George Macovescu (; 28 May 1913 – 20 March 2002) 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 writer and communist politician who served as the General Secretary of Ministry of Information of Romania and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania.

Life and political career

He was born in

Joseni Joseni ( hu, Gyergyóalfalu, Hungarian pronunciation: , meaning "Lower Village in Gyergyó") is a commune in Harghita County, Romania. It lies in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania, and is composed of three villa ...

Buzău County Buzău County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in the historical region Muntenia, with the capital city at Buzău. Demographics In 2011, it had a population of 432,054 and the population density was 70.7/km2. * Romanians – 97% * Roma ...

. In the 1930s, George Macovescu wrote articles for several

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

newspapers, such as '' Adevărul'' and '' Dimineața''. In 1939, he graduated from the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...

's Law School. In 1936, he joined the then illegal

Communist Party of Romania The Romanian Communist Party ( ro, Partidul Comunist Român, , PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that woul ...

, and after

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 ...

started, he supported the anti-

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

forces in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

-aligned Romania. Around this time he also married a Jewish wife, Teri Ungar (Tereza). After the war, Macovescu was the General Secretary of the Ministry of Information of

in 1945–1947. He was then appointed Ambassador of Romania to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and served there from 1947 until 1949. After he came back to

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 ...

, Macovescu became the magistrate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania from 1949 to 1952. He then worked as the Chief Magistrate of the Romanian cinematography from 1955 until 1959. In 1959–1961, he was the Ambassador of Romania to 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 ...

and a member of the Romanian delegation to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

. In 1961, upon his return to Romania, he was appointed the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and in 1967 he became the First Deputy Minister subsequently becoming the Minister of Foreign Affairs on 18 October 1972. As the deputy minister and later minister, he took part in establishing better relations with

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and tried to increase mediating role of Romania in Israeli–

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

ian conflict. Macovescu served as Minister until 1978. At the time, he was married to his second wife, Emilia Marinela Macovescu. Macovescu also headed the

Writers' Union of Romania The Writers' Union of Romania (), founded in March 1949, is a professional association of writers in Romania. It also has a subsidiary in Chișinău, Republic of Moldova. The Writers' Union of Romania was created by the communist regime by taking ...

from 1978 until 1982. It was in this role in 1979, as a delegate to the XII Romanian Communist Party Congress representing the Writers' Union, that Macovescu rose to discredit a dissident speech by Constantin Pîrvulescu which denounced

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He ...

's leadership as party leader; Macovescu defended Ceaușescu and called on the delegates to "pretend that we didn't even hear what Comrade Pîrvulescu said." From 1949 until 1981, he also taught at Department of Romanian Language and Literature of the

. He died in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in 2002.

Writings

*''Contradicții în Imperiul Britanic'', București, 1950 (written under the pen name Victor Duran) *''Viața și opera lui Al. Sahia'', București, 1950 *''Gheorghe Lazăr'', București, 1954 *''Unele probleme ale reportajului literar'', București, 1956 *''Oameni și fapte, București'', 1957 *''Introducere în știința literaturii'', București, 1962 *''Vârstele timpului'', București, 1971 *''Catargele înalte'', București, 1972 *''Farmecul pământului'', București, 1977 *''Parfumul amar al pelinului verde. Jurnal la marginea dintre vis și viață'', București, 1982 *''Semnul dintre ochi'', București, 1983 *''Undeva, cândva'', București, 1985 *''Trecânde anotimpuri'', București, 1988 *''Jurnal, Vol. I'', Domino, București, 2006

External links

* .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macovescu, George 1913 births 2002 deaths People from Buzău County University of Bucharest alumni Romanian Ministers of Foreign Affairs Romanian communists Romanian opinion journalists Romanian activist journalists Adevărul writers University of Bucharest faculty Ambassadors of Romania to the United States Ambassadors of Romania to the United Kingdom

Life and political career

Writings

See also

External links

References