Editing Ion Antonescu (section)

===Consequences of the Antonescu trial===
The period following Antonescu's fall returned Romania to a democratic regime and the [[1923 Constitution of Romania|1923 Constitution]], as well as its participation in the war alongside the Allies. However, it also saw the early stages of a communist takeover—which culminated with King Michael's forced abdication on 30 December 1947 and the subsequent establishment of [[Communist Romania]]. The Antonescu trial thus fit into a long series of similar procedures and political purges on charges of [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|collaborationism]], instrumented by the [[Romanian People's Tribunals]] and various other institutions.<ref>''Final Report'', pp. 313–331; Cioroianu, pp. 130–131, 265–268, 295–297; Deletant, pp. 264, 347, 349; Gella, p. 173; Ioanid, pp. 235–237; Weber, pp. 158–159</ref> During the rigged [[1946 Romanian general election|general election of 1946]] and for years after Antonescu's execution, the [[Romanian Communist Party]] and its allies began using the implications of his trial as an abusive means of compromising some of their political opponents.<ref name=r3/><ref>''Final Report'', pp. 315–316, 324; Deletant, pp. 249–250, 349; Ioanid, p. 235</ref> One such early example was [[Iuliu Maniu]], by then one of the country's prominent [[Anti-communism|anti-communists]], who was accused of being a fascist and an Antonescu sympathizer, mainly for having shaken his hand during the trial.<ref name=r3/> The enlistment of [[Germans of Romania|ethnic Germans]] into Nazi German units, as approved by Antonescu, was used as a pretext for a Soviet-led [[Expulsion of Germans from Romania after World War II|expulsion of Germans from Romania]].<ref name=rw136/><ref>Cioroianu, pp. 266–267</ref> On similar grounds, the [[Soviet occupation of Romania|Soviet occupation forces]] organized the capture of certain Romanian citizens, as well as the return of war refugees from Romania proper into Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. Both the arrestees and the returnees were often [[Soviet deportations from Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina|deported deeper into the Soviet Union]].<ref>Ancel (2005 b), pp. 235–236, 241; Gella, p. 173</ref> As part of its deteriorating relationship with [[Roman Catholicism in Romania|Romanian Roman Catholics]], and urged on by the Soviets, the communist cabinet of [[Petru Groza]] also deemed [[Apostolic Nuncio]] [[Andrea Cassulo]] a collaborator of Antonescu and a ''[[persona non grata]]'', based on transcripts of the Cassulo-Antonescu conversations.<ref>Kent, pp. 109–110</ref> It also used such allegations to pressure several [[Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic|Greek-Catholic]] clergymen into accepting union with the [[Romanian Orthodox Church]].<ref name=k224/>

Nevertheless, Romanian-born Holocaust historian [[Radu Ioanid]] notes, few Romanians involved in organizing the Holocaust were prosecuted, and, of those, none were executed after the Antonescu trial. He attributes this to nationalist resistance within the administrative and judicial apparatus, to communist fears of alienating a too large number of people, to the emigration of [[Zionism|Zionist]] survivors, and to the open hostility of some communists toward liberal Jewish community leaders.<ref>Ioanid, pp. 235–236</ref> Jews also faced conflict with the new authorities and with the majority population, as described by other researchers.<ref>''Final Report'', pp. 316, 339; Ancel (2005 b), pp. 235–256; Weber, pp. 152–159, 164–167. Ancel discusses in particular the influx of Zionists fleeing Soviet rule in the late 1940s, the renewed antisemitic violence of the period, as well as the various clashes between Romanian officials and Jewish community leaders both before and after the communist takeover.</ref> There were, nonetheless, sporadic trials for Holocaust-related crimes, including one of [[Maria Antonescu]]. Arrested in September 1944 and held 1945–1946 in Soviet custody, she was re-arrested at home in 1950, tried and ultimately found guilty of economic crimes for her collaboration with the [[Central Jewish Office (Romania)|Central Jewish Office]].<ref>Deletant, pp. 313, 350</ref> Five years later, she was sent into internal exile, and died of heart problems in 1964.<ref>Deletant, p. 350</ref> After 1950, a large number of convicted war criminals, even some sentenced to life imprisonment, were deemed fit for "social cohabitation" (that is, fit to live amongst the general population) and released, while some suspects were never prosecuted.<ref>''Final Report'', pp. 281, 315, 317–318</ref>