Due to the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina in the summer of 1940, Brăileanu was obliged to flee his home, and his entire personal library was lost.
He then entered the University of Bucharest as a professor.
From his new home in Bucharest, Brăileanu was consulted by the FRN regime and Prime Minister Ion Gigurtu, helping them draft Romania's first set of antisemitic laws.
A month later, the FRN dictatorship crumbled, and Carol II abdicated; the Guard seized the opportunity and proclaimed its National Legionary State, with Ion Antonescu as the Conducător.
Brăileanu took over two ministerial portfolios, fused into one: the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs and the Ministry of the Arts.
His deputy was a Bucharest sociologist, Traian Herseni.
The staff he appointed also included other Guard affiliates: Făcăoaru, Haig Acterian, Vasile Băncilă, Dan Botta, Eugen Chirnoagă, Vladimir Dumitrescu, and Radu Gyr.

Reportedly, Brăileanu's appointment prefigured later conflicts between the Guard and Antonescu: the latter disliked Brăileanu's radicalism, but yielded to pressures from Horia Sima, the Guard Commander.
After assuming office, Brăileanu ordered changes in his ministry, but upheld and expanded upon the Gigurtu laws, equating interwar democracy with "the establishment of foreign and Kike rule".
On his orders, Jewish students were expelled from Romanian high schools, excepting only those who could present proof that they were the direct descendants of war veterans; he allowed for the creation of a private-run, fully segregated, Jewish educational system.
This policy enlisted protests from Jewish community leaders such as Wilhelm Filderman and Alexandru Șafran.
Their protests, which went unanswered, noted that Brăileanu's criteria for segregation were more intransigent than the Nuremberg Laws in Nazi Germany.

Brăileanu similarly ordered the segregation of Jewish actors, who were sacked from all Romanian theaters, public or private, "without restriction or exception".
They could only be employed by "Jewish theaters", which had to advertise their racial makeup, and could only perform in plays screened for "anti-patriotic" content.
Speaking at the time, the minister intimated his goal of outlawing Judaism, and hinted at the possibility of destroying synagogues, finding that these were "too many, if compared to the number of kikes."
One other decree issued during his term banned Romanian pupils from purchasing schoolbooks from Jewish-owned businesses, while another dismissed eleven Jewish high school teachers.

Brăileanu also went after one of his FRN predecessors, the left-wing sociologist Andrei, declaring him an undesirable, banned from teaching in all public schools.
In October 1940, he countersigned the order to arrest Andrei, who was thus shamed into committing suicide.
Brăileanu annoyed Antonescu by insisting on minute details of cultural and religious policy: he wanted to rename villages whose name still honored Ion G. Duca, demanded the removal of frescoes depicting Carol II, and also proposed to shut down the Bucharest Crematorium, which he saw as anti-Christian.
According to various reports, his Ministry encouraged the display of propaganda material in high schools, allowing teachers to put up portraits of the Guard's assassinated founder, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu.
The Guard was allowed to recruit young students, grouped into "Cross Brotherhoods"; teachers were prevented from interfering with their paramilitary activities, even when students skipped classes.
Enlistment therein was facilitated by rumors that non-members would be barred from entering universities.

Brăileanu's other decrees lifted academic freedom, allowing the Ministry to intervene in college policy, and prioritized the academic employment of people who, like himself, were known Guard members or had been jobless since the Soviet occupation.
He disbanded the National Student Front, the sole student association established under the FRN, and lifted bans on other student associations.
However, these were effectively centralized into
Due to the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina in the summer of 1940, Brăileanu was obliged to flee his home, and his entire personal library was lost. He then entered the University of Bucharest as a professor. From his new home in Bucharest, Brăileanu was consulted by the FRN regime and Prime Minister Ion Gigurtu, helping them draft Romania's first set of antisemitic laws. A month later, the FRN dictatorship crumbled, and Carol II abdicated; the Guard seized the opportunity and proclaimed its National Legionary State, with Ion Antonescu as the Conducător. Brăileanu took over two ministerial portfolios, fused into one: the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs and the Ministry of the Arts. His deputy was a Bucharest sociologist, Traian Herseni. The staff he appointed also included other Guard affiliates: Făcăoaru, Haig Acterian, Vasile Băncilă, Dan Botta, Eugen Chirnoagă, Vladimir Dumitrescu, and Radu Gyr.
Reportedly, Brăileanu's appointment prefigured later conflicts between the Guard and Antonescu: the latter disliked Brăileanu's radicalism, but yielded to pressures from Horia Sima, the Guard Commander. After assuming office, Brăileanu ordered changes in his ministry, but upheld and expanded upon the Gigurtu laws, equating interwar democracy with "the establishment of foreign and Kike rule". On his orders, Jewish students were expelled from Romanian high schools, excepting only those who could present proof that they were the direct descendants of war veterans; he allowed for the creation of a private-run, fully segregated, Jewish educational system. This policy enlisted protests from Jewish community leaders such as Wilhelm Filderman and Alexandru Șafran. Their protests, which went unanswered, noted that Brăileanu's criteria for segregation were more intransigent than the Nuremberg Laws in Nazi Germany.
Brăileanu similarly ordered the segregation of Jewish actors, who were sacked from all Romanian theaters, public or private, "without restriction or exception". They could only be employed by "Jewish theaters", which had to advertise their racial makeup, and could only perform in plays screened for "anti-patriotic" content. Speaking at the time, the minister intimated his goal of outlawing Judaism, and hinted at the possibility of destroying synagogues, finding that these were "too many, if compared to the number of kikes." One other decree issued during his term banned Romanian pupils from purchasing schoolbooks from Jewish-owned businesses, while another dismissed eleven Jewish high school teachers.
Brăileanu also went after one of his FRN predecessors, the left-wing sociologist Andrei, declaring him an undesirable, banned from teaching in all public schools. In October 1940, he countersigned the order to arrest Andrei, who was thus shamed into committing suicide. Brăileanu annoyed Antonescu by insisting on minute details of cultural and religious policy: he wanted to rename villages whose name still honored Ion G. Duca, demanded the removal of frescoes depicting Carol II, and also proposed to shut down the Bucharest Crematorium, which he saw as anti-Christian. According to various reports, his Ministry encouraged the display of propaganda material in high schools, allowing teachers to put up portraits of the Guard's assassinated founder, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu. The Guard was allowed to recruit young students, grouped into "Cross Brotherhoods"; teachers were prevented from interfering with their paramilitary activities, even when students skipped classes. Enlistment therein was facilitated by rumors that non-members would be barred from entering universities.
Brăileanu's other decrees lifted academic freedom, allowing the Ministry to intervene in college policy, and prioritized the academic employment of people who, like himself, were known Guard members or had been jobless since the Soviet occupation. He disbanded the National Student Front, the sole student association established under the FRN, and lifted bans on other student associations. However, these were effectively centralized into
Traian Brăileanu