'I could not define how I entered into the struggle. Probably like a man who, walking the street, with his preoccupations, his needs and his own thoughts, surprised by the fire which is consuming a house, takes off his jacket and rushes to give help to those who are the prey of flames. With the common sense of a young man of twenty or so, this is the only thing I understand in all I was seeing: that we were losing the Fatherland, that we would no longer have the Fatherland, that, with the unwitting support of the miserable, impoverished and exploited Romanian workers, the Jewish horde would sweep us away.'
[Below: Extremely rare Codreanu postage vignette.]
[Below: A different picture of the above, maybe a different printing?]
[Below: Airmail postage stamps, 1940.]
[Below: Stamp above but with rare overprint '1 Mai 1941 - Jamborega Nationala'.]
[Below: Postage stamp issued by the National Legionary State bearing Codreanu's portrait. The caption reads 'Captain may you give the country the likeness of the Holy Sun that shines up in the sky'. Circa 1940.]
[Below: Legion stamps, 1940.]
[Below: Sheet form.]
'Dear comrade in arms,
All of our enemies attempts will be crushed.
Look at them, at your tyrants,
Endure with submission all blows,
Those, among us, who will fall
Those who think they can defeat him…
[Below: Corneliu Codreanu at a military school in 1913 with his father Ion Codreanu.]
[Below: Codreanu with two friends.]
[Below: Codreanu with father.]
[Below: Legionaries celebrating Codreanu's birthday in 1933.]
[Below: Circa 1930.]
[Below: Codreanu and his wife Elena Ilinoiu Codreanu (1902-1994).]
[Below: Codreanu and his wife Elena Ilinoiu Codreanu (1902-1994).]
[Below: Codreanu and his wife Elena Ilinoiu Codreanu (1902-1994).]
[Above: (front row) Radu Mironovich (far left) and Corneliu Codreanu (far right ), on a visit to engineer John Blanaru (center).]
[Above: This basically says 'In the midst of those present at the great event' -- the great event being his wedding.]
[Above: Can you spot Corneliu Codreanu? (he's wearing white in the upper middle).]
The Law of Work:
The Law of Silence:
The Law of Education:
The Law of Assistance:
The Law of Honor:
[Below: This basically says 'Corneliu Codreanu and the accused in the middle of the jury'. Note the swastika flag in the background.]
[Below: Also pictured here is Ion Mota (back row, far right), deputy leader of the Iron Guard, who was killed in the Spanish Civil War.)]
[Below: Codreanu as a young officer]
[Below: Full photo, although someone has edited out the background.]
[Below: Circa 1930.]
[Above: Wedding celebration.]
[Below: Codreanu at a rally for Mota and Marin, February 1937.]
[Below: Funeral procession of coffins of Corneliu Codreanu and his murdered companions through the streets of Bucharest.]
[Below: Romanian heroes are honored, with Codreanu in the center.]
[Below: The grave of a saint and a hero.]
Fascism means first of all defending your nation against the dangers that threaten it.
Democracy destroys the unity of the Romanian nation,
[Below: Newspaper from 1940.]
[Below: Newspaper from 1941.]
[Below: This basically says 'The Almanac of the Romanian Christian Newspaper'.]
[Below: Corneliu Codreanu's signature.]
[Below: A variation of Corneliu Codreanu's signature.]
•Corneliu Codreanu authored several books during his short life, including 'The Nest Leader's Manual (circa 1933)' and 'For My Legionaries (circa 1936)'.
[Below: Here is a Swedish editon of The Prison Notes.]
[Below: Here is a French editon of The Prison Notes.]
[Below: Under the Southern Cross - Selected writings from martyrs of the Spanish Civil War. This book contains a selection of writings from martyrs Ion Mota and Vasile Marin, as well as Mota's final letters.]
[Below: This is from a very interesting, and pretty much unknown, publication from Buenos Aires, done by German National Socialists in exile. It ran from around 1947-1957 and featured many great writers, like Johann von Leers and even Hans Rudel. Fortunately many of the issues can be found archived on the internet. This particular article was found in their 'Portrait of the Month' and featured Saint Corneliu Zelea Codreanu. Issue 5, pg. 300.]
[Below: Newspaper article referencing Codreanu's arrest (and the Iron Guard). Chicago Daily Tribune, April 20, 1945 (Adolf Hitler's birthday). Click to enlarge.]
[Below: Chicago Daily Tribune article from the newspaper above]
• Here is the article above written out:
'The interior ministry announced tonight that another 1,500 members of the Iron Guard were under arrest after a search of their home and barracks disclosed plans to capture King Carol II of Romania and set up a Fascist state.
An official spokesman said the king and his government were to have been seized while attending Orthodox Easter ceremonies next Saturday and a Fascist state of Iron Guard legionaires proclaimed.
The announcement came a few hours after Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, rightist Iron Guard leader, started serving a six months' sentence in Tilava prison near Bucharest. Codreanu and hundreds of his followers were arrested Sunday.
Find Black List of 2,000
A black list was found in Iron Guard headquarters, police said, containing the names of 2,000 Romanian leaders who were to be arrested once Codreanu was in power.
The authorities said police had been aware of the putsch plot for several days, but working out a care-...'
•People all around the world continue to honor Saint Codreanu, here is but a glimpse...
[Below: These postwar stamps mark the 25th anniversary of Codreanu's death.]
[Below: Silver postwar coin from 1967.]
[Below: .750 gold postwar coin from 1967.]
[Below: Postwar coin from 1999 marking the 100th anniversary of Codreanu's birth.]
[Below: This three coin set features coins honoring Corneliu Codreanu, Ion Mota and Vasile Marin.]
[Below: Marches of the Iron Guard CD - front/inner.]
[Below: CD back.]
[Below: 1999 cassette release honoring Codreanu. Front/inside]
[Below: Various shirt have been made over the years]
[Below: Poster advertising an event]
[Below: Poster]
[Below: A Romanian patriot putting up a poster]
[Below: Codreanu is honored in Iasi, Romania (the largest city in eastern Romania), on September 13, 2011, the 112th anniversary of his birth]
-Corneliu Codreanu
after 15 years of battles, persecutions and sacrifices,
Romania’s youth must know
that the hour of the Legionaire victory isn’t far.
All plans of tempting us,
All attempts at buying our souls,
All attempts of seperating us,
and all treasons will fall to the ground.
straight in their eyes.
endure all pains,
whatever they may be,
because our sacrifices will be the iron foundation
made from broken bodies
and from tortured souls,
of our Victory.
will have names and tombs of heroes,
and those who will kill us
will bear the names of traitors
and will be cursed from generation to generation.
From the depths
the Legionnaire rises victorious with his rock-like soul.
as well as those who think they can buy him…
will soon, but too late…
Come to the conclusion…
that they were wrong.”
-Corneliu Codreanu
'The law of honor:
Go along only on the paths of honor.
Fight, and never be a coward.
Leave the path of infamy to others.
Better to fall in an honorable fight than win by infamy.'
-Corneliu Codreanu
'The Jews are our enemies and as such they hate, poison, and exterminate us.
Romanians who cross into their camp are worse than enemies: they are traitors.
If I had but one bullet and were faced by both an enemy and a traitor, I would let the traitor have it...'
-Corneliu Codreanu, from 'For My Legionaires: The Iron Guard (1936)
'The Law of Discipline:
Legionary be obedient; without discipline we will not win. Follow your chief for better or worse.
Do your daily work. Work with joy. Let the reward of your work be not any material profit, but the satisfaction that you have contributed something to the glory of the Legion and the greatness of your country.
Speak little. Speak only when you must. Your eloquence is in deeds. Let others talk; you do.
You must become another man. A hero.
Help your brother in distress. Do not abandon
him.
Follow only the ways shown by honor. Fight. Never be a coward. Leave to others the ways of infamy. Better fall fighting the way of honor, than to conquer by infamy.'
-Corneliu Codreanu, from the Manual of Legionary Laws.
'There is no doubt that, in this world, there are all sorts of
people who look nice, but are empty inside, who do not feel either
moral or spiritual aspirations in addition to the physical gifts with
which nature blessed them... But in Corneliu Codreanu, his
magnificient physique corresponds to an exceptional inner wholeness.
Exclamations of admiration from men left him indifferent. Praise
angered him. He had only a fighter's greatness and the ambition of
great reformers... The characteristic of his soul was goodness. If
you want to penetrate the initial motive that prompted Corneliu
Codreanu to throw in a fight so hard and almost desperate, the best
answer is that he did it out of compassion for suffering people.
His heart bled with thousands of injuries to see the misery in
which peasants and workers struggled. His love for the people was
unlimited! He was sensitive to any suffering that the working masses
endured. He had a cult for the humble, and showed an infinite
attention to their aspirations and their hopes. The smallest window,
the most trivial complaint, were examined with the same seriousness
with which he addressed grave political problems.'
-Horia Sima, successor of Codreanu as commander of the Legion in 1940, and co-ruler of Romania.
Taken from his his book 'Istoria Miscarii Legionare' (History of the Legionary Movement).
'Nothing frightens the Jews more than a perfect unity in others:
the unity of feeling in a movement, in a people.
That is why they will always be for ‘democracy’ which has but one advantage,
and that is for the nation's enemy.
For democracy will break up the unity and spirit of a people...
It means the destruction of these dangers and the opening of a free way to life and glory for your nation.
dividing it among political parties,
making Romanians hate one another, and thus exposing a divided people to the united
congregation of Jewish power at a difficult time in the nation's history.
This argument alone is so persuasive as to warrant the discarding of democracy
in favor of anything that would ensure our unity - or life itself.
For disunity means death.'
-Corneliu Codreanu
Additionally, the book 'The Prison Notes', was first published in English in 2011. It is Codreanu's final pieces of writing, written in his last days of his life (March and November of 1938) in the bleak and hopeless Jilava dungeon.
Below are the newest editions from CZC Books, Liberty Bell Publications and Logik Förlag.
'Anyone wishing to conquer and destroy a people could do it by using this system:
Breaking its ties with heaven and land, introducing fratricidal quarrels and fights,
promoting immorality and licentiousness, by material ruin, physical poisoning, drunkenness;
all these destroy a nation more than being blasted by thousands of cannon or bombed by thousands of airplanes.'
-Corneliu Codreanu