Ion Cămărășescu
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Ion N. Cămărășescu (January 27, 1882 – March 25, 1953) was a
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
n politician. He was born 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 ...
, the son of Nicolae Cămărășescu, who owned a estate in the
Bărăgan Plain The Bărăgan Plain ( ) is a steppe plain in south-eastern Romania. It makes up much of the eastern part of the Wallachian Plain. The region is known for its black soil and a rich humus, and is mostly a cereal-growing area. It is bounded on the s ...
. He completed high school in his native city, and then studied at the
University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...
, taking a degree in law. After returning home, he practiced law in the Bucharest bar. He married in 1909 , the daughter of , the French ambassador to Romania; the couple would divorce in 1918. Afterwards, he married Zoe, née Bengescu (1896–1987), with whom he would have two sons, Ion I. (born 1927) and Nicolae (born 1929). Cămărășescu developed a keen interest in sports, being one of the founders (together with
George Valentin Bibescu George III Valentin, Prince Bibescu (; 22 March 1880 – 2 July 1941) was a Romanian early aviation pioneer and automobile enthusiast. Family His parents were Prince George Bibescu (1834–1902; son of Gheorghe Bibescu) and Valentine de Riquet ...
) of the in 1904 and of the
Romanian Olympic Committee The Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee (, COSR) is responsible for Romania's participation in the Olympic Games. History The Romanian Olympic Committee () was formed in 1914 in Bucharest. In 2004 it changed its name to ''Romanian Olympic an ...
on March 27, 1914. He himself practiced several sports: tennis, horse riding, skiing, and
bobsleigh Bobsleigh or bobsled is a winter sport in which teams of 2 to 4 athletes make timed speed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobslei ...
, being in 1909 the first Romanian participant in a
Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...
(in the bobsled competition 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 ...
). He was the organizer of the first cycling tour of Romania in 1910, the year in which he also participated in the automobile competition on the Bucharest–
Târgoviște Târgoviște (, alternatively spelled ''Tîrgoviște'') is a Municipiu, city and county seat in Dâmbovița County, Romania. It is situated north-west of Bucharest, on the right bank of the Ialomița (river), Ialomița River. Târgoviște was ...
route, which he won with an hourly average of , a European record at the time. Cămărășescu began his political career in the Conservative Party, serving as cabinet director for Constantin G. Dissescu, Religious Affairs and Public Instruction Minister in 1906–1907. In 1908, he was a founding member of
Take Ionescu Take or Tache Ionescu (; born Dumitru Ghiță Ioan and also known as Demetriu G. Ionnescu; – 21 June 1922) was a Romanian Centrism, centrist politician, journalist, lawyer and diplomat, who also enjoyed reputation as a short story author. Sta ...
's
Conservative-Democratic Party The Conservative-Democratic Party (, PCD) was a political party in Romania. Over the years, it had the following names: the Democratic Party, the Nationalist Conservative Party, or the Unionist Conservative Party. The Conservative-Democratic Part ...
. In September 1913, after the
Second Balkan War The Second Balkan War was a conflict that broke out when Kingdom of Bulgaria, Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia and Kingdom of Greece, Greece, on 1 ...
ended, he was named as
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' ...
of the newly formed
Durostor County Durostor County was a county (''județ'') of the Kingdom of Romania, in Southern Dobruja, with the seat at Dârstor. The county was located in the south-eastern part of Greater Romania, in the southern Dobrogea region, known as Cadrilater. Current ...
. He served in this position until September 1916, after Romania entered
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and
Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
regained the province. He then served as liaison to the
Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...
in
Western Moldavia Western Moldavia (, ''Moldova de Apus'', or , also known as Moldavia, is the core historic and geographical part of the former Principality of Moldavia situated in eastern and north-eastern Romania. Until its union with Wallachia in 1878, the P ...
. After the war, he was first elected to the Assembly of Deputies in 1919, representing Durostor there until 1933.
"Victimele terorii comuniste. Arestați, torturați, întemnițați, uciși. Dicționar C"
/ref> He was named
Interior Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and iden ...
in Ionescu's short-lived government, which lasted from December 1921 to January 1922.Grigore and Șerbu, p. 211 Later in 1922, Cămărășescu joined the Peasants' Party. When this evolved into the
National Peasants' Party The National Peasants' Party (also known as the National Peasant Party or National Farmers' Party; , or ''Partidul Național-Țărănist'', PNȚ) was an Agrarianism, agrarian political party in the Kingdom of Romania. It was formed in 1926 throu ...
in 1926, he remained part of the new formation. From 1928 to 1930, he presided over the Union of Agricultural Chambers. When the
Little Entente The Little Entente was an alliance formed in 1920 and 1921 by Czechoslovakia, Romania and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Yugoslavia from 1929 on) with the purpose of common defense against Hungarian revisionism and the prospect of ...
's Economic Council was created in 1933, he was selected as head of the Romanian delegation. In 1937, he was named by the Agriculture Ministry to the Higher Economic Council, joining the Higher Agricultural Council later that year.Grigore and Șerbu, p. 212 He refused to collaborate with the
National Renaissance Front The National Renaissance Front (, FRN; also translated as ''Front of National Regeneration'', ''Front of National Rebirth'', ''Front of National Resurrection'', or ''Front of National Renaissance'') was a Romanian political party created by King Ca ...
royal dictatorship 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, ...
. In In the early 1940s he was living in a grand villa (which now bears his name), located near
Piața Unirii Piața Unirii (, ''Union Square'') is the largest square in central Bucharest, Romania, and one of the largest public spaces in Europe, being located immediately south of the old town and within the boundaries of Sectors 3. Part of the Civic C ...
, in downtown Bucharest. In March 1949, the
communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...
nationalized his farm in Dâlga and assigned Cămărășescu and his family to forced residence in
Curtea de Argeș Curtea de Argeș () is a municipiu, city in Romania on the left bank of the river Argeș (river), Argeș, where it flows through a valley of the Southern Carpathians (the Făgăraș Mountains), on the railway from Pitești to the Turnu Roșu Pass ...
. Arrested together with other former dignitaries by the
Securitate The Department of State Security (), commonly known as the Securitate (, ), was the secret police agency of the Socialist Republic of Romania. It was founded on 30 August 1948 from the '' Siguranța'' with help and direction from the Soviet MG ...
in May 1950, he died at
Sighet Prison The Sighet Prison, located in the city of Sighetu Marmației, Maramureș County, Romania, was used by Romania to hold criminals, prisoners of war, and political prisoners. It is now the site of the Sighet Memorial Museum, part of the Memorial ...
three years later, and was buried in a mass grave.


Notes


References

*Constantin Grigore and Miliana Șerbu,
Miniștrii de interne (1862–2007)
'', Editura Ministerului Internelor și Reformei Administrative, Bucharest, 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Camarasescu, Ion 1882 births 1953 deaths Politicians from Bucharest 20th-century Romanian lawyers University of Paris alumni Romanian expatriates in France Olympic bobsledders for Romania Romanian racing drivers Prefects of Romania Romanian people of World War I Conservative Party (Romania, 1880–1918) politicians Conservative-Democratic Party politicians National Peasants' Party politicians Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania) Ministers of interior of Romania Inmates of Sighet prison Prisoners who died in Romanian detention Romanian people who died in prison custody