Traian Popovici (October 17, 1892 – June 4, 1946) 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 lawyer and mayor of

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 ...

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 ...

, known for saving 20,000

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

of Bukovina from deportation.

Life

Popovici was born in Rușii Mănăstioarei village of the

Duchy of Bukovina The Duchy of Bukovina (german: Herzogtum Bukowina; ro, Ducatul Bucovinei; uk, Герцогство Буковина) was a constituent land of the Austrian Empire from 1849 and a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary from 1867 until 1918 ...

in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was the son of Andrei Popovich of Udești and grandson of Ioan Popovich, a famous priest, who, in 1777, refused to take the oath to the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence ...

. His uncle was (1873–1950), who became a minister for

Bucovina Bukovinagerman: Bukowina or ; hu, Bukovina; pl, Bukowina; ro, Bucovina; uk, Буковина, ; see also other languages. is a historical region, variously described as part of either Central or Eastern Europe (or both).Klaus Peter Berge ...

under the government led by General

Alexandru Averescu Alexandru Averescu (; 9 March 1859 – 2 October 1938) was a Romanian marshal, diplomat and populist politician. A Romanian Armed Forces Commander during World War I, he served as Prime Minister of three separate cabinets (as well as being ''inter ...

. He studied at the Suceava high school (1903–1911), then enrolled at the Faculty of Law of the University of Chernowitz, which he graduated at the end of

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 a former president of '' Societatea Academică Junimea''. In 1908, while a high school student, he crossed from Austria-Hungary into

illegally, in order to see

Nicolae Iorga Nicolae Iorga (; sometimes Neculai Iorga, Nicolas Jorga, Nicolai Jorga or Nicola Jorga, born Nicu N. Iorga;Iova, p. xxvii. 17 January 1871 – 27 November 1940) was a Romanian historian, politician, literary critic, memoirist, Albanologist, poet ...

who was visiting the town of Burdujeni. When World War I started, he went to Romania and enlisted in the

Romanian Army The Romanian Land Forces ( ro, Forțele Terestre Române) is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. In recent years, full professionalisation and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Lan ...

, fighting until the end of the war. After World War I, he settled briefly in Chișinău, where he was secretary at "Our House" organization that dealt with land reform. In the interwar period, he worked as a lawyer in the city of Cernăuți. After the Soviet occupation of Northern Bukovina in June 1940, he took refuge 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 ...

, where he continued to work as a lawyer.

Mayor of Cernăuți

Military dictator Ion Antonescu requested him to become mayor of Cernăuți, but Popovici initially refused, unwilling to serve a fascist government. He changed his mind, however, based on advice from his friends. A few days after acceptance, in early August 1941, he was ordered by , the Governor-General of Bukovina, to create a

ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...

for the Jews of Cernăuți, but Popovici refused to accept that part of the city's population could be confined behind barbed wire fences. After long debates, Calotescu accepted his point of view. Due to Popovici's defense of Jews, his political adversaries nicknamed him "''jidovitul''" ("the turned-Jewish"). On August 30, 1941, Rioșanu died after an unsuccessful surgery, and he was succeeded as governor by General

Corneliu Calotescu Corneliu Calotescu (November 19, 1889 – October 17, 1970) was a Romanian major-general during World War II. He was born in Pitești, the son of Constantin and Felicia Calotescu. Following into his father footsteps, he chose to go into a militar ...

. On October 10, Calotescu announced his decision that all the Jews of Cernăuți must be

deported Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...

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 ...

. After talks with the governor, the latter agreed that Popovici would be allowed to nominate 200 Jews who were to be exempted. Unsatisfied with the modest concession, Popovici tried reaching Antonescu himself, this time arguing that Jews were of capital importance to Cernăuți's economy and requested a postponement until replacements could be found. As a result, he was allowed to expand the list, which covered 20,000 Jews in its final version. TraianPopovici1

Popovici died in 1946 in the village of Colacu (part of Fundu Moldovei commune, in Suceava County), and was buried in the churchyard of the village, next to the .

Legacy

Traian Popovici Righteous Among the nations tree at Yad Vashem

Popovici is honored by

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 ...

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

memorial as one of the ''

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sa ...

'', an honour given to non-Jews who behaved with heroism in trying to save Jews from the

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Lat ...

of the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

References

External links

* Popovici's testimony on the deportation: *
original Romanian
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Popovici, Traian 20th-century Romanian lawyers Mayors of places in Romania Romanian military personnel of World War I Romanian Righteous Among the Nations Politicians from Chernivtsi People from Suceava County 1892 births 1946 deaths Eastern Orthodox Righteous Among the Nations Chernivtsi University alumni

Life

Mayor of Cernăuți

Legacy

See also

References

External links