Gheorghe Argeșanu

Gheorghe Argeșanu

Gheorghe Argeşanu (born February 28, 1884 in Caracal , Olt County , Kingdom of Romania ; † November 27, 1940 in Jilava , Ilfov County , Kingdom of Romania) was a Romanian general and politician who served as Minister of National Defense between March and October 1938 and in September 1939 was Prime Minister of Romania for a week . He was an opponent of the anti-Semitic fascist Iron Guard founded by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu , by which he was eventually murdered.

Life

After attending school, Gheorghe Argeșanu completed an officer training course and, after completing it, found numerous uses as an officer and staff officer in the cavalry . After his promotion to Lieutenant Colonel (Locotenent Colonel) on September 1, 1917, he became Chief of Staff of the 2nd Cavalry Division and then served between April 1, 1920 and 1921 as Chief of Staff of the General Inspectorate of the Gendarmerie. He was then a military attaché at the embassy in the Japanese Empire between 1921 and 1922 and, on his return, from April 1922 to October 1927, commander of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment stationed in Călărași . He then became commander of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment in October 1927. On May 10, 1931 he was promoted to Brigadier General (General de Brigada) and in 1932 first commander of the 1st Cavalry Division in Arad and later commander of the 3rd Cavalry Division before he was commander of the 11th Infantry Division between 1936 and 1937. He was from April 1 to November 30, 1937 commander of the Guards Division and received on December 25, 1937 his promotion to major general (General Maior) .

On March 30, 1938, Argeșanu, who was a member of the Frontul Renașterii Naționale (Frontul Renașterii Naționale) , became Minister of National Defense (Ministru al Apărării Naționale) in the Cristea II cabinet and held this ministerial office until October 14, 1938, whereupon Major General Nicolae Ciupercă succeeded him. On September 21, 1939 he replaced Armand Călinescu as chairman of the Council of Ministers (Preşedinte al Consiliului de Miniştri) and thereby became Prime Minister of Romania . However, he only held this office for a week and was then replaced by Constantin Argetoianu . His cabinet included Grigore Gafencu as Foreign Minister, Petre Andrei as Minister of National Education, and General Gheorghe Mihail as Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of National Defense.

In 1939 he was then the commanding general of the II Corps (Corpul II Armată) . On June 6, 1940 he was promoted to Lieutenant General (General Locotenent) and on June 8, 1940 a member of the Supreme Military Council, but retired in 1940. He was an opponent of the anti-Semitic fascist Iron Guard founded by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu , from which he was arrested and finally murdered on November 27, 1940 in the Jilava massacre (Masacrul de la Jilava) . He was posthumously promoted to general on June 13, 1945, which promotion was dated back to the date of his assassination on November 27, 1940.

Web links

• Entry in The Generals of World War II
• Entry in Rulers

Individual evidence

1. ^ Cabinet of Cristea II
2. ↑ Romania: Prime Ministers (rulers.org)
3. ↑ Cabinet Argeşanu