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Romanian Diaries, 1944-1947

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Romanian joke: The first post-1989 American ship arrives at the Romanian harbor of Constanta. A bystander asks the captain, "What took you so long?" The captain replies, "Well, travel by sea is always slow." The bystander responds, "Sure, but we've been waiting since 1945!"
This remarkable book by the highest ranking US civilian diplomat in Romania in 1944-47 describes in great detail the early years of this painful wait. The book is long, slow, and repetitive, but those with an interest in what it felt like to watch the beginnings of the cold war will be fascinated by it. Much that appears obvious now did not appear so then. Burton Berry is a virtually powerless resister as the iron curtain descends.
As the story begins, Romania has just surrendered to the Allies in 1944, and immediately declared her intent to join them in defeating Hitler. (Its alliance with Hitler was not exactly voluntary.) The US, UK, and Russia take tripartite control of the country as the war continues west, but it is the Red Army that has invaded the country, and it is Russia who is first among equals in the tripartite administration.
It quickly becomes clear that Russia has plans for Romania that are different from the plans of the Western Allies. The rest of the book consists of one long appeal for help from Berry to Washington, as he hears the cries of despair of both the pro-Western King Michael and the leaders of the "historic parties", the National Liberal and the National Peasant Parties. The Russians have the guns; the Russians have de jure control of the tripartite administration; and they slowly, gradually, inexorably use their power to bleed the defeated country's economy, harass and imprison the democratic opposition, and install an extremely unpopular and unrepresentative government of their own liking.
Berry's constant protests are futile, and he knows it better than anyone else. He makes it clear to Washington throughout these years that the Romanian democrats are counting on the US to protect them, and the US must choose either to take strong action to do so (possibly risking war with Russia) or abandon its friends to their fate and lose its influence. As in Hungary in 1956, the US chooses the latter course.
Berry is not naive. He knows that his is only one part of a much larger picture. He does not really expect the US to take the riskier path; he simply repeats, as often as he can, what the consequences of not taking that path will be. The book is worth buying simply for his "Top Secret Report Upon Romania, September 1946", and its appendix, "Soviet Methods at Work in Romania, 1944 Spring - 1946 July," both reprinted in full here.
As any Romanian will confirm, the country is unfortunate in its history and geography. One earlier book from this excellent publisher (Radu Florescu, The Struggle Against Russia in the Romanian Principalities, 1821-1854) describes Romania's Russian problem in the 19th century. A second one (Alexandru Cretzianu, Relapse into Bondage: Political Memoirs of a Romanian Diplomat, 1918-1947) describes the slow descent into World War II, as Romania, caught between the advancing Hitler and the waiting Stalin, begs in vain for help from the Western democracies -- in this case mainly France rather than the US. Who can wonder that Romanians view the world with cynicism and mistrust?
This book is a primary document of recent history. It is appalling and fascinating, and it is highly recommended.