Ion Antonescu

Marshal
Ion Antonescu
Marshal Ion Antonescu
	Official portrait, 1942
Conducător of Romania
	In office; 6 September 1940 – 23 August 1944
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Position abolished
43rd Prime Minister of Romania
	In office; 5 September 1940 – 23 August 1944
Monarchs	Carol II ; Michael I
Deputy	Horia Sima (1940–1941) ; Mihai Antonescu (1941–1944)
Preceded by	Ion Gigurtu
Succeeded by	Constantin Sănătescu
Prime Minister	In office; 22 September 1941 – 23 January 1942
Additional positions held in the Government
Minister of War
	In office; 22 September 1941 – 23 January 1942
Prime Minister	Himself
Preceded by	Iosif Iacobici
Succeeded by	Constantin Pantazi
	In office; 4 September 1940 – 27 January 1941
Prime Minister	Himself
Preceded by	Constantin Nicolescu
Succeeded by	Iosif Iacobici
	In office; 28 December 1937 – 31 March 1938
Prime Minister	Octavian Goga; Miron Cristea
Preceded by	Constantin Ilasievici [ro]
Succeeded by	Gheorghe Argeșanu
Minister of Culture and Religious Affairs
	(Acting)
	In office; 11 November 1941 – 5 December 1941
Prime Minister	Himself
Preceded by	Radu R. Rosetti
Succeeded by	Ion Petrovici
Minister of Foreign Affairs
	(Acting)
	In office; 27 January 1941 – 29 June 1941
Prime Minister	Himself
Preceded by	Mihail R. Sturdza
Succeeded by	Mihai Antonescu
Minister of Air Transport and Marine
	(Acting)
	In office; 10 February 1938 – 30 March 1938
Prime Minister	Miron Cristea
Preceded by	Radu Irimescu
Succeeded by	Paul Teodorescu [ro]
Chief of the Romanian General Staff
	In office; 1 December 1933 – 11 December 1934
Monarch	Carol II
Preceded by	Constantin Lăzărescu [ro]
Succeeded by	Nicolae Samsonovici
Personal details
Born	14 June 1882; Pitești, Argeș County, Kingdom of Romania
Died	1 June 1946 (aged 63); Jilava, Ilfov County, Kingdom of Romania
Cause of death	Execution by firing squad
Political party	None[a]
Spouse	Maria Antonescu (m. 1927⁠–⁠1946)
Profession	Soldier
Known for	Recapture of Bessarabia and Bukovina
Nickname	Câinele Roșu ("Red Dog")
Military service
Allegiance	Kingdom of Romania
Branch/service	Romanian Army
Years of service	1904–1944
Rank	Marshal of Romania
Commands	Commander-in-Chief of the Romanian Armed Forces
Battles/wars	See list 1907 Peasants' Revolt; Second Balkan War Southern Dobruja Offensive; ; World War I Moldavian Defensive Battle of Mărășești; ; ; Hungarian-Romanian War; World War II Legionary rebellion; Eastern Front Operation Barbarossa Operation München; Siege of Odessa; ; Jassy–Kishinev Operation; ; ; ;
Awards	See list Military Virtue Medal ; Order of Michael the Brave ; Pilot/Observer Badge ; Iron Cross ; Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross ; Order of the White Rose of Finland ; Crimea Shield;
	Criminal conviction
Criminal status	Executed
Conviction(s)	War crimes; Crimes against peace; Crimes against humanity; Treason
Trial	Romanian People's Tribunals
Criminal penalty	Death
Details
Victims	Romanian Jews; Ukrainian Jews; Romani people
	a. ^ Formally allied with the Iron Guard (1940–41)

Ion Antonescu (/ˌæntəˈnɛskuː/; Romanian: [i'on antoˈnesku] ^ⓘ; 14 June [O.S. 2 June] 1882 – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and marshal who presided over two successive wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II. Having been responsible for facilitating the Holocaust in Romania, he was tried for war crimes and executed in 1946.

A Romanian Army career officer who made his name during the 1907 peasants' revolt and the World War I Romanian campaign, the antisemitic Antonescu sympathized with far-right and fascist politics. He was a military attaché to France and later Chief of the General Staff, briefly serving as Defense Minister in the National Christian cabinet of Octavian Goga as well as the subsequent First Cristea cabinet, in which he also served as Air and Marine Minister. During the late 1930s, his political stance brought him into conflict with King Carol II and led to his detainment. Antonescu rose to political prominence during the political crisis of 1940, and established the National Legionary State, an uneasy partnership with Horia Sima of the Iron Guard. After entering Romania into an alliance with Nazi Germany, he eliminated the Guard during the Legionary Rebellion of 1941. In addition to being Prime Minister, he served as his own Foreign Minister and Defense Minister. Soon after Romania joined the Axis in Operation Barbarossa, recovering Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, Antonescu also became Marshal of Romania.

An atypical figure among Holocaust perpetrators, Antonescu enforced policies independently responsible for the deaths of as many as 400,000 people, most of them Bessarabian, Ukrainian and Romanian Jews, as well as Romanian Romani. The regime's complicity in the Holocaust combined pogroms and mass murders such as the Odessa massacre with ethnic cleansing, and systematic deportations to occupied Transnistria. The system in place was nevertheless characterized by singular inconsistencies, prioritizing plunder over killing, showing leniency toward most Jews in the Old Kingdom, and ultimately refusing to adopt the Final Solution. This was made possible by the fact that Romania, as a junior ally of Nazi Germany, was not occupied by the Wehrmacht and preserved a degree of political autonomy.

Aerial attacks on Romania by the Allies in 1944 and heavy casualties on the Eastern Front prompted Antonescu to open peace negotiations with the Allies, which were inconclusive. On 23 August 1944, King Michael I led a coup d'état against Antonescu, who was arrested; after the war he was convicted of war crimes, and executed in June 1946. His involvement in the Holocaust was officially reasserted and condemned following the 2003 Wiesel Commission report.

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