Unification festivities have always had a political aspect. Their organisation required material efforts, mass mobilisation and institutional cooperation, which needed instruments that only the government commanded. The festivities of 1939 were characterised by the theatrical rigidity of King Charles IIs’ regime and the dark spectre of the world war which had just started.
Despite this, on 1 December 1939, in Bucharest and especially in Alba Iulia, unification festivities were organised. Were these an attempt by Charles and his advisers to demonstrate the tightening of the ranks of the nation around the king before the threats from abroad?
In Bucharest, personalities such as A.C. Cuza, Alexandru Vaida Voevod, Istrate Micescu (Minister of Justice) and Grigore Gafencu (Minister of Foreign Affairs) participated in the Te Deum at the Patriarchy. At a solemn session of the Romanian Academy, besides the academicians, almost the same personalities participated.
As in 1929, the amplest manifestations occurred in Alba Iulia. On the morning of 1 December, at the railway station of the city, Ion Gigurtu (Minister of Public Works), Silviu Dragomir (State Minister for Minorities), Constantin C. Giurescu (State Minister in charge of Organisation of the National Rebirth Front) and Victor Jinga (former sub-secretary of the Ministry of National Economy) descended from the official train.
But, where were King Charles II and Prime Minister Gheorghe Tătărescu? Did they deem the situation of the country too dangerous to afford their leaving the capital city? What message of great achievements could they transmit to the people when the borders of Greater Romania were under a threat that was to prove fatal the following year?
The central and local officials turned to the Coronation Cathedral for the Te Deum service officiated by the Bishop of the Army, Partenie Ciopron. Then they participated in a solemn assembly held in the hall of Caragiale Theatre, where Constantin C. Giurescu, Silviu Dragomir, Ion Gigurtu and Victor Jinga gave speeches.
Then, as a typical manifestation of the cult of personality, telegrams were sent to the king himself. In the telegrams, the correspondents expressed their willingness to defend the throne against internal and external threats. As would soon become clear, these enforced declarations had purely propagandistic value, being completely useless in countering the threats against Romania.
The most interesting show of the unification festivities was that held outdoors. Besides the locals, groups from several parts of Transylvania participated. Photos and film footage have captured placards carried by those coming from the Sibiu, Făgăraș, Turda, Mureș, Odorhei and Ciuc counties. One notices the attention given to counties inhabited by Hungarian or Szekler minorities, a response to an expansionist revisionism on the part of Hungary that was coming close to attaining its goal. The mobilisation of participants was done along the lines of the Front of National Rebirth, the unique party of Charles’ regime.
The visual memory preserved three dominant aspects: the abundance of uniforms, the style of adornment of the city and the figures of the participants.
Charles II’s soft spot for uniforms is known. On 1 December 1939, in Alba Iulia, the diversity of uniforms was stunning: from those of the military, through the uniform of the Front of National Rebirth and that of the FNR Guard to the formalised adaptations of popular costumes worn by women, peasants and women members of the FNR.
The decking-out of the city verged on the gigantic through the enormity of its elements: panels and omnipresent theatre props on which the emblem of the FNR dominated the state emblem of Romania. However, there was one exception: a royal coat of arms which had the breadth of a street.
The same images allow us to perceive in the endless throngs of people marching in front of the official tribune or among the public, with an insignificant number of exceptions, preoccupied, concerned or, at best, indifferent faces. These do not betray a great satisfaction at the twenty years since the unification of Transylvania with Romania.
The festivities organised for Alba Iulia on 1 December 1939 were not a spontaneous manifestation of the joy of a nation proud of its epochal political achievement. They were, rather, an expression of an authoritarian regime disavowed by the people. It bore also the imprint of the world war which in less than a year was to initially benefit the revisionist states at the cost of Romania’s territorial integrity. (V.M.)
