Romanian Youth Labour
The Romanian Youth Labour was a national auxiliary paramilitary labour organization active in Romania between 1941 and 1944.
History
Establishment
The Romanian Youth Labour was established on 23 December 1941 under Ion Antonescu’s military dictatorship, with the purpose of ideologically organizing Romanian youth and aligning them with state policies. It was essentially conceived as an alternative for the youth to joining the notorious Iron Guard, which Antonescu had suppressed following the Legionary Rebellion of January 1941.By Decree no. 3.597 issued by Ion Antonescu on 23 December 1941 and published in Monitorul Oficial on 3 January 1942, Brigadier General Emil Pălăngeanu was appointed commander of the Romanian Youth Labour. Alongside him served Lt. Col. Ioan Dem. Dimăncescu, who coordinated the organization’s Breaza Center.Both Pălăngeanu and Dimăncescu had long careers in the military, scouting, youth training, and sports, and had previously served in King Carol II's Straja Țării, which organized extensive youth programs ranging from labor camps and sports competitions to military training.
The organization's headquarters was in Breaza as well, in the same building that today houses the "Dimitrie Cantemir" National Military College. Between 1937 and 1940, the Commanders’ Center of Straja Ţării was also located there.
Structure
The MTR was primarily inspired by the Reichsarbeitsdienst, Organisation Todt, and, to some extent, the Hitlerjugend. Most likely for advisory and consultative purposes, on 8 March 1943 its commander, Emil Pălăngeanu, met with Konstantin Hierl, head of the Reichsarbeitsdienst.The organization aimed to educate Romanian youth in the spirit of social labour through their involvement in civil construction and public utility projects such as roads, bridges, viaducts, aqueducts, and tunnels. Article 1 of the MTR statute, among other provisions, prescribed preparation of the youth for military service and the cultivation of a sense of national solidarity.
Article 3 of the MTR statute prescribed that young men fit for military service, once recruited, shall serve in the organization for seven months prior to their conscription into the army. Compulsory public service labour within the Kingdom of Romania was regulated by Law no. 425 of 15 May 1941 and applied to both Jews and Romanians, including the unemployed, labour camp prisoners, and those incorporated into the MTR.