National Christian Party

The National Christian Party (Romanian: Partidul Naţional Creştin) was a Romanian political party, the product of a union between Octavian Goga's National Agrarian Party and A. C. Cuza's National-Christian Defense League; a prominent member of the party was the philosopher Nichifor Crainic. Founded in 1935, and led by Goga, it never received more than about 10% of the vote, but was chosen in December 1937 by King Carol II to form a government. It ruled only 45 days, and was supplanted February 10, 1938 by a royal dictatorship.

Analysis

Alexander Easterman writes of the party's brief time in office, "Goga proclaimed his policy, openly and unashamed, as designed to rid Roumania of the Jews. Indeed, he had no other policy to offer; his government was quite simply anti-Semitic and nothing else". Easterman hypothesizes that Carol had placed this party in power "to give his people a taste of Fascism", hoping vainly that an ensuing reaction against such policies would sweep away not only the relatively weak National Christians but also the far stronger Iron Guard. (Easterman, 1942, p. 258–259)

Goga's government began its term by repudiating Romania's obligations under the Minorities Treaty imposed upon it at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference; on January 21, 1938, it promulgated a decree that effectively stripped most Romanian Jews of their citizenship by setting an impossibly high bar for documentary proof of such citizenship. Jewish businesses were closed down; the resulting disruption took down many non-Jewish businesses and caused massive capital flight. (Easterman, 1942, p. 259)

References

• Easterman, A.L., King Carol, Hitler, and Lupescu, London: Victor Gollancz Ltd. (1942), p. 258–259.