"the emerging Communist dictatorship. The name """"Garda de Fier"""" is also used by a small, Romanian nationalist group, active in the post-communist era. There are also other contemporary far-right organizations in Romania, such as (""For the Motherland"") and Noua Dreaptă (""The New Right""). Considering itself the heir of the Iron Guard's political philosophy, Noua Dreaptă embraces legionnairism and has a personality cult for Corneliu Codreanu but they also use the celtic cross, which is not associated with legionnairism. Iron Guard The Iron Guard ( ) is the name most commonly given to a far-right movement and political party in Romania"
"Iron Guard hoped to encompass any political faction, regardless of its position on the political spectrum, that wished to combat the rise of communism in the USSR. Unlike other fascist movements of the time, the Iron Guard was purposely anti-Semitic, promoting the idea that ""Rabbinical aggression against the Christian world"" in ""unexpected 'protean forms': Freemasonry, Freudianism, homosexuality, atheism, Marxism, Bolshevism, and the civil war in Spain"", were undermining society. On December 10, 1933, the Romanian Liberal Prime Minister Ion Duca banned the Iron Guard. After a brief period of arrests, beatings, torture and even killings (twelve members of the Legionary"
"March 1930 Codreanu formed the ""Iron Guard"" (""Garda de Fier"") as a paramilitary political branch of the Legion; this name eventually came to refer to the Legion itself. Later, in June 1935, the Legion changed its official name to the ""Totul pentru Ţară"" party, literally ""Everything For the Country"" Party, but commonly translated as ""Everything for the Fatherland"" or occasionally ""Everything for the Motherland"". Historian Stanley G. Payne writes in his study of Fascism, ""The Legion was arguably the most unusual mass movement of interwar Europe."" The Legion contrasted with most other European fascist movements of the period, especially when"
"merged with the National Agrarian Party to form the National Christian Party (NCP). The quasi-mystical fascist Iron Guard was an earlier LANC offshoot that, even more than these other parties, exploited nationalist feelings, fear of communism, and resentment of alleged foreign and Jewish domination of the economy. Already, the Iron Guard had embraced the politics of assassinations, and various governments had reacted more or less in kind. On December 10, 1933, Liberal prime minister Ion Duca ""dissolved"" the Iron Guard, arresting thousands; consequently, 19 days later he was assassinated by Iron Guard legionnaires. Throughout the 1930s, these nationalist parties had"
"have been influenced by the Anschluss in Austria in 1938. Müsstler is the head of the Steel Guard, a name implying a pro-fascist paramilitary group which were common in Europe between the wars. An actual fascist and anti-Semitic group called the Iron Guard was very active in Romania in the years leading up to the Second World War. The Romanian Iron Guard was often in violent conflict with the King of Romania, King Carol II, who they accused of corruption and being influenced by his Jewish mistress. The leader of the Iron Guard, Codreanu, was executed shortly thereafter for treason"
"attempted to form connections with the mainstream ideologies of Anti-Communism, insisting on the Guard's allegiance to the Free World. The party oriented itself towards denunciations of the realities inside Communist Romania. He died in Madrid and was buried alongside his wife Elvira Sima in Torredembarra (near Tarragona). Horia Sima Horia Sima (July 3, 1907 – May 25, 1993) was a Romanian nationalist-fascist politician. After 1938, he was the second and last leader of the fascist-nationalist para-military movement known as the Iron Guard. Sima was born near Făgăraș, in Transylvania (part of Austria-Hungary at the time). Between 1926 and 1932 he"
"Iron Guard, a fascist movement, signed an electoral pact with Maniu; participation in the move was explained by Communist historiography as provoked by the Social-Democrats' refusal to collaborate with the PCdR. In the years following the elections, the PCdR entered a phase of rapid decline, coinciding with the increasingly authoritarian tone of King Carol's regime (but in fact inaugurated by the 1936 Craiova Trial of Ana Pauker and other high-ranking Communists). Journals viewed as associates of the party were closed down, and all suspected PCdR activists faced detention (""see Doftana Prison""). Siguranța Statului, the Romanian secret police, infiltrated the small"
"with a pro-Western outlook, but the country faced increasing turmoil in the 1930s as a result of the Great Depression and the rise of fascist and other far-right movements such as the Iron Guard, which advocated revolutionary terrorism against the state. Under the pretext of stabilizing the country, the increasingly autocratic King Carol II proclaimed a ""royal dictatorship"" in 1938. The new regime featured corporatist policies that often resembled those of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. In parallel with these internal developments, economic pressures and a weak Franco-British response to Hitler's aggressive foreign policy caused Romania to start drifting away"
"year, after Costa-Foru was beaten and mutilated by LANC youth. In early 1930, the international press reported that Moscovici and PSDR deputy Rădăceanu had been assaulted by far-right students and ""badly abused"". Moscovici was injured in the attack, and recovering at home. At the 1933 PSDR Congress, which condemned the success of fascism in Europe and labeled Nazi Germany a ""barbarous regime"", Moscovici was elected to the Executive Committee. During those years, the activities of a LANC successor, the Iron Guard, signaled a deep political crisis. After Premier Ion G. Duca's assassination by an Iron Guard death squad, the authorities"
"Guard out of admiration for the deceased Codreanu while still in middle or high school. Led by Horia Sima, the Iron Guard eventually came to power in 1940–1941, proclaiming the fascist National Legionary State and forming an uneasy partnership with ""Conducător"" Ion Antonescu. This was a result of Carol's downfall, effected by the Second Vienna Award, through which Romania had lost Northern Transylvania to Hungary. On November 25, 1940, an investigation was carried out on the Jilava prison premises. The discovery of Codreanu and his associates' remains caused the Legionaries to engage in a reprisal against the new regime's political"
"on the streets of the city. The result of these displays was that the number of members grew threefold and the Iron Guard's party, Totul Pentru Țară, had an unexpectedly high percentage in the Romanian general election, 1937 (15.58%), becoming the third largest party in Romania. The Iron Guard was originally a splinter from A. C. Cuza's antisemitic and nationalist National-Christian Defense League, forming around Corneliu Zelea Codreanu. The new group advocated action, ""spiritual values"" over economic ones, the creation of a ""new man"" and self-sacrifice as the key for the success of the movement. As the Spanish Civil War"
"by the rapid growth of the fascist Iron Guard. In 1937, Maniu agreed to sign an electoral pact with the Iron Guard's Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, in the hope that this would block the monarch's maneuvers. The king instead sought an agreement with other members of the political class, including the National Liberal Ion Duca and the former PNȚ politician Armand Călinescu, while clamping down on the Iron Guard—leading to a wave of similar actions in reprisal. With the loss of Northern Transylvania, Bessarabia, and Southern Dobruja in 1940, Carol conceded power and exiled himself, leading to the creation of the"
"in Romania that needed to be removed. In interwar Romania, the most virulent and violent antisemitic movement was the fascist Iron Guard founded in 1927 by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu. As a university student, Ionesco saw one of his professors, Nae Ionescu, who taught philosophy at the University of Bucharest, use his lectures to recruit his students into the Legion. In an interview in 1970, Ionesco explained the play's message as an attack on those Romanians who become caught up in the ""ideological contagion"" of the Legion: University professors, students, intellectuals were turning Nazi, becoming Iron Guards one after another. We"
"the same time anti-political model of interwar Romania"". The Legion was described by British researcher Norman Davies as ""one of Europe's more violent fascist movements."" Stanley G. Payne also argued that the Iron Guard was ""probably the most unusual mass movement of interwar Europe"", and noted that part of this was owed to Codreanu being ""a sort of religious mystic"", while British historian James Mayall sees the Legion as ""the most singular of the lesser fascist movements"". The charismatic leadership represented by Codreanu has drawn comparisons with models favored by other leaders of far right and fascist movements, including Hitler"
"by the Romanian government. The Iron Guard briefly formed the government in 1940 under Horia Sima after the King's abdication but Hitler ended up backing the more conservative General Antonescu in January 1941 and the Iron Guard was eliminated from government and purged. Thus, in the foreign policy of the Third Reich the Romanian monarchy and other authoritarian figures were supported over the local fascist party. The early and unfinished version of ""Land of Black Gold"" (1939–40) alluded to the mobilization of Nazi war power. This unfinished adventure is set in the British Mandate of Palestine with British soldiers and"
"Horia Sima Horia Sima (July 3, 1907 – May 25, 1993) was a Romanian nationalist-fascist politician. After 1938, he was the second and last leader of the fascist-nationalist para-military movement known as the Iron Guard. Sima was born near Făgăraș, in Transylvania (part of Austria-Hungary at the time). Between 1926 and 1932 he was a student at the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy of the University of Bucharest. After this, he began working as a local high-school teacher of logic and philosophy. In October 1927, he joined the newly formed Iron Guard and became responsible for the Banat area. Sima"
"rallying all forces opposed to the National Liberals, the PNȚ did not capitalize on the gains, and continued instead to block activity in parliament. He served as Minister of Agriculture in the Iuliu Maniu's government of 1928-1930 (being seconded by Armand Călinescu), then, between 1930 and 1933, he was the Minister of Internal Affairs (he also held the office of Foreign Minister between late 1930 and early 1931). In this latter capacity, Mihalache outlawed the fascist Iron Guard in January 1931 (under the premiership of Gheorghe Mironescu), following a period of violence and agitation by the movement. The measure was"
"were by then also being targeted by the new fascist movement known as the Iron Guard, led by former LANC member Codreanu: in 1930, one of its editors was shot by a follower of Codreanu, but escaped with his life. According to the recollections of PCR activist Silviu Brucan, the Iron Guardists, who supported ""Universul"", attacked distributors of ""Adevărul"" and ""Dimineaţa"", prompting young communist and socialists to organize themselves into vigilante groups and fight back, which in turn led to a series of street battles. Beginning 1935, the scandals also involved ""Sfarmă-Piatră"", a virulent far right newspaper headed by Nichifor"
"began in 1936, the Iron Guard, like much of the Romanian public opinion, saw it in a simple dichotomy: a fight between atheistic communism and Christianity, this point being made stronger by the news that some groups on the Republican side systemetically persecuted members of the Catholic clergy and destroyed churches. Ion Moța, the second in command in the Legion, suggested that a number of leaders of the Iron Guard would go to Spain and present a gift (a Toledo sword) to General José Moscardó Ituarte, then fight alongside the Nationalist forces. They were involved in the battles near Madrid,"
"co-signed the Journal of the Council of Ministers from 9 December 1927 that outlawed the fascist group “Garda de Fier / The Iron Guard”; as revenge, members of the Iron Guard assassinated the prime minister on 30 December 1933. His governmental functions are listed in detail in the table. Alexandru I. Lapedatu joined the National Renaissance Front established by King Carol II of Romania (Royal Decree Nr. 4321 from 15 December 1938) as the only political organization legally allowed in the country; Carol II transformed the Front into the Partidul Națiunii / Nation’s Party (Royal Decree Nr. 2056 from 22"
"helped by the Germans to escape to Germany. During the rebellion and pogrom, the Iron Guard killed 125 Jews and 30 soldiers died in the confrontation with the rebels. Following it, the Iron Guard movement was banned and 9,000 of its members were imprisoned. On 22 June 1941, the Iron Guards imprisoned in Iași since January by the Antonescu regime were released from prison and organized and armed by the police as part of the preparations for the Iași pogrom. When it came to killing Jews, the Antonescu regime and the Iron Guard were capable of finding common ground despite"
"fascist movement, the Iron Guard, and took part in the February 1934 riot against the French Radical-Socialist government of Édouard Daladier. During World War II, he returned to Romania, where he married and fathered a daughter. He joined the Romanian Armed Forces and was stationed in Ploiești under the Iron Guard's National Legionary government. Following the establishment of Ion Antonescu's dictatorship and the start of Operation Barbarossa (""see Romania during World War II""), as an officer cadet, he fought on the Eastern Front, saw action in Bassarabia and Transnistria, before being wounded in the arm during the Battle of Odessa"
"peculiar (if not unique) case of a cult running an entire country. The Iron Guard/Legion has been referred to as a ""macabre political cult"", a cargo cult and a ""cult of martyrdom and violence"". National Legionary State The National Legionary State was a totalitarian far-right regime which governed the Eastern European country of Romania for five months, from 14 September 1940 until its official dissolution on 14 February 1941. The regime was lead by the Iron Guard in partnership with General Ion Antonescu. While the Guard had been present in the Romanian Government since 28 June 1940, it was only"
"Eliade's stay in the city, later stated that the latter had identified himself as ""a guiding light of [the Iron Guard] movement"" and victim of Carol II's repression. In October 1940, as the National Legionary State came into existence, the British Foreign Office blacklisted Mircea Eliade, alongside five other Romanians, due to his Iron Guard connections and suspicions that he was prepared to spy in favor of Nazi Germany. According to various sources, while in Portugal, the diplomat was also preparing to disseminate propaganda in favor of the Iron Guard. In ""Jurnal portughez"", Eliade defines himself as ""a Legionary"", and"
"equally firm opposition to the fast rise of the fascist Iron Guard (the Legionnaires, a group he helped outlaw in January 1931), contributed to the fall of the 1933 Vaida-Voevod government of which Călinescu was a member. The Guard's leader, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, had by then issued intimidating replies in the far right press. In opposition to the Gheorghe Tătărescu PNL cabinet, Călinescu warned against the latter's tolerant stance toward the Legionnaires, especially after the murder of Ion G. Duca in December 1933 and the desecration of his memorial plate in 1936 (""The Iron Guard is not a movement of"
"modernity which they rejected. Many priests were active members in the Iron Guard, publishing articles supporting it and being involved in its public processions, such during the Funerals of Ion Moța and Vasile Marin, when the funeral procession of the two Iron Guard members killed in Spain was led by over 200 Orthodox priests. After the Communist Party gained power, some priests who were members of the Iron Guard were imprisoned for their collaboration with the fascists, while others became informers of the Securitate. The church's senior hierarchy, including Patriarch Miron Cristea, had a reserved attitude toward the Guard. Although"
"2%). Around 1934, as the Guard proclaimed its allegiance to Nazi Germany, the Italians (still rivals of Adolf Hitler), approached Averescu (as well as Manoilescu, Nicolae Iorga, Nichifor Crainic, Cuza, Goga, and other non-Guardist reactionaries), with an offer for collaboration (""see Comitati d'azione per l'universalità di Roma""). This apparent alliance was, in fact, marked by major dissensions — Averescu and Iorga were routinely attacked by Crainic's ""Calendarul"". Eventually, Averescu's group formed, in 1934, the ""Constitutional Front"", a nationalist electoral alliance with the National Liberal Party-Brătianu, which was joined by Mihai Stelescu's Crusade of Romanianism (an Iron Guard offshoot), and the"
"""natural ally of all those who support peace without [territorial] revisions."" ""Facla"" opened its pages to Communist Party militants Alexandru Sahia and Petrescu-Ghempet, also hosting fragments from Aragon, Lunacharsky, Pozner, and polemics regarding A. L. Zissu's defense of Trotskyism. Vinea still argued that communism and ""Romanianism"" were irreconcilable, but suggested that Romania had nothing to fear from the Soviet Union—the Iron Guard, Vinea contended, was much more dangerous. Ideologically, he was closest to the moderate-left Social Democrats, and, unlike the ""unu"" group, was never placed under surveillance by ""Siguranța"" policemen. In March 1934, after the Iron Guard assassinated Premier Ion"
"in the United States; another is Marlene Dixon's now-defunct Democratic Workers Party (a critical history of the DWP is given in ""Bounded Choice"" by Janja A. Lalich, a sociologist and former DWP member). The Iron Guard movement of interwar Romania has been referred to as a ""macabre political cult"", a cargo cult and a ""cult of martyrdom and violence"". As a cult, the Guard found itself in the very peculiar position of being a cult running an entire country for several months between 1940 and 1941. The followers of Ayn Rand were characterized as a ""cult"" by economist Murray N."
"off the three major political forces in his country against each other (the National Liberals, the National Peasant Party and the Iron Guard) with the ultimate aim of making himself master of Romanian politics and disposing of all the political parties in Romania. Carol had no intention of permitting the Iron Guard ever to come to power, but insofar as it was a disruptive force that weakened both the National Liberals and the National Peasants, Carol welcomed its rise in the early 1930s and sought to use it for his own ends. On 30 December 1933, the Iron Guard assassinated"
"Jilava massacre The Jilava Massacre took place during the night of November 26, 1940 at Jilava penitentiary, near Bucharest, Romania. Sixty-four political detainees were killed by the Iron Guard (Legion), with further high-profile assassinations in the immediate aftermath. It came about halfway through the fascist National Legionary State and led to the first open clash between the Guard and ""conducător"" Ion Antonescu, who ousted the Legion from power in January 1941. Under King Carol II, repressive measures against the Iron Guard gathered pace in the late 1930s; a cycle of violence on both sides left many dead, including Prime Minister"
"was found in other fascist movements, too; for example it was the focal point in the 1932 Garibaldian Celebrations, in Mussolini's Italy. One of the most influential newspapers, ""Universul"", provided ample updates on the commemoration of the two throughout the country. Even so, the students who were members of the Iron Guard accused the newspaper of not doing enough to support the Legion's activity in Spain, while the director of the newspaper defended himself by saying that more is not possible to do because of the state censorship. Left-wing newspapers like ""Adevărul"" and ""Dimineața"" chose to ignore the event to"
"voiced soon after the authorities had repressed the Griviţa Strike of 1933 — led to his arrest and sentencing. Among PCR activists charged with establishing links with other groups (in accordance with the ""Popular Front"" Stalinist doctrine), Callimachi, who had been a member of ""Amicii URSS"" in 1934, was one of the leaders of the Democratic Bloc (""Blocul Democratic""), a PCR-created legal organization which in 1935 succeeded in forming a tight alliance with Petru Groza's Ploughmen's Front (the agreement was signed in Ţebea). In 1937, as the fascist Iron Guard was gaining unprecedented momentum and the secondary fascist movement around"