Ion Antonescu

Ion Antonescu was a Romanian Army officer who built his reputation during the 1907 peasants' revolt and World War I, later serving as military attaché to France and Chief of the General Staff. His antisemitic views and sympathy for far-right politics brought him into conflict with King Carol II in the late 1930s, leading to his detainment. He rose to power during the 1940 political crisis, establishing the National Legionary State in partnership with the Iron Guard, then eliminated them during the 1941 Legionary Rebellion. As Prime Minister and Conducător, he brought Romania into the Axis and Operation Barbarossa, also becoming Marshal of Romania. His regime combined pogroms like the Odessa massacre with deportations to occupied Transnistria, responsible for as many as 400,000 deaths - though it showed inconsistencies, refusing the Final Solution and showing leniency toward Jews in the Old Kingdom. On 23 August 1944, King Michael I led a coup against him; after trial he was executed in June 1946.