The Butenko Affair: Documents from Soviet-Romanian Relations in the Time of the Purges, Anschluss, and Munich

Abstract

DOCUMENTS The ButenkoAffair:DocumentsfromSovietRomanianRelationsin the Time of the Purges, Anschluss,andMunich1 HUGH RAGSDALE IN the springand summerof 1938, as Hitler seized Austriaand preparedto destroyCzechoslovakia, therelationsbetweenthe Soviet Union andRomaniawereespeciallycrucial.In the summerof 1936, theforeignministers of thetwopowers,MaksimLitvinovandNicolae Titulescu,hadnearlyconcludeda treatyof mutualassistance, butthe issueof possessionof Bessarabia, annexedby Romaniain I9I8, and Romanianfearofcommunism upsettheirnegotiations. Giventhelack ofa Sovietfrontier withCzechoslovakia andtheantagonism ofPoland totheSovietUnion,Romaniawasthekeyrouteto givetheRedArmy accesstotheCzechoslovak allythattheSovietswerebytreatypledged to defend ifwarbrokeout,andif theFrenchhonouredtheirtreaty withPrague. WorldWarI had broughtan abundanceof both bad and good fortune inthatorder totheyoungstateofRomania.TheRussian RevolutionandthepeaceofBrest-Litovsk thecollapseoftheeastern front-forced theRomanians tomakeapunitive peacewithGermany inMay I9I8. Butthedissolution oftheAustro-Hungarian Empire,the defeatofBulgaria, theeclipseofRussia,andthevictors'hostilitytothe revolutionary regimeof Bela Kun in HungaryenabledRomaniato emergefromthewarin possession of GreaterRomania,i.e. annexing Transylvania, Bessarabia,and Dobrogea.Of course,these developmentsantagonizedthe victimsof Romania'sexpansionand obliged Romaniato seekout alliesof her own. The formationof the Little Entente(Romania,Czechoslovakia, andYugoslavia) in 1920-21 was directedagainstHungary.The Romanian-Polish allianceof I921 was directed against the Soviet Union. The Balkan Entente of I934 (Romania,Yugoslavia,Greece, and Turkey)was directedagainst Hugh Ragsdale is Professor Emeritus of the University of Alabama. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia. ' I am much indebted to Dr Dumitru Preda, Director of the Romanian Archive of Foreign Affairs, who kindly introduced me to work in the documents there, and to Ms Daniela Bleoanca and Ms Irina Ionescu for their generous and expert assistance in the reading room; to MIsLaura Cosovanu for her similar generosity and expertise in the Hoover Institution Archive; to Professor Dov B. Lungu of the University of Toronto and Professor Viorica IIoisuc of the University of Constanta for a variety of good advice and general orientation in a subject in which they were more at home than I was; to Ms. Aura Ponta for checking my translations from Romanian; and to Ms. Gabriella MIerryman for checking my translation from Italian. HUGH RAGSDALE 699 Bulgaria. In the 1930S, in the face of German and Italian aspirations, Romania had every reason to support collective security, and she did so, especially in the wake of the Franco-Soviet Pact and of a similar Soviet pact with Czechoslovakia, both in May I935. In the months leading to Munich, much attentionwas focusedon Romania as the sole feasibleroute forRed Armyassistanceto Czechoslovakia.The collapse of collective security at Munich and its aftermath, as well as Soviet occupation of Bessarabiain summer I 940, forced Romania into a very unattractivealliancewith Germany. The distinguished statesman of Romanian foreign policy, Nicolae Titulescu, had in I934 predicted either the triumph of collective securityor a German pact with the Soviets directed againstPoland.As his able successor,Nicolae Petrescu-Comnen,similarlyforesawin mid1938 , if Czechoslovakiawerelost to the Germans,Polandwould follow, and then would come the turnof Romania. The government of the inter-war period, conducted under the constitution of I866, may be characterizedas a relativelyunstableand corrupt (especiallyin respect of elections) semi- or pseudo-democracy with increasing resort to assassination.On 28 December I937, King Carol constituted a conservative and anti-Semitic government dominatedby Octavian Goga andAlexandruCuza ofthe National Christian Party.Itsfall,on i i FebruaryI938, led on 23 Februaryto the scrapping of the constitution and the institution of the Royal Dictatorship. The new cabinet consisted of PatriarchMiron Cristea as prime minister, Armand Caiinescu (National PeasantParty),as ministerof the interior, Ion Antonescu as ministerof defence and Nicolae Petrescu-Comnen,a careerdiplomat, as ministerof foreign affairs. In these circumstances, a diplomatic incident intervened, the socalled Butenkoaffair.Although the affairappearshere and there in the histories of East European diplomacy, it is treated casually and cursorily and, while superficially tragi-comic and amusing in some respects,it yields both a telling insightinto life duringthe period of the Soviet purges and a comment on the nature, quality, and wisdom of Soviet foreign policy of the time. In particular, it gives a graphic portrayalof the psychologicalimpact of the purgeson the personnel of the Soviet ForeignCommissariat,on the futilityof what appearsto be Litvinov's authentic commitment to collective security, and on Soviet relationswith one countrycrucialto the successof thatpolicy.2 The documents that follow come in part from the papers of the Romanian foreign minister of the time, Nicolae Petrescu-Comnen, 2 For background on the subject of the present article, much the most pertinent and valuable piece of work is Teddy J...