Ion Gheorghe Maurer | |
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President of the Council of State of Romania Acting |
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In office 19 March 1965 – 24 March 1965 Serving with Ştefan Voitec (Acting) Avram Bunaciu (Acting) |
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Preceded by | Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej |
Succeeded by | Chivu Stoica |
Prime Minister of Romania | |
In office 21 March 1961 – 29 March 1974 |
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President | Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej |
Preceded by | Chivu Stoica |
Succeeded by | Manea Mănescu |
President of the Presidium of the Great National Assembly of Romania | |
In office 11 January 1958 – 21 March 1961 |
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Prime Minister | Chivu Stoica |
Preceded by | Mihail Sadoveanu (Acting) Anton Moisescu (Acting) |
Succeeded by | Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (as President of the Council of State) |
Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
In office 15 July 1957 – 15 January 1958 |
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Preceded by | Grigore Preoteasa |
Succeeded by | Avram Bunaciu |
Personal details | |
Born | 23 September 1902 Bucharest, Romania |
Died | 8 February 2000 Bucharest, Romania |
(aged 97)
Political party | Communist Party |
Other political affiliations |
Radical Peasants' Party |
Spouse(s) | Elena Maurer |
Profession | Lawyer |
Religion | Orthodoxy |
Ion Gheorghe Iosif Maurer (September 23, 1902 – February 8, 2000) was a Romanian communist politician and lawyer.
Born in Bucharest to a Saxon father and a Romanian mother of French origin,[1][2] he completed studies in Law and became an attorney, defending in court members of the illegal leftist and Anti-fascist movements.[3] Occasionally, as in the 1936 trial of Romanian Communist Party (PCR) activists, including Ana Pauker, Alexandru Drăghici, and Alexandru Moghioroş in Craiova, he assisted Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu).[4]
Before 1937, he was briefly active in the Radical Peasants' Party, formed by Grigore Iunian as a splinter group of the National Peasants' Party;[5] however, he was by then already a member of the illegal Communist Party[6] and active in the Agitprop section.[7]
In 1942-1943, during World War II he was imprisoned for his political activity (notably, in the camp at Târgu Jiu),[8] and, as a member of a paramilitary grouping,[9] played a secondary part in the events of August 23, 1944 that led to the downfall of the Ion Antonescu regime.[10] During this time, although present among the few active leaders of the Party around general secretary Ştefan Foriş,[11] he became a supporter of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej's faction (dominated by imprisoned activists).[12] In 1944, he played a hand in Foriş' deposition, assisting Emil Bodnăraş and Gheorghiu-Dej.[13]
After the war, Maurer became a member of the Central Committee of the Romanian Workers' Party (the new name of the PCR after it had incorporated the Social Democratic Party) and took several ministerial positions in the new communist government of Romania — including that of undersecretary of the Communications and Public Works Ministry under Gheorghiu-Dej in the first Petru Groza government.[14] In 1946-1947, he was a member of Romania's delegation to the Paris Peace Conference (headed by Gheorghe Tătărescu) and was briefly employed by Ana Pauker at the Foreign Ministry, before being dismissed for having an unsatisfactory level of political conviction.[15] He was removed from the forefront for the following decade,[16] working for the Institute of Juridical Research.[17]
He supported Gheorghiu-Dej's nationalist policy, eventually becoming foreign minister of Romania in 1957 (replacing Grigore Preoteasa), holding office for six months, and serving in the delegations establishing closer contacts with the People's Republic of China during the Sino-Soviet Split and a détente with France in 1959.[18]
Regarded, according to some claims,[19] as Gheorghiu-Dej's chosen successor, he was head of state (President of the Presidium of the Great National Assembly of Romania) from 1958 to 1961. He took the seat previously occupied by Constantin Pîrvulescu on the Politburo,[20] and then replaced Chivu Stoica as Prime Minister of Romania in 1961.[21] In the latter capacity, he was the recipient of a 1963 letter by the British philosopher and activist Bertrand Russell, who pleaded with the Romanian authorities to free from jail Belu Zilber (a victim of the conflict between the Party leadership and Pătrăşcanu, Zilber had been a political prisoner for sixteen years by then).[22] Ion Gheorghe Maurer was also one of three acting Chairmen of the Presidum of the Great National Assembly (heads of state) between March 19 and March 24, 1965.
Alongside Emil Bodnăraş, Maurer was an important member of the Politburo in opposing the ambitions of Gheorghe Apostol and, together with Bodnăraş, helping along the establishment of the Nicolae Ceauşescu regime.[23] Among others, Maurer helped silence potential opposition from inside the Party by withdrawing his support for Corneliu Mănescu and welcoming Ceauşescu's directives, before being himself criticized and sidelined (at the same time as his collaborator Alexandru Bârlădeanu).[24] Pensioned in 1974, he was still present in the forefront at most Party ceremonies.[25]
A prominent member of the nomenklatura for much of his life, he was known for his latent conflict with a large part of the PCR hierarchy.[17] He accumulated a sizable wealth and was known for his ostentatious lifestyle.[17] In 1989, Maurer's earlier support for Ceauşescu led the sidelined PCR members who were planning to state their opposition to the regime by drafting the so-called Letter of the Six (Apostol, Bârlădeanu, and Pîrvulescu, together with Silviu Brucan, Grigore Răceanu, and Corneliu Mănescu) not to enlist his assistance in the process.[26]
He died in Bucharest a decade after the Romanian Revolution, leaving a son, Jean.
Political offices | ||
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Preceded by Mihail Sadoveanu Acting |
President of the Presidium of the Great National Assembly of Romania 1958–1961 |
Succeeded by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej as President of the Council of State |
Preceded by Anton Moisescu Acting |
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Preceded by Chivu Stoica |
Prime Minister of Romania 1961–1974 |
Succeeded by Manea Mănescu |
Preceded by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej |
President of the Council of State of Romania Acting 1965 Served alongside: Ştefan Voitec (Acting) Avram Bunaciu (Acting) |
Succeeded by Chivu Stoica |
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