Table of Contents

Introduction 1. The Roots of Ultranationalism 2. Youthful Justice 3. Mobilizing Support 4. Elections, Violence, and Discipline 5. The Power of Print 6. Iron-Clad Breasts and Lily-White Souls 7. Salvation and Sacrifice 8. Rise and Fall Conclusion Bibliography Index

About the Author

Roland Clark is Assistant Professor of Modern European History at Eastern Connecticut State University. He is the translator of The Holy Trinity: In the Beginning there was Love by Dumitru Staniloae.

Reviews

Roland Clark's Holy Legionary Youth is a truly remarkable book, one that brings the historiography of Romania's most prominent fascist movement, known as the Legion of the Archangel Michael or the Iron Guard, onto a new and higher stage...the book offers fascinating insights into the intricate connections between Romanian traditional religiosity and Legionary fascism. It was not only through the church-sanctioned antisemitism and sporadic participation of priests and ecclesiastical hierarchs in the movement that Legionarism was strengthened.-Vladimir Solonari, H-Romania(March 2016) "A relevant contribution to the field of fascist studies, Holy Legionary Youth opens new research avenues for students of European Fascism and Eastern European history. Highly interdisciplinary, analytically comprehensive, and informed by a prodigious array of both primary sources and secondary literature, Clark's book is a much-awaited reading for researchers, university professors, and students alike. It will serve as a useful teaching tool for undergraduate and graduate classes on the interwar history of Eastern Europe, the genesis of interwar anti-Semitism, and everyday life under totalitarian regimes." -Ionut Biliuta, Hungarian Historical Review (2016) "Establishing how the Legionary elite and their supporters lived, what they thought, and what were their shared attitudes towards the future of Romania, Clark substantially advances the fi eld of European and Romanian studies of fascism. As such, there is no doubt that this study will provide a stimulus for future debate and research." -- Marius Turda,Slavic Review(Fall 2016) "Holy Legionary Youth traces the origins and development of the Legion of the Archangel Michael in Romania, one of the largest and most enduring fascist movements in interwar Europe. Roland Clark has used voluminous new material from Romanian archives and libraries, including rare books and complete runs of interwar newspapers, unpublished manuscripts and documents, and transcripts of interviews carried out with eyewitnesses to the events under consideration. Of particular importance are the police files in the Romanian national archives, which represent an unparalleled source for the history of the legionary movement."-Dennis Deletant, Visiting Ion Ratiu Professor of Romanian Studies, Georgetown University, author of Hitler's Forgotten Ally: Ion Antonescu and His Regime, Romania 1940-1944 "In the original, intelligent, and well-researched Holy Legionary Youth, Roland Clark reminds us that fascism in interwar Romania was remarkable in several respects. Using memoirs, oral histories, and most crucially, a truly impressive amount of research into Romanian police files, Clark gives us a portrait of the Legion of the Archangel Michael as a social movement that mobilized activists, unleashed their energies, and shaped the understanding that they had of themselves. By joining the Legion and embracing its causes, a generation of Romanian youth came to know themselves as political actors, able through their words and deeds to shape the direction of Romanian society in ways that continue to reverberate even today. This exciting book is the richest study we have of Romanian fascism."-Paul Hanebrink, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, author of In Defense of Christian Hungary: Religion, Nationalism, and Antisemitism, 1890-1944