The Management of the City of Odessa by the Romanian Authorities (1941- 1944)

Abstract

After the liberation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina by the Romanian Army, the
Romanian authorities, headed by the commander-in-chief of the state at that time, General Ion
Antonescu, being in alliance with Hitler's Germany, decided to continue the military operation
beyond the Dniester. There were fierce battles for these territories, especially for the city of
Odessa, which led to great human and material losses for Romania.
October 16, 1941, the city of Odessa was conquered. The German side, an ally of
Romania, decided to give the Romanian authorities control of the territory between the Dniester
and the Bug, which included the city of Odessa. Taking this territory, the Romanian authorities
began to take action to restore the situation.
From the very first moments, the Romanian administration appointed to key management
positions persons from Romania who were supposed to manage the city well, and the
administrative staff was appointed from the ranks of the population. Hermann Pintea, a native of
Bessarabia, who was a good connoisseur of Russian thinking and perfectly mastered Russian,
was appointed mayor of the city of Odessa, which allowed him to directly socialize with the
population.
The first measures of the Romanian authorities, was to clean the city from the ruins, the
corpses of animals, providing the city with water and provisions. During the retreat, the Soviet
troops destroyed most of the factories and plants, dismantled machinery, equipment and took
everything to Soviet territory. Using the tactics of «leaving nothing to the enemy», they blew up
everything they could not carry, including warehouses with food, destroying everything in their
path.
Despite the fact that the Romanian authorities temporarily settled in these territories, they
managed to improve the living conditions of the population in wartime. They opened and
repaired churches that were destroyed and closed by councils, opened schools with teaching in
the local language, theaters, libraries, even one university worked – Odessa University. They put
into operation factories and plants, built roads, rebuilt hospitals, providing the most necessary
for the citizens.
Despite the hostilities, the Romanian administration significantly improved the life of the
inhabitants of Odessa. In record time, the Romanian administration provided the population
with the most necessary and normalized the daily life of citizens in wartime.