Iosif Constantin Drăgan (; June 20, 1917 – August 21, 2008) was a Romanian and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

businessman, writer, historian and founder of the ButanGas company. In 2005, he was the second-wealthiest Romanian, according to the Romanian financial magazine ''Capital'', having a wealth estimated at $850 million.'' Jurnalul Naţional''
"Top 300 – Ion Tiriac the Richest Romanian"
, 16 November 2005 According to the same financial magazine, in 2006, he became the wealthiest Romanian, at $1.3-1.6 billion.''

Evenimentul Zilei ''Evenimentul Zilei'' is a formerly physical and now exclusively online newspaper in Romania. Its name translates to "The event of the day" or "Today's event". History and profile ''Evenimentul Zilei'' was founded by Ion Cristoiu, Cornel Nisto ...

''
"Cei mai bogaţi români" ("The Richest Romanians)"
, 15 November 2006 Drăgan was involved in a series of controversies, including some alleged deals with 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 ...

, his admiration for Romanian leader

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� ...

, and being one of the main figures in the protochronist current of Romanian historiography.Primul miliardar român îşi ia secretele în groapă
''

'', 23 August 2008

Biography

Early life

Born in Lugos,

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

(now

Lugoj Lugoj (; ; ; ; ; ) is a list of cities and towns in Romania, city in Timiș County, Romania. The Timiș, Timiș River divides the city into two halves: the "Romanian Lugoj" that spreads on the right bank, and the "German Lugoj" on the left bank. Th ...

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 ...

), Drăgan graduated from Law School at the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest (UB) () is a public university, public research university in Bucharest, Romania. It was founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princely Academy of Bucharest, P ...

in 1938, and earned in 1940 a scholarship at the University of Rome, where he studied political science and economics, earning a Ph.D. in law. At the time, Drăgan was attracted to

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 ...

ideals and 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 ...

, representing a corporatist trend inside the latter. Francisco Veiga, ''Istoria Gărzii de Fier, 1919-1941: Mistica ultranaționalismului'' ("History of the Iron Guard, 1919-1941: The Mistque of Ultra-Nationalism"), Humanitas, Bucharest, 1993, p.287, 307 Drăgan explained his views on the Fascist Iron Guard in 1940 in the pro-Mussolini newspaper '' Conquiste d'Impero'' in two articles entitled "The Mystique of Codreanu's Legionnaires" and "Romanian Corporatism: Pieces of Legionnaire Doctrine". In 1987, based on these articles, the Italian magazine '' Il Panorama'' called him "a Legionnaire", but Drăgan sued them and won the trial, as they were not able to bring a proof that he was an actual member of the organization.

Business in Italy

In 1941, he started a company which exported Romanian petroleum products to

Fascist Italy Fascist Italy () is a term which is used in historiography to describe the Kingdom of Italy between 1922 and 1943, when Benito Mussolini and the National Fascist Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictatorship. Th ...

. After

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 ...

, in 1948, he established a gas distribution company in Italy, ButanGas.'' Jurnalul Naţional''
"Omul care transformă gazul în bani gheaţă" ("The Man Turning Gas into Cash")
, 26 July 2004 After the war, with the

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 ...

gaining power in Romania, he was not allowed for 30 years to return to Romania.

Protochronism and the relation with Ceaușescu

In 1967, he started the "Drăgan European Foundation", which has the goal to promote the "values of the Romanian civilization". He was also the founder of two publishing houses (''Nagard'' in Italy and ''Europa Nova'' in Romania), a privately owned university, '' Universitatea Europeană Drăgan'' (founded in 1991 in Lugoj), a TV station, a radio station (''Radio NovaFm'') and a weekly newspaper (''Redeșteptarea'') and a daily local newspaper (''Renașterea Bănățeană''), all in Romania. He also funded the Statue of Decebalus, a 40-meter high carving, near Orşova. He wrote many historical works associated with the protochronism

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

movement in Romanian history, which was later promoted by

Nicolae Ceauşescu Nicolae may refer to: * Nicolae (name), an Aromanian and Romanian name * ''Nicolae'' (novel), a 1997 novel See also *Nicolai (disambiguation) *Nicolao Nicolao is an Italian given name and a surname. It may refer to the following: Given name *Ni ...

's regime.Katherine Verdery, National Ideology under Socialism. Identity and Cultural Politics in Ceaușescu's Romania, University of California Press, 1991. Despite being a sympathiser of the Iron Guard, Drăgan became a semi-official collaborator of Ceaușescu and 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 ...

, and as a result, he had access to some documents never published before on

, using them in a four-volume book, which put Antonescu, a man who has been sentenced to death for war crimes and executed, in a good light.Report of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania
(RICHR) submitted to President

Ion Iliescu Ion Iliescu (; born 3 March 1930) is a Romanian politician and engineer who served as the second president of Romania from 1989 until 1996 and from 2000 until 2004. Between 1996 and 2000 and also from 2004 to 2008, the year in which he retired, ...

in Bucharest on November 11, 2004
and accepted by the Romanian government
. According to historian Lucian Boia, Drăgan promoted an extreme version of protochronism, which claimed that the Romania was the cradle of civilization, and the Romanian people the oldest in Europe:

After 1989

After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, it was alleged that he supported financially Eugen Barbu and Corneliu Vadim Tudor to launch their

far right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and Nativism (politics), nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on ...

'' România Mare'' newspaper. Nevertheless, in 2008, Vadim denied that he got any funding from Drăgan. Together with Vadim Tudor, Drăgan was the founder of "Liga Mareșal Ion Antonescu" in 1990, later renamed to "Liga Mareșalilor" following the changes in the Romanian legislation which disallowed the praise of the pro-

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 ...

dictator.

Death

Drăgan died on August 21, 2008, at his house in

Palma de Mallorca Palma (, ; ), also known as Palma de Mallorca (officially between 1983 and 1988, 2006–2008, and 2012–2016), is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is ...

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Private life

After his first wife, Teresa Maria Moriglioni, died in 1986, Drăgan married, at the age of 78, Daniela Veronica Gușă, aged 22 at the time, the daughter of Ştefan Guşă, a

Romanian Army The Romanian Land Forces () is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. Since 2007, full professionalization and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Land Forces. The Romanian Land Forc ...

general involved in the attempted repression of the 1989 revolution who died of cancer in 1994.'' Ziua'
"Fiul rătăcitor în căutarea lui Iosif Constantin Drăgan" ("The Prodigal Son in Search for Iosif Constantin Drăgan")
9 June 2005 Together they had three sons. Mike Fink (b. 1970), who claims to be Drăgan's son, announced, in 2005, that he had not been able to contact his father in the previous three years. '' Ziua'' reached the conclusion that Drăgan was being held captive by his younger wife and his business partners.'' Ziua''
"Drăgan, tot în geam" ("Drăgan, Still on Display")
, 6 June 2005 However, he was seen dining in a restaurant only a few days later in Bucharest, together with his wife.'' Averea'', "L-am descoperit pe I. C. Dragăn" ("We Have Uncovered I. C. Dragăn"), 14 June 2005

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dragan, Iosif Constantin 1917 births 2008 deaths People from Lugoj Socialist Republic of Romania 20th-century Romanian businesspeople Romanian essayists Members of the Iron Guard Romanian fascists Romanian Greek-Catholics Romanian journalists Romanian newspaper founders Romanian philanthropists University of Bucharest alumni Romanian emigrants to Italy 20th-century Romanian historians 20th-century essayists 20th-century philanthropists 20th-century Italian businesspeople 20th-century journalists 20th-century Romanian memoirists 20th-century Romanian male writers Collaborators with Fascist Italy