Maria Antonescu
Maria Antonescu (
née Niculescu; 3 November 1892 – 18 October 1964), also known as
Maria General Antonescu,
Maria Mareșal Antonescu, or
Rica Antonescu, was a Romanian socialite and philanthropist and the wife of
World War II authoritarian
prime minister and ''
Conducător''
Ion Antonescu. A long-time resident of France, she was twice married before her wedding to Antonescu, and became especially known for her leadership of charitable organization grouped in the Social Works Patronage Council organization, having
Veturia Goga for her main collaborator. The Council profited significantly from
antisemitic policies targeting
Romanian Jews, and especially from the deportation of
Bessarabian Jews into
Transnistria, taking over several hundred million
lei resulting from arbitrary confiscations and
extortion.
Arrested soon after the
August 1944 coup which overthrew her husband, Maria Antonescu was briefly a
prisoner of war in the
Soviet Union, and, after a period of uncertainty, tried and sentenced by the new
communist regime on charges of economic crimes (
embezzlement). Imprisoned for five years and afterward included in the
Bărăgan deportations, she spent the final years of her life under internal exile at
Bordușani.
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