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dh2022

My home country of Romania was basically under German occupation through most of WWII. My grand mother lived in a village before,during, and a little bit after WWII. German soldiers did not loot - they paid for whatever food stuffs they got from the village. At a different scale: the German government paid the Romanian Corporations for all the oil and grains they bought to supply their war effort. Germans were remembered fondly by Romanians.

The subsequent occupation by the Russian Red Army music less so…

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> Germans were remembered fondly by Romanians.

Presumably not true for Jews. However pogroms were occurring pre-occupation, so maybe it’s much of a muchness once you’re being eradicated.

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/romania

> At a different scale: the German government paid the Romanian Corporations for all the oil and grains they bought to supply their war effort.

I already mentioned in another comment that Romania wasn't "under German occupation", but this bit I'm quoting here is also false.

Germany theoretically paid Romania but in practice it defaulted in most/all payments, so that Romanians got nothing for their oil. It was a major problem that eroded public support for the Axis and made poverty worse in Romania. Again, not something that helped Romanians regard the Germans "fondly".

> Romania was basically under German occupation through most of WWII.

that's not correct. Romania was an independent country, with a king, government, etc. Romania was allied to Germany, and there was a German presence, but the Germans did not exercise any power. In fact, there was a "palace coup" that switch alliances in 1944.

Germans did not exercise any power… other than telling Romanians to send their troops to Don’s bend, and to Sevastopol. Or not selling any of their oil to anybody else. Or basically telling the Romanian Prime Minister Antonescu to suck it up while Hungary took a big chunk of Transylvania.

About the coup: it took place on Aug 23, 1944. The Red Army already took all of Moldovan and was gunning for the Carpathian Mountains. The German front broke yet again. That was the end of German influence in Romania: at the end of September 1944 Arab was ‘eliberated’ by the Red Army.

True, but this guy fell in Poland, which was treated harshly by the Nazis, and probably fought in the USSR, where the behavior of the Nazis was absolutely unhinged. I would consider looting much more probable in that region.

Romania was, at least theoretically, an ally of Germany, so (non-Jewish) Romanians got treated better than conquered nations like Poles, who were Slavic and thus lower on the racial totem pole.

> My home country of Romania was basically under German occupation through most of WWII [...] Germans were remembered fondly by Romanians

Romania was an Axis ally under a fascist dictator, Antonescu, and was not under German occupation. Why would Germans steal or loot from a willing ally? Romanian troops participated with around 280,000 to 380,000 Jewish deaths to the Holocaust. I suppose Jews in Romania don't remember their German "allies" too fondly.

> The subsequent occupation by the Russian Red Army music less so…

The Soviet (not Russian) Red Army was indeed brutal with former Axis allies. It shouldn't come as a surprise that siding with Nazi Germany was retroactively a terrible choice.

Germany had complete control of the country. When Hitler decided to give Hungary a big chunk of Transylvania Romania army could not what they really wanted: ie fight the Hungarians. [0]

Instead they had to suck it up and march East into Russia proper.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Vienna_Award

Germany did not have "complete control" of Romania. It was not a country under occupation. It was a willing ally, with a fascist dictator in charge: Antonescu. I think what you're describing is that Romania was not a peer on equal standing with Nazi Germany.

Romanian troops took part, willingly, of Nazi death squad actions.

Furthermore, Jews in Romania didn't remember the Germans "fondly".

You are saying that giving up a chunk of their territory because Germany told them so does not mean Romania was under Germany’s control. That is the quality of your post. Pretty much the same quality in everything else you wrote (like for example what you wrote about the Einsatzngruppen troops)

Alas, you are mistaken.

Simply put: there's a huge difference between being outright conquered, occupied, and subject to the control of a puppet regime (like Poland, Ukraine, Greece), and the local regime proactively deciding to form an alliance (as did the governments of Hungary, Finland, and Romania). Even if that decision was made under a considerable degree of duress.

That's just the basic storyline of the war. And it's all I have time for. But trust me, just take another look at the basic event chronology and you'll easily see why.

Yes, I'm saying that being forced to make concessions to a more powerful ally doesn't make them "entirely under the control of Germany". Furthermore, the loss of territory you mentioned was before the coup that put Antonescu in power and had Romania join the Axis.

You wrote your initial comment stating a patent falsehood: that Romania was "basically under German occupation". It was under nothing of the sort. Their fascist dictatorship eagerly helped the Germans and it's officially considered part of the Axis (just not one of the major three powers).

> (like for example what you wrote about the Einsatzngruppen troops)

Romanian troops participated in the Odessa massacre and, as one of the Axis nations other than Germany most involved on the Eastern Front, participated in Einsatzkommando actions.

And the point still stands: Romanian Jews certainly don't remember the Germans "fondly".

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