Romania

Foreign statesman 1873–1953 ○ Died in prison

Leader of the National Peasant Party who led Transylvania's union with Romania, sentenced to life in 1947 and dead in Sighet prison

On 11 November 1947 the Bucharest military court sentenced the seventy-four-year-old Maniu to hard labour for life. His closing statement came to a single sentence: everything he had done had been for the Romanian people, and history would judge.

A lawyer born into a Greek Catholic family in Sălaj, Transylvania, he began in politics as a Romanian National Party deputy in the Hungarian parliament. After the great assembly at Alba Iulia in December 1918 he led Transylvania's union with Romania as president of its Directing Council, and in 1926 he merged with the Peasant Party to found the National Peasant Party, serving as prime minister in 1928–30 and 1932–33. He opposed Carol II's personal rule and the royal dictatorship of 1938; under Antonescu he supported the recovery of Bessarabia but opposed the war beyond the Dniester, and took part in preparing the coup of 23 August 1944. After the war he was the centre of the opposition to the Groza government and Soviet domination and protested the rigging of the 1946 election. In July 1947 the arrest of party leaders attempting to fly abroad from Tămădău airfield became the pretext for dissolving the National Peasant Party, and at the trial of October and November he was sentenced to life imprisonment for "treason". He died at eighty in Sighet prison in February 1953 and was buried in an unmarked grave.

Counter-revolutionary forces 1882–1946 ✕ Executed

The Conducător who took Romania into the Axis war against the Soviet Union and ordered the killings in Transnistria, executed at Jilava in 1946

On the afternoon of 23 August 1944, summoned to the palace, Antonescu refused the king's demand for an immediate armistice; Michael gave the prearranged signal and the guards arrested him. That night the king's radio address announced the armistice, and the Romanian army turned its guns on the Germans.

A cavalry officer born into a military family in Pitești, he helped plan the defence of Mărășești as a staff officer in the First World War, served as military attaché in Paris and London and was chief of the general staff in 1933–34. Defence minister in the Goga government of 1937–38, he fell out with Carol II and was confined to the Bistrița monastery in 1940. When the loss of Bessarabia and Northern Transylvania in the summer of 1940 shook the monarchy, he became prime minister with full powers on 4 September, forced Carol II to abdicate two days later and styled himself Conducător, founding the National Legionary State with the Iron Guard before crushing the Legionary rebellion by force in January 1941. He joined the Tripartite Pact in November 1940 and invaded the Soviet Union alongside Germany in June 1941, recovering Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina and occupying Transnistria beyond the Dniester. Through the Iași pogrom, the Odessa massacre and the deportations to Transnistria, between 280,000 and 380,000 Jews and more than 10,000 Roma died under Romanian jurisdiction, the Wiesel Commission concluded in 2004. After losing two armies at Stalingrad he sought a way out of the war, but on 23 August 1944 King Michael had him arrested and handed to the Soviets; sentenced to death by the Bucharest People's Tribunal in May 1946, he was shot at Jilava on 1 June.

Counter-revolutionary forces 1882–1950 ○ Natural causes

Romania's commander on the Eastern Front

Before the flank northwest of Stalingrad collapsed, Dumitrescu requested German reinforcements.

Petre Dumitrescu was a career officer of the Kingdom of Romania who commanded the Romanian Third Army on the Eastern Front during the Second World War. Alongside German forces, he led Romanian operations in Bukovina, Ukraine, Crimea, and the Caucasus as Romania pursued the war against the Soviet Union. In November 1942, the Third Army's exposed flank northwest of Stalingrad came under the Soviet Uranus offensive; Dumitrescu requested support, but his formation suffered catastrophic losses and retreated. Charged with war crimes after the war, he was acquitted in 1946 for lack of sufficient evidence.

Socialist-bloc leader 1884–1958 ○ Natural causes

The "red bourgeois", a landowning lawyer who never joined the party yet served as the communist regime's first prime minister and head of state

In early March 1945 Vyshinsky flew to Bucharest and demanded that King Michael appoint Groza prime minister within two hours, warning that otherwise he could not guarantee Romania's survival as an independent state. The Rădescu government fell and the Groza government took office on 6 March.

Born into an Orthodox priest's family in Hunedoara, Transylvania, he studied law in Budapest, Berlin and Leipzig and became a lawyer and landowner. Starting in the Romanian National Party during the Hungarian parliament years, he twice served as a minister in Averescu's governments in the 1920s, founded the Ploughmen's Front at Deva in 1933 and allied it with the Communist Party through the Țebea agreement of 1935. Deputy prime minister after 23 August 1944, he became prime minister on 6 March 1945 as Soviet deputy foreign commissar Vyshinsky demanded at the palace, and at once decreed a land reform that broke up the great estates. When King Michael demanded his resignation in the summer of 1945 and began the "royal strike" of refusing to sign decrees, Groza held on, trusting Soviet backing. After the rigged election of 1946 and the dissolution of the National Peasant Party in 1947, he forced the king's abdication together with Gheorghiu-Dej on 30 December that year. Prime minister until June 1952, he then became chairman of the Presidium of the Grand National Assembly, the nominal head of state, and kept the post until his death. A wealthy landowner who never joined the Communist Party, he was friendly to the Hungarian minority of Transylvania and famous for the wit with which he called himself a "red bourgeois".

Foreign statesman 1873–1953 ○ Died in prison

Leader of the National Peasant Party who led Transylvania's union with Romania, sentenced to life in 1947 and dead in Sighet prison

On 11 November 1947 the Bucharest military court sentenced the seventy-four-year-old Maniu to hard labour for life. His closing statement came to a single sentence: everything he had done had been for the Romanian people, and history would judge.

A lawyer born into a Greek Catholic family in Sălaj, Transylvania, he began in politics as a Romanian National Party deputy in the Hungarian parliament. After the great assembly at Alba Iulia in December 1918 he led Transylvania's union with Romania as president of its Directing Council, and in 1926 he merged with the Peasant Party to found the National Peasant Party, serving as prime minister in 1928–30 and 1932–33. He opposed Carol II's personal rule and the royal dictatorship of 1938; under Antonescu he supported the recovery of Bessarabia but opposed the war beyond the Dniester, and took part in preparing the coup of 23 August 1944. After the war he was the centre of the opposition to the Groza government and Soviet domination and protested the rigging of the 1946 election. In July 1947 the arrest of party leaders attempting to fly abroad from Tămădău airfield became the pretext for dissolving the National Peasant Party, and at the trial of October and November he was sentenced to life imprisonment for "treason". He died at eighty in Sighet prison in February 1953 and was buried in an unmarked grave.

Counter-revolutionary forces 1882–1946 ✕ Executed

The Conducător who took Romania into the Axis war against the Soviet Union and ordered the killings in Transnistria, executed at Jilava in 1946

On the afternoon of 23 August 1944, summoned to the palace, Antonescu refused the king's demand for an immediate armistice; Michael gave the prearranged signal and the guards arrested him. That night the king's radio address announced the armistice, and the Romanian army turned its guns on the Germans.

A cavalry officer born into a military family in Pitești, he helped plan the defence of Mărășești as a staff officer in the First World War, served as military attaché in Paris and London and was chief of the general staff in 1933–34. Defence minister in the Goga government of 1937–38, he fell out with Carol II and was confined to the Bistrița monastery in 1940. When the loss of Bessarabia and Northern Transylvania in the summer of 1940 shook the monarchy, he became prime minister with full powers on 4 September, forced Carol II to abdicate two days later and styled himself Conducător, founding the National Legionary State with the Iron Guard before crushing the Legionary rebellion by force in January 1941. He joined the Tripartite Pact in November 1940 and invaded the Soviet Union alongside Germany in June 1941, recovering Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina and occupying Transnistria beyond the Dniester. Through the Iași pogrom, the Odessa massacre and the deportations to Transnistria, between 280,000 and 380,000 Jews and more than 10,000 Roma died under Romanian jurisdiction, the Wiesel Commission concluded in 2004. After losing two armies at Stalingrad he sought a way out of the war, but on 23 August 1944 King Michael had him arrested and handed to the Soviets; sentenced to death by the Bucharest People's Tribunal in May 1946, he was shot at Jilava on 1 June.

Counter-revolutionary forces 1882–1950 ○ Natural causes

Romania's commander on the Eastern Front

Before the flank northwest of Stalingrad collapsed, Dumitrescu requested German reinforcements.

Petre Dumitrescu was a career officer of the Kingdom of Romania who commanded the Romanian Third Army on the Eastern Front during the Second World War. Alongside German forces, he led Romanian operations in Bukovina, Ukraine, Crimea, and the Caucasus as Romania pursued the war against the Soviet Union. In November 1942, the Third Army's exposed flank northwest of Stalingrad came under the Soviet Uranus offensive; Dumitrescu requested support, but his formation suffered catastrophic losses and retreated. Charged with war crimes after the war, he was acquitted in 1946 for lack of sufficient evidence.

Socialist-bloc leader 1884–1958 ○ Natural causes

The "red bourgeois", a landowning lawyer who never joined the party yet served as the communist regime's first prime minister and head of state

In early March 1945 Vyshinsky flew to Bucharest and demanded that King Michael appoint Groza prime minister within two hours, warning that otherwise he could not guarantee Romania's survival as an independent state. The Rădescu government fell and the Groza government took office on 6 March.

Born into an Orthodox priest's family in Hunedoara, Transylvania, he studied law in Budapest, Berlin and Leipzig and became a lawyer and landowner. Starting in the Romanian National Party during the Hungarian parliament years, he twice served as a minister in Averescu's governments in the 1920s, founded the Ploughmen's Front at Deva in 1933 and allied it with the Communist Party through the Țebea agreement of 1935. Deputy prime minister after 23 August 1944, he became prime minister on 6 March 1945 as Soviet deputy foreign commissar Vyshinsky demanded at the palace, and at once decreed a land reform that broke up the great estates. When King Michael demanded his resignation in the summer of 1945 and began the "royal strike" of refusing to sign decrees, Groza held on, trusting Soviet backing. After the rigged election of 1946 and the dissolution of the National Peasant Party in 1947, he forced the king's abdication together with Gheorghiu-Dej on 30 December that year. Prime minister until June 1952, he then became chairman of the Presidium of the Grand National Assembly, the nominal head of state, and kept the post until his death. A wealthy landowner who never joined the Communist Party, he was friendly to the Hungarian minority of Transylvania and famous for the wit with which he called himself a "red bourgeois".