HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK ---------------------------Hitler's Ally Hailed As Hero to Some
By GEORGE JAHN
.c The Associated Press
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - He was Hitler's Romanian henchman, widely implicated in the killing of tens of thousands of Gypsies and Jews. Yet busts and portraits of Ion Antonescu adorn public places, and many consider him a hero.
Glorifying Romania's World War II past, however, clashes with the nation's vision for the future. The country hopes to join NATO, and must prove it is committed to Western norms of democracy, human rights and tolerance.
The cult of Antonescu transcends social standing. Blue-collar workers, army officers and prominent politicians fume at suggestions that the redheaded, square-jawed former World War I cavalry officer was a war criminal who changed his policy of sending Jews to their deaths late in the war only after he realized that Romania was on the losing side.
``He killed Jews? Those are lies,'' retired electrician Constantin Mihailescu said as he emerged from St. Constantin and Elena Orthodox Church, decorated with a portrait of the late pro-Nazi dictator in marshal's uniform. ``Those who make such accusations are slinging mud at a true patriot.''
No more than a sordid curiosity until recently in a region of Europe where heroes and villains traditionally change roles according to who's running the country, the cult of Antonescu has suddenly become an affair of state.
Joining NATO has become a top foreign policy objective for Romania, and chances look good for the former Soviet bloc country to be accepted later this year.
The government last month drafted an emergency decree making fascist organizations and symbols illegal and punishable by prison sentences of up to five years as part of overtures to NATO. Once enacted, the decree will ban the busts, statues and pictures of Antonescu on scattered display across the country.
But pro-Antonescu sentiment will live on. Even under communist rule, he was vilified only halfheartedly - more for his anti-communist stance than for his role in the Holocaust. Now, more than a decade after the collapse of communist rule, the rethinking of history is complete.
Outside the country, Antonescu - nicknamed ``Red Dog'' for his volatile temper and long, vindictive memory - is linked to the deportation of more than 150,000 Jews and 25,000 Gypsies to concentration camps on territory controlled by the German-led Axis powers in the Soviet Union.
Some 80,000 people perished in the camps. But many Romanians deny that and praise him for his decision to declare war on the Soviet Union in 1941 after it occupied parts of eastern Romania. [!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WARNING: NAZI VERSION OF HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]
Radu Ioanid, a Romanian-born director of Washington's U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, speaks of ``a mixed record'' of Antonescu first deporting Jews to their deaths and later resisting German pressure for more anti-Jewish acts - but only out of opportunism. [!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WARNING: WHITE WASH OF COMPLETELY ANTI-SEMETIC WORLDVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]
After 1943, when Romania realized that the Allies would win World War II, ``the Jews became merchandise through which Antonescu tried to gain the goodwill of the allied powers,'' he said in a telephone interview.
Backers of Antonescu, executed in 1946, include some of Romania's most influential figures. Gen. Mircea Chelaru, a former chief of the armed forces, last year attended the unveiling of a statue to Antonescu in the capital, reflecting strong support among the military to the man they view as having stood up to the Soviets.
Also present was Corneliu Vadim Tudor, a nationalist senator and runner-up in the 2000 race for the presidency.
``I love Antonescu,'' Tudor told The Associated Press.
The Bucharest church that shelters Antonescu's portrait was founded by the wartime dictator. Standing near an Antonescu bust, also on church grounds, retiree Florica Octaviu vented her rage when asked if he was responsible for genocide.
``Only the Jews say that,'' said the slight 80-year-old, her wrinkled face puckered by fury. Twisting the humiliation and forced labor visited on Jews into a humanitarian gesture, she said Jews were slackers, safe ``cleaning the streets while our Romanians were dying on the front lines.''
But Antonescu's victims remember a different time.
``If he had won the war, Romania would be cleansed of both Jews and Gypsies,'' said Gheorge Irimia, a Gypsy concentration camp survivor.
Deported to Axis-controlled Soviet territory, Irimia, 68, spoke of witnessing beatings, rapes, starvation and summary executions during his three-year ordeal.
``When they came for you, you did not know whether they were taking you for agricultural work, to dig trenches, or to shoot you,'' he said. One day, camp guards dragged away his father, partially blinding Irimia as they beat him away with rifle butts. He never saw him again.
Few Romanians hear such stories. When they do, says Ioanid, the historian, they react with disbelief, reflecting not only the cult of Antonescu but a reluctance to come to grips with their nation's guilt in the Holocaust.
Ioanid said he got an incredulous reception from top generals, members of parliament and government officials at Romania's National Defense College during a lecture he gave on Antonescu-era war crimes.
``They couldn't believe it,'' he said. ``The minds of these people are poisoned.''
04/11/02 05:26 EDT
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