On 12 May, during a rally in honour of the anniversary of the Victory and Independence of Romania, King Michael I of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen - in the presence of his mother Crown Princess Helen the Queen Mother of Romania, Prime Minister Petru Groza and Marshal of the USSR Fyodor Tolbukhin - unveiled the monument to Soviet soldiers-liberators.

During the liberation of Romania, 68,993 Soviet soldiers were killed, 52,835 of whom were buried in 160 Romanian memorial cemeteries.

On 26 June 1940, Moscow presented Romania with an ultimatum demanding it cede Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the USSR. The crisis brought Marshal Ion Antonescu to power after the king, Carol II, abdicated in favour of his 19-year-old grandson Michael, and left the country. Romania took the side of the Nazis in the war. However, the young king refused to be a pawn in the hands of Antonescu and showed statesmanship and courage at the required moment.  On 23 August 1944, unexpectedly for Antonescu, Michael arrested him and declared war on Nazi Germany. Romanian troops opposed the Germans, and according to historians brought the defeat of Germany 200 days closer.

As a token of the gratitude felt by the Romanian people, a monument to Soviet soldiers by the Romanian sculptor Constantin Baraschi was erected in Bucharest’s Victory Square (later renamed Liberty Square).

On 19 July 1946, in the large throne room of the Royal Palace, Fyodor Tolbukhin, the Marshal of the Soviet Union, graciously awarded Michael I with the Order of Victory No. 16. A total of 17 people were to receive this award; Michael got his after the American commander Dwight Eisenhower and the British commander Bernard Montgomery had theirs, but before Marshal of Poland Michał Rola-Żymierski (Łyżwiński) and Yugoslavia’s Minister of Defense, Josip Broz Tito.  

After the communist coup in December 1947, Michael I was forced to flee Romania for Switzerland.  In 2005, at the celebrations in honor of the 60th anniversary of the Victory, King Michael I was the only surviving recipient of the Order of Victory. Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded him with a jubilee medal “60 years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945”.Michael I died on 5 December 2017 at the age of 95 and is buried in Romania’s royal cathedral in Curtea de Arges.

Source: “Pravda” No. 113 (10195) dated 13 May 1946