page_title: Ion Gigurtu
section_title: Rise to power
hierarchical_section_title: Ion Gigurtu / Biography / Rise to power
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Rumäniens Staatsmänner in Salzburg. Unser Bild von der Ankunft der rumänsichen Staatsmänner am Freitagvormittag in Salzburg zeigt den Reichsminister des Auswärtigen, von Ribbentrop, mit dem Königlich Rumänischen Ministerpräsidenten Gigurtu in ihrem Wagen bei der Abfarht vom Salzburger Bahnhof zum Hotel "Österreichischer Hof", wohin der Reichsaussenminister die Gäste nach der Begrüßung geleitet. 27.7.40 6237-40 Information added by Wikimedia users.Español: El primer ministro rumano Ion Gigurtu (izquierda), conversa con el ministro de exteriores alemán von Ribbentrop en Salzburgo en julio de 1940.
context_page_description: Ion Gigurtu was a far-right Romanian politician, Land Forces officer, engineer and industrialist who served a brief term as Prime Minister from 4 July to 4 September 1940, under the personal regime of King Carol II. A specialist in mining and veteran of both the Second Balkan War and World War I, he made a fortune in interwar Greater Romania. Gigurtu began his career in politics with the People's Party and the National Agrarian Party, moving closer to the far right during the 1930s, and serving as Minister of Industry and Commerce in the cabinet of Octavian Goga. Shortly after the start of World War II, Gigurtu was affiliated with King Carol's National Renaissance Front, serving as Public Works and Communications Minister and Foreign Minister under Premier Gheorghe Tătărescu, before the territorial losses incurred by Romania in front of the Soviet Union propelled him as Tătărescu's replacement.
  Gigurtu's executive was primarily noted for realizing the inability of France and the United Kingdom to guarantee Romania's borders and, accordingly, for the alignment with Nazi Germany.
context_section_description: Following his imposition of a royal dictatorship, Carol II reconfirmed Gigurtu as a member of the Superior Economic Council in April 1938. He then made him Public Works and Communications Minister (November 1939–June 1940), Foreign Minister (June 1–June 28, 1940) and state secretary with ministerial rank (June 28–July 4, 1940) in successive cabinets led by Gheorghe Tătărescu. This coincided with a dire situation, in which the Soviet Union pressured Romania into ceding the regions of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina (see Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina). As a member of the specially-convened Crown Council, Gigurtu himself participated in the decision to accept Soviet demands. As the country was left isolated when its alliance with the United Kingdom and France crumbled, and came under increasing pressure from Nazi Germany, Carol dismissed Tătărescu. Earlier, Gigurtu's appointment as Foreign Minister had marked a turn toward Germany: he was replacing the Western-oriented Grigore Gafencu, who favoured a continuation of Romania's policy of official neutrality, and this immediately led to a treaty committing delivery of a fixed quantity of Romanian petroleum to Germany in exchange for military equipment.
  The king turned to Gigurtu to be his next prime minister—he was by then a wealthy industrialist who, aside from being a committed Germanophile well liked by Nazi circles, had good economic relations with important German businessmen. Gigurtu was also seen as a politically sound choice from a domestic viewpoint: loyal to the dictatorship, he had been part of the leadership of the ruling National Renaissance Front since the previous January, and oversaw its transformation into the overtly totalitarian Party of the Nation shortly before becoming premier. With this move, Carol hoped to reverse or at least delay implementation of Germany's decision to grant part of Transylvania region to Hungary. The part played by political circumstances in bringing Gigurtu to the premiership was highlighted by National Peasants' Party leader and Carol opponent Iuliu Maniu, who described the new head of government as "the most accidental prime minister of Romania". The cabinet too was meant to please the Axis: Foreign Minister Mihail Manoilescu was well-perceived in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, and the pro-German Iron Guard was given three portfolios, one of which was initially held by its leader Horia Sima. The latter resigned just three days after taking over leadership of the Culture Ministry, when Carol rejected his demand for an all-Guardist cabinet. The longest-held such office was the specially-created Ministry for the Inventory of Public Wealth, presided upon by Vasile Noveanu until September 3.
caption: Gigurtu (left) with Joachim von Ribbentrop in Salzburg, July 1940
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