Dumitru Dămăceanu


Dumitru Dămăceanu was a Romanian army officer in World War II, later promoted to brigadier-general, who played a predominant role in the royal coup of August 23, 1944.

Military and diplomatic career

Before World War II

Dămăceanu was born in the village of Cosmești, in Galați County, Romania. He attended the Costache Negruzzi Boarding High School of Iași, and then the Military School for Cavalry Officers in Târgoviște, graduating in 1916 with the rank of second lieutenant. He then fought in the Romanian campaign of World War I with the 6th Regiment Roșiori. After the war, he pursued his military eduction at Infantry Officer School in Sibiu and the Military Academy of Turin.
In between the world wars, he was military attaché in Rome, Italy, director at the Voievodul Mihai School, and adjutant to King Carol II.

During World War II

From 1941 to 1942 he was commanding officer of the 10th Roşiori Cavalry Regiment, fighting on the Eastern Front. From 1942 to 1944 he was Chief of Staff of the Capital Military Command.

August 23, 1944 coup d'etat

Colonel Dămăceanu participated in the August 23, 1944 coup d'etat led by King Michael against the government of Marshal Ion Antonescu. He organized and coordinated the military actions and resistance in Bucharest. By the end of August 1944, he travelled to Moscow with a Romanian delegation; they were received by Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov on August 30 or 31. On September 12, 1944, General Dămăceanu was one of the plenipotentiary signatories of the Armistice Agreement between Romania and the Soviet Union.

Paris Peace Conference

In 1946, he was a member of the Gheorghe Tătărescu-led Romanian delegation to the Paris WW II Peace Conference. The Peace Treaty with Romania was signed in Paris on February 10, 1947, in the Salon de l'Horloge of the Ministère des Affaires Étrangères. On the Romanian side, the four signatories were Gheorghe Tătărescu, Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, Ştefan Voitec, and Dămăceanu. Other signatories included James F. Byrnes, Vyacheslav Molotov, and Ernest Bevin.

1944-1947

By then, Dămăceanu had been promoted from colonel general to army general.
From August 23, 1944, to December 30, 1947, he was Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Interior, Council of Ministers, Ministry of War-Land Forces.

Under the communist regime

Persecution

After King Michael's forced abdication and the complete Communist takeover, Dămăceanu was removed from the army. During the early 1950s he was degraded, arrested, tried and sentenced to serve time in prison.

Rehabilitation

After being released, during the 1960s, he was rehabilitated, receiving back his military rank – as a reserve officer. In 1974 he was promoted from the rank of colonel general to that of army general by presidential decree.

Private life

In 1932 he married Georgeta Stroescu, and they had a daughter, Gabriela Romana Dămăceanu, born in May 1938 in Rome, Italy, while he was a military attaché.