Constantin Petrovicescu

Petrovicescu was assigned his ministerial position by Codreanu's successor Horia Sima, serving as one of the main Iron Guardists in the conflicted cabinet headed by Ion Antonescu.

In October 1940, upon the recommendation of vice premier and new Legion head Horia Sima, Antonescu promoted Petrovicescu to the rank of divisional general retroactive to June 1, 1938, and returned him to active duty.

[3] As minister, he worked with Sima to create a well-armed Legionary police force, and actively supported arresting or even killing politicians who in the past had suppressed the Guard.

[6] On January 19, 1941, after the Nazi German Major Döring had been mysteriously assassinated in Bucharest, Sima's faction publicly questioned Antonescu's commitment to Romania's Axis allies, and the Conducător used the occasion to strip Petrovicescu of his cabinet office.

At an early stage of the riots, leading Guard member Viorel Trifa issued a manifesto which directly blamed the "brave and upright" minister's dismissal on Antonescu's alleged sympathy for "the British government of freemasons", accompanying such claims with antisemitic language.

[9] Other such theories popularized by the Legionnaires had it that Antonescu had personally encouraged Demetrios Sarandos, Döring's Greek-Turkish killer, to carry out his action, thus aiming to discredit Petrovicescu's political abilities.

[3] He is believed to have had the personal initiative for one of the most notorious acts of violence carried out at the time, by ordering the Legionnaires to occupy the headquarters of the Siguranța Statului secret police and open fire on the soldiers and civilians outside.