Simion Bughici (b. Simon David, December 14, 1914 – February 1, 1997) was a

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

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

politician who served as the

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( ro, Ministerul Afacerilor Externe) is the ministry responsible for external affairs of the Romanian Government. The current Foreign Minister is Bogdan Aurescu. List of Ministers of Foreign Affairs (1 ...

Life and career

Bughici was born in

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...

to a Jewish family of

klezmer Klezmer ( yi, קלעזמער or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for l ...

musicians; his father and two brothers perished during the June 1941

Iași pogrom The Iași pogrom (, sometimes anglicized as Jassy) was a series of pogroms launched by governmental forces under Marshal Ion Antonescu in the Romanian city of Iași against its Jewish community, which lasted from 29 June to 6 July 1941. Accord ...

. He joined the banned

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 ...

in 1933. 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 opposin ...

, Bughici was imprisoned at

Vapniarka concentration camp The Vapniarka concentration camp was a concentration camp established in Vapniarka, Ukraine. History Soon after Romania, under the leadership of Ion Antonescu, joined the war on the Axis side and took part in the invasion of the Soviet Union, ...

Transnistria Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), is an unrecognised breakaway state that is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova. Transnistria controls most of the narrow strip of land between the Dniester riv ...

. He served as an Ambassador of Romania to

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

in 1949–1952. In July 1952, he was appointed

, replacing

Ana Pauker Ana Pauker (born Hannah Rabinsohn; 13 February 1893 – 3 June 1960) was a Romanian communist leader and served as the country's foreign minister in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Ana Pauker became the world's first female foreign minister whe ...

, who was sacked by the communist leadership aided by

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

. The appointment of Bughici disassociated Pauker's downfall from the anti-Semitism widely seen in Eastern Europe at the time. Bughici served as minister until October 1955. During his political career, he also served as the Vice

Prime Minister of Romania The prime minister of Romania ( ro, Prim-ministrul României), officially the prime minister of the Government of Romania ( ro, Prim-ministrul Guvernului României, link=no), is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was s ...

. Other offices that he held were that of head of Centrocoop, Minister of the Food Industry and vice president of the Communist Party Control Commission (Colegiul Central de Partid) (1969-1974). He was married to Ana Friedman, a history teacher and school principal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bughici, Simion 1914 births 1997 deaths Politicians from Iași Moldavian Jews Jewish Romanian politicians Romanian Communist Party politicians Romanian Ministers of Foreign Affairs Deputy Prime Ministers of Romania Heads of Centrocoop Ambassadors of Romania to the Soviet Union Survivors of World War II deportations to Transnistria

Life and career

See also

References