21 - The Vienna Award

Summary

After Armand Călinescu was assassinated in September 1939, the king and his acolytes lost their heads, and so they appointed a number of people to the government who, lacking competence and a sense of responsibility, were animated by a single wish: to brownnose the king on the one hand, and to seek Hitler's trust on the other. This servile attitude only increased the king's audacity in doing with our poor country as he pleased. As part of the compact with Molotov, he agree to cede Bessarabia and most of Bukovina, with its capital Cernăuţi (Chernivtsi), which had never been Soviet territory. Ignorant of the secret clauses in this sinister agreement, King Carol's government asked for Germany's help, but the German minister to Bucharest, who knew of the secret agreement, warned that if war broke out, the Soviet Union might occupy Prahova Valley, whose oil the Germans absolutely needed. To get as close as possible to this valley, two months later the Germans imposed the Vienna Award.

“Bless their heads, they moved the border right to the middle of the country,” said a peasant to his companion as we were going by train from Braşov to Teiuş, crossing the new frontier.

Italy's foreign minister Count Ciano insisted that Cluj, the capital of Transylvania, also be ceded, as a reward for the services provided by his cabinet head secretary, Baroness Ovary, of Hungarian origin.

In a speech after meeting with Hitler, Prime Minister Gigurtu had tried to prepare public opinion for the loss of Northern Transylvania, but the new frontiers were a painful surprise even for his foreign minister, M. Manoilescu, who fainted. As he came to his senses, after cold water was sprinkled on his face, he still put his signature on the document, and that evening attended the feast to celebrate the victory of Hitler and Mussolini’s, who were ready to do as they pleased in Europe. Manoilescu was not a man lacking in intelligence, but he lacked the dignity to respond to the drama. However, he did learn that attitude in jail, and he died respected by all around him. Just like Gigurtu, in fact, who didn't once complain of the inhumane conditions in the Communist jails. In the end they proved they were men, but only after seeing the living example set by most of the other brothers in struggle and suffering.