Prince Constantin Jean Lars Anthony Démétrius Karadja (24 November 1889 – 28 December 1950) was a Greek-Romanian diplomat, barrister-at-law, bibliographer,

bibliophile A bookworm or bibliophile is an individual who loves and frequently reads or collects books. Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. Bibliophiles may have large, specialized book collections. They may highly value old editions, aut ...

and honorary member (1946) of the

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its bylaws, the academy's ma ...

. He was a member of the Caradja aristocratic family.

Family

Constantin was the son of Prince Jean Karadja Pasha (1835–1894) and Marie Louise Smith of Sweden, aka Princess Mary Karadja (1868–1943). In 1916 Constantin married a distant relative (her father was second cousin to Constantin), Princess Marcela Elena Caradja (1896–1971) of Romania. They had two children: * Prince Jean Aristide Constantin Georges Caradja (1917–1993), married to Minna Frieda Auguste Starke (1911–1992). * Princess Marie–Marcelle Nadèje Karadja (1919–2006).

Education and studies

Barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

at law in England with studies at

Framlingham College Framlingham College is a public school ( boarding and day school) in the town of Framlingham, near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. Together with its preparatory school and nursery at Brandeston Hall, it serves pupils from 3 to 18 years of age ...

and the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...

, he spoke English, Swedish, Romanian, German, French, Danish and Norwegian, as well as Latin and Greek. Being a European by education, Constantin Karadja married and established himself in Romania (1916). He was naturalised and joined the diplomatic service in 1920, serving Romania in missions as consul in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

(1921–1922), consul general in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

(1928–1930) and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

(1932–1941). With additional solid competences in economics, he also worked as a counsel in the Ministry of Finances, and participated 1927 as chief of the Romanian delegation to the International Economic Conference in Geneva. He composed a diplomatic and consular manual.

Bibliographical, bibliophile and historic activities

Being a passionate bibliophile and collector, Constantin Karadja founded one of the most important collections of old and rare books in South-East Europe, which nowadays can be found partially in the

National Library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public library, public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, ...

and the Romanian Academy in Bucharest.Gheorghe Buluţă, "Bibliologi români-Constantin I.Karadja", Revista Bibliotecii Naţionale Being accredited as consul general in Berlin and in parallel to his diplomatic activities, he continued his research concerning

incunabula An incunable or incunabulum (: incunables or incunabula, respectively) is a book, pamphlet, or broadside (printing), broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. The specific date is essentiall ...

, realising in this period the "List of incunabulum on the Romanian territory".Dan Simonescu, "Un mare bibliolog român: Constantin I. Karadja", in Analele Universitaţii București, Limba şi literatura română", 1971 During the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

he became a founding member of the nationalist

Crusade of Romanianism The Crusade of Romanianism (, also known as ''Vulturii Albi'', "White Eagles", ''Steliști'', "Stelists", or ''Cruciați'', "Crusaders") was an eclectic revolutionary movement in Romania. Founded in late 1934 by Mihai Stelescu, it originated as a ...

: he sponsored the party and its newspaper (where he also wrote articles) and he was the national vice president of the Crusade. His home on Calea Victoriei was also the Crusade's headquarters. In November 1935 renounced his position in the Crusade and plastered the capital's billboards with manifestos of his new party. The name of its organization is National Front (which included

Alexandru Averescu Alexandru Averescu (; 9 March 1859 – 2 October 1938) was a Romanian marshal, diplomat and Populism, populist politician. A Romanian Armed Forces Commander during World War I, he served as List of Prime Ministers of Romania, Prime Minister of thr ...

's People's Party) and it demands the consolidation of extreme right-wing forces. He and Mihai Stelescu, the Crusade's leader, reconciled a while after, and had daily consultations with each other at the Athenee Palace. He published important works regarding the ancient history of Romania. Using unknown sources discovered by his own research activities, he released in 1934 his famous work entitled "The oldest sources published on Romanian history". In 1940 he also presented to the Romanian Academy the first mentions of

Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus ro ...

and the Romanians discovered in two incunabula from 1454 and 1472. More than half of the numerous scientific articles of Constantin Karadja were published in the three journals of Nicolae Iorga. As a result of his activity as bibliographer and researcher, he was admitted as honorary member of the

on 3 June 1946. His letter of recommendation was signed by eighteen notable academicians, including Ion Nistor,

Alexandru Lapedatu Alexandru I. Lapedatu (14 September 1876 – 30 August 1950) was Cults and Arts and State minister of Romania, President of the Senate of Romania, member of the Romanian Academy, its president and general secretary. Family Alexandru Lapedatu wa ...

, Dimitrie Pompeiu, Gheorghe Spacu, Emil Racoviţă, Iorgu Iordan, Constantin Ion Parhon, Nicolae Bănescu,

Constantin Rădulescu-Motru Constantin Rădulescu-Motru (; born Constantin Rădulescu, he added the surname ''Motru'' in 1892; February 15, 1868 – March 6, 1957) was a Romanian philosopher, psychologist, sociologist, logician, academic, dramatist, as well as Left-win ...

, Ştefan Ciobanu, Radu R. Rosetti, and . He was removed from the Academy by the communist regime two years later, in 1948. After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, he was re-established in 1990.

Diplomatic activity

Influenced by his humanistic and juridical education, Constantin Karadja constantly followed the principles of

international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

respecting human rights. He did not cede in front of political pressures, "doctrines" en vogue or potential "opportunities", but engaged himself with perseverance in the protection of the rights of Romanian citizens living abroad, regardless of ethnicity or religion. As the Romanian consul general in Berlin (1932–1941) and the director of the consular department of the Romanian Foreign Ministry (15 June 1941 – 17 October 1944), "in both functions, during one and a half decades, Karadja developed an intense activity to save

Romanian Jews The history of the Jews in Romania concerns the Jews both of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is present-day Romanian territory. Minimal until the 18th century, the size of the Jewish population increased after ...

surprised by the war in the kingdom of death". "Tens of thousands owe their lives to his exceptional persistency, abnegation, determination and amplitude marking his long-term engagement in favour of the Romanian Jews stranded under the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

regime." Yosef Govrin, former Israeli ambassador, also writes that it "required extraordinary courage to act as he did through diplomatic means" as he was putting his career in consequent jeopardy. Shortly after his dismissal on 17 October 1944, he was re-appointed by the new foreign minister, Constantin Vișoianu. On 1 September 1947 he was dismissed again from the ministry, this time permanently. This was one of the last measures taken by minister Gheorghe Tătărescu, who one month later, was himself forced to leave his post to

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

. Subsequently, the payment of Karadja's pension was refused. In an atmosphere of incertitude and menace, he died on 28 December 1950.

Posthumous recognition

On 15 September 2005, Constantin Karadja received from the

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

institute in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

posthumously the title "

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...

" during a ceremony in the Israeli embassy in Berlin and in presence of the Romanian ambassador. His diplomatic efforts have been presented in detail on the basis of numerous letters, memos, reports etc. which he sent to his superiors including Mihai Antonescu. These documents can be found in the archive of the Romanian foreign ministry and the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. They are the means by which Karadja saved over 51,000 persons from deportation and extermination—Jews (men, women and children) from parts of Europe dominated by the Nazis, especially from Germany, France and

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, but also from

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and Italy (November 1943 – July 1944).Rettungen durch Diplomaten im Zweiten Weltkrieg (pdf) von David Rosenfeld und Vivianne Schnurbusch (27 February 2007 Opening of the exhibit "Diplomats of Mercy" New York City
"Gibt es unter den Diplomaten nur zwanzig Judenretter?"

References

Selective bibliography

*Eugène Rizo Rangabé, ''Livre d'Or de la Noblesse Phanariote et de Familles Princières de Valachie et de Moldavie'', Athens, 1892 *Constantin I. Karadja: "Incunabule povestind despre cruzimile lui Vlad Ţepes" Cluj, Cartea Românească 1931, în volumul "Inchinare lui Nicolae Iorga cu prilejul împlinirii vârstei de 60 ani" *Constantin I. Karadja: "Alte Bibliotheken der Siebenbürger Sachsen und ihre Wiegendrucke", Gutenberg-Jahrbuch, 1941, p. 196–207.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karadja, Constantin 1889 births 1950 deaths People educated at Framlingham College Romanian people of Dutch descent Romanian people of Greek descent Romanian people of Swedish descent Romanian diplomats Members of the Crusade of Romanianism Leaders of political parties in Romania Romanian historians 20th-century Romanian lawyers Romanian book and manuscript collectors Romanian Righteous Among the Nations Eastern Orthodox Righteous Among the Nations Honorary members of the Romanian Academy

Constantin Constantin is an Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian and Romanian male given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, ...

Bibliophiles