Armand Călinescu (4 June 1893,Piteşti – 21 September 1939, Bucharest) was a Romanian economist and politician, who served as Prime Minister between March 1939 and the time of his death. Having been secretly blacklisted at the same time as Nicolae Titulescu, Dinu Brătianu, and General Gavrilă Marinescu, Călinescu was assassinated in Bucharest by Iron Guard members under the direct leadership of Sima (exiled in Steglitz at the time), the last of several attempts (which included an attack on the Romanian Athenaeum and bombing a bridge over the Dâmboviţa River — both of which were uncovered by police). It seems that the action was carried out with German approval and assistance. On September 1, representatives of Germany, Fascist Italy, and the Iron Guard met in Copenhagen with Mihail R. Sturdza (Romanias ambassador to Denmark and a supporter of Sima), to discuss Călinescus killing. Some details of the subsequent plan were offered to Romanian authorities by a renegade member of the Iron Guard, Mihai Vârfureanu. A death squad was formed, having as its members the lawyer Dumitru Miti Dumitrescu (who had been trained by the Gestapo and returned to Romania through Hungary), the students Cezar Popescu, Traian Popescu, Ion Moldoveanu, Ion R. Ionescu, and the draftsman Ion Vasiliu. Contacting each other in the area around Ploieşti, they initially planned to kill Călinescu, Carol and Marinescu together, and probably aimed to accomplish this in the Prahova Valley. While passing through the Eroilor area on its return from the Cotroceni Palace, Călinescus luxury automobile, a Cadillac, was ambushed by that of the assassins, who shot Călinescu, his bodyguard Radu Andone, and his driver (Miti Dumitrescu drove his car into the Premiers, which came to sudden stop as it ran into a cart — Andone was gunned down as he stepped out of the car, and Călinescu as he stood waiting on the back seat; over twenty bullets were recovered from his body). Sima, who is known to have crossed the border illegally in August of that year, was alleged to have disguised himself as a woman in order to witness the actions from nearby; other sources indicate a certain Marin Stănculescu as the covert supervisor. Ironically, Călinescu had never trusted the safety of his Cadillac, and had repeatedly asked Gavrilă Marinescu to allow him use of an armored car. The group of assassins left the vicinity before the arrival of police forces, and stormed into the Radio Broadcasting Society; holding the employees at gunpoint and cutting short the live airing of a waltz, it announced, through the voice of Traian Popescu, that it had killed the Premier. The message was never broadcast, as, unbeknown to the squad, transmission had already been interrupted by Radio staff. A harsh repression of the Iron Guard followed under the provisional leadership of Gheorghe Argeşanu — it was inaugurated by the immediate execution of the assassins and the public display of their bodies at the murder site, for days on end. A placard was set up on the spot, reading De acum înainte, aceasta va fi soarta trădătorilor de ţară (From now on, this shall be the fate of those who betray the country), and students from several Bucharest high schools were required to visit the site (based on the belief that this was going to dissuade them from affiliating with the Guard). Executions of known Iron Guard activists were ordered in various places in the country (some were hanged on telegraph poles, while a group of was shot in front of Ion G. Ducas statue in Ploieşti); in all, 253 were killed without trial. Călinescu was succeeded by Marinescu as Minister of the Interior and by Ioan Ilcuş as Minister of Defense. One year later, under the National Legionary State (the Iron Guards government), Marinescu and Argeşanu, alongside other politicians, were executed in Jilava (September 1940); it was also at that time that the Călinescu family crypt in Curtea de Argeş was dynamited, while a bronze bust of him which awaited unveiling was chained and dragged through the streets of Piteşti. Călinescus wife Adela was required to hand all of her husbands personal documents, and, in a letter to Conducător Ion Antonescu, claimed to have been repeatedly harassed by agents of Siguranţa Statului.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 04:14:13 +0000
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