Marshal Antonescu's Bonapartism in Bessarabia and Bukovina

Abstract

An aspect of Marshall Antonescu’s political regime has been overlooked so far by the historians: the consultation of the population through referendum, in order to obtain its support for the implementation of the political projects. Such consultations – two in number – took place during the 1941 (after the rebellion of the Iron Guard in January 1941 and after the return of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the Romanian fatherland), when the politics imposed by the new historical circumstances had to be validated by a popular vote. This study aims to describe these two consultations of the Romanian people through referendum.
These were the only two referendums organized by Marshall Antonescu’s regime. Afterwards, during the years 1941-1944, the leaders in power took for granted the popular consent to the political actions accomplished by the government.