Dumitru Coroamă

Dumitru Coroamă (1885-?) was a Romanian soldier and fascist political activist, who held the rank of Major-General of the Romanian Army during World War II, and was especially known for his contribution to the 1940 establishment of the National Legionary State by the extreme nationalist Iron Guard.

Career

In 1939, he became General Officer Commanding 1st Guard Division at the Royal Palace in Bucharest, in service to King Carol II. Coroamă secretly supported the Iron Guard's leader Horia Sima, who was in rivalry with Carol's National Renaissance Front regime. He rose to prominence after the events of autumn 1940, when the Second Vienna Award, which lost Romania rule over Northern Transylvania, engendered a political crisis. In this context, he cooperated with Sima on the Iron Guard's attempt to seize power, and came into contact with another authoritarian figure, General Ion Antonescu, who was reluctantly appointed Premier by Carol. In early September, as a sign of his cooperation with Sima, Antonescu appointed Coroamă to the post of General Officer in charge of the Capital's Military Command, replacing the loyalist Gheorghe Argeşanu. Soon afterward, Antonescu was told that two other loyalist generals, Gheorghe Mihail and Paul Teodorescu, were planning to have him killed. He consequently demanded Carol's abdication, in tandem with General Coroamă refusal to comply with the royal order and have Guardists who marched in front of the Palace shot down.

Dumitru Coroamă survived Antonescu's violent split with the Guard and the Legionary Rebellion of 1941, becoming General Officer commanding the 4th Army on the Eastern Front in 1941, but was arrested after the Royal Coup of 1944. A political prisoner under the communist regime, Coroamă was not released until 1964.