Romania in World War II Through the Eyes of a Young Romanian

Turk

Dr. Burak S. Gülboy

Ass. Prof. Nevin Yurdsever Ateş

World War II, the depiction of a blood-stained period

from 1939 through 1945, manifests itself within the world’s

history as the war with highest numbers of bloodshed and most

profoundly to jeopardize the economical conditions of the

nations involved, and still remains a subject most intensely

studied.

It remains in general consent that the series of events

leading to World War II began taking shape at of the end of

World War I, the other grand battle of 20th century. World war

I was meant as a “war to end all wars”. However, in the year

1919, an assembly of winning nations gathering in Paris,

attempted to reconstruct the international system. Mistakes

that were made in this configuration and the imprints of these

errors on peace treaties determined a new world order resting

on an unesay piece.

Upon reading through the topics of Versaille Peace

Treaty, French General Ferdinand Foch said at the Paris

Congress, “This is not a treaty for peace but a truce to last

twenty years.” General Foch had been proved right, and Paris

rearrangements –along with the negative economical

İstanbul University, Faculty of Economics, ınternational Relations Department, Research Assistant İstanbul Bilgi University, Faculty Member

1

repercussions of Great Depression in 1929- resulted in the

raise of Fascism in Europe, and the emerging of revisionist

nations, all of which demanded alterations of existing

political borders. At the point where political paths came to a

dead-end and revisionist nations forced their ways into

altering national borders by force, the biggest battle in

history began.

The objective of this paper is to study the social and

political changes that took place from 1919 to 1945, and

attempt, in the end, to examine World War II specific to

Romania as well as through the eyes of a Romanian Turk. What

has been depicted is directed towards shedding light on the

destruction and transformation in this region through the

perception of a young person, rather than providing an outline

of Romania in political, social and economical terms in those

difficult times.

Sabri Feyzullah:

Sabri Feyzullah is a Turk traced back to Crimean

Tartars, born in 1923 in Mangolia, a town that is located in

the Black Sea shore of Romania. He spent his childhood

peacefully in the stable atmosphere in Romania in the 1920s,

his youth in the turbulent rising of fascism to bring Romania

under its influence, and with the difficulties of World War II

2

that finally took effect. He began his military education when

he was an 18 year-old junior tailor; was enlisted in the army

1944, was sent to the war field afterwards, and went to war, at

first on side with Germans. With his country switching sides in

August 23, 1944, he then fought with Russians. In the last few

months of the war he was found in Hungary and Czechoslovakia

and returned home safe and sound, this followed by marriage,

resuming his profession, communism years and finally moving

back to Turkey. Sabri Feyzullah’s life is full of anecdotes to

shed light on many turns in the history of Romania. The subject

matter of this study is World War II and Romania at the time.

Anecdotes of Sabri Feyzullah are not the only ones of his own.

The recollection of his father’s memories are still fresh in

his memory. What his father went through in World War I highly

matters within the texture of this study.

Romania went to war in 1916 on the side of Entente nations, but

was occupied by Axis forces and most of Romanian army was held

hostage after the occupation. Before reminiscing his own, Sabri

Feyzullah gives an account of an interesting journey of his

father’s, who was a soldier in the defeated Romanian army and

who experienced the war in this period, from being a hostage to

being a soldier in Turkish War of Liberation:

“My father is Yahya Feyzullah. He fell captive to the Bulgarian, in 1916. After that, the

Bulgarians held him prisoner of war for a year, or eight months. Then they handed

all the Muslims to the Turkish soldiers, to the Ottomans. Because, the Germans, the

Bulgarians and the Turkish were allies. They loboured in Eskisehir, these captives,

only for food. Then in 1919 Ataturk announces, if this kind of hostages go and fight

3

for a year with Turkish army, they will go back home after a year. And so they went.

My father and his friends, all of them, joined Kuvva-i Milliye. He told much of

Afyonkarahisar, I don’t know where it is. Afyonkarahisar battle, and Sakarya battle…”

“They came to Istanbul from Sakarya. It means they are entitled to go back to their

hometowns. Four companions they went to a mosque when they came to Istanbul

on a bayram day. They had nowhere to go once they were out of the mosque. They

were left out on the street. Then and there, they decidde that they would be going

back. One or two of them stayed. One of them got married here.”

The experiences of Sabri Feyzullah’s father bear

significance in the sense that they can be regarded as a

starting point for a prospective study on captives and non-

Turkish soldiers within Turkish army in the Turkish War of

Liberation. As a new era took its course after the end of World

War I, Sabri Feyzullah was born, in 1923. And as major changes

took place in social and political terms, especially in Eastern

Europe, Sabri Feyzullah’s Romania was one of the countries that

sustained the deeper marks of change.

A New Romania:

When Sabri Feyzullah was born, Romania was in a new

process of restructuring itself, right after World War I. In

1918 when the war ended with the victory of Entente nations;

while Romania regained its independency, it also pushed its

borders forward, acquiring Transylvania from Hungary, Dobrudja

from Bulgaria, and from Former Russian Empire’s state

Baserabia, thanks to the Paris rearrangements of 1919. Romania,

which was a country of unity in terms of nationality until

4

1918, became a country of many minorities as a consequence of

the land acquisitions mentioned above. In the census of 1930,

Romania’s population showed 18,5 million people while 4,5

million of this count consisted of minorities.1 The numbers

related to the census in 1930 are approximately the same in

Keith Hitchins and George Clenton Roggio. Hitchins gives the

figure of total population of Romania as 18.052.896. 2 He

states that this number is over the approximated population by

2,5 million people, while Roggio gives a figure of 18.025.237

corresponding the total population. 3 Total population

portioned to states is given as follows;

Wallachia 5,542,467

Moldovia 2,413,123

Baserabia 2,865,506

Bucovina 845,903

Dobrudja 811,332

Transylvania 3,217,149

Maramuresh and Krishna 1,387,675

Banat 942,072

Total 18,025,237

Going back to the subject of minorities in Romania, Roggio4

states that the 1930 count did not provide details regarding

1 Herbert Von Moos, Büyük Dünya Olayı, Istanbul, Kara Kuvvetleri KomutanlığıIstanbul Military Print, 1952, Volume 1, p 3092 Keith Hitchins, Romania, Claredon Pres, Oxford,1994, p.335-3363 George Clenton Roggio, Romania Its History, Politics and Economics, Manchester Sherratt & Hughes, 1932. p.1094Id., p.110

5

national minorities, but more reliable approximate numbers are

provided by Winkler’s “Racial Statistics”;

Germans 713,564

Russians 174,293

Jews 778,094

Hungarians 1,463,373

Bulgarians 351,328

Yugoslavians 52,570

Czechs 31,884

Ukranians 500,484

Others 404,104

Total 4,469,694

Similarly, according to the Castellan 1930 population count,

the population of minorities along with the Romanians is

provided as 18 million people. 5 The number of Romanians in

this figure is 12,985,000. The minority figures are;

Hungarians 1,426,000

Germans 740,000

Jews 722,000

Ukranians 577,000

Russians 415,000

Bulgarians 361,000

Gypsies 270,000

5 Georges Castellan, Balkanların Tarihi 14-20. yüzyıl, Tr: Dr. Ayşegül Yaraman Başbuğu, İstanbul, Milliyet Printing House, 2nd print, 1995, p.432

6

Turks/Tartars 180,000

Polish 54,000

Serbian/Hırvat 52,000

This complex structure of the population as a result of

the rearrangements of 1919 was reflected in the different

expression of different cultures in Romania at the time. Even

though Sabri Feyzullah’s Mangolia was a small town, its

structural weave reflected this cultural diversity. Sabri

Feyzullah remembers rather clearly the cultural and ethnic

diversity that dominated life in his hometown. Sabri Feyzullah

defines the aforementioned diversity in terms of different

identities and cultural differences:

“There were many Germans in our town Mangolia. We had two churches. There was

one German church, and one Orthodox. There was Sarıgol; a German village... They

used to call the inhabitants Whitehead… That village was very organized. If you

looked from afar you would know where the Turks lived. But where German lived,

their houses were clean, painted in grey… Everything they had was organized, neat, I

must admit. If a chimney on a house was crooked they would tell a Muslim lived

there. The front door of a German would be like a palace… their gardens so neat.”

“There were seperate little towns in the same town. There were the Laz people. There

was the Laz ward, called the Laz village… They had come from Black Sea coast ( of

Anatolia) , they spoke Turkish, and very fluent Turkish. There were Jews too but

few of them. I heard the Armenians in Kostence were many… They were Turkish

citizens, too. There were Turkish citizens both from Armenians and the Romanians…”

Social Configuration of Romania:

7

Along with welcoming many different ethnic roots,

Romania was one of the rare countries to succeed in living with

the ethnicity in 1920s, such as Czechoslovakia and Estonia.6 In

Sabri Feyzullah’s words:

“Everyone prayed in their own religious way, they were free. Then after communism

came on, after 1945, they put some bans. Only retired people could go and pray.

Surely you couldn’t drop work and go on the Friday prayer. No one here walks by

without a greeting, no matter if you knew them or not, they greeted you… Typical

Balkanic, right? People from all nations. Such a universal place. That is why the

people who live there have different perspectives. Their perception of life is not the

same as others.”

There is no doubt that the phenomenon of a different

perception of life in Romania is offered to the people of

Balkans by the geography. As underlined by Stefanos Yerasimos,

the geographical structure of mountains blocking between plains

prevented the mixing of Balkan people and each people in the

region managed to protect their identities. Following the rule

of Roman Empire in the region, Balkans were both dominated by

multinational empires such as Ottomans, Habsburgs and formed a

transition path between Eastern and Western civilizations. Even

the renewed political borders that apportioned the Balkans in

the 19th and 20th centuries could not hurt ethnic and cultural

diversity in the region, and the cultural differences of Balkan

peoples are preserved until today.7 Even though the picture

depicted by Sabri Feyzullah is the prevailing scene in the6 George Clenton Roggio, id, p. 64

8

Balkans, it should be duly stated that the flip side of the

coin is a darker one. In the light of George Clenton Roggio’s

1932 data, it is clear to us that Romania experienced trouble

with its etnicity policies in Transylvania, which was acquired

after 1919, and especially Dobrudja.8 The dispersion of

minorities within the country was the most significant reason

for contradictions. As a consequence of the demographic

division of the population after the annexations of 1919, most

of the minorities within the country lived in the recently

annexed regions. In order to balance out the population in the

annexed lands, Romanian governments attempted for placement of

people throughout the 1920s. Sabri Feyzullah recalls the

placement in Mangolia:

“We had many Romanians. There had been none before. They arrived at our town in

1924. A few families who had thousands of sheep, farmers, that is. But where did

those clonishes (colonizers) come from? So they were clonized. That is, they were

brought from another place in another country, to a certain place in Mangolia,

somewhere out of the city, they were clonized in there. They were called the clonishes.

Can you imagine, there were so few Romanians in their own land… There were few of

them because the land used to be Otoman Empire, that’s why… And there were 5 or 6

of us kids…Our mothers would get together in town, to see the Romanians…There

were folk dances…On Sundays. It was far too, but we’d go anyway…They would take

us. Sure their district was seperate, ours was in the downtown. Each seperate, each

district...”

7 Stefanos Yearsimos, Milliyetler ve Sınırlar, İstanbul, İletişim Printing House, 1994, p. 17-208 Roggio, Id., pp 66-69, 70-73

9

Sabri Feyzullah’s recollection of his school years is revealing

about the development of multi-ethnicity in Romania in late

1920s, and that the state provided a living environment in

harmony:

“Religious holidays were celebrated seperately. Everyone would celebrate their own

religious holidays. There was no official pressure. Even the Romanians, neighbors,

they would come and we would celebrate together. They have their Christmas and

Easter. We would celebrate altogether. Neighbors… The Germans, Orthodoxes,

Catholics. Such an interesting thing, small place is our town…We had a number of

holidays in a year and everyone was celebrating…May 10 was a national holiday.

Romania became independent in 1877, in the Turco-Russian war…We would get in

line after school, then go to church. Then we would go to the mosque. And we would

shout in the mosque, “God bless our King Carol II, God bless him”… On our way out,

they would give out candies to us. And in religious holidays people would celebrate

with their families and neighbors. We would visit our Muslim neighbors, kiss their

hands; and they would give us nuts.”

Political Change in Romania:

No doubt the peace and harmony described by Sabri

Feyzullah had to do with the democratic experience Romania was

going through. As a matter of fact, Romania was going to prove

one of the Eastern European countries to protect its democratic

institutions with utmost care, until mid-1930s. Right after

German forces pulled back, who had only occupied the land in

1919, King Ferdinand returned and Liberal government led by

Ionel Bratianu came to the power. Because the winds of

10

revolutionary change prevailed in Romania as well as Eastern

Europe, Liberal government was favored by a large portion of

society, supporters of the system.9 Until 1928, Romania was

governed by coalition companies led by center parties. In the

late 1920s, economic difficulties and the land reform still not

having been fully applied, resulted in decline of popular

support towards the governments in question. Iuliu Maniu, whose

efforts for reform could not bring forward the anticipated

improvement, had established the cabinet in November 1928.

Starting from beginning of 1930s on, the democracy in Romania

started to lose its stability. After Carol II returned from his

exile in 1930, frequently changing coalition cabinets lost

popular support, and fascist movement began to gain power on

the road to rapid institutionalization.

In the mid-1930s, the influence of fascism got under way

in Eastern Europe, as well as being on the rise in Germany and

Italy. Romania had got its fair share of the rise of fascism,

too. The Liberal and National Labor Parties that used to be the

driving force of Romanian parlimentary structure, lost the

enthusiasm that they used to stage. Since the influence of the

Great Depression of 1929 had started to prevail in both cities

and the country, the back up behind the former political

parties diminished. While the newly crowned King Carol II took

his opportunity to limit parliementary power tools and unlimit

his own, the present situation did best to those who

represented extreme rightwing and differentiated themselves

9 Keith Hittchins, id, p 405

11

with fascist tendencies, namely, Iron Guardians or Legionnaires

movement.10

The repercussions of 1929 depression in Romania

constituted plenty of reasons for the unfastening in the

political system. The country’s national income decreased by 45

per cent between 1929 and 1932. Export figures that showed 29

billion Ley in 1929 sharply declined to 14 billion Ley in 1933.

The prices of agricultural products, which had an important

share in the country’s economy, had gone significantly low

down. Goverment investment had gone down from 36 billion Ley in

1929 to 18 billion Ley in 1933.11

Sabri Feyzullah finished his education in the recession

time of Romania, and was given as an apprentice to a tailor to

acquire a profession of his own. He remembers going to a notary

with his father and the tailor to sign a contract when he was

13. according to this contract, his master gave his guarantee

that he was going to be an assistant in three years’ time. This

way, Sabri Feyzullah acquired his first social guarantee in his

professional life. This very first step, whice makes Sabri

Feyzullah smile to recall, may be considered as an indication

that, despite the economical recession that enveloped Romania

after the Great Depression of 1929, the state still carried out

the regulations in business life.

When Sabri Feyzullah first took up his profession,

Romania went under a major change as well. Economical problems

and inconsistent cabinets around mid-1930s resulted in changing

10 Id., p 41611 Nicholas m. Nagy-Talavera, The Green Shirts and Others, A History ofFascism in Hungary and Romania, Stanford, Hoover Institute Press, 1970, p269

12

of the political equilibrium. Fascism rising especially in

Italy and Germany, affected Romania as well, powering fascist

Legionnaires, who took their shape as an oppression group in

1928 and who rapidly became a political party.12 Especially

along with the support from Hitler in power in Germany,

Legionnaire movement gained strength in Romanian political

scene; and West European democracies, France in particular,

worried that Romania would slip onto the fascist side. In 1932

elections, Legionnaires significantly raised their share of

total votes, actively demonstrating their antagonism towards

Jews and minorities at the same time, representing an

oppressive force upon the society. On the other hand, the

Liberal government was disturbed by this increasingly

stregthening power. I. Duca formed the government after the

elections of 1932, and assured the French that he would take

precautions against the fascist movement in his visit to France

in 1933. Following this visit, the Legionnaires were forced

with more and more oppression. They would not be allowed to

take part in the 1933 elections, and many of the active

followers of the movement were subjected to legal proceedings

by the police force. The backlash from the Legionnaires came in

the form of assasination of the Duca in December 1933.13

12 In the beginning of 1930s, the Legionnaire movement getting organizedwith the leadership of Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, was equipped with anti-semitic and anti-communist ideas. The movement was able to gather muchsupport within the country from students, academicians, young militaryofficers and young priests. It did not take long for them to centralize allaround Romania and form secret cells within the army, police force andcourts, and start printing newspapers and periodicals of their own. See.Reuben Markham, Romania under the Soviet Yoke, Boston, Meador PublishingCompany, 1949, pp 96, 98 13Nagy-Talavera, Id, p 274

13

Sabri Feyzullah tells us about the gaining power of

Legionnaires and the assasination of the Duca:

“All the students were Legionnaires. The faculty youth loved this idea. They wore

German Swastikka. The nationals always wore uniforms and all. Iin 1933, French call

the Romanian prime minister... and he went to Paris, and promises then and there

that they will do away with this party. Then the prime minister came back to Sinaia,

and the Legionnaires surrounded him... They killed both the prime minister and his

bodyguards. They were caught on the second they, they did not escape, they got

caught. On the second day, right there, where the Duca was killed, six Legionnaires

were killed. This happened in 1933. We were too young by then but we saw the

pictures on the papers. And then the politics were a mess... So bit by bit... One party

came in power, for four-five months, did not even last a year, and then came

another. This is how it went on.”

The political crisis in Romania followed an increasing

trend until the end of 1930s. The shortcomings of Liberal

governments and the rapid acceleration of the Legionnaires in

the late 30s resulted in the proper functioning of Romanian

democratic institutions coming to a halt. On the other hand,

one other factor playing role in the formation of the path-

defining political structure in Romania in early 1940s was the

changes in the political geography where the country was

located.

Approaching War and Changing Borders:

14

Since as early as the 1920s, Romania had defined the

core of its foreign policy as military and political

coordination with France. In spite of this, Romania was left on

its own as a consequence of the political events of the late

30s and the fading of the color of France in Eastern Europe. In

the frame of all this, Romania was left with nothing but

standing on the right side of the scales to protect the borders

it extended in 1919. The weaker finances of the country proved

limiting on the procurement of military needs. The partition of

Czechoslovakia in not less than a year after the Munich

Regulations of 1938, and the overlooking attitude of England

and France, added to the probability that Romania would be

facing a similar situation, too. Besides, increasing pressure

from Hungary in demand of more land, and the finally-

disintegrated Czechoslovakia’s acquisition of southern regions,

were disturbing developments. In response to Italy’s occupation

of Albania, England and France reassured Romania and Greece in

April 1939; and promised that the protection would come in the

form of arms and weapons.

The nonaggession pact signed by Germany and USSR

confirmed Romania’s worries, and subsequently, Romania gave

permission to the Polish government, Poland’s gold reserves and

100.000 Polish soldiers to pass through Romanian land. When

France was defeated by Germany and England withdrew from the

continent, Romania lost its most important allies. Sabri

Feyzullah talks about the activation of the materializing war

in Romania:

15

“In 1938 it was doubted that Hitler would be coming up with something...

Then the war started in less than a year, in 1939... Hitler demanded Danzig from

Poland, Poland held out, did not give in. Then the war started. Then Hitler’s army

trespassed Poland border on September 1939, and Stalin’s army marched in on the

east. They tore Poland in two. Because it’s Stalin’s plan, not to let Hitler too close to

the Russian border. The German got half of it and Russians got the other half... when

the winter came, the battles stopped. The French and the German would fight

incessantly, but on the border... Hitler attacked with tanks when the spring of 1940

came. The French had their Livya Majino (The Majino Line)... Hitler could not

break that. A few times he tried but he could not break. We would see it in the

papers. We were young back then. They would show us pictures on the papers. Then,

after a while, Hitler invades Holland and Belgium. He goes through the Belgium

border and enters France. He couldn’t enter Livyo Majino, that’s why... And then we

still can’t read in French, we saw the pictures on the paper, French soldiers were

writing on train windows, –how did it go- “what are we fighting for”... In fifteen days,

the German invaded France. And they handed in Paris with no fight, so it wouldn’t be

ruined.”

After France’s surrender in June 22, 1940, the challenge

for Romania began. Romania represented the very last element of

the system regulated in Paris Congress in 1919 in Eastern

Europe, and that system was about to come to an end. Therefore,

it was finally Romania’s turn to be dissected. On June 28,

Russia gave a diplomatic note and demanded that Baserabia and

North Bucinova be surrendered to her. Russia’s demand was

assented. After Russia, Hungary gave a diplomatic note to

Romania this time around, and demanded that the Romanian land

that belonged to them before 1919 handed back to Hungary. Since

16

the discussions between Hungary and Romania failed to come to a

conclusion, the two countries decided that the problem would be

solved through the arbirtation of Germany and Italy. The

discussions, which proceeded in the presence of four countries,

continued until August 30 in Vienna, and as the arbitration

decree dictated, Romania had to leave a significant part of

Transilvannia to Hungary. Eventually, in the beginning of

September, Romania had no choice but to leave Dobrudja to

Bulgaria.14

As a result of the latest adjustments of its borders,

the land of Romania shrank by one third, losing 100.000 square

kilometers of land and 6 million of its population. Since the

change of borders resulted in alarming immigration, Romania had

to face serious problems.

Sabri Feyzullah was only 17 when the borders were

changed, but he remembers the entirety of what happened

clearly, even today. He is still perfectly able to point out

the changes in borders in detail. The fact that a 17-year-old

teenager is affected so deeply by it is an indication rather

suggestive regarding the motives of Romaina entering the war

later on. Sabri Feyzullah talks about the changes applied on

national borders:

“They took Romania’s land. Russians took Baserabia, Hungarians took Transylvania,

Bulgarians took two provinces in Dobrudja... Dobrudja is only four provinces anyway.

They took two of four. Romanians that were left in Bulgarian acquisition withdrew to

Romania. Bulgarians in Romania moved to Bulgarian land. They exchanged both

14 For detailed information on the division of Romania, see. Von Moos, Id., Volume 1, p 306-314

17

houses and people... The lands the Bulgarian took were close to us. Silistre is a

Muslim town, Pazarcık is a Muslim town, Balchık is a Muslim town... Balchık is in the

Black Sea coast, Pazarcık is in the middle, it has nothing to do with the sea, Silistre is

by the Danube... Immigrants arrived at where we lived, mostly Macedonians.

Muslims came. Long before in Balkan war, in 1913, Romania had taken these two

towns from the Bulgarians, they used to belong to the Bulgarians these two towns.

They passed over to the Romanians in 1913 but Bulgarians retook them in 1940.”

Romania Under German Influence:

It did not take long for the loss of land in Romania to

deepen the political instability. King Carol II15, accused to

handing in a third of the country’s land to foreigners, was

forced to abandon his throne on September 6, 1940, while his

son Michael took the crown. As soon as he landed on the throne,

Micheal overauthorized General Ion Antescu, who was the prime

minister at the time. General Antescu rapidly monopolized the

administration of the country and formed a cabinet that based

on the political wing of the Legionnaire movement: the Iron

Guardians. On September 12, German troops arrived in Romania

in an attempt to protect the petroleum wells and refineries in

the country. On November 23, Romania signed the Axis alliance.

15 Romanian King Carol II visited Turkey with his private boat namedLuceafarol in June 1938. In this unofficial trip, Prime Minister CelâlBayar and Minister of Foreign Affairs Tevfik Rüştü Aras welcomed him nearBuyukdere and accompanied him to Istanbul. Carol II got together withAtaturk the next day (June 19) at the Savanora boat and afterwards, steppedon the land and visited various parts of the city. They met in DolmabahcePalace the next day. On the same day towards noon, Mustafa Kemal returnedthe visit. Both leaders stressed that the meetings were of the `privatekind`. (See. Akşam 21 June 1938, Son Posta 21 June 1938)Despite Romaniasunfriendly neighbours, Romanian-Tukish relations were in good mood untillthe communists took the government in the end of the Second World War.

18

The German military presence in Romanian territory was on a

steep increase towards 370.000 by the spring of 1941. In Sabri

Feyzullah words, those days and how the German troops entered

his country:

“In November 1940, at the beginning of autumn, the cold days started. The

Germans gave an ultimatum to Romania, because they shared neighboring borders

after they took Poland. And so everyone was surprised. Romanian military, top-level

military, said that everyone from this age to this age will be going to the barracks. All

the men went to the barracks, my father went too. We were still young, 17-18 years

old, we stayed home. They went and came back in three-four hours. They said the

King surrendered himself, Romania was surrendered to the Germans. Then the

Germans entered Romania. They were not resisted. Liberal Party, Labor Party

resisted a little... Then the Germans were all around... Very orderly came their armies,

very clean they were and there was nothing they did to anybody. They would buy

chickens, they would buy eggs all the time. German soldiers were all after eggs, they

loved it. And then Hitler called back the Germans populated in Romania. He

announced, that the Germans who wished to go back had the right to sell their

houses, he had the possessions loaded in vagons, he had them carried to Germany.

Who stayed in our Mangolia? Only Victoria had stayed. And then she left too. There

were many Germans in our place, two churches we had. A few hundreds of Germans

were there I suppose. All of them left.”

On the other hand, although the Legionnaires tried to

take over the government by overthrowing Antonescu in the

beginning of 1941, Antonescu gained the support of the military

and suppressed the Legion movement by way of killing or

19

imprisoning most of its followers. With the demolishing of the

Legionnaires, Antonescu announced his dictatorship in Romania.

Romania’s Involvement in World War II:

Although Romania was with the Axis nations, it did not

actively participate in the invasion of Yugoslovia and Greece,

but still allowed its bases would be put into military use.

Therefore, it deserved its active involvement in the Barbarossa

operation against USSR in 1941. After Romanian forces retook

Basserabia, they continued fighting as part of the south wing

of German army. They played an important role in Crimea’s

invasin in 1942; but after the defeat in Stalingrad, loosing

great numbers of men and material, the Romanian contribution in

German army started to decline sharply. Following Soviet

advancement in 1944, the war came closer to the Romanian

border. Sabri Feyzullah informs us on those times:

“Romania did not take part in the occupation of Yugoslavia and Greece, but joined

the war against Russia; because Baserabia was our land. Marshal Antonsecu said

one day that there is a river called Prut here, you will take the homeland. Romanians

took Baserabia in two months. They proceeded a long mile too. They took Odessa,

Sivastapol, but they lost many lives. Then in 1943 the Russians started to move

forward. They came and entered Romania. When they didn’t stop, we joined the army

too, in 1944...”

Sabri Feyzullah’s recollection of Mangolia in the time of war:

20

“The war started, the town went silent. All the men went to war. War gave everyone

sorrow. All the houses in town were painted grey. You couldn’t paint it white. Russian

planes would fly over us, hitting even our town. Our Mangolia is a small town... there

were people who died, people who got hurt. They dropped bombs. They dropped

small bombs. Russian planes were quite weak. Russian planes dropped bombs to

Kostence. They mostly came fromover Black sea, from Sivastapol they came, from

Crimea over to us; because we were close to the border.. From the south, from above

Bulgaria, they flew over Kostence regularly. Kostence is close to us, 40 kilometres

away. There is a harbor in Kostence, petrol tanks, oil tanks, they used to bomb

those.”

Since he was yet to reach military age, Sabri Feyzullah,

did not participate in the Russian front. From his

recollections, we learn that conscription age in Romania was

21. However, within Romanian military frame, Sabri Feyzullah

began his military training in 1941, when he was 18.

“Once a week, only on sundays, there was military training from eight in the morning

until noon. We practiced in Mangolia. There was one officer and two corporals, they

were training us. They gave us weapons too but empty ones. We weredressed in

civilian clothes, not uniforms... This training went on until you are enlisted at the age

of 21. I gave complete reports each year. That means I attended without ever failing

to.. Back the, completing the training without a miss, you had the opportunity to

choose what class you would like to be, where ever you want to go.”

Sabri Feyzullah was enlisted in the army when he was 21:

21

“In 1943 they examined our health. You go artillery you are infantry, they seperated

us. In Spring 1944, they conscripted us to the army. We went to Kostence. Since

Kostence is a Province, soldiers from each and every land go there and join. This one

goes to Ploesti, this one goes to Brashow, this one goes to Bucharest... Soldiers

collected us and brought there. We are civilian young men. They brought us to

Brashow, to man anti-airplane weapons. We didn’t even see them up close in

Brashow. They didn’t let us. After we stayed there for a month, they brought the anti-

airplane cannons to Pozsi. We practice-trained there for a year. We would stand by

the artillery but when the planes came the soldiers would takeover. We would go to

the trenches, and look down. One month later they brought us by the cannons, that

was how we carried on.”

Air Battles in Romanian Skies:

Sabri Feyzullah begins his military service in the anti-

aircraft unit in Brashow. When asked, he says it was called the

1st Brashow Anti-aircraft Regiment and remembers that the anti-

aircraft artillery in use were 75mm cannons manufactured by

Vickers/Rosita. When we examine the dispersion of Romanian

anti-aircraft units, we find out that the 1st Anti-aircraft

Regiment was under the 3rd anti-aircraft Brigade and located in

Bucharest.16

From the beginning of 1944 on, English and American

airforces began attacking Romania. English airforce undertook

night-time raids, American air forces carried on daytime raids.

In March 1944, since Soviet army was close to Romanian border,

the Soviet air movement above Romania was on the rise. Soviet

16 For more information on Romanian anti-aircraft units and the weapons usedSee. Offline: www.worldwar2.ro , last updated: March 2005

22

army approached Romanian border in March 1944, therefore

increasingly activating Soviet airforce in Romanian skies.

Romanian airforces were supported by the Germans, and they were

fighting with all their might, stirring it up for Romania above

the land. Romanian industrial and petroleum facilities were

given vital importance by Germany, the full support of whom

made Romania one of the strongest air-defence territories in

Europe. Ploesti region, which was crucial in petroleum

production, was especially one of the most important areas of

defense, thanks to the German 5th Anti-aircraft division

residing here. Allies suffered massive losses fighting against

this defense. Romanian anti-aircraft units hit 245 American and

82 Russian airplanes within the first eight months of 1944.

Combatting above Romania took away 7 per cent of the Allied air

power assigned, the actual loss of 3.5 percent of the Allied

air power on the west front indicates of how strong Romanian

air defense had been.17

Despite the strength of Romanian air defense, the air

would not clear up until the middle of 1944. Sabri Feyzullah

recalls:

“The English and the Americans would come flyingin mass formation, and we would

look up from below, just like that. That was not how the Russian came, only a few

Russian planes at a time would approach. The English and Americans would come up

in lines of 50, 60, in lines of no end. Fighterr planes flew lower, 100 metres of so,

hitting the soldiers manning the anti-aircraft artillery.”

17 Denes Bernad, Romanian Air Force, The Prime Decade 1938-1947, Carrolton, Squadron/Signal Publications, 1999, p 9-10

23

However deep was Romania in the heat of war, the progression of

the war was undermining the side it was on. Axis countries

suffered defeats from 1943 on, in Stalingrad, Kursk Battles and

loss of North Africa. Soviet armies began advancing on the East

front, approaching Romanian border. This was also a time for

Romania to question its loyalties to the Axis side. The

observations of a young Turkish diplomat stationed in Bucharest

at the time reveal significant information regarding Romania’s

weakening loyalties:

“Romanians had seperate feelings for each of the three combatants. They would

detest the Germans despite –and right because of- their alliance. They were scared of

the Russians. They would like the Anglosaxons, especially the Americans, to the point

of admiration. After the crushing defeats in Stalingrad and North Africa, they had

come to understand that the tables had turned in favor of the Allies. Russian armies

were on a fast march towards Romanian border. It looked clear that the country

would soon be occupied by Russia. Rumaian people, save for a small class of people,

had intense worries. In the eyes of many Romanians, the way out of this peril was to

for the English to invade Romania before the Russian did. And –again Romanians

thought- the English would have to do this through Turkey, with the help of Turkish

army... The course of military operations and the policy of Allies led all hopes astray.

The first stroke to blow the reality on the face of Romania had been the bombing of

Bucharest. The bombings destroyed the spirits of the people, the opportunity of

which had been the cue for Germans to create enmity in Romanian hearts against

Anglosaxons. In vain. In spite of all the destruction the air attacks had given, the

people’s warm feelings for Anglosaxon pilots were never less.”18

18 Zeki Kuneralp, Sadece Diplomat Anılar-Belgeler, İstanbul, İsis Ltd, 1999 p 33-34

24

Romania Switches Sides:

In March 1944, with Soviet forces closer than ever to

Romanian border, and Axis armies weak against the Soviet

marching forward, destroyed the popularity of General

Antonescu. Along with this, former political forces –namely the

liberals and labor partisans- were still alive. The name

written in bold letters in this opposition was a former prime

minister, Maniu. A Maniu-led opposition coordinated people

support, while getting in contact with the Allies at the end of

1943. From November 1943 on, Maniu sent Prince Stirbey to

Turkey as a messenger, who deliberated with English authorities

in Ankara. However, both presence of Antonescu on top of the

government, and the German military in the country, blocked the

way for Romania to make peace with the Allies. In August 1944,

Romania overthrew the present situation via an abrupt change of

cabinet. King Michael cooperated with the oppsition, taking

Antonescu down, and establishing a new cabinet of opposition

leaders. Right after this, the King announced on August 23 that

there would be an instant truce with the Allies, that all bonds

with the Axis nations would be broken, and that the peace pact

with the Allies was on the way. Germany reacted rather harshly

towards Romania switching sides. Many German troops were

located on Romanian ground before the outbreak of war, and

Romanian government suggested that the troops withdrew without

skirmish, but German troops took off to get hold of vital spots

and rob Romanian troops off arms. German airforce planes

25

started to bomb Bucharest on August 24. Subsequently, Romania

declared war on Germany.19

Sabri Feyzullah recalls August 23 and the following days with

excitement:

“All the soldiers are so tired. Each cannon fired 140-150 rounds, you couldn’t walk on

the ground because it was so hot it burned your feet, and they gave us rags to put on

our feet. On August 23, a friend came over at night. He told me we were to be

figthing against the Germans now. He was assisting the major, he had overheard

him talking on the phone. And we were the 3 muslim ones among 125 soldiers. So he

came to me and told me. The sirens went off while we were talking. We all gathered.

They said that we were against the Germans from that time on. And the Germans

soldiers were very near us... Like five hundred meters, a kilometer away from us.

They had their artillery like we had our own. Even among us there was a German

oriented soldier. We were told there was no sleep until the morning. You won’t even

give warning anyone, you’ll fire when you see some one. These were the orders we

were told.”

“We were at a hilltop looking down to Bucharest. Bucharet were looking very

beautiful from up there. We heard planes flying at dawn. Then the major said, take a

look at the telemetrics now, let’s see what kind of planes these are. He looked, said

these were German planes. They flew around and around, and the dawn broke soon.

They started to bomb Bucharest. They continued until late evening. Then German

soldiers, many of them up north... Where the many oil wells are. German soldiers

entered the city from up there. They couldn’t reach our battery. They couldn’t reach.

Then came the Romanian soldiers. Many battles were fought. Three days later, the

Germans withdrew. Towars far away. Towards Brashow, Erdel they went. August

24,25,26 they fought incessantly in Bucharest...”19 Markham, Id., p 174-190, Von Moos, id., Volume 6, p 42-46

26

Meanwhile, an amusing memory of Sabri Feyzullah comes up:

“While our guys were patrolling, they caught two German soldiers. Poorguys, they

had thrown away their shirts, they had no caps. Only their pants showed whether

they are German. They brought the guys to our battery, put them to where we

cooked, to a room in kitchen. The major told us not to tell anyone, he said let them

go after dark. What are we going to get out of killing them. We fed them, and

released the poor things after dark. We never found out whether or not they made it

back home.”

Romania with the Soviets:

German troops, trying to take hold of Bucharest with no

success, began their fast withdraw from Romania, while Soviet

troops began their marching on Romanian ground. Since Romania

was on the Allies side, they started to fight side by side with

the Russian army. Sabri Feyzullah’s first impression on Russian

soldiers:

“A few days after the Germans withdrew, the Russians came to enter

Bucharest. The major said no one would leave the place. On some sundays we would

get permission to go into town, before the bombing, but the major said no leaving

anymore. Everyone take care of thier own, there’s no playing with Russians, they are

so badly on their own. Horses, women, men... All drunk soldiers. They would snatch

things from Romanians, even on the streets. Pigs, chicken, whatever was available,

they would take all what people had...”

27

Zeki Kuneralp, who had been in Bucharest at the time, reflects

similar comments:

“Romanian people welcomed Russian army with worries coated with a false joy. The

conduct of the new ally did not lessen the worry but increased it. Witnessing

confiscations by Soviet invaders, plunders and violations by Soviet soldiers,

Romanians started to think that the replacement had not been that beneficial at all.

But when they heard about how their neighbor Hungary ended up, they understood

they got away with little harm.” 20

Reuben Markham recollects how the Soviets confiscated

possessions and properties, and took to arresting, accusing

many people of “war guilt”; along with campaigning against the

King and his government in order to upset his power.21

Right after the Soviet army entering Romania, they

started fighting side by side. According to Sabri Feyzullah,

Romanian army had not been under Russian control in this period

of time, they merely fought on their side and the Russian

influence on Romanian army only began to increase at the end of

1945.22 In Sabri Feyzullah’s words, before he marched out of

Romanian border with the Soviet army:

20 Kuneralp, id., p 34-3521 Markham states that especially the newspaper called “Graiul Nou” (the NewLanguage) that was printed by the Soviets in Romanian campaigned in favorof communism and against the King, and that the communist newspaper“Scanteia”, the newspapers “Izvetsia”, “Pravda”, and “Red Star” and finallyMoscow radio broadcasting in the whole world would take part in thecampaign. Markham, Id., p 19422 When Romania switched sides with the Allies, fifteen divisions were sentin order to fight together with the Russians on Hungarian andCzechoslovakian soil. Besides this, all the resources of the country wereoffered to the service of Allies –in reality, Russians-. Id., p 193

28

“They give us bread, half a kilo of bread. The bread was baked in 1941, we’re eating it

in 1944-45. You put it in tea, it softens. There were some soldiers, who ate it all up.

There were huge soldiers. Then after you cross the border, they call it “solda”, they

give you money, they give stipend to the soldiers. When you’re in your land they give

you 60 Ley, after you cross the border they give you 120 Ley... We would buy eggs,

bread rolls and all, kids were selling them in train stations. And they gave us

tobacco. Fifteen packs a month. I never smoked. I would take it, give some to friends

and sell the rest”

End of the War:

Soviet army entered Hungary through Romania after

September, and so did Sabri Feyzullah’s battery. He was sent to

Czechoslovakia after Hungary, where he first heard that the war

was over:

“After the Russians arrived in Bucharest, within one months, they loaded us into

wagons and took us west, to the front. We advanced for two or three days, then

arrived Albayuli; a Romanian town. The front went through it. Russians and

Romanians pushed Germans west. After that we came to Arat. Arat’s a large town.

Russians told us to protect their airport. Russians had a military airport. Budapest

was not far. Because when we would keep watch at night, it was November, we

would hear the bombings out there. All the way from where we were. The battle in

Budapest lasted too long. I guess they said 120 days. Capital of Hungary. The

Danube runs through it. As soon as summer began, they loaded us to wagons again.

Off we went to Hungary, arrived Budapest. Germans had withdrawn from Budapest.

There were Hungarian soldiers, some on the Germans’ side, some on the Russians’s

29

side. All people were mixed. We didn’t stay there either. Then we went to Bratislava.

Capital of Slovakians. To our surprise the next day, they don’t care about the people

at all. 50-60 people, women and children, lived in trash. They ate what they found in

there. They don’t look at your face, so wild. We were so surprised. We stayed there for

a few days. They said we were going to proceed further, and we did. They said Prag

was close. We went close by Prag but we didn’t see it. Then we withdrew to Brno.

When we arrived Brno the Russians came and took us down, took over our wagons.

All our cannons, chests, ammunituion, all were left there. We stayed there for a week.

And you have to be in constant watch, you have to watch your stuff. You cannot leave

the place, there’s no leaving. We stayed in Brno until August. In May, if only for a few

months, they gave us houses. They were empty houses. Ten soldiers would sleep here

and ten would sleep there. Brno is where we heard that the war was over. It must be

May 7th or 8th. Soldiers hear it from each other. While Russians were leaving in

trains, they started to throw away guns, shout out loud, Hitler beaten, Hitler beaten...

We thought the war is over. And you get happy, you think the war is over, it’s time to

go home. There would be people who cried. The war is over but you get letters from

home. Their houses got bombed, their houses were destroyed.”

Sabri Feyzullah recalls that the Russians were too cruel

against Germans and those who were of German origin:

“It was September or October, year 1944, Russians demanded the German

orients among our troops. Where ever there was a Romanian German soldier, they

had to be informed. We had one inour battery, Jacob Shultz. We were good friends,

that’s why I still remember after 60 years. He was from Timesvar. Timesvar is on

Yugoslavian border. He was well-off, very rich. Russians took him away. They handed

him to the Russians. He was a good guy, too. A few days later the Russians came and

30

took him away. They said they were going to make him work. We never found out

what happened next.”

“When they got us off the train in Brno, they took away the wagons. They needed

them, so they said. And the wagons would pass by so frequently at daytime, from

Germany, off to Russia. The trains were long, 70-80 cars. All flat, all loaded up at the

top. They dismantled all the factories and they were taking them to Russia. And they

would carry people too. They were in closed cars. You could not breathe in while they

passed. So filthy that if it stopped for half an hour, the railway would be lost in dirt.

Women and men were in seperate cars. Then the Germans would ask for cigarettes

through the windows. Romanian soldiers would give. Russians saw though, they were

hard on us, said we could not give anything. When Russian soldiers opened the

doors, the wagons stinked. All those people were stark naked. Russian soldiers bring

food, feed them with large ladles. They snatch the food containers rightaway. Every

half an hours wagons would arrive. From Germany to Russia. They are carrying

people to Russia. They gave the reason as having broken places fixed. We couldn’t go

back to Romania because there was no train left for us.”

Sabri Feyzullah was finally able to make it back to Romania

towards the end of 1945:

“It was the beginning of August. We loaded up everything and travelled for a

few days to get to Romania. People cheer up, throw flowers at our wagons. We

arrived at Tirnova, we stayed there for two days. It was not known to us where we are

going to be taken to. That place is at crossroads. Then we took off for Kuluc. We

stayed there for a year. We stayed until February 1946. They gave us off days

sometimes. We stayed at the barracks. We were free in February of 46, and we were

able to go home then.”

31

After the War:

Upon returning home, Sabri Feyzullah gets married to

Şevkiye hanım whom he has known since he was young, and resumes

his occupation as a tailor. But the Romania he knew was left

far behind.

After the war ended, Romania remains under Soviet Union

influence. As early as 1944, negotiations between England, USA

and USSR settled the apportionments, and Romania was left under

Soviet control. When the war ended, Soviet-aided communists

overthrew the King and his government on August 23, 1944, 185

days after Romania sided with the Allies.23

At the end of the war, Romania lost Baserabia and

Dobrudja it had annexed in 1919 due to amendments of borders,

and in return was entitled to keep some portion of

Transylvania. Sabri Feyzullah recalls the chaos caused by the

amendments of border since he was still at military service in

Kuluc:

“When the war is over Romania takes Transylvania from Hungarians. It was

clear after the new year’s on 45-46. Russians gave it to Romanians. Hungarians and

Romanians killed too many of each other then. Foot soldiers came. They arrived after

we did. They would make a parade through Kuluc. While they walked through, they

fired at them, killed some. They survived the frontline, they got killed at the parade.

So many battles were fought. Then they banned us from going out into the street. No

Romanian soldier was able to go out into town.”

23 Markham, Id., p 204- 206

32

Forfeiting a significant portion of the land acquired in

1919, Romania constituted, in real terms, the fourth biggest

power –quantitative of soldiers- among the nations fighting

with the ally nations. Subsequently, it became a part of

Eastern Europe under Russian control, after the Soviet-powered

communist government was elected. Despite maintaining close

relations with Russia throughout the communist years that came

to a halt at the end of the 90s, Romania never became a Soviet

satellite.

World War II brought massive destruction to the world as

a whole, and especially to Europe, imposing radical changes on

the international framework. This particular study was aimed at

discussing the continuum leading to, and the progression of,

the World War II on a specific scale to Romania through the

eyes of a young Romanian.

Sabri Feyzullah is living in Istanbul at the present. He

immigrated to Turkey with his family in 1986, and carried on

his profession in Istanbul. He still visits Mangolia a few

times a year. As somebody who experienced the war, he puts on a

despising face when asked his opinions of “war”:

“War is injustice, to kill people, or be in doubt. That one has this, this one has that.

This one fattacks at that one, another attacks at this one. And still women and chilren

who did no wrong are being beaten and murdered. It’s a shame.”

33