Cătălin Avramescu, professor of Political Science, former ambassador to Finland and former adviser to Cotroceni during the mandate of Traian Băsescu, publicly asked President Nicușor Dan to withdraw the decoration he gave on December 1 to Ion Vasile Banu, who was allegedly involved in the Iasi Pogrom and the Odessa Massacre, and to publicly apologize to the Romanians for making this “disqualifying” gesture.
“On the occasion of December 1, you awarded the Order of Military Virtue in the rank of knight to Ion Vasile Banu. You claimed, on this occasion, that you decorated him because he “fought with dedication for the liberation of Bessarabia in 1941 and on the front at Cotul Donului in 1942”. This gesture is disqualifying – both for you as the President of Romania, and for the Presidential Administration”, it is stated in the open letter addressed to the President of Romania Nicușor Dan.
The political science teacher shows that “Ion Vasile Banu was a member of the 89th Regiment, 13th Division. His unit was involved in two of the worst atrocities during the Second World War: the Pogrom in Iasi (June 27-30, 1941) and the Odessa Massacre (October 22-25, 1941)”.
“There is a document that proves, beyond any doubt, the involvement of the 89th regiment in these crimes. It is the operations log from the Military Archives that contains the “History of the fight led by the 89th Infantry Regiment in the Romanian-German campaign against Bolshevism”. It is signed even by the commander of the unit, Colonel Pretorian, being countersigned by the head of Bureau 3, Captain Paul Popescu.
Right on the first page of this “historian” we read: “When passing through Iasi on the night of June 28, 1941 – right in the center of the city – the Regiment is attacked with fire by Jewish communists. On this occasion the 1st Battalion also distinguishes itself by its prompt intervention – the communist resistance nests are quickly destroyed and the Regiment continues its march in perfect order”.
In reality, what happened in Iasi was a massacre prepared in advance under the pretext of repressing the communists. On June 19, 1941, Ion Antonescu ordered the head of the General Staff, General Ilie Șteflea: “All Jews, communist agents or sympathizers should be identified by region (in Moldova). The Ministry of the Interior must know them, prohibit their movement and be able to do with them what I will order, when the right moment comes.”
For his part, the General Inspector of the Gendarmerie, General Constantin Vasiliu, ordered the gendarmes: “The first measure they must carry out will be that of cleaning the land, by which is understood: the extermination on the spot of all the Jews in the rural territory; the confinement of the Jews in the urban territory in ghettos”. wrote Avramescu.
I publicly request that you withdraw the decoration
According to him, what was considered by President Nicușor Dan as the “reunification” of the country, “was in reality a campaign of racial extermination conceived and undertaken by one of your predecessors, Ion Antonescu, and those around him”.
“Your gesture, Mr. President, to decorate a member of this unit, which participated in the Holocaust, is shocking. No European head of state, to my knowledge, has done such a thing since 1945. (…) Ion Vasile Banu passed the Prut under the command of Ion Antonescu. (…) Your gesture has fed the propaganda of the Kremlin regime engaged in the criminal invasion of a neighboring country. Moscow has already declared that the Romanian head of state decorated someone who “fought on Hitler’s side” and that, in Bucharest, the leadership “painted itself brown”. (…)
Therefore, I publicly request the withdrawal of the decoration you granted to Ion Vasile Banu.
You owe the public an apology for the lack of professionalism and compassion with which you acted in this matter. I also request that you fire everyone who came up with this disgraceful decoration proposal.
I also propose that you request, in the Government meeting, the initiation of a de-radicalization process, through which sympathizers of extremism, apologists of criminal regimes and movements, and Holocaust deniers, are removed from public institutions, especially from among the armed forces, police and intelligence services”wrote Avramescu.
To fire the presidential advisers
Cătălin Avramescu, professor of Political Science, former ambassador to Finland and former councilor in Cotroceni during the mandate of Traian Băsescu, has since December 1 classified as “scandalous and irresponsible” the gesture of Nicușor Dan to decorate the veteran Ion Vasile Banu and suggests to the president to fire the advisers who instructed him to make this gesture.
“Scandalous and irresponsible gesture of the current President to decorate Ion Vasile Banu. Nicușor Dan granted, this year on December 1, only one decoration. He declared: “We have a debt to those who defended freedom… Mr. Ion Vasile Banu represents the essence of what love of country means”. I suggest to the President to immediately fire the councilors who put the decoration decree on his desk and to apologize to Romanians and all decent people. Ion Vasile Banu was not at the front to defend freedom and democrats. Ion Vasile Banu enlisted in 1939, during the royal dictatorship”wrote Cătălin Avramescu, on Monday, in a message posted on Facebook.
