Dinu Brătianu (; January 13, 1866 – August 20, 1950), born Constantin I. C. Brătianu, was a Romanian engineer and politician who led the
National Liberal Party (PNL) starting in 1934.
Life
Early career
He was born at the estate of ''Florica'', in
Ștefănești,
ArgeÈ™ County
Argeș County () is a county (''județ'') of Romania, in Muntenia, with the county seat at Pitești.
Demographics
At the 2021 Romanian census, 2021 census, the county had a population of 569,932 and the population density was . At the 2011 Ro ...
, the son of the great Romanian statesman
Ion Brătianu
An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by convent ...
and of his wife, (née Pleșoianu). The fourth of five children, his brothers were
Ion I. C. Brătianu and
Vintilă Brătianu
Vintilă Ion Constantin Brătianu (; 16 September 1867 – 22 December 1930) was a Romanian politician who served as Prime Minister of Romania between 24 November 1927 and 9 November 1928. He and his brothers Ion I. C. Brătianu and Dinu Brăti ...
.
Dinu Brătianu attended
Saint Sava High School in
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
, while also taking private lessons with the mathematicians
Spiru Haret and
David Emmanuel. He then studied
engineering
Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...
at the
Bucharest Polytechnic, graduating in 1890, and then pursued his studies at the
École des mines
École or Ecole may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* Éco ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
.
Upon returning to Romania, he worked on the coordination of oil field exploitation works in
SolonÈ›,
Bacău County
Bacău County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in Western Moldavia, with its capital city at Bacău. It has one commune, Ghimeș-Făget, in Transylvania.
Geography
This county has a total area of .
In the western part of the county there a ...
. He took part in the installation of the first wells in
Moinești
Moinești (; ) is a city in Bacău County, Western Moldavia, Romania, with a population of 19,728 . Its name is derived from the Romanian-language word ''moină'', which means "fallow" or "light rain". Moinești once had a large Jewish community, ...
, in the construction of the railway that was mounted on
Tarcău River valley, and of the railway bridges between
Barboși and
Brăila
Brăila (, also , ) is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of Brăila County. The Sud-Est (development region), ''Sud-Est'' Regional Development Agency is located in Brăila.
According to the 2021 Romanian ...
.
He later was the director of the Romanian Bank, the most important private bank in the country at the time, and several other credit unions.

Brătianu was first elected to the
Chamber of Deputies of Romania
The Chamber of Deputies () is the lower house in Romania's bicameral parliament. It has 312 regular seats to which deputies are elected by direct popular vote using party-list proportional representation to serve four-year terms. Additionally, ...
in 1895, and was elected without interruption between 1910 and 1938. He held no governmental position until 1933–1934, when he was
Minister of Finance
A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position .
A ministry of finance's portfolio ...
.
Under Carol and Antonescu
After the assassination of
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
Ion G. Duca by the
Iron Guard
The Iron Guard () was a Romanian militant revolutionary nationalism, revolutionary Clerical fascism, religious fascist Political movement, movement and political party founded in 1927 by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu as the Legion of the Archangel M ...
(December, 1933), he became head of the PNL. During the interwar period, he became active in opposing the
authoritarian
Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...
regime of
King
King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...
Carol II
Carol II (4 April 1953) was King of Romania from 8 June 1930, until his forced abdication on 6 September 1940. As the eldest son of Ferdinand I of Romania, King Ferdinand I, he became crown prince upon the death of his grand-uncle, King Carol I, ...
and his Prime Minister
Gheorghe Tătărescu.
After Carol's abdication and the
fascist
Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...
regime known as the
National Legionary State
The National Legionary State () was a Totalitarianism, totalitarian Fascism, fascist regime which governed Kingdom of Romania, Romania for five months, from 14 September 1940 until its official dissolution on 14 February 1941. The regime was led ...
, Brătianu offered his support to dictator
Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and Mareșal (Romania), marshal who presided over two successive Romania during World War II, wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister of Romania, Prime Minister and ''Conduc� ...
, given that the latter's close relation with
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
had helped Romania win back territories
it had lost to the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
(
Bessarabia
Bessarabia () is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Bessarabia lies within modern-day Moldova, with the Budjak region covering the southern coa ...
,
Northern Bukovina
Bukovina or ; ; ; ; , ; see also other languages. is a historical region at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe. It is located on the northern slopes of the central Eastern Carpathians and the adjoining plains, today divided betwe ...
, and the
Hertsa region
The Hertsa region, also known as the Hertza region (; ), is a region around the town of Hertsa within Chernivtsi Raion in the southern part of Chernivtsi Oblast in southwestern Ukraine, near the border with Romania. With an area of around , it ...
), taken back through
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
's
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...
. The heavy losses inflicted on the Romanian troops and the successful offensives of the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
made Brătianu favor King
Michael
Michael may refer to:
People
* Michael (given name), a given name
* he He ..., a given name
* Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael
Given name
* Michael (bishop elect)">Michael (surname)">he He ..., a given nam ...
's plan to align Romania with the
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...
.
Post–1945
After the
August 23, 1944 Royal Coup, he was
Minister without portfolio
A minister without portfolio is a government minister without specific responsibility as head of a government department. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet with decision-making authorit ...
in two successive cabinets of
Constantin Sănătescu
Constantin Sănătescu (14 January 1885 – 8 November 1947) was a Romanian general and statesman who served as the 44th Prime Minister of Romania after the 23 August 1944 coup after which Romania left the Axis powers and joined the Allies.
Ea ...
. As leader of the PNL, he was unable to slow down the accession of
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party ( ; PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave an ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that would replace the social system ...
to power, as the appeal of his party had suffered major blows due to Brătianu's sympathy towards Antonescu.
He sought to oppose the communists by protesting to the
American and
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
diplomats from
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
.
Cortlandt Van Rensselaer Schuyler, the American general, portrayed the man who was supposed to fight communists: ''"Generally, Mr. Brătianu has disappointed me as a political leader"'', Schuyler wrote in 1945. ''"He is almost 80 and seems to be wasting his energy. Although he is very unhappy about the actual state of things, he has not offered a constructive programme for recovery, aside from a general opposition to what he calls the exorbitant and unjust demands set by Russia"''.
He refused to be part of the communist cabinet formed by
Petru Groza
Petru Groza (7 December 1884 – 7 January 1958) was a Romanian politician, best known as the first Prime Minister of Romania, Prime Minister of the Romanian Communist Party, Communist Party-dominated government under Soviet Union, Soviet Sovie ...
on March 6, 1945. The
Siguranța
''Siguranța'' was the generic name for the successive secret police services in the Kingdom of Romania. The official title of the organization changed throughout its history, with names including Directorate of the Police and General Safety () ...
(the secret police service, which by that time had been taken over by the communists) had him under close surveillance.
Kept under house arrest by the authorities, Brătianu was arrested in 1950 and imprisoned without trial. On May 5, 1950 he was sent to the notorious
Sighet Prison, where he died a few months later, on August 20, in cell number 12. He was buried in an unmarked grave in the nearby ,
Sighetu Marmației
Sighetu Marmației (, also spelled ''Sighetul Marmației''; or ''Siget''; , ; ; ), until 1960 Sighet, is a city in Maramureș County near the Iza River, in northwestern Romania.
Geography
Sighetu Marmației is situated along the Tisa river o ...
. In the fall of 1971, his remains were reburied in a niche in the inner wall of the church in his birthplace, Florica.
Private life and legacy
On August 26, 1907, he married Alexandrina (Adina) Costinescu (1886–1975), the daughter of
Emil Costinescu, an important National Liberal Party politician.
In 1909, Brătianu had his residence built at 16, Calea Dorobanților, near
Piața Romană in Bucharest; the architect was
Petre Antonescu.
During World War I, when Brătianu took refuge in
Iași
Iași ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the Cities in Romania, third largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical ...
with his family, the mansion was pillaged by the
Central Powers
The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,; ; , ; were one of the two main coalitions that fought in World War I (1914–1918). It consisted of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulga ...
troops that had occupied Bucharest in December 1916.
A high school in
Ștefănești, Argeș
Ștefănești () is a town in Argeș County, Muntenia, Romania. The town administers seven villages: Enculești, Golești, Izvorani, Ștefăneștii Noi, Valea Mare-Podgoria, Viișoara, and Zăvoi. At the 2021 Romanian census, 2021 census, the town ...
bears his name.
See also
*
Brătianu family
Brătianu is a family of Romanian politicians, founders of the National Liberal Party (Romania, 1875), National Liberal Party (PNL). They are the following:
* Dincă Brătianu (1768–1844), Romanian nobleman
* Ion Brătianu (1821–1891), PNL pre ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bratianu, Dinu
1866 births
1950 deaths
People from Ștefănești, Argeș
Dinu
Children of prime ministers of Romania
Saint Sava National College alumni
Politehnica University of Bucharest alumni
National Liberal Party (Romania, 1875) politicians
Ministers of finance of Romania
Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania)
Members of the Senate of Romania
Romanian people of World War II
Romanian democracy activists
Inmates of Sighet prison
Romanian people who died in prison custody
Prisoners who died in Securitate custody
People from the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia