Former Romanian king ousted a Hitler puppet

Mihai Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen — also known as King Michael of Romania, who was credited with preemptively saving thousands of lives during World War II when, at 22, he had the audacity to arrest the country’s dictator, a puppet of Hitler — died Tuesday at his residence in Switzerland. He was 96.

His death was announced in a statement from the royal family. Former King Michael cited a diagnosis of cancer when withdrawing from public duties The last former year. king was often remembered for distinctions that were not of his own making. He is, for example, said to have been the only man to both precede and succeed his own father as king.

But his shining achievement was assuredly his doing. It came on Aug. 23, 1944, when Michael, whose powers were perceived as largely ceremonial, bravely summoned Hitler’s crony Ion Antonescu, the fascist dictator of Romania, to his palace and arrested him.

By then King Michael was in league with antigovernment forces, and soon afterward he renounced Romania’s ties to the Axis powers, paving the way for a Soviet takeover as Germany’s military strength was waning. Historians say his action might have shortened the war by months, saving tens of thousands of lives. Later, as postwar Romania slipped into communism, King Michael strove to preserve its constitutional monarchy. But he was forced at gunpoint to abdicate and flee to Switzerland. After communism fell, he headed home in December 1990 from his exile in Geneva. But, the country’s elected rulers were shocked at his popularity and banished him again. He was allowed to return for Romania’s celebration of Easter, however, in 1992, but was not allowed to return for another visit until 1997. But on that visit his citizenship and his castle — but not his crown — were returned. The king visited regularly after that; in 2011 he addressed Parliament, which that year granted him the same rights as other former heads of state, and he received a standing ovation.