Mihai Antonescu

Mihai Antonescu

Mihai Antonescu (born November 18, 1904 in Nucet , Dâmbovița district , † June 1, 1946 by execution in Jilava prison ) was a Romanian politician who was foreign minister and deputy prime minister of his country during the Second World War .

Ascent

Mihai Antonescu was born on November 18, 1904 in Nucet , a village in Romania . After completing his school days at the elementary school , he began studying law in the French capital, Paris , which he successfully completed by passing a required state examination. He now worked as a lawyer in Romania's capital, Bucharest . At the same time he was a professor of international law at the University of Bucharest.

Mihai Antonescu soon made it to the Romanian parliament, where he met then General Ion Antonescu , with whom he was not related, and where he became his legal advisor. The future marshal would later help Mihai Antonescu to pursue a political career.

Political career

His good relationship with Ion Antonescu helped Mihai Antonescu to quickly rise to the top of Romanian politics. After the general seized power in Romania in a coup in 1940 and acted as Prime Minister with dictatorial powers from 1941 , he brought his legal advisor into the cabinet. Mihai Antonescu, as Minister of Justice , was now responsible for the legal situation in Romania. He developed a number of new laws, including one that on dealing with the European in some states, such as the German Reich , Jews persecuted decided.

The Kingdom of Romania was an ally of Hitler's Germany during World War II . When the German Reich went to war against the Soviet Union in 1941 , it was supported by Romania. Ion Antonescu took on leadership roles in the military as marshal . Mihai Antonescu was appointed deputy head of government after Ion Antonescu's absence became known. He was also responsible for the administration of the ministries for foreign policy and propaganda .

Decline

After the Wehrmacht suffered a devastating defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad , the Romanian economy was on the verge of unpaid war loans to the German Reich, which led to growing resistance against the Antonescu government. On August 23, 1944, Ion Antonescu was overthrown in a coup led by King Michael . After the new rulers switched to the side of the Allies , Ion and Mihai Antonescu were arrested and extradited to the Soviet Union. Two years later they were both brought back to Romania and sentenced to death by shooting by the Romanian People's Court for war crimes . The sentence was carried out on June 1, 1946, in Fort 13 military prison in Jilava.

literature

• Andreas Gruber Hill: Antonescu, Mihai A. . In: Biographical Lexicon on the History of Southeast Europe . Volume 1. Munich 1974, p. 83 f.

Web links

• Life (romanian)
• Newspaper article about Mihai Antonescu in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .