Corneliu Zelea Codreanu
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu.
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu (born Corneliu
Zelinski and commonly known as Corneliu
Codreanu;[1] September 13, 1899 – Novem-
ber 30, 1938) was a Romanian politician of
the far right, the founder and charismatic
leader of the Iron Guard or The Legion of the
Archangel Michael (also known as the Le-
gionary Movement), an ultra-nationalist and
violently
antisemitic
organization
active
throughout most of the interwar period. Gen-
erally seen as the main variety of local fas-
cism, and noted for its mystical and Romani-
an Orthodox-inspired revolutionary message,
it grew into an important actor on the Ro-
manian political stage, coming into conflict
with the political establishment and the
democratic forces, and often resorting to ter-
rorism. The Legionaries traditionally referred
to Codreanu as Căpitanul ("The Captain"),
and he held absolute authority over the or-
ganization 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 Iaşi Police prefect Constantin
Manciu. Codreanu left Cuza to found a suc-
cession of movements on the far right, rally-
ing around him a growing segment of the
country’s intelligentsia and peasant popula-
tion, and inciting pogroms in various parts of
Greater Romania. Several times outlawed by
successive Romanian cabinets, his Legion as-
sumed 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
its former associate Mihai Stelescu. In paral-
lel, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu advocated Ro-
mania’s adherence to a military and political
alliance formed around Nazi Germany.
He registered his main electoral success
during the 1937 suffrage, b