Wounded and left for dead in the trenches, "he was lifted and dragged out of there by the Țambalagiu Gypsy Ioniță Gheorghe, and it was then and there, under machine-gun fire, that he swore he would dedicate his life for the salvation of his breed.

[12] A first documented effort of organizing the Romanies into a political body occurred in 1926, when Lazăr Naftanailă (or Naftanoilă), "a wealthy peasant of Gypsy origin",[13] established a Neo-Rustic Brotherhood, centered on Calbor.

The list included unemployment, for which Lăzurică placed blame on "modernism" and its indifference to Romani arts and crafts, but also the endemic nature of tuberculosis and sexually transmitted infections in tribal communities.

[27] This political debut and related scandals were covered by the Veselia, the humor magazine: "Many very decent have emerged, intellectuals, as in doctors, engineers professors and students, who have come out regarding their origin, only motivated by the opportunity of bettering their kin.

"[29] One of those who attended the congress was Ilie Rădulescu, a member of the National Agrarian Party (PNA), a right-wing Romanian nationalist group chaired by poet Octavian Goga.

[30] In November, Lăzurică applied for the UGRR to be recognized as a juridical person under Romanian law, but this process stagnated upon revelations that six of its founding members were either registered with fictitious addresses or had criminal records.

[4] Researcher Ilona Klímová-Alexander writes that Lăzurică managed to "hijack" Șerboianu's plans, "traveling all over the country, establishing local branches and emphasizing their relationship to the centre; he also visited universities and persuaded Romani students to attend.

"[31] Claiming to be the first-ever assembly of the Romanies in Romania, this caucus proclaimed Lăzurică its "Voivode";[32] Șerboianu was marginalized, and his supporters, mostly based in Transylvania, were barred from attending the UGRR meeting.

"[47] Scholar Mihaela Mudure notes that voivodal references in the 1930s were meant to evoke a "romanticized version of Gypsy leadership" and command "feudal" loyalty from UGRR members; "democratic practices", she argues, "were very limited.

[61] Dreptatea, as an organ of the left-leaning National Peasants' Party, gave a positive review to Lăzurică and Șerboianu's identity politics: "The Gypsies' 'ethnic pride' is a commendable psychological therapy, serving to seal and heal wounds produced by an unjust past, one of persecution and poverty.

[66] In its program, the Union pledged to support the Romanian Orthodox Church against proselytizing "sects", and promised to oversee Romani processions on Dormition Feast (August 15, chosen by the UGRR as a "National Day").

[3][33] As noted by Klímová-Alexander, the Voivode was spuriously accused by other Romanies of wanting to make his community an appendage of official Orthodoxy; in fact, he "could have used the support and resources of the Church to further [his] own mobilization goals.

[74] While the program also promised that Romanies would remain "aloof from all extremist parties" and "politically non-aligned",[75] in practice the UGRR was intimately associated with the far-right fringes of Romanian nationalism, including fascists.

[93] Despite this change, the group continued to display fascist sympathies: according to one report, the 1935 Romani congress in Bucharest, presided upon by Gheorghe Nicolescu, was held in a hall decked with portraits of Hitler.

In late June 1934, still presenting himself as the UGRR leader, he announced that he was commissioning a bust of Grigore Alexandru Ghica (a key figure in the 1850s abolition of Roma slavery), "to be placed in the center of a village comprising the greatest number of Romanies.

[100] On September 10, 1934, the Voivode presided upon his own Romani congress at Sibiu; in a series of "10 commandments", delegates were asked to submit to both him and the Orthodox Church, to love Romania and its king, and to not steal or have sex outside marriage.

Commenting on this document, journalist V. Munteanu suggested that Lăzurică had embraced dictatorial means without having the needed charisma, and that his channeling of Orthodoxy would naturally alienate Romanies of other religious backgrounds.

[102] As noted by Ellenzék newspaper, he had grouped a new circle of loyalists, including architect Andrei (András) Zima of Blaj, "who outlined the self-sacrificing work of Grand Voivode G. A. Lăzurică in unifying all Gypsies"; other disciples were Adam Bunaciu of Târnava-Mică and Gheorghe Sicra of Târnava-Mare.

[110] On September 3, 1935, when the Association organized a rally of Romani workers from Floreasca, Rahova and Tei, Lăzurică and Șerboianu were presented as co-chairmen; Zima was proclaimed leader of the Transylvanian regional wing.

[117] In a February 1937 article for Manolescu-Dolj's newspaper Timpul, he stated a revised account on the Zgripți origin, depicting them as Bactrians who had rejected Brahmin customs to continue their nomadic lifestyles, and who were famed throughout Asia for their military prowess and courage.

[125] This alliance was ridiculed by the PNC's rivals from the National Peasants' Party, but Țara Noastră defended it as a natural outcome: the Romanies and the Romanians "shaped each other through a shared destiny".

According to Teodorescu-Braniște, the move to incorporate the ACRR into the PNC was a sign that the latter was "abandon[ing] racist principles", adding: "We have received numerous letters asking us if this [alliance] was real, if it was not a fabrication of ours.

[116] He was reportedly preparing to lead a Christian pilgrimage of the Romanies into the Holy Land, and hoping to be personally blessed by Timotheus, the Patriarch of Jerusalem; the delegation was also set to visit the Kingdom of Egypt.

[140] Late that month, Opinia newspaper alleged that "Lăzurică, that famous chief of the Romanies", had been escorted to the 21st Police Precinct after failing to settle a bill with a saloon on Dealul Spirii.

To signal their visibility and commitment to "integral nationalism", they staged a rally in Iepurești, with speeches by Lăzurică, Șerboianu, Zima, Gheorghe Bașud, Ghiță Slobozeanu, and other community representatives.

[144] In his first-ever Țara Noastră editorial, Șerboianu, passing himself off as a member of the Romani community, reported that he had always fought alongside "the Roma comrade G. A. Lăzurică, who was not overcome either by intrigues, either by the lures or the cowardice of some of our brethren.

[146] As noted by Matei, Lăzurică and Șerboianu had fully reconciled and "could pass for Romani leaders" when negotiating with their PNC counterparts, Goga and A. C. Cuza; instead, the UGRR remained tied to the mainstream National Liberals.

[147] The Jewish Party's paper, Új Kelet, reported during the December elections that Lăzurică resented the PNC for negotiating with the National Liberals behind his back, and also that, unlike Goga, he now mistrusted the Anti-Comintern Pact.

[149] The PNC government, appointed by Carol after a hung parliament, imposed laws for the "Romanianization" of Romania's economy, including the ouster of "racial" minorities; the Romanies, however, were entirely spared.

[155] Its entire leadership, Nicolescu included, joined the Front as early as March 1938;[132] they then directed the effort to enlist members of various tribal groups into their respective FRN guilds, jointly with Romanian artisans.