Max Carol Auschnitt,[1] also known as Ausschnitt, Auschnit or Aușnit (February 14, 1888 – January 18, 1957),[2] was a Romanian businessman and political figure, one of his country's most prominent industrialists during the interwar period.

First elected to the Senate as an independent corporate member, Auschnitt turned to partisan politics as a financial backer of the National Peasants' Party; he had enduring collaborations with Virgil Madgearu and Dem I. Dobrescu.

[6] A hostile piece by journalist Romulus Damian claims that the Auschnitts, including Max's father Olias, his mother Clara, and his elder brother Edgar, had illegally crossed into the Romanian Kingdom from Galicia, and then bribed the authorities into obtaining citizenship.

[12] Several members of the Auschnitt family, including Max, served in the Romanian Army during the campaigns of World War I, which resulted in the establishment of Greater Romania;[5] Edgar had been bypassed for the 1915 draft, after presenting himself as an Austro-Hungarian subject.

[1] Economist Nicolae Păvălucă suggests that Max Auschnitt built his personal wealth around the Galați nails factory that was sold to him by Niță Caltofeanu "not long after the first world war".

[13] Auschnitt belonged to a branch of Romanian Freemasonry, frequenting Meșterul Manole Lodge alongside Malaxa and Aristide Blank, and, through it, sponsoring Revista Fundațiilor Regale, a political-cultural journal.

[34] During the subsequent electoral race, the same daily hosted allegations that he and Malaxa, who also ran in the elections with government support, were financially backed by the UDR; according to this source, Auschnitt had personally diverted 10 million lei from the salary fund, and was using it in the campaign.

[44] Siguranța records also include allegations that Auschnitt, Malaxa and Dobrescu were behind the magazines Credința and Floarea de Foc, launched by Sandu Tudor in an attempt to promote Christian anti-fascism.

[50] Several Guardists have independently confirmed that Auschnitt advanced sizable contributions to their cause over an unspecified period—though, as noted by historian Roland Clark, these merely showed that he wanted his business protected from harm.

[13][57] Auschnitt remained noted for his escapades with film stars and high-society ladies,[9] before finally marrying Livia Pordea (also rendered as Prodea or Pordeanu), from a political family of Cluj.

[15][69] One anecdote suggests that Auschnitt also heard actors Grigore Vasiliu Birlic and Ion Iancovescu plead for financial assistance, before presenting them with a literal wall of cash, and asking them to pick out a layer of money.

[72] At a meeting of the General Union of Industrialists in November 1935, Auschnitt himself argued for tariffs on Romanian exports as a means of preventing "weak-currency countries" from competing with local factories.

[37] As noted by Argetoianu, the Iron Guard believed that Auschnitt was maneuvering to set up a new government team under Mihalache, which greatly enraged Codreanu and his followers; however, the allegation was dismissed by Edgar, according to whom Max was "not up to anything".

[92] The pretext was offered by his alleged conflict of interest: Auschnitt was claimed to have tampered with a signed UDR contract in order to obtain state compensation for TNC budgetary losses.

Historian R. P. T. Davenport-Hines suggests that Auschnitt may have been responsible for strengthening the Anglo-Polish military alliance in that he circulated an alarmist claim, namely that Germany had issued an ultimatum for Romania to join the Axis.

[29] Argetoianu adds speculation that Carol was resentful because his stocks in the Lujani sugar refineries, obtained from Auschnitt, had been subject to litigation; or that the king intended to please Adolf Hitler by "sacrificing his own kikes".

As noted by researcher George Enache, the affair showed the power that of Romanian secret services had in influencing legal procedures, especially so since Malaxa, whose name had been cited in similar allegations, was never convicted.

[117] In February 1940, an I. D. Dumitrescu publicized a full record of illegal deals involving Malaxa (who had left the country on an extended leave), but Carol ordered Marinescu not to follow up on this lead.

[100] In September 1940, following public outrage over the Second Vienna Award, Carol was deposed and exiled, alongside his mistress; the "National Legionary State" was established as a partnership between the Iron Guard and General Ion Antonescu.

[118] He openly acknowledged that Auschnitt was in fact innocent of any crime, and favored allowing him to leave Romania if he would transfer all his property to the state; this attempt was foiled by protests from Joachim von Ribbentrop, the German Foreign Minister.

[127] Auschnitt donated for a "makeshift healthcare center" at the Jewish labor camp in Cotroceni, after Colonel Agapiescu allowed Maximilian Popper to provide medical treatment for the inmates.

[150] On March 9, 1945, as Groza formed a communized cabinet, Auschnitt catered champagne for a pro-communist group, the Romanian Society for Friendship with the Soviet Union, later becoming Vice President of its Economic Section.

Schuyler also viewed him as a trusted adviser; together, they met with Constantin Titel Petrescu of the Social Democratic Party, who reassured them that he was only allied with Groza and the PCR until a change of setting would allow him to break away.

[153] Under interrogation by communist authorities, several Freemasons reported that Auschnitt and Reșița engineer Alexandru Popp, as members of the Big Finance Club, had agreed to sponsor opposition groups, including the PNȚ, in preparation for parliamentary elections in November 1946.

[164] Alexandru Grigoriu, himself an industrialist and a Mason, noted that Auschnitt personally handled grants for Titel Petrescu and Anton Dumitriu, who had by then formed an Independent Social Democratic Party.

As noted by memoirist Aurel Savin, the "judicial fabrication" was visible from the list of defendants, which included Auschnitt, a Jew, alongside the Iron Guard's Nicolae Petrașcu and wartime admiral Horia Macellariu.

[178] Scînteia, the communist party organ, depicted Popp and Auschnitt as "common criminals who, for years on end, have been robbing and demeaning thousands of working men and women, exploiting the blood out of them.

[136] Speaking at a public rally on November 1, Finance Minister Vasile Luca proclaimed that the trial had exposed Romanian capitalists for colluding against the Soviet Union and "our democratic regime's economy".

[38] During the subsequent row, Rădescu opened a civil lawsuit against members of Michael's retinue, alleging that, on Auschnitt's orders, they had dilapidated 3 million Swiss francs from the RNC's pool.

[58][86] Zamfirescu, who appeared as a witness, argues that the case was also harmed by a technicality: since journalist Agathe Lojard had called Pordea a spy, under French law she needed to prove that he had actually stolen military or economic secrets.