordinated and translated 26 books, more than 300 stud- ies and articles in Romania and abroad and more than 150 book reviews.
    [Show full text]
  • Robert O. Paxton-The Anatomy of Fascism -Knopf
    Paxt_1400040949_8p_all_r1.qxd 1/30/04 4:38 PM Page b also by robert o. paxton French Peasant Fascism Europe in the Twentieth Century Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order, 1940–1944 Parades and Politics at Vichy Vichy France and the Jews (with Michael R. Marrus) Paxt_1400040949_8p_all_r1.qxd 1/30/04 4:38 PM Page i THE ANATOMY OF FASCISM Paxt_1400040949_8p_all_r1.qxd 1/30/04 4:38 PM Page ii Paxt_1400040949_8p_all_r1.qxd 1/30/04 4:38 PM Page iii THE ANATOMY OF FASCISM ROBERT O. PAXTON Alfred A. Knopf New York 2004 Paxt_1400040949_8p_all_r1.qxd 1/30/04 4:38 PM Page iv this is a borzoi book published by alfred a. knopf Copyright © 2004 by Robert O. Paxton All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Distributed by Random House, Inc., New York. www.aaknopf.com Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. isbn: 1-4000-4094-9 lc: 2004100489 Manufactured in the United States of America First Edition Paxt_1400040949_8p_all_r1.qxd 1/30/04 4:38 PM Page v To Sarah Paxt_1400040949_8p_all_r1.qxd 1/30/04 4:38 PM Page vi Paxt_1400040949_8p_all_r1.qxd 1/30/04 4:38 PM Page vii contents Preface xi chapter 1 Introduction 3 The Invention of Fascism 3 Images of Fascism 9 Strategies 15 Where Do We Go from Here? 20 chapter 2 Creating Fascist Movements 24 The Immediate Background 28 Intellectual, Cultural, and Emotional
    [Show full text]
  • FINAL REPORT International Commission on the Holocaust In
    FINAL REPORT of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania Presented to Romanian President Ion Iliescu November 11, 2004 Bucharest, Romania NOTE: The English text of this Report is currently in preparation for publication. © International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania. All rights reserved. DISTORTION, NEGATIONISM, AND MINIMALIZATION OF THE HOLOCAUST IN POSTWAR ROMANIA Introduction This chapter reviews and analyzes the different forms of Holocaust distortion, denial, and minimalization in post-World War II Romania. It must be emphasized from the start that the analysis is based on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s definition of the Holocaust, which Commission members accepted as authoritative soon after the Commission was established. This definition1 does not leave room for doubt about the state-organized participation of Romania in the genocide against the Jews, since during the Second World War, Romania was among those allies and a collaborators of Nazi Germany that had a systematic plan for the persecution and annihilation of the Jewish population living on territories under their unmitigated control. In Romania’s specific case, an additional “target-population” subjected to or destined for genocide was the Romany minority. This chapter will employ an adequate conceptualization, using both updated recent studies on the Holocaust in general and new interpretations concerning this genocide in particular. Insofar as the employed conceptualization is concerned, two terminological clarifications are in order. First, “distortion” refers to attempts to use historical research on the dimensions and significance of the Holocaust either to diminish its significance or to serve political and propagandistic purposes. Although its use is not strictly confined to the Communist era, the term “distortion” is generally employed in reference to that period, during which historical research was completely subjected to controls by the Communist Party’s political censorship.
    [Show full text]
  • The Legion of the Archangel Michael: the Past and Present Appeal of Decentralized Fascism
    Providence College DigitalCommons@Providence History & Classics Undergraduate Theses History & Classics Fall 2020 The Legion of the Archangel Michael: The Past and Present Appeal of Decentralized Fascism Andrew Bennet Gillen Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.providence.edu/history_undergrad_theses Part of the Cultural History Commons, European History Commons, and the Political History Commons The Legion of the Archangel Michael: The Past and Present Appeal of Decentralized Fascism By Andrew Bennet Gillen HIS 490 History Honors Thesis Department of History Providence College Fall 2020 ii CONTENTS INTRODUCTION. NEW APPEAL ………………………………… 1 CHAPTER 1. IDEAOLOGY OF THE IRON GUARD……………...13 CHAPTER 2. FITTING IN: 1931-41…………………………………37 CONCLUSION. COMPARISONS……………………………………52 BIBLIOGRPAHY……………………………………………………...69 iii INTRODUCTION: NEW APPEAL In August of 2017, far right groups of the United States of America, such as the Proud Boys, Christogenea, Vanguard America, and the Global Crusader Knights, among others, gathered in an unprecedented fashion at Charlottesville, Virginia.1 These groups believed that they were given the power to avert the changes of more liberal forces in the country. One of the organizers of the event, Matthew Heimbach, wore a shirt depicting Corneliu Codreanu.2 Codreanu was the charismatic founder, and to some extent heart and soul, of the Legion of the Archangel Michael (LAM), or the Iron Guard, as it was frequently referred to in the English speaking world,the main fascist force in Romanian politics
    [Show full text]
  • Trumpismby Alexander Reid Ross
    Trumpismby Alexander Reid Ross itsgoingdown.org The following pieces were written by Alexander Reid Ross and originally published as a semi-regular column between Novem- ber 2015 and April 2016 on It’s Going Down. “Rethinking Tactics & Strategies” features contributions from Ben Jones. Alexander Reid Ross is a moderator of the Earth First! News- wire, a contributor to Life During Wartime: Resisting Counter-In- surgency and author of the forthcoming book Against the Fascist Creep (AK Press). Visit It’s Going Down for anarchist news and analysis. itsgoingdown.org I trump the populist II the making of an american fascist III propoganda of the deal IV conservative revolution V ...or get crushed everytime VI what hath the donald wrought? Finale rethinking tactics and strategies I Trump The Populist atthew Lyons’s recent piece On Trump, Fascism, and Stale Social Science Mon the blog Three Way Fight condemns the stream of reports linking current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to fascism. Join- ing with Chip Berlet, who published a similar piece in Fairness and Accura- cy in Reporting (FAIR), Lyons declares that Trump is a right-wing populist, not a fascist, per se. For those of a diferent opinion, Lyons reserves blunt reprove, accusing them in the title of“Stale Social Science.” Since he links to my article, “Trump the Fascist,” published in Counterpunch on the same day David Duke commended the Don, I find his article merits response. Firstly, my article’s title is a broad stroke, which perhaps may have under- mined a careful reading of the actual article, itself.
    [Show full text]