So, we had a draft article. It was based on wikipedia and attempting to watch videos on Youtube. When writing it, we realised that we didn’t really know a lot about Goga the poet and Goga the prime minister.
First, why do we care who Goga was? Well, his statue was taken down in Iasi. This led to a protest in a Cluj newspaper. There is also a library in Cluj named after him, and there is a threat to change that name. “Ugh! You mean I have to change my maps because of some woke cancel culture?”
Now, the statue was for Goga the poet. But here, we will concentrate on Goga the politician. The focus will not be why the statue was put up, but why some people wanted it to be taken down. (Perhaps we will have another article about the poet in the future.)
When Goga died, he made the international news, but just barely. The Argus in Melbourne buried a death notice on page nine.
“Death of M Goga.
Bucharest, Sunday
The former Prime Minister of Rumania (M. Octavian Goga) died yesterday.
M Goga was aged 57 years. He had been stricken by paralysis.
Earlier this year Mr Goga, who was leader of the National Christian party became prime minister, and exhibited strong fascist tendencies, including emnity toward the Jews of Romania.
He was deposed when King Carol assumed virtually dictatorial powers. M. Goga was a poet and a journalist of international reputation.
(The Argus, Monday, 9th of May, 1938., page 9, column 1.)
There are jokes online about Goga, but most of them are just silly puns. When asked in history class, “Who is Octavian Goga’s wife?” a pupil says, “Lady Gaga.”
This short death notice of Goga, not quite a eulogy and barely an obituary, tells us a little about him. He wasn’t prime Minister for long. (Technically, he was called at the tail end of December the previous year, so there is an error there, but he was still in office for fewer days than Liz Truss.) He left office on February 10. Was he outlasted by a head of varza? Was the varza still good enough to make into sarmale? We hope to find out next time, same place, same channel…
Joking aside, the Jewish community in Australia and elsewhere was already worried about the legislation he had passed. We found a reprint from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency to show that point of view. “Goga’s Death Leaves Rumanian Anti-semites Leaderless” it claims. But he was already out of office for a few months.
Goga was called to lead the government despite the fact that his party only received 9 percent of the vote. The election was on December 20, and he assumed office on December 28.
What can a government without a mandate do in a cabbage lifespan?
According to the JTA article, “Goga formed a cabinet composed largely of anti-Semitic elements and immediately embarked on a program to eliminate Jews from all aspects of national life.” This included banning “Jewish and democratic newspapers,” taking Jews out of government posts, and expelling Jewish professionals from associations when membership was needed to trade in their professions.
And, after a pogrom, “economic chaos” and “international complications” Goga was replaced by “a military dictatorship.”
I found no mention of his poetry or journalism there.
One wonders behind the scenes, did he surpress newspapers because they reported negatively on him? Or, had they rejected his articles rather harshly? Did they trash his poetry with bad reviews? Maybe they were competiting with his own papers? It seems strange that a writer would fight against free speech.
(For a real estate salesman and seller of get rich quick scams and fake universities, well, I understand why that kind of charlatan might be against free speech. But a poet?)
In any case, his poetry outlasted his politics. Even after the overthrow of Romania’s last fascist aligned government, during the communist regime, Goga’s poetry was still available for sale. He wrote nice stuff about growing old, things anyone can relate to.
But immediately after his death,was he popular among ordinary Rumanians, I mean Romanians? Well, he had other sympathisers.
Hitler Sends Flowers to Goga
Bucharest
Only flowers inside the coffin of Rumania’s late Prime Minister, M. Goga, are from Hitler. The body is now lying in state at the Athenaem, the open coffin being covered with glass.
A large gold swastika is fastened to the lapel of the late Prime Minister’s frock coat.
A wreath has been sent on behalf of Mussolini.
The Daily News (Perth, Western Australia) Thursday, 12 May, 1938, page 7, column 3.
He wasn’t always known for his links with the Axis. During the first world war, this is what the Australian press had to say about him:
“Goga, M. Octavian. – Transylvanian poet, and an enthusiast for the intervention of Roumania on the side of the allies.”
“Roumania” The Northern Champion, New South Wales, Wednesday November 29 1916 Reprinted from the London Daily Graphic.
In describing Romania back then, Britain spoke about her new allies poet. The other Romanians who were mentioned were statesmen, including the Royals, the minister of war, and so on.
Another side note, Romania’s birthrate was “next to that of Russia, the highest in Europe.” I guess Goga isn’t the only thing that changed.
How were other Romanians described in World War I? “The Roumanian people are cheery, and always friendly toward a stranger the stranger within their gates. Their English queen taught them many British customs, the ride into the Chaussee, Bucharest’s Rotten Row, 5 o’clock tea, etc.”
Did these “British customs” turn Goga to the dark side? We are not saying that. We just thought it was an interesting detail.
But in 1927, Goga was said to be heading “a new anti-Semitic party in Rumania.” We can assume the party was called the “National Christian Party” not because of an alliance to the tenants of a Christian faith, but rather to the exclusion of minorities not of that faith. (Source, Australian Jewish Chronicle, Sydney, New South Wales, Thursday, 10 November 1927) Much like the ‘troubles’ in Northern Ireland, religion is often treated as an ethnic identity rather than a true philosophy.
What changed? Now, it is hard to find the original sources by Goga. Apparently, Goga wrote about “the ‘invasion’ of Romania after the war by 500,000 ‘alien’ Jews.” Dr Filderman said that “at most 10,000 Jews entered Roumania after the war.” (The Australian Jewish News, 18 February, 1938).
Dr Filderman continued…
“Our seven to eight hundred thousand Jews in Roumania are mostly Jews who have lived in Roumania a long time before the War,” Dr. Filderman concludes. “They have as much a right to remain in the country as any other members of the minorities, whether Germans, Hungarians, Russians, Turks, or Bulgarians. This right is based on the Minorities Treaty of 1919. And let me add thinf this Treaty of 1919 signed by all the Allied Powers, Is merely a confirmation of a well-known ripe of international law which entitles a citizen of a dismembered country to become the citizen of the country of the conquering nation.”
Internation law “entitles a citizen of a dismemebered country to become the country of the conquering nation.” Hm. I wonder if Dr Filderman would have said the same about the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. (And other stateless peoples.)
In any case, change the name of the minority and Goga the politician sounds a lot like Trump and his supporters. If we want to take down statues of Goga, perhaps we should start with the Goga of the 21st century and refuse to have Trump’s planes and bases in the country.
