Final Report of the International Commission on the - Minority Rights ...

monotony: dailies and most magazines adopted <strong>the</strong> same normative stances and <strong>the</strong> same interpretations
<strong>of</strong> domestic and international politics. The wide diversity <strong>of</strong> opinions that characterized <strong>the</strong> interwar
Romanian press gradually disappeared after 1938 and was replaced by a single opinion: <strong>the</strong> opinion <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
Goga government and <strong>the</strong>n <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Royal Dictatorship and <strong>the</strong> Antonescu dictatorship. The Goga
government closed down democratic dailies such as Adevarul, Dimineata, and Lupta, signaling that press
censorship was <strong>the</strong> new modus operandi. O<strong>the</strong>r radical changes came during <strong>the</strong> Royal Dictatorship. In
June 1940 when <strong>the</strong> king renamed his Front <strong>of</strong> National Rebirth (Frontul Renasterii Nationale) <strong>the</strong> Party
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Nation, which was defined with unconcealed pride as a “a single and totalitarian party,” he also
issued a decree-law that explicitly criminalized “<strong>the</strong> advocacy, by word or in writing, <strong>of</strong> changing <strong>the</strong>
political organization <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> state, as established in <strong>the</strong> bill <strong>of</strong> establishment <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Party <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Nation.”
Nichifor Crainic, an influential intellectual and journalist with extreme-right views and <strong>the</strong> minister <strong>of</strong>
propaganda in 1940, argued that <strong>the</strong> suppression <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> three aforementioned journals by <strong>the</strong> Goga
government was “a splendid act <strong>of</strong> justice” and prided himself on suppressing all Jewish publications,
because “<strong>the</strong> holy right to speak for <strong>the</strong> Romanian nation belongs only to Romanians,” and because “we
Romanians can speak for foreigners in our country because we are <strong>the</strong> masters <strong>of</strong> this land.” Later, in
1942, in a triumphalist evaluation paper <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Antonescu government, Mihai Antonescu wrote a separate
chapter entitled “National Propaganda” in which he took inventory <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> regime’s measures to repress
<strong>the</strong> press: “The program <strong>of</strong> healthy Romanianization <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> press has led to <strong>the</strong> suspension <strong>of</strong> 30
worthless journals, <strong>of</strong> which 12 were dailies and 18 were periodicals, 4 were foreign and 26 Romanian.
We also suppressed 171 journals that sold few copies and were <strong>of</strong> no use. We closed down obscene
publications and stopped waste in <strong>the</strong> printing <strong>of</strong> publications.” At <strong>the</strong> same time, <strong>the</strong> Ministry <strong>of</strong>
Propaganda established its own publications, such as Cuvintul Maresalului Catre Sateni (The Marshal’s
Word to <strong>the</strong> Villagers), Bessarabia, Bukovina, Transnistria Argesul, Pentru Jertfitori (For Those Who
Sacrifice Themselves), Dacia Traiana, and Soldatul, Der Soldat, Il Soldato.
This monolithic political discourse in <strong>the</strong> press was spread not only by <strong>the</strong>se government publications,
but also by government-affiliated, nationally distributed journals with pretensions <strong>of</strong> autonomy, such as
Curentul, Viata, Universul, Gandirea, Convorbiri literare, Vremea (Razboiului), Revista Fundatiilor
Regale. And clearly, <strong>the</strong> extreme-right press, including Porunca Vremii and Sfarma Piatra, relayed <strong>the</strong>
repressive government discourse. The leitmotiv <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> discourse used by <strong>the</strong> entire Romanian press <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
epoch can be syn<strong>the</strong>sized as anti-democratic and pro-totalitarian. In <strong>the</strong> words <strong>of</strong> Pamfil Seicaru, editor
and owner <strong>of</strong> Curentul (The Current), it was <strong>the</strong> dominant belief during those years that “democracy
would be liquidated,” that a diametrically opposite political order, based on fascism and nationalsocialism,
was to replace democracy in a process <strong>of</strong> political transformation that, from a Romanian view
point, was desirable, even imperative. These ideas were inevitably leading to <strong>the</strong> cult <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> European
figures that embodied <strong>the</strong> “new direction” <strong>of</strong> history: Adolph Hitler, Mussolini, Salazar, Ion Antonescu,
and o<strong>the</strong>rs. The Romanian media was full <strong>of</strong> lavish praise for <strong>the</strong>se men and <strong>the</strong>ir points <strong>of</strong> view,
speeches, and writings as well as those <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir deputies, such as Goebbles, Alfred Rosenberg, von
Ribbentrop, Manfred von Killinger, and Count Ciano. The press <strong>of</strong>ten reproduced <strong>the</strong>ir works in <strong>the</strong>ir
entirety or represented <strong>the</strong>m generously and always appreciated <strong>the</strong>m in a superlative way.
From “Judeo-Democracy” to “Judeo-Communism/Judeo-Bolshevism”
At <strong>the</strong> time, one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> frequently used arguments to demonize democracy was that democracy
essentially meant “<strong>the</strong> establishment <strong>of</strong> foreign and Kike rule.” Usually placed in <strong>the</strong> same context as <strong>the</strong>
“Judeo-masonry” and “plutocracy” arguments, democracy appeared to <strong>the</strong>se critics as a wholly Jewish
idea or an idea employed to serve Jewish interests. According to <strong>the</strong> same Nichifor Crainic: “The fact that
until recently <strong>the</strong> demands <strong>of</strong> Romanian nationalism would end tragically was due to international Jewish