'The Savagery of the Iron Guard
Rumania's submission to Germany has weakened all autho- rity in that country except that which the Nazis choose to support, and there was nothing to check the Iron Guard terror organised last week by the faction-leaders, whose followers have imitated the brutality of the Nazis without their discipline. In the orgy of planned and unplanned massacre the victims in- cluded politicians who had held the highest office, State officials, soldiers, police, large numbers of Centre and Left Wing politicians, and a crowd of persons whose only offence was that of being Jews. Particularly revolting to the mind of all educated persons in the Balkans was the assassination of Professor Jorga, a distinguished scientist as well as a former Prime Minister. It is believed that the number of persons murdered comes to about two thousand. By these means the extremist faction of the Iron Guard has paid off old scores and at the same time " purged " the movement of some of its possible rivals. General Antonescu is now endeavouring to establish some sort of order among the chaos, a task which he is able to perform only in proportion as he has Nazi authority behind him. The export of National Socialism has taken many forms, but none more unpleasant than that which it has assumed among the bloodthirsty youths of the Iron Guard.
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