The Politicization of History: Marshal Antonescu and Romania
The Politicization of History: Marshal Antonescu and Romania

Summary/Abstract: Instead of debating the merits of a civil society and the benefits of a market economy, Romania's intellectuals, as well as many Western scholars, are engaging in, or being drawn into, a highly publicized debate revolving around what has become one of the most important issues on the Romanian political agenda today: the rehabilitation of Marshal Ion Antonescu, Romania's wartime dictator, Hitler's ally, and a convicted war criminal. The rehabilitation issue has drawn criticism from the Western media and those few Romanian intellectuals genuinely concerned with the construction of a civil society, as well as warnings from Western governments. This criticism, in turn, has only increased the zeal of those promoting Antonescu's rehabilitation, who claim that he is being unfairly represented in the West. It is a vicious circle that benefits no one except those whose interests lie in distorting and concealing Romania's more recent past in order to maintain their current positions of political power. [...]

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