“You Are All a Bunch of Cowards”: The Odesa Massacre and the Postwar Trial of Nicolae Macici
“You Are All a Bunch of Cowards”: The Odesa Massacre and the Postwar Trial of Nicolae Macici

Summary/Abstract: Romanian postwar trials were not just acts of justice, retribution, and pedagogy, but also a platform where perpetrators tried to excuse their behavior during the war by emphasizing their so-called “humanity”, “friendship to the Jews”, lack of choices, as well as a way to present their own twisted interpretation of “the law”. In this study, I focus on the trial of Nicolae Macici, arguably the most symbolic perpetrator from the Odesa Massacre, while trying to map how public accusers framed his case, how the general established his defense, and how these aspects interacted with the historical case of the Odesa Massacre. Some of the main questions presented here are: What was the role Macici played in the massacre, as presented in the trial? What did Macici say about his own actions and those of others? How did other accused people and witnesses relate to the general, and how did they interpret the roles of the orders and the military hierarchy within the Romanian Army? In which ways did the prosecutors present him and why did they choose to do so? By reconstructing and deconstructing specific aspects of the postwar trial of General Macici, we can relate not only to the events of the massacre itself, but also see how the mind of a perpetrator works.

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