URGENT WARNING: Spam emails claiming to be Fascipedia are FRAUDULENT. We do NOT have mailing lists, send newsletters, or solicit funds ...ever. Report these scams to us immediately at admin@fascipedia.org.
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu Sept 13, 1899 – November 30, 1938) was a Romanian politician, the founder of the Iron Guard or The Legion of the Archangel Michael (also known as the Legionary Movement), a nationalist organization active throughout most of the interwar period. Generally seen as the main variety of local fascism, and noted for its spiritual and Romanian Orthodox-inspired message, it gained prominence on the Romanian political stage, coming into conflict with the political establishment and its forces. The Legionnaires traditionally referred to Codreanu as Căpitanul ("The Captain").
Career
Codreanu, who began his career in the wake of The Great War as an anticommunist and antisemitic free thinker associated with A. C. Cuza and Constantin Pancu, was a co-founder of the National-Christian Defense League and advisor to the Iaşi Police prefect Constantin Manciu. Codreanu left Cuza to found a succession of fascist movements, rallying around him a growing segment of the country's intelligentsia and peasant population. Outlawed by successive Romanian cabinets on several occasions, his Legion assumed different names and survived in the underground, during which time Codreanu formally delegated leadership to Gheorghe Cantacuzino-Grănicerul. The Legion carried out executions of politicians who were corrupt, including Prime Minister Ion G. Duca and his former associate Mihai Stelescu. Simultaneously, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu advocated Romania's adherence to a military and political alliance with Germany.
His murder
He registered his main electoral success during the 1937 suffrage, but was blocked out of power by King Carol II, who came to favor rival fascist alternatives around the National Christian Party and the National Renaissance Front. The rivalry between Codreanu and, on the other side, Carol and moderate politicians like Nicolae Iorga ended with Codreanu's imprisonment at Jilava 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, the entire nation mourned his death, and funeral memorials spontaneously occurred throughout the nation.
Legacy
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu's views influenced modern philosophers. Groups pointing to him as their forerunner include Noua Dreaptă and other Romanian successors of the Iron Guard, the International Third Position, and various other fascist organizations in Italy and other parts of Europe.