Grigore Niculescu-Buzești, Chargé d'Affaires of Romania in Riga During the Years Fateful for the Baltic States, 1939–1940

Abstract

In the case of the mandate that Grigore Niculescu-Buzești (1908–1949) fulfilled in the Latvian capital, attention is captivated, from the very beginning, by his numerous reports and analysis carried out by the Romanian diplomat. A careful and detailed study of the telegrams he sent to Bucharest from the Baltic capital can reveal to anyone, on the one hand, the concerns, fears, tensions and hopes of the authorities in Riga, as well as of Latvian society, in the context of the Soviet-German pact of 23 August 1939, of the outbreak of the war and the relationship with the Soviet Union, and on the other hand, – the mechanisms of Moscow’s aggression that led to the annexation of the Baltic countries in June 1940. Until the summer of 1940, the Romanian diplomat sent numerous telegrams to Bucharest, in which the stages of the annexation can be captured clearly and precisely. The number of documents and the amount of information reveal Bucharest’s high interest regarding the events in the Baltic states at that time. Thus, the author can trace the impact and relevance of his information and analysis in a tragic context, marked by tensions and convulsions throughout Europe. Moreover, Niculescu-Buzeștis experience as Romani’s chargé daffaires in Riga deeply marked the future Romanian minister of foreign affairs.

Keywords

• Diplomacy
• the Second World War
• Romania
• Baltic states
• Soviet Union