Romulus, My Father updates

Romulus, My Father Update

The following notes are taken from a number of internet sites and are backed up by information in the Historical Atlas of the Holocaust. They are intended as additional background material for students to use as they see fit. For photographs of Horia Simu, see Wikipaedia. Please note that the information on the Iron Guard has not been widely publicised and many people of Romanian origin apparently do not know about it.

Romanian History - World War II

The Iron Guard Timeline

• 1927 1927 by Corneliu Codreanu
• 1933 banned by the Romanian government. Members beaten and killed.
• 1937 earned 15.5% of the vote, coming third, but kept out of Parliament
• 1938 King Carol II became a royal dictator, had Codreanu killed.
• 1940 Horia Sima took control of the Iron Guard.
• 1940 allied with General Ion Antonescu to make the National Legionary State Government.
• 1940- 1 the Legion exterminated Jews and conducted political assassinations.
• 1941 removed from government. Civil War won by Antonescu with German help.
• 1941 Pogrom in Bucharest by the Legion.
• 1941 Horia Sima and other fled to Germany.
• 1941-44 Antonescu regime interned and killed Jews in Transnistria, Bessarabia and Bukovina. Romania had the second largest number of Jews killed in World War II, second only to Germany itself.
• 1945 Horia Sima went into hiding.

Features of the Iron Guard

• Known originally as the Legion of the Archangel Michael, member called themselves legionnaires.
• Members wore green uniforms and greeted each other using the Roman salute.
• Incorporated parts of Orthodox Christianity into its philosophy ( without the Church’s permission).
• Incorporated mysticism.
• Sections of the Legion were called ‘cuibs’ or nests and were held together by discipline, education, helping each other, silence and work.
• Wanted Romania to be a Legionary State with one party.
• Believed in getting rid of foreigners including Jews and Gypsies.
• Became a cult of death, martyrdom, suicide missions and violence.


Meaning of the names ‘Hora’, ‘Mitru’ and ‘Romulus’

The Horae (plural of Hora) were Graeco-Roman gods of the seasons. They were the children of Zeus, king of the gods and Themis, a titaness who represented justice and good counsel. Originally their names were Eunomia (Good Order), Dike (Justice) and Eirene (Peace). In the poem The Iliad by Homer, they were the guardians of the gates of Olympus.

Mitru appears to be the Romanian form of Mithra/Mitra, the god of many soldiers in the Roman army. He was the god of light and the protector of the Empire, with a temple in Albania.

Romulus was one of a pair of twins whose father was the war god, Mars. Thrown out of their home, they were fed by a she-wolf. Romulus killed Remus, and is considered the founder of Rome.

Timeline of Romulus My Father for NSW HSC 2009

The information below on the Gaita’s lives comes from the Study Manual Romulus, My Father by Glen Hooper, published by Nisi Publishing, 2008. For further information on the world events and Australian dates please refer to that text.

See www.nisi.com.au for more information or go to ebay where some of the textbooks are available.

The dates below have been worked out from the memoir, some events cannot be dated.

Date	Event in the Gaita’s lives	World Events/Australian dates.
1918		End of World War I, Germany required to pay huge amounts of money as reparations. Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes created.
1922	Romulus Gaita born in Markovac.
1928	Christine Dorr born in Germany.	Beginning of the Great Depression
1929		Yugoslavia created.
1933		Hitler made Chancellor of Germany. Dachau concentration camp established.
1935	Romulus left home, took apprenticeship with a blacksmith.
1937		Buchenwald Concentration Camp built.
1938		Crystal Night in Germany begins separation of the Jews into ghettoes.
1939	Apprenticeship complete. Romulus conscripted into forced labor gang.	Hitler invaded Poland, World War II begins.
1940		Romania joined the Axis powers. Lithuania occupied by Soviet troops (communists).
1941		First extermination camp at Chelmno built. Yugoslavia divided between the Axis powers. Lithuania annexed by Germany.
1942		Auschwitz Birkenau begins exterminations. Labor shortages forces increased use of concentration camp labor.
1944	Romulus sent to Dortmund. Met Christine Dorr.	Revolution in Romania, joined the Allies. Hungary forced into alliance with Germany.
1945		End of World War II Buchenwald concentration camp liberated by Americans.
1946	Romulus worked in Germany. Raimond Gaita born.
1947		Romania became part of the United Soviet Socialist Republic. First displaced people arrive in Australia. Bonegilla migrant camp opened.
1948		Yugoslavia became a separate Communist state.
1949		Snowy Mountains Scheme begun in Australia.
1950	Gaita’s emigrated to Australia arriving in April. May -Romulus sent to Baringhup .	The Assisted Passage Scheme begins in Australia. Highest net immigration into Australia in history.
1952	Men laid off at Cairn Cullen. Romulus and Hora worked at P&N in Maryborough.	Revolt at Bonegilla.
1954	Christine and Mitru visited Frogmore.
1955	May Christina visited Frogmore. July Susan born.
1956	Death of Mitru.
1957	Romulus’s second bike accident. Barbara born June Romulus wrote to Lydia Girls made wards of the state
1958	Raimond attended St Patrick’s College, Ballarat. September Christina died.
1960	April Lydia’s betrayal September Romulus hospitalized in Ballarat. December Raimond and John completed Christmas deliveries.
1962	Romulus bought house in Maryborough. December Lydia’s mother and brother stayed with Romulus.
1963	January Milka visited. September Milka moved to Maryborough.
1972	Raimond visited Germany
1974		Vojvodina and Kosovo made self governing. Snowy Mountains Scheme completed.
1975		End of Vietnam War, beginning of Asian immigration.
1980		Office of Multicultural Affairs established in Australia.
1996	Death of Romulus.
1998	Romulus, My Father published.
2007	Film release of Romulus, My Father