Legionnaires' rebellion and Bucharest pogrom

Legionnaires' rebellion
The Sephardic Temple in Bucharest after it was looted and set on fire
Date 21–23 January 1941 Location Bucharest, Kingdom of Romania Result Iron Guard defeated Horia Sima and other Legionnaire leaders flee to Germany Widespread damage to Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues
Belligerents
Kingdom of Romania	Iron Guard
Commanders and leaders
Ion Antonescu	Horia Sima
Casualties and losses
30 killed 100 wounded	200–800 killed or wounded 9,000 detained
125+ Jews killed during the pogrom

The Legionnaires' rebellion and the Bucharest pogrom occurred in Bucharest, Romania, between 21–23 January 1941. As the privileges of the Iron Guard paramilitary organization were being cut off gradually by the Conducător Ion Antonescu, its members, also known as the Legionnaires, revolted. During the rebellion and pogrom the Iron Guard killed 125 Jews, and 30 soldiers died in the confrontation with the rebels. Following this, the Iron Guard movement was banned and 9,000 of its members were imprisoned.

Following World War I Romania gained many new territories, thus becoming "Greater Romania". However, the international recognition of the formal union with these territories came with the condition of granting civil rights to ethnic minorities in those regions. The new territories, especially Bessarabia and Bukovina, included large numbers of Jews, whose presence stood out because of their distinctive clothing, customs, and language. Intellectuals together with a wide array of political parties and the clergy led an anti-semitic campaign; many of these eventually came to cast their political lot with Nazi Germany.

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (August 1939) gave the Soviet Union a green light to take back Bessarabia and northern Bukovina in June 1940 (see June 1940 Soviet Ultimatum, and Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina). Then in August 1940, Germany and Italy mediated Romania's disputes with Hungary about Transylvania (resulting in the Second Vienna Award), and with Bulgaria about Dobruja (resulting in the Treaty of Craiova). Large areas of Romania were ceded to Hungary and Bulgaria.

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