As 1942 came to a close, Ion Antonescu became alarmed at the deterioration of the Axis war effort and started looking for ways to withdraw Romania from the war. He attempted to persuade Hitler to make peace with the Western Allies and focus the full power of the Axis forces on the Soviet Union. When the Soviets won the Battle of Stalingrad on 2 February 1943, Antonescu came to the conclusion that the war was lost for the Axis, proceeding to destroy files and documents that revealed his active persecution of Romania's Jews. With Ion Antonescu's approval, he came to advocate the withdrawal from conflict of all minor allies of the Nazis - Romania, Hungary, Italy, and Finland.