Athene Palace: Hitler's "New Order" Comes to Rumania

I first read this book in typescript in Romania in the early eighties. It sparkled then, and still sparkles now giving what seems as good and realistic account as is to be had of Romania in the early days of WWII. It's amazing what an acute ear, a seeing but not censorious eye, and the best seat in town can deliver.

A very well written record of the events in Rumania seen in relation - and as a supplement - to Olivia Manings book. I read it for the first time - in a translation to Danish in 1950 - and was fascinated by the book. Later through my career as a diplomat I have sought the book in vain and was very pleased by its reprint..

Once upon a time, the Athene Palace was Bucharest's most fashionable hotel. Its lobby must have been the place to be for everyone who was someone in that city. Rosie Waldeck, a German born emigree to the United States spent the latter half of 1940 there as a journalist and wrote this interesting account of events in Roumania at the time.Arriving on the day that Paris is occupied in June 1940 and departing in January 1941, Waldeck (a countess no less, by her third marriage) finds herself immersed in an entourage of diplomats, spies, faded princesses, politicians, generals and businessmen - not to mention the 'demimondaines' attracted by this crowd. Against this backdrop she describes the events unfolding in this troubled country. Oddly, as it was already a dictatorship (under the fickle king Carol II and his mistress Lupescu) with a distinctly fascist undertone, Rumania used to instinctively side with the Allies (France in particular). This changed when Paris fell and the Rumanian elite concluded (as many other elites too) that the Germans would prevail. Effectively handing over their country to the Germans, they got rewarded by the seizure of much of what they had gained after World War I by the Russians (Bessarabia), Hungarians (Transsylvania) and Bulgaria (Dobruja) with German approval. This disaster was followed by the renewed exile of Carol II and his mistress, the takeover by the Iron Guard fascist movement, increased German military presence and eventually a coup by Marshal Antonescu who removed a fascist movement from power with German support....This is a good book(let) and not only because the 'niche' character of the subject matter. Waldeck writes very well (although the style seems a bit contrived at least for modern standards) and her observations seem right on the mark (the book was written in 1941 so without much benefit of hindsight). As a nice bonus it provides a fascinating insight into a lost world where you could find everyone who counted in the lobby of just one hotel, where men kissed women's hands by way of introduction and where journalists were still glamorous countesses.

A wonderful account of the way Hitler gradually took over in Romania in 1940, written by an incredible brave woman