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{{Short description|Romanian politician (1899–1938)}}
:''"Codreanu" redirects here. For other persons with that surname, see ].''
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}}
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{{for|the Romanian footballer|Corneliu Codreanu (footballer)}}
'''Corneliu Zelea Codreanu''' (born '''Corneliu Zelinski''' and commonly known as '''Corneliu Codreanu''';<ref>''Zelea'' is never used as the family name it is: all entries for Codreanu cite it as if it were a middle name.</ref> ], ] – ], ]) was a ]n politician of the ], the founder and ] of the ] or ''The Legion of the ]'' (also known as the ''Legionary Movement''), an ultra-] and violently ] organization active throughout most of the ]. Generally seen as the main variety of local ], and noted for its ] and ]-inspired revolutionary message, it grew into an important actor on the Romanian political stage, coming into conflict with the political establishment and the ] forces. The Legionaries traditionally referred to Codreanu as ''Căpitanul'' ("The Captain"), and he held absolute authority over the organization until his death.
{{redirect|Codreanu|other persons named Codreanu|Codreanu (surname)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = ]
| name = Corneliu Zelea Codreanu
| image = Corneliu Zelea Codreanu.jpg
| imagesize =
| alt =
| caption =
| office = Captain of the ]
| term_start = 24 June 1927
| term_end = May 1938
| successor = ] (as "Commander")
| office1 = Member of the ]
| term_start1 = August 1932
| term_end1 = November 1933
| constituency1 =
| birth_name = Corneliu Zelinski
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1899|09|13}}
| birth_place = ], ], ]
| death_date = {{nowrap| {{death date and age|df=yes|1938|11|30|1899|09|13}}}}
| death_place = ], ], ], ]
| death_cause = ]
| resting_place = ], ], ] {{small|(1938–1940)}} <br /> Green House, ], ] {{small|(1940–?)}} <br /> Unknown {{small|(present)}}
| nationality = ]n
| alma_mater = ] <br /> ]
| occupation = Politician
| profession = Lawyer
| known_for = ]
| blank1 = Books
| data1 = ]
| blank2 = Religion
| data2 = ]
| party = ] {{small|(1923–1927)}} <br /> ] {{small|(1927–1938)}}
| spouse = {{Marriage|]|1925|1938}}
| children =
| parents =
| relatives =
}}
{{Fascism in Romania}}
{{Antisemitism sidebar}}


'''Corneliu Zelea Codreanu'''{{efn|Although "Zelea" is in fact a surname, not a middle name, dictionary entries generally refer to Codreanu as "Codreanu, Corneliu Zelea".}} ({{IPA|ro|korˈnelju ˈzele̯a koˈdre̯anu|lang|Ro-Corneliu Zelea Codreanu.ogg}}; 13 September 1899 – 30 November 1938), born '''Corneliu Zelinski''' and commonly known as '''Corneliu Codreanu''', was a ] Romanian politician, the founder and ] of the ] or ''The Legion of the ]'' (also known as the ''Legionary Movement''), an ] and violently ] organization active throughout most of the ]. Generally seen as the main variety of local ], and noted for its ] and ]-inspired revolutionary message, the Iron Guard gained prominence on the Romanian political stage, coming into conflict with the political establishment and the ] forces, and often resorting to ]. The Legionnaires traditionally referred to Codreanu as ''Căpitanul'' ("The Captain"), and he held absolute authority over the organization until his death.
Codreanu, who began his career in the wake of ] as an ] and antisemitic agitator associated with ] and ], was a co-founder of the ] and assassin of the ] ] prefect ]. Codreanu left Cuza to found a succession of movements on the ], rallying around him a growing segment of the country's ] and peasant population, and inciting ]s in various parts of ]. Several times outlawed by successive Romanian cabinets, his Legion assumed different names and survived in the underground, during which time Codreanu formally delegated leadership to ]. Following Codreanu's instructions, the Legion carried out assassinations of politicians it viewed as corrupt, including ] ] and its former associate ]. In parallel, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu advocated Romania's adherence to a military and political alliance formed around ].


Codreanu, who began his career in the wake of ] as an ] and antisemitic agitator associated with ] and ], was a co-founder of the ] and assassin of the ] ] prefect ]. Codreanu left Cuza to find a succession of movements on the ], rallying around him a growing segment of the country's ] and peasant population, and inciting ]s in various parts of ]. Several times outlawed by successive Romanian cabinets, his Legion assumed different names and survived in the underground, during which time Codreanu formally delegated leadership to ]. Following Codreanu's instructions, the Legion carried out assassinations of politicians it viewed as corrupt, including ] ] and his former associate ]. Simultaneously, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu advocated Romania's adherence to a military and political alliance with ].
He registered his main electoral success during the ], but was blocked out of power by ] ], who came to favor rival fascist alternatives around the ] and the ]. The rivalry between, on one side, Codreanu, and, on the other, Carol and moderate politician ] ended in the former's imprisonment at ] and assassination at the hands of the ]. He was succeeded as leader by ]. In 1940, under the ] proclaimed by the Iron Guard, his killing served as the basis for violent retribution.

During the ], his party registered its strongest showing, placing third and winning 15.8% of the vote. It was blocked out of power by ] ], who invited the rival fascists and fourth-place finishers of the ] to form a short-lived government, succeeded by the ] royal dictatorship. The rivalry between Codreanu and, on the other side, Carol and moderate politicians like ] ended with Codreanu's incarceration at ] and eventual assassination at the hands of the ]. He was succeeded as leader by ]. In 1940, under the ] proclaimed by the Iron Guard, his killing served as the basis for violent retribution.


Corneliu Zelea Codreanu's views influenced the modern far right. Groups claiming him as a forerunner include ] and other Romanian successors of the Iron Guard, the ], and various ] organizations in ] and other parts of Europe. Corneliu Zelea Codreanu's views influenced the modern far right. Groups claiming him as a forerunner include ] and other Romanian successors of the Iron Guard, the ], and various ] organizations in ] and other parts of Europe.


==Biography== == Biography ==
===Early life=== === Early life ===
Corneliu Codreanu was born in ] to ] and Elizabeth née Brunner. A teacher by profession, Ion would later become a political figure within his son's Movement. A native of ] in ], Ion had originally been known as ''Zelinski''; his wife was ].<ref name="hswrevol">], ''The East European Revolution'', Frederick A. Prager, New York, 1961, p.206</ref> Statements according to which Ion Zelea Codreanu was originally a ] of ] or ] origin<ref>Jelavich, p.204-205; ], a philosopher who, early in his life, had been attracted to the Iron Guard, stated in a later interview that he believed Corneliu Zelea Codreanu to be "in fact, ], more of a ] ] type" (Cioran, ''Convorbiri cu Cioran'', ], Bucharest, 1993, in Ornea, p.198)</ref><ref name="hswrevol"/> contrast with the Romanian ] he embraced for the rest of his life. Thus, Codreanu the elder associated with antisemitic figures such as ] professor ].<ref>Ornea, p.286</ref> Allegations regarding the Codreanus' origins were notably publicized by the authorities in 1938, at a time when the conflict between them and the Legion reached its peak. ] circulated at the time had it that Codreanu was of mixed ancestry, being the descendant of not just Ukrainians, Germans, and Romanians, but also ] and ], and claimed that several of their ancestors were delinquents.<ref name="itrelatiile">{{ro icon}} Ilarion Ţiu, , in , 14/2003-2005, at the ] Faculty of History; retrieved ], ]</ref> Corneliu Codreanu was born in ] to ] and Elizabeth (née Brunner) on 13 September 1899. His father, a teacher and himself a Romanian nationalist, would later become a political figure within his son's movement. A native of ] in ], Ion had originally been known as ''Zelinski''; his wife was ].<ref name= hswrevol>], ''The East European Revolution'', Frederick A. Prager, New York, 1961, p. 206</ref> Statements according to which Ion Zelea Codreanu was originally a ] of ] or ] origin<ref name="hswrevol"/><ref name="Jelavich, p 1993, p.198">Jelavich, pp. 204–205; ], a philosopher who, early in his life, had been attracted to the Iron Guard, stated in a later interview that he believed Corneliu Zelea Codreanu to be "in fact, ], more of a ] ] type" (Cioran, ''Convorbiri cu Cioran'', ], Bucharest, 1993, in Ornea, p. 198)</ref><ref name="itrelatiile">{{in lang|ro}} Ilarion Țiu, {{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, in {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080223115039/http://www.revistaerasmus.go.ro/ |date=23 February 2008 }}, 14/2003–2005, at the ] Faculty of History; retrieved 13 February 2008</ref> contrast with the Romanian ] he embraced for the rest of his life; Codreanu the elder associated with antisemitic figures such as ] professor ].<ref>Ornea, p. 286</ref> Just prior to Corneliu Zelea Codreanu's 1938 trial, his ethnic origins were the subject of an anti-Legionary ] campaign organized by the authorities, who distributed copies of a variant of his ] which alleged that he was of mixed ancestry, being the descendant of not just Ukrainians, Germans, and Romanians, but also ] and ], and that several of their ancestors were delinquents.<ref name= itrelatiile/> Historian Ilarion Țiu describes this as an attempt to offend and ] Codreanu.<ref name= itrelatiile/> Codreanu's mother came from a ] family, which had originally emigrated from ].<ref>] (2020). ''A Century of Populist Demagogues: Eighteen European Portraits, 1918–2018'', p. 79. Budapest–New York: Central European University Press, {{ISBN|9789633863343}}</ref>


Too young for ] in 1916, when Romania entered ], Corneliu nonetheless tried his best to enlist. His education at the military school in ] (where he was a colleague of ], the future ] activist)<ref>Veiga, p.51, 68</ref> ended in the same year as Romania's direct implication in the war. But 1919 was the year when, after moving to ], Codreanu found ] as his new enemy, after he had witnessed the impact of ] agitation in ], and especially after the ] had made Romania lose her main ally in the war, forcing her to sign the humiliating 1918 ]; what added to this was that the newly-founded ] had from the start been violently opposed to all the new borders of the Romanian state (''see ]'').<ref>Veiga, p.41, 47</ref> Too young for ] in 1916, when Romania entered ] on the ], Codreanu nonetheless tried his best to enlist and fight in the ]. His education at the military school in ] (where he was a colleague of ], the future ] activist)<ref>Veiga, pp. 51, 68</ref> ended in the same year as Romania's direct implication in the war. In 1919, after moving to ], Codreanu found ] as his new enemy, after he had witnessed the impact of ] agitation in ], and especially after Romania lost her main ally in the ], forcing her to sign the 1918 ]; also, the newly founded ] was violently opposed to Romania's ] borders (''see ]'').<ref>Veiga, pp. 41, 47</ref>


While the Bolshevik presence decreased overall following the repression of ] riots in ] (December 1918),<ref>Veiga, p.47</ref> it remained or was perceived as relatively strong in Iaşi and other Moldavian cities and towns. In this context, the easternmost region of ], which united with Romania in 1918, was believed by Codreanu and others to be especially prone to Bolshevik influence.<ref>Barbu, p.196</ref> Codreanu followed in his father's footsteps as an antisemite, but connected it with ], in the belief that ] were, amongst other things, the primordial agents of the ] (''see ]'').<ref>Veiga, p.48-49, 54</ref> While the Bolshevik presence decreased overall following the repression of ] riots in ] (December 1918),<ref>Veiga, p. 47</ref> it remained or was perceived as relatively strong in Iași and other Moldavian cities and towns. In this context, the easternmost region of ], which united with Romania in 1918, was believed by Codreanu and others to be especially prone to Bolshevik influence.<ref name="Barbu, p.196">Barbu, p. 196</ref> Codreanu learned antisemitism from his father, but connected it with ], in the belief that ] were, among other things, the primordial agents of the ] (''see ]'').<ref name=":0">Veiga, pp. 48–49, 54</ref>


===GCN and National-Christian Defense League=== === GCN and National-Christian Defense League ===
Codreanu studied ] in Iaşi, where he began his political career. Like his father, he became close to A. C. Cuza. Codreanu's fear of ] led to his efforts to address industrial workers himself. At the time, Cuza was preaching that the Jewish population was a manifest threat to Romanians, claimed that Jews were threatening the purity of Romanian young women, and began campaigning in favor of ].<ref>Barbu, p.196</ref> Codreanu studied law in Iași, where he began his political career. Like his father, he became close to ]. Codreanu's fear of ] led to his efforts to address industrial workers himself. At the time, Cuza was preaching that the Jewish population was a manifest threat to Romanians, claimed that Jews were threatening the purity of Romanian young women, and began campaigning in favour of ].<ref name="Barbu, p.196" />


Historian ] defined the early Codreanu as a "quasi-] agitator".<ref>Cioroianu, p.16</ref> According to Cioroianu, Codreanu loved Romania with "fanaticism", which implied that he saw the country as "idyllicized different from the real one of his times".<ref>Cioroianu, p.16</ref> ] scholar ] also referred to Codreanu as "an obsessive anti-Semite and religious fanatic".<ref>Catherwood, p.104</ref> Historian Zeev Barbu proposed that: "Cuza was Codreanu's mentor , but nothing that Codreanu learned from him was strikingly new. Cuza served mainly as a catalyst for his nationalism and antisemitism."<ref>Barbu, p.196</ref> As he himself later acknowledged, the young activist was also deeply influenced by the physiologist and antisemitic ideologue ], who was involved with Cuza's movement.<ref>''Final Report'', p.35, 44, 45</ref> Historian ] defined the early Codreanu as a "quasi-] agitator".<ref name="Cioroianu, p.16">Cioroianu, p. 16</ref> According to Cioroianu, Codreanu loved Romania with "fanaticism", which implied that he saw the country as "idyllicized different from the real one of his times".<ref name="Cioroianu, p.16" /> ] scholar ] also referred to Codreanu as "an obsessive anti-Semite and religious fanatic".<ref>Catherwood, p. 104</ref> Historian Zeev Barbu proposed that "Cuza was Codreanu's mentor , but nothing that Codreanu learned from him was strikingly new. Cuza served mainly as a catalyst for his nationalism and antisemitism."<ref name="Barbu, p.196" /> As he himself later acknowledged, the young activist was also deeply influenced by the physiologist and antisemitic ideologue ], who was involved with Cuza's movement.<ref>''Final Report'', pp. 35, 44, 45</ref>


In late 1919, he joined the short-lived '''Garda Conştiinţei Naţionale''' (GCN, "The National Awareness Guard"), a group formed by the ] ].<ref>Barbu, p.196-197; Veiga, p.49-50</ref> Pancu's movement, whose original membership did not exceed 40,<ref>Barbu, p.197</ref> attempted to revive ] within the ] (while offering an alternative to communism by promising to advocate increased ]).<ref>Veiga, p.49-50</ref> As much as other ] groups, it won the tacit support of General ] and his increasingly popular ] (of which Cuza became an affiliate);<ref>Veiga, p.46-47</ref> Averescu's ascension to power in 1920 engendered a new period of social troubles in the larger urban areas (''see ]'').<ref>Veiga, p.49-50</ref> In late 1919, Codreanu joined the short-lived ] (GCN, "Guard of National Conscience"), a group formed by the ] ].<ref name=":1">Barbu, pp. 196-197; Veiga, pp. 49–50</ref> Pancu had an enormous influence on Codreanu.<ref name= ReferenceC>{{Cite journal |jstor = 260662|title = An Eyewitness Note: Reflections on the Rumanian Iron Guard|journal = Journal of Contemporary History|volume = 26|issue = 3/4|pages = 597–610|last1 = Yavetz|first1 = Zvi|year = 1991|doi = 10.1177/002200949102600313|s2cid = 144944383}}</ref>{{How|date=August 2021}}


Pancu's movement, whose original membership did not exceed 40,<ref name="Barbu, p.197">Barbu, p. 197</ref> attempted to revive ] within the ] (while offering an alternative to communism by advocating increased ]).<ref name="Veiga, p.49-50">Veiga, pp. 49–50</ref> As much as other ] groups, it won the tacit support of General ] and his increasingly popular ] (of which Cuza became an affiliate);<ref>Veiga, pp. 46–47</ref> Averescu's ascension to power in 1920 engendered a new period of social troubles in the larger urban areas (''see ]'').<ref name="Veiga, p.49-50" />
The GCN, in which Codreanu thought he could see the nucleus of nationalist ]s, became active in crushing ]s.<ref>Barbu, p.197; Veiga, p.48-49</ref> Their activities did not fail in attracting attention, especially after students who obeyed Codreanu, grouped in the Association of Christian Students, started demanding a ] for ] - this gathered popularity for the GCN, and it led to a drastic increase in the frequency and intensity of assaults on all its opponents.<ref>Veiga, p.52</ref> In response, Codreanu was expelled from University. Although allowed to return when Cuza and others intervened for him (refusing to respect the decision of the University Senate), he was never presented with a ] after his graduation.<ref>Cioroianu, p.17; Ornea, p.288; Veiga, p.52, 55</ref>


The GCN, in which Codreanu thought he could see the nucleus of nationalist ]s, became active in crushing ]s.<ref name=":2">Barbu, p. 197; Veiga, pp. 48–49</ref> Their activities did not fail in attracting attention, especially after students who obeyed Codreanu, grouped in the Association of Christian Students, started demanding a ] for ] – this gathered popularity for the GCN, and it led to a drastic increase in the frequency and intensity of assaults on all its opponents.<ref>Veiga, p. 52</ref> In response, Codreanu was expelled from the University of Iași. Although allowed to return when Cuza and others intervened for him (refusing to respect the decision of the University Senate), he was never presented with a ] after his graduation.<ref>Cioroianu, p. 17; Ornea, p. 288; Veiga, pp. 52, 55</ref>
While studying in ] and ] in 1922, Codreanu took a critical attitude towards the ], and began praising the ] and ] as major achievements; he decided to cut his stay short, after he learned of the large student protests in December, prompted by the intention of the government to grant the complete ] of Jews (''see ]'').<ref>Ornea, p.287</ref>


While studying in ] and ] in 1922, Codreanu took a critical attitude towards the ], and began praising the ] and ] as major achievements against the advancement of communism; he decided to cut his stay short after learning of the large Romanian student protests in December, prompted by the intention of the government to grant the complete ] of Jews (''see ]'').<ref>Ornea, p. 287</ref>
When protests organized by Codreanu met with the new ] government's lack of interest, he and Cuza founded (], ]) a Christian nationalist organization called the ].<ref>Ornea, p.287; Veiga, p.74</ref> They were joined in 1925 by ], translator of the antisemitic forgery know as '']'' and future ideologue of the Legion.<ref>Catherwood, p.105; Veiga, p.75</ref> Codreanu was subsequently tasked with organizing the League at a national level, and became especially preoccupied with its youth ventures.<ref>''Final Report'', p.44</ref>


When protests organized by Codreanu were met with lack of interest from the new ] government, he and Cuza founded (4 March 1923) a Christian nationalist organization called the ].<ref>Ornea, p. 287; Veiga, p. 74</ref> They were joined in 1925 by ], translator of the antisemitic ] known as '']'' and future ideologue of the Legion.<ref>Catherwood, p. 105; Veiga, p. 75</ref> Codreanu was subsequently tasked with organizing the League at a national level, and became especially preoccupied with its youth ventures.<ref>''Final Report'', p. 44</ref>
With the granting of full rights of ] to persons of Jewish descent under the ], the League raided the Iaşi ], led a group that ]ed the government in ] (being received with indifference), and ultimately decided to assassinate ] ] and other members of government.<ref>Ornea, p.287; Veiga, p. 62-64, 76</ref> Codreanu also drafted the first of his several death lists, which contained the names of politicians who, he believed, had betrayed Romania. It included ], who held several offices in the Brătianu executive, and who was personally responsible for promoting the emancipation of Jews.<ref>''Final Report'', p.46</ref> In October 1923, he was betrayed by one of his associates, arrested and put on trial. He and the other plotters were soon acquitted, as Romanian legislation did not allow for prosecution of ] that had not been assigned a definite date. Before the jury ended deliberation, Moţa killed the traitor and was given a prison sentence himself.<ref>Ornea, p.287; Veiga, p.77</ref>


With the granting of full rights of ] to persons of Jewish descent under the ], the League raided the Iași ], led a group which ]ed the government in ] (being received with indifference), and ultimately decided to assassinate ] ] and other members of government.<ref>Ornea, p. 287; Veiga, pp. 62–64, 76</ref> Codreanu also drafted the first of his several death lists, which contained the names of politicians who, he believed, had betrayed Romania. It included ], who held several offices in Brătianu's executive, and who promoted the emancipation of Jews.<ref>''Final Report'', p. 46</ref> In October 1923, Codreanu was betrayed by one of his associates, arrested, and put on trial. He and the other plotters were soon acquitted, as Romanian legislation did not allow for prosecution of ] that had not been assigned a definite date. Before the jury ended deliberation, Ion Moța shot the traitor and was given a prison sentence himself.<ref>Ornea, p. 287; Veiga, p. 77</ref>
===Manciu's killing===
Codreanu clashed with Cuza on the issue of the League's structure: he demanded that it develop a ] and revolutionary character, while Cuza was hostile to the idea.<ref>''Final Report'', p.44-45; Brustein, p.158; Sedgwick, p.113</ref> In November, while in ] in ], Codreanu had planned for the creation of a ] within the League, which he aimed to call ''The Legion of the ]''. This was said to be in honor of an ] that adorned the walls of the prison church,<ref>''Final Report'', p.45; Ornea, p.287-288</ref> or more specifically linked to Codreanu's reported claim of having been visited by the Archangel himself.<ref>Barbu, p.197</ref>


=== Manciu's killing ===
Back in Iaşi, he created his own system of allegiance within the League, starting with '''Frăţia de Cruce''' ("Brotherhood of the Cross", named after a variant of ]hood which requires ] with a cross).<ref>Barbu, p.197; Veiga, p.82-83</ref> It gathered on ], ], in the countryside around Iaşi, starting work on the building of a student center. This meeting was violently broken up by the authorities on orders from ] prefect ].<ref>Veiga, p.78</ref> Codreanu and several others were allegedly beaten and tormented for several days, until Cuza's intervention on their behalf proved effective.<ref>Ornea, p.288; Scurtu, p.41</ref>
Codreanu clashed with Cuza over the League's structure: he demanded that it develop a ] and revolutionary character, while Cuza was hostile to the idea.<ref>''Final Report'', pp. 44–45; Brustein, p. 158; Sedgwick, p. 113</ref> In November, while in ] in ], Codreanu had planned for the creation of a ] within the League, which he aimed to call ''The Legion of the ]''. This was said to be in honour of an ] that adorned the walls of the prison church,<ref>''Final Report'', p. 45; Ornea, pp. 287–288</ref> or, more specifically, linked to Codreanu's reported claim of having been visited by the Archangel himself.<ref name="Barbu, p.197" /> A more personal problem also divided Codreanu and Cuza, namely that Cuza's son had an affair with Codreanu's sister that left her pregnant.<ref name="Yavetz pages 597-610">Yavetz, Zvi "An Eyewitness Note: Reflections on the Rumanian Iron Guard" pp. 597–610 from ''Journal of Contemporary History'', Volume 26, Issue 4, September 1991 p. 601.</ref> The couple had broken up with the younger Cuza refused his girlfriend's demand that he marry her now that she was bearing his child. Though the scandal was hushed up, the fact that his sister was having an illegitimate child was deeply humiliating for Codreanu as he liked to present his family as model members of the Orthodox church and he sought unsuccessfully to have Cuza pressure his son to marry his sister.<ref name="Yavetz pages 597-610" />{{Additional citation needed|date=August 2021}}


Back in Iași, Codreanu created his own system of allegiance within the League, starting with the ''Frăția de Cruce'' ("Brotherhood of the Cross", named after a variant of ]hood which requires ] with a cross).<ref>Barbu, p. 197; Veiga, pp. 82–83</ref> It gathered on 6 May 1924, in the countryside around Iași, starting work on the building of a student centre. This meeting was violently broken up by the authorities on orders from ] prefect Constantin Manciu.<ref>Veiga, p. 78</ref> Codreanu and several others were allegedly beaten and tormented for several days, until Cuza's intervention on their behalf proved effective.<ref>Ornea, p. 288; Scurtu, p. 41</ref>
After an interval when he retreated from any political activity, Codreanu took revenge on Manciu, assassinating him and severely wounding some other policemen on ],<ref>Scurtu, p.41; Veiga, p.80</ref> in the Iaşi Tribunal building (where Manciu had been called to answer accusations, after one of Codreanu's comrades had filed a complaint).<ref>Scurtu, p.41</ref> ] have shown that Manciu was not facing his killer at the moment of his death, which prompted Codreanu to indicate that he considered himself in ] based solely on Manciu's earlier actions.<ref>Scurtu, p.41</ref> Codreanu turned himself in immediately after having fired his gun, and awaited trial in custody.<ref>Scurtu, p.41</ref> In the meantime, the issue was brought up in the ] by the ]'s ], who first made a proposal to review legislation dealing with political violence and ]; it won the approval of the governing ], which, on ], passed the ''Mârzescu Law''<ref>Scurtu, p.41</ref> (named after its proponent, Mârzescu, who had been appointed ]) &mdash; it most notable, if indirect, effect was the banning of the ]. In October and November debates between members of Parliament became heated, and Cuza's group was singled out as morally responsible for the murder: ] stated that "Mr. Cuza aimed and Codreanu fired",<ref>Andrei, in Scurtu, p.41</ref> to which Cuza replied by claiming his innocence, while theorizing that Manciu's brutality was a justifiable cause for violent retaliation.<ref>Scurtu, p.41</ref>


After an interval of retreating from any political activity, Codreanu took revenge on Manciu, assassinating him and severely wounding some other policemen on 24 October 1924,<ref>Scurtu, p. 41; Veiga, p. 80</ref> in the Iași Tribunal building (where Manciu had been called to answer accusations, after one of Codreanu's comrades had filed a complaint).<ref name="Scurtu, p.41">Scurtu, p. 41</ref> ] showed that Manciu was not facing his killer at the moment of his death, which prompted Codreanu to indicate that he considered himself to be acting in ] based solely on Manciu's earlier actions.<ref name="Scurtu, p.41" /> Codreanu gave himself up immediately after firing his gun, and awaited trial in custody.<ref name="Scurtu, p.41" /> The police force of Iași was unpopular with the public due to widespread corruption, and many locals saw the murder of Manciu as a heroic act by Codreanu.<ref name="Crampton, Richard page 114">Crampton, Richard ''Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century-And After'', London: Routledge, 1997 p. 114.</ref> In the meantime, the issue was brought up in the ] by the ]'s ], who first made a proposal to review legislation dealing with political violence and ]; it won the approval of the governing ], which, on 19 December, passed the ''Mârzescu Law''<ref name="Scurtu, p.41" /> (named after its proponent, Mârzescu, who had been appointed ]). Its most notable, if indirect, effect was the banning of the ]. In October and November debates between members of Parliament became heated, and Cuza's group was singled out as morally responsible for the murder: ] stated that "Mr. Cuza aimed and Codreanu fired",<ref>Andrei, in Scurtu, p. 41</ref> to which Cuza replied by claiming his innocence, while theorizing that Manciu's brutality was a justifiable cause for violent retaliation.<ref name="Scurtu, p.41" />
Although he was purposely tried as far away from Iaşi as ], the authorities managed to find no neutral jury.<ref>Ornea, p.288; Scurtu, p.42</ref> On the day he was acquitted, members of the jury, who deliberated for five minutes in all, showed up wearing badges with League symbols and ]s (the symbol in use by Cuza's League).<ref>Scurtu, p.42; Veiga, p.80</ref> After a triumphal return and the ostentatious wedding to Elena Ilinoiu,<ref>Ornea, p.289; Veiga, p.80</ref> Codreanu clashed with Cuza for a second time and decided to defuse tensions by taking a leave to ]. Before leaving, he was the victim of an assassination attempt &mdash; Moţa, just returned from prison, was given another short sentence after he led the reprisals.


Although Codreanu was purposely tried as far away from Iași at ], the authorities were unable to find a neutral jury.<ref>Ornea, p. 288; Scurtu, p. 42</ref> On the day he was acquitted, members of the jury, who deliberated for five minutes in all, showed up wearing badges with League symbols and ]s (the symbol in use by Cuza's League).<ref>Scurtu, p. 42; Veiga, p. 80</ref> After a triumphal return and an ostentatious wedding to Elena Ilinoiu,<ref>Ornea, p. 289; Veiga, p. 80</ref> Codreanu clashed with Cuza for a second time and decided to defuse tensions by taking leave in ].
===Creation of the Legion===
He returned from ] to take part in the ], and ran as a candidate for the town of ]. He lost, and, although it had had a considerable success, the League disbanded in the same year.<ref>Ornea, p.289-290</ref> Codreanu gathered former members of the League who had spent time in prison, and put into practice his dream of forming the Legion (November 1927, just a few days after the fall of a new Averescu cabinet, which had continued to support Cuza).<ref>Veiga, p.92-93</ref>


Codreanu's wedding to Elena Ilinoiu in June 1925 in Focșani was the major social event in Romania that year; it was celebrated in lavish, pseudo-royal style and attended by thousands, attracting enormous media attention.<ref>Bucur, Maria "Romania" pp. 57–78 from ''Women, Gender and Fascism in Europe, 1919–1945'' edited by Kevin Passmore, New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2003 pp. 73–74.</ref> After the wedding, Codreanu and his bride were followed by 3,000 ox-carts in a four-mile long procession of "ecstatically happy" peasants.<ref name="Crampton, Richard page 114" /> One of Codreanu's followers{{Who|date=August 2021}} wrote at the time that Romanians loved royal spectacles, especially royal weddings, but since ] had eloped first to marry a commoner in 1918 in a private wedding followed by a royal wedding in Greece, Codreanu's wedding was the best substitute for the royal wedding that the Romanian people wanted to see.<ref name= ReferenceA>Bucur, Maria "Romania" pp. 57–78 from ''Women, Gender and Fascism in Europe, 1919–1945'' edited by Kevin Passmore, New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2003 p. 74.</ref> Codreanu's wedding was meant to change his image from the romantic, restless, ] image he had held until then to a more "settled" image of a married man, and thus allay concerns held by more conservative Romanians about his social radicalism.<ref name="ReferenceA" />
Based on ''Frăţia de Cruce'', he designed as a selective and ] group, paying allegiance to him and no other, and soon expanded into a replicating network of political cells called "nests" (''cuiburi'').<ref>Barbu, p.197; Benedict, p.457; Ornea, p.290; Jelavich, p.206; Veiga, p.107-110</ref> ''Frăţia'' endured as the Legion's most secretive and highest body, which requested from its members that they undergo a ], during which they swore allegiance to the Captain.<ref>Barbu, p.197</ref> According to ] historian ], the movement "at first supported no set ideology, but instead emphasized the moral regeneration of the individual", while expressing a commitment to the ].<ref>Jelavich, p.205</ref> The Legion introduced Orthodox rituals as part of its political rallies,<ref>Barbu, p.200; Mayall, p.141</ref> while Codreanu made his public appearances dressed in ]<ref>Barbu, p.200; Benedict, p.456</ref> &mdash; a traditionalist pose adopted at the time only by him and the ]'s ].<ref>Benedict, p.456</ref> Throughout its existence, the Legion maintained strong links with members of the Romanian Orthodox clergy,<ref>Catherwood, p.104, 107</ref> and its members fused politics with an original interpretation of Romanian Orthodox messages &mdash; including claims that the Romanian kin was expecting its national salvation, in a religious sense.<ref>''Final Report'', p.46-47; Mayall, p.141; Payne, p.116</ref>


=== Creation of the Legion of the Archangel Michael ===
Such a mystical focus, Jelavich noted, was in tandem with a marked preoccupation for violence and self-sacrifice, "but only if the were committed for the good of the cause and subsequently expiated."<ref>Jelavich, p.205</ref> Legionaries engaged in violent or murderous acts often turned themselves in to be arrested,<ref>Jelavich, p.205; Mayall, p.142</ref> and it became common that violence was seen as a necessary step in a world that expected a ] of ].<ref>Mayall, p.141-142</ref> With time, the Legion developed a doctrine around a cult of the fallen, going so far as to imply that the dead continued to form an integral part of a perpetual national community.<ref>Davies, p.968-969; Mayall, p.141</ref> As a consequence of its mysticism, the movement made a point of not adopting or advertising any particular platform,<ref>Barbu, p.197; Payne, p.116</ref> and Corneliu Zelea Codreanu explained early on: "The country is dying for lack of men and not for lack of political programs."<ref>Codreanu, in Barbu, p.197</ref> Elsewhere, he pointed out that the Legion was interested in the creation of a "new man" (''omul nou'').<ref>Payne, p.116</ref>
Codreanu returned from ] to take part in the ], and ran as a candidate for the town of ]. He lost, and, although it had had a considerable success, the League disbanded in the same year.<ref>Ornea, pp. 289–290</ref> Codreanu gathered former members of the League who had spent time in prison, and put into practice his dream of forming the Legion (November 1927, just days after the fall of ], which had continued to support now-rival Cuza).<ref>Veiga, pp. 92–93</ref> Codreanu claimed to have had a vision of the Archangel Michael who told him he had been chosen by God to be Romania's saviour.<ref name="Crampton, Richard page 114" /> From the beginning, the Legion claimed that a commitment to the values of the Eastern Orthodox Church was central to its message, and Codreanu's alleged vision was a centrepiece of his message.<ref name="Crampton, Richard page 114" />


Based on the ''Frăția de Cruce'', Codreanu designed the Legion as a selective and ] group, paying allegiance to him and no other, and soon expanded it into a replicating network of political cells called "nests" (''cuiburi'').<ref>Barbu, p. 197; Benedict, p. 457; Ornea, p. 290; Jelavich, p. 206; Veiga, pp. 107–110</ref> ''Frăția'' endured as the Legion's most secretive and highest body, which requested from its members that they undergo a ], during which they swore allegiance to the "Captain", as Codreanu was now known.<ref name="Barbu, p.197" />
Despite its apparent lack of political messages, the movement was immediately noted for its antisemitism, for arguing that Romania was faced with a "]" and for proclaiming that a Jewish presence thrived on uncouthness and ].<ref>Brustein, p.158; Catherwood, p.104-195</ref> The Legionary leader wrote: "The historical mission of our generation is the resolution of the kike problem. All of our battles of the past 15 years have had this purpose, all of our life's efforts from now on will have this purpose."<ref>Codreanu, in ''Final Report'', p.45</ref> He accused the Jews in general of attempting to destroy what he claimed was a direct link between Romania and God, and the Legion campaigned in favor of the notion that there was no actual connection between the ] ] and the modern Jews.<ref>''Final Report'', p.46-47</ref> In one instance, making a reference to the ], Codreanu stated that Jews were corrupting the "]-] structure of our people."<ref>Codreanu, in Catherwood, p.105</ref>


According to ] historian ], the movement "at first supported no set ideology, but instead emphasized the moral regeneration of the individual", while expressing a commitment to the ].<ref name="Jelavich, p.205">Jelavich, p. 205</ref> The Legion introduced Orthodox rituals as part of its political rallies,<ref>Barbu, p. 200; Mayall, p. 141</ref> while Codreanu made his public appearances dressed in ]<ref>Barbu, p. 200; Benedict, p. 456</ref> — a traditionalist pose adopted at the time only by him and the ]'s ].<ref>Benedict, p. 456</ref> Throughout its existence, the Legion maintained strong links with members of the Romanian Orthodox clergy,<ref>Catherwood, pp. 104, 107</ref> and its members fused politics with an original interpretation of Romanian Orthodox messages — including claims that the Romanian kin was expecting its national salvation, in a religious sense.<ref>''Final Report'', pp. 46–47; Mayall, p. 141; Payne, p. 116</ref>
He began openly calling for the destruction of Jews,<ref>Brustein, p.158; Catherwood, p.105</ref><ref name="sjldict">Stephen J. Lee, ''European Dictatorships, 1918-1945'', ], London, 2000, p.288. ISBN 0415230462</ref> and, as early as 1927, the new movement organized the sacking and burning of a ] in the city of ].<ref>Brustein, p.158</ref> It thus profited from an exceptional popularity of antisemitism in Romanian society: according to one analysis, Romania was, with the exception of ], the most antisemitic country in ].<ref>Benedict, p.457</ref>


Such a mystical focus, Jelavich noted, was in tandem with a marked preoccupation for violence and self-sacrifice, "but only if the were committed for the good of the cause and subsequently expiated."<ref name="Jelavich, p.205" /> Legionnaires engaged in violent or murderous acts often turned themselves in to be arrested,<ref>Jelavich, p. 205; Mayall, p. 142</ref> and it became common that violence was seen as a necessary step in a world that expected a ] of ].<ref>Mayall, pp. 141–142</ref> With time, the Legion developed a doctrine around a cult of the fallen, going so far as to imply that the dead continued to form an integral part of a perpetual national community.<ref name="Davies, p.968-969">Davies, pp. 968–969</ref><ref name="Mayall, p.141" /> As a consequence of its mysticism, the movement made a point of not adopting or advertising any particular platform,<ref>Barbu, p. 197; Ornea, pp. 348–376; Payne, p. 116</ref> and Codreanu explained early on: "The country is dying for lack of men and not for lack of political programs."<ref>Codreanu, in Barbu, p. 197</ref> Elsewhere, he pointed out that the Legion was interested in the creation of a "new man" (''omul nou'').<ref>Mayall, p. 141; Ornea, pp. 348–353; Payne, p. 116</ref>
Codreanu's message was among the most radical forms of Romanian antisemitism, and contrasted with the generally more moderate antisemitic views of Cuza's former associate, prominent historian ].<ref>''Final Report'', p.28-29</ref> The model favored by the Legion was a form of ], and formed part of Codreanu's theory that the Romanians were biologically distinct and superior to neighboring or co-inhabiting ethnicities (including the ]).<ref name="sjldict"/> Codreanu also voiced his thoughts on the issue of Romanian expansionism, which show that he was pondering the incorporation of ] lands over the ] (in the region later annexed under the name of ]) and planning a Romanian-led trans-national federation centered on the ] and the ].<ref name="sjldict"/>


Despite its apparent lack of political messages, the movement was immediately noted for its antisemitism, for arguing that Romania was faced with a "]" and for proclaiming that a Jewish presence thrived on uncouthness and ].<ref>Brustein, p. 158; Catherwood, pp. 104–195</ref> The Legionary leader wrote: "The historical mission of our generation is the resolution of the kike problem. All of our battles of the past 15 years have had this purpose, all of our life's efforts from now on will have this purpose."<ref>Codreanu, in ''Final Report'', p. 45</ref> He accused the Jews in general of attempting to destroy what he claimed was a direct link between Romania and God, and the Legion campaigned in favour of the notion that there was no actual connection between the ] ] and the modern Jews.<ref>''Final Report'', pp. 46–47</ref> In one instance, making a reference to the ], Codreanu stated that Jews were corrupting the "]-] structure of our people."<ref>Codreanu, in Catherwood, p. 105</ref> The Israeli historian ] wrote that, from the mid-19th century onward, the Romanian ''intelligentsia'' had a "schizophrenic attitude towards the West and its values".<ref>Ancel, Jean "Antonescu and the Jews" pp. 463–479 from ''The Holocaust and History The Known, the Unknown, the Disputed and the Reexamined'' edited by Michael Berenbaum and Abraham Peck, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999 p. 463.</ref> Romania been a strongly Francophile country starting in the 19th century, and most of the Romanian ''intelligentsia'' professed themselves believers in French ideas about the universal appeal of democracy, freedom, and human rights while at the same time holding antisemitic views about Romania's Jewish minority.<ref>Ancel, Jean "Antonescu and the Jews" pp. 463–479 from ''The Holocaust and History The Known, the Unknown, the Disputed and the Reexamined'' edited by Michael Berenbaum and Abraham Peck, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999 pp. 463–464.</ref> Ancel wrote that Codreanu was the first significant Romanian to reject not only the prevailing Francophilia of the ''intelligentsia'', but also the entire framework of universal democratic values, which Codreanu claimed were "Jewish inventions" designed to destroy Romania.<ref>Ancel, Jean "Antonescu and the Jews" pp. 463–479 from ''The Holocaust and History The Known, the Unknown, the Disputed and the Reexamined'' edited by Michael Berenbaum and Abraham Peck, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999 p. 464.</ref>
From early on, the movement registered significant gains among the ] and educated youth.<ref>Barbu, p.198-200; Cioroianu, p.17</ref> However, according to various commentators, Codreanu won his most significant following in the rural environment, which in part reflected the fact that he and most other Legionary leaders were first-generation urban dwellers.<ref>Barbu, p.198-200; Benedict, p.457-458; De Felice, p.101</ref> British historian of fascism ], who noted that the Legion benefited from the 400% increase in university enrollment ("proportionately more than anywhere else in Europe"), has described the Captain and his network of disciples as "a revolutionary alliance of students and poor peasants", which centered on the "new underemployed ] prone to radical nationalism".<ref>Payne, p.116</ref> Thus, a characteristic trait of the newly-founded movement was the young age of its leaders: later records show that the average age of the Legionary elite was 27.4.<ref>Barbu, p.199</ref>


He began openly calling for the destruction of Jews,<ref>Brustein, p. 158; Catherwood, p. 105</ref><ref name="sjldict">Stephen J. Lee, ''European Dictatorships, 1918–1945'', ], London, 2000, p. 288. {{ISBN|0-415-23046-2}}</ref> and, as early as 1927, the new movement organized the sacking and burning of a ] in the city of ].<ref name="Brustein, p.158">Brustein, p. 158</ref> It thus profited from an exceptional popularity of antisemitism in Romanian society: according to one analysis,{{Which|date=August 2021}} Romania was, with the exception of ], the most antisemitic country in ].<ref>Benedict, p. 457</ref>
By then also an ], he identified in Jewry the common source of ] and communism, both seen as ] forces manipulated by a ].<ref>Tismăneanu, p.65</ref> As an opponent of ] and ], he only vaguely indicated that his movement's economic goals implied a non-] form of ],<ref>Payne, p.116</ref> and presided over his followers' initiatives to set up various ]s.<ref>Benedict, p.457; Payne, p.116</ref>


Codreanu's message was among the most radical forms of Romanian antisemitism, and contrasted with the generally more moderate antisemitic views of Cuza's former associate, the prominent historian ].<ref>''Final Report'', pp. 28–29</ref> The model favoured by the Legion was a form of ],<ref name= Ox95>Codreanu, Corneliu, "The Resurrection of the Race", pp. 221–222, in ''Fascism'', ed. Roger Griffin. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.</ref> and formed part of Codreanu's theory that the Romanians were biologically distinct and superior to neighbouring or co-inhabiting ethnicities (including the ]).<ref name="sjldict" /> Codreanu also voiced his thoughts on the issue of Romanian expansionism, which show that he was pondering the incorporation of ] lands over the ] (in the region later annexed under the name of ]) and planning a Romanian-led transnational federation centred on the ] and the ].<ref name="sjldict" />
===First outlawing and parliamentary mandate===
Codreanu felt he had to amend the purpose of the movement after more than two years of stagnation: he and the leadership of the movement started touring rural regions, addressing the churchgoing illiterate population with the rhetoric of ]s, dressing up in long white ]s and instigating Christian prejudice against ]<ref>Ornea, p.291-295</ref> (this intense campaign was also prompted by the fact that the Legion was immediately sidelined by Cuza's League in the traditional ]n and ]n centers).<ref>Veiga, p.108</ref> Between 1928 and 1930, the ] National Peasants' Party cabinet gave tacit assistance to the Guard, but ] (representing the same party) clamped down on the Legion after July 1930.<ref>Veiga, p.113-116</ref> This came after the latter had tried to provoke a wave of ]s in ] and ].<ref>Veiga, p.113-116</ref> In one notable incident of 1930, Legionaries encouraged the peasant population of ] to attack the town's 4,000 Jews.<ref>Brustein, p.158</ref> The Legion had also attempted to assassinate government officials and journalists &mdash; including ], undersecretary of Internal Affairs.<ref>Ornea, p.291</ref> Codreanu was briefly arrested together with the would-be assassin ]: both were tried and acquitted.<ref>Ornea, p.294</ref> Nevertheless, the wave of violence and a planned march into Bessarabia signaled the outlawing of the party by Premier ] and ] ] (January 1931); again arrested, Codreanu was acquitted in late February.<ref>Ornea, p.295</ref>


In 1936, Codreanu published an essay entitled "The Resurrection of the Race", where he wrote
The Legion did not cease to benefit from the ].<ref>Veiga, p.140-147</ref> In 1931, the Legion profited from the disagreement between ] ] and the National Peasants' Party, which brought a cabinet formed around ].<ref>Ornea, p.295</ref> Codreanu was consequently elected to ] on the lists of the '''Corneliu Zelea Codreanu Grouping''' (the provisional name for the Guard), together with other prominent members of his original movement &mdash; including Ion Zelea, his father, and ], a young activist who ultimately came into conflict with the Legion; it is likely that the new Vaida-Voevod cabinet gave tacit support to the Group in subsequent partial elections.<ref>Ornea, p.296</ref> The Legion had won five seats in all, which was its first important electoral gain.<ref>Barbu, p.198</ref>


<blockquote>I will under underline this once again: we are not up against a few pathetic individuals who have landed here by chance and who now seek protection and shelter. We are up against a fully-fledged Jewish state, an entire army which has come here with its sights set on conquest. The movement of the Jewish population and its penetration into Romania are being carried out in accordance with precise plans. In all probability, the 'Great Jewish Council' is planning the creation of a new Palestine on a strip of land, starting out on the Baltic Sea, embraces a part of Poland and Czechoslovakia and half of Romania right across to the Black Sea...<br /><br />The worse thing that Jews and politicians have done to us, the greatest danger that they have exposed our people to, is not the way they are seizing the riches and possessions of our country, destroying the Romanian middle class, the way they swamp our schools and liberal professions, or the pernicious influence they are having on our whole political life, although these already constitute mortal dangers for a people. The greatest danger they pose to the people is rather that they are undermining us racially, that they are destroying the racial, Romano-Dacian structure of our people and call into being a type of human being that is nothing, but a racial wreck."<ref name= Ox95/></blockquote>
He quickly became noted for exposing corruption of ministers and other politicians on a case-by-case basis (although several of his political adversaries at the time described him as bland and incompetent).<ref>Ornea, p.296</ref>


From early on, the movement registered significant gains among the ] and educated youth.<ref>Barbu, pp. 198–200; Cioroianu, p. 17</ref> However, according to various commentators, Codreanu won his most significant following in the rural environment, which in part reflected the fact that he and most other Legionary leaders were first-generation urban dwellers.<ref>Barbu, pp. 198–200; Benedict, pp. 457–458; De Felice, p. 101</ref> American historian of fascism ], who noted that the Legion benefited from the 400% increase in university enrolment ("proportionately more than anywhere else in Europe"), has described the Captain and his network of disciples as "a revolutionary alliance of students and poor peasants", which centred on the "new underemployed ] prone to radical nationalism".<ref name="Payne, p.116">Payne, p. 116</ref> Thus, a characteristic trait of the newly-founded movement was the young age of its leaders; later records show that the average age of the Legionary elite was 27.4.<ref>Barbu, p. 199</ref>
===Clash with Duca and truce with Tătărescu===
The authorities became truly concerned with the revolutionary potential of the Legion, and minor clashes in 1932 between the two introduced what became, from 1933, almost a decade of major political violence. The situation degenerated after Codreanu expressed his full support for ] and ] (even to the detriment of ],<ref>Veiga, p.251-255</ref> and probably an added source for the conflict between the Captain and Stelescu).<ref>Veiga, p.229, 230</ref> A new National Liberal cabinet, formed by ], moved against such initiatives, stating that the Legion was acting as a puppet of the ], and ordering that a huge number of Legionaries be arrested just prior to the ] (which the Liberals won).<ref>Jelavich, p.206; Veiga, p.196-197</ref> Some of the men held in custody were killed by authorities.<ref>Jelavich, p.206</ref> The main effect of this was the killing of Duca by the Iron Guard's '']'' on ].<ref>Ornea, p.298; Veiga, p.197-198</ref> Another one was the very first crackdown on non-affiliated sympathizers of the Iron Guard, after the group around ] decided to voice protests against the repression.<ref>Ornea, p.244, 298; Veiga, p.201</ref>


By then also an ], Codreanu identified in Jewry the common source of ] and communism, both seen as ] forces manipulated by a ].<ref>Tismăneanu, p. 65</ref> As an opponent of ] and ], he only vaguely indicated that his movement's economic goals implied a non-] form of ],<ref name="Payne, p.116" /> and presided over his followers' initiatives to set up various ]s.<ref>Benedict, p. 457; Payne, p. 116</ref>
Codreanu had to go into hiding at an unknown location, waiting for things to calm down and delegating leadership to General ], who later assumed partial guilt for Duca's killing;<ref>Veiga, p.197, 200</ref> Stelescu, who soon became Codreanu's adversary as head of the '']'', later alleged that he had been given refuge by a cousin of ], Carol's mistress, implying that the Guard was becoming corrupt ("She was a person adverse to your action. How did you get along so well?").<ref>Stelescu, 1935, in Ornea, p.298-299</ref> Codreanu's resurgence brought arrest and prosecution under the ] imposed in the country; he was acquitted yet again.


=== First outlawing and parliamentary mandate ===
Some time after the start of ]'s premiership and ]'s leadership of the ], repression of the Legion ceased, a measure which reflected Carol's hope to ensure a new period of stability.<ref>Ornea, p.302-305</ref> In 1936, during a youth congress in ], Codreanu agreed to the formation of a permanent '']'', which immediately showed its goals with the killing of Mihai Stelescu by a group deemed '']'' (led by ]),<ref>Ornea, p.305, 307; Pop, p.47; Veiga, p.233</ref> neutralizing the ''Crusade'''s campaign of exposing the Guard's weaknesses, and silencing Stelescu's claims that Codreanu was hypocritical in his official display of ], ], uncultured, and a ].<ref>Pop, p.46-47</ref>
After more than two years of stagnation, Codreanu felt it necessary to amend the purpose of the movement: he and the leadership of the movement started touring rural regions, addressing the churchgoing illiterate population with the rhetoric of ]s, dressing up in long white ] and instigating Christian prejudice against ]<ref>Ornea, pp. 291–295</ref> (this intense campaign was also prompted by the fact that the Legion was immediately sidelined by Cuza's League in the traditionally-receptive ]n and ] centers).<ref>Veiga, p. 108</ref> Between 1928 and 1930, the ] National Peasants' Party cabinet gave tacit assistance to the Guard, but ] (representing the same party) clamped down on the Legion after July 1930.<ref name="Veiga, p.113-116">Veiga, pp. 113–116</ref> This came after the latter had tried to provoke a wave of ]s in ] and ].<ref name="Veiga, p.113-116" /> In one notable incident of 1930, Legionnaires encouraged the peasant population of ] to attack the town's 4,000 Jews.<ref name="Brustein, p.158" />


The Legion also attempted to assassinate government officials and journalists, including ], undersecretary of Internal Affairs.<ref>Ornea, p. 291</ref> Codreanu was briefly arrested together with the would-be assassin ]: both were tried and acquitted.<ref>Ornea, p. 294</ref> Nevertheless, the wave of violence and a planned march into Bessarabia signalled the outlawing of the party by Premier ] and ] ] (January 1931); again arrested, Codreanu was acquitted in late February.<ref name="Ornea, p.295">Ornea, p. 295</ref>
The year was also marked by the deaths and ostentatious funerals of Moţa (by then, the movement's vice president) and ], who had volunteered on ]'s side in the ] and had been killed in the ] battle.<ref>Ornea, p.309-311</ref> Codreanu also published his autobiographical and ideological essay ''Pentru legionari'' ("For the Legionaries" or "For My Legionaries").<ref>''Final Report'', p.35, 45</ref>


Having been boosted by the ] and the malcontent it engendered,<ref>Veiga, pp. 140–147</ref> in 1931, the Legion also profited from the disagreement between ] ] and the National Peasants' Party,{{Explain|reason=Needs more context for unfamiliar readers|date=August 2021}} which brought a cabinet formed around ].<ref name="Ornea, p.295" /> Codreanu was consequently elected to the ] on the lists of the "Corneliu Zelea Codreanu Grouping" (the provisional name for the Guard), together with other prominent members of his original movement — including Ion Zelea, his father, and ], a young activist who ultimately came into conflict with the Legion; it is likely that the new Vaida-Voevod cabinet gave tacit support to the Grouping in subsequent partial elections.<ref name="Ornea, p.296">Ornea, p. 296</ref> The Legion had won five seats in all, signalling its first important electoral gain.<ref name="Barbu, p.198">Barbu, p. 198</ref>
It was during that period that the Guard came to be financed by ] (otherwise known as a prominent collaborator of Carol),<ref>Veiga, p.222</ref> and became interested in reforming itself to reach an even wider audience: Codreanu created a ] inner structure of ranks, established a wide range of ] ventures, again voiced themes which appealed to the industrial workers, and created '']'', as a Legion branch which grouped members of the ].<ref>Veiga, p.216-222, 224-226</ref> King Carol met difficulties in preserving his rule after being faced with a decline in the appeal of the more traditional parties, and, as Tătărescu's term approached its end, he made a bold offer to Codreanu, demanding leadership of the Legion in exchange for a Legion cabinet; he was promptly refused.<ref>Veiga, p.233-234</ref>


Codreanu quickly became noted for exposing corruption of ministers and other politicians on a case-by-case basis (although several of his political adversaries at the time described him as "bland and incompetent").<ref name="Ornea, p.296" />
==="Everything for the Fatherland"===
After the consequent ban on paramilitary groups, the Legion turned into a political party, running in elections as '''Totul Pentru Ţară''' ("Everything for the Fatherland"). Shortly afterwards, Codreanu went on record stating his contempt for Romania's alliances in ], in particular the ] and the ], and indicating that, 48 hours after his movement came into power, the country would be aligned with the ] and ].<ref>Benedict, p.457; Cioroianu, p.17</ref> Reportedly, such trust and confidence was reciprocated by both German officials and ] ], the latter of whom believed Goga's to be a transitional government to make way for the Iron Guard.<ref>''Final Report'', p.35</ref>


=== Clash with Duca and truce with Tătărescu ===
In the ], when it signed an electoral pact with the National Peasants' Party with the goal of preventing the government from making use of ], the Guard received 15.5% of the vote<ref>''Final Report'', p.39-40; Brustein, p.159; Cioroianu, p.17; Jelavich, p.206; Ornea, p.312</ref><ref name="itrelatiile"/> (occasionally rounded up at 16%).<ref>Barbu, p.198</ref> Despite the failure to win the ], Codreanu's movement was, at the time, the third political option in Romanian politics, the only one whose appeal was shown to be growing in 1937-1938, and by far the most popular fascist group.<ref>''Final Report'', p.39; Brustein, p.159; Cioroianu, p.17; Ornea, p.312-313; Veiga, p.234-236</ref>
] and Codreanu at a skiing event in 1935]]
The authorities became increasingly concerned with the revolutionary potential of the Legion, and minor clashes in 1932 between the two introduced what became, from 1933, almost a decade of major political violence. The situation degenerated after Codreanu expressed his full support for ] and ] (even to the detriment of ],<ref>Veiga, pp. 251–255</ref> and probably an added source for the conflict between the Captain and Stelescu).<ref>Veiga, pp. 229, 230</ref> Romania was traditionally one of the most Francophile countries in Europe and had been allied to its "Latin sister" France since 1926, so Codreanu's call for an alliance with Germany was very novel for the time. A new National Liberal cabinet, formed by ], moved against such initiatives, stating that the Legion was acting as a puppet of the ], and ordering that a huge number of Legionnaires be arrested just prior to the ] (which the Liberals won).<ref>Jelavich, p. 206; Veiga, pp. 196–197</ref> Some of the Legionnaires held in custody were killed by authorities.<ref>Jelavich, p. 206</ref> In retaliation, Duca was assassinated by the Iron Guard's '']'' death squad on 30 December 1933.<ref>Ornea, p. 298; Veiga, pp. 197–198</ref> Another result was the very first crackdown on non-affiliated sympathizers of the Iron Guard, after ] and allies protested against its repression.<ref>Ornea, pp. 244, 298; Veiga, p. 201</ref>


Due to Duca's killing, Codreanu was forced into hiding, awaiting calm and delegating leadership to General ], who later assumed partial guilt for the assassination.<ref>Veiga, pp. 197, 200</ref> Legionnaire Mihai Stelescu, who would become Codreanu's adversary as head of the splinter group '']'', alleged that Codreanu had been given refuge by a cousin of ], Carol's mistress, implying that the Guard was becoming corrupt.<ref>Stelescu, 1935, in Ornea, pp. 298–299</ref> Despite Codreanu's attacks on the elite, at his trial in 1934 a number of respected politicians like ], ] and ] testified for Codreanu as character witnesses.<ref>Yavetz, Zvi "An Eyewitness Note: Reflections on the Rumanian Iron Guard" pp. 597–610 from ''Journal of Contemporary History'', Volume 26, Issue 4, September 1991 p. 602.</ref> Codreanu was again acquitted.
The Legion was excluded from political coalitions by nominally fascist King Carol, who preferred newly-formed subservient movements and the revived National-Christian Defense League.<ref>Cioroianu, p.17; Jelavich, p.206; Ornea, p.312-313; Veiga, p.234-236</ref> Cuza created his antisemitic government together with poet ] and his ]. Codreanu and the two leaders did not get along, and the Legion started competing with the authorities by adopting ]. In parallel, he was urging his followers to set up private businesses, claiming to follow the advise of ], after the latter claimed that a Romanian-run commerce could prove a solution to what he deemed the "]".<ref name="itrelatiile"/>


As Duca had alleged, the Iron Guard did have some links to the Nazi Party's foreign office under ], but in 1933–34 the main local beneficiary of financial support from Rosenberg was Codreanu's rival ], who lacked Codreanu's mass following and thus was more biddable.<ref name="ReferenceB">Yavetz, Zvi "An Eyewitness Note: Reflections on the Rumanian Iron Guard" pp. 597–610 from ''Journal of Contemporary History'', Volume 26, Issue 4, September 1991 p. 606.</ref> A further issue for the Nazis was concern over Codreanu's statements that Romania had too many minorities for its own good, which led to fears that Codreanu might persecute the '']'' minority if he came to power.<ref name="ReferenceB" /> Though limited, the connections between the NSDAP and the Iron Guard added to the Legion's appeal as the Iron Guard was associated in the public mind with the apparently dynamic and successful society of Nazi Germany.<ref name="ReferenceB" />
The government alliance, unified as the ], gave itself a blue-shirted paramilitary corps that borrowed heavily from the Legion &mdash; the '']''<ref>Veiga, p.224</ref> &mdash; and initiated an official campaign of persecution of Jews, attempting to win back the interest the public had in the Iron Guard.<ref>''Final Report'', p.40-42; Veiga, p.245-247; Sedgwick, p.114</ref> After much violence, Codreanu was approached by Goga and agreed to have his party withdraw from campaigning in the scheduled elections of 1938,<ref>''Final Report'', p.43; Veiga, p.246-247</ref> believing that, in any event, the regime had no viable solution and would wear itself out &mdash; while attempting to profit from the king's ] by showing his willingness to integrate any possible ].<ref>Ornea, p.313, 314; Veiga, p.247</ref>


Some time after the start of ]'s premiership and ]'s leadership of the ], repression of the Legion ceased, a measure which reflected Carol's hope to ensure a new period of stability.<ref>Ornea, pp. 302–305</ref> In 1936, during a youth congress in ], Codreanu agreed to the formation of a permanent '']'', which immediately showed its goals with the killing of dissident Mihai Stelescu by a group called the '']'' (led by ]),<ref>Ornea, pp. 305, 307; Pop, p. 47; Veiga, p. 233</ref> neutralizing the ''Crusade of Romanianism'''s anti-Legion campaign, and silencing Stelescu's claims that Codreanu was ], uncultured, a ], and hypocritical in his public display of ].<ref>Pop, pp. 46–47</ref>
===Clash with the King and 1938 trials===
Codreanu's designs were overturned by Carol, who deposed Goga, introducing his own ] after his attempts to form a ]. The system relied instead on the new ], the financial backing received from large business, and the winning over of several more or less traditional politicians, such as Nicolae Iorga and the Internal Affairs Minister ] (''see ]''). The ban on the Guard was again tightly enforced, with Călinescu ordering all public places known to have harbored Legion meetings to be closed down (including several restaurants in ]).<ref>Ornea, p.314</ref> Members of the movement were placed under close surveillance or arrested in cases where they did not abide by the new legislation, while civil servants risked arrest if they were caught spreading Iron Guard propaganda.<ref name="itrelatiile"/>


1937 was marked by ] of Ion Moța (by then, the movement's vice president) and ], who had ] on ]'s side in the ] and had been killed in the battle at ].<ref>Ornea, pp. 309–311</ref> Codreanu also published his autobiographical and ideological essay '']'' ("For the Legionnaires" or "For My Legionnaires").<ref>''Final Report'', pp. 35, 45</ref>
The official and semi-official press began attacking Codreanu. He was thus virulently criticized by the magazine '']'', which was edited by Iorga.<ref name="itrelatiile"/> When Carol felt he had enough control of the situation, he ordered a brutal suppression of the Iron Guard and had Codreanu arrested on the charge that he had ]ed Iorga, based on a letter Codreanu sent to the latter on ], ], in which he had attacked Iorga for collaborating with Carol, calling him "morally dishonest".<ref>Codreanu, in Ornea, p.315</ref><ref name="itrelatiile"/> Codreanu was referring to the historian's charge that Legionary commerce was financing rebellion, and repeated his claim that the enterprising solution had originated with Iorga's own arguments.<ref name="itrelatiile"/> Nicolae Iorga replied by filing a complaint with the Military Tribunal (as the new law required in cases of insult to a minister in office),<ref>Ornea, p.316</ref><ref name="itrelatiile"/> and by writing Codreanu a letter which advised him to "descend in conscience to find remorse" for "the amount of blood spilled over him".<ref>Iorga, in Ornea, p.316</ref>


It was during this period that the Guard came to be financed by ] (otherwise known as a prominent collaborator of Carol),<ref>Veiga, p. 222</ref> and became interested in reforming itself to reach an even wider audience: Codreanu created a ] inner structure of ranks, established a wide range of ] ventures, again voiced themes which appealed to the industrial workers, and created '']'', a Legion branch which grouped members of the ].<ref>Veiga, pp. 216–222, 224–226</ref> King Carol met difficulties in preserving his rule after being faced with a decline in the appeal of the more traditional parties, and, as ]'s term approached its end, Carol made an offer to Codreanu, demanding leadership of the Legion in exchange for a Legionary cabinet; this offer was promptly refused.<ref>Veiga, pp. 233–234</ref>
Upon being informed of the indictment, he urged his followers not to take any action if he was going to be sentenced to less than six months in prison, stressing that he wanted to give an example of dignity, but ordered a group of Legionaries to defend him in case of an attack by the authorities.<ref name="itrelatiile"/> He was arrested together with 44 other prominent members of the movement, including Ion Zelea Codreanu, ], ], ], ], ] and ], on the evening of ].<ref name="itrelatiile"/> The a crackdown which coincided with the Orthodox celebration of ] (when all those targeted were known to be in their homes).<ref name="itrelatiile"/> After a short stay in the ] Prefecture, Codreanu was dispatched to ] prison, while the other prisoners were sent to ] (and later to ]s such as the one in ]).<ref name="itrelatiile"/>


=== "Everything for the Country" Party ===
Codreanu was tried for slander and sentenced to six months in jail, before the authorities indicted him for ], and for the crimes of politically organizing underage students, issuing orders inciting to violence, maintaining links with foreign organizations, and organizing fire practices.<ref name="itrelatiile"/> Of the people to give evidence in his favor at the trial, the best-known was General ], who was later '']'' and Premier of Romania.<ref name="itrelatiile"/>
]
After the consequent ban on paramilitary groups, the Legion was restyled into a political party, running in elections as '''Totul Pentru Țară''' ("Everything for the Country", acronym '''TPȚ'''). Shortly afterwards, Codreanu went on record stating his contempt for Romania's alliances in ], in particular the ] and the ], and indicating that, 48 hours after his movement came into power, the country would be aligned with ] and ].<ref>Benedict, p. 457; Cioroianu, p. 17</ref> Reportedly, such trust and confidence was reciprocated by both German officials and ] ], the latter of whom viewed Goga's cabinet as a transition to the Iron Guard's rule.<ref>''Final Report'', p. 35</ref>


In the ], when it signed an electoral pact with the National Peasants' Party with the goal of preventing the government from making use of ], TPȚ received 15.5% of the vote<ref name="itrelatiile" /><ref>''Final Report'', pp. 39–40; Brustein, p. 159; Cioroianu, p. 17; Jelavich, p. 206; Ornea, p. 312</ref> (occasionally rounded up to 16%).<ref name="Barbu, p.198" /> Despite failure to win the ], Codreanu's movement was, at the time, the third most popular party in Romania, the only one whose popularity grew in 1937–1938, and by far the most popular fascist group.<ref>''Final Report'', p. 39; Brustein, p. 159; Cioroianu, p. 17; Ornea, pp. 312–313; Veiga, pp. 234–236</ref>
The two trials were marked by irregularities, and Codreanu accused the judges and prosecutors of conducting it in a "]" manner, because he had not been allowed to speak in his own defense.<ref name="itrelatiile"/> He sought the counsel of the prominent lawyers ] and ], but was refused by both, and, as a consequence, his defense team comprised Legionary activists with little experience.<ref name="itrelatiile"/> They were several times prevented by the authorities from preparing their pleas.<ref name="itrelatiile"/> The conditions of his imprisonment were initially harsh: his cell was damp and cold, which caused him health problems.<ref name="itrelatiile"/>


The Legion was excluded from political coalitions by nominally fascist King Carol, who preferred newly-formed subservient movements and the revived National-Christian Defense League.<ref>Cioroianu, p. 17; Jelavich, p. 206; Ornea, pp. 312–313; Veiga, pp. 234–236</ref> Cuza created his antisemitic government together with poet ] and his ]. Codreanu and the two leaders did not get along, and the Legion started competing with the authorities by adopting ]. In parallel, he urged his followers to set up private businesses, claiming to follow the advice of ], after the latter claimed that a Romanian-run commerce could prove a solution to what he deemed the "]".<ref name="itrelatiile" />
===Sentencing and death===
He was eventually sentenced to ten years of ].<ref>Jelavich, p.207; Ornea, p.317; Veiga, p.250, 255-256</ref><ref name="itrelatiile"/> According to historian Ilarion Ţiu, the trial and verdict were received with general apathy, and the only political faction believed to have organized a public rally in connection with it was the outlawed ], some of whose members gathered in front of the tribunal to express support for the conviction.<ref name="itrelatiile"/> The movement itself grew disorganized, and provincial bodies of the Legion came to exercise control over the center, which had been weakened by the arrests.<ref name="itrelatiile"/> While the political establishment's main branches welcomed the news of Codreanu's sentencing, the Iron Guard organized a retaliation attack targeting the National Peasants' Party ], who had become known for expressing his opposition to the movement's extremism (Madgearu managed to escape the violence unharmed).<ref name="itrelatiile"/>


The new government alliance, unified as the ], gave itself a blue-shirted paramilitary corps that borrowed heavily from the Legion — the '']''<ref>Veiga, p. 224</ref> — and initiated an official campaign of persecution of Jews, attempting to win back the interest the public had in the Iron Guard.<ref>''Final Report'', pp. 40–42; Veiga, pp. 245–247; Sedgwick, p. 114</ref> After much violence, Codreanu was approached by Goga and agreed to have his party withdraw from campaigning in the scheduled elections of 1938,<ref>''Final Report'', p. 43; Veiga, pp. 246–247</ref> believing that, in any event, the regime had no viable solution and would wear itself out — while attempting to profit from the king's ] by showing his willingness to integrate any possible ].<ref>Ornea, pp. 313, 314; Veiga, p. 247</ref>
Codreanu was moved from Jilava to ], where, despite the sentence, he was not required to perform any form of physical work.<ref name="itrelatiile"/> The conditions of his detention improved, and he was allowed to regularly communicate with his family and subordinates.<ref name="itrelatiile"/> At the time, he rejected all possibility of an escape, and ordered the Legion to refrain from violent acts.<ref name="itrelatiile"/> However, the provisional leadership announced that he was faring badly, and threatened with more retaliation measures, to the point where the prison staff increased security as a means to prevent a potential break-in.<ref name="itrelatiile"/>


=== Clash with King Carol and 1938 trials ===
In autumn, following the successful Nazi German expansion into ] which seemed to provide momentum for the Guard, and especially the international context provided by the ] and the ], its clandestine leadership grew confident and published manifestos threatening King Carol.<ref name="itrelatiile"/> Those members of the Iron Guard who escaped or were omitted in the first place started a violent campaign throughout Romania, meant to coincide with Carol's visit to Hitler at the ], as a way to prevent the tentative approach between Romania and Nazi Germany; confident that Hitler was not determined on supporting the Legion, and irritated by the incidents, Carol ordered the decapitation of the movement.<ref>Ornea, p.314, 320; Veiga, p.256-257</ref> On ], it was announced that Codreanu, the ''Nicadori'' and the ''Decemviri'' had been shot after trying to flee custody the previous night.<ref>Barbu, p.198; Jelavich, p.207; Ornea, p.320-321; Sedgwick, p.115; Veiga, p.257</ref> The details were revealed much later: it is most likely that the fourteen persons had been transported from their prison and executed (strangled or ]d and shot) by the ] around ] (near Bucharest), and it was shown that their bodies had been buried in the courtyard of the Jilava prison.<ref>Davies, p.968; Ornea, p.320-321; Sedgwick, p.115; Veiga, p.257</ref> Their bodies were dissolved in acid, and placed under seven tons of concrete.<ref>Davies, p.968</ref>
Codreanu's designs were overturned by Carol, who deposed Goga, introducing his own ] after his attempts to form a ]. The system relied instead on the new ], the financial backing received from large business, and the winning over of several more or less traditional politicians, such as Nicolae Iorga and the Internal Affairs Minister ] (''see ]''). The ban on the Guard was again tightly enforced, with Călinescu ordering all public places known to have harboured Legion meetings to be closed down (including several restaurants in ]).<ref>Ornea, p. 314</ref> Members of the movement were placed under close surveillance or arrested in cases where they did not abide by the new legislation, while civil servants risked arrest if they were caught spreading Iron Guard propaganda.<ref name="itrelatiile" />


The official and semi-official press began attacking Codreanu. He was thus virulently criticized by the magazine '']'', which was edited by Iorga.<ref name="itrelatiile" /> When Carol felt he had sufficient control of the situation, he ordered a brutal suppression of the Iron Guard and had Codreanu arrested on the charge of ], based on a letter Codreanu sent to Iorga on 26 March 1938, in which he had attacked him for collaborating with Carol, calling Iorga "morally dishonest".<ref name="itrelatiile" /><ref>Codreanu, in Ornea, p. 315</ref> Codreanu referred to the historian's charge that Legionary commerce was financing rebellion, and argued that this strategy had originated from Iorga's own arguments.<ref name="itrelatiile" /> Nicolae Iorga replied by filing a complaint with the Military Tribunal<ref name="itrelatiile" /><ref>Ornea, p. 316</ref> and by writing Codreanu a letter which advised him to "descend in conscience to find remorse" for "the amount of blood spilled over him".<ref>Iorga, in Ornea, p. 316</ref>
==Legacy==
===Lifetime influence and Legionary power===
] and showing Codreanu. The caption reads: ''Captain, may you give the country the likeness of the Holy Sun'' ''up in the sky'']]
According to ], Codreanu was "the most successful political and at the same time anti-political model of ] Romania".<ref>Cioroianu, p.16</ref> The Legion was described by British researcher ] as "one of Europe's more violent fascist movements."<ref>Davies, p.968</ref> ] also argued that the Iron Guard was "probably the most unusual mass movement of interwar Europe", and noted that part of this was owed to Codreanu being "a sort of religious mystic",<ref>Payne, p.116</ref> while British historian James Mayall sees the Legion as "the most singular of the lesser fascist movements".<ref>Mayall, p.141</ref>


Upon being informed of the indictment, Codreanu urged his followers not to take any action if he was going to be sentenced to less than six months in prison, stressing that he wanted to give an example of dignity; however, he also ordered a group of Legionnaires to defend him in case of an attack by the authorities.<ref name="itrelatiile" /> He was arrested together with 44 other prominent members of the movement, including Ion Zelea Codreanu, ], ], ], ], ] and ], on the evening of 16 April.<ref name="itrelatiile" /> The crackdown coincided with the Orthodox celebration of ] (when those targeted were known to be in their homes).<ref name="itrelatiile" /> After a short stay in the ] Prefecture, Codreanu was dispatched to ], while the other prisoners were sent to ] (and later to ]s such as the one in ]).<ref name="itrelatiile" />
The ]ship represented by Codreanu has drawn comparisons with models favored by other leaders of far right and fascist movements, including Hitler and ].<ref>Payne, p.117</ref><ref name="sjldict"/> Payne and German historian ] proposed that, among European far rightists, Codreanu was most like Hitler in what concerns fanaticism.<ref>Payne, p.117</ref> In Payne's view, however, he was virtually unparalleled in demanding "self-destructiveness" from his followers.<ref>Payne, p.117</ref> Mayall, who admits the Legion "was inspired in large measure by ] and fascism", argues that Corneliu Zelea Codreanu's vision of ''omul nou'', although akin to the "new man" of Nazi and Italian doctrines, is characterized by an unparalleled focus on mysticism.<ref>Mayall, p.141</ref> ] historian ], who dismisses the notion that nazism and fascism are connected, also argues that, due to Legionary attack on "] values and institutions", which the fascist ideology wanted instead to "purify and perfect", Codreanu "was not, strictly speaking, a fascist."<ref>De Felice, p.101-102</ref>


Codreanu was tried for slander and sentenced to six months in jail, before the authorities indicted him for treason, ], and for the crimes of politically organizing underage students, issuing orders inciting to violence, maintaining links with foreign organizations, and organizing fire practices.<ref name="itrelatiile" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=8 July 1938 |title=Codreanu Loses Appeal; Rumanian Iron Guard Leader to Work in Prison Salt Mines |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1938/07/08/archives/codreanu-loses-appeal-rumanian-iron-guard-leader-to-work-in-prison.html |access-date=12 September 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Of the people to give evidence in his favour at the trial, the best-known was General ], who would later become '']'' and Premier of Romania.<ref name="itrelatiile" />
According to American journalist ], who was present in Romania in 1940-1941, Codreanu's violent killing only served to cement his popularity and aroused interest in his cause. She wrote: "To the Rumanian people the Capitano remained a saint and a martyr and the apostle of a better Rumania. Even skeptical ones who did not agree with him in political matters still grew dreamy-eyed remembering Codreanu."<ref>Waldeck, in Benedict, p.457</ref> Attitudes similar to those described by Waldeck were relatively widespread among Romanian youths, many of whom came to join the Iron Guard out of admiration for the deceased Codreanu while still in middle or high school.<ref>''Final Report'', p.110</ref> Historiographer ] notes that Codreanu, his rival Carol II, and military leader ] were each in turn perceived as "savior" figures by the Romanian public, and that, unlike other such examples of popular men, they all preached ].<ref>Boia, p.316-317</ref>


The two trials were marked by irregularities, and Codreanu accused the judges and prosecutors of conducting it in a "]" manner, because he had not been allowed to speak in his own defence.<ref name="itrelatiile" /> He sought the counsel of the prominent lawyers ] and ], but was refused by both, and, as a consequence, his defence team comprised Legionary activists with little experience.<ref name="itrelatiile" /> They were several times prevented by the authorities from preparing their pleas.<ref name="itrelatiile" /> The conditions of his imprisonment were initially harsh: his cell was damp and cold, which caused him health problems.<ref name="itrelatiile" />
Led by ], the Iron Guard eventually came to power in 1940-1941, proclaiming the fascist ] and forming an uneasy partnership with '']'' Ion Antonescu. This was a result of Carol's downfall, effected by the ], through which Romania had lost ] to ]. On ], ], an investigation was carried out on the Jilava prison premises. The discovery of Codreanu and his associates' remains caused the Legionaries to engage in a reprisal against the new regime's political prisoners, who were detained on the same spot. On the next night, sixty-four inmates were shot, while on the 27th and the 28th of November there were fresh arrests and swift executions, with prominent victims such as Iorga and ].<ref>''Final Report'', p.46, 110; Ornea, p.339-341; Veiga, 292-295</ref> The widespread disorder brought the first open clash between Antonescu and the Legion.<ref>''Final Report'', p.110-111; Ornea, p.333-334</ref> During the events, Codreanu was ]ly exonerated of all charges by a Legionary tribunal.<ref>Ornea, p.333-334</ref> His exhumation was a grandiose ceremony, marked by the participation of Romania's new ally, Nazi Germany &mdash; '']'' planes dropped wreathes on Codreanu's open tomb.<ref>Davies, p.968</ref>


==== Prison sentence ====
===Codreanu and modern-day political discourse===
{{Anchor|Sentencing and death}}
The movement was eventually toppled from power by Antonescu as a consequence of the ]. The events associated with Sima's term in office resulted in the conflicted tendencies within the Legion and its contemporary successors: the obvious, gratuitous and unlimited violence of the Legion under Sima managed to surpass most atrocities demanded by Codreanu, which led to many today claiming to obey Codreanu, but not Sima. At the same time, the Sima faction claims to have followed Codreanu's guidance and inspiration.
]
Codreanu was eventually sentenced to ten years of ] in the salt mines.<ref name="itrelatiile" /><ref>Jelavich, p. 207; Ornea, p. 317; Veiga, p. 250, 255–256</ref> According to historian Ilarion Țiu, the trial and verdict were received with general apathy, and the only political faction believed to have organized a public rally in connection with it was the outlawed ], some of whose members gathered in front of the tribunal to express support for the conviction.<ref name="itrelatiile" /> The Legionary Movement itself grew disorganized, and provincial bodies of the Legion came to exercise control over the centre, which had been weakened by the arrests.<ref name="itrelatiile" /> As the political establishment's main branches welcomed the news of Codreanu's sentencing, the Iron Guard organized a retaliation attack targeting the National Peasant Party's ], who had become known for expressing his opposition to the movement's extremism (Madgearu managed to escape the violence unharmed).<ref name="itrelatiile" />


Codreanu was moved from Jilava to ], where, despite the sentence, he was not required to perform any form of physical work.<ref name="itrelatiile" /> The conditions of his detention improved, and he was allowed to regularly communicate with his family and subordinates.<ref name="itrelatiile" /> At the time, he rejected all possibility of an escape, and ordered the Legion to refrain from violent acts.<ref name="itrelatiile" /> A provisional leadership team was also organized, consisting of Ion Antoniu, Ion Belgae, ], Iordache Nicoară, and ].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Clark|first=Roland|title=Holy Legionary Youth: Fascist Activism in Interwar Romania|publisher=Cornell University Press|year=2015|location=Ithaca, NY|pages=219}}</ref> However, the provisional leadership, against Codreanu's wishes, announced that he was faring badly in prison and threatened further retaliation, to the point where the prison staff increased security as a means to prevent a potential break-in.<ref name="itrelatiile" />
Codreanu had an enduring influence in ]. His views and style were attested to have had an impact on the controversial ] philosopher and racial theorist ]. Evola himself met with Codreanu on one occasion, and, in the words of his friend, the writer and historian ], was "dazzled".<ref>Eliade, in Steven M. Wasserstrom, ''Religion after Religion: Gershom Scholem, Mircea Eliade, and Henry Corbin at Eranos'', ], Princeton, 1999, p.17. ISBN 0691005400</ref> Reportedly, the visit had been arranged by Eliade and philosopher ], both of whom sympathized with the Iron Guard.<ref>Sedgwick, p.114</ref> Their guest later wrote that the Iron Guard founder was: "one of the worthiest and spiritually best oriented figures that I ever met in the nationalist movements of the time."<ref>Evola, in Sedgwick, p.114</ref> According to De Felice, Codreanu has also become a main reference point for the Italian ] groups, alongside Evola and the ideologues of nazism. He argues that this phenomenon, which tends to shadow references to ] itself, is owed to Mussolini's failures in setting up "a true fascist state", and to the subsequent need of finding other role models.<ref>De Felice, p.101</ref> Evola's disciple and prominent neofascist activist ] published several of Codreanu's essays at his '']'',<ref>Sedgwick, p.185</ref> while their follower ] was noted for his pro-Legionary rhetoric.<ref name="miaffa">{{ro icon}} ], , in '']'', Nr.636, May-June 2002</ref>


In the autumn, following the successful Nazi German expansion into ] which seemed to provide momentum for the Guard, and even moreso the international context provided by the ] and the ], its clandestine leadership grew confident and published manifestos threatening King Carol.<ref name="itrelatiile" /> Those members of the Iron Guard who escaped persecution or were omitted in the first place started a violent campaign throughout Romania, meant to coincide with Carol's visit to Hitler at the ], as a way to prevent the tentative approach between Romania and Nazi Germany. Confident that Hitler was not determined on supporting the Legion, and irritated by the incidents, Carol ordered the decapitation of the movement.<ref>Ornea, pp. 314, 320; Veiga, pp. 256–257</ref>
In parallel, Codreanu is seen as a hero by representatives of the maverick ] movement known as ],<ref>Peter Chroust, "Neo-Nazis and Taliban On-Line: Anti-Modern Political Movements and Modern Media", in Peter Ferdinand (ed.), ''The Internet, Democracy and Democratization'', ], London, 2000, p.113. ISBN 071465065X</ref> and in particular by the British-based Strasserist ] (ITP), which uses one of Codreanu's statements as its motto.<ref name="drpopcult">Denise Roman, ''Fragmented Identities: Popular Culture, Sex, and Everyday Life in Postcommunist Romania'', Lexington Books, Lanham, 2007, p.83. ISBN 0739121189</ref> Codreanu's activities and mystical interpretation of politics were probably an inspiration on ]n politician ], founder of the far right ].<ref>Stephen D. Shenfield, ''Russian Fascism: Traditions, Tendencies, Movements'', M. E. Sharpe, Armonk & London, 2001, p.127. ISBN 0765606348</ref>


=== Death ===
After the ] toppled the ] that had been set up after World War II, various extremist groups began claiming to represent Codreanu's legacy. Reportedly, one of the first was the short-lived ''Mişcarea pentru România'' ("Movement for Romania"), founded by the student leader ].<ref>Davies, p.969</ref> It was soon followed by the Romanian branch of the ITP and its ]-based mouthpiece, the journal ''Gazeta de Vest'', as well as by other groups claiming to represent the Legionary legacy.<ref>''Final Report'', p.365</ref><ref name="drpopcult"/> Among the latter is ], which depicts him as a spiritual figure and often with attributes equivalent to those of a ] saint (such as publicizing portraits of him in the form of ]).<ref name="acjuma">{{ro icon}} ], , in '']'', Vol. III, Nr.127, June 2006; retrieved ], ]</ref> Noua Dreaptă often makes use of Codreanu's portraits in its public rallies, usually associating it with its own symbol, the ].<ref name="acjuma"/> Each year around ], these diverse groups have been known to reunite in ], where they organize festivities to commemorate Codreanu's death.<ref name="acjuma"/><ref>{{ro icon}} ], , in '']'', ], ]; retrieved ], ]</ref>
On 30 November, it was announced that Codreanu, the ''Nicadori'' and the ''Decemviri'' had been shot after trying to flee custody the previous night.<ref>Barbu, p. 198; Jelavich, p. 207; Ornea, pp. 320–321; Sedgwick, p. 115; Veiga, p. 257</ref> The actual details were revealed much later: the fourteen persons had been transported from their prison and executed (strangled or ]d and shot) by the ] around ] (near Bucharest), and their bodies had been buried in the courtyard of the Jilava Prison.<ref name="Davies, p.968" /><ref>Ornea, pp. 320–321; Sedgwick, p. 115; Veiga, p. 257</ref> Their bodies were dissolved in acid, and placed under seven tons of concrete.<ref name="Davies, p.968">Davies, p. 968</ref>


== Legacy ==
In the early 2000s, ], Romanian businessman, owner of the ] football club and president of the right-wing ], said that he admires Codreanu and has otherwise made attempts to capitalize on Legionary symbols and rhetoric, such as adopting a slogan originally coined by the Iron Guard: "I vow to God that I shall make Romania in the likeness of the holy sun in the sky".<ref name="zfcornea">{{ro icon}} , in '']'', ], ] (retrieved ], ]); ], , in '']'', Nr.844, May 2006 (retrieved ], ])</ref><ref name="msbecali">], , at ], ''OMRI Daily Digest'', ], ]; retrieved ], ]</ref> The statement, used by Becali during the ], owed its inspiration to Legionary songs, was found in a much-publicized homage sent by ] to his Captain in 1937,<ref name="msbecali"/> and is also said to have been used by Codreanu himself.<ref name="zfcornea"/><ref>Tismăneanu, p.255</ref> As a result of it, Becali was argued to have broken the 2002 government ordinance banning the use of fascist discourse.<ref name="msbecali"/> However, the Central Electoral Bureau rejected complaints against Becali, ruling that the slogan was not "identical" to the Legionary one.<ref name="msbecali"/> During the same period, Becali, speaking live in front of ] cameras, called for Codreanu to be ].<ref name="msbecali"/> The station was fined 50 million ] by the ].<ref name="msbecali"/>
=== Lifetime influence and Legionary power ===
] and showing Codreanu. The caption reads: "Captain, may you give the country the likeness of the Holy Sun up in the sky"]]
According to ], Codreanu was "the most successful political and at the same time anti-political model of ] Romania".<ref name="Cioroianu, p.16" /> The Legion was described by British researcher ] as "one of Europe's more violent fascist movements."<ref name="Davies, p.968" /> ] argued that the Iron Guard was "probably the most unusual mass movement of interwar Europe", and noted that part of this was owed to Codreanu being "a sort of religious mystic";<ref name="Payne, p.116" /> British historian James Mayall saw the Legion as "the most singular of the lesser fascist movements".<ref name="Mayall, p.141">Mayall, p. 141</ref>


The ]ship represented by Codreanu has drawn comparisons with models favoured by other leaders of far-right and fascist movements, including Hitler and ].<ref name="sjldict" /><ref name="Payne, p.117">Payne, p. 117</ref> Payne and German historian ] proposed that, among European far-rightists, Codreanu was most like Hitler in what concerns fanaticism.<ref name="Payne, p.117" /> In Payne's view, however, he was virtually unparalleled in demanding "self-destructiveness" from his followers. The Iron Guard would mobilize followers into paramilitary ] to engage in political street violence. The Iron Guard called these groups "''Echipa Mortii,"'' Romanian for "Death Squad".<ref name="Payne, p.117" /> Mayall, who states the Legion "was inspired in large measure by ] and fascism", argues that Corneliu Zelea Codreanu's vision of "''omul nou"'', although akin to the "new man" of Nazi and Italian doctrines, is characterized by an unparalleled focus on Romanian Orthodox Christian mysticism, in a ] styled government.<ref name="Mayall, p.141" /> Historian ], who dismisses the notion that Nazism and fascism are connected, also argues that, due to Legionary attack on "] values and institutions", which the fascist ideology wanted instead to "purify and perfect", Codreanu "was not, strictly speaking, a fascist."<ref>De Felice, pp. 101–102</ref> ] historian ] argued that "fascization" was a process experienced by the Guard, accumulating traits over a more generic nationalist fibre.<ref>Veiga, pp. 315–330</ref>
In a ] poll conducted in 2006, Codreanu was voted the 22nd among ], coming in between Steaua footballer ] at number 21 and the interwar democratic politician ] at number 23.<ref>{{ro icon}} , at the of the Romanian Television; retrieved ], ]</ref>


According to American journalist ], who was present in Romania in 1940–1941, the violent killing of Codreanu only served to cement his popularity and arouse interest in his cause. She wrote: "To the Rumanian people the Capitano ], ''Căpitanul''] remained a saint and a martyr and the apostle of a better Rumania. Even skeptical ones who did not agree with him in political matters still grew dreamy-eyed remembering Codreanu."<ref>Waldeck, in Benedict, p. 457</ref> Historiographer ] notes that Codreanu, his rival Carol II, and military leader ] were each in turn perceived as "savior" figures by the Romanian public, and that, unlike other such examples of popular men, they all preached ].<ref>Boia, pp. 316–317</ref> Cioroianu also writes that Codreanu's death "whether or not paradoxically, would increase the personage's charisma and would turn him straight into a legend."<ref>Cioroianu, p. 54</ref> Attitudes similar to those described by Waldeck were relatively widespread among Romanian youths, many of whom came to join the Iron Guard out of admiration for the deceased Codreanu while still in middle or high school.<ref>''Final Report'', p. 110</ref>
===In cultural reference===
] of Romania Marshal Ion Antonescu and Iron Guard leader ] salute underneath a portrait of Iron Guard founder Codreanu, October 1940]]
Late in the 1930s, Codreanu's supporters began publishing books praising his virtues, among which are ]'s ''Crez de Generaţie'' ("Generation Credo") and Nicolae Roşu's ''Orientări în Veac'' ("Orientations in the Century"), both published in 1937.<ref>''Final Report'', p.48</ref>
Under the leadership of ], the Iron Guard eventually came to power for a five-month period in 1940–1941, proclaiming the fascist ] and forming an uneasy partnership with '']'' Ion Antonescu. This was a result of Carol's downfall, effected by the ], through which Romania had lost ] to ]. On 25 November 1940, an investigation was carried out on the Jilava Prison premises. The discovery of Codreanu and his associates' remains caused the Legionnaires to engage in a reprisal against the new regime's political prisoners, who were then detained in the same prison. On the next night, sixty-four inmates were shot, while on the 27 and 28 November there were fresh arrests and swift executions, with prominent victims such as Iorga and ] (''see: ]'').<ref>''Final Report'', pp. 46, 110; Ornea, pp. 339–341; Veiga, 292–295</ref> The resulting widespread disorder brought the first open clash between Antonescu and the Legion.<ref>''Final Report'', pp. 110–111; Ornea, pp. 333–334</ref> During the events, Codreanu was ] exonerated of all charges by a Legionary tribunal.<ref>Ornea, pp. 333–334</ref> His exhumation was a grandiose ceremony, marked by the participation of Romania's new ally, Nazi Germany: '']'' planes dropped wreaths on Codreanu's open tomb.<ref name="Davies, p.968" />


Codreanu's wife Elena withdrew from the public eye after her husband's killing, but, after the ] took hold, was arrested and ], where she grew close to women aviators of the ].<ref name="dfdragescu">{{in lang|ro}} Daniel Focșa, , in '']'', 8 June 2007</ref> She also met and married Barbu Praporgescu (son of General ]), moving in with him in Bucharest after their liberation.<ref name="dfdragescu" /> Widowed for a second time, she spent her final years with her relatives in Moldavia.<ref name="dfdragescu" />
After the National Legionary State officially hailed Corneliu Zelea Codreanu as a martyr to the cause, his image came to be used as a ] tool in cultural contexts. Codreanu was integrated into the Legionary cult of death: usually at Iron Guard rallies, Codreanu and other fallen members were mentioned and greeted with the shout ''Prezent!'' ("Present!").<ref>Cioroianu, p.435; Davies, p.968-969</ref> His ] was reflected into Legionary art, and a stylized image of him was displayed at major rallies, including the notorious and large-scale Bucharest ceremony of ], ].<ref>Cioroianu, p.435</ref>


=== Codreanu and modern-day political discourse ===
In November 1940, the Legionary journalist Ovid Ţopa, publishing in the Guard's newspaper '']'', claimed that Codreanu stood alongside the mythical ] prophet and "precursor of Christ" ], the 15th century ] ], and Romania's national poet ], as an essential figure of Romanian history and Romanian spirituality.<ref>Boia, p.320</ref> Other Legionary texts of the time drew a similar parallel between Codreanu, Eminescu, and the 18th century ]n Romanian peasant leader ].<ref>Boia, p.320</ref> Also in November 1940, Codreanu was the subject of a conference given by the young philosopher ] and aired by the state-owned ], in which Cioran notably praised the Guard's leader for "having given Romania a purpose".<ref>Cioran, 1940, in Ornea, p.197</ref> Although Codreanu was officially condemned by the communist regime, it is possible that, in its final stage under ], it came to use the Captain's personality cult as a source of inspiration.<ref>Cioroianu, p.435; Tismăneanu, p.255</ref>
The movement was eventually toppled from power by Antonescu as a consequence of the ]. The events associated with Sima's term in office resulted in conflicts and infighting within the Legion and its contemporary successors: many "Codrenist" Legionnaires claim to obey Codreanu and his father ], but not Sima, while, at the same time, the "Simist" faction claims to have followed Codreanu's guidance and inspiration in carrying out violent acts.<ref>Ornea, pp. 329–330, 346–348; Veiga, pp. 291, 302–304, 308–309</ref>


Codreanu had an enduring influence in ]. His views and style were attested to have influenced the controversial ] philosopher and racial theorist ]. Evola himself met with Codreanu on one occasion, and, in the words of his friend, the writer and historian ], was "dazzled".<ref>Eliade, in Steven M. Wasserstrom, ''Religion after Religion: Gershom Scholem, Mircea Eliade, and Henry Corbin at Eranos'', ], Princeton, 1999, p. 17. {{ISBN|0-691-00540-0}}</ref> Reportedly, the visit had been arranged by Eliade and philosopher ], both of whom sympathized with the Iron Guard.<ref>Sedgwick, p. 114</ref> Their guest later wrote that the Iron Guard founder was: "one of the worthiest and spiritually best oriented figures that I ever met in the nationalist movements of the time."<ref>Evola, in Sedgwick, p. 114</ref> According to De Felice, Codreanu has also become a main reference point for the Italian ] groups, alongside Evola and the ideologues of Nazism. He argues that this phenomenon, which tends to shadow references to ] itself, is owed to Mussolini's failures in setting up "a true fascist state", and to the subsequent need of finding other role models.<ref>De Felice, p. 101</ref> Evola's disciple and prominent neofascist activist ] published several of Codreanu's essays at his '']'',<ref>Sedgwick, p. 185</ref> while their follower ] was noted for his pro-Legionary rhetoric.<ref name="miaffa">{{in lang|ro}} ], {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927010509/http://www.revista22.ro/html/index.php?art=99&nr=2002-05-20|date=27 September 2007}}, in '']'', Nr.636, May–June 2002</ref>
The Legionary leader was portrayed in a poem by his follower ], who notably spoke of Codreanu's death as a prelude to his ].<ref>''Final Report'', p.47</ref> Despite his earlier confrontation with the Iron Guard, the poet ] is thought to have deplored Codreanu's killing, and to have alluded to it in his well-known '']''.<ref>Pop, p.47</ref> ], whose early Legionary sympathies became notorious, was indicated by his disciple ] to have based Eugen Cucoanes, the main character in his novella ''Un om mare'' ("A Big Man"), on Codreanu.<ref name="miaffa"/> This hypothesis was commented upon by literary critics ] and ], the latter of whom argued that there was too little evidence to support it.<ref name="miaffa"/> The neofascist ] claimed that Codreanu inspired the character Ieronim Thanase in Eliade's ''Nouăsprăzece trandafiri'' ("Nineteen Roses") story, a view rejected outright by Călinescu.<ref name="miaffa"/>

In parallel, Codreanu is seen as a hero by representatives of the maverick ] movement known as ],<ref>Peter Chroust, "Neo-Nazis and Taliban On-Line: Anti-Modern Political Movements and Modern Media", in Peter Ferdinand (ed.), ''The Internet, Democracy and Democratization'', ], London, 2000, p. 113. {{ISBN|0-7146-5065-X}}</ref> and in particular by the British-based Strasserist ] (ITP), which uses one of Codreanu's statements as its motto.<ref name="drpopcult">Denise Roman, ''Fragmented Identities: Popular Culture, Sex, and Everyday Life in Postcommunist Romania'', Lexington Books, Lanham, 2007, p. 83. {{ISBN|0-7391-2118-9}}</ref> Codreanu's activities and mystical interpretation of politics were probably an inspiration on ]n politician ], founder of the far right ].<ref>Stephen D. Shenfield, ''Russian Fascism: Traditions, Tendencies, Movements'', M. E. Sharpe, Armonk & London, 2001, p. 127. {{ISBN|0-7656-0634-8}}</ref>

After the ] toppled the communist regime, various extremist groups began claiming to represent Codreanu's legacy. Reportedly, one of the first was the short-lived ''Mișcarea pentru România'' ("Movement for Romania"), founded by the student leader ].<ref>Davies, p. 969</ref> It was soon followed by the Romanian branch of the ITP and its ]-based mouthpiece, the journal ''Gazeta de Vest'', as well as by other groups claiming to represent the Legionary legacy.<ref name="drpopcult" /><ref>''Final Report'', p. 365</ref> Among the latter is ], which depicts Codreanu as a spiritual figure, often with attributes equivalent to those of a ] saint.<ref name="acjuma">{{in lang|ro}} ], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721200348/http://www.dilemaveche.ro/index.php?nr=127&cmd=articol&id=1677 |date=21 July 2011 }}, in '']'', Vol. III, Nr. 127, June 2006; retrieved 11 February 2008</ref> Each year around 30 November, these diverse groups have been known to reunite in ], where they organize festivities to commemorate Codreanu's death.<ref name="acjuma" /><ref>{{in lang|ro}} ], , in '']'', 28 November 2005; retrieved 11 February 2008</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zavatti |first=Francesco |date=2021-10-01 |title=Making and contesting far right sites of memory. A case study on Romania |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1750698020982054 |journal=Memory Studies |language=en |volume=14 |issue=5 |pages=949–970 |doi=10.1177/1750698020982054 |issn=1750-6980}}</ref>

In the early 2000s, ], a Romanian businessman, owner of the ] football club, and leader of the right-wing ], stated that he admired Codreanu and made attempts to capitalize on Legionary symbols and rhetoric, such as adopting a slogan originally coined by the Iron Guard: "I vow to God that I shall make Romania in the likeness of the holy sun in the sky".<ref name="zfcornea">{{in lang|ro}} {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080627115928/http://www.zf.ro/articol_53748/becali_foloseste_un_slogan_legionar.html|date=27 June 2008}}, in '']'', 4 November 2004 (retrieved 11 February 2008); ], , in '']'', Nr. 844, May 2006 (retrieved 11 February 2008)</ref><ref name="msbecali">], , at ], ''OMRI Daily Digest'', 13 December 2004; retrieved 11 February 2008</ref> The statement, used by Becali during the ], owed its inspiration to Legionary songs and was found in a much-publicized homage sent by ] to his Captain in 1937;<ref name="msbecali" /> it is also said to have been used by Codreanu himself.<ref name="zfcornea" /><ref>Tismăneanu, p. 255</ref> As a result of it, Becali was argued to have broken the 2002 government ordinance banning the use of fascist discourse.<ref name="msbecali" /> However, the Central Electoral Bureau rejected complaints against Becali, ruling that the slogan was not "identical" to the Legionary one.<ref name="msbecali" /> During the same period, Becali, speaking live in front of ] cameras, called for Codreanu to be ].<ref name="msbecali" /> The station was fined 50 million ] by the ] (around $1,223 USD in 2004).<ref name="msbecali" />

In a poll of the Romanian public conducted by ] in 2006, Codreanu was voted 22nd among the ], coming in between ] footballer ] at 21 and the interwar democratic politician ] at 23.<ref>{{in lang|ro}} {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061023063242/http://www.mariromani.ro/top100.php |date=23 October 2006 }}, at the {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220111019/http://www.mariromani.ro/ |date=20 February 2008 }} of the Romanian Television; retrieved 11 February 2008</ref>

In modern Romanian politics, Codreanu's legacy has drawn praise from members of the nationalist ] party.<ref>{{cite news|work=Balkan Insight|date=1 February 2022|title=Romanian Nationalist Leader Praises WWII Iron Guard 'Martyr'|url=https://balkaninsight.com/2022/02/01/romanian-nationalist-leader-praises-wwii-iron-guard-martyr/}}</ref>

=== Cultural references ===
Late in the 1930s, Codreanu's supporters began publishing books praising his virtues, among which are ]'s ''Crez de Generație'' ("Generation Credo") and Nicolae Roșu's ''Orientări în Veac'' ("Orientations in the Century"), both published in 1937.<ref>''Final Report'', p. 48</ref> After the National Legionary State officially hailed Corneliu Zelea Codreanu as a martyr to the cause, his image came to be used as a ] tool in cultural contexts. Codreanu was integrated into the Legionary cult of death: usually at Iron Guard rallies, Codreanu and other fallen members were mentioned and greeted with the shout ''Prezent!'' ("Present!").<ref name="Davies, p.968-969" /><ref name="Cioroianu, p.435">Cioroianu, p. 435</ref> His ] was reflected in Legionary art, and a stylized image of him was displayed at major rallies, including the notorious and large-scale Bucharest ceremony of 6 October 1940.<ref name="Cioroianu, p.435" /> Although Codreanu was officially condemned by the communist regime a generation later, it is possible that, in its final stage under ], it came to use the Captain's personality cult as a source of inspiration.<ref>Cioroianu, p. 435; Tismăneanu, p. 255</ref> The ] Noua Dreaptă, which publicizes portraits of Codreanu in the form of ], often makes use of such representation in its public rallies, usually associating it with its own symbol, the ].<ref name="acjuma" />

In November 1940, the Legionary journalist Ovid Țopa, publishing in the Guard's newspaper '']'', claimed that Codreanu stood alongside the mythical ] prophet and "precursor of Christ" ], the 15th century ] ], and Romania's national poet ], as an essential figure of Romanian history and Romanian spirituality.<ref name="Boia, p.320">Boia, p. 320</ref> Other Legionary texts of the time drew a similar parallel between Codreanu, Eminescu, and the 18th century ]n Romanian peasant leader ].<ref name="Boia, p.320" /> Thus, in 1937, sociologist ] had authored ''Cartea căpitanilor'' ("The Book of Captains"), where the preferred comparison was between Codreanu, Horea, and Horea's 19th century counterparts ] and ].<ref>Ornea, p. 381</ref> Also in November 1940, Codreanu was the subject of a conference given by the young philosopher ] and aired by the state-owned ], in which Cioran notably praised the Guard's leader for "having given Romania a purpose".<ref>Cioran, 1940, in Ornea, p. 197</ref> Other tribute pieces in various media came from other radical intellectuals of the period: Eliade, brothers ] and ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], and ].<ref>Ornea, ''passim'' (listed together pp. 376–386)</ref>

The Legionary leader was portrayed in a poem by his follower Radu Gyr, who notably spoke of Codreanu's death as a prelude to his ].<ref>''Final Report'', p. 47</ref> In contrast, Codreanu's schoolmate ], who spent part of his life as a ] affiliate, left an unflattering memoir of their encounters, used as a preferential source in texts on Codreanu published during the communist period.<ref>Veiga, p. 68</ref> Despite his earlier confrontation with the Iron Guard, the leftist poet ] is thought by some to have deplored Codreanu's killing, and to have alluded to it in his poem version of the '']'' stories.<ref>Pop, p. 47</ref> Mircea Eliade, whose early Legionary sympathies became a notorious topic of outrage, was indicated by his disciple ] to have based Eugen Cucoanes, the main character in his novella ''Un om mare'' ("A Big Man"), on Codreanu.<ref name="miaffa" /> This hypothesis was commented upon by literary critics ] and ], the latter of whom argued that there was too-little evidence to support it.<ref name="miaffa" /> The neofascist ] claimed that Codreanu inspired the character Ieronim Thanase in Eliade's ''Nouăsprăzece trandafiri'' ("Nineteen Roses") story, a view rejected by Călinescu.<ref name="miaffa" />

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}


==Notes==
{{reflist|3}} {{reflist|3}}


==References== == References ==
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*], ''{{lang|ro|Pe umerii lui Marx. O introducere în istoria comunismului românesc}}'', ], Bucharest, 2005. ISBN 9736691756 * ], ''{{lang|ro|Pe umerii lui Marx. O introducere în istoria comunismului românesc}}'', ], Bucharest, 2005. {{ISBN|973-669-175-6}}
*], ''Europe: A History'', ], Oxford, 1996. ISBN 0198201710 * ], ''Europe: A History'', ], Oxford, 1996. {{ISBN|0-19-820171-0}}
*], ''Fascism: An Informal Introduction to Its Theory and Practice'', ], New Brunswick & London, 1976. ISBN 0878556192 * ], ''Fascism: An Informal Introduction to Its Theory and Practice'', ], New Brunswick & London, 1976. {{ISBN|0-87855-619-2}}
*], ''History of the Balkans'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1983. ISBN 0521274591 * ], ''History of the Balkans'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1983. {{ISBN|0-521-27459-1}}
*James Mayall, "Fascism and Racism", in Terence Ball (ed.), ''The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century Political Thought'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2003, p.123-150. ISBN 0521563542 * James Mayall, "Fascism and Racism", in Terence Ball (ed.), ''The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century Political Thought'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2003, p.&nbsp;123–150. {{ISBN|0-521-56354-2}}
*], ''Anii treizeci. Extrema dreaptă românească'', ], Bucharest, 1995 * ], ''Anii treizeci. Extrema dreaptă românească'', ], Bucharest, 1995
*], ''Fascism'', ], Madison, 1980. ISBN 0-299-08064-1 * ], ''Fascism'', ], Madison, 1980. {{ISBN|0-299-08064-1}}
*Grigore Traian Pop, "Cînd disidenţa se pedepseşte cu moartea. Un asasinat ritual: Mihail Stelescu", in ''Dosarele Istoriei'', 6/IV (1999) * Grigore Traian Pop, "Cînd disidenta se pedepsește cu moartea. Un asasinat ritual: Mihail Stelescu", in ''Dosarele Istoriei'', 6/IV (1999)
*Ioan Scurtu, "De la bomba din Senat la atentatul din Gara Sinaia", in ''Dosarele Istoriei'', 6/IV (1999) * Ioan Scurtu, "De la bomba din Senat la atentatul din Gara Sinaia", in ''Dosarele Istoriei'', 6/IV (1999)
*Mark Sedgwick, ''Against the Modern World: Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century'', Oxford University Press US, New York, 2004. ISBN 0195152972 * Mark Sedgwick, ''Against the Modern World: Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century'', Oxford University Press US, New York, 2004. {{ISBN|0-19-515297-2}}
*], ''Stalinism pentru eternitate'', ], Iaşi, 2005. ISBN 973-681-899-3 * ], ''Stalinism pentru eternitate'', ], Iași, 2005. {{ISBN|973-681-899-3}}
*Francisco Veiga, ''Istoria Gărzii de Fier, 1919-1941: Mistica ultranaţionalismului'', Humanitas, Bucharest, 1993 * ], ''Istoria Gărzii de Fier, 1919–1941: Mistica ultranaționalismului '', Humanitas, Bucharest, 1993


==Further reading== == Further reading ==
*], '']: A History of Fascism in Hungary and Rumania'', ], Stanford, 1970 * ], '']: A History of Fascism in Hungary and Rumania'', ], Stanford, 1970
* ], '']''


==External links== == External links ==
{{Commons category}}
*
{{Wikiquote}}
*
* , at the ] Center for International Studies
* {{it icon}}
* {{in lang|it}} at
* {{ro icon}}
* {{in lang|ro}} , at the ]
* {{ro icon}} authored and maintained by the ultra-nationalist organization ] - includes the full text in Romanian of some of Codreanu's books and articles

{{Fascism}}

{{Authority control}}


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Latest revision as of 17:00, 30 December 2024

Romanian politician (1899–1938)

For the Romanian footballer, see Corneliu Codreanu (footballer). "Codreanu" redirects here. For other persons named Codreanu, see Codreanu (surname).
CăpitanulCorneliu Zelea Codreanu
Captain of the Iron Guard
In office
24 June 1927 – May 1938
Succeeded byHoria Sima (as "Commander")
Member of the Assembly of Deputies
In office
August 1932 – November 1933
Personal details
BornCorneliu Zelinski
(1899-09-13)13 September 1899
Huși, Fălciu County, Kingdom of Romania
Died 30 November 1938(1938-11-30) (aged 39)
Tâncăbești, Snagov, Ilfov County, Kingdom of Romania
Cause of deathExtrajudicial execution
Resting placeJilava, Ilfov County, Romania (1938–1940)
Green House, Bucharest, Romania (1940–?)
Unknown (present)
Political partyNational-Christian Defense League (1923–1927)
Iron Guard (1927–1938)
Spouse Elena Ilinoiu ​(m. 1925⁠–⁠1938)​
Alma materAlexandru Ioan Cuza University
Grenoble Alpes University
OccupationPolitician
ProfessionLawyer
Known forFounder and Leader of the Legionary Movement
BooksFor My Legionaries
ReligionRomanian Orthodox
Part of a series on
Fascism in Romania
Various Romanian fascist symbols
Organizations
Leaders
Periodicals
Ideology
Events
Part of a series on
Antisemitism
Definitions
Geography
Manifestations
Antisemitic tropes
Antisemitic publications
Persecution
Antisemitism on the Internet
Opposition
Category

Corneliu Zelea Codreanu (Romanian: [korˈnelju ˈzele̯a koˈdre̯anu] ; 13 September 1899 – 30 November 1938), born Corneliu Zelinski and commonly known as Corneliu Codreanu, was a far-right Romanian politician, the founder and charismatic leader of the Iron Guard or The Legion of the Archangel Michael (also known as the Legionary Movement), an ultranationalist and violently antisemitic organization active throughout most of the interwar period. Generally seen as the main variety of local fascism, and noted for its mystical and Romanian Orthodox-inspired revolutionary message, the Iron Guard gained prominence on the Romanian political stage, coming into conflict with the political establishment and the democratic forces, and often resorting to terrorism. The Legionnaires traditionally referred to Codreanu as Căpitanul ("The Captain"), and he held absolute authority over the organization until his death.

Codreanu, who began his career in the wake of World War I as an anticommunist and antisemitic agitator associated with A. C. Cuza and Constantin Pancu, was a co-founder of the National-Christian Defense League and assassin of the Iași Police prefect Constantin Manciu. Codreanu left Cuza to find a succession of movements on the far right, rallying around him a growing segment of the country's intelligentsia and peasant population, and inciting pogroms in various parts of Greater Romania. Several times outlawed by successive Romanian cabinets, his Legion assumed different names and survived in the underground, during which time Codreanu formally delegated leadership to Gheorghe Cantacuzino-Grănicerul. Following Codreanu's instructions, the Legion carried out assassinations of politicians it viewed as corrupt, including Premier Ion G. Duca and his former associate Mihai Stelescu. Simultaneously, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu advocated Romania's adherence to a military and political alliance with Nazi Germany.

During the 1937 election, his party registered its strongest showing, placing third and winning 15.8% of the vote. It was blocked out of power by King Carol II, who invited the rival fascists and fourth-place finishers of the National Christian Party to form a short-lived government, succeeded by the National Renaissance Front royal dictatorship. The rivalry between Codreanu and, on the other side, Carol and moderate politicians like Nicolae Iorga ended with Codreanu's incarceration at Jilava Prison and eventual assassination at the hands of the Gendarmerie. He was succeeded as leader by Horia Sima. In 1940, under the National Legionary State proclaimed by the Iron Guard, his killing served as the basis for violent retribution.

Corneliu Zelea Codreanu's views influenced the modern far right. Groups claiming him as a forerunner include Noua Dreaptă and other Romanian successors of the Iron Guard, the International Third Position, and various neofascist organizations in Italy and other parts of Europe.

Biography

Early life

Corneliu Codreanu was born in Huși to Ion Zelea Codreanu and Elizabeth (née Brunner) on 13 September 1899. His father, a teacher and himself a Romanian nationalist, would later become a political figure within his son's movement. A native of Bukovina in Austria-Hungary, Ion had originally been known as Zelinski; his wife was ethnically German. Statements according to which Ion Zelea Codreanu was originally a Slav of Ukrainian or Polish origin contrast with the Romanian chauvinism he embraced for the rest of his life; Codreanu the elder associated with antisemitic figures such as University of Iași professor A. C. Cuza. Just prior to Corneliu Zelea Codreanu's 1938 trial, his ethnic origins were the subject of an anti-Legionary propagandistic campaign organized by the authorities, who distributed copies of a variant of his genealogy which alleged that he was of mixed ancestry, being the descendant of not just Ukrainians, Germans, and Romanians, but also Czechs and Russians, and that several of their ancestors were delinquents. Historian Ilarion Țiu describes this as an attempt to offend and libel Codreanu. Codreanu's mother came from a Bukovina German family, which had originally emigrated from Bavaria.

Too young for conscription in 1916, when Romania entered World War I on the Entente side, Codreanu nonetheless tried his best to enlist and fight in the subsequent campaign. His education at the military school in Bacău (where he was a colleague of Petre Pandrea, the future left-wing activist) ended in the same year as Romania's direct implication in the war. In 1919, after moving to Iași, Codreanu found communism as his new enemy, after he had witnessed the impact of Bolshevik agitation in Moldavia, and especially after Romania lost her main ally in the October Revolution, forcing her to sign the 1918 Treaty of Bucharest; also, the newly founded Comintern was violently opposed to Romania's interwar borders (see Greater Romania).

While the Bolshevik presence decreased overall following the repression of Socialist Party riots in Bucharest (December 1918), it remained or was perceived as relatively strong in Iași and other Moldavian cities and towns. In this context, the easternmost region of Bessarabia, which united with Romania in 1918, was believed by Codreanu and others to be especially prone to Bolshevik influence. Codreanu learned antisemitism from his father, but connected it with anticommunism, in the belief that Jews were, among other things, the primordial agents of the Soviet Union (see Jewish Bolshevism).

GCN and National-Christian Defense League

Codreanu studied law in Iași, where he began his political career. Like his father, he became close to A. C. Cuza. Codreanu's fear of Bolshevik insurrection led to his efforts to address industrial workers himself. At the time, Cuza was preaching that the Jewish population was a manifest threat to Romanians, claimed that Jews were threatening the purity of Romanian young women, and began campaigning in favour of racial segregation.

Historian Adrian Cioroianu defined the early Codreanu as a "quasi-demagogue agitator". According to Cioroianu, Codreanu loved Romania with "fanaticism", which implied that he saw the country as "idyllicized different from the real one of his times". British scholar Christopher Catherwood also referred to Codreanu as "an obsessive anti-Semite and religious fanatic". Historian Zeev Barbu proposed that "Cuza was Codreanu's mentor , but nothing that Codreanu learned from him was strikingly new. Cuza served mainly as a catalyst for his nationalism and antisemitism." As he himself later acknowledged, the young activist was also deeply influenced by the physiologist and antisemitic ideologue Nicolae Paulescu, who was involved with Cuza's movement.

In late 1919, Codreanu joined the short-lived Garda Conștiinței Naționale (GCN, "Guard of National Conscience"), a group formed by the electrician Constantin Pancu. Pancu had an enormous influence on Codreanu.

Pancu's movement, whose original membership did not exceed 40, attempted to revive loyalism within the proletariat (while offering an alternative to communism by advocating increased labor rights). As much as other reactionary groups, it won the tacit support of General Alexandru Averescu and his increasingly popular People's Party (of which Cuza became an affiliate); Averescu's ascension to power in 1920 engendered a new period of social troubles in the larger urban areas (see Labor movement in Romania).

The GCN, in which Codreanu thought he could see the nucleus of nationalist trade unions, became active in crushing strike actions. Their activities did not fail in attracting attention, especially after students who obeyed Codreanu, grouped in the Association of Christian Students, started demanding a Jewish quota for higher education – this gathered popularity for the GCN, and it led to a drastic increase in the frequency and intensity of assaults on all its opponents. In response, Codreanu was expelled from the University of Iași. Although allowed to return when Cuza and others intervened for him (refusing to respect the decision of the University Senate), he was never presented with a diploma after his graduation.

While studying in Berlin and Jena in 1922, Codreanu took a critical attitude towards the Weimar Republic, and began praising the March on Rome and Italian fascism as major achievements against the advancement of communism; he decided to cut his stay short after learning of the large Romanian student protests in December, prompted by the intention of the government to grant the complete emancipation of Jews (see History of the Jews in Romania).

When protests organized by Codreanu were met with lack of interest from the new National Liberal government, he and Cuza founded (4 March 1923) a Christian nationalist organization called the National-Christian Defense League. They were joined in 1925 by Ion Moța, translator of the antisemitic hoax known as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and future ideologue of the Legion. Codreanu was subsequently tasked with organizing the League at a national level, and became especially preoccupied with its youth ventures.

With the granting of full rights of citizenship to persons of Jewish descent under the Constitution of 1923, the League raided the Iași ghetto, led a group which petitioned the government in Bucharest (being received with indifference), and ultimately decided to assassinate Premier Ion I. C. Brătianu and other members of government. Codreanu also drafted the first of his several death lists, which contained the names of politicians who, he believed, had betrayed Romania. It included Gheorghe Gh. Mârzescu, who held several offices in Brătianu's executive, and who promoted the emancipation of Jews. In October 1923, Codreanu was betrayed by one of his associates, arrested, and put on trial. He and the other plotters were soon acquitted, as Romanian legislation did not allow for prosecution of conspiracies that had not been assigned a definite date. Before the jury ended deliberation, Ion Moța shot the traitor and was given a prison sentence himself.

Manciu's killing

Codreanu clashed with Cuza over the League's structure: he demanded that it develop a paramilitary and revolutionary character, while Cuza was hostile to the idea. In November, while in Văcărești Prison in Bucharest, Codreanu had planned for the creation of a youth organization within the League, which he aimed to call The Legion of the Archangel Michael. This was said to be in honour of an Orthodox icon that adorned the walls of the prison church, or, more specifically, linked to Codreanu's reported claim of having been visited by the Archangel himself. A more personal problem also divided Codreanu and Cuza, namely that Cuza's son had an affair with Codreanu's sister that left her pregnant. The couple had broken up with the younger Cuza refused his girlfriend's demand that he marry her now that she was bearing his child. Though the scandal was hushed up, the fact that his sister was having an illegitimate child was deeply humiliating for Codreanu as he liked to present his family as model members of the Orthodox church and he sought unsuccessfully to have Cuza pressure his son to marry his sister.

Back in Iași, Codreanu created his own system of allegiance within the League, starting with the Frăția de Cruce ("Brotherhood of the Cross", named after a variant of blood brotherhood which requires sermon with a cross). It gathered on 6 May 1924, in the countryside around Iași, starting work on the building of a student centre. This meeting was violently broken up by the authorities on orders from Romanian Police prefect Constantin Manciu. Codreanu and several others were allegedly beaten and tormented for several days, until Cuza's intervention on their behalf proved effective.

After an interval of retreating from any political activity, Codreanu took revenge on Manciu, assassinating him and severely wounding some other policemen on 24 October 1924, in the Iași Tribunal building (where Manciu had been called to answer accusations, after one of Codreanu's comrades had filed a complaint). Forensics showed that Manciu was not facing his killer at the moment of his death, which prompted Codreanu to indicate that he considered himself to be acting in self-defence based solely on Manciu's earlier actions. Codreanu gave himself up immediately after firing his gun, and awaited trial in custody. The police force of Iași was unpopular with the public due to widespread corruption, and many locals saw the murder of Manciu as a heroic act by Codreanu. In the meantime, the issue was brought up in the Parliament of Romania by the Peasant Party's Paul Bujor, who first made a proposal to review legislation dealing with political violence and sedition; it won the approval of the governing National Liberal Party, which, on 19 December, passed the Mârzescu Law (named after its proponent, Mârzescu, who had been appointed Minister of Justice). Its most notable, if indirect, effect was the banning of the Communist Party. In October and November debates between members of Parliament became heated, and Cuza's group was singled out as morally responsible for the murder: Petre Andrei stated that "Mr. Cuza aimed and Codreanu fired", to which Cuza replied by claiming his innocence, while theorizing that Manciu's brutality was a justifiable cause for violent retaliation.

Although Codreanu was purposely tried as far away from Iași at Turnu Severin, the authorities were unable to find a neutral jury. On the day he was acquitted, members of the jury, who deliberated for five minutes in all, showed up wearing badges with League symbols and swastikas (the symbol in use by Cuza's League). After a triumphal return and an ostentatious wedding to Elena Ilinoiu, Codreanu clashed with Cuza for a second time and decided to defuse tensions by taking leave in France.

Codreanu's wedding to Elena Ilinoiu in June 1925 in Focșani was the major social event in Romania that year; it was celebrated in lavish, pseudo-royal style and attended by thousands, attracting enormous media attention. After the wedding, Codreanu and his bride were followed by 3,000 ox-carts in a four-mile long procession of "ecstatically happy" peasants. One of Codreanu's followers wrote at the time that Romanians loved royal spectacles, especially royal weddings, but since Crown Prince Carol had eloped first to marry a commoner in 1918 in a private wedding followed by a royal wedding in Greece, Codreanu's wedding was the best substitute for the royal wedding that the Romanian people wanted to see. Codreanu's wedding was meant to change his image from the romantic, restless, Byronic hero image he had held until then to a more "settled" image of a married man, and thus allay concerns held by more conservative Romanians about his social radicalism.

Creation of the Legion of the Archangel Michael

Codreanu returned from Grenoble to take part in the 1926 elections, and ran as a candidate for the town of Focșani. He lost, and, although it had had a considerable success, the League disbanded in the same year. Codreanu gathered former members of the League who had spent time in prison, and put into practice his dream of forming the Legion (November 1927, just days after the fall of a new Averescu cabinet, which had continued to support now-rival Cuza). Codreanu claimed to have had a vision of the Archangel Michael who told him he had been chosen by God to be Romania's saviour. From the beginning, the Legion claimed that a commitment to the values of the Eastern Orthodox Church was central to its message, and Codreanu's alleged vision was a centrepiece of his message.

Based on the Frăția de Cruce, Codreanu designed the Legion as a selective and autarkic group, paying allegiance to him and no other, and soon expanded it into a replicating network of political cells called "nests" (cuiburi). Frăția endured as the Legion's most secretive and highest body, which requested from its members that they undergo a rite of passage, during which they swore allegiance to the "Captain", as Codreanu was now known.

According to American historian Barbara Jelavich, the movement "at first supported no set ideology, but instead emphasized the moral regeneration of the individual", while expressing a commitment to the Romanian Orthodox Church. The Legion introduced Orthodox rituals as part of its political rallies, while Codreanu made his public appearances dressed in folk costume — a traditionalist pose adopted at the time only by him and the National Peasant Party's Ion Mihalache. Throughout its existence, the Legion maintained strong links with members of the Romanian Orthodox clergy, and its members fused politics with an original interpretation of Romanian Orthodox messages — including claims that the Romanian kin was expecting its national salvation, in a religious sense.

Such a mystical focus, Jelavich noted, was in tandem with a marked preoccupation for violence and self-sacrifice, "but only if the were committed for the good of the cause and subsequently expiated." Legionnaires engaged in violent or murderous acts often turned themselves in to be arrested, and it became common that violence was seen as a necessary step in a world that expected a Second Coming of Christ. With time, the Legion developed a doctrine around a cult of the fallen, going so far as to imply that the dead continued to form an integral part of a perpetual national community. As a consequence of its mysticism, the movement made a point of not adopting or advertising any particular platform, and Codreanu explained early on: "The country is dying for lack of men and not for lack of political programs." Elsewhere, he pointed out that the Legion was interested in the creation of a "new man" (omul nou).

Despite its apparent lack of political messages, the movement was immediately noted for its antisemitism, for arguing that Romania was faced with a "Jewish Question" and for proclaiming that a Jewish presence thrived on uncouthness and pornography. The Legionary leader wrote: "The historical mission of our generation is the resolution of the kike problem. All of our battles of the past 15 years have had this purpose, all of our life's efforts from now on will have this purpose." He accused the Jews in general of attempting to destroy what he claimed was a direct link between Romania and God, and the Legion campaigned in favour of the notion that there was no actual connection between the Old Testament Hebrews and the modern Jews. In one instance, making a reference to the origin of the Romanians, Codreanu stated that Jews were corrupting the "Roman-Dacian structure of our people." The Israeli historian Jean Ancel wrote that, from the mid-19th century onward, the Romanian intelligentsia had a "schizophrenic attitude towards the West and its values". Romania been a strongly Francophile country starting in the 19th century, and most of the Romanian intelligentsia professed themselves believers in French ideas about the universal appeal of democracy, freedom, and human rights while at the same time holding antisemitic views about Romania's Jewish minority. Ancel wrote that Codreanu was the first significant Romanian to reject not only the prevailing Francophilia of the intelligentsia, but also the entire framework of universal democratic values, which Codreanu claimed were "Jewish inventions" designed to destroy Romania.

He began openly calling for the destruction of Jews, and, as early as 1927, the new movement organized the sacking and burning of a synagogue in the city of Oradea. It thus profited from an exceptional popularity of antisemitism in Romanian society: according to one analysis, Romania was, with the exception of Poland, the most antisemitic country in Eastern Europe.

Codreanu's message was among the most radical forms of Romanian antisemitism, and contrasted with the generally more moderate antisemitic views of Cuza's former associate, the prominent historian Nicolae Iorga. The model favoured by the Legion was a form of racial antisemitism, and formed part of Codreanu's theory that the Romanians were biologically distinct and superior to neighbouring or co-inhabiting ethnicities (including the Hungarian community). Codreanu also voiced his thoughts on the issue of Romanian expansionism, which show that he was pondering the incorporation of Soviet lands over the Dniester (in the region later annexed under the name of Transnistria) and planning a Romanian-led transnational federation centred on the Carpathians and the Danube.

In 1936, Codreanu published an essay entitled "The Resurrection of the Race", where he wrote

I will under underline this once again: we are not up against a few pathetic individuals who have landed here by chance and who now seek protection and shelter. We are up against a fully-fledged Jewish state, an entire army which has come here with its sights set on conquest. The movement of the Jewish population and its penetration into Romania are being carried out in accordance with precise plans. In all probability, the 'Great Jewish Council' is planning the creation of a new Palestine on a strip of land, starting out on the Baltic Sea, embraces a part of Poland and Czechoslovakia and half of Romania right across to the Black Sea...

The worse thing that Jews and politicians have done to us, the greatest danger that they have exposed our people to, is not the way they are seizing the riches and possessions of our country, destroying the Romanian middle class, the way they swamp our schools and liberal professions, or the pernicious influence they are having on our whole political life, although these already constitute mortal dangers for a people. The greatest danger they pose to the people is rather that they are undermining us racially, that they are destroying the racial, Romano-Dacian structure of our people and call into being a type of human being that is nothing, but a racial wreck."

From early on, the movement registered significant gains among the middle-class and educated youth. However, according to various commentators, Codreanu won his most significant following in the rural environment, which in part reflected the fact that he and most other Legionary leaders were first-generation urban dwellers. American historian of fascism Stanley G. Payne, who noted that the Legion benefited from the 400% increase in university enrolment ("proportionately more than anywhere else in Europe"), has described the Captain and his network of disciples as "a revolutionary alliance of students and poor peasants", which centred on the "new underemployed intelligentsia prone to radical nationalism". Thus, a characteristic trait of the newly-founded movement was the young age of its leaders; later records show that the average age of the Legionary elite was 27.4.

By then also an anticapitalist, Codreanu identified in Jewry the common source of economic liberalism and communism, both seen as internationalist forces manipulated by a Judaic conspiracy. As an opponent of modernization and materialism, he only vaguely indicated that his movement's economic goals implied a non-Marxian form of Collectivist anarchism, and presided over his followers' initiatives to set up various cooperatives.

First outlawing and parliamentary mandate

After more than two years of stagnation, Codreanu felt it necessary to amend the purpose of the movement: he and the leadership of the movement started touring rural regions, addressing the churchgoing illiterate population with the rhetoric of sermons, dressing up in long white mantles and instigating Christian prejudice against Judaism (this intense campaign was also prompted by the fact that the Legion was immediately sidelined by Cuza's League in the traditionally-receptive Moldavian and Bukovinian centers). Between 1928 and 1930, the Alexandru Vaida-Voevod National Peasants' Party cabinet gave tacit assistance to the Guard, but Iuliu Maniu (representing the same party) clamped down on the Legion after July 1930. This came after the latter had tried to provoke a wave of pogroms in Maramureș and Bessarabia. In one notable incident of 1930, Legionnaires encouraged the peasant population of Borșa to attack the town's 4,000 Jews.

The Legion also attempted to assassinate government officials and journalists, including Constantin Angelescu, undersecretary of Internal Affairs. Codreanu was briefly arrested together with the would-be assassin Gheorghe Beza: both were tried and acquitted. Nevertheless, the wave of violence and a planned march into Bessarabia signalled the outlawing of the party by Premier Gheorghe Mironescu and Minister of the Interior Ion Mihalache (January 1931); again arrested, Codreanu was acquitted in late February.

Having been boosted by the Great Depression in Romania and the malcontent it engendered, in 1931, the Legion also profited from the disagreement between King Carol II and the National Peasants' Party, which brought a cabinet formed around Nicolae Iorga. Codreanu was consequently elected to the Chamber of Deputies on the lists of the "Corneliu Zelea Codreanu Grouping" (the provisional name for the Guard), together with other prominent members of his original movement — including Ion Zelea, his father, and Mihai Stelescu, a young activist who ultimately came into conflict with the Legion; it is likely that the new Vaida-Voevod cabinet gave tacit support to the Grouping in subsequent partial elections. The Legion had won five seats in all, signalling its first important electoral gain.

Codreanu quickly became noted for exposing corruption of ministers and other politicians on a case-by-case basis (although several of his political adversaries at the time described him as "bland and incompetent").

Clash with Duca and truce with Tătărescu

Ion Antonescu and Codreanu at a skiing event in 1935

The authorities became increasingly concerned with the revolutionary potential of the Legion, and minor clashes in 1932 between the two introduced what became, from 1933, almost a decade of major political violence. The situation degenerated after Codreanu expressed his full support for Adolf Hitler and Nazism (even to the detriment of Italian fascism, and probably an added source for the conflict between the Captain and Stelescu). Romania was traditionally one of the most Francophile countries in Europe and had been allied to its "Latin sister" France since 1926, so Codreanu's call for an alliance with Germany was very novel for the time. A new National Liberal cabinet, formed by Ion G. Duca, moved against such initiatives, stating that the Legion was acting as a puppet of the German Nazi Party, and ordering that a huge number of Legionnaires be arrested just prior to the new elections in 1933 (which the Liberals won). Some of the Legionnaires held in custody were killed by authorities. In retaliation, Duca was assassinated by the Iron Guard's Nicadori death squad on 30 December 1933. Another result was the very first crackdown on non-affiliated sympathizers of the Iron Guard, after Nae Ionescu and allies protested against its repression.

Due to Duca's killing, Codreanu was forced into hiding, awaiting calm and delegating leadership to General Gheorghe Cantacuzino-Grănicerul, who later assumed partial guilt for the assassination. Legionnaire Mihai Stelescu, who would become Codreanu's adversary as head of the splinter group Crusade of Romanianism, alleged that Codreanu had been given refuge by a cousin of Magda Lupescu, Carol's mistress, implying that the Guard was becoming corrupt. Despite Codreanu's attacks on the elite, at his trial in 1934 a number of respected politicians like Gheorghe I. Brătianu, Alexandru Vaida-Voevod and Constantin Argetoianu testified for Codreanu as character witnesses. Codreanu was again acquitted.

As Duca had alleged, the Iron Guard did have some links to the Nazi Party's foreign office under Alfred Rosenberg, but in 1933–34 the main local beneficiary of financial support from Rosenberg was Codreanu's rival Octavian Goga, who lacked Codreanu's mass following and thus was more biddable. A further issue for the Nazis was concern over Codreanu's statements that Romania had too many minorities for its own good, which led to fears that Codreanu might persecute the volksdeutsch minority if he came to power. Though limited, the connections between the NSDAP and the Iron Guard added to the Legion's appeal as the Iron Guard was associated in the public mind with the apparently dynamic and successful society of Nazi Germany.

Some time after the start of Gheorghe Tătărescu's premiership and Ion Inculeț's leadership of the Internal Affairs Ministry, repression of the Legion ceased, a measure which reflected Carol's hope to ensure a new period of stability. In 1936, during a youth congress in Târgu Mureș, Codreanu agreed to the formation of a permanent Death Squad, which immediately showed its goals with the killing of dissident Mihai Stelescu by a group called the Decemviri (led by Ion Caratănase), neutralizing the Crusade of Romanianism's anti-Legion campaign, and silencing Stelescu's claims that Codreanu was politically corrupt, uncultured, a plagiarist, and hypocritical in his public display of asceticism.

1937 was marked by the deaths and ostentatious funerals of Ion Moța (by then, the movement's vice president) and Vasile Marin, who had volunteered on Francisco Franco's side in the Spanish Civil War and had been killed in the battle at Majadahonda. Codreanu also published his autobiographical and ideological essay Pentru legionari ("For the Legionnaires" or "For My Legionnaires").

It was during this period that the Guard came to be financed by Nicolae Malaxa (otherwise known as a prominent collaborator of Carol), and became interested in reforming itself to reach an even wider audience: Codreanu created a meritocratic inner structure of ranks, established a wide range of philanthropic ventures, again voiced themes which appealed to the industrial workers, and created Corpul Muncitoresc Legionar, a Legion branch which grouped members of the working class. King Carol met difficulties in preserving his rule after being faced with a decline in the appeal of the more traditional parties, and, as Tătărescu's term approached its end, Carol made an offer to Codreanu, demanding leadership of the Legion in exchange for a Legionary cabinet; this offer was promptly refused.

"Everything for the Country" Party

Corneliu Zelea Codreanu and Iron Guard members in 1937

After the consequent ban on paramilitary groups, the Legion was restyled into a political party, running in elections as Totul Pentru Țară ("Everything for the Country", acronym TPȚ). Shortly afterwards, Codreanu went on record stating his contempt for Romania's alliances in Eastern Europe, in particular the Little Entente and the Balkan Pact, and indicating that, 48 hours after his movement came into power, the country would be aligned with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Reportedly, such trust and confidence was reciprocated by both German officials and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano, the latter of whom viewed Goga's cabinet as a transition to the Iron Guard's rule.

In the elections of 1937, when it signed an electoral pact with the National Peasants' Party with the goal of preventing the government from making use of electoral fraud, TPȚ received 15.5% of the vote (occasionally rounded up to 16%). Despite failure to win the majority bonus, Codreanu's movement was, at the time, the third most popular party in Romania, the only one whose popularity grew in 1937–1938, and by far the most popular fascist group.

The Legion was excluded from political coalitions by nominally fascist King Carol, who preferred newly-formed subservient movements and the revived National-Christian Defense League. Cuza created his antisemitic government together with poet Octavian Goga and his National Agrarian Party. Codreanu and the two leaders did not get along, and the Legion started competing with the authorities by adopting corporatism. In parallel, he urged his followers to set up private businesses, claiming to follow the advice of Nicolae Iorga, after the latter claimed that a Romanian-run commerce could prove a solution to what he deemed the "Jewish Question".

The new government alliance, unified as the National Christian Party, gave itself a blue-shirted paramilitary corps that borrowed heavily from the Legion — the Lăncieri — and initiated an official campaign of persecution of Jews, attempting to win back the interest the public had in the Iron Guard. After much violence, Codreanu was approached by Goga and agreed to have his party withdraw from campaigning in the scheduled elections of 1938, believing that, in any event, the regime had no viable solution and would wear itself out — while attempting to profit from the king's authoritarianism by showing his willingness to integrate any possible one-party system.

Clash with King Carol and 1938 trials

Codreanu's designs were overturned by Carol, who deposed Goga, introducing his own dictatorship after his attempts to form a national government. The system relied instead on the new Constitution of 1938, the financial backing received from large business, and the winning over of several more or less traditional politicians, such as Nicolae Iorga and the Internal Affairs Minister Armand Călinescu (see National Renaissance Front). The ban on the Guard was again tightly enforced, with Călinescu ordering all public places known to have harboured Legion meetings to be closed down (including several restaurants in Bucharest). Members of the movement were placed under close surveillance or arrested in cases where they did not abide by the new legislation, while civil servants risked arrest if they were caught spreading Iron Guard propaganda.

The official and semi-official press began attacking Codreanu. He was thus virulently criticized by the magazine Neamul Românesc, which was edited by Iorga. When Carol felt he had sufficient control of the situation, he ordered a brutal suppression of the Iron Guard and had Codreanu arrested on the charge of slander, based on a letter Codreanu sent to Iorga on 26 March 1938, in which he had attacked him for collaborating with Carol, calling Iorga "morally dishonest". Codreanu referred to the historian's charge that Legionary commerce was financing rebellion, and argued that this strategy had originated from Iorga's own arguments. Nicolae Iorga replied by filing a complaint with the Military Tribunal and by writing Codreanu a letter which advised him to "descend in conscience to find remorse" for "the amount of blood spilled over him".

Upon being informed of the indictment, Codreanu urged his followers not to take any action if he was going to be sentenced to less than six months in prison, stressing that he wanted to give an example of dignity; however, he also ordered a group of Legionnaires to defend him in case of an attack by the authorities. He was arrested together with 44 other prominent members of the movement, including Ion Zelea Codreanu, Gheorghe Clime, Alexandru Cristian Tell, Radu Gyr, Nae Ionescu, Șerban Milcoveanu and Mihail Polihroniade, on the evening of 16 April. The crackdown coincided with the Orthodox celebration of Palm Sunday (when those targeted were known to be in their homes). After a short stay in the Romanian Police Prefecture, Codreanu was dispatched to Jilava Prison, while the other prisoners were sent to Tismana Monastery (and later to concentration camps such as the one in Miercurea Ciuc).

Codreanu was tried for slander and sentenced to six months in jail, before the authorities indicted him for treason, sedition, and for the crimes of politically organizing underage students, issuing orders inciting to violence, maintaining links with foreign organizations, and organizing fire practices. Of the people to give evidence in his favour at the trial, the best-known was General Ion Antonescu, who would later become Conducător and Premier of Romania.

The two trials were marked by irregularities, and Codreanu accused the judges and prosecutors of conducting it in a "Bolshevik" manner, because he had not been allowed to speak in his own defence. He sought the counsel of the prominent lawyers Istrate Micescu and Grigore Iunian, but was refused by both, and, as a consequence, his defence team comprised Legionary activists with little experience. They were several times prevented by the authorities from preparing their pleas. The conditions of his imprisonment were initially harsh: his cell was damp and cold, which caused him health problems.

Prison sentence

Codreanu's funeral, November 1940

Codreanu was eventually sentenced to ten years of hard labour in the salt mines. According to historian Ilarion Țiu, the trial and verdict were received with general apathy, and the only political faction believed to have organized a public rally in connection with it was the outlawed Romanian Communist Party, some of whose members gathered in front of the tribunal to express support for the conviction. The Legionary Movement itself grew disorganized, and provincial bodies of the Legion came to exercise control over the centre, which had been weakened by the arrests. As the political establishment's main branches welcomed the news of Codreanu's sentencing, the Iron Guard organized a retaliation attack targeting the National Peasant Party's Virgil Madgearu, who had become known for expressing his opposition to the movement's extremism (Madgearu managed to escape the violence unharmed).

Codreanu was moved from Jilava to Doftana Prison, where, despite the sentence, he was not required to perform any form of physical work. The conditions of his detention improved, and he was allowed to regularly communicate with his family and subordinates. At the time, he rejected all possibility of an escape, and ordered the Legion to refrain from violent acts. A provisional leadership team was also organized, consisting of Ion Antoniu, Ion Belgae, Radu Mironovici, Iordache Nicoară, and Horia Sima. However, the provisional leadership, against Codreanu's wishes, announced that he was faring badly in prison and threatened further retaliation, to the point where the prison staff increased security as a means to prevent a potential break-in.

In the autumn, following the successful Nazi German expansion into Central Europe which seemed to provide momentum for the Guard, and even moreso the international context provided by the Munich Agreement and the First Vienna Award, its clandestine leadership grew confident and published manifestos threatening King Carol. Those members of the Iron Guard who escaped persecution or were omitted in the first place started a violent campaign throughout Romania, meant to coincide with Carol's visit to Hitler at the Berghof, as a way to prevent the tentative approach between Romania and Nazi Germany. Confident that Hitler was not determined on supporting the Legion, and irritated by the incidents, Carol ordered the decapitation of the movement.

Death

On 30 November, it was announced that Codreanu, the Nicadori and the Decemviri had been shot after trying to flee custody the previous night. The actual details were revealed much later: the fourteen persons had been transported from their prison and executed (strangled or garroted and shot) by the Gendarmerie around Tâncăbești (near Bucharest), and their bodies had been buried in the courtyard of the Jilava Prison. Their bodies were dissolved in acid, and placed under seven tons of concrete.

Legacy

Lifetime influence and Legionary power

1940 stamp issued by the National Legionary State and showing Codreanu. The caption reads: "Captain, may you give the country the likeness of the Holy Sun up in the sky"

According to Adrian Cioroianu, Codreanu was "the most successful political and at the same time anti-political model of interwar Romania". The Legion was described by British researcher Norman Davies as "one of Europe's more violent fascist movements." Stanley G. Payne argued that the Iron Guard was "probably the most unusual mass movement of interwar Europe", and noted that part of this was owed to Codreanu being "a sort of religious mystic"; British historian James Mayall saw the Legion as "the most singular of the lesser fascist movements".

The charismatic leadership represented by Codreanu has drawn comparisons with models favoured by other leaders of far-right and fascist movements, including Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Payne and German historian Ernst Nolte proposed that, among European far-rightists, Codreanu was most like Hitler in what concerns fanaticism. In Payne's view, however, he was virtually unparalleled in demanding "self-destructiveness" from his followers. The Iron Guard would mobilize followers into paramilitary death squads to engage in political street violence. The Iron Guard called these groups "Echipa Mortii," Romanian for "Death Squad". Mayall, who states the Legion "was inspired in large measure by National Socialism and fascism", argues that Corneliu Zelea Codreanu's vision of "omul nou", although akin to the "new man" of Nazi and Italian doctrines, is characterized by an unparalleled focus on Romanian Orthodox Christian mysticism, in a clerical fascist styled government. Historian Renzo De Felice, who dismisses the notion that Nazism and fascism are connected, also argues that, due to Legionary attack on "bourgeois values and institutions", which the fascist ideology wanted instead to "purify and perfect", Codreanu "was not, strictly speaking, a fascist." Spanish historian Francisco Veiga argued that "fascization" was a process experienced by the Guard, accumulating traits over a more generic nationalist fibre.

According to American journalist R. G. Waldeck, who was present in Romania in 1940–1941, the violent killing of Codreanu only served to cement his popularity and arouse interest in his cause. She wrote: "To the Rumanian people the Capitano remained a saint and a martyr and the apostle of a better Rumania. Even skeptical ones who did not agree with him in political matters still grew dreamy-eyed remembering Codreanu." Historiographer Lucian Boia notes that Codreanu, his rival Carol II, and military leader Ion Antonescu were each in turn perceived as "savior" figures by the Romanian public, and that, unlike other such examples of popular men, they all preached authoritarianism. Cioroianu also writes that Codreanu's death "whether or not paradoxically, would increase the personage's charisma and would turn him straight into a legend." Attitudes similar to those described by Waldeck were relatively widespread among Romanian youths, many of whom came to join the Iron Guard out of admiration for the deceased Codreanu while still in middle or high school.

Conducător of Romania Marshal Ion Antonescu and Iron Guard leader Horia Sima salute underneath a portrait of Iron Guard founder Codreanu, October 1940

Under the leadership of Horia Sima, the Iron Guard eventually came to power for a five-month period in 1940–1941, proclaiming the fascist National Legionary State and forming an uneasy partnership with Conducător Ion Antonescu. This was a result of Carol's downfall, effected by the Second Vienna Award, through which Romania had lost Northern Transylvania to Hungary. On 25 November 1940, an investigation was carried out on the Jilava Prison premises. The discovery of Codreanu and his associates' remains caused the Legionnaires to engage in a reprisal against the new regime's political prisoners, who were then detained in the same prison. On the next night, sixty-four inmates were shot, while on the 27 and 28 November there were fresh arrests and swift executions, with prominent victims such as Iorga and Virgil Madgearu (see: Jilava Massacre). The resulting widespread disorder brought the first open clash between Antonescu and the Legion. During the events, Codreanu was posthumously exonerated of all charges by a Legionary tribunal. His exhumation was a grandiose ceremony, marked by the participation of Romania's new ally, Nazi Germany: Luftwaffe planes dropped wreaths on Codreanu's open tomb.

Codreanu's wife Elena withdrew from the public eye after her husband's killing, but, after the communist regime took hold, was arrested and deported to the Bărăgan, where she grew close to women aviators of the White Squadron. She also met and married Barbu Praporgescu (son of General David Praporgescu), moving in with him in Bucharest after their liberation. Widowed for a second time, she spent her final years with her relatives in Moldavia.

Codreanu and modern-day political discourse

The movement was eventually toppled from power by Antonescu as a consequence of the Legionnaires' Rebellion. The events associated with Sima's term in office resulted in conflicts and infighting within the Legion and its contemporary successors: many "Codrenist" Legionnaires claim to obey Codreanu and his father Ion Zelea, but not Sima, while, at the same time, the "Simist" faction claims to have followed Codreanu's guidance and inspiration in carrying out violent acts.

Codreanu had an enduring influence in Italy. His views and style were attested to have influenced the controversial Traditionalist philosopher and racial theorist Julius Evola. Evola himself met with Codreanu on one occasion, and, in the words of his friend, the writer and historian Mircea Eliade, was "dazzled". Reportedly, the visit had been arranged by Eliade and philosopher Vasile Lovinescu, both of whom sympathized with the Iron Guard. Their guest later wrote that the Iron Guard founder was: "one of the worthiest and spiritually best oriented figures that I ever met in the nationalist movements of the time." According to De Felice, Codreanu has also become a main reference point for the Italian neofascist groups, alongside Evola and the ideologues of Nazism. He argues that this phenomenon, which tends to shadow references to Italian Fascism itself, is owed to Mussolini's failures in setting up "a true fascist state", and to the subsequent need of finding other role models. Evola's disciple and prominent neofascist activist Franco Freda published several of Codreanu's essays at his Edizioni di Ar, while their follower Claudio Mutti was noted for his pro-Legionary rhetoric.

In parallel, Codreanu is seen as a hero by representatives of the maverick Neo-Nazi movement known as Strasserism, and in particular by the British-based Strasserist International Third Position (ITP), which uses one of Codreanu's statements as its motto. Codreanu's activities and mystical interpretation of politics were probably an inspiration on Russian politician Alexander Barkashov, founder of the far right Russian National Unity.

After the Romanian Revolution toppled the communist regime, various extremist groups began claiming to represent Codreanu's legacy. Reportedly, one of the first was the short-lived Mișcarea pentru România ("Movement for Romania"), founded by the student leader Marian Munteanu. It was soon followed by the Romanian branch of the ITP and its Timișoara-based mouthpiece, the journal Gazeta de Vest, as well as by other groups claiming to represent the Legionary legacy. Among the latter is Noua Dreaptă, which depicts Codreanu as a spiritual figure, often with attributes equivalent to those of a Romanian Orthodox saint. Each year around 30 November, these diverse groups have been known to reunite in Tâncăbești, where they organize festivities to commemorate Codreanu's death.

In the early 2000s, Gigi Becali, a Romanian businessman, owner of the Steaua București football club, and leader of the right-wing New Generation Party, stated that he admired Codreanu and made attempts to capitalize on Legionary symbols and rhetoric, such as adopting a slogan originally coined by the Iron Guard: "I vow to God that I shall make Romania in the likeness of the holy sun in the sky". The statement, used by Becali during the 2004 presidential campaign, owed its inspiration to Legionary songs and was found in a much-publicized homage sent by Ion Moța to his Captain in 1937; it is also said to have been used by Codreanu himself. As a result of it, Becali was argued to have broken the 2002 government ordinance banning the use of fascist discourse. However, the Central Electoral Bureau rejected complaints against Becali, ruling that the slogan was not "identical" to the Legionary one. During the same period, Becali, speaking live in front of Oglinda Television cameras, called for Codreanu to be canonized. The station was fined 50 million lei by the National Audiovisual Council (around $1,223 USD in 2004).

In a poll of the Romanian public conducted by Romanian Television in 2006, Codreanu was voted 22nd among the 100 Greatest Romanians, coming in between Steaua footballer Mirel Rădoi at 21 and the interwar democratic politician Nicolae Titulescu at 23.

In modern Romanian politics, Codreanu's legacy has drawn praise from members of the nationalist Alliance for the Union of Romanians party.

Cultural references

Late in the 1930s, Codreanu's supporters began publishing books praising his virtues, among which are Vasile Marin's Crez de Generație ("Generation Credo") and Nicolae Roșu's Orientări în Veac ("Orientations in the Century"), both published in 1937. After the National Legionary State officially hailed Corneliu Zelea Codreanu as a martyr to the cause, his image came to be used as a propaganda tool in cultural contexts. Codreanu was integrated into the Legionary cult of death: usually at Iron Guard rallies, Codreanu and other fallen members were mentioned and greeted with the shout Prezent! ("Present!"). His personality cult was reflected in Legionary art, and a stylized image of him was displayed at major rallies, including the notorious and large-scale Bucharest ceremony of 6 October 1940. Although Codreanu was officially condemned by the communist regime a generation later, it is possible that, in its final stage under Nicolae Ceaușescu, it came to use the Captain's personality cult as a source of inspiration. The post-communist Noua Dreaptă, which publicizes portraits of Codreanu in the form of Orthodox icons, often makes use of such representation in its public rallies, usually associating it with its own symbol, the Celtic cross.

In November 1940, the Legionary journalist Ovid Țopa, publishing in the Guard's newspaper Buna Vestire, claimed that Codreanu stood alongside the mythical Dacian prophet and "precursor of Christ" Zalmoxis, the 15th century Moldavian Prince Stephen the Great, and Romania's national poet Mihai Eminescu, as an essential figure of Romanian history and Romanian spirituality. Other Legionary texts of the time drew a similar parallel between Codreanu, Eminescu, and the 18th century Transylvanian Romanian peasant leader Horea. Thus, in 1937, sociologist Ernest Bernea had authored Cartea căpitanilor ("The Book of Captains"), where the preferred comparison was between Codreanu, Horea, and Horea's 19th century counterparts Tudor Vladimirescu and Avram Iancu. Also in November 1940, Codreanu was the subject of a conference given by the young philosopher Emil Cioran and aired by the state-owned Romanian Radio, in which Cioran notably praised the Guard's leader for "having given Romania a purpose". Other tribute pieces in various media came from other radical intellectuals of the period: Eliade, brothers Arșavir and Haig Acterian, Traian Brăileanu, Nichifor Crainic, N. Crevedia, Radu Gyr, Traian Herseni, Nae Ionescu, Constantin Noica, Petre P. Panaitescu, and Marietta Sadova.

The Legionary leader was portrayed in a poem by his follower Radu Gyr, who notably spoke of Codreanu's death as a prelude to his resurrection. In contrast, Codreanu's schoolmate Petre Pandrea, who spent part of his life as a Romanian Communist Party affiliate, left an unflattering memoir of their encounters, used as a preferential source in texts on Codreanu published during the communist period. Despite his earlier confrontation with the Iron Guard, the leftist poet Tudor Arghezi is thought by some to have deplored Codreanu's killing, and to have alluded to it in his poem version of the Făt-Frumos stories. Mircea Eliade, whose early Legionary sympathies became a notorious topic of outrage, was indicated by his disciple Ioan Petru Culianu to have based Eugen Cucoanes, the main character in his novella Un om mare ("A Big Man"), on Codreanu. This hypothesis was commented upon by literary critics Matei Călinescu and Mircea Iorgulescu, the latter of whom argued that there was too-little evidence to support it. The neofascist Claudio Mutti claimed that Codreanu inspired the character Ieronim Thanase in Eliade's Nouăsprăzece trandafiri ("Nineteen Roses") story, a view rejected by Călinescu.

Notes

  1. Although "Zelea" is in fact a surname, not a middle name, dictionary entries generally refer to Codreanu as "Codreanu, Corneliu Zelea".
  1. ^ Hugh Seton-Watson, The East European Revolution, Frederick A. Prager, New York, 1961, p. 206
  2. Jelavich, pp. 204–205; Emil Cioran, a philosopher who, early in his life, had been attracted to the Iron Guard, stated in a later interview that he believed Corneliu Zelea Codreanu to be "in fact, Slavic, more of a Ukrainian hetman type" (Cioran, Convorbiri cu Cioran, Humanitas, Bucharest, 1993, in Ornea, p. 198)
  3. ^ (in Romanian) Ilarion Țiu, "Relațiile regimului autoritar al lui Carol al II-lea cu opoziția. Studiu de caz: arestarea conducerii Mișcării Legionare", in Revista Erasmus Archived 23 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine, 14/2003–2005, at the University of Bucharest Faculty of History; retrieved 13 February 2008
  4. Ornea, p. 286
  5. Berend, Iván T. (2020). A Century of Populist Demagogues: Eighteen European Portraits, 1918–2018, p. 79. Budapest–New York: Central European University Press, ISBN 9789633863343
  6. Veiga, pp. 51, 68
  7. Veiga, pp. 41, 47
  8. Veiga, p. 47
  9. ^ Barbu, p. 196
  10. Veiga, pp. 48–49, 54
  11. ^ Cioroianu, p. 16
  12. Catherwood, p. 104
  13. Final Report, pp. 35, 44, 45
  14. Barbu, pp. 196-197; Veiga, pp. 49–50
  15. Yavetz, Zvi (1991). "An Eyewitness Note: Reflections on the Rumanian Iron Guard". Journal of Contemporary History. 26 (3/4): 597–610. doi:10.1177/002200949102600313. JSTOR 260662. S2CID 144944383.
  16. ^ Barbu, p. 197
  17. ^ Veiga, pp. 49–50
  18. Veiga, pp. 46–47
  19. Barbu, p. 197; Veiga, pp. 48–49
  20. Veiga, p. 52
  21. Cioroianu, p. 17; Ornea, p. 288; Veiga, pp. 52, 55
  22. Ornea, p. 287
  23. Ornea, p. 287; Veiga, p. 74
  24. Catherwood, p. 105; Veiga, p. 75
  25. Final Report, p. 44
  26. Ornea, p. 287; Veiga, pp. 62–64, 76
  27. Final Report, p. 46
  28. Ornea, p. 287; Veiga, p. 77
  29. Final Report, pp. 44–45; Brustein, p. 158; Sedgwick, p. 113
  30. Final Report, p. 45; Ornea, pp. 287–288
  31. ^ Yavetz, Zvi "An Eyewitness Note: Reflections on the Rumanian Iron Guard" pp. 597–610 from Journal of Contemporary History, Volume 26, Issue 4, September 1991 p. 601.
  32. Barbu, p. 197; Veiga, pp. 82–83
  33. Veiga, p. 78
  34. Ornea, p. 288; Scurtu, p. 41
  35. Scurtu, p. 41; Veiga, p. 80
  36. ^ Scurtu, p. 41
  37. ^ Crampton, Richard Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century-And After, London: Routledge, 1997 p. 114.
  38. Andrei, in Scurtu, p. 41
  39. Ornea, p. 288; Scurtu, p. 42
  40. Scurtu, p. 42; Veiga, p. 80
  41. Ornea, p. 289; Veiga, p. 80
  42. Bucur, Maria "Romania" pp. 57–78 from Women, Gender and Fascism in Europe, 1919–1945 edited by Kevin Passmore, New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2003 pp. 73–74.
  43. ^ Bucur, Maria "Romania" pp. 57–78 from Women, Gender and Fascism in Europe, 1919–1945 edited by Kevin Passmore, New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2003 p. 74.
  44. Ornea, pp. 289–290
  45. Veiga, pp. 92–93
  46. Barbu, p. 197; Benedict, p. 457; Ornea, p. 290; Jelavich, p. 206; Veiga, pp. 107–110
  47. ^ Jelavich, p. 205
  48. Barbu, p. 200; Mayall, p. 141
  49. Barbu, p. 200; Benedict, p. 456
  50. Benedict, p. 456
  51. Catherwood, pp. 104, 107
  52. Final Report, pp. 46–47; Mayall, p. 141; Payne, p. 116
  53. Jelavich, p. 205; Mayall, p. 142
  54. Mayall, pp. 141–142
  55. ^ Davies, pp. 968–969
  56. ^ Mayall, p. 141
  57. Barbu, p. 197; Ornea, pp. 348–376; Payne, p. 116
  58. Codreanu, in Barbu, p. 197
  59. Mayall, p. 141; Ornea, pp. 348–353; Payne, p. 116
  60. Brustein, p. 158; Catherwood, pp. 104–195
  61. Codreanu, in Final Report, p. 45
  62. Final Report, pp. 46–47
  63. Codreanu, in Catherwood, p. 105
  64. Ancel, Jean "Antonescu and the Jews" pp. 463–479 from The Holocaust and History The Known, the Unknown, the Disputed and the Reexamined edited by Michael Berenbaum and Abraham Peck, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999 p. 463.
  65. Ancel, Jean "Antonescu and the Jews" pp. 463–479 from The Holocaust and History The Known, the Unknown, the Disputed and the Reexamined edited by Michael Berenbaum and Abraham Peck, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999 pp. 463–464.
  66. Ancel, Jean "Antonescu and the Jews" pp. 463–479 from The Holocaust and History The Known, the Unknown, the Disputed and the Reexamined edited by Michael Berenbaum and Abraham Peck, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999 p. 464.
  67. Brustein, p. 158; Catherwood, p. 105
  68. ^ Stephen J. Lee, European Dictatorships, 1918–1945, Routledge, London, 2000, p. 288. ISBN 0-415-23046-2
  69. ^ Brustein, p. 158
  70. Benedict, p. 457
  71. Final Report, pp. 28–29
  72. ^ Codreanu, Corneliu, "The Resurrection of the Race", pp. 221–222, in Fascism, ed. Roger Griffin. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
  73. Barbu, pp. 198–200; Cioroianu, p. 17
  74. Barbu, pp. 198–200; Benedict, pp. 457–458; De Felice, p. 101
  75. ^ Payne, p. 116
  76. Barbu, p. 199
  77. Tismăneanu, p. 65
  78. Benedict, p. 457; Payne, p. 116
  79. Ornea, pp. 291–295
  80. Veiga, p. 108
  81. ^ Veiga, pp. 113–116
  82. Ornea, p. 291
  83. Ornea, p. 294
  84. ^ Ornea, p. 295
  85. Veiga, pp. 140–147
  86. ^ Ornea, p. 296
  87. ^ Barbu, p. 198
  88. Veiga, pp. 251–255
  89. Veiga, pp. 229, 230
  90. Jelavich, p. 206; Veiga, pp. 196–197
  91. Jelavich, p. 206
  92. Ornea, p. 298; Veiga, pp. 197–198
  93. Ornea, pp. 244, 298; Veiga, p. 201
  94. Veiga, pp. 197, 200
  95. Stelescu, 1935, in Ornea, pp. 298–299
  96. Yavetz, Zvi "An Eyewitness Note: Reflections on the Rumanian Iron Guard" pp. 597–610 from Journal of Contemporary History, Volume 26, Issue 4, September 1991 p. 602.
  97. ^ Yavetz, Zvi "An Eyewitness Note: Reflections on the Rumanian Iron Guard" pp. 597–610 from Journal of Contemporary History, Volume 26, Issue 4, September 1991 p. 606.
  98. Ornea, pp. 302–305
  99. Ornea, pp. 305, 307; Pop, p. 47; Veiga, p. 233
  100. Pop, pp. 46–47
  101. Ornea, pp. 309–311
  102. Final Report, pp. 35, 45
  103. Veiga, p. 222
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