Corneliu Zelea Codreanu was the main figure of the Romanian nationalist movement, the charismatic leader of The Legion of Saint Michael the Archangel , also known as The Iron Guard.
Born in Husi at September 13, 1899, Codreanu studied the Law in Iasi. Here, he started his political career. His education was proper for the nationalist theories: his father, Ion Zelinsky (Ion Zelea Codreanu), was a Romanian nationalist militant and his spiritual master, the university professor A. C. Cuza, was one of the main nationalist politicians in the country, the chief of a nationalist organization called The League of National and Christian Defense.
The main directories of Codreanu's belief were, since the beginning, the anti-communism, the mysticism and the nationalism. After several years of fights with the democratic governments, Codreanu has founded his own organization: The Legion of Saint Michael The Archangel.
The attachment for the Orthodox Christianity, the respect for the tradition and the wish of justice claimed by the legionnaires attracted a lot of sympathy. Peasants as well as students and young intellectuals formed a strong organization. Codreanu was its father and its soul, and after he was assassinated by the King Carol the 2nd on November 30, 1938, the Iron Guard decayed quickly.
The originality of the Romanian nationalist movement is granted to the leader of the Iron Guard. Codreanu was a very religious person and he tried to build a Christian organization. Thus, the Orthodox Christianity was the theoretic cornerstone of this movement until Codreanu died. Nowadays Codreanu is remembered as a spiritual leader more than a political one.
