Queen Anne of Romania and the “Danish escape route”

Abstract

A series of previously unpublished documents from the Rațiu Archive in London show how the Romanian Royal Family, in particular Queen Ana, together with the World Union of Free Romanians, led by Ion Rațiu, intervened to save one of the main routes used by Romanian refugees seeking to escape from the communist camp. The route should have been closed following the Copenhagen government’s decision to introduce visas for Romanians. Never-before-seen documents from the Rațiu Archive in London show how the route worked and what King Michael, Queen Anne and Ion Rațiu did for Romanians who wanted to escape communist Romania. The article also sheds light on the portrait of Queen Ana, who did not get to know the country over which her consort ruled until the 1990s. Anne of Romania played an important historical role in her own right. As in a scene inspired by the movie Schindler’s List, she managed to save one of the most important channels through which Romanians managed to escape from the communist ‘paradise’ and find refuge in the free world. Thousands of Romanians who fled to the West in the 1980s owe their freedom, and perhaps even their lives, to Queen Ana of Romania. Among those saved through the Danish route are journalist and writer Victor Frunză, Nicolae Matei, the first Danish translator of poet George Bacovia’s work, and the great musician Marin Petrache Pechea.

Keywords

• queen anne
• danish escape route
• refugees
• ion rațiu
• exile
• communism