Known as the Queen Mother of Romania, Elena saved thousands of Jews during the Holocaust. Many of these Jews were orphaned children who had no future perspectives, but headed to certain extermination.
She was born in Athens, Greece. Initially, she was the princess of Denmark and Greece. However, she married the future king of Romania in 1921. They had a son, Mihai, who was officially crowned in 1940. Unofficially, he was crowned when he was five years old only.
Mihai’s reign faced numerous challenges, especially after Ion Antonescu took control of Romania. The move got the general executed after World War 2.
While Jews had a hard time in Romania, deportations aggravated in the summer of 1941. At that time, Dr. Alexander Safran was Romania’s chief rabbi. Along with patriarch Nicodem, who led the Orthodox Church, he appealed for the deportations, but nothing could stop Ion Antonescu.
Queen Mother Elena’s Role
Patriarch Nicodem decided to talk to Queen Mother Elena, who was moved by deportations and persecutions. She took the matter to Ion Antonescu herself. While the deportations continued, some Jews were actually saved. Jewish historian and writer Barbu Lazareanu was one of them.
Murders and deportations continued even after 1941. Dr. Alexander Safran asked the queen for help again. She persuaded the prime minister Mihai Antonescu to give Jews in ghettos access to clothing and food. Many of them were still alive, despite living in local ghettos or concentration camps.
This move saved thousands of them.
Queen Mother of Romania also worked to block the deportation of many Jews from the old kingdom, which covered areas outside Romania’s borders at that time.
According to the Nazi representative in Romania, Adolf Eichmann, she told the king that what was happening to people was awful and she could no longer stand it.
Thanks to her determination, some deported Jews were allowed to come back in 1943 and 1944. Many orphans joined them as well. Orphans were delayed for half a year, mainly because Adolf Eichmann tried to murder them. However, Elena’s efforts prevented this tragedy.
Queen Mother Elena passed away in 1982. She received the Righteous Among the Nations award in 1993.