Corneliu Coposu
Encyclopedia
Corneliu Coposu was a conservative
Romania
n politician.
, Sălaj County
(in Transylvania
, part of Austria-Hungary
at the time) to the Romanian Greek-Catholic
archpriest Valentin Coposu (17 November 1886 - 28 July 1941) and his wife Aurelia Coposu (née Anceanu, herself the daughter of Romanian Greek-Catholic archpriest Iuliu Anceanu). Corneliu had four siblings: Cornelia (1911–1988), Doina (1922–1990), Flavia Bălescu (b. 1924), and Rodica (b. 1933).
He too was a devout member of the church and joined the Romanian National Party
(PNR), a group dominated by Greek-Catholic politicians - Gheorghe Pop de Băseşti
was an acquaintance of the Coposu family, and Alexandru Vaida-Voevod
was a relative on Corneliu Coposu's mother's side.
After studying Law and Economy at the University of Cluj
(1930–1934), he engaged in local politics with the PNR's direct successor, the National Peasants' Party
(PNŢ), and worked as a lawyer. He became private secretary of Iuliu Maniu
, the leader of the PNR and PNŢ, who had been a decisive factor in Transylvania's union with Romania (1918).
in 1940, when Northern Transylvania
was ceded to Hungary
, and, during World War II
, he was an important member of the PNŢ delegation in the clandestine opposition to Ion Antonescu
's regime. He established links between the movement and the United Kingdom
, and was one of the politicians charged with maintaining contacts between Romanian politicians who were negotiating the country's exit from the Axis Powers
and the Western Allies
(an alternative kept by the Antonescu government).
In 1945, after the royal coup against the Antonescu regime, Coposu became deputy secretary of the PNŢ and, after the reunion of Northern Transylvania, the party's delegate to the leadership of provisional administrative bodies. He was also active in organizing the party as the main opposition to the Communist Party
and the Petru Groza
cabinet before the 1946 general election
.
established with Soviet assistance, arrested him on July 14, 1947, together with all the leadership of the National Peasants' Party, after some of the party leadership had allegedly tried to flee the country in a plane landed at Tămădău (see Tămădău Affair
). He was imprisoned without trial for nine years, as all charges brought against him were dismissed due to lack of evidence. Coposu later attested that his imprisonment, imposed by Soviet officials
overseeing the Securitate
, was among those causing a stir in the higher echelons of the Communist Party
— Belu Zilber, a Communist who was purged together with Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu
, later told him that prominent party politician Ana Pauker
had unsuccessfully opposed the move in front of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
.
In 1956, Coposu was sentenced to life imprisonment
for "betrayal of the working class
" and "crime against social reforms". In April 1964, he was freed after 15 years of detention and 2 years of forced residence in Rubla (Brăila County
), having spent, in all, 17 years of incarceration
in 17 notorious detention and hard labor
facilities associated with the communist regime, including Sighet prison
, Gherla, Jilava
, Râmnicu Sărat
, Piteşti prison
, and the Danube-Black Sea Canal
(where he was imprisoned with his friend and collaborator Şerban Ghica).
Coposu later testified having been impressed by the deep scars collectivization had left in the country, as well as by the resilience of the Rubla deportees (see Bărăgan deportations
) — "They traded in vegetables they had grown themselves while locals could not be convinced that these could actually grow on the Bărăgan
". In the 1990s, during debates over the overall number of victims of the Communist regime between 1947 and 1964, Coposu spoke of 282,000 arrests and 190,000 deaths in custody.
After his release, Coposu started work as an unskilled worker on various construction sites (given his status as a former prisoner, he was denied employment in any other field), and was subject to Securitate
surveillance and regular interrogation.
His wife Arlette was also prosecuted in 1950 during a rigged espionage
trial, and died in 1965, soon after her release, from an illness contracted in prison.
Coposu managed to keep contact with PNŢ sympathisers, and re-established the party as a clandestine group during the 1980s, while imposing its affiliation to Christian Democracy
and the Christian Democrat International.
issued a manifesto
that confirmed the PNŢ's entry into legality, under the name Christian-Democratic National Peasants' Party
.
For the rest of his life, Coposu was the main voice of the opposition to the National Salvation Front (from 1992, the Democratic National Salvation Front
). Present at his party's headquarters, he was targeted by the first Mineriad
on January 28, 1990, but was protected by Prime Minister Petre Roman
, who protected him from violence by commissioning an armored vehicle
to drive him away.
He successfully grouped various organizations into the Romanian Democratic Convention
(CDR), of which he was the leader between 1991 and 1993. He was elected to the Senate of Romania
in the 1992 general election. In 1995, the government of France
granted him the Grand Officier de la Légion d'Honneur during a ceremony in Bucharest. A staunch monarchist
who supported reinstating Mihai I
as King of Romania
, Coposu nevertheless personally promoted Emil Constantinescu
as the CDR's candidate for the presidential office
.
. Some 100,000 people attended his funeral three days later. He was buried in the Catholic section of Bellu cemetery
.
One of the main thoroughfares in the capital now bears his name. A bust
of Coposu now stands next to Kretzulescu Church
, in Revolution Square
.
In a 2006 poll conducted by Romanian Television
to identify the "greatest Romanians of all time", Coposu came in 39th.
site More about Corneliu Coposu
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n politician.
Early life
Coposu was born in BobotaBobota
Bobota is a commune located in Sălaj County, Romania. It is composed of three villages: Bobota, Derşida and Zalnoc....
, Sălaj County
Szilágy
Szilágy is the name of a historic administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is presently in north-western Romania. The capital of the county was Zilah .-Geography:...
(in Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
, part of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
at the time) to the Romanian Greek-Catholic
Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic
The Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic is an Eastern Catholic Church which is in full union with the Roman Catholic Church. It is ranked as a Major Archiepiscopal Church and uses the Byzantine liturgical rite in the Romanian language....
archpriest Valentin Coposu (17 November 1886 - 28 July 1941) and his wife Aurelia Coposu (née Anceanu, herself the daughter of Romanian Greek-Catholic archpriest Iuliu Anceanu). Corneliu had four siblings: Cornelia (1911–1988), Doina (1922–1990), Flavia Bălescu (b. 1924), and Rodica (b. 1933).
He too was a devout member of the church and joined the Romanian National Party
Romanian National Party
The Romanian National Party , initially known as the Romanian National Party in Transylvania and Banat , was a political party which was initially designed to offer ethnic representation to Romanians in the Kingdom of Hungary, the Transleithanian half of Austria-Hungary, and especially to those in...
(PNR), a group dominated by Greek-Catholic politicians - Gheorghe Pop de Băseşti
Gheorghe Pop de Basesti
Gheorghe Pop de Băseşti was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian politician. He was the vice-president and then the president of the Romanian National Party at a time when Transylvania was part of the Kingdom of Hungary inside Austria-Hungary.Born in the Transylvanian village of Băseşti , he...
was an acquaintance of the Coposu family, and Alexandru Vaida-Voevod
Alexandru Vaida-Voevod
Alexandru Vaida-Voevod or Vaida-Voievod was a Romanian politician who was a supporter and promoter of the union of Transylvania with the Romanian Old Kingdom; he later served three terms as a Prime Minister of Greater Romania.-Transylvanian politics:He was born to a Greek-Catholic family in the...
was a relative on Corneliu Coposu's mother's side.
After studying Law and Economy at the University of Cluj
Babes-Bolyai University
The Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca is an university in Romania. With almost 50,000 students, the university offers 105 specialisations, of which there are 105 in Romanian, 67 in Hungarian, 17 in German, and 5 in English...
(1930–1934), he engaged in local politics with the PNR's direct successor, the National Peasants' Party
National Peasants' Party
The National Peasants' Party was a Romanian political party, formed in 1926 through the fusion of the Romanian National Party from Transylvania and the Peasants' Party . It was in power between 1928 and 1933, with brief interruptions...
(PNŢ), and worked as a lawyer. He became private secretary of Iuliu Maniu
Iuliu Maniu
Iuliu Maniu was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian politician. A leader of the National Party of Transylvania and Banat before and after World War I, he served as Prime Minister of Romania for three terms during 1928–1933, and, with Ion Mihalache, co-founded the National Peasants'...
, the leader of the PNR and PNŢ, who had been a decisive factor in Transylvania's union with Romania (1918).
World War II
Coposu moved to BucharestBucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
in 1940, when Northern Transylvania
Northern Transylvania
Northern Transylvania is a region of Transylvania, situated within the territory of Romania. The population is largely composed of both ethnic Romanians and Hungarians, and the region has been part of Romania since 1918 . During World War II, as a consequence of the territorial agreement known as...
was ceded to Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, and, during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he was an important member of the PNŢ delegation in the clandestine opposition to Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu
Ion Victor Antonescu was a Romanian soldier, authoritarian politician and convicted war criminal. The Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II, he presided over two successive wartime dictatorships...
's regime. He established links between the movement and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and was one of the politicians charged with maintaining contacts between Romanian politicians who were negotiating the country's exit from the Axis Powers
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
and the Western Allies
Western Allies
The Western Allies were a political and geographic grouping among the Allied Powers of the Second World War. It generally includes the United Kingdom and British Commonwealth, the United States, France and various other European and Latin American countries, but excludes China, the Soviet Union,...
(an alternative kept by the Antonescu government).
In 1945, after the royal coup against the Antonescu regime, Coposu became deputy secretary of the PNŢ and, after the reunion of Northern Transylvania, the party's delegate to the leadership of provisional administrative bodies. He was also active in organizing the party as the main opposition to the Communist Party
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
and the Petru Groza
Petru Groza
Petru Groza was a Romanian politician, best known as the Prime Minister of the first Communist Party-dominated governments under Soviet occupation during the early stages of the Communist regime in Romania....
cabinet before the 1946 general election
Romanian general election, 1946
The Romanian general election of 1946 was a general election held on November 19, 1946, in Romania. Officially, it was carried with 79.86% of the vote by the Romanian Communist Party , its allies inside the Bloc of Democratic Parties , and its associates — the Hungarian People's Union , the...
.
Communist persecution
The communist regimeCommunist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
established with Soviet assistance, arrested him on July 14, 1947, together with all the leadership of the National Peasants' Party, after some of the party leadership had allegedly tried to flee the country in a plane landed at Tămădău (see Tămădău Affair
Tamadau Affair
The Tămădău Affair was an incident that took place in Romania in the summer of 1947, the source of a political scandal and show trial.It was provoked when an important number of National Peasants' Party leaders, including party vice president Ion Mihalache, had been offered a chance to flee...
). He was imprisoned without trial for nine years, as all charges brought against him were dismissed due to lack of evidence. Coposu later attested that his imprisonment, imposed by Soviet officials
Soviet occupation of Romania
The Soviet occupation of Romania refers to the period from 1944 to August 1958, during which the Soviet Union maintained a significant military presence in Romania...
overseeing the Securitate
Securitate
The Securitate was the secret police agency of Communist Romania. Previously, the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului. Founded on August 30, 1948, with help from the Soviet NKVD, the Securitate was abolished in December 1989, shortly after President Nicolae Ceaușescu was...
, was among those causing a stir in the higher echelons of the Communist Party
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
— Belu Zilber, a Communist who was purged together with Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu
Lucretiu Patrascanu
Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu was a Romanian communist politician and leading member of the Communist Party of Romania , also noted for his activities as a lawyer, sociologist and economist. For a while, he was a professor at Bucharest University...
, later told him that prominent party politician Ana Pauker
Ana Pauker
Ana Pauker was a Romanian communist leader and served as the country's foreign minister in the late 1940s and early 1950s...
had unsuccessfully opposed the move in front of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej was the Communist leader of Romania from 1948 until his death in 1965.-Early life:Gheorghe was the son of a poor worker, Tănase Gheorghiu, and his wife Ana. Gheorghiu-Dej joined the Communist Party of Romania in 1930...
.
In 1956, Coposu was sentenced to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
for "betrayal of the working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
" and "crime against social reforms". In April 1964, he was freed after 15 years of detention and 2 years of forced residence in Rubla (Brăila County
Braila County
Brăila is a county of Romania, in Muntenia, with the capital city at Brăila.- Demographics :In 2002, Brăila had a population of 373,174 and the population density was 78/km².*Romanians – 98%*Romas, Russians, Lipovans, Aromanians and others....
), having spent, in all, 17 years of incarceration
Incarceration
Incarceration is the detention of a person in prison, typically as punishment for a crime .People are most commonly incarcerated upon suspicion or conviction of committing a crime, and different jurisdictions have differing laws governing the function of incarceration within a larger system of...
in 17 notorious detention and hard labor
Penal labour
Penal labour is a form of unfree labour in which prisoners perform work, typically manual labour. The work may be light or hard, depending on the context. Forms of sentence which involve penal labour include penal servitude and imprisonment with hard labour...
facilities associated with the communist regime, including Sighet prison
Sighet prison
The Sighet prison, located in the town of Sighetu Marmaţiei, Maramureş county, Romania, was used by the communist regime to hold political prisoners...
, Gherla, Jilava
Jilava
Jilava is a commune in Ilfov county, Romania, near Bucharest. It is composed of a single village, Jilava.The name derives from a Romanian word of Slavic origin meaning "humid place". Jilava was the location of a fort built by King Carol I of Romania, as part of the capital's defense system...
, Râmnicu Sărat
Râmnicu Sarat
Râmnicu Sărat is a city in Buzău County, Romania. It was declared a municipality in 1439. On December 21, 1994 it celebrated its 555th anniversary....
, Piteşti prison
Pitesti prison
The Pitești prison was a penal facility in Pitești, Romania, best remembered for the brainwashing experiment carried out by Communist authorities in 1949-1952...
, and the Danube-Black Sea Canal
Danube-Black Sea Canal
The Danube – Black Sea Canal is a canal in Romania which runs from Cernavodă on the Danube to Agigea and Năvodari on the Black Sea...
(where he was imprisoned with his friend and collaborator Şerban Ghica).
Coposu later testified having been impressed by the deep scars collectivization had left in the country, as well as by the resilience of the Rubla deportees (see Bărăgan deportations
Baragan deportations
The Bărăgan deportations were a large-scale action of penal transportation, undertaken during the 1950s by the Romanian Communist regime. Their aim was to forcibly relocate individuals who lived within approximately 25 km of the Yugoslav border to the Bărăgan Plain.-Reasons:After relations...
) — "They traded in vegetables they had grown themselves while locals could not be convinced that these could actually grow on the Bărăgan
Baragan 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....
". In the 1990s, during debates over the overall number of victims of the Communist regime between 1947 and 1964, Coposu spoke of 282,000 arrests and 190,000 deaths in custody.
After his release, Coposu started work as an unskilled worker on various construction sites (given his status as a former prisoner, he was denied employment in any other field), and was subject to Securitate
Securitate
The Securitate was the secret police agency of Communist Romania. Previously, the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului. Founded on August 30, 1948, with help from the Soviet NKVD, the Securitate was abolished in December 1989, shortly after President Nicolae Ceaușescu was...
surveillance and regular interrogation.
His wife Arlette was also prosecuted in 1950 during a rigged espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
trial, and died in 1965, soon after her release, from an illness contracted in prison.
Coposu managed to keep contact with PNŢ sympathisers, and re-established the party as a clandestine group during the 1980s, while imposing its affiliation to Christian Democracy
Christian Democracy
Christian democracy is a political ideology that seeks to apply Christian principles to public policy. It emerged in nineteenth-century Europe under the influence of conservatism and Catholic social teaching...
and the Christian Democrat International.
Post-communism
On December 22, 1989 (during the Romanian Revolution), he and Ion RaţiuIon Ratiu
Ion Raţiu was a Romanian politician and the presidential candidate of the National Peasants' Party in the 1990 elections, in which he ranked third with 4.29% of the vote.-Biography:...
issued a manifesto
Manifesto
A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds. Manifestos may also be life stance-related.-Etymology:...
that confirmed the PNŢ's entry into legality, under the name Christian-Democratic National Peasants' Party
Christian-Democratic National Peasants' Party (Romania)
The Christian-Democratic National Peasants' Party is a Romanian Christian-Democratic party...
.
For the rest of his life, Coposu was the main voice of the opposition to the National Salvation Front (from 1992, the Democratic National Salvation Front
Social Democratic Party (Romania)
The Social Democratic Party is the major social-democratic political party in Romania. It was formed in 1992, after the post-communist National Salvation Front broke apart. It adopted its present name after a merger with a minor social-democratic party in 2001. Since its formation, it has always...
). Present at his party's headquarters, he was targeted by the first Mineriad
Mineriad
See also The 1990s: the rise and decline of miners' unionsA Mineriad is the term used to name any of the successive violent interventions of miners in Bucharest. These interventions were generally seen as aimed at wrestling policy changes or simply material advantages from the current political...
on January 28, 1990, but was protected by Prime Minister Petre Roman
Petre Roman
Petre Roman is a Romanian politician and a former Prime Minister of Romania. He served from 1989 to 1991, when his government was overthrown by the intervention of the miners led by Miron Cozma. Roman is a member of the Club of Madrid, grouping 66 democratic former heads of state and government...
, who protected him from violence by commissioning an armored vehicle
Armoured fighting vehicle
An armoured fighting vehicle is a combat vehicle, protected by strong armour and armed with weapons. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked....
to drive him away.
He successfully grouped various organizations into the Romanian Democratic Convention
Romanian Democratic Convention
The Romanian Democratic Convention was an electoral alliance of several political parties of Romania, active from early 1992 until 2000....
(CDR), of which he was the leader between 1991 and 1993. He was elected to the Senate of Romania
Senate of Romania
The Senate of Romania is the upper house in the bicameral Parliament of Romania. It has 137 seats , to which members are elected by direct popular vote, using Mixed member proportional representation in 42 electoral districts , to serve four-year terms.-Former location:After the Romanian...
in the 1992 general election. In 1995, the government of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
granted him the Grand Officier de la Légion d'Honneur during a ceremony in Bucharest. A staunch monarchist
Monarchism
Monarchism is the advocacy of the establishment, preservation, or restoration of a monarchy as a form of government in a nation. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government out of principle, independent from the person, the Monarch.In this system, the Monarch may be the...
who supported reinstating Mihai I
Michael I of Romania
Michael was the last King of Romania. He reigned from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930, and again from 6 September 1940 until 30 December 1947 when he was forced, by the Communist Party of Romania , to abdicate to the Soviet armies of occupation...
as King of Romania
King of Romania
King of the Romanians , rather than King of Romania , was the official title of the ruler of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947, when Romania was proclaimed a republic....
, Coposu nevertheless personally promoted Emil Constantinescu
Emil Constantinescu
Emil Constantinescu was President of Romania from 1996 to 2000.He graduated from the law school of the University of Bucharest, and subsequently started a career as a geologist...
as the CDR's candidate for the presidential office
President of Romania
The President of Romania is the head of state of Romania. The President is directly elected by a two-round system for a five-year term . An individual may serve two terms...
.
The death
He died in Bucharest while undergoing treatment for lung cancerLung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
. Some 100,000 people attended his funeral three days later. He was buried in the Catholic section of Bellu cemetery
Bellu
Bellu is the most famous cemetery in Bucharest, Romania.It is located on a plot of land donated to the local administration by Baron Barbu Bellu...
.
One of the main thoroughfares in the capital now bears his name. A bust
Bust (sculpture)
A bust is a sculpted or cast representation of the upper part of the human figure, depicting a person's head and neck, as well as a variable portion of the chest and shoulders. The piece is normally supported by a plinth. These forms recreate the likeness of an individual...
of Coposu now stands next to Kretzulescu Church
Kretzulescu Church
Kretzulescu Church is an Eastern Orthodox church in central Bucharest, Romania. Built in the Brâncovenesc style, it is located on Calea Victoriei, nr. 45A, at one of the corners of Revolution Square, next to the former Royal Palace....
, in Revolution Square
Revolution Square, Bucharest
Revolution Square is a square in central Bucharest, on Calea Victoriei. Known as Piaţa Palatului until 1989, it was later renamed after the 1989 Romanian Revolution....
.
In a 2006 poll conducted by Romanian Television
Romanian television
Romanian television may refer to:* Communications media in Romania* Televiziunea Română, TVR, the national television network* List of Romanian language television channels...
to identify the "greatest Romanians of all time", Coposu came in 39th.
External links
Corneliu Coposu foundation Short bio on the Romanian Chamber of Deputies site Short bio on the Sighet Memorial site Corneliu Coposu on the condition of the intellectual, Radio Free Europe interview, February 1993 "Corneliu Coposu" at the Mari RomâniMari Români
In 2006, the Romanian Television conducted a vote to determine whom the general public considers the 100 greatest Romanians of all time, in a version of the British TV show 100 greatest Britons...
site More about Corneliu Coposu