Ion Moţa (
July 5,
1902,
Orăştie,
Transylvania—
January 13,
1937,
Majadahonda,
Spain) was the
Romanian ultra-
nationalist deputy leader of the
Iron Guard, who became a prominent symbol of
martyrdom after killed in battle during the
Spanish Civil War.
Son of a nationalist
Orthodox priest who edited a journal called
Liberty, Moţa studied at the
University of Cluj where he founded
Acţiunea Românească ("Romanian Action"), a nationalist group inspired by
Charles Maurras'
Action Française. This organization fused with
A. C. Cuza's
National-Christian Defense League in
1925. Moţa met
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu at a meeting of
Anti-Semitic students in August
1923. The two formed a plan to
assassinate Romanian politicians and leaders of Romanian
Jewry seen as traitors and corruptors of Romanian national life. They were arrested in
Bucharest on
October 8,
1923 and sent to
Văcăreşti prison. Acquitted in March
1924, Moţa shot the member of their conspiracy who betrayed it to the authorities. He spent two months in
Galata prison before being acquitted and released on
29 September 1924.
Codreanu made Moţa leader of
Frăţia de Cruce, a group of peasants and students who would fight for nationalistic renewal (founded on May 6
1924). Moţa attended the
World Anti-Semitic Congress in September 1925; upon the founding of the Iron Guard (the
Legion of the Archangel Michael), on June 24 1927, he became deputy Captain to Codreanu.
Ion Moţa represented the Legion at the
1934 Fascist International meeting in
Montreux. He was vice-president of the Iron Guard more political creation, the
All for the Fatherland Party.
In late
1936, he formed a Legionary unit to fight against the
Republican forces in the
Spanish Civil War. He and
Vasile Marin (another prominent Legionary) were killed on the
Madrid Front on the same day of fighting.
Their funerals in Bucharest (February 1937) were an immense and orderly procession attended by the Ministers of
Nazi Germany,
Fascist Italy, and
Francisco Franco's
Spain, representatives of
Portugal, the
Japan of the early
Shōwa period, and delegates of the
Polish Patriotic Youth.
On the commemoration of the deaths of Moţa and Marin,
January 13,
1938,
Codreanu created a special order in the ranks of the Legionary units:
The Moţa-Marin Corps under the direction of
Alexandru Cantacuzino. The members of this elite corps had
Ready to Die as their slogan!

