romania – germany’s ally

c.1941

Wearing a traditional embroidered shirt, a Romanian civilian joins a souvenir photo with a decorated Luftwaffe ground troop corporal. Romania was a strategic target for both Axis and Allied forces due to its large oil refineries, which Hitler needed to fuel his blitzkrieg. A German ally, with its fascist Iron Guard led by dictator Ion Antonescu, Romanian forces joined in the invasion of the Soviet Union. Also enthusiastic about the genocide of its Jewish population, Romania was second only to Nazi Germany in the number of its Jewish civilians murdered.