Politics has always fueled endless discussion
\ntopics, while for their most part, political discussions translate into stark
\ndisagreements. Very few politicians of those whom we today take for figureheads
\nare squeaky clean, and that because human beings make mistakes. Nonetheless, that
\ndoes not mean there were not truly remarkable politicians who became landmarks
\nfor posterity. Their exceptionality was provided by the manner in which they
\nacted under extremely difficult circumstances, for themselves and for their communities.
\nOne such exceptional politician, here, in Romania, was Iuliu Maniu. We recall
\nthat on January 8th we commemorated 150 years since his birthday.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Iuliu Maniu was born in 1873 in the locality of \u0218imleul Silvaniei, in
\ntoday’s north-western Romania. Iuliu Maniu followed his father’s footsteps and
\nhad a similar career path, that of a lawyer. Iuliu Maniu earned his Doctor’s degree
\nin Law from the University of Vienna, in 1896. Maniu embraced the political
\ncareer, first being an activist with the National Romanian Party. In 1906 he was
\nelected deputy in the Hungarian parliament. In 1915 he was drafted into the Austrian-Hungarian
\narmy and dispatched on the Italian front. At the end of the war, in 1918 Maniu
\nparticipated in the Alba Iulia Assembly which ruled the unification with
\nRomanian of the then Austrian-Hungarian territories predominantly inhabited by Romanians.
\nIn Greater Romania, jointly with Ion Mihalache, Maniu founded the National
\nPeasant party in 1926. Between 1918 and 1945 Maniu was three times Prime
\nMinister of Romania. An out-and-out democrat, Maniu turned down collaborations of
\nall sorts, with the fascist dictatorship but especially with the communist one.
\nOn February 5, 1953, at the age of 75, Maniu was sentenced to prison. He later died because of the detention conditions
\nin the Sighet prison. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Iuliu Maniu was one of the strongest and most polarizing personalities
\nof the Romanian society in the first half of the 20t century. Incorruptible, charismatic,
\ntenacious, Maniu was, indeed, the figurehead the Romanians needed in the most
\ntrying times of their history. Maniu is unanimously remembered as a role model but
\nalso as a special man. Radio Romania’s Oral History Center Archive has loads of
\naudio testimonials about Maniu. We
\nhave selected two of them. Ioana Berindei is the daughter of Ioan Hudita, a National
\nPeasant Party prominent member. In 2000, Ioana recalled Iuliu Maniu, sir,
\njust like she used to call him. Ioana told us Maniu was a man of great modestly
\nand kindness.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Maniu had the rare
\nquality of being modest! A very nice man, with a warm voice. He used to join us
\nfor lunch, I can still remember once I went out to welcome him to our home and
\nhe used to tell us, me and my sister, Good afternoon, my dear young ladies And
\nhe had a spot on his lapel and I asked him would he allow me to clean it. Oh,
\nI’m so ashamed! says he. And I told him such things happened and would he allow
\nme to clean it, so he doesn’t pay another visit with the spot uncleaned. And
\nmister Maniu was ill, back then, whenever he got himself seated his knees ached,
\nhe walked with difficulty, but I never saw him nervous or irritated by
\nsomething. His being calm was so very soothing for everybody around. As a politician
\nhe was uncompromising. That’s what my father most loved about him. He never
\ngave an inch! His detractors used to say Maniu was so very slow in taking a
\ndecision. This is sheer mean malice, all politicians have their enemies, you cannot
\nbe perfect or you cannot possibly work without somebody opposing you. But then
\nagain, it was not because my father loved him or because I met him, but let me
\ntell you, there wasn’t a single flaw I found about him. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sergiu Macarie used to be active in the National-Peasant youth. In
\n2000 he confessed that the Soviets’ arrival in Romania was an alarm signal for
\nthe Romanian society which mobilized against its enemies. Maniu defied his old
\nage and, fighting his illness, got actively involved in that. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Less than two, maybe three days passed before we
\nhad our clashes with the communist gangs. We staged larger meetings and we knew
\nstraight away they would turn up. Of the party’s prominent members who always
\njoined us there was Ilie Lazar. In
\nthe Palace Square we all gathered and acclaimed the king and the king would
\nshow up in the balcony, standing ovations followed, and our moments of heaven.
\nAnd, as soon as that happened, trucks with workers always turned up, they had
\nclubs. For instance, on May 15, 1946, we were celebrating 98 years from the
\nspeech Simion Barnutiu delivered on the Freedom Plain in Blaj, and Maniu came
\ntoo. On our way out, all around the Romanian Atheneum and on the opposite side we
\nsaw cars teeming with workers with clubs. We really hard a hard time trying to
\nget the president out of there, there was a door at the far end of the building, which was
\nnever used, we forced it open so we could get him out of there. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Iuliu Maniu was more than an honest politician; he was an icon of democracy
\nitself. Between 1944 and 1947,
\nwhen the implementation of the communist regime in Romania occurred at its fiercest,
\nManiu was considered the West’s most important dialogue partner. His sacrifice
\nin Sighet turned Maniu into one of Romania’s major political landmarks in the
\n20th century. (EN)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
National Peasant Party president Iuliu Maniu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":93684,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41141],"tags":[42960,32441,42959,42961,37171],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-131592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-history-show","tag-activist","tag-communism","tag-figurehead","tag-kindness","tag-politician"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n