The reasons why Ion Antonescu was executed. The only people he wanted to see before he was shot
On June 1, 1946, Marshal Antonescu was executed at Jilava Prison. Alongside him, other dignitaries from the Antonian dictatorship, concluding an important chapter in the history of Romanians, also ended. The process but also the execution of Antonescu were described by contemporaries.
Marshal Ion Antonescu before being executed at Jilava photo capture video
Ion Antonescu was one of the most controversial characters in the history of Romanians. Considered by some hero, by others a war criminal, Antonescu left his mark on the destiny of Romanians. After becoming the most important person, in the state, inaugurating a period of “moderate dictatorship”, as the historian Florin Constantiniu, Marshal Antonescu, ended in front of the execution platoon, on June 1, 1946. Romania.
“If things are so, then we have nothing left to do!”
Marshal Antonescu was a career military man, highly appreciated for professionalism, during the interwar period. He was head of the Operations Bureau of the Great Headquarters of the Army in World War I, commanded by the Higher War School, but also military attached to the UK and France. Located in the disgrace of the Carlist regime, Ion Antonescu reaches power in Romania on September 4, 1940, after the forced abdication of King Carol II. Although King Mihai was the leader, of Jure, of the Romanian state, the one who decide was Marshal Antonescu. When Antonescu came to power, Romania was going through a bad period, with significant territorial amputations.
Antonescu produces a major change in the Romanian foreign policy, moving from the traditional alliance with France and the United Kingdom, to the one with Nazi Germany. At the same time, with the title of “state leader”, Antonescu inaugurates a period of military dictatorship. He escapes the Iron Guard and throws Romania into the war against the USSR with Nazi Germany. In the war against the Russians, Romania registers the hardest defeats in its military history, especially at the Don's elbow and in Stepa Calmuca. In 1944, Germany was losing in front of the USSR on the Eastern Front. The Russian counter -offensive was diligent and the red army was the victorious marriage to the Romanian territories. Antonescu was thinking of a detachment from Germany, diplomatically, but honorably and with security guarantees. The negotiations were dragging and the Soviet armies advanced vertiginously.
King Mihai, at that time a 23 -year -old, also influenced by the leaders of the great democratic political parties (PNȚ and PNL) decided to intervene. Without the knowledge of Marshal, King Mihai had discussions with the representatives of the army, but also with the leaders of the main political parties. On August 20, a conclusion was reached unanimously: Marshal Antonescu must be removed, and the alliance with Germany denounced as soon as possible. Initially, it was established that the moment of the debauchery of Antonescu should be on August 26, 1944. Anton Dumitrescu, aid of the commander of the guard battalion, was in charge of the arrest of Antonescu. His statement is in the file on August 23, 1944, published by CNSAS. He describes how the events happened. Antonescu was called to the king, on August 23, in a limited council at the palace, from 5 pm. “Here, the marshal apologized that he had to talk on the phone with Clodius, in addition what we could hear with interruptions about the secret weapon that the Germans would put into action, after which the king stands on his feet at 16.59 and speaks to the Marshal with emotion:” Mr. Marshal, the Lord of the Lord, “., said Anton Dumitrescu.
Other testimonies say the king would have asked the Marshal to give up the Alliance with Germany. Antonescu refused, and King Mihai would have spoken a secret password that triggered the arrest of the marshal. “If things are so, then we have nothing left to do!”said King Mihai. Ion Antonescu and Mihai Antonescu were detained in a secure room on the floor of the king. At 20.00, the king registered a message to the country announcing the change of government, but also the passage of Romania on the side of the Allies. The Antonian dictatorship was over, and the history of Romania enters another path.
Imprisoned in the USSR, judged by the “People's Court”
In order to please the Russians already on the territory of Romania, Antonescu is handed over to the Soviets. For two years, the marshal lived in the USSR being interrogated regularly. Initially, Antonescu had a luxury arrest in a hunting house near Moscow. Subsequently, the regime of detention was tightened, the marshal being sent to Lubianka, a prison controlled by the security services. The conditions were so difficult, as did the interrogations that it was rumored that Antonescu was on the verge of suicide. The supply of Lubianka is ended in the spring of 1946, when he is sent back to Romania. In the country he was waiting for a process organized by the “People's Court”.
Meanwhile, the Communists had infiltrated with the help of the agents, but also of the Russian army, in all the structures of the Romanian state. From an insignificant party, in 1944, the Romanian Communist Party became the main political force. This is why the “People's Court” was made up largely of the communists. Among them were the worker Vasile Niţă, Plugarul Jovita Dumbravă, but also the household Teodora Iorgulescu. The president of the trial court was Voitin Voitinovici, a 28 -year -old communist, without legal experience. The trial took place on May 6-17, 1946.
Ion Antonescu was officially charged with “The disaster of the country and war crimes in that they betrayed the interests of the Romanian people putting the country in the service of the fascist and Hitler enemy”but also of “Crimes against humanity for the deportation of Jews and Gypsies and for the operation of the land“.
Regarding the ethnic purification, the court of judgment has made evidence, Antonescu's statements from the time he was in power. “They must all understand that it is not the struggle with the Slavs, but with the Jews. It is a life and death struggle. Either we overcome and the world will purify, or they defeat and become their slaves”, It is shown in a letter from Marshal to Mihai Antonescu, used as a test.
The order given to the Governor of Transnistria against the Jews was also against him. “Put them in catacombs, put them in the Black Sea, but take them out of Odessa”said Antonescu.
Marshal defended himself at all the points of accusation. In the case of the Alliance with Nazi Germany, Antonescu justified that he had no other exit at that time. “Romania was totally isolated. To all the foreign ministers I addressed, they all refused any support. On the basis that they cannot grant, in the international circumstances, no support for Romania.”.
In the case of Msacre from Iași and Odessa, but also of the operation of “cleaning the land”, Antonescu said that the figures of the victims were exaggerated and that there was pressure from the Germans.
“If the Jews from the Romanian Country still live, they live because of the Marshal Antonescu”said Ion Antonescu.
In any case, the sentence was already determined. On May 17, the “People's Court” pronounced 13 sentences for death. Among those convicted were Ion Antonescu, Mihai Antonescu, former Foreign Minister and Vice -President of the Council of Ministers, Constantin Vasiliu, former undersecretary to the Ministry of Internet, and Gheorghe Alexianu, former governor in Transnistria. Of the 13 sentences of death sentence, seven were switched to life prison. Not Antonescu's.
“Sir, you didn't kill me”
The sentence was implemented on June 1, 1946, by the prosecutors Alfred Petrescu and Gheorghe Săndulescu. The execution platoon was made up of 30 guards of Jilava prison commanded by Vasile Frugină. Prior to the execution, the six convicts were visited by the lawyers, the commander of the prison but also by the clerk of the “People's Court”. Antonescu's last wish was to be shot by the military. Was not respected. Instead, the Marshal's desire not to be tied to the hands and eyes during execution was approved. An eyewitness of the events was the police inspector, Mihai Gavrilovici. He arrived in Jilava to attend the conversations between the convicts and their relatives, being delegated to this regard by the Ministry of Interior.
Gavrilovici later confessed that Antonescu, before execution, spoke with two people. The first was his wife. They spoke in French and at the separation they both cried. “He recommends his wife to be loud and to bear with serenity the vitregia of fate. Maria Antonescu has complained that she can no longer endure the tortures of the interrogation and the situation in which she is found.”said Gavrilovici. The second person was Ion Antonescu's mother. “Every Romanian must die for the homeland and I consider myself to die for the happiness and ideal of the Romanian Country”confessed to Gavrilă that Antonescu would have told his mother.
On June 1, 1946, at 5.30 pm, the convicts were taken to the place of execution, within the Jilava prison. At 18.00, Ion Antonescu, Mihai Antonescu, Constantin Vasiliu and Gheorghe Alexianu were killed by shooting. Antonescu survived and ordered the soldiers alone to execute “fire”. “Sir, you didn't kill me”after which effort fell. “Alexianu and Mihai Antonescu remained still, and Constantin Vasiliu was struggling.”, Stated the inspector Garvilovici. In Vasiliu he fired several times, because he was struggling. Only on 18.15 could the death of the convicts be declared.
