Aron Cotruș (; 2 January 1891 – 1 November 1961) was a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

n poet, diplomat, and member of the fascist Iron Guard.

Life

He was born in 1891 in Hașag,

Sibiu County Sibiu County () is a county ( ro, județ) of Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Its county seat ( ro, reședință de județ) is the namesake town of Sibiu (german: Hermannstadt). Name In Hungarian, it is known as ''Szeben m ...

, at the time in

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. After attending secondary school in

Blaj Blaj (; archaically spelled as ''Blaș''; hu, Balázsfalva; german: Blasendorf; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Blußendref'') is a city in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania. It has a population of 20,630 inhabitants. The landmark of the city is the f ...

and the Andrei Șaguna High School in

Brașov Brașov (, , ; german: Kronstadt; hu, Brassó; la, Corona; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the administrative centre of Brașov County. According to the latest Romanian census (2011), Brașov has a pop ...

, he pursued his studies at the Faculty of Letters of the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...

. He became affiliated with the nationalist newspapers ""Românul" from Arad and "

Gazeta de Transilvania ''Gazeta de Transilvania'' was the first Romanian-language newspaper to be published in Transylvania. It was founded by George Bariț in 1838 in Brașov. It played a very important role in the awakening of the Romanian national conscience in Trans ...

" from Brașov. He also collaborated with the cultural magazines "

Gândirea ''Gândirea'' ("The Thinking"), known during its early years as ''Gândirea Literară - Artistică - Socială'' ("The Literary - Artistic - Social Thinking"), was a Romanian literary, political and art magazine. Overview Founded by Cezar Pet ...

", "Vremea", "Libertatea" (

Orăștie Orăștie (; german: link=no, Broos, hu, Szászváros, la, Saxopolis) is a city in Hunedoara County, south-western Transylvania, central Romania. History 7th–9th century – On the site of an old swamp was a human settlement, now ...

), "Iconar" (

Cernăuți Chernivtsi ( uk, Чернівці́}, ; ro, Cernăuți, ; see also other names) is a city in the historical region of Bukovina, which is now divided along the borders of Romania and Ukraine, including this city, which is situated on the up ...

), among others. The critic Al. T. Stamatiad described Cotruș as young Transylvania's "most talented poet". Ion Mierluțiu
"Un 'cvartet' modernist la Arad, în perioada interbelică"
, in ''Revista Arca'', Nr. 7-8-9/2010 During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he was in Italy, where he worked under the Romanian Legation in Rome. After the war, in 1919, he returned to Romania, becoming a journalist in Arad. A royalist, he later became a supporter of Ion Antonescu. After the death of Queen Marie of Romania he wrote the important poem "Maria Doamna" ("Lady Marie"), in which, in the words of historian

Lucian Boia Lucian Boia (born 1 February 1944 in Bucharest) is a Romanian historian. He is mostly known for his debunking of historical myths about Romania, for purging mainstream Romanian history from the deformations due to ideological propaganda. I.e. as ...

, "the queen appears as a providential figure come from far-off shores to infuse the Romanian nation with a new force." Cotruș also became a member of the

Romanian Writers' Society The Romanian Writers' Society ( ro, Societatea Scriitorilor Români) was a professional association based in Bucharest, Romania, that aided the country's writers and promoted their interests. Founded in 1909, it operated for forty years before the e ...

. He worked as a press attaché in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, and during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

as a press secretary in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

and Lisbon. Along with Titus Vifor and Vintilă Horia he was assigned by the Iron Guard's

National Legionary State The National Legionary State was a totalitarian fascist regime which governed Romania for five months, from 14 September 1940 until its official dissolution on 14 February 1941. The regime was led by General Ion Antonescu in partnership with the ...

to run the Romanian Propaganda Office in Rome, "The Fellowship of the Cross". After the coup d'état of August 1944 and the collapse of the Antonescu regime, he became a political refugee in

Francoist Spain Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

. He became the president of the exiled Romanian community, then editor of the Iron Guard exile magazine "Carpații", published in Madrid. In 1957 he settled in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, where he lived for the rest of his life. He died in

La Mirada, California La Mirada ( Spanish for "The Look") is a city in southeast Los Angeles County, California United States, and is one of the Gateway Cities. The population was 48,527 at the 2010 census, up from 46,783 at the 2000 census. The La Mirada Theatre f ...

on November 1, 1961. His remains are in Holy Cross Cemetery,

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, under a simple stone plaque. A street in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

's Sector 1 is named after him.

Literature

The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry describes him as a writer "whose messianic thunderings were couched in rolling free verse and a racy, sonorous vocabulary." Along with Emil Isac, he opposed a neo-romantic and "prophetic" attitude borrowed from

Octavian Goga Octavian Goga (; 1 April 1881 – 7 May 1938) was a Romanian politician, poet, playwright, journalist, and translator. Life and politics Goga was born in Rășinari, near Sibiu. Goga was an active member in the Romanian nationalisti ...

.John Neubauer, Marcel Cornis-Pope, Sándor Kibédi Varga, Nicolae Harsanyi, "Transylvania's Literary Cultures: Rivalry and Interaction", in Marcel Cornis-Pope, John Neubauer (eds.), History of the Literary Cultures of East-Central Europe, Vol. 2,

John Benjamins John Benjamins Publishing Company is an independent academic publisher in social sciences and humanities with its head office in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The company was founded in the 1960s by John and Claire Benjamins and is currently managed ...

, Amsterdam & Philadelphia, 2004, p.264 In Cotruș's case, this took the form of an

ethno-nationalist Ethnic nationalism, also known as ethnonationalism, is a form of nationalism wherein the nation and nationality are defined in terms of ethnicity, with emphasis on an ethnocentric (and in some cases an ethnocratic) approach to various politi ...

discourse about "the ethnic and social battles of the Romanians". Under the

communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...

, Cotruș was identified as a traitor, and as a representative of what Marxist critic Nestor Ignat called "hooliganism in literature". However, during the late Ceaușescu era, portions of his work were republished in Romania and his image was partially rehabilitated.

Publications

*"Poezii" ("Poems"). Orăștie, 1911 *"Sărbătoarea morții" ("Festival of Death"). Concordia, Arad, 1915. Edition II Bucharest, 1922 *"Neguri albe". ("White Clouds"). Alba-Iulia, 1920 *"România" ("Romania") (poem). Brașov, 1920. Edition II Arad, 1922 *"Versuri". ("Lyrics"). Library "Sămănatorul", Arad, 1925 *"In robia lor" ("In their bondage"). Arad, 1926 *"Mâine". ("Tomorrow"). Editura Scrisul Românesc, Craiova, 1928. A second edition under the auspices of the "Societății de Mâine" ("Society of Tomorrow"), Cluj, 1928 *"Holnap" (Tomorrow), Hungarian, published in Arad, 1929. Translated by Pal Bado *"Strigăt pentru depărtări" ("Cry for the departed"). Editura Ienci, Timișoara, 1927 *"Printre oameni în mers". ("Some people walk"). Sosnowiec, Poland, 1933 (bibliographical rarity). Second edition of the Spanish translation of Gaetano Aparicio, Madrid 1945 *"Horia". Issue Get Warsaw, Poland, 1935. Edition II Brad 1936 (in just two years appear editions of volume 18. Only in appearing in Bucharest, during 1938: editions III, IV, V, VI). The Hungarian translation by A. Kibedi, Cluj, 1938 *"Versek" (book of poems in Hungarian). Cluj, in 1935 (many of the poet's verses were published in the Transylvanian Saxon magazine "Klingsor" in Brașov, some translated by Alfred Margul-Sperber. Similarly, Zoltan Franyo translated some poems in German publishing them in magazines literature for the German community in Romania) *"Culegere de versuri" ("Collection of poems"). Polish translation by Wladimir Lewice. Lvov, 1936 *"Țara" ("Country"). Bucharest, 1937. Edition II Lisbon, 1940 *"Miners", Bucharest, 1937 *"Peste prăpăstii de potrivnicie" ("Over the precipice of misfortune"), Bucharest, 1938. Edition II Aparicio Gaetano Spanish translation, Madrid 1941 *"Maria Doamna" ("Lady Marie") (poem). Typography "Star", Bucharest, 1938 (deluxe edition) *"Aron Cotruș: Lady Marie". Reviews published in literary magazines in the country at that time, collected and published as a homage to the poet, Bucharest, 1939 *"Rapsodie Valahă" ("Wallachian Rhapsody"). Madrid, 1940. Edition II Bucharest: "Star", 1941. Edition III of Madrid, Editura Carpații, 1954. Appeared in Spanish translation, Madrid, 1941 (Aparicio Gaetano's translation) *"Rapsodie Dacă" ("Dacian Rhapsody"). Editura Fundațiile Regale, Bucharest, 1942 *"Poema de Montserrat" (in "Escorial"), Spain, 1949; Second edition of Madrid, 1951 *"Poemas". Madrid 1951 *"Roads by storm." Madrid 1951 *"Canto Ramon Llull." Mallorca, Spain, 1952 * * *"Aron Cotruș – Complete Works". Editura Dacia, Madrid, 1978 (edited by Nicolae Roșca)

References

External links

Life and Work (in Romanian)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cotrus, Aron 1891 births 1961 deaths People from Sibiu County Andrei Șaguna National College (Brașov) alumni University of Vienna alumni Romanian diplomats Romanian fascists 20th-century Romanian poets Romanian male poets Members of the Iron Guard 20th-century Romanian politicians Romanian journalists 20th-century journalists 20th-century Romanian male writers Romanian expatriates in Spain Romanian expatriates in Italy Romanian expatriates in the United States