[Arthur Gordon Pym]

Legionaries salute their leader, Horia Sima.

The Legion of the Archangel Michael, known in the foreign press as the Iron Guard, was the principal fascist movement in Romania during the interwar period. Led by the charismatic Corneliu Codreanu until his death in 1938, the Iron Guard reached the height of its power under Horia Sima and Ion Antonescu during World War II. The Iron Guard was violent, anti-Semitic and nationalistic, characteristics common to all European fascist movements. However, the Iron Guard had important ideological and operative differences that distinguished it from other fascist movements in Europe. The Iron Guard's deeply religious principles and ability to appeal to peasants and young people, who comprised most of the Iron Guard's members, make it surprisingly unique among fascist movements that tended to reject religion and appeal, for the most part, to veterans. In addition, the Iron Guard was the only fascist movement (other than Hitler and Mussolini) to come to power without the assistance of a foreign nation. The Iron Guard represents a fascinating and extraordinary anecdote in the history of European fascism.

Leadership of the Iron Guard

Corneliu Zelia Codreanu

"I greet those who march toward the great legionary victory" - Corneliu Zelia Codreanu - 1938

EARLY INFLUENCES:

Corneliu Zelia Codreanu was born Cornelius Zelinski on September 15, 1899 in Husi, a small, north Moldavian town, to immigrant parents Elisa Brauner and Ion Zelinski. Corneliu was the oldest son in a family of seven and attended the famous military school, Manastirea Dealului - the Cloister on the Hill - from age eleven to sixteen. He was admitted to the Infantry Officers' School, but graduated only after World War I was over. In military school, Codreanu learned respect for discipline and order, honor and hierarchy, religious fervor, and strong nationalism. All of these lessons would later appear in the doctrine of the Iron Guard.

ANTI-BOLSHEVISM:

Codreanu was a fervent anti-Bolshevist, and first fought against Bolshevism during the Iasa strikes of 1919-1920. Soon after the strikes, Codreanu formed the National-Christian Socialist party to fight communism and protect workers rights. Codreanu believed that the striking workers had been led astray by Jewish Communist leaders and henceforth focused his nationalism on Communism, Jews and irreligion. Not only was Codreanu a fervent anti-Communist, but an anti-Capitalist and anti-Modernist as well, due also to the perceived Jewish influence. The party was short lived and unsuccessful, and Codreanu returned to his studies as student activist, overseeing the student movement and establishing militant nationalism and violent unrest at the universities until World War II. Codreanu was expelled but quickly reinstated by Professor A.C. Cuza, a fervent anti-Semite and close friend of the Codreanu family. Codreanu graduated from law school in 1922, after which he spent a year studying in Berlin, where he was to hear for the first time of Adolf Hitler and his anti-Semitic fascism.

THE LANC AND THE LEGION OF THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL:

Cuza, inspired by Codreanu and his friends, formed the League of National-Christian Defense (LANC). The league espoused violent anti-Semitism, and when the government modified the constitution to grant citizenship to Jews, Codreanu and his supporters conspired to shoot the supporters of the measure. In the end, the conspirators were exposed, jailed, tried and acquitted. While in prison, Codreanu had a vision of the Archangel Michael, who would become the patron saint of the Iron Guard. In prison, Codreanu and his companions decided that faith and labor was the solution to Romania's Jewish and Bolshevik "problems". Out of prison, he organized the Brotherhoods of the Cross (FDC's) to encourage youths in nationalistic action. Codreanu chose Ion Moţa as the head of the Brotherhoods, a movement with strong emphasis on comradeship, bravery, loyalty and self-sacrifice. Violence soon divided the group between the older, non-violent members and younger men such as Codreanu who wanted a semi-military organization. In June of 1927, Codreanu, with the help of his father and four friends, founded the paramilitary Legion of the Archangel Michael with four basic characteristics developed by Codreanu himself: "(I) faith in God, (2) faith in our mission, (3 )love for each other, (4) and songs as the primary manifestation of our state of mind." (Rogger, 527) As Captain of the Legionary Movement, Codreanu espoused a great admiration for Hitler and Mussolini, but did not wholly identify with the Nazis. Codreanu wanted Romanian nationalism to be unique. The Legion distinguished itself from other fascist movements in that it began as a young student movement, and espoused a deeply Christian faith, whereas most other fascist movements began as veteran's movements and were against organized religion.

FORMATION OF THE IRON GUARD

Codreanu formed the Iron Guard in 1930 as a paramilitary political branch of the Legion. Codreanu found his support in peasants, teachers, and above all young people. The Legion, led by young men, refused to admit men over thirty years old into their elite formation. Codreanu's insistence on discipline and effort, as well as the enthusiasm and dedication of the peasant Legionaries helped encourage the Legion's success. By 1937, the Legion had grown to six times its original membership. This rapid growth frightened King Carol, who ordered Codreanu and twelve other Legion leaders jailed. After a friend of Premier Armand Calinescu was murdered by Legionaries, the men were strangled, shot in the back, and buried in a mass grave. King Carol told the people of Romania that Codreanu had been shot while trying to escape. Legionaries, disbelieving the lie, murdered Calinescu for revenge. King Carol then ordered the reprisal killing of hundreds of Legionaries decimating the movement. A new Legionary movement began to regroup in 1939 under the leadership of Horia Sima.

Horia Sima

Horia Sima was a provincial high-school teacher, a devoted Legionnaire, regional chief of the Banat, and a friend of several conservative government officials. Even before Codreanu's death, Sima took Codreanu's anti-Semitism to a new level and his small underground movement began distributing flyers, beating up Jews, burning their shops and synagogues and eventually, killed a friend of Premier Armand Calinescu, the Minister of the Interior. Though Sima and Codreanu both attempted to stop the murder, it nevertheless took place, and produced harsh consequences. This event forced Sima into exile, led to Codreanu's death and resulted in the deaths of over one hundred legionaries. Sima returned from exile in 1940 as the Commander of the Legionary movement when the government began to free the remaining legionaries. He became a supporter of King Carol and encouraged his followers to support him as well. Sima, along with two of his followers, entered the government under King Carol for a short time. When Ion Antonescu rose to power, Horia Sima became the Vice-Premier and the Iron Guard held the majority of the power. Sima wanted Romania to be a totalitarian Legionary state immediately, and called for the abolition of all other political parties. Antonescu disagreed and, with Hitler's strong support, took it upon himself to eliminate the Iron Guard. Antonescu displaced Sima and removed several prominent Legionary prefects and chiefs of police. Sima went into exile again, setting up a puppet government in Vienna, and moving to Alt-Aussee in 1945. After the war, Sima took on a new identity as Iosef Weber and went into hiding.

CONCLUSION

Sima's rule was not what Codreanu would have envisioned. His movement was "made up of men of the second rank [and] was a looser, more heterogeneous collection, less dedicated, less disciplined, less well trained." (Rogger, 561) The movement began to be accused of Bolshevism, the very thing they hated most and Sima was seen as a weak element that had undermined the authority of the Legion. The Legionary Movement, as first envisioned and created by Codreanu, ended with his death. Codreanu's father went so far as to establish a new Legionary movement in opposition to Sima's Iron Guard and frequently ridiculed Sima in public. In the end, Horia Sima was responsible for the Iron Guard's swift rise to power, as well as their ultimate demise.

Sources:

Cullen, Stephen M. "Leaders and Martyrs: Codreanu, Mosley and Jose Antonio." History 71 (October 1986) 408-430.

Rennie, Bryan S. "The Diplomatic Career of Mircea Eliade: A Response to Adriana Berger." Religion 22(1992) 375-392.

Rogger, Hans and Weber, Eugen, eds. The European Right: A Historical Profile. London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1965.

Ronnett, Alexander E. Romanian Nationalism: The Legionary Movement. Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1974.

Seton-Watson, Hugh. Eastern Europe Between the Wars 1918-1941. Connecticut: Archon Books, 1967.

Weber, Eugen. "The Men of the Archangel." Journal of Contemporary History 1.1(1966), 101-126.

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