The Romanian Treasure () is a collection of valuable objects and the gold reserves (~120 tonnes) that the Romanian government sent to Tsarist Russia for safekeeping during World War I, with the aim of being sheltered from the armies of the Central Powers, which had occupied a significant part of Romania and threatened to occupy the entire national territory. After the Romanian Army entered Bessarabia, at the time part of the Russian Empire, in early 1918, the new Soviet government that managed to rule Russia severed all diplomatic relations and confiscated the Romanian Treasure. As of today, only part of the objects and none of the gold reserves have been returned.
After the October Revolution and the seizure of power by the Communists under Lenin's leadership, the newly installed Soviet power sequestered the treasure and refused its restitution. It was partially returned, in three separate tranches, in 1935, 1956, and 2008, as a gesture of goodwill from the Soviets and later from the Russians. However, the majority of the treasure remained unrestituted, which makes it a sensitive subject in diplomatic relations between Romania and Russia.
Historical background In August 1916, Romania made the decision to enter the war alongside the Entente. Although the campaign started favorably with Romanian troops advancing into Transylvania, soon after, German, Austro-Hungarian, and Bulgarian forces took the initiative, occupying Dobruja, Oltenia, and Muntenia in the fall of the same year.
Romania's administration was forced to move the country's capital from Bucharest to Iași and organize resistance against the invaders in Moldavia. Against this backdrop, in November, it was decided to relocate the headquarters of the National Bank of Romania, an occasion during which its treasure was also transported to Iași. The main asset included in the treasure was a quantity of 93.4 tons of gold, consisting of 91 tons of historical gold coins and 2.4 tons of gold ingots. According to the conventions applicable at that time, gold served to guarantee the issuance of Romanian lei. The 91 tons of gold coins belonged to private Romanian banks, existing on the Romanian market at that time, private firms, and individuals, while the 2.4 tons of gold ingots belonged exclusively to the National Bank of Romania. The Russians requested that protocols for handover/receipt not be signed with multiple banks, companies, and individuals in Romania, but only one protocol with the National Bank of Romania, with the BNR collecting all these valuables from each Romanian entity separately.
At that time, the National Bank of Romania was entirely a private bank, with no involvement from the Romanian state. In early December 1916, the defense front had not yet stabilized, and there was serious consideration of evacuating the government across the Prut river into Russia. On December 2, the General Council of the BNR approved in principle the possibility of safeguarding the treasure in Russia, a view that, by December 8, was also supported by the government, voiced by Finance Minister Emil Costinescu, who mentioned, among other things, the precedent set by the Bank of France (which had decided to transfer its treasure to the United States). Costinescu also mentioned the option of transferring the treasure to London but considered the route too dangerous, given the additional threat posed by German submarines. Therefore, the preferred solution was to deposit the treasure together with the treasure of the Tsarist Empire at the Kremlin.
The decision had to be taken by the Romanian Prime Minister Ion I. C. Brătianu. Although the banker Mauriciu Blank advised him to send it to London or to a neutral country, such as Denmark, Brătianu feared the German submarines of the North Sea and chose another ally of Romania in World War I, the Russian Empire, using the argument that "Russia would feel offended if we sent it to England".
On December 12, 1916, the Council of Ministers approved the transfer of the treasure to Russia, after the Russian minister in Iași, General A. Mossoloff, communicated on December 11 that he was authorized to sign the protocol regarding the loading of the BNR treasure onto a special train, adding that the imperial Russian government guaranteed its integrity both during transportation and during its stay in Moscow. The protocol, which provided for the handover of the gold treasure to the delegates of the imperial Russian government, was signed in Iași on December 14/27, 1916.
The treasure destined for Moscow included three main categories of valuables:
Documents, manuscripts, ancient coins, paintings, rare books, treasures from monasteries in Moldavia and Muntenia, archives, deposits, collections of many public and private institutions; Public securities and other valuables (such as stocks, bonds, credit titles, pledges to the Mount of Piety, etc.); A quantity of 93.4 tons of gold (91 tons of historical gold coins, belonging to private individuals, companies, and private banks in Romania, and 2.4 tons of gold bars, belonging to the National Bank of Romania); the value of this metallic stock, never returned.
As a side note, during World War II, the valuables of the National Bank of Romania were not transported outside of Romania, but hidden inside a cave near Tismana, Gorj County, and from there, they were safely recovered after the war.
The composition of Romania's Treasure The list of exhibits owned by the National Museum of Antiquities, which were taken to Moscow in 1916, is as follows:
The transfer of the treasure to Russia
The first transport Between December 12th and 14th, 1916, at the Iași train station, a total of 1,738 boxes were loaded into 17 train cars, containing stored gold in the form of various ingots and coins (mostly German marks and Austrian crowns), with a total value of 314,580,456.84 Lei in gold. Additionally, two boxes containing Queen Maria's jewels, valued at 7,000,000 Lei in gold, were added. Upon completion of the loading operations, a Protocol was signed in three copies, one for the Russian side, one for the Romanian Ministry of Finance, and one for the National Bank.
The transport departed immediately and arrived in Moscow on December 21st, 1916. Delegated from the National Bank to accompany the transport were director Theodor Capitanovici (who was also tasked with remaining in Moscow and keeping two of the keys to the compartment where the valuables were to be deposited), censor A. Saligny, and central cashier M.Z. Dumitrescu.
Romanian and Russian delegates began inventorying the contents of the boxes on January 9th, 1917, an operation that lasted until February 4th, and on February 16th, a final protocol was drafted on this matter, signed by representatives of the Russian Ministry of Finance and Romanian delegates, along with the Romanian consul in Moscow, P. Guerin. The boxes containing the treasure were sealed, and representatives of the National Bank had the right to inspect the compartment where they were stored at any time, with the restitution of the valuables to be carried out by designated National Bank delegates specially appointed for this purpose.
The second transport At the beginning of 1917, the Russian Revolution erupted in Petrograd, marking the beginning of the major social movements in Russia that year, culminating in the October Revolution and the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks. Although the front in Moldavia had been stabilized, Romanian political authorities were still concerned about the possibility of the German armies breaking through the front and the country's ultimate defeat. Evacuating the government to Russia, either to Poltava or Herson in Crimea, where preparations were already underway for the installation of the royal family and ministers, was being considered.
On July 18th, 1917, the Council of Ministers decided, at the proposal of Nicolae Titulescu, who was then the Minister of Finance, to relocate the headquarters and assets of the National Bank to Russia. Preparations were made for transporting the assets of the National Bank to Russia, as well as those belonging to the CEC Bank and other public and private institutions. The loading of the train containing the new transport took place between July 23rd and 27th, 1917, and the train departed for Russia in the evening of the same day.
The train had 24 cars, three of which represented the assets of the National Bank, with a declared value of 1,594,836,721.09 Lei, including actual gold valued at 574,523.57 Lei, archives valued at 500,000 Lei, and the rest representing securities, bonds, deposits, and other assets. The CEC Bank's assets occupied 21 cars, comprising 1,661 boxes, estimated to contain around 7.5 billion Lei worth. The most precious objects of the Romanian state were sent, including the archives of the Romanian Academy, many antique valuables, such as 3,500-year-old golden jewels found in Romania, ancient Dacian jewels, the jewels of the voivodes of Wallachia and Moldavia, as well as the jewels of the Romanian royalty, thousands of paintings, as well as precious religious objects owned by Romanian monasteries, such as 14th century icons and old Romanian manuscripts.
The train arrived in Moscow on August 3rd, 1917, with the transport being guarded by the Russian side. Representatives of the following institutions supervised the transport from the Romanian side: the National Bank, the CEC Bank, the Credit Bank, Marmorosch Blank Bank, the Commercial Bank, and the Discount Bank. The assets of the National Bank from the second transport were deposited in the Kremlin, where the metal stock and Queen Maria's jewels, brought with the first transport, had also been deposited, while the CEC Bank's treasure was stored at the premises of the Russian Loan and Deposits House.
The confiscation of the treasure The Russian revolutionaries quickly gained control of the capital sparked by the economic crisis facing Russia during World War I, as well as the provocations of German agents. On March 15th, 1917, Tsar Nicholas II abdicated in favor of his brother Michael, who, however, refused the investiture. Power was then taken over by a provisional government, led until July 20th by Prince Lvov, and thereafter by Kerensky. On April 17th, Vladimir Lenin returned from Switzerland, transported in a sealed train car; ultimately, on November 7th, Lenin seized power, forcibly removing the provisional government.
The unrest spread to Moscow as well; the Cossack guard tasked with guarding the Romanian treasure sided with the revolution. To ensure the safety of the Romanian valuables stored at the Kremlin, 20 rural gendarmes dressed in civilian clothes were sent, departing from Iași on November 15th, 1917. However, in the absence of permission from the Bolshevik authorities, they were unable to fulfill their mission. Meanwhile, efforts were being made to transfer the treasure to the United States. However, the Allies could not guarantee the safety of the transport; this was not surprising, given that the treasure would have to traverse the entire Siberian region during a period of great social disorder.