Horia Sima - Exile

Exile

With the tacit agreement from Antonescu due to Hitler's influence, Sima was able to leave Romania for Germany, where he was imprisoned in a special, humane, section of the Buchenwald concentration camp, one meant for Iron Guard members. Meanwhile, Romanian authorities sentenced him to death in absentia, in order to ensure his permanent exile. In 1942, once again he was able to escape and flee to Italy, but was soon extradited back to Germany on the orders of Galeazzo Ciano.

While interned, Sima was faced with the dissent of several groups of Legionnaires. These distanced themselves from Sima's policies, stating that they did not approve of the way in which he had run the country and the movement, and were starting to appeal to the German supervisors for distinctions to be made in their case. It was to be the beginning of a split which is still present in the political legacy of the Iron Guard.

When Romania changed sides in World War II, joining the Allies in August 1944, Sima was released and he ended up building a pro-Nazi puppet government in exile, in Vienna. As the Soviet offensive proved unstoppable, he fled to Altaussee under the alias Josef Weber. Living in Paris, in Italy, and finally in Francoist Spain, he was yet again sentenced to death in Romania in 1946. At the same time, his activities in Germany and Romania got him the attention of the Kriminalpolizei.

During his time in exile, Sima attempted to form connections with the mainstream ideologies of Anti-Communism, insisting on the Guard's allegiance to the Free World. The party oriented itself towards denunciations of the realities inside Communist Romania, but never achieved status as an important voice in the Romanian diaspora.

He died in Madrid and was buried alongside his wife Elvira Sima in Torredembarra (near Barcelona).