Radu Lecca
Encyclopedia
Radu Lecca was a Romania
n spy, journalist, civil servant and convicted war criminal
. A World War I
veteran who served a prison term for espionage in France
during the early 1930s, he was a noted supporter of antisemitic concepts and, after 1933, an agent of influence for Nazi Germany
. While becoming a double agent
for Romania's Special Intelligence Service (SSI), Lecca was involved in fascist
politics, gained in importance during World War II
and the successive dictatorships
, and eventually grew close to Conducător
Ion Antonescu
.
After 1941, Lecca was Commissioner, later Commissioner General, tasked with solving the "Jewish Question
" in Romania, sharing Romania's responsibility for the Holocaust. Advised by the special German envoys Manfred Freiherr von Killinger
and Gustav Richter
and acting with Antonescu's consent, he established the Central Jewish Office (Centrala Evreiască, CE) through which he persecuted, exploited and extorted
the Romanian Jewish community
, whose existence was threatened by deportations into Transnistria
. The system he supervised was notoriously corrupt
, with many of the funds extorted being used for the personal benefit of Lecca or his political associates. Commissioner Lecca was also instrumental in negotiating the Final Solution
's application in Romania, a plan which was eventually abandoned, while considering mass emigration to Palestine in exchange for payments.
After the August 1944 Coup
removed Antonescu and aligned Romania with the Allies
, Lecca was among the high-ranking Romanian politicians arrested and transported to the Soviet Union
. Upon his 1946 return, Lecca was Antonescu's co-defendant in a People's Tribunal
case, and was condemned to death. His sentence was commuted into life imprisonment and later reduced by the communist regime
. After his release, Lecca wrote memoir
s which make various controversial claims, and which minimize
his and Antonescu's participation in Holocaust-related crimes.
, Bacău County
), Radu Lecca was the scion of a landowning family, being educated in Vienna
and Paris
. He was drafted into the Romanian Army in 1915, and, after Romania's entry into the war the following year, saw action on the local front. During the interwar years
, he worked as a commercial agent, returning to France. In 1931, French authorities arrested him and a French court convicted him for espionage, based on revelations that he had provided Romanian King
Carol II
with sensitive information about prominent politicians in the pay of France.
Having served his sentence by 1933, Lecca left for Germany
, where a Nazi regime
had just taken hold. He subsequently associated with senior Nazi Party figures, and was close to ideologist Alfred Rosenberg
, and soon after became a correspondent of the official Nazi paper, Völkischer Beobachter
. Tasked with promoting German interests upon his return to Romania, he transferred clandestine funds from Rosenberg to the fascist
and antisemitic National Christian Party
. Polish
historian Jerzy W. Borejsza describes the "intense contacts" between, on one side, Lecca and National Christian leader Octavian Goga
, alongside men from the radically fascist Iron Guard
, and, on the other, Rosenberg, concluding that Romania was one of the countries most infiltrated by Rosenberg's agents.
Lecca also contacted the SSI with an offer to become a double agent
, and was accepted. He was in permanent contact with the German Embassy in Bucharest
, a position which was to prove important in 1940-1941, under the fascist National Legionary
regime. At the time, Lecca sided with the German-endorsed political leader, General Ion Antonescu, in opposition to his nominal partner, the Iron Guard. Through his contacts, he gathered information on which Nazi officials supported the Guard and relayed it to Antonescu. According to his own testimonies, Lecca focused his attention on Kurt Geißler, the Schutzstaffel
s liaison with the Guard. Lecca maintained that, on Geißler's request, the Guard's Legionary Police was armed with some 5,000 Walther PPs (surplus from the Berlin Police), and suggested that the Bucharest regular police
chief, Guardist Ştefan Zăvoianu, had influenced Geißler's negative view of Antonescu's leadership. Lecca also claimed that the Jilava Massacre
, during which the Guard purged its political enemies, was instigated by Geißler, rather than a spontaneous retaliation for the 1938 murder of Legionary Captain Corneliu Zelea Codreanu
. These events were a preamble to the Legionary Rebellion
, crushed by the Conducător with the acquiescence of Adolf Hitler
. As a result, Antonescu ordered Lecca to communicate these dealings to Manfred Freiherr von Killinger
, the new German Ambassador, a task which Lecca accomplished, reportedly with some reluctance. The revelation is reported to have made an impression on Killinger, who befriended the Romanian agent and offered him much support.
Radu Lecca's name surfaced during the large-scale Iaşi pogrom
of June 1941. During his 1950s imprisonment and interrogation by the Securitate
secret police, Lecca made unverifiable claims, which implied first-hand knowledge of the events, and which placed the blame for the massacres solely on German units present in the area. He also alleged that Antonescu was unaware of the murders, and that he had swiftly condemned them, actions which he claimed to have witnessed first-hand. Iunius (or Junius) Lecca, a subordinate of Eugen Cristescu
within the SSI and purportedly Radu Lecca's relative, is believed to have helped in planning the antisemitic crimes.
projects. Gustav Richter
, the German official directly involved in the negotiations, hoped the Central Jewish Office would function as a Judenrat
(ensuring the compliance of Jewish community leaders). Lecca was in close contacts with both Richter and Killinger, establishing a communication channel leading from the latter to Conducător Antonescu and his deputy Mihai Antonescu
.
Richter personally suggested to Lecca the selection of Nandor Gingold, a Jewish physician and lapsed
Roman Catholic
convert, as General Secretary of the CE Central Committee. Lecca's personal selection for CE President was Henric Streitman, a respected journalist of the interwar period, who believed that collaboration offered a path to survival, and whose subsequent assignments were mostly symbolic. The effective leader of the CE, Gingold, justified his appointment in a speech to his peers, arguing that the Office served to procrastinate Nazi objectives, and assessing that Hitler's actual plans involved Jewish eviction to Nazi-occupied Poland and then to lands outside Europe. Although Gingold himself did not participate in the deportations to Transnistria, British
historian Dennis Deletant notes, he tacitly accepted the transportation of Jews whom the regime labeled "communists
", being himself "a staunch anti-communist
".
The CE was initially tasked with statistical surveys, as well as with organizing special taxation, expropriation
, welfare and the civil conscription
of Romanian Jews as a labor force for the Romanian Army on the Eastern Front
and behind the lines. In October 1941, Antonescu asked Lecca to look into the matter of deportations from Dorohoi County
, and investigate complaints from the deportees' relatives. Lecca raised the matter with Mihai Antonescu, who replied that the area had since been transferred to the autonomous governorship of newly-attached Bukovina
and placed under the authority of General Corneliu Calotescu
(Calotescu opposed all Jewish returns from Transnistria). It was as a result of Lecca's proposals that, in January 1942, the Antonescu regime outlawed the Jewish Federation, a traditional representative body and advocacy group presided over by Wilhelm Filderman
. Factors such as the CE's failure to gain the Jewish community's respect led the authorities to co-opt former Federation activists, and some advocates of Zionism
, on the CE leadership board.
In late 1941, Lecca also claimed to have witnessed the deterioration of contacts between Horst Böhme, the new RSHA envoy to Bucharest, and Killinger, reflecting the growing animosity between the RSHA and the German Foreign Office
. Böhme, who had arrived into Romania to investigate and speed up the Final Solution project, was described by Lecca as a person of outstanding cruelty, his negative reputation was consolidated in the Bohemia-Moravia Protectorate
, where he served under Reinhard Heydrich
. Lecca also alleged that both Killinger and the other Schutzstaffel delegate, Richter, were alarmed by Böhme's scrutiny of their dealings with the CE, writing that Böhme reprimanded both men for leniency and incompetence (such arrogance, Lecca suggested, invited doubts about Böhme's sanity). In one of his own RSHA reports, Horst Böhme claimed that Killinger had lost all footing in dealing with Antonescu, and that the ambassador would only confide in Lecca and an independent German agent, Artur Tester. Eventually, Böhme fell out with German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop
, and was reassigned.
. In January of that year, he reported to Ion Antonescu that some 20,000 people affected by this provision lacked the money and had therefore been prosecuted, and successfully proposed instead that the total sum of 100 million lei
be collected from more affluent members of the community, through the Central Jewish Office. In August, he drafted a project to levy 1.2 billion lei from those Jews who had received dispensation from "Romanianization
" policies, and were thus still employed outside the community, on the pretense that it would help their conscripted coreligionists. The project was endorsed by his superiors, who requested a further 800 million, half of which was diverted to a state-endorsed charity headed by Ion Antonescu's spouse Maria
. Lecca was by then also considering the demolition of synagogue
s left unused in areas subject to Jewish evictions, and approved a plan to reuse the leftover building material for the construction of a Romanian Orthodox
church in Bucecea
.
Before September 1942, Lecca was contacted by German officials in the matter of planned transports from Romania, specifically southern Transylvania
and the Banat
, to Nazi extermination camps, and confirmed that both Ion and Mihai Antonescu had approved them on principle; Lecca also communicated this resolution to the Romanian Railways
. The agreement between the two sides was reported with satisfaction by the RSHA as early as July, when an RSHA report noted that, from September 10, Romanian Jews would be forcefully transported to Lublin
: "those that are fit will be put to work, while the rest undergo special treatment
". Preparations were in place when the Romanian leader changed his decision. At the time, Lecca reported that the project was on hold "until the right time."
Researchers propose that a reason for this change of attitudes was the Romanian authorities' nationalist
sentiment, with Romanian politicians objecting to the Nazi German interventions in the country's internal politics. According to American
historian Monty Noam Penkower, a decisive factor in canceling the order was Lecca being "snubbed" by Ribbentrop's subordinates. English
researcher David Cesarani
locates the problem with the RSHA, who "mishandled [Lecca's] stay disastrously"; he writes that the German Foreign Office employees, including Franz Rademacher
, who were sidelined in the matter, angrily reported on the RSHA's presumptuousness and breach of protocol
. According to other accounts, Lecca himself had failed to obtain the needed credentials for his mission to Germany. Also noted was the action of Baron Neumann of Végvár, a Jewish industrialist who reportedly coaxed and bribed various Romanian officials with the goal of postponing all transports from the region. According to historian Victor Neumann
, Baron Neumann's intervention was part of a series of intersecting events: the persuasion effort put into motion by the Banat Jewish leaders, the mounting dissatisfaction of railway employees, coupled with Antonescu's own doubts about Germany's ability to win the war and criticism coming from Romanian civil society
representatives (Bishop Bălan, Iuliu Maniu
).
The early extortion measures were followed in May 1943 by Lecca's designs of collecting 4 billion from Jews who, as his report to the government claimed, "enjoy the freedom to trade and live protected from war". The details of this extortion plan were first outlined by Lecca in a face to face meeting with Chief Rabbi
Alexandru Şafran
during Hannukah 1942. In 1994, Şafran recalled that Lecca trated him "respectfully", noting: "I would say that, although corrupt
and sometimes inebriated, he sometimes had toward me the attitude of a true to life Romanian boyar
." Şafran recalled being informed that the Jews were required to pay the full sum because "our soldiers are out on the front dying, and they stay at home"—to the Chief Rabbi's protest that the community could not afford the new tax, Lecca reportedly cited Antonescu as instigator of the plan. Şafran also recalled being convoked, together with Filderman and Zionist Mişu Benvenisti, at the CE, where Lecca again outlined the project, and, although speaking with "great gentleness", threatened all three with immediate arrest. Şafran recalled that, in extremis, he was able to change Lecca's mind. The measure was however supported by the Antonescu executive, who ruled that Jews who failed to contribute were going to be deported into Transnistria. The requirement caused the vocal protests of Filderman, who was consequently deported by Antonescu and brought back by further protests from part-tolerated Romanian opposition forces.
, who asked him to intervene and allow Jewish orphans in Transnistria safe passage. At their first meeting in spring 1941, Lecca reportedly agreed, but no further measure of this kind had been taken by September, when Cassulo decided to intervene directly with the Conducător, who refused his request on the grounds that no "desired guarantees" were presented. In the context of Nazi pressures to have Romanian Jews exterminated in Poland, Lecca made provisions for some 3,000 Jews to be saved and sent to Palestine in exchange for 2 million lei. In 1943, Richter warned Lecca not to approve of Filderman's proposal to have some 4,000 to 5,000 orphaned children transported out of Transnistria and into Palestine, and whom the Allies
had agreed to accept. Ion Antonescu himself only allowed sporadic transports of orphans in 1944, at a time when it became clear that the Axis
was losing the war. In late 1942, Lecca had also begun negotiating with smugglers and Zionists organizing the Aliyah Bet transit, as well as with Filderman, Benvenisti and other local Jewish activists. This form of emigration was supposed to be carried out in exchange for 200,000 lei per person saved. Claiming Antonescu's acquiescence, Lecca even informed Killinger about them, causing German alarm and a warning that those passing through Bulgaria
would be arrested.
Documents and testimonies of the period record Lecca's ongoing corruption. His supervision benefited influential civilian administrators and soldiers, who made fortunes trafficking dispensations from compulsory labor. Lecca himself claimed that he collected money not just for Maria Antonescu, but also for Mihai Antonescu and Killinger. Emil Ghilezan, a businessman and member of the semi-clandestine National Peasants' Party
, also recounted having periodically paid off the Commissioner in order to protect the livelihoods of his Jewish employees at Ardeleana Bank. The Commissioner is said to have deposited his extortion funds in Switzerland
, with Schweizerische Volksbank (later incorporated into Credit Suisse
). According to other accounts, he intended to keep some of the money extorted from Jews willing to leave for Palestine, and had received 20 million lei from the surviving Jewish community in Iaşi
, in exchange for revisiting some of the measures he had initiated. In July 1943, he called for postponing the confiscation of Iaşi's Jewish Cemetery, but his decision was ignored by the city's antisemitic mayor, Constantin Ifrim, whose only revision on the initial order was accepting that exhumation could be performed by persons of the Judaic
faith. In September of the same year, Lecca was promoted to the position of Commissioner General by the Antonescu executive, and his department was integrated into a Secretariat for Labor. The same month, Ifrim sent Lecca a report in which he called for the deportation of Iaşi Jews into Transnistria and the German-held Reichskommissariat Ukraine
.
Eventually, in November 1943, following the turn of tides on the Eastern Front, Radu Lecca became involved in Antonescu's project to ensure the survival, and a humane detainment at a new camp in Vyzhnytsia
, of the Transnistria deportees (except for those whom Antonescu defined as "communist Jews"). He took part in a government meeting presided upon by Antonescu, during which the Conducător instructed Lecca to obtain funds and food for the deported Jews, whom he acknowledged were dying "at a fast rate", and worrying about being perceived as the sole perpetrator of such crimes. Soon after receiving his orders to collect food and clothes from the Old Kingdom
's Jewish community (which, as he reported, had already contributed 160 million lei for this new purpose), Lecca translated the annotated transcript of this encounter into German
, and presented it to Killinger (in this version, the document was confiscated by the United States Army
upon the end of the war). His personal notes on the margin of the document place the number of survivors at 80,000 (contrary to the other officials' estimates of 50,000 to 60,000).
During the same month, Lecca agreed to hand the control over 15% of all Jewish taxation back to the CE, to be used for aiding Jewish deportees and labor conscripts. Also then, allegedly with Killinger's consent, Lecca managed to obtain the reassignment of Gustav Richter from his post in Jewish affairs to a regular police assignment, assessing that: "Richter no longer has anything to direct within the Central Jewish Office." Lecca himself argued that, even though Richter still had informers within the Jewish affairs administration, he would not pressure the CE into another extermination project: "He was a young man, he had a wife and child, and he knew that if he lost his position in the legation [because of a diplomatic protest] he would have to leave straight for the front." However, both Lecca and SSI director Eugen Cristescu
recalled that, in his new capacity, Richter obtained the January 1944 arrest of several Zionist leaders (Filderman, Benvenisti etc.), whom he denounced as conspirators against Germany; all were however freed the next month, when the International Red Cross pleaded in their favor.
overturned the Ion Antonescu regime, Radu Lecca was arrested and taken into custody by the Soviet occupation forces
and transported into Soviet territory. During his time there, he was questioned by agents of the SMERSH
, offering them details about the Nazi network in Romania. He was returned into Romanian custody together with Ion Antonescu, Cristescu, Governor of Transnistria Gheorghe Alexianu, General Constantin Pantazi and General Constantin Vasiliu. He was subsequently a co-defendant in Antonescu's 1946 trial by the People's Tribunal
, on counts of war crime
s, crimes against the peace and treason
, and sentenced to death on May 17. During the trial itself, Lecca was the target of an especially negative portrayal in the Romanian Communist Party
mouthpiece, Scînteia
, which described him as having a "black-bluish face", noting: "A hideous man, with bloated and vice-consumed cheeks, Lecca hides his rapacity under the mask of obduration." Nonetheless, on May 31, his sentence, like those of Cristescu and Vasiliu, was commuted to forced labor for life, through a special decree issued by King
Michael I
; the sovereign thus answered specific requests from the Communist Party-led Petru Groza
cabinet, made in the name of "national interest
".
While in Securitate custody, Radu Lecca was subjected to several inquiries, producing written statements which were kept in special files. Romanian-born Israel
i historian Jean Ancel presumes that the Securitate had vested interest in allowing Lecca to produce a personal version of Romania's World War II history, because it shared his goal of shifting focus from Romania's participation in the Holocaust. Lecca was notably held in the Jilava prison, where he was detained together with, among others, lawyer Aurelian Bentoiu and literary critic Nicolae Steinhardt
(the latter's Jewish and left-wing background is said to have been a stress factor for Lecca). Having had his sentence reduced to 18 years and 6 months, Lecca was ultimately released from prison in 1963, and soon after began writing his controversial memoir
s. Probably with Securitate instructions, Lecca reportedly sought to repatriate his Swiss wealth; Schweizerische Volksbank is believed to have refused his request, motivating that the record of accounts had since been destroyed. The lead was picked up by the World Jewish Congress
. In 1996, it reportedly accused the Swiss Bankers Association
of intending to hide data concerning the money that Radu Lecca had extorted from Romania's Jews.
After the 1989 Revolution
, which succeeded in toppling communism, Lecca's memoirs saw print with Editura Roza Vânturilor, a newly-founded nationalist publishing house, under the title Eu i-am salvat pe evreii din România ("It Is I Who Saved Romania's Jews"). The edition is also based on his Securitate testimonies, and, according to Ancel, the post-communist
Social Democratic
and nationalist authorities took special care in making the book available. Among the specific unilateral claims found in the book is one according to which racist
sociologist Sabin Manuilă was spying in favor of the United States
. Lecca also alleged that Yannos Pandelis and Constantin Bursan, who represented the Zionist side in discussions about transfers to Palestine, were double agents of the United Kingdom
and Germany. Historian Ottmar Traşcă referred to Lecca's book as "extremely controversial when it comes to scientific truth", but noted that it could prove accurate in describing the hierarchy of Nazi envoys in Romania, their early 1940s contacts with the Iron Guard
, and in particular the scope of Kurt Geißler's activity in Bucharest.
Some of Lecca's claims about Antonescu's behavior regarding the Romanian Jews were passed into Steinhardt's book Jurnalul fericirii ("Happiness Diary"), mainly a recollection of communist imprisonment. Historian and Steinhardt biographer George Ardelean describes this as a problematic aspect, since the liberal
, Europeanist
and part-Jewish Steinhardt was revising his earlier stance on wartime antisemitism (of which he too had been a victim), and basing his new-found admiration for Antonescu on dubious evidence. Ardeleanu stated: "To only quote Radu Lecca means to emerge with a vulnerable [research] bibliography." Additional controversy erupted in 2003, when some of Lecca's judgments were uncritically used as sources for a Romanian manual on Holocaust history (called "disinformation textbook" and "extremely vulgar" by researcher Alexandru Florian).
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n spy, journalist, civil servant and convicted war criminal
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
. A World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
veteran who served a prison term for espionage in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
during the early 1930s, he was a noted supporter of antisemitic concepts and, after 1933, an agent of influence for Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. While becoming a double agent
Double agent
A double agent, commonly abbreviated referral of double secret agent, is a counterintelligence term used to designate an employee of a secret service or organization, whose primary aim is to spy on the target organization, but who in fact is a member of that same target organization oneself. They...
for Romania's Special Intelligence Service (SSI), Lecca was involved in fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
politics, gained in importance during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and the successive dictatorships
Romania during World War II
Following the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939, the Kingdom of Romania officially adopted a position of neutrality. However, the rapidly changing situation in Europe during 1940, as well as domestic political upheaval, undermined this stance. Fascist political forces such as the Iron...
, and eventually grew close to Conducător
Conducator
Conducător was the title used officially in two instances by Romanian politicians, and earlier by Carol II.-History:...
Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu
Ion Victor Antonescu was a Romanian soldier, authoritarian politician and convicted war criminal. The Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II, he presided over two successive wartime dictatorships...
.
After 1941, Lecca was Commissioner, later Commissioner General, tasked with solving the "Jewish Question
Jewish Question
The Jewish question encompasses the issues and resolutions surrounding the historically unequal civil, legal and national statuses between minority Ashkenazi Jews and non-Jews, particularly in Europe. The first issues discussed and debated by societies, politicians and writers in western and...
" in Romania, sharing Romania's responsibility for the Holocaust. Advised by the special German envoys Manfred Freiherr von Killinger
Manfred Freiherr von Killinger
Manfred Freiherr von Killinger was a German naval officer, Freikorps leader, military writer and Nazi politician. A veteran of World War I and member of the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt during the German Revolution, he took part in the violent intervention against the Bavarian Soviet Republic...
and Gustav Richter
Gustav Richter
Gustav Richter was an aide to Nazi Adolf Eichmann during World War II.Richter was born in 1913 and he received a law degree .Richter was a devoted Nazi...
and acting with Antonescu's consent, he established the Central Jewish Office (Centrala Evreiască, CE) through which he persecuted, exploited and extorted
Extortion
Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
the Romanian Jewish community
History of the Jews in Romania
The history of Jews in Romania concerns the Jews of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is nowadays Romanian territory....
, whose existence was threatened by deportations into Transnistria
Transnistria (World War II)
Transnistria Governorate was a Romanian administered territory, conquered by the Axis Powers from the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa, and occupied from 19 August 1941 to 29 January 1944...
. The system he supervised was notoriously corrupt
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
, with many of the funds extorted being used for the personal benefit of Lecca or his political associates. Commissioner Lecca was also instrumental in negotiating the Final Solution
Final Solution
The Final Solution was Nazi Germany's plan and execution of the systematic genocide of European Jews during World War II, resulting in the most deadly phase of the Holocaust...
's application in Romania, a plan which was eventually abandoned, while considering mass emigration to Palestine in exchange for payments.
After the August 1944 Coup
King Michael's Coup
King Michael's Coup refers to the coup d'etat led by King Michael of Romania in 1944 against the pro-Nazi Romanian faction of Ion Antonescu, after the Axis front in Northeastern Romania collapsed under the Soviet offensive.-The coup:...
removed Antonescu and aligned Romania with the Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
, Lecca was among the high-ranking Romanian politicians arrested and transported to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. Upon his 1946 return, Lecca was Antonescu's co-defendant in a People's Tribunal
Romanian People's Tribunals
The two Romanian People's Tribunals , the Bucharest People's Tribunal and the Northern Transylvania People's Tribunal were set up by the post-World War II government of Romania, overseen by the Allied Control Commission to try suspected war criminals, in line with Article 14 of the Armistice...
case, and was condemned to death. His sentence was commuted into life imprisonment and later reduced by the communist regime
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
. After his release, Lecca wrote memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
s which make various controversial claims, and which minimize
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
his and Antonescu's participation in Holocaust-related crimes.
Early life and career
Born in Leca village (part of UngureniUngureni, Bacau
Ungureni is a commune in Bacău County, Romania. It is composed of eight villages: Bărtăşeşti, Bibireşti, Bota, Boteşti, Gârla Anei, Ungureni, Viforeni and Zlătari....
, Bacău County
Bacau County
Bacău is a county of Romania, in Moldavia, with its capital city at Bacău. It has one commune, Ghimeş-Făget, in Transylvania.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 706,623 and the population density was 113/km²....
), Radu Lecca was the scion of a landowning family, being educated in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. He was drafted into the Romanian Army in 1915, and, after Romania's entry into the war the following year, saw action on the local front. During the interwar years
Interwar period
Interwar period can refer to any period between two wars. The Interbellum is understood to be the period between the end of the Great War or First World War and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe....
, he worked as a commercial agent, returning to France. In 1931, French authorities arrested him and a French court convicted him for espionage, based on revelations that he had provided Romanian King
King of Romania
King of the Romanians , rather than King of Romania , was the official title of the ruler of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947, when Romania was proclaimed a republic....
Carol II
Carol II of Romania
Carol II reigned as King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until 6 September 1940. Eldest son of Ferdinand, King of Romania, and his wife, Queen Marie, a daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second eldest son of Queen Victoria...
with sensitive information about prominent politicians in the pay of France.
Having served his sentence by 1933, Lecca left for Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, where a Nazi regime
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
had just taken hold. He subsequently associated with senior Nazi Party figures, and was close to ideologist Alfred Rosenberg
Alfred Rosenberg
' was an early and intellectually influential member of the Nazi Party. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart; he later held several important posts in the Nazi government...
, and soon after became a correspondent of the official Nazi paper, Völkischer Beobachter
Völkischer Beobachter
The Völkischer Beobachter was the newspaper of the National Socialist German Workers' Party from 1920. It first appeared weekly, then daily from February 8, 1923...
. Tasked with promoting German interests upon his return to Romania, he transferred clandestine funds from Rosenberg to the fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
and antisemitic National Christian Party
National Christian Party
The National Christian Party was a Romanian political party, the product of a union between Octavian Goga's National Agrarian Party and A. C. Cuza's National-Christian Defense League; a prominent member of the party was the philosopher Nichifor Crainic...
. Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
historian Jerzy W. Borejsza describes the "intense contacts" between, on one side, Lecca and National Christian leader Octavian Goga
Octavian Goga
Octavian Goga was a Romanian politician, poet, playwright, journalist, and translator.-Life:Born in Răşinari, nearby Sibiu, he was an active member in the Romanian nationalistic movement in Transylvania and of its leading group, the Romanian National Party in Austria-Hungary. Before World War I,...
, alongside men from the radically fascist Iron Guard
Iron Guard
The Iron Guard is the name most commonly given to a far-right movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II. The Iron Guard was ultra-nationalist, fascist, anti-communist, and promoted the Orthodox Christian faith...
, and, on the other, Rosenberg, concluding that Romania was one of the countries most infiltrated by Rosenberg's agents.
Lecca also contacted the SSI with an offer to become a double agent
Double agent
A double agent, commonly abbreviated referral of double secret agent, is a counterintelligence term used to designate an employee of a secret service or organization, whose primary aim is to spy on the target organization, but who in fact is a member of that same target organization oneself. They...
, and was accepted. He was in permanent contact with the German Embassy in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, a position which was to prove important in 1940-1941, under the fascist National Legionary
National Legionary State
The National Legionary State was the Romanian government from September 6, 1940 to January 23, 1941. It was a single-party regime dictatorship dominated by the overtly fascist Iron Guard in uneasy conjunction with the head of government and Conducător Ion Antonescu, the leader of the Romanian...
regime. At the time, Lecca sided with the German-endorsed political leader, General Ion Antonescu, in opposition to his nominal partner, the Iron Guard. Through his contacts, he gathered information on which Nazi officials supported the Guard and relayed it to Antonescu. According to his own testimonies, Lecca focused his attention on Kurt Geißler, the Schutzstaffel
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
s liaison with the Guard. Lecca maintained that, on Geißler's request, the Guard's Legionary Police was armed with some 5,000 Walther PPs (surplus from the Berlin Police), and suggested that the Bucharest regular police
Romanian Police
The Romanian Police is the national police force and main civil law enforcement agency in Romania. It is subordinated to the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform.-Duties:The Romanian Police are responsible for:...
chief, Guardist Ştefan Zăvoianu, had influenced Geißler's negative view of Antonescu's leadership. Lecca also claimed that the Jilava Massacre
Jilava Massacre
The Jilava Massacre took place during the night beginning on November 26, 1940, at Jilava penitentiary, near Bucharest, Romania. 64 political detainees were killed by the Iron Guard , with further high-profile assassinations in the immediate aftermath...
, during which the Guard purged its political enemies, was instigated by Geißler, rather than a spontaneous retaliation for the 1938 murder of Legionary Captain Corneliu Zelea Codreanu
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu was a Romanian politician of the far right, the founder and charismatic leader of the Iron Guard or The Legion of the Archangel Michael , an ultra-nationalist and violently antisemitic organization active throughout most of the interwar period...
. These events were a preamble to the Legionary Rebellion
Legionnaires' Rebellion and Bucharest Pogrom
The Legionnaires' rebellion and the Bucharest pogrom occurred in Bucharest, Romania, between 21 and 23 January 1941.As the privileges of the Iron Guard were being cut off by Conducător Ion Antonescu, members of the Iron Guard, also known as the Legionnaires, revolted...
, crushed by the Conducător with the acquiescence of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
. As a result, Antonescu ordered Lecca to communicate these dealings to Manfred Freiherr von Killinger
Manfred Freiherr von Killinger
Manfred Freiherr von Killinger was a German naval officer, Freikorps leader, military writer and Nazi politician. A veteran of World War I and member of the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt during the German Revolution, he took part in the violent intervention against the Bavarian Soviet Republic...
, the new German Ambassador, a task which Lecca accomplished, reportedly with some reluctance. The revelation is reported to have made an impression on Killinger, who befriended the Romanian agent and offered him much support.
Radu Lecca's name surfaced during the large-scale Iaşi pogrom
Iasi pogrom
The Iaşi pogrom or Jassy pogrom of June 27, 1941 was one of the most violent pogroms in Jewish history, launched by governmental forces in the Romanian city of Iaşi against its Jewish population, resulting in the murder of at least 13,266 Jews, according to Romanian authorities.-Background:]During...
of June 1941. During his 1950s imprisonment and interrogation by the Securitate
Securitate
The Securitate was the secret police agency of Communist Romania. Previously, the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului. Founded on August 30, 1948, with help from the Soviet NKVD, the Securitate was abolished in December 1989, shortly after President Nicolae Ceaușescu was...
secret police, Lecca made unverifiable claims, which implied first-hand knowledge of the events, and which placed the blame for the massacres solely on German units present in the area. He also alleged that Antonescu was unaware of the murders, and that he had swiftly condemned them, actions which he claimed to have witnessed first-hand. Iunius (or Junius) Lecca, a subordinate of Eugen Cristescu
Eugen Cristescu
Eugen Cristescu was the second head of the Kingdom of Romania's domestic espionage agency, the Secret Intelligence Service , forerunner of today's SRI. He previously served as head of Siguranţa Statului, the secret police.-Early life:Cristescu was born in Oituz, Bacău County into a large, poor...
within the SSI and purportedly Radu Lecca's relative, is believed to have helped in planning the antisemitic crimes.
Central Jewish Office establishment
Radu Lecca was assigned Jewish Affairs Commissioner and supervisor of the newly-created Central Jewish Office in late 1941, a position he is believed to have owed to Killinger's intercession. The latter institution had been suggested to Romanian authorities by Nazi German envoys charged with committing Romania to common Final SolutionFinal Solution
The Final Solution was Nazi Germany's plan and execution of the systematic genocide of European Jews during World War II, resulting in the most deadly phase of the Holocaust...
projects. Gustav Richter
Gustav Richter
Gustav Richter was an aide to Nazi Adolf Eichmann during World War II.Richter was born in 1913 and he received a law degree .Richter was a devoted Nazi...
, the German official directly involved in the negotiations, hoped the Central Jewish Office would function as a Judenrat
Judenrat
Judenräte were administrative bodies during the Second World War that the Germans required Jews to form in the German occupied territory of Poland, and later in the occupied territories of the Soviet Union It is the overall term for the enforcement bodies established by the Nazi occupiers to...
(ensuring the compliance of Jewish community leaders). Lecca was in close contacts with both Richter and Killinger, establishing a communication channel leading from the latter to Conducător Antonescu and his deputy Mihai Antonescu
Mihai Antonescu
Mihai Antonescu was a Romanian politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister during World War II.-Early career:...
.
Richter personally suggested to Lecca the selection of Nandor Gingold, a Jewish physician and lapsed
Lapsed Catholic
A lapsed Catholic is a person who has ceased practicing the Catholic faith, in the sense of attending Mass. Such a person may still identify as a Catholic.-"Lapsed Catholic" and "ex-Catholic":...
Roman Catholic
Roman Catholicism in Romania
The Roman Catholic Church in Romania is a Latin Rite Christian church, part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and Curia in Rome. Its administration is centered in Bucharest, and comprises two archdioceses and four other dioceses...
convert, as General Secretary of the CE Central Committee. Lecca's personal selection for CE President was Henric Streitman, a respected journalist of the interwar period, who believed that collaboration offered a path to survival, and whose subsequent assignments were mostly symbolic. The effective leader of the CE, Gingold, justified his appointment in a speech to his peers, arguing that the Office served to procrastinate Nazi objectives, and assessing that Hitler's actual plans involved Jewish eviction to Nazi-occupied Poland and then to lands outside Europe. Although Gingold himself did not participate in the deportations to Transnistria, British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
historian Dennis Deletant notes, he tacitly accepted the transportation of Jews whom the regime labeled "communists
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
", being himself "a staunch anti-communist
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
".
The CE was initially tasked with statistical surveys, as well as with organizing special taxation, expropriation
Confiscation
Confiscation, from the Latin confiscatio 'joining to the fiscus, i.e. transfer to the treasury' is a legal seizure without compensation by a government or other public authority...
, welfare and the civil conscription
Civil conscription
Civil conscription is conscription used for forcing people to work in non-military projects.Civil conscription is used by various governments around the world, among them Greece., where it has been used numerous times and it is called πολιτική επιστράτευση. Temporary conscription for payment,...
of Romanian Jews as a labor force for the Romanian Army on the Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
and behind the lines. In October 1941, Antonescu asked Lecca to look into the matter of deportations from Dorohoi County
Dorohoi county
Dorohoi County, with its seat at Dorohoi, was a subdivision of the Kingdom of Romania and located in the region of Moldavia....
, and investigate complaints from the deportees' relatives. Lecca raised the matter with Mihai Antonescu, who replied that the area had since been transferred to the autonomous governorship of newly-attached Bukovina
Bukovina
Bukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains.-Name:The name Bukovina came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation from the Principality of Moldavia to the possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy, which became...
and placed under the authority of General Corneliu Calotescu
Corneliu Calotescu
Corneliu Calotescu was a Romanian Major-General during World War II. He served as Secretary-General to Under-Secretary of State of Land Forces in 1940. In 1941, he was Deputy Governor-General of Bucovina and Governor-General of Bucovina. He became General Officer Commanding 3rd Division in 1943...
(Calotescu opposed all Jewish returns from Transnistria). It was as a result of Lecca's proposals that, in January 1942, the Antonescu regime outlawed the Jewish Federation, a traditional representative body and advocacy group presided over by Wilhelm Filderman
Wilhelm Filderman
Wilhelm Filderman was a leader of the Romanian-Jewish community between the two wars and a representative of the Jews in the Romanian parliament....
. Factors such as the CE's failure to gain the Jewish community's respect led the authorities to co-opt former Federation activists, and some advocates of Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
, on the CE leadership board.
In late 1941, Lecca also claimed to have witnessed the deterioration of contacts between Horst Böhme, the new RSHA envoy to Bucharest, and Killinger, reflecting the growing animosity between the RSHA and the German Foreign Office
Foreign Office (Germany)
The Foreign Office is the foreign ministry of Germany, a federal agency responsible for both the country's foreign politics and its relationship with the European Union. From 1871 to 1919, it was led by a Foreign Secretary, and since 1919, it has been led by the Foreign Minister of Germany...
. Böhme, who had arrived into Romania to investigate and speed up the Final Solution project, was described by Lecca as a person of outstanding cruelty, his negative reputation was consolidated in the Bohemia-Moravia Protectorate
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was the majority ethnic-Czech protectorate which Nazi Germany established in the central parts of Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia in what is today the Czech Republic...
, where he served under Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich , also known as The Hangman, was a high-ranking German Nazi official.He was SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei, chief of the Reich Main Security Office and Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia...
. Lecca also alleged that both Killinger and the other Schutzstaffel delegate, Richter, were alarmed by Böhme's scrutiny of their dealings with the CE, writing that Böhme reprimanded both men for leniency and incompetence (such arrogance, Lecca suggested, invited doubts about Böhme's sanity). In one of his own RSHA reports, Horst Böhme claimed that Killinger had lost all footing in dealing with Antonescu, and that the ambassador would only confide in Lecca and an independent German agent, Artur Tester. Eventually, Böhme fell out with German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. He was later hanged for war crimes after the Nuremberg Trials.-Early life:...
, and was reassigned.
Extortion mechanisms and extermination proposals
Beginning in early 1942, Lecca supervised extortion initiatives, special decrees which required all non-deported Jews to contribute special cash funds for social causes benefiting ethnic RomaniansRomanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
. In January of that year, he reported to Ion Antonescu that some 20,000 people affected by this provision lacked the money and had therefore been prosecuted, and successfully proposed instead that the total sum of 100 million lei
Romanian leu
The leu is the currency of Romania. It is subdivided into 100 bani . The name of the currency means "lion". On 1 July 2005, Romania underwent a currency reform, switching from the previous leu to a new leu . 1 RON is equal to 10,000 ROL...
be collected from more affluent members of the community, through the Central Jewish Office. In August, he drafted a project to levy 1.2 billion lei from those Jews who had received dispensation from "Romanianization
Romanianization
Romanianization or Rumanization is the term used to describe a number of ethnic assimilation policies implemented by the Romanian authorities during the 20th century...
" policies, and were thus still employed outside the community, on the pretense that it would help their conscripted coreligionists. The project was endorsed by his superiors, who requested a further 800 million, half of which was diverted to a state-endorsed charity headed by Ion Antonescu's spouse Maria
Maria Antonescu
Maria Antonescu was a Romanian socialite and philanthropist, the wife of World War II authoritarian Prime Minister and Conducător Ion Antonescu...
. Lecca was by then also considering the demolition of synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
s left unused in areas subject to Jewish evictions, and approved a plan to reuse the leftover building material for the construction of a Romanian Orthodox
Romanian Orthodox Church
The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...
church in Bucecea
Bucecea
Bucecea is a town in Botoşani County, Romania. It administers two villages, Bohoghina and Călineşti.-References:...
.
Before September 1942, Lecca was contacted by German officials in the matter of planned transports from Romania, specifically southern Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
and the Banat
Banat
The Banat is a geographical and historical region in Central Europe currently divided between three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania , the western part in northeastern Serbia , and a small...
, to Nazi extermination camps, and confirmed that both Ion and Mihai Antonescu had approved them on principle; Lecca also communicated this resolution to the Romanian Railways
Caile Ferate Române
Căile Ferate Române is the official designation of the state railway carrier of Romania. Romania has a railway network of of which are electrified and the total track length is . The network is significantly interconnected with other European railway networks, providing pan-European passenger...
. The agreement between the two sides was reported with satisfaction by the RSHA as early as July, when an RSHA report noted that, from September 10, Romanian Jews would be forcefully transported to Lublin
Lublin
Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,392 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...
: "those that are fit will be put to work, while the rest undergo special treatment
Sonderbehandlung
Sonderbehandlung is a German noun meaning special treatment in English, also existing as a verb: sonderbehandeln . While it can refer to any sort of preferential treatment, it is known primarily as a euphemism used by Nazi functionaries and the SS for murder...
". Preparations were in place when the Romanian leader changed his decision. At the time, Lecca reported that the project was on hold "until the right time."
Researchers propose that a reason for this change of attitudes was the Romanian authorities' nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
sentiment, with Romanian politicians objecting to the Nazi German interventions in the country's internal politics. According to American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
historian Monty Noam Penkower, a decisive factor in canceling the order was Lecca being "snubbed" by Ribbentrop's subordinates. English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
researcher David Cesarani
David Cesarani
David Cesarani OBE is an English historian who specialises in Jewish history, especially the Holocaust. He has also written several biographies, notably Arthur Koestler: The Homeless Mind.-Early life:...
locates the problem with the RSHA, who "mishandled [Lecca's] stay disastrously"; he writes that the German Foreign Office employees, including Franz Rademacher
Franz Rademacher
Franz Rademacher was an official in the Nazi government of the Third Reich during World War II, known for initiating action on the Madagascar Plan.-Nazi Beginnings:...
, who were sidelined in the matter, angrily reported on the RSHA's presumptuousness and breach of protocol
Protocol (diplomacy)
In international politics, protocol is the etiquette of diplomacy and affairs of state.A protocol is a rule which guides how an activity should be performed, especially in the field of diplomacy. In diplomatic services and governmental fields of endeavor protocols are often unwritten guidelines...
. According to other accounts, Lecca himself had failed to obtain the needed credentials for his mission to Germany. Also noted was the action of Baron Neumann of Végvár, a Jewish industrialist who reportedly coaxed and bribed various Romanian officials with the goal of postponing all transports from the region. According to historian Victor Neumann
Victor Neumann
Victor Neumann is a Romanian historian, political analyst, and professor at the West University in Timişoara. He is a well-known specialist in the recent cultural and intellectual histories of Eastern and Central Europe...
, Baron Neumann's intervention was part of a series of intersecting events: the persuasion effort put into motion by the Banat Jewish leaders, the mounting dissatisfaction of railway employees, coupled with Antonescu's own doubts about Germany's ability to win the war and criticism coming from Romanian civil society
Civil society
Civil society is composed of the totality of many voluntary social relationships, civic and social organizations, and institutions that form the basis of a functioning society, as distinct from the force-backed structures of a state , the commercial institutions of the market, and private criminal...
representatives (Bishop Bălan, Iuliu Maniu
Iuliu Maniu
Iuliu Maniu was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian politician. A leader of the National Party of Transylvania and Banat before and after World War I, he served as Prime Minister of Romania for three terms during 1928–1933, and, with Ion Mihalache, co-founded the National Peasants'...
).
The early extortion measures were followed in May 1943 by Lecca's designs of collecting 4 billion from Jews who, as his report to the government claimed, "enjoy the freedom to trade and live protected from war". The details of this extortion plan were first outlined by Lecca in a face to face meeting with Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...
Alexandru Şafran
Alexandru Safran
Alexandru Şafran was a Romanian and, after 1948, Swiss rabbi. As chief rabbi of Romania , he intervened with authorities in the fascist government of Ion Antonescu in an unusually successful attempt to save Jews during the Holocaust.-Biography:Şafran was born in Bacău, and received his doctorate...
during Hannukah 1942. In 1994, Şafran recalled that Lecca trated him "respectfully", noting: "I would say that, although corrupt
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
and sometimes inebriated, he sometimes had toward me the attitude of a true to life Romanian boyar
Boyar
A boyar, or bolyar , was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century....
." Şafran recalled being informed that the Jews were required to pay the full sum because "our soldiers are out on the front dying, and they stay at home"—to the Chief Rabbi's protest that the community could not afford the new tax, Lecca reportedly cited Antonescu as instigator of the plan. Şafran also recalled being convoked, together with Filderman and Zionist Mişu Benvenisti, at the CE, where Lecca again outlined the project, and, although speaking with "great gentleness", threatened all three with immediate arrest. Şafran recalled that, in extremis, he was able to change Lecca's mind. The measure was however supported by the Antonescu executive, who ruled that Jews who failed to contribute were going to be deported into Transnistria. The requirement caused the vocal protests of Filderman, who was consequently deported by Antonescu and brought back by further protests from part-tolerated Romanian opposition forces.
Separate projects and corruption
By then, Radu Lecca was involved in dealings to have Jews from Romanian-controlled territories transferred into Palestine. He was initially approached by Apostolic Nuncio Andrea CassuloAndrea Cassulo
Andrea Cassulo was an archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church and a representative of the Holy See in Egypt, Canada, Romania and Turkey from 1921 to 1952.-Early life and ordination:...
, who asked him to intervene and allow Jewish orphans in Transnistria safe passage. At their first meeting in spring 1941, Lecca reportedly agreed, but no further measure of this kind had been taken by September, when Cassulo decided to intervene directly with the Conducător, who refused his request on the grounds that no "desired guarantees" were presented. In the context of Nazi pressures to have Romanian Jews exterminated in Poland, Lecca made provisions for some 3,000 Jews to be saved and sent to Palestine in exchange for 2 million lei. In 1943, Richter warned Lecca not to approve of Filderman's proposal to have some 4,000 to 5,000 orphaned children transported out of Transnistria and into Palestine, and whom the Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
had agreed to accept. Ion Antonescu himself only allowed sporadic transports of orphans in 1944, at a time when it became clear that the Axis
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
was losing the war. In late 1942, Lecca had also begun negotiating with smugglers and Zionists organizing the Aliyah Bet transit, as well as with Filderman, Benvenisti and other local Jewish activists. This form of emigration was supposed to be carried out in exchange for 200,000 lei per person saved. Claiming Antonescu's acquiescence, Lecca even informed Killinger about them, causing German alarm and a warning that those passing through Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
would be arrested.
Documents and testimonies of the period record Lecca's ongoing corruption. His supervision benefited influential civilian administrators and soldiers, who made fortunes trafficking dispensations from compulsory labor. Lecca himself claimed that he collected money not just for Maria Antonescu, but also for Mihai Antonescu and Killinger. Emil Ghilezan, a businessman and member of the semi-clandestine National Peasants' Party
National Peasants' Party
The National Peasants' Party was a Romanian political party, formed in 1926 through the fusion of the Romanian National Party from Transylvania and the Peasants' Party . It was in power between 1928 and 1933, with brief interruptions...
, also recounted having periodically paid off the Commissioner in order to protect the livelihoods of his Jewish employees at Ardeleana Bank. The Commissioner is said to have deposited his extortion funds in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, with Schweizerische Volksbank (later incorporated into Credit Suisse
Credit Suisse
The Credit Suisse Group AG is a Swiss multinational financial services company headquartered in Zurich, with more than 250 branches in Switzerland and operations in more than 50 countries.-History:...
). According to other accounts, he intended to keep some of the money extorted from Jews willing to leave for Palestine, and had received 20 million lei from the surviving Jewish community in Iaşi
Iasi
Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...
, in exchange for revisiting some of the measures he had initiated. In July 1943, he called for postponing the confiscation of Iaşi's Jewish Cemetery, but his decision was ignored by the city's antisemitic mayor, Constantin Ifrim, whose only revision on the initial order was accepting that exhumation could be performed by persons of the Judaic
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
faith. In September of the same year, Lecca was promoted to the position of Commissioner General by the Antonescu executive, and his department was integrated into a Secretariat for Labor. The same month, Ifrim sent Lecca a report in which he called for the deportation of Iaşi Jews into Transnistria and the German-held Reichskommissariat Ukraine
Reichskommissariat Ukraine
Reichskommissariat Ukraine , literally "Reich Commissariat of Ukraine", was the civilian occupation regime of much of German-occupied Ukraine during World War II. Between September 1941 and March 1944, the Reichskommissariat was administered by Reichskommissar Erich Koch as a colony...
.
Eventually, in November 1943, following the turn of tides on the Eastern Front, Radu Lecca became involved in Antonescu's project to ensure the survival, and a humane detainment at a new camp in Vyzhnytsia
Vyzhnytsia
Vyzhnytsia is a town located on the Cheremosh River in the Chernivtsi Oblast of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Vyzhnytsia Raion.-Notable People from Vyzhnytsia:* Gerard Ciołek, architect* Menachem Mendel Hager, first Vizhnitser Rebbe...
, of the Transnistria deportees (except for those whom Antonescu defined as "communist Jews"). He took part in a government meeting presided upon by Antonescu, during which the Conducător instructed Lecca to obtain funds and food for the deported Jews, whom he acknowledged were dying "at a fast rate", and worrying about being perceived as the sole perpetrator of such crimes. Soon after receiving his orders to collect food and clothes from the Old Kingdom
Romanian Old Kingdom
The Romanian Old Kingdom is a colloquial term referring to the territory covered by the first independent Romanian nation state, which was composed of the Danubian Principalities—Wallachia and Moldavia...
's Jewish community (which, as he reported, had already contributed 160 million lei for this new purpose), Lecca translated the annotated transcript of this encounter into German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, and presented it to Killinger (in this version, the document was confiscated by the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
upon the end of the war). His personal notes on the margin of the document place the number of survivors at 80,000 (contrary to the other officials' estimates of 50,000 to 60,000).
During the same month, Lecca agreed to hand the control over 15% of all Jewish taxation back to the CE, to be used for aiding Jewish deportees and labor conscripts. Also then, allegedly with Killinger's consent, Lecca managed to obtain the reassignment of Gustav Richter from his post in Jewish affairs to a regular police assignment, assessing that: "Richter no longer has anything to direct within the Central Jewish Office." Lecca himself argued that, even though Richter still had informers within the Jewish affairs administration, he would not pressure the CE into another extermination project: "He was a young man, he had a wife and child, and he knew that if he lost his position in the legation [because of a diplomatic protest] he would have to leave straight for the front." However, both Lecca and SSI director Eugen Cristescu
Eugen Cristescu
Eugen Cristescu was the second head of the Kingdom of Romania's domestic espionage agency, the Secret Intelligence Service , forerunner of today's SRI. He previously served as head of Siguranţa Statului, the secret police.-Early life:Cristescu was born in Oituz, Bacău County into a large, poor...
recalled that, in his new capacity, Richter obtained the January 1944 arrest of several Zionist leaders (Filderman, Benvenisti etc.), whom he denounced as conspirators against Germany; all were however freed the next month, when the International Red Cross pleaded in their favor.
Prison term and final years
In late 1944, soon after the August 23 CoupKing Michael's Coup
King Michael's Coup refers to the coup d'etat led by King Michael of Romania in 1944 against the pro-Nazi Romanian faction of Ion Antonescu, after the Axis front in Northeastern Romania collapsed under the Soviet offensive.-The coup:...
overturned the Ion Antonescu regime, Radu Lecca was arrested and taken into custody by the Soviet occupation forces
Soviet occupation of Romania
The Soviet occupation of Romania refers to the period from 1944 to August 1958, during which the Soviet Union maintained a significant military presence in Romania...
and transported into Soviet territory. During his time there, he was questioned by agents of the SMERSH
SMERSH
SMERSH was the counter-intelligence agency in the Red Army formed in late 1942 or even earlier, but officially founded on April 14, 1943. The name SMERSH was coined by Joseph Stalin...
, offering them details about the Nazi network in Romania. He was returned into Romanian custody together with Ion Antonescu, Cristescu, Governor of Transnistria Gheorghe Alexianu, General Constantin Pantazi and General Constantin Vasiliu. He was subsequently a co-defendant in Antonescu's 1946 trial by the People's Tribunal
Romanian People's Tribunals
The two Romanian People's Tribunals , the Bucharest People's Tribunal and the Northern Transylvania People's Tribunal were set up by the post-World War II government of Romania, overseen by the Allied Control Commission to try suspected war criminals, in line with Article 14 of the Armistice...
, on counts of war crime
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
s, crimes against the peace and treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
, and sentenced to death on May 17. During the trial itself, Lecca was the target of an especially negative portrayal in the Romanian Communist Party
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
mouthpiece, Scînteia
Scînteia
Scînteia was the name of two newspapers edited by Communist groups at different intervals in Romanian history...
, which described him as having a "black-bluish face", noting: "A hideous man, with bloated and vice-consumed cheeks, Lecca hides his rapacity under the mask of obduration." Nonetheless, on May 31, his sentence, like those of Cristescu and Vasiliu, was commuted to forced labor for life, through a special decree issued by King
King of Romania
King of the Romanians , rather than King of Romania , was the official title of the ruler of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947, when Romania was proclaimed a republic....
Michael I
Michael I of Romania
Michael was the last King of Romania. He reigned from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930, and again from 6 September 1940 until 30 December 1947 when he was forced, by the Communist Party of Romania , to abdicate to the Soviet armies of occupation...
; the sovereign thus answered specific requests from the Communist Party-led Petru Groza
Petru Groza
Petru Groza was a Romanian politician, best known as the Prime Minister of the first Communist Party-dominated governments under Soviet occupation during the early stages of the Communist regime in Romania....
cabinet, made in the name of "national interest
National interest
The national interest, often referred to by the French expression raison d'État , is a country's goals and ambitions whether economic, military, or cultural. The concept is an important one in international relations where pursuit of the national interest is the foundation of the realist...
".
While in Securitate custody, Radu Lecca was subjected to several inquiries, producing written statements which were kept in special files. Romanian-born Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i historian Jean Ancel presumes that the Securitate had vested interest in allowing Lecca to produce a personal version of Romania's World War II history, because it shared his goal of shifting focus from Romania's participation in the Holocaust. Lecca was notably held in the Jilava prison, where he was detained together with, among others, lawyer Aurelian Bentoiu and literary critic Nicolae Steinhardt
Nicolae Steinhardt
Nicolae Steinhardt was a Romanian writer, Orthodox hermit and father confessor.-Early life:...
(the latter's Jewish and left-wing background is said to have been a stress factor for Lecca). Having had his sentence reduced to 18 years and 6 months, Lecca was ultimately released from prison in 1963, and soon after began writing his controversial memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
s. Probably with Securitate instructions, Lecca reportedly sought to repatriate his Swiss wealth; Schweizerische Volksbank is believed to have refused his request, motivating that the record of accounts had since been destroyed. The lead was picked up by the World Jewish Congress
World Jewish Congress
The World Jewish Congress was founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in August 1936 as an international federation of Jewish communities and organizations...
. In 1996, it reportedly accused the Swiss Bankers Association
Swiss Bankers Association
The Swiss Bankers Association is a professional organization of Swiss financial institutions.-Background:The trade association known as the Swiss Bankers Association was founded in 1912 in Basel, Switzerland. It is the primary industry group representing the Swiss Banks to the government of...
of intending to hide data concerning the money that Radu Lecca had extorted from Romania's Jews.
After the 1989 Revolution
Romanian Revolution of 1989
The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...
, which succeeded in toppling communism, Lecca's memoirs saw print with Editura Roza Vânturilor, a newly-founded nationalist publishing house, under the title Eu i-am salvat pe evreii din România ("It Is I Who Saved Romania's Jews"). The edition is also based on his Securitate testimonies, and, according to Ancel, the post-communist
Post-Communism
Post-communism is a name sometimes given to the period of political and economic transformation or "transition" in former Communist states located in parts of Europe and Asia, in which new governments aimed to create free market-oriented capitalist economies with some form of parliamentary...
Social Democratic
Social Democratic Party (Romania)
The Social Democratic Party is the major social-democratic political party in Romania. It was formed in 1992, after the post-communist National Salvation Front broke apart. It adopted its present name after a merger with a minor social-democratic party in 2001. Since its formation, it has always...
and nationalist authorities took special care in making the book available. Among the specific unilateral claims found in the book is one according to which racist
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
sociologist Sabin Manuilă was spying in favor of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Lecca also alleged that Yannos Pandelis and Constantin Bursan, who represented the Zionist side in discussions about transfers to Palestine, were double agents of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Germany. Historian Ottmar Traşcă referred to Lecca's book as "extremely controversial when it comes to scientific truth", but noted that it could prove accurate in describing the hierarchy of Nazi envoys in Romania, their early 1940s contacts with the Iron Guard
Iron Guard
The Iron Guard is the name most commonly given to a far-right movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II. The Iron Guard was ultra-nationalist, fascist, anti-communist, and promoted the Orthodox Christian faith...
, and in particular the scope of Kurt Geißler's activity in Bucharest.
Some of Lecca's claims about Antonescu's behavior regarding the Romanian Jews were passed into Steinhardt's book Jurnalul fericirii ("Happiness Diary"), mainly a recollection of communist imprisonment. Historian and Steinhardt biographer George Ardelean describes this as a problematic aspect, since the liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
, Europeanist
Europeanism
Although this term is occasionally used to describe support for European integration , it is more commonly used in relation to the idea that Europeans have common norms and values that transcend national or state identity, that have been promoted most actively...
and part-Jewish Steinhardt was revising his earlier stance on wartime antisemitism (of which he too had been a victim), and basing his new-found admiration for Antonescu on dubious evidence. Ardeleanu stated: "To only quote Radu Lecca means to emerge with a vulnerable [research] bibliography." Additional controversy erupted in 2003, when some of Lecca's judgments were uncritically used as sources for a Romanian manual on Holocaust history (called "disinformation textbook" and "extremely vulgar" by researcher Alexandru Florian).