Constantin Gheorghe Costa-Foru (26 October 1856 - 15 August 1935) 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 journalist, lawyer and human rights activist. He was born 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 ...

on 26 October 1956, in a wealthy family. His father, Gheorghe Costa-Foru (1820–1876), was a noted politician, twice minister, and the first rector of

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 ...

. The family had Aromanian origins, being originally from the city of Larissa, in

Thessaly Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, The ...

. In 1740 they had settled in

, where they amassed considerable wealth, building a mansion in Popești-Leordeni and summer residence was in Berca. Costa-Foru studied in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, then at Collège "Sainte-Barbe" in Paris, and around 1872 in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

. After finishing his studies he returned to Paris, where he married with Maria Ion Paspatti (1872–1935) on 26 June 1893. The couple had 10 children. Constantin Costa-Foru was a vocal supporter of human rights, and accused the growing antisemitism in the post-

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 ...

Romania. On one occasion he was attacked and beaten by a band of extremists as a result of his public discourse. In 1923 he was one of the founders of the League for Human Rights, working as its secretary. As a lawyer he pleaded, in 1925 at Turnu-Severin, against nationalist

Corneliu Zelea Codreanu Corneliu Zelea Codreanu (; born Corneliu Codreanu, according to his birth certificate; 13 September 1899 – 30 November 1938) was a Romanian politician of the far right, the founder and charismatic leader of the Iron Guard or ''The Legion o ...

, leader of the anti-Semite Iron Guard, who had assassinated the

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

of Iaşi. However, as a result of the powerful lobby of the nationalist organisation, Codreanu was ultimately acquitted. Another contribution was in defending the rebels of

Tatarbunary Uprising The Tatarbunary Uprising ( ro, Răscoala de la Tatarbunar) was a Bolshevik-inspired and Soviet-backed peasant revolt that took place on 15–18 September 1924, in and around the town of Tatarbunary (''Tatar-Bunar'' or ''Tatarbunar'') in Budjak ...

during the famous 1925 "Trial of the 500". Costa-Foru was also one of the Romanian pioneers in the business of

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2 ...

and

oil exploration Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for deposits of hydrocarbons, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth using petroleum geology. Exploration methods Vis ...

, contributing to the creation of the first Romanian Coal Company (1903). In memory of him and his father two

streets are named in their honor.

References

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''Constantin Costa-Foru - o personalitate în opoziţie cu antisemitismul''

Realitatea Evreiască ''Realitatea Evreiască'' ( Romanian for "The Jewish Reality") is a Romanian cultural and news magazine, based in Bucharest, and addressed to the local Jewish community. The magazine was founded in 1956 under the name ''Revista Cultului Mozaic d ...

, 262-263. November 7, 2006. Accessed on 2010-08-24. *
Costa-Foru Family
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Costa-Foru, Constantin Romanian human rights activists Romanian journalists Lawyers from Bucharest Romanian people of Aromanian descent Adevărul writers 1856 births 1935 deaths