Historical Revisionism and a Romanian Pastor

While reading coverage of the Romanian election (with the second round slated to take place on 18 May), I was absolutely floored reading this from a pastor in Romania:

The Russian invasion of 80 years ago is not forgotten. "They distorted everything; they raped our mothers, wives, and daughters. They are less than 200 km from my home. Do I, myself, have to kill somebody? Or to watch how my family is destroyed? Will I be able to preach again from the pulpit ever in my life? Or to run away? To leave everything behind? To leave my flock behind? I am not ready for this, I don't have the strength. I am not Dietrich Bonhoeffer... I am just a simple Christian pastor who serves his Lord in Eastern Europe."

How many times in recent weeks and months have I heard BBC programmes covering the election warning about the lessons of history being forgotten and the threat of Right-wing revisionism? And then to find this?

Is this pastor for real? Is he unaware that Romania invaded the Soviet Union with Hitler on 22 June 1941? Is he unaware that the Romanians were notorious for their brutality? That they committed rape as well? Is he ignorant of the Romanian forces at Stalingrad? Has he chosen to ignore the role played by the Iron Guard and Antonescu, or the history with regard to Bessarabia and Bucovina and how Romania hoped to regain control of these territories?

What about the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Jews and thousands of Gypsies who died at the hand of Romanian troops - not to mention one of the most brutal pogroms of the war in January 1941? Romanian and Ukrainian troops were part of the Einsatzkommando units - the death squads which followed the Blitzkrieg into the USSR. Is the good pastor unaware of what the Romanians did at Odessa?

King Michael Hohenzollern did not move to overthrow the fascist dictator and Hitler ally Ion Antonescu until late summer 1944 when the Soviets were already breaking through the Romanian border. At that point in time, Romania switched sides. But it was too late. So much of the country had already been subject to bombing and while the coup preserved the country from an even worse fate - let's just say the Russians were not feeling very generous of forgiving. The Red Army captured and deported tens of thousands of Romanian soldiers and yes they took vengeance on the Romanian population. They knew what the Romanians had done when they invaded in 1941. Romania was ceded to Stalin by Churchill in October 1944 (in exchange for Greece) and this state of affairs was effectively ratified by the Yalta Conference in February 1945 wherein it was agreed that Romania would not revert to its pre-war government. The Romanians did fight the Germans during the final months of the war but from the perspective of Moscow, such actions could not fully undo what had been done.

The context in 2025 is not the same, though Putin's invasion of Ukraine is the result of Western machinations to overthrow his regime and divide up his country - breaking the political power of Russia and exploiting its resources. Romania has been part of the Atlantic Empire's strategic moves to press Russia's borders and encircle it. Romania joined NATO in 2004 making it a frontline state, hosting US troops and missile batteries - and at times facilitating nuclear capable platforms. Some have argued the US has already staged nuclear weapons in country but this is denied. That said, such denials are meaningless as the Pentagon has a long record of lying about this issue.

And if the pastor in question is looking to Dietrich Bonhoeffer for guidance and wisdom it only confirms the fact that he needs to revisit not only his own nation's history but the role played by Bonhoeffer in the plot to assassinate Hitler in 1944. Contrary to popular Evangelical perceptions, Bonhoeffer did not die as a Christian martyr but as a political prisoner and conspirator. In addition no Evangelical or Confessional church would today ordain him or likely admit him to membership.

I expect this kind of ignorance from Americans. I was surprised to find it emanating from a place like Romania which (generally speaking) tends to possess a greater historical consciousness.

World War II elucidates the present context and Putin's actions (while immoral) are not the moves of a madman or second Hitler. He's responding to history and perceived threats - but it's clearly a history the West has buried or willingly forgotten. The West continues to misrepresent his concerns, goals, and the context for his invasion of Ukraine.

If NATO backs off - then Russia has no reason to fear or respond. Putin has no desire to invade Romania. There are still disputes over Transnistria (related to the history of Bessarabia) but this too is connected to the larger set of historical considerations and resulted from the rapid collapse of the USSR in 1991. Romania for its part also has designs on Moldova (and thus Transnistria) and so it is not entirely innocent when it comes to this question - in an admittedly very complicated geopolitical region.

There's little hope of a proper response when such ignorance prevails. A Biblically informed answer would be able to incorporate the history, gain a little from reflection on it, and to realize that the Romanian Church needs to eschew the politics of the hour - rejecting Western propaganda, decadent and degenerate Western values, resurgent Romanian nationalism, as well as fear.