The Treaty of Craiova (; ) was signed on 7 September 1940 and ratified on 13 September 1940 by the Kingdom of Bulgaria and the Kingdom of Romania. Under its terms, Romania ceded Southern Dobruja back to Bulgaria, which Romania had gained after the 1913 Second Balkan War. Bulgaria had to pay 1 million lei as compensation for the investment provided to the region by Romania.
The treaty stipulated that a population exchange between Bulgaria and Romania had to be made. Thus, 103,711 Romanians, Aromanians and Megleno-Romanians living in Southern Dobruja were forced to move to Northern Dobruja (part of Romania), and 62,278 Bulgarians located in the north were forcibly moved to the south. The Dobrujan Germans, who were affected by these relocations, would eventually be transferred to Nazi Germany.
Unlike all other territorial treaties mediated by Nazi Germany, the Treaty of Craiova was not reversed by the Allies after World War II, and Southern Dobruja remained Bulgarian.
Background
thumb|275px|left|Territorial losses of Romania in 1940, including Southern Dobruja
The Second Vienna Award, arbitrated by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, signed on 30 August 1940, assigned the territory of Northern Transylvania from Romania to Hungary. Although the devolution of Northern Transylvania had been made under the diplomatic pressure of Germany, the country did not directly intervene in the Treaty of Craiova. However, it was also implemented by the indication of Adolf Hitler, who on 31 July 1940 expressed his wish for the south of Dobruja to be returned to Bulgaria to restore the 1912 Bulgaria–Romania border.
The government of Romania received Hitler's message with surprise and expressed the wish to preserve at least the port of Balchik<!-- Exclave or a strip of land to Balchik? --> and the city of Silistra. The German ambassador declared that Romanian sacrifices to Bulgaria would make Hitler more sympathetic towards Romania in negotiations between Hungary and Romania on the Transylvania dispute. The Romanians attempted to keep both cities, but the Bulgarian government refused since it was aware of the German support. was returned to Bulgaria and assumed by Romania the loss of a territory with an area of and a population of which ethnic Romanians made up 25% or 28.4% (depending on the source). The agreement was signed on 7 September 1940 by Alexandru Cretzianu and Henri-Georges Meitani, representing King Michael I of Romania, and Svetoslav Pomenov and Teokhar Papazoff, representing Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria. The treaty was ratified on the Romanian side on 13 September by Prime Minister and Conducător Ion Antonescu, but not by King Michael I.
The loss of Southern Dobruja did not cause an uproar in Romania, unlike the transfer of Northern Transylvania to Hungary in the almost-simultaneous Second Vienna Award, since Northern Transylvania was more important in the nationalist ideal, with the Romanian government successively insisting on recovering it.
On the insistence of Romania, the treaty involved a population exchange. The 103,711 Romanians who lived in the area were forced to leave their homes and move to Northern Dobruja, and the 62,278 Bulgarians residing in the northern part were forced to move to the south. The Aromanian settlers, most of whom were native to Greece, were counted as Romanians and also left the zone. The case of the Megleno-Romanian settlers was not different; they were deported from Southern Dobruja and settled in the village of Cerna within Romanian borders.
Bulgaria had to compensate the displaced Romanians for their losses of equity
See also
- Bulgarians in Romania
- Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
- Romanians in Bulgaria
- Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina