Armand Călinescu (4 June 1893 – 21 September 1939) was a Romanian economist and politician, who served as 39th Prime Minister from March 1939 until his assassination six months later. He was a staunch opponent of the fascist Iron Guard and may have been the real power behind the throne during the dictatorship of King Carol II. He survived several assassination attempts but was finally killed by members of the Iron Guard with German assistance.

Biography

Early life

Călinescu was born in Pitești as the son of Mihai Călinescu, a Romanian Army veteran, and his wife Ecaterina, née Gherasim. Mihai Călinescu was a landowner and relatively wealthy man.

Călinescu attended secondary school and high school in his native city at Ion Brătianu High School. Between 1912 and 1918 he studied Law and Philosophy at the University of Bucharest, before taking a PhD in Economics and Political Sciences at the Faculty of Law and Economics from the University of Paris, with a thesis on Le change roumain. Sa dépreciation depuis la guerre et son rétablissement ("The Romanian Exchange Rate. Its Depreciation Since the War and Its Recovery"). Instead, he joined the Peasants' Party (PȚ), a rising opposition group, falling under the influence of Ion Mihalache. He was the PNȚ local leader for Argeș County

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 the [public] opinion, but rather an association of assassins and foul profaners of tombs").

Carol's minister

A staunch ally of France and the United Kingdom and a steadfast adversary of the Iron Guard movement in Romania, Călinescu also supported King Carol II's move to counter the Iron Guard's success; he first confronted the PNȚ leadership during the elections of 1937, after it signed an electoral agreement with the Iron Guard. Eventually, he defied his party by becoming Minister of the Interior after December of that year, in the short-lived Octavian Goga cabinet formed by the National Christians, being immediately expelled from the PNȚ. He was also a founding member of the National Renaissance Front (FRN) created by as the sole legal party in December 1938, and was generally seen as very close to Carol. Iorga remarked with irony: "I'm prepared to wear the FRN uniform, but allow me to wear a speared helmet on my head, on which to place [that is, to impale] the Minister of the Interior". Eventually (in May of the same year), Iorga gave in to the demands and became a supporter of the regime.

In May, after witnessing the result of German pressure on Austria (see Anschluss), Călinescu decapitated the Guard by ordering arrests of its leaders, beginning with that of Codreanu, as well as many of its members and sympathisers (including Nae Ionescu and Mircea Eliade). Codreanu and other leaders (probably as much as 300 people) were consequently killed in custody; ostensibly because they were "killed while trying to escape". Other Legionaries were pressured to sign "declarations of dissociation". Many other Guard leaders, including Horia Sima, fled to various locations in Germany. Călinescu was also Minister of the Interior and Minister of Defense. In September of that year, after the invasion of Poland, certain members of Iron Guard alleged that Călinescu and the King Carol planned with the British Intelligence services to blow up the Prahova oil fields, preventing Germany from taking control and using them.

Armand Călinescu allowed the Polish Government-in-Exile and civilians to take refuge in Romania and also ordered Romanian trains to be sent to Poland to evacuate Polish national treasures, which were sent to England from the Romanian port of Constanța, an action which made the Third Reich very angry with the Romanian Government.

Death

Călinescu was shot dead on 21 September 1939 in Bucharest by Iron Guard members under the direct leadership of Sima. This was the last of several assassination attempts, including an attack on the Romanian Athenaeum and bombing a bridge over the Dâmbovița River, both of which were thwarted by the police.

It seems that the action was carried out with German approval and assistance.

Legacy

The vast majority of sources reacting to the events made ample mention of German backing for Călinescu's killers, with the exception of German media. German sources alleged that Polish and British political forces had supported the assassination as a means to pressure Romania into abandoning its neutrality, a version that was supported by, among others, Hans Fritzsche. A placard was set up on the spot, reading De acum înainte, aceasta va fi soarta trădătorilor de țară ("From now on, this shall be the fate of those who betray the country"). Students from several Bucharest secondary schools were required to visit the site (based on the belief that would dissuade them from affiliating with the Guard). Executions of known Iron Guard activists were ordered in various places in the country (some were hanged on telegraph poles, while a group of Legionnaires was shot in front of Ion G. Duca's statue in Ploiești); Călinescu was succeeded by Marinescu as Minister of the Interior and by Ioan Ilcuș as Minister of Defense.

One year later, under the National Legionary State (the Iron Guard's government), Marinescu and Argeșanu, alongside other politicians, were executed at Jilava Prison (September 1940); it was also at that time that the Călinescu family crypt in Curtea de Argeș was dynamited, and a bronze bust of him which awaited unveiling was chained and dragged through the streets of Pitești.

Notes

References

  • "Din arhiva Armand Călinescu" ("From the Armand Călinescu Archive"), in Magazin Istoric
  • Nicolae Ciobanu, "Armand Călinescu: Jertfă pentru liniștea și independenţa țării. «Omul de oțel» împotriva Gărzii de Fier" ("Armand Călinescu: A Sacrifice for the Country's Peace and Security. The «Man of Steel» versus the Iron Guard"), in Dosarele Istoriei, 6/IV (1999)
  • Keith Hitchins, România, 1866–1947, Humanitas, Bucharest, 1998 (translation of the English-language edition Rumania, 1866–1947, Oxford University Press, US, 1994)
  • Petru Ignat, Gheorghe Matei, "Asasinarea lui Armand Călinescu" ("Armand Călinescu's Assassination"), in Magazin Istoric, October 1967
  • Constantin Iordachi, "Charisma, Religion, and Ideology: Romania's Interwar Legion of the Archangel Michael", in John R. Lampe, Mark Mazower (eds.), Ideologies and National Identities: The Case of Twentieth-century Southeastern Europe, Central European University Press, Budapest, 2004
  • Z. Ornea, Anii treizeci. Extrema dreaptă românească ("The 1930s: The Romanian Far Right"), Ed. Fundaţiei Culturale Române, Bucharest, 1995
  • Al. Gh. Savu, "Armand Călinescu contra Gărzii de Fier" ("Armand Călinescu versus the Iron Guard"), in Magazin Istoric, October 1967
  • Ioan Scurtu, "La originea sistemului de autoritate monarhică a lui Carol al II-lea. Lovitura de stat din 10 februarie 1938" ("At the Origin of Carol II's Regime of Monarchic Authority. The Coup d'État of 10 February 1938"), in Dosarele Istoriei, 1/IV, 1999
  • Petre Ţurlea, "Vodă da, Iorga ba" ("Yes Says the Ruler, No Says Iorga"), in Magazin Istoric, February 2001
  • Francisco Veiga, Istoria Gărzii de Fier, 1919–1941: Mistica ultranaţionalismului ("History of the Iron Guard, 1919–1941: The Mistique of Ultra-Nationalism"), Humanitas, Bucharest, 1993