[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 105 (Wednesday, August 3, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 3, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
 HONORING KING MICHAEL AND THE ANTI-NAZI POLITICAL LEADERS OF ROMANIA 
FOR THEIR COURAGEOUS LEADERSHIP IN THE ANTI-NAZI COUP D'ETAT OF AUGUST 
                                23, 1944

                                 ______


                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, August 3, 1994

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, free nations are now celebrating the 50th 
anniversary of the victorious allied assault on Nazi Europe and the 
heroic struggle for political freedom waged by the United States and 
her allies. Among the myriad instances of personal courage exhibited in 
these historic events, one of the most daring and intrepid occurred 
during the bold August 23, 1944, coup d'etat in Romania. Young King 
Michael of Romania played a key role in the arrest of Marshall Ion 
Antonescu, Romania's pro-Nazi dictator, and in proclaiming Romania's 
alliance with the anti-fascist coalition of nations.
  In addition to the role of King Michael, leaders of the principal 
anti-Nazi and anti-fascist political parties played important parts in 
the planning and execution of the coup against Antonescu and in 
reversing Romania's foreign alliance afterward. We in the Congress 
should pay tribute for their roles in the August 23, 1944, coup to 
those political leaders and their associates--Iuliu Maniu and the 
National Peasant party, Dinu Bratianu and the Liberal party, C. Titel 
Petrescu and the Social Democrats, and also to officials of the 
Romanian Communist Party, who though they were very small in numbers 
were staunchly antifascist.
  In tribute to his courage in the face of enormous risk and in 
recognition of his outstanding contribution to the cause of freedom and 
democracy, King Michael was awarded the Legion of Merit by President 
Harry Truman. President Truman said of King Michael:

       In July and August, 1944, his Nation under the dominance of 
     a dictatorial regime over which the King had no control, 
     having allied herself with the German aggressors, he, King 
     Michai I, succeeded in giving purpose, direction and 
     inspiration to the theretofore uncoordinated internal forces 
     of opposition to the ruling dictator. In culmination of his 
     efforts, on 23 August, 1944, although his capitol was still 
     dominated by German troops, he personally, on his own 
     initiative, and in complete disregard for his own safety, 
     gave the signal for a coup d'etat by ordering his palace 
     guards to arrest the dictator and his chief ministers. 
     Immediately thereafter, in an inspired country-wide radio 
     address, he proclaimed to the Nation his decision to release 
     Rumania from the Nazi yoke and called upon his Army to turn 
     upon the German troops, and to kill, capture or drive them 
     from the country. Confronted with this forthright and 
     aggressive action on the part of their sovereign, the 
     response of the Rumanian people and the Rumanian Army was 
     wholehearted and immediate, with the result that, in the 
     space of a few days, the greater part of the Rumanian 
     territory was liberated from Nazi control, and the main 
     line of German resistance on the Southwestern front was 
     withdrawn over five hundred kilometers to the Northwest.

  As we mark the 50th anniversary of this event, it is appropriate to 
pay credit and honor to the bravery and courage of King Michael and the 
political leaders of Romania in 1944 who took grave risks to overthrow 
the fascist regime in Romania and to hasten the destruction of Nazi 
Germany. The United States should remember and honor our country's 
wartime alliance with the democratic and anti-Nazi Romanian forces, an 
alliance that ceased only with Stalin's takeover of Eastern Europe.
  Mr. Speaker, I would also like to mention in the context of 
commemorating the anniversary of August 23, the outstanding efforts of 
King Michael and his mother, Queen Elena, to protect thousands of Jews 
in Romania from certain deportation and death at the hands of the 
Nazis. In March of 1993, Israel's Holocaust Memorial Authority (Yad 
Vashem) awarded the title of ``Righteous Among the Nations'' to Queen 
Elena for her efforts to save tens of thousands of Jews in Romanian-
occupied Transnistria during World War II.
  Mr. Speaker, today, 50 years after the heroic coup d'etat of August 
23, 1994, I invite my colleagues in the Congress to join me in 
remembering those brave Romanian political leaders and King Michael of 
Romania, who took a daring and courageous step at an important time in 
the struggle against Nazi tyranny.

                          ____________________