World War II Today

World War II Today

The Bucharest pogrom

23rd January 1941: A horrific attack on the Jews of Romania's capital reveals that the Nazis are not alone in their virulent anti-semitism

Jan 23, 2026
∙ Paid
A vandalised Jewish-owned store in Bucharest, January 1941.
The desecration of a synagogue in Bucharest, January 1941.

King Carol II of Romania had tried to steer his country toward neutrality, but he was deposed in November 1940. The dictatorship of Ion Antonescu quickly entered into an alliance with Hitler. The Romanians would mimic German anti-Semitic policies at home, and later their Army would join Germany in the invasion of the Soviet Union. But Antonescu's alliance with an even more right-wing group, the Iron Guard, soon began to fall apart.

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