DRUMET IN CALEA LUPILOR

Pilgrim in the path of the wolves -Hello? Hello? Hello, who is it? -It’s no one, dear. No one. -We have been hearing for a while now, that Bucharest should place itself in the realm of reality, by drawing inspiration from the ideas of our age. Otherwise, history would soon fall with all its weight on Romania. Count Csaki, the Foreign Minister of Mr. Horthy, claims that in such a way the relationship with us would ….”cleanse” itself. Let's speak our mind, leaving behind the ostrich-like policy. Here it is what a historian replies to this triple summoning: the reality regarding Transilvania is the great Romanian majority in the mountainous lands; ones that Romania owns, by paying for them with the lives of 800.000 people! The ideas of our age, for witty people, are each nation’s right to live in the land that they’ve been working for centuries. As for how heavily history befalls upon nations is showed by the entire process of irreversible destruction of supranationalist Hungary, which became a national state, with whom, just as with the Hungarians from our lands, we wish to live in perfect kindness! Regardless of how much people who forget their responsibilities might play around with words. What frightens people today, more than even the most flawless weapon of mass destruction, is the great corruption of ideas. Of the most archaic, valuable and sacred ideas of humanity. Generations in a row sacrificed themselves for the national identity, whose formula remained the very same for centuries: To set free in order to educate and rise above. The good, archaic beliefs of humanity, however, have been corrupted by individuals lacking any sort of spirit and moral restraint, who try to deceive millions of people, by throwing ideological nonsense in their face! Comrade Boeru: Two in eight, two in nine, one in ten. Comrade Tucan: One in eight, three in nine, one in ten. Comrade Dacu: One in eight, one in nine, two in ten, One out. Comrade Vioreanu: One in eight, one in nine, three in ten. Very well. Comrade Iacobuță: Two in seven, one in nine, Two out. Your hand is quite shaky, comrade Ștefan. Let's see whose hand would shake if we were to have the right target instead of this one. And look how a German philosopher pertaining to an economic policy that has long deviated from its path, lectures us about the requirements of geo-politics. This insulting theory, just as the racial matter, makes its way dangerously through politics and war. No one can refute a nation’s right to have its own state, to dominate it freely and independently, while growing inside its natural boundaries. Nonetheless, it has been put forward once again, by those that want to justify the march of their predatory armies that never belonged to them, the geo-political theory out of which the hegemonic ethos of the vital space emerged. The sacred formula is simple: you are a small nation, of inferior agriculture, you obey a big vehicle-manufacturer state, but one which, what can you do, is hungry. And as the state cannot appease its hunger at home, from that moment on, you are part of its vital space. From where you are no longer allowed to escape. Any sales convention of your agricultural products, just like the creation of new industries, will be utterly forbidden. You will receive at once a strict control over production. - But, this, professor, is pure political annexation. Exactly. For someone to obey such a doctrine is to validate any type of forceful action that could unleash upon us as well. These theories have never been and cannot be praised in this country, whose traditions and interests are completely against them. And we shall never praise those that dare preach or represent these theories. - One moment, Professor! Just one remark- you are forgetting an essential aspect: why do you not mention anything about Haushofer’s geo-politics, which we know has radicalized the ideas of Friederich Gratzel, by asserting as clear as possible: “Territory is not only the vehicle of power, it is power itself.” -Mr….student -Vioreanu! -Yes. Mihai Vioreanu. 3rd Year, 2nd Group. Setting aside the audacity of your interference, I shall remind you something that we have debated together more than once, both in our lectures and seminars. To believe that someone can revive the old imperials is an illusion. In whatever form it might have had once upon a time. Much less will it last in its new cover of imperialism of a superior nation, as its followers, fanatic disciples of a Haushofer, Gratzel, or Mackinder travel today all Europe in tiny steps, treading under their boots and under the rattling tracks of their tanks on both nations and territories! - For Germany, the vital space represents today more than a doctrine! Lebensraum has become a binding word, in the name of which a nation of a superior race, defeated and humiliated in the last war, has now plunged into life again. -To life through death, dear student? Our colleague forgot, professor, that this radicalist of vital spaces, Karl Haushofer, was a Brigade General, during the ‘914 war. And as a historian, he did nothing more than the political solipsism of aggression and of territorial annexations, mixing in a rather dubious manner geography with racial mysticism. We understood and we adhered without reserve to this one-of-a-kind way of understanding and interpreting history. Be aware, gentlemen, that by “we” you are exclusively engaging yourselves, and certainly not the Romanian nation. - Please don’t tell us it's you who’s engaging it! - As if you are the apostle of the people! - Shame on you! Get out! -I have asked you a thousand times, Delia, stop meddling! -I begged you! Do you not understand you are playing with fire? What came onto you to make a scene during a public discussion? Make me understand. Do you not realize you are compromising my prestige? You put me in a situation highly…towards… -Towards who, Mihai? -Towards a bunch of bullies? -Delia! -At odds with the most elementary norms of education and respect. - Please be careful with your words. They are legionnaires, they are comrades! - They are hooligans! -Delia! -Whose only pleasure was to mock an entire amphitheatre! - I don’t understand! -And since when have you become their spokesperson? -That’s none of your business! - How could you not be ashamed to interrupt Professor Iorga with all sort of nonsense, in front of hundreds of people? -In the meantime, I see that you’ve started making a united front with one like Trandafirescu! And others of his sort! Whose communist views are well known by the entire faculty! -Mihai, don’t be a fool. Forgive me. You know what Professor Iorga once said: that “Fool is not the one that misunderstands certain things, but the one that understands everything backwards.” I didn’t make a united front with anyone, but my own common sense. Anyone in good faith needs nothing more to understand just how absurd the theories with which Her Hitler justifies burning down all of Europe really are. And elates the souls of millions of youngsters. To whom he put on their chests the swastika instead of their registered school number. That is what the professor was talking about. I hope you won’t ask me to make a united front with your comrades. -You can make a united front with whomever you want! But bear in mind one single thing: the legionnaire vengeance shall spare no one. The legionnaire punishment is… a religion! A sacred ideal! Order must be made! A new order! -So you are threatening me…Mihai. -This one for the first, Mr. Panait. One second, please. “The easiest thing nowadays is to destroy a state.” Write it down, please. “An entire European generation, intellectuals and illiterate, good and bad collapse together, burning in the withering flames of the most flawless killing machines. Demonic, apocalyptic beings jubilate while beneath the dark clouds of war fall, one at a time, state after state and nations are being enslaved. -Professor! The work of myriads of workers is being sunk in the depths. Entire cities are turned to ashes. For the moment, triumphant shall be the one who will occupy the most territories, the one that will destroy more works of civilization and who will kill more people. -Professor! -And after the totalitarian, utter and universal victory, what happens? -The Germans have occupied Paris. -Impossible. Paris was declared an open city. -Those who will not stay away, will be pushed aside! Without mercy! The Legion is the only party in this moment, that set the goal of breaking history into two, by making its own way towards governing! With the sword in hand! With its spiritual ardor, taken all the way up to self sacrifice, it will eventually light up the flame of a terrible vengeance! Especially in the conscience of the youth! No one, among those who have refuted the ideal or those who have stood in the way of the legionnaire victory, no one shall remain unpunished. -You are lying to yourselves, Mihai! This conscience that you mention, is not like modelling clay, for just anyone to shape and colour it according to the form and colour of the moment. You are not talking to an ignorant, you know! I do also know the metaphysical and theological theories of the Romanian destiny, thrown away by Mr. Nae Ionescu, the mentor and Demiurge of The Captain, if I am not mistaken. I have also read those booklets for legionnaires and their chiefs. You gave them to me. -I gave them to you in vain. You understood nothing. -Think what you want. What I do not understand is how come you view your ideal as being the solely valid and possible. In the name of which you arrange the future of an entire nation! I do not believe that someone can convince a nation of its good intentions with the sword in his hand. -Delia! -Imitating the mystic heroism of Michael The Archangel. -Look, Delia! There are a few things that I cannot explain for the moment . I cannot. I am not allowed. You shall understand perhaps one day. Just keep your opinions to yourself. You know only too well that Professor Iorga is one of the most feared enemies of the Legion. Look, I’m not asking you to fully agree with me, but once again: if you do not calm down, you are putting my life at risk. -Take these photos and dry them up. Take them to Professor Iorga, at the typography. At the “Neamul Românesc”. Go on, move, they have to get there urgently, before the printing of the newspaper. -So, Mr. Ordăneanu, the virtuous Horia Sima, who barely returned from Germany a month ago, is honoring His Majesty with his presence for the second time. Hmm… Radio Stuttgart lost its Romanian newscaster, and in turn, we are stuck with a new dignitary. Precisely, Professor. His Majesty practically opened up his way to the Government. Since a few hours ago, the new Undersecretary of State for National Education is one and the same as the leader of the Legionnaire Movement. The Trojan Horse of the German comrades is in the fortress. I don’t understand anything anymore. -The donkey ears of this Trojan Horse have been noticeable for quite a while now. - Let us be careful, professor, let us be careful. These legionnaires are vengeful. Let’s absurdly assume they could take the power. Can you imagine? -That is exactly what they are dreaming to do, take the power with foreign help. Similar cases have been seen in history. They struggle to bewilder people with the ancestor glory and with a country like the holy sun on the sky, but they work in the shadows, for interests that are unfavorable for the nation. I know them all too well. -Be careful, Professor. You have confronted them in numerous occasions and have remained for them one of their most feared enemy. You have to be careful. For me, Mr. Ordăreanu, it has been pouring down with threat letters for a long time. Codreanu’s people have been going behind my back for years. They even prepared about two death sentences for me until now. -Professor, let’s not forget, that ever since Homer, vengeance is sweeter than the honey of the Gods. -Mr. Iorga, I invited you, under the pressure of this serious, even crucial moment we are all living. We would like to use the great popularity that you have throughout the country and which even a crowned head envies. It is only right to calm spirits down. -Your Majesty, whatever influence I might have fades away when I end up being a colleague, that is through Your Majesty’s will, with an outlaw. It would mean betraying myself. -I am not asking, Mr. Iorga, to deny everything you have believed in and fought for, both in writing and as an unrivaled orator, for a lifetime. Nonetheless, I want to try a reconciliation with the Iron Guard that we began ever since the end of May, by accepting Sima’s visit. I have to eliminate this animosity between the Royal Court and the legionnaires, in order to get rid of the endless threat of Germany. I want to use them like antibodies, with which to block the action of microbes. -Antibodies have a positive role in the system, Your Majesty, whereas The Iron Guard has always had a negative role in the social organism, bringing about anarchy, political assassinate...even military takeover. -That is right. -Your aversion to the Guard is very well known to us, Mr. Iorga. However I still believe that we can ask, even claim of you, to support our try, maybe desperate as a solution, to overthrow the traditional alliances. The only one for us at this moment. -The alliances of traditional parties were overthrown practically by themselves, Majesty. I do not think that through a reconciliation with the legionnaires, with people of crime and who do not respect the public order of the state, Your Highness will be able to bring about a change in the desired direction. Barely have the signatures we forcibly laid on the Oelvafum Pact dried out. Germany would like our petrol, cereals, and timber, for practically nothing and we are supposed to enter into a new treaty? With the legionnaires? You mean with the devil. -Yes. I admit and I sadly accept, Professor that you are the anvil on which many arguments wear off. -I can have nothing in common with the legionnaires, who work through nothing but crime and terror since they appeared, making their way to power under the protection of a foreign flag, one stained with blood. That is why even their hatred or their appreciation are indifferent to me. -Perhaps you are scared, Mr. Iorga. -Your Majesty, I am scared of being scared. -And I am scared of not having courage. I decided though a modus vivendi with the Guard. I know what you will say, along with all those that have even planned my own death, under a foreign order. But history is written with edge of the sword, even when you thrust it in the sheath. And after all, one who cannot have vultures needs to settle with sparrows, too. -Nowise, Your Majesty! History is not written with only blood or sword, still in the sheath. It would be too simple. History teaches us that the greater guilt belongs to the one who did not deter, then to the one who acted. That is history, Your Majesty. Each and every one remains the prisoner of his own destiny. -Special edition! King Carol's abdication! Event of the day! The King's abdication! -Good afternoon, pop Tomiță! What are the news? -Nothing new, miss Alina. Mr. Professor used to receive newspapers and letters from all the countries. But now…not so much. Here! -Is this all? -I'm sorry. This is all. Take a look at that, it has no sender. As if it’s from no one. I think the professor received something like this last week as well. -How many times has it been, lately? -“Mr. Iorga, in its path and even further on towards the sacred legionnaire goal… …The Iron Guard is not deterred by anyone, no one and nothing. We have always considered your actions against the legion as being against the country. For all that you have done, written and uttered against us, we consider you a traitor. We advise you to keep quiet and wherever you are to hide away. Otherwise, the death team number…” -I think we should let the general know. Or at least respond in some way. - I do not owe any explanations to some troubled, frenetic or bewitched people, whose logic is at the level of spelling. -The victory of The Iron Guard arrived to Romania! The victory of imperialist agents against the Romanian people arrived! The regime of the military-guard dictatorship, one brought at calls from Berlin, is putting the Romanian people under the yoke of Hitler. The exploitation of workers and peasants is becoming harsher. Wages have not increased at all, compared to the constantly rising prices, the lack of food is felt more and more due to the export of all our products to Hitler’s Germany. Land was not and will not be given to peasants. After countless mendacious denials, the military-guard dictatorship is today insolently and boldly admitting the presence of German troops and Hitler’s officers in Romania. Here's the national freedom promised by the nationalists of The Iron Guard. -You would not say, Mr. Colonel, that the French don’t have good things as well. When cognac, perfumes and cheese are concerned, few people venture to compete with them. Speaking of which, have you ever been to France? -Yes, in my youth. As a student at the Polytechnic University. But I left Paris with a rather bitter taste. It is bizarre how in such a beautiful city, the people have so little respect for discipline. As if all the splendors gathered there would have came out of chaos, and not rigor and systematic spirit. -Let’s hope that now, the French… will come to a real understanding of these precepts of civilization. Surely the Fuhrer will convincingly set upon France as well, this spirit of new order with which he ventured to reel the whole Europe. -Unfortunately, Mr. Sima, we worriedly notice that this very spirit is not welcomed at all here, in Romania. -Berlin is quite alarmed, particularly by the fact that the population is showing an outright anti-German attitude. There appear all kinds of defamatory and slanderous rags, especially in the working factories. And the sabotages have started to come in a row. -As far as we, the Legion, are concerned, I assure you, Mr. Colonel, that we are doing everything in our power to direct the country towards a common path. Formerly, it was said that if Paris had a runny nose, then Bucharest would sneeze. Today, if Bucharest has a migraine, then neither Berlin can sleep. Our Legionnaire Police has received unlimited power, regarding any type of manifestations hostile towards the Reich. But once we shall have all the power in our hands, you will be able to assure Berlin that with regards to Romania, it can rest at ease. -You can hasten the process. We know that you have a lot of enemies, some still very powerful. We have managed to gather a great deal of them. At Jilava. We’re not actually keeping our hands in our pockets, Mr. Colonel. Our patience has a limit. Do you know the poem “Confessions” by Heine? Heine...He was an unhappy poet, quite interesting. Shame he was a Jew. Well, Mr. Colonel, please pass on the message to Berlin that we, here, we shall be more than the sea water from the poem of this poor poet. We'll erase not only the writing on the beach sand, but also the thought that dictated it. We will quite soon adopt a final solution, as the Fuhrer would say. -The final solution? The total solution, Mr. Sima, if you wish to correctly cite the Fuhrer. It was the only solution by which he managed to admirably solve, at the right time, the R case, and not just that one. -Good morning, pop Tomiță! -Good morning! -What good news do you have? -Good? Just newspapers, Miss Alina. Newspapers. -By roughly commenting the visit of General Antonescu in Berlin, the German press is outlining among others: “ The Romanian leader’s visit had both a political and spiritual aspect to it.” Romania’s framing into the Axis system is a great success for Germany and Italy. The ties between Nationalist Germany and Legionnaire Romania shall never be broken. -This is Radio Romania. Ladies and gentlemen, we are now airing choruses of Wagner’s work. -Mihai, turn off the radio! -Mihai, please! -Mihai, I have to study. You have been listening since this morning only choruses and the same news bulletin. -Remember Tănase’s old saying, Catinco. Did we sell the petrol? Yes, we did. Did we sell the wheat? Yes, we did. Now look, they sold the entire country to the Axis. -And? And what have we accomplished with that? -Whoever said that Jupiter first takes away the minds of those he wants to get rid of, was right. -Comrade Caranica! -Here! -Comrade Terimace! -Here! -Comrade Sterie Ciumeti! -Here! -Comrade Bozântan! -Here! -Comrade State! -Here! -Comrade Moța! -Here! -Comrade Marin! -Here! -Comrade Codreanu! -Here! -Attention! -Comrades, after the brilliant victory of September 6, the legionnaire movement took a decisive step in the path of The Captain. Never was the legion stronger, never did it walk more boldly in its unbridled march towards total victory. Towards the fulfillment of its supreme ideal, to which The Captain died dreaming about. Today, ours souls demand vengeance. Any indulgency, any weakness, any hesitation towards those still working and plotting against our sacred cause, means betraying the movement. The engagement with death frightens us not, because the sacrifice of each legionnaire entails the total victory of our movement. The dead, they look upon us and they judge. The Nicadors, The Decemvirs! Their blood sacrifice demands sacrifice. The Captain said: “The Legionnaire Movement is a school of the ceaseless fight against those that are restlessly trying to compromise its existence. A school in which if one enters a man, he has to come out a legionnaire hero! “ -Comrades, we can no longer wait for justice to be made by a... drained system. A blind one! Drowned in the formalism of paragraphs. This is unacceptable! We need to clean up the mess. Wound to wound, pain to pain, torment to torment, grave to grave. That is how we have conquered so far. That is how we shall win. “Our patience will one day come to an end!” said the Captain. Let it end, we say! The day has come!!! I have ordered the drawing up of a list of all those guilty of conspiracy, persecution and crimes, against The Legion. You shall receive precise duties to carry out. From the darkness of the graves of so many martyrs of The Legion, taken down by those who have also killed The Captain. Let us unbury the sacred law of vengeance. -Yes, please! - Please pass me on to the chief. Urgently, miss, urgently! -But who’s looking for him? Hello? -Hello? -The Student. The Student, that’s all. -Wait. -Mr. Colonel, the urgency of the matter led me to ask for this meeting. The start of several simultaneous actions can occur at any moment now. -Yes, I have long known that Sima and his folks will not stop until they have total power in their hands. They have been drawing up black lists for months, threatening and arresting people. They have even managed to obtain the alteration of prisons’ regulations, only to have all their enemies in one place. At Jilava, go figure! A prison guarded by only the army. -For me, Colonel, Jilava seems more like a slaughter-house. Most of the prisoners are there without any legal procedures of arrest. Even more, in spite of all the law suits that the legionnaires claim they want to speed up, lawyers and even relatives of those imprisoned are prevented from having contact with the latter. Or they obtain them following several absurd interventions and overrides. When you look for the Prefect Zăvuianu, he is at Jilava. Simply encouraging this situation. -I know, Mihai, I know that all too well. The guilt or innocence of each one for the death of The Captain and of others, as well as for the legionnaire persecution under King Carol II, shall be established. With evidence, witnesses. There is also a commission of investigation. -Do you imagine that The Legion will declare itself satisfied with the conclusions offered by the commission? Let’s be serious. Pardon me. But while now, his former Majesty, King Carol II, has beat it out of the country with a train coach filled with all you can imagine, and is now walking miss Lupescu through Europe, the number of death teams has risen to 91. And General Antonescu believes that these 91 formations, of legionnaire elite, standards of hunger for vengeance, will wait or be satisfied with the conclusions of this commission? One that is in their way anyhow ever since it was created? It is a pity that the leader of the Legion in the Govern and the General are both in the same shirt, quite difficult… The only solution would be flagrant crime. -Precisely so that no one can prevent their plan. All the death teams have been alerted. This flagrant crime you are talking about could mean tens of human lives. A death pool at a national scale. -What’s up with them, Mr. Cutinel? What could they be doing there at this hour? -The hell I know, Dimitri. They’ve been digging ever since this morning. -They want to unbury those bones, that the captain talked about. And of the others buried with him. When I started my shift, they had reached a big concrete board. I heard that after they find the bones, they want to carry them on the streets of Bucharest. With masked horses, and then they wanna burry them again, at their green house. -But, what captain was’ e? That they buried him all the way here next to the jail? Cuz there was talk around us, but I didn’t know that he was military. -That’s what they called him, because he was in charge, not because he was an important figure. The Germans called Hitler “Fuhrer”, the Italians called Mussolini “The Duke”, the legionnaires called Codreanu “The Captain”. Had things been different, he would've long destroyed the entire machinery of the country. In the meantime, I see that they still got where they wanted to. If even General Antonescu put on their shirt, what more do you want… Each one dresses to his own liking, Pavel boy. Why didn’t we wear it? Or Dumitru? Or others? -Hello? Hello? -Yes… -Comrade Vioreanu. -Yes... -Comrade Vioreanu. -Comrade Vioreanu… -Be ready in five minutes! We’re leaving on mission. Civilian attire. -Hello? Hello?! -Mihai, who is it? -Good morning, Tomiță! What’s the matter, something wrong? -Good morning, professor. Although to be honest, it ain’t good at all. -Oh my. How come? Wait, wait, take a seat. Here are the stamps for your boy. I promised that I’ll collect more for him. There are even two from Australia. A couple from Argentina, a few from America, the rest, there’s all of Europe in the envelope. -Mr. Professor… -I hope the lad is alright. As far as I know, he’s home, no longer in the hospital. Thank you, he is alright. This isn't about him. I wanted to tell you something else. A few hours ago, when the sun had barely rose, I woke up home with one of my brothers in law. He’s my sister’s man, who works at the constable post in Azuga. Mr. Professor, the situation in Bucharest is terrible. He quickly came to tell us to be careful what we say and to whom we talk to. Last night in Jilava the legionnaires really blundered. All the constable posts in the country have been alerted. He says they shot some in other parts, too, but their number is uncertain. They are set on doing the worse, Mr. Professor. That’s why I came now to tell you. So that you know. -So, a night of the long knives, perfectly planned after the example of the Berlin comrades. So many people… -Father… -An entire nation at the mercy of some maniacs of crime. -Father, we all ask of you! You have to do something! To leave. At least for a while. As mother and so many others say. Until things calm down. Because this cannot possibly last. -It would mean running away. Deserting. -Please, forgive me. But you are no longer writing at the newspapers, nor talking on the radio, or speaking to students. Don’t mind my saying, but when you look from outside at your window, the curtain waves like a white flag. As if you’ve surrendered. -Are we going to the mountains? -Yes. -Weren’t we supposed to get back? -We’re going to Sinaia. To take a breath of fresh air. I’ve been waiting for this trip for so long…. -Excuse me? Who are you? -Good day, Madam. Please apologize coming in like this, but the door was open. -Yes. I think my daughter left it like this. She is out for a walk. What is it that you want? -We are the legionnaire police, Madam. We are sorry, but…we are forced to disturb professor Iorga. -He cannot receive you. He is ill. -Ill? But he has to see us. We are here to invite him to Bucharest in order to make a statement. in a very important investigation. -Father, what’s the matter? Where are you going? -These gentlemen here are taking me to Bucharest for a statement. -What statement? -An important one. I will be back tonight. -Probably. If we hurry up. -Why can’t he make the statement here? Since you already bothered to come here. -It is not just a mere statement, miss. It is also a questioning regarding The Captain’s trial. The professor’s presence is mandatory. -You are taking my father to Bucharest for the investigation? Father, how can you allow this? -Alina, please. -This way, professor. We are leaving. -Thank you. I usually travel in the front seat. -One moment! I forgot my hat, I will be right back. I’ll accompany you, miss. I’ll be right back. -Go see what they want! -Sir, how dare you treat my daughter like this? -Madam, please forgive me, but this is neither the time, nor the place for me to explain too much. As soon as we leave, do not waste a second, call Bucharest and ask for the President of The Counsel of Ministers. -What?! -The chamber of the Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs, colonel Rioșeanu. Remember Madam, Rioșeanu. Tell him everything that happened here and all you’ve been told. Don’t forget to say the exact time we left for Bucharest. -What’s all this, Mr. Zăvoianu? I’ve been reported that since this morning people grouped in legionnaire teams have been haunting the capital, going crazy. Trespassing homes, arresting former dignitaries, all this in the name of the police. Whose prefect, if I’m not mistaken, you have the great honor of being. I have been told that professor Madgearu was found shot to death in the woods of Snagov. -I know nothing about it, Mr. Colonel. -How not?! Just now I found out that professor Iorga was too taken from his home in Sinaia. -Mr. Undersecretary of State… -Mr. Zăvoianu, if this scandal does not end, I will, right now, walk in on the General in full Government meeting and take the guard regiment out into the streets. -Get moving, Sir! -Here’s Ploiești! We are unable to find Mr. Horia Sima. No one knows anything about him. Wherever we called: they have no idea. What are your orders? -Keep searching, what do you mean what are my orders? We must reach him. -Hello? Stănescu. -Yes, Mr. Undersecretary. -Double all posts in the county at once. Pay attention to the areas of Sinaia, Brașov, Câmpina, Ploiești. -I’ve been told from Sinaia that professor Iorga was taken from his home. Dispatch all the active teams that you have on route. -Comrade Victor, take with you Tomescu and comrade Dacu and go down to the city hall. Remain there and standby. Keep yourselves busy so that you don’t appear to be fiddling around. Rioșeanu is no man to stand idly by. I am sure that he already alerted his “pack of wolves.” But any team, any patrol first stops at the city hall. -Understood. -As soon as they arrive, send comrade Boeru over. -Iacobuță, tell him to put the car in the garage next to mine. And to keep an eye in the area. -Tomescu, take care of my driver. -He’s in the kitchen, helping my wife. -If anyone shows up, you let us know immediately. -Understood. -In any case, you get rid of whomever. -Got it. -Do it. -Nastisio, we have things to do. I am going to the city hall. You listen well on the other side. Maybe they need something. If you have to, send the little one to get me. Careful, it’s not every day that the chief of the legion crosses our doorstep. -Had we known before. And where do you want me to send the little one? Can’t you see the state he’s in? -Stay in the car, Mr. Iorga. -He asked nothing. He didn’t fight back. He didn’t utter a single word all the way. To be honest, comrade Horia, even in the situation he is in, and of which he is well aware, because he is no ignorant, this man continues to defy us. To ignore us. I would have stopped the car at the first corner in the woods and unloaded my gun in his neck. -Simple, comrade Boeru. Simple as that. Too simple. -In this way, his elimination would’ve been far from revenge, but a sort of…reward. For how many years has Mr. Iorga been tormenting us? Who fought against us, who humiliated us? Who decapitated our Legion, by denouncing Codreanu to the Court? Professor Iorga ! He couldn’t rest until, together with others, he turned Carol against us too! But he will be able to rest. Soon, he will. But not now! He needs to account for his actions in front of the entire Legion. Proofs? We have enough of them. He needs to be humiliated. Brought down to his knees. Morally torn apart. For everyone to know. The rest… -I say his place was still in Jilava. -Perhaps. But his arrest would have stirred things up much more than the others’s did all together. There could have even been the risk of losing control of all. We have decided to interrupt for a while your trip to Bucharest. For safety reasons. We cannot risk anything happening to you. I was informed that all kinds of cars have started running on the streets. With unknown individuals. Also, all sort of patrols. And you know how it is, you never know when some untrained soldier unexpectedly pulls out his gun. Without warning. That was the way they said things happened with the Captain as well, wasn’t it? No? Well, we do not want any remorse. -Interesting. Your care for me is touching. -However Voltaire used to say that people never feel remorse for things that are in their nature to do. To be honest, I prefer a German proverb: "Wegen der Spatzen, muss mann dies at, nicht aufgeben." The French have it too: “One needs not give up on sowing the field, because of sparrows.” -What were you working on, Mr. Iorga, when we had to interrupt you? -I was working. I was correcting the galley proofs of a book. A universal history I began a while back. -And at which point have you got with history? - History always gets to where it is supposed to all by itself, Sir. As for me, I have arrived to the point of Persians. At Darius and his vast military campaigns. Military expeditions, which are, at any rate, much less atrocious than the ones happening today. -From a moral point of view, throughout history, monstrosity is absolutely interpretable. It depends on who and what it refers to, the one that is referring. You cannot necessarily qualify a military expedition as an….atrocious historical act, without considering the causes. And the nature of the final goal. -A military expedition through which frontiers are breached, territories are annexed and nations are enslaved, can’t possibly have anything interpretable, Sir. The cause and the final goal can only be as monstrous as the act of aggression itself. And in history two things are important: to understand it as development, and to judge, love or spiritually condemn those that have really played a part in history, to treat them as living human beings. -If I understand correctly, you actually consider yourself, a living historical figure. -That’s not for me to decide. The supreme authority will. Posterity. -Was that what you were thinking when The Captain was killed? -In order to live the life one was given, one has to deserve it. At every moment! Through one’s actions! By betraying his people, Codreanu betrayed his own life. And he paid the price! -Perfect! Except that now, the day for others to pay as well has come. The due date. -Wait! Wait! Wait! What is intriguing about you, and always has been, Mr. Iorga, is the rigidness of your reasoning. Of your judgement. -I don’t understand! I don’t understand how in your case, intransigence and intelligence go together. Let’s assume that for you history holds no more secrets. That it’s like an open book. Admitting thus, that you can predict, as in a chess game even the subsequent moves… How come you are here now… HERE, in this situation? -He couldn’t understand the present, let alone foresee the future. -A man who has dedicated his entire life to history, cannot understand its mechanism? Or at least can’t decipher its current meaning? -You are a victim of history, Mr. Iorga. -Do you follow? -I am no soothsayer, Sir. I am not Mafalda, the fortune teller. I am a laborer of history. And besides, after the furious madmen and the maniacs of brutality showed up as heads of states, no one can anticipate anything anymore. -However, you could’ve anticipated your sentence. You cannot complain that we haven’t warned you. Every time you gave us the chance, we wrote to you. Unfortunately, too much wasted ink. So here we are, finally, at the end of a road, so very lengthy. -The long road begins at the point where you have grown tired, Dear Sir. When each can only rely on only what he himself has, one on strength, another on spirit, and the spirit is eternal. Whereas strength is ephemeral. Or sometimes, it depends on an ounce of luck, but even this luck... can only hold for so long. Because the spirit numbed or paralyzed by the force of a nation, can wake up to life when you least expect it. In the meantime, Mr. Iorga, after he provoked the public opinion for so long, the Government and even the Royal Court with a raging hatred against the Legion, throwing at us epithets like assassins, traitors, filthy shirts, spies sold to The Third Reich, animals, illiterates, illiterates! etc. etc. In the meantime, your luck has pretty much come to an end. You shouldn’t have forgotten that one day, the series of punishments will arrive. And the list has not yet been finished. The Captain said it clearly in the chamber. Viorel, you were Prime-Minister in the Government, what did The Captain say? -The Captain said: “Victory will happen the following day after the earth shall be soaked in blood. “ The earth does not need blood, Sir. It needs water. Light. Warmth. Good seed and work. Threats tell me nothing. That’s why they do not deserve a reply. I didn’t address any word to Codreanu in the Chamber either, when he would launch his threats, his insinuations and fulminations. I once replied however, by inviting his reconciliation messengers out of the room. I cannot have anything in common with the man who declared that just 48 hours after the legionnaire victory, Romania will have an alliance with Hitler’s Berlin and Mussolini’s Rome. -The deadline was not respected! Because there were some trying to stand in our way, but The Captain’s promise was kept. Three days ago, Romania joined the Tripartite Pact. We are officialy part of the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis. -Romania signed nothing, Mr. Sima! Those that signed were those that manipulate a simple truth. They did it in their name, not that of the country. That is why they will wear on their foreheads the sign of Cane, and if Mr. Hitler imagines that in this way he will end up giving orders here too, how…. definitive that will be, remains to be seen. -Your aversion towards the chancellor falls under the primitivism of a conscience and judgement. A sign of a...patriarchal vision, so to say, to remain within the limits of... Of euphemisms. -Professor, the Fuhrer is changing the face of Europe! And soon, he will change the destiny of the entire world. That is the truth! -That is the reality! -The truth is completely different, Mr.... I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name. -Tucan! Ion Tucan! -The truth is that the cold water, which only hurts the ill teeth, because of the Fuhrer’s whims, this man without a past and without a future, your idol, praised in military hyms and odes, because of him we were forced to give up part of Ardeal, only so that Berlin can be closer to the petrol in Valea Prahovei. Nonsense! Mr. Iorga, nonsense! Among the labyrinth of your own opinions. Today, when France, Holland, Belgium, Norway and Luxembourg, have already been brought to their knees, when the invincible army of the Fuhrer shudders the entire British Empire under the bombs of the Luftwaffe , we should make all of you who hurt us build a highway! From Bucharest to Berlin! In the end, this is neither about me, nor you. But about the destiny of this country. Small one, Sir, which today can only take advantage of the collaboration and the appreciation of a big and victorious country! -Being swallowed up in its vital space, as General Haushofer would say. -Isn’t that so, Mr. Student? This collaboration that you tried to shove down the nation’s throat, has made it possible for us to be stolen in the most impartial diplomatic forms, allegedly through The Vienna Dictate, 43.492 km2 of land and over two million and a half of Romanians, who are now left with their own virtue: the faith of being reunited. Do you think that this historical absurdity shall last? -Drop it, Mr. Iorga! You have offered us enough lessons! Ever since we’ve known you, you’ve been going on and on with “this can happen, this can’t”, “this will last, this will not”, we are tired of you keep teaching us the basics! Today it is us ruling the country, and our will is the country’s will. -That’s what you say, even sadder is that you actually believe it. A country is made up of the people within it, whose will has to be found and respected, if you have the courage to find it out and to respect it. -Enough, Mr. Iorga! Enough! You have schooled the nation’s destiny for too long! Frontier changes do not frighten us! The fact that today we are enjoying the Fuhrer’s sympathy and appreciation, means more than the entire historic past for which you’ve worked until now. Uselessly! -In the name of who, do you, Sir, claim that Romania must become a German colony? That this nation needs to end up the slave of some savages, worse than the savage? -Oh please, it's not like you're the only one preoccupied by the interests of this nation! History will prove, to say it in your prophetic language, who served its interests better! Serving the nation’s interests has nothing of what in the dialect of cowardice is called “the instinct of self preservation”. History always mocks those that do not know it. By repeating itself. As it mocks those who use it...for their own liking, trying to twist its meanings, all for petty, momentary interests. -Like it or not, you will have to accept your faith! -Accepting fate is no liberation, but on the contrary, a shackle, a betrayal! -You are obsessed by the idea of betrayal! Actually, your problem is with the German people. Of course, a complex generated by your exaggerated admiration for the French, who are today subdued by the superiority of the Third Reich! -I read your...articles. This complex clearly manifested itself in the last 6-7 months, the Fuhrer’s victory against France became an undeniable historic act ever since June! But you still continued to publish in your gazette, next to accusations brought to the military actions of the German soldier, also photographs of Paris with the French flag. I am surprised you didn’t ask us all to go out into the street on the 14th July and sing the Marseillaise. -I have nothing against the Germans, Sir. You are repeating an accusation that has been made before by count Klipphausen. Yes, in the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, qualifying me as an „ardent French patriot“. Just like you, what the honorable count was knowingly omitting was that I studied in both Berlin and Leipzig. That I was Lamprecht’s favorite student, that I wrote two volumes of the History of The Otoman Empire in German, that I collaborated on Helmholtz’s Universal History and even on The History for the German Army and Fleet. Not the ones from today. Likewise, on the Great German Encyclopedia. And another detail: I had my PhD in philosophy at Leipzig. What could I then possibly have against the German people? Against Bach? Beethoven. Goethe. Then, Mr. Iorga, I don’t see why you are not beside the German now as well. Anyhow, you do not even want to stand beside us, although we have nothing against the ancient German culture either. In whose language you could write other books too. -You are talking of the German culture, which is now burning on stakes in public squares. That is what you will eventually do with the Romanian culture too. -Any revolution means a work of purification, Mr. Iorga! We don’t have to tell you that much! Our revolution, however, will mean… -Extermination, Sir. Extermination. I look at you, gentlemen, and I wonder where you showed up from, what seed foreign to this land could give you a face, a pulse and word. This nation has never had… -Enough! Enough! We believe in the Fuhrer’s plans so deeply, plans that will change the order of the world at the core, that as The Captain said, the entire nation can crumble along with the Axis, if God forbids, its defeat would occur. -Such words are a blasphemy! No one is allowed to utter them no matter one’s faith or political beliefs. -I see that for you, reality continues to remain a great unknown. That is why you are probably so fiercely obstinate to remain an enemy of ours. And of the current historic moment. No wonder that the present reality excluded you from all positions, from the university, from the newspaper, from everywhere. -You’ve tangled too much into everything, Sir. In politics, in culture, in history and in education. In our existence, what remains is…the memory of your stanza. -We have tried in vain to offer you the freedom of admitting by yourself the justness of our cause. -We naively thought that we could reach a compromise with you, at least now. It is time you leave our poor country alone. So that we can give you your right to rest too. And the right to a long, long penance. -A military vehicle with three soldiers and a deputy showed up. I sent them away for now. -Comrade Ionescu stayed at the city hall. Who knows, they might come back. -We will leave in turns. -One moment, comrades! From this moment on I am executing the orders of my direct superior, colonel Rioșeanu. -Agent, you are standing in front of the Commandant of the Legion. Superior as dignitary to your boss in the state’s hierarchy. I warn you to drop your weapon now and surrender to the comrades. I shall appeal your recklesness to the Regional Court. -After his wife takes care of him, tell Tomescu to go back to the city hall. To give a call to Bucharest immediately and tell the boys to pay a visit to that bastard of a cop, Rioșeanu. Tell them to check. And clean up the mess. You leave at about mid-night. And what if Rioșeanu’s greyhounds don’t calm down? Hell, we might even run straight into him and he could take the professor before we get to Bucharest. -Simple. You’ve got carte blanche, comrade Boeru. Pull up the car and... -Forensic report: According to the dispositions given by the public prosecutor of the Ilfov Court of Justice. I have established the following: the victim’s death was violent, the body presents three orofacial wounds of 7 mm, provoked by a firearm. In the right pectoral region, above the teat, an orifice provoked by firearm, at the level of the internal angle of the left eye, and another orifice in the middle region of the left cheek. The trajectory of the projectiles was anterior-posterior, some penetrating in the direction left-right, others coming from the opposite direction, from a relatively short distance. In the morning of 28 November 1940, riding my bike to the post, I met guard Zamfir, who was heading towards the Ploiesti police station, and who told me that within the radius of our post there was a bearded body. I thus immediately left at the scene, and on the Ploiesti-Strasnic highway, at about 1 km from the Stresnic commune, on the right side of the road, at a distance of 20-30 m into the grass, I saw the body of a bearded John Doe, an aged, large man, of about 68-70 years old, who fell on his back, with his right hand slightly away from the body and his fingers joint as if for the sign of the cross. Judging by the fact that the body was covered in rime, I personally believe that the victim was killed before mid-night. Translation: Andrada-Erika Badiu