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Avram Bunaciu

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Avram Bunaciu
President of the State Council
(Acting)
In office
19 March 1965 – 24 March 1965
Preceded byGheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Succeeded byChivu Stoica
Minister of Justice of Romania
In office
25 February 1948 – 23 September 1949
Prime MinisterPetru Groza
Preceded byLucrețiu Pătrășcanu
Succeeded byStelian Nițulescu [ro]
In office
31 December 1957 – 23 January 1958
Prime MinisterChivu Stoica
Preceded byGheorghe Diaconescu
Succeeded byGheorghe Diaconescu
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania
In office
23 January 1958 – 20 March 1961
Prime MinisterChivu Stoica
Preceded byIon Gheorghe Maurer
Succeeded byCorneliu Mănescu
Personal details
Born(1909-11-11)11 November 1909
Gurba, Transylvania, Austria-Hungary
Died28 April 1983(1983-04-28) (aged 73)
Bucharest, Socialist Republic of Romania
Political partyRomanian Communist Party
SpouseNoemi Nussbacher
Children2
Alma materUniversity of Cluj
OccupationPolitician, jurist

Avram Bunaciu (Romanian pronunciation: [aˈvram buˈnat͡ʃju]; 11 November 1909 – 28 April 1983) was a Romanian communist politician and jurist who served as the Minister of Justice, Minister of Foreign Affairs and in March 1965 was for 5 days the acting President of the State Council of Romania.

Early life and political career

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Bunaciu was born in 1909 in Gurba, a village not far from Arad, to a Greek-Catholic Romanian peasant family.[1] Some far-right sources have claimed that he was of Jewish origin; however, according to recent research by Romanian historians, this claim has been discredited.[2] During World War I, he and his elder brother were mobilized in the army[citation needed] and the family lived in poverty.

After graduating from the Samuil Vulcan High School in Beiuș, he studied Law from 1929 to 1933 at the University of Cluj. He was a communist intellectual during World War II and had several high ranking positions after the war, mostly within the Ministry of Justice.[3] Bunaciu was a lawyer by profession and close ally to Ion Gheorghe Maurer, with whom he defended communists at pre-war trials; he was also close to Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, who eventually became the President of the State Council and de facto ruler of Romania.[4]

After the war, Bunaciu was one of the main prosecutors of the People's Tribunals. There were two such tribunals in post-war Romania (one in Bucharest and one in Cluj), which were charged with trials of individuals involved in war crimes. From May 30 to June 4, 1945, together with Alexandra Sidorovici, Constantin Vicol, and Ion D. Ioan, he prosecuted in Bucharest a dozen prominent journalists, including Pan M. Vizirescu, Pamfil Șeicaru [ro], Stelian Popescu, Nichifor Crainic, Grigore Manoilescu [ro], and Radu Gyr.[5] Afterwards, Bunaciu was the Chief Public Prosecutor at the Cluj tribunal, which was set up on 22 June 1945 to prosecute war criminals. Bunaciu was involved in prosecuting mainly crimes committed by Hungarian authorities and their collaborators in Northern Transylvania, while the Bucharest tribunal mostly dealt with crimes perpetrated by Romanians under Marshal Ion Antonescu.[6]

State career

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Bunaciu served as the Minister of Justice of Romania from 25 March 1948 until 23 September 1949.[7] In 1952, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs when Ana Pauker was the minister.[4] At the time he also was the chairman of the National Assembly for the Application of Constitution.[3] When Pauker was sacked by the communist leadership aided by Joseph Stalin, Bunaciu left the foreign service and became the rector of the University of Bucharest in 1954.[4] On 13 January 1958 he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs.[8] On 20 March 1961, when he left the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was elected vice president of the State Council.[4] From 19 March to 24 March 1965, before Nicolae Ceaușescu came to power, he was the acting President of the State Council.[9][10] In 1971, he was awarded the Order of Tudor Vladimirescu [de], 2nd class.[11]

Personal life

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He married Noemi Nussbacher (at the time, a fellow communist sympathiser) in Cluj in 1938;[12] the Bunacius had two children, Tudor and Doina, a physicist now living in Switzerland.[13] He died in 1983 in Bucharest.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Liviu Țăranu, Avram Bunaciu. Biografie – reflecții – corespondență, Editura Enciclopedică, București 2012
  2. ^ Silvesan, Marius (2011-10-24). "Lansare de carte: Avram Bunaciu. Biografie – reflecții – corespondență". istorieevanghelica.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  3. ^ a b Balas, Egon (2000). Will to Freedom: A Perilous Journey Through Fascism and Communism. United States: Syracuse University Press. p. 430. ISBN 0-8156-0603-6. Retrieved 2010-08-17.
  4. ^ a b c d "Significant Changes in Rumanian Government Reshuffle". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 1965-08-28. Archived from the original on 2012-02-26. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
  5. ^ Stoica, Mihaela (May 30, 2020). "75 de ani de la procesul "ziariștilor fasciști, vinovați de dezastrul țării". Cum îi șantaja pe politicieni Pamfil Șeicaru". www.descopera.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  6. ^ "Trials of the War Criminals" (PDF). www1.yadvashem.org. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
  7. ^ "Rulers. Ministers of Justice". rulers.org. Archived from the original on 27 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
  8. ^ Khrushchev, Nikita; Khrushchev, Sergey; Shriver, George; Shenfield, Stephen (2007). Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev: Statesman, 1953–1964. United States: Pennsylvania State University. p. 292. ISBN 978-0-271-02935-1. Retrieved 2010-08-17.
  9. ^ "President of the State Council". Archived from the original on 2012-09-18. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
  10. ^ "Romania statesmen". Archived from the original on 4 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
  11. ^ "Decretul nr. 157/1971 privind conferirea unor ordine ale Republicii Socialiste România". lege5.ro (in Romanian). Buletinul Oficial. August 6, 1971. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
  12. ^ Budeancă, Cosmin; Olteanu, Florentin (14 June 2016). Destine individuale și colective în comunism. Institutul de Investigare a Crimelor Comunismului și Memoria Exilului Românesc, Memorialul Rezistenței Anticomuniste Țara Făgărașului. Iași: Polirom. ISBN 978-973-46-3432-3. OCLC 846907712.
  13. ^ "Marele jaf comunist. Dosarul "Patrimoniu"" [The Great Communist Robbery. The "Heritage" Dossier]. Digi24 (in Romanian). January 18, 2015. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
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