After the

fall of Communism The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Natio ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, between 1995 and 2004, a number of war criminals were rehabilitated by the Romanian Supreme Court. The rehabilitation process was part of the general efforts made by Romania to distance itself from its Communist past, as those convicted were sentenced after the country fell under

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

influence in the wake of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. However, as a former

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis *Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinate ...

country during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, these rehabilitation initiatives put Romania at odds with the West (the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in particular), as the former was seeking to join

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

and EU. Thus, the number of acquittals was relatively small, and rehabilitation initiatives ceased altogether in 2004, after Romania joined NATO.

Chronology

On 8 May 1995, after the

, 10 of the sentences pronounced by the "People's Tribunals" were overturned by the Supreme Court of Justice. They were part of the 14 war criminals convicted in the "Journalists' trial" of 1945. Only one of the ten,

Pan M. Vizirescu Pantelimon M. Vizirescu (August 16, 1903–January 27, 2000) was a Romanian poet and essayist. Biography Early life and education Born in Bârza, Braneț, Olt County, his parents Marin Vizirescu and Maria (''née'' Pietreanu) were agricu ...

, was in attendance when the proceedings took place. He was a cabinet director within the Propaganda Ministry. From 1940 to 23 August 1944, he was deputy director of the radio-journal of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company. Regarding his conviction, Vizirescu stated: "Knowing that this Court he People's Courtwas a terrorist organization and that the judges were mere terrorist agents, I chose not to go. I had this conscience of the truth, because they had no right to judge us - it should have been the other way around. I am now satisfied of being declared innocent and I will face God in all peace, for I was not guilty.". Attorney General Vasile Manea Drăgulin presented the convictions decided upon in 1945 as illegal, believing the interpretation of the evidence to have been “retroactive, truncated, and tendentious”, therefore amounting to a “conviction decision, whose content is a synthesis of vehement criticism of their activity, to which we forcefully ascribed the character of war crimes”. The most notorious name in this lot was likely that of

Nichifor Crainic Nichifor Crainic (; pseudonym of Ion Dobre ; 22 December 1889, Bulbucata, Giurgiu County – 20 August 1972, Mogoșoaia) was a Romanian writer, editor, philosopher, poet and theology, theologian famed for his traditionalist activities. Crai ...

. An ardent pro-fascist and admirer of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

and

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

, he was vice-president of the

National Christian Party The National Christian Party ( ro, Partidul Național Creștin) was a radical-right authoritarian and strongly antisemitic political party in Romania active between 1935 and 1938. It was formed by a merger of Octavian Goga's National Agrarian Part ...

and then Antonescu's Minister of Propaganda. Crainic was also among the 10 who were rehabilitated and he was welcomed back into the

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its byl ...

Stelian Popescu Stelian Popescu (February 18, 1874 in Lacu Turcului, Prahova County – 8 March 1954 in Madrid, Spain) was a nationalist Romanian journalist. Biography He was elected to Parliament many times. He was Minister of Justice in the Ionescu cab ...

and

Romulus Dianu Romulus Dianu (born Romulus Dima; March 22, 1905–August 25, 1975) was a Romanian prose writer, journalist and translator. Biography Born in Bucharest, his parents were ''Căile Ferate Române'' worker Gheorghe Dima, a relative of composer ...

were also among the 10 who were rehabilitated, while

Radu Gyr Radu Gyr (; pen name of Radu Ștefan Demetrescu ; March 2, 1905, Câmpulung-Muscel – 29 April 1975, Bucharest) was a Romanian poet, essayist, playwright and journalist. Biography Early life Gyr was the son of actor Ștefan "Coco" Dumitres ...

was among the remaining 4 who weren't. Two

Romanian Army The Romanian Land Forces ( ro, Forțele Terestre Române) is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. In recent years, full professionalisation and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Lan ...

colonels, Radu Dinulescu and

Gheorghe Petrescu Gheorghe Petrescu (born 28 February 1919) was a Romanian football defender. He played 23 from a total of 24 matches of the 1940–41 season, in which Unirea Tricolor won the championship. International career Gheorghe Petrescu played two gam ...

, were acquitted by the Romanian Supreme Court in 1998 and 1999, respectively. The two were convicted in 1953 of war crimes and crimes against humanity because they participated in the preparations for the

Iași pogrom The Iași pogrom (, sometimes anglicized as Jassy) was a series of pogroms launched by governmental forces under Marshal Ion Antonescu in the Romanian city of Iași against its Jewish community, which lasted from 29 June to 6 July 1941. Accord ...

, they organized the deportations to

Transnistria Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), is an unrecognised breakaway state that is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova. Transnistria controls most of the narrow strip of land between the Dniester riv ...

, and they mistreated

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

and civilians. Dinulescu has been referred to as "the

Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ,"Eichmann"
''

Nuremberg Trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies of World War II, Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945 ...

model, these were sentenced for "crimes against peace". On 26 October 1998, the Supreme Court rehabilitated

Toma Ghițulescu Toma Petre Ghițulescu (29 June 1902 – 26 October 1983) was a Romanian engineer, politician, and Olympic Bobsleigh, bobsledder. He is known for being an officially-rehabilitated member of the Axis Powers, Axis-aligned World War II-era Gove ...

. His acquittal was insisted upon due to the briefness of his term as Undersecretary of State in the National Economy Ministry (5 April to 26 May 1941) as well as the fact that he resigned before 30 June 1941, the date of the Iași pogrom. The case of Ghițulescu is however not unique, as the Romanian Supreme Court also rehabilitated Gheron Netta on 17 January 2000. Netta served as Finance Minister between 1 April and 23 August 1944, in the

Third Antonescu cabinet The third cabinet of Ion Antonescu was the government of Romania from 27 January 1941 to 23 August 1944. On 22 June 1941, Romania entered World War II on the side of the Axis powers and invaded the Soviet Union. Ministers The ministers of the ca ...

, being also sentenced for "crimes against peace" after the war. In 1999, Prime Minister

Ion Gigurtu Ion Gigurtu (; 24 June 1886 – 24 November 1959) was a far-right Romanian politician, Land Forces officer, engineer and industrialist who served a brief term as Prime Minister from 4 July to 4 September 1940, under the personal regime of King Car ...

, who preceded Ion Antonescu in 1940 and enacted a Romanian version of the

Nuremberg laws The Nuremberg Laws (german: link=no, Nürnberger Gesetze, ) were antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany on 15 September 1935, at a special meeting of the Reichstag convened during the annual Nuremberg Rally of th ...

, was also rehabilitated. It is also worth noting that Toma Ghițulescu was the only one out of the eight members of the Antonescu Government proposed for rehabilitation in 1998 who was acquitted. Pressures made by two US officials, Senator

Alfonse D'Amato Alfonse Marcello D'Amato (born August 1, 1937) is an American politician born in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. He served as United States Senator for New York between 1981 and 1999. He subsequently founded a lobbying firm, Park Strategies. ...

and Representative Christopher Smith, precluded the acquittal of the remaining seven. Romania was threatened with the reassessment of Western support for its integration within EU and NATO should the eight be acquitted. Ion Pănescu, commander of the Chernivtsi Airport during World War II, was convicted in 1950 for using the regime of Jewish slave labor to his own advantage. He was acquitted in 2004, this time by the General Prosecutor's Office. That same year, the "extraordinary appeal" procedure - which was used to irreversibly acquit the previously-mentioned war criminals - was eliminated from the Romanian legislation following recommendations from the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...

. This, however, backfired on those who wanted these rehabilitations undone, as

Efraim Zuroff Efraim Zuroff ( he, אפרים זורוף; born August 5, 1948) is an American-born Israeli historian and Nazi hunter who has played a key role in bringing indicted Nazi and fascist war criminals to trial. Zuroff, the director of the Simon Wiesen ...

came to find out. When, in February 2004, Zuroff demanded that the Romanian authorities overturn the rehabilitations of Colonels Radu Dinulescu and Gheorghe Petrescu, he was informed that this was "technically impossible". Due to the abolition of "extraordinary appeal", a decision by the Supreme Court can no longer be challenged within the framework of Romanian legislation.Radio Free Europe, ''Newsline - July 16, 2004''
/ref>

References

{{reflist Romanian people of World War II People acquitted of international crimes