Mihai Antonescu (1907-1946) was Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Romania during World War II.
Antonescu made his living as an attorney before becoming Prime Minister Ion Antonescu’s (whom he was not related to) Minister of Propaganda in 1940. Antonescu was initially not a right wing extremist or supporter of the fascistic Iron Guard, whose leaders held prominent positions in Ion Antonescu’s government. However, upon becoming propaganda minister, Antonescu drifted increasingly more to the right and established contacts with the German Nazi Party. Antonescu subsequently became one of Ion Antonescu’s most trusted advisors, especially when the Iron Guard’s leader, Horia Sima (who was also deputy prime minister), became increasingly more uncooperative with the prime minister. As minister of propaganda, Antonescu, censored governmental critics and enforced blatant Anti-Semitism in the media. When the Iron Guard was suppressed and removed from power in January of 1941, Mihai Antonescu was promoted to deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, thus making him the second most powerful man in the country.
Throughout 1941, Ion Antonescu primarily focused on Romania’s military affairs, leaving Mihai Antonescu in almost full control of the country’s domestic matters. Although initially uncomfortable with Romania’s close alliance with Germany, Antonescu strengthened the nation’s ties with Germany after a string of early Axis victories against the Soviet Union. Antonescu primarily attempted to gain Germany’s favor by persecuting Romania’s Jews. Essentially running the interior ministry, Antonescu drafted a series of laws that resulted in thousands of Romania’s Jews being forced out of their jobs and positions, while at the same time countless jobs were closed to them. Other laws resulted in the country’s Jews having their property seized. Throughout the course of 1941, Antonescu would approve the pogrom against the Jews of Iasi, stop the emigration of Jews from Romania, and remove the Romanian government’s protection of Romanian Jews outside the country, thus leaving Romanian Jews in German-occupied areas at the mercy of the Nazis. He also approved the slaughter of Jews in Bessarabia and Bucovina and the deportation of the survivors to concenration camps in Transnistria. In October of 1942, Antonescu began deporting Romania’s Jews to Nazi extermination camps in Poland.
As 1942 came to a close, Antonescu became alarmed at the deterioration of the Axis war effort and began looking for ways to remove Romania from the war. He pressured Adolf Hitler to make peace with the Western Allies and focus the full power of the Axis forces on the Soviet Union. When the Soviets won the Battle of Stalingrad in February of 1943, Antonescu came to the conclusion that the war was lost for the Axis and proceeded to destroy files and documents that revealed his active persecution of Romania’s Jews. With the approval of Ion Antonescu, he came to advocate the removal of Hungary, Romania, Italy, and Finland from the war. Antonescu believed Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini was powerful enough to stand up to Hitler and that Mussolini could successfully negotiate an armistice with the Western Allies. Under Antonescu’s plan, Romania, Italy, Hungary, Finland, and other European nations would turn against Hitler and join the Allies against Germany. In his capacity as foreign minister, Antonescu strengthened Romania’s ties with Italy and paid a visit to Mussolini in June of 1943, at which time he discovered that Mussolini agreed with certain aspects of his plan but was less than enthusiastic in regards to actually implementing it. Antonescu subsequently increased his efforts to improve Romania’s relations with the United States and Great Britain. As such, he stopped the deportations of Romania’s Jews, allowed Jewish emigration to non-Axis nations, and repatriated Romanian Jews who had survived Transnistria. On August 23, 1944, as Soviet forces drew closer and closer to Romania, King Mihai dismissed the government of Ion Antonescu, declared the nation’s surrender, and had Mihai Antonescu arrested. Mihai Antonescu was subsequently handed over to the Romanian Communist Party (which had assumed control of the country after the surrender), tried by a Communist People’s Court, and found guily of war crimes. He was executed by a firing squad on June 13, 1946.
