Romanians court far-right symbolism in run-up to election

By Luiza Ilie

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - On a sunny day in April, hundreds of Romanians queued on the outskirts of Bucharest to visit a tomb bearing a vivid green flag with the insignia of the Iron Guard, one of Europe's most violent antisemitic movements of the 1930s.

While displaying Iron Guard symbols was banned in Romania two decades ago, the flag flutters in the breeze over the grave of Ilie Lacatusu, a Guard member canonised by the Orthodox Church last year, every Sunday.

Fascist-era symbols dot other Romanian cities, too, such as monuments or streets named after Iron Guard heroes or writers associated with the movement, in a show of resonance that political analysts say is bolstering the far right ahead of Sunday's presidential election.

Romania's nationalist far right surged in popularity in a string of elections last year, culminating with little-known pro-Russia Calin Georgescu topping the first round of a presidential ballot in November - before a court cancelled that vote a month later amid allegations of Russian interference.

With Georgescu now banned from running again, opinion polls show hard-right opposition leader and eurosceptic George Simion poised to win on Sunday, with some 30% of the vote.

Analysts say much of that popularity comes from the ability of hard-right leaders like Georgescu and Simion to harness long-standing grassroots acceptance of wartime fascist figures and their conservative values to stoke voter anger over high living costs and perceived social immorality they blame on mainstream centre-left and centre-right politicians and Western elites.

"Everything that has happened in this country has been done against us, especially since our vote was stolen," designer Lucian Datcu, 51, said as he left Lacatusu's tomb earlier this month. He plans to vote for Simion.

"We need to try someone else." Like some others seeking solace around Lacatusu's tomb, Datcu shrugs off his Iron Guard past.

Ioana Scumpieru, 69, a pensioner who works as a nanny, said that what was important for her was the spiritual experience, not history. "Things go very well for me after I pray at his tomb. It does not bother me," she said.

'NORMALISATION'

While no one in Romania advocates violence or antisemitism in public, activists say the electoral trend is worrisome.

"Like it or not, an important segment of the population either does not care about (these) toxic values or they embrace them," said Marius Cazan, researcher at the Elie Wiesel National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania.

"The problem with normalising this narrative about the past is that rather than critically examining the movement's toxic parts, it praises it," he said.

Formed in 1927 and bolstered by the ensuing Great Depression and the economic toll it inflicted across Europe, the Iron Guard built its following on blaming Jews for the poverty and lack of opportunity enveloping the east European country, combined with deeply religious, anti-capitalist and anti-communist messaging.

It was responsible for riots and pogroms, including one in Bucharest in 1941 when more than 100 Jews were killed and some hung on hooks in a slaughterhouse. The Iron Guard was outlawed shortly afterwards. Lacatusu, according to the Wiesel Institute, was a local unit leader in southwestern Romania.

Simion, who opposes military aid to Ukraine, is critical of Brussels leadership and supportive of U.S. President Donald Trump, has sidestepped direct questions about the Iron Guard.

When asked about it, he told Reuters: "These times are reminiscent of the inter-war period - the rule of law is being broken and political opinions censored. People are not being listened to, they are being defied by those clinging to power."

But several of his party's members, Georgescu and other far-right politicians have openly praised Iron Guard leaders and Ion Antonescu, Romania's de facto World War Two leader.

Under Antonescu, Romania was an ally of Nazi Germany until August 1944, when it changed sides. A 2004 report found that between 280,000 and 380,000 Romanian and Ukrainian Jews and thousands of Roma were killed by civilian and military authorities in Romania and areas they controlled during the war.

Romania, now a European Union and NATO member country, apologized in 2003. A mandatory school class about the Holocaust was introduced last year. But Iron Guard propaganda and acceptance of Romania's far-right leaders have slowly been spreading into the mainstream.

Many Iron Guard members and supporters died in prisons under communist rule after the war, many of them priests. They are known as anti-communist fighters and "prison saints," and commemorations in their honour draw dozens of people each year. At some, attendees have flashed the Nazi salute.

Some of Romania's most famous interwar writers and thinkers were vocal supporters of the Iron Guard and remain celebrated today as part of the country's identity and heritage.

Although honouring fascist figures and symbols in public is illegal, cases rarely get prosecuted. The prosecutor general said only some 20 such incidents got reported on average yearly.

"A part of Romanian society is ambiguous about the ... fascist past while another part is fairly radicalised," said Sergiu Miscoiu, a political science professor at Babes-Bolyai University.

"For the new ultranationalist parties, what resonates is denouncing globalisation and the foreign elements that (they see as) responsible for everything wrong that is happening."

Romania's president has a semi-executive role that includes chairing the council that decides on military aid and defence spending, and can veto EU votes that require unanimity. The country has a pro-EU coalition government.

(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; editing by Mark Heinrich)