Corneliu Coposu

Corneliu Coposu ( born May 20, 1914 in Bobota, Austria - Hungary, † November 11, 1995 in Bucharest ) was a Romanian politician. The Christian Democrat was head of the anti-communist opposition in Romania after 1989.

Life

Born in Bobota, Salaj county, the son of the Greek Catholic Archpriest Valentin Coposu, he attended the primary school in the municipality Bobota (1919-1923) and then the High School " Vasile cel Mare " ( 1923-1930 ). He studied law and economics at the University of Cluj ( 1930-1934 ).

Corneliu Coposu grew up in a family that developed an intense political activity under the National Romanian Party, for the recognition of the rights of the Romanian population in the Austro- Hungarian Empire. The father, Valentin Coposu, energetic fighter for the Romanian thing in Transylvania, was arrested in Vac, Szeged and Budapest, on charges of high treason.

Political career

He began his political career as a private secretary of Iuliu Maniu (1937-1940) and was 17 years a political prisoner in Communist Romania. In April 1964 he was released from prison after a 17- year sentence in the prisons of Vacaresti, Jilava, Piteşti, Malmaison, Craiova, Aiud, Râmnicu Sarat, Poarta Albă, Capul Midia, on the Danube - Black Sea Canal, in Gherla and Sighetu Marmaţiei.

After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, he established the Partidul Naţional Ţărănesc Crestin Democrat again. He was re-elected Senator from Bucharest to chair the PNTCD and on September 27, 1992 at the first congress of the party on 27 September 1991.

Awards

• In May 1995, he was awarded the Order of Officer of the Legion of Honour, the highest decoration of France
• On November 14, 1995, he was made ​​an honorary citizen of the city of Timişoara.
• In 1996, in Bucharest, in Piata Revoluţiei unveiled next to the Biserica Kretzulescu his bust. The bust is the work of the Romanian sculptor Mihai Buculei.