Constantin Ritter von Isopescu-Grecul (or cavaler de Isopescu-Grecul; first name also Konstantin or Tăchiță, last name also Isopescul-Grecul, Isopescu Grecu, Iosipescu Grecul; ; February 2, 1871 – March 29, 1938) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian jurist, politician, and journalist. He represented the Duchy of Bukovina and a Romanian constituency in the Austrian House of Deputies continuously from 1907, participating in the political events of World War I. He was foremost known as a legal reformer and a political moderate, who objected to radical forms of Romanian nationalism and mainly sought to obtain a special status for the Romanians within a reformed Austria. His loyalism was rewarded by the Austrian authorities and antagonized the Romanian National People's Party, but Isopescu-Grecul also took distance from the pro-Austrian line advocated by Aurel Onciul. In 1908, Isopescu-Grecul joined Nicu Flondor and Teofil Simionovici in creating an Independent Party, which espoused a moderate program. He later rallied behind Iancu Flondor, embracing his conservative approach to national issues.
He was drawn closer to nationalism during the world war. He denounced the persecution of Romanians in Transylvania, and was disappointed by Austria's offer to merge Bukovina into a Ukrainian People's Republic. In late 1918, he still contemplated autonomy or independence for Bukovina and Transylvania, rather than union with the Kingdom of Romania, promoting Wilsonianism. When public order broke down in Vienna, he and Iuliu Maniu organized defense units of Romanians from the Common Army, which doubled as a police force. The process of union between Bukovina–Transylvania and Romania having been initiated, Isopescu-Grecul accepted the outcome. He continued to serve as Romanian envoy in Vienna and Prague throughout the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, and for most of the Hungarian–Romanian War. He favored forging a long-lasting alliance between Romania and the Hungarian conservative forces; he also circulated proposals for a Hungarian–Romanian federation.
In 1920, Isopescu-Grecul made his way back to Bukovina, an adviser of the Romanian governments and an investor in forestry businesses. He made a return to politics in the 1920s: after helping to absorb Flondor's group into Maniu's Romanian National Party, he left the group to join Nicolae Iorga's Democratic Nationalists; he then defected back to Maniu's group. A direct participant in talks to merge the latter with the Peasants' Party, he became a regional leader of the resulting National Peasants' Party. Isopescu-Grecul also served briefly in the Assembly of Deputies, and was one of its six vice presidents—though his election to that position was tinged by controversy. In 1930–1933, he held the office of rector of Czernowitz University, an institution which he also represented in the Senate of Romania. During this interval, he helped the authorities in quelling racial riots opposing Christian and Jewish students. Just before his death, he parted with Maniu and gave his endorsement to a new authoritarian regime, formed by King Carol II.
Biography Early life and career Born into a noble ethnic Romanian family in Czernowitz (Cernăuți), his father Dimitrie was a high school principal and conservationist, and his paternal grandfather a Romanian Orthodox priest.Bejinariu, p. 247; Grigoroviță, pp. 305–306 Constantin's mother Aglaia Constantinovici-Grecul was the daughter of Ghideon Ritter von Grecul, who variously served as an archimandrite and as a high government official."Abg. Ritter von Isopescul-Grecul", in Czernowitz Allgemeine Zeitung, June 14, 1913, p. 3Jean Nouzille, "La question juive en Roumanie jusqu'en 1940", in Ioan Bolovan (ed. Ladislau Gyémánt, Maria Ghitta), Dilemele conviețuirii, p. 143. Cluj-Napoca: Institutul Cultural Român, Centrul de Studii Transilvane, 2006. Constantin had three siblings: Aurelia, a sister, who married the Austrian academic Johann Wenzel Patz; brothers Emanoil, Eusebie and Gheorghe—respectively, a professor, a physician, and a career soldier. Constantin alone was adopted by his maternal uncle, Temistocle Grecul, and therefore had a distinguishing compound surname.Bejinariu, p. 248 He attended school in his native city, then enrolling in Czernowitz University.
On Christmas Day 1885, Isopescu-Grecul appeared in the Romanian play Florin și Florica, produced by an amateur troupe of Romanians in Bukovina. He shared the stage with Aglaea Drogli and her son George; Aglaea's brother, the celebrated poet Mihai Eminescu, was in the audience.Augustin Z. N. Pop, "Despre Aglaea Eminescu sora poetului", in Constantin Loghin (ed.), Eminescu și Bucovina, pp. 603–604. Cernăuți: Editura Mitropolitul Silvestru, 1943 On March 23, 1890, the young man was voted in as vice president of Societatea Academică Junimea student society; fellow law student Dimitrie Tușinschi became treasurer."Societatea academică "Junimea" din Cernăuți", in Familia, April 8, 1890, p. 167 Around 1892, he was a contributor to the Bukovinian–Romanian press, with articles in Încercări Literare, and later in Gazeta Bucovinei. These he signed as Constantin Verdi, or just Verdi.Mihail Straje, Dicționar de pseudonime, anonime, anagrame, astronime, criptonime ale scriitorilor și publiciștilor români, p. 364. Bucharest: Editura Minerva, 1973. Also under this signature, he published his first and only poetry pieces.Nicolae Iorga, Oameni cari au fost, Vol. IV, pp. 245–246. Bucharest: Editura Fundațiilor Regale, 1939 Having received a law doctorate in 1897, young Isopescu-Grecul entered the magistracy, serving as court clerk in Gura Humorului for a time before becoming a prosecutor in Czernowitz. From 1905, he was assistant professor of criminal law at his alma mater, rising to full professor in 1909.
Isopescu-Grecul also ran a law practice in Vienna, the Austro-Hungarian capital."Isopescu Grecul vádol", in Pesti Napló, November 16, 1918, p. 4 He married in 1897, and had a son and a daughter. Also in 1897, he made his debut in politics, as one of the founding members of the Bukovina National Romanian Party, centered on Iancu Flondor and Concordia Society.Ceaușu, pp. 101–102; Cocuz, pp. 216, 257 His journalistic work saw print in virtually every newspaper and magazine in Czernowitz, but also in Romanian publications in other parts of Austria-Hungary (Tribuna, Vatra) and in the Kingdom of Romania (Convorbiri Literare, Neamul Românesc). The latter were sometimes signed as Un român bucovinean ("A Bukovinian Romanian"). His scholarly works focused on attempts to regulate predatory lending, which was a main topic of legal and economic concern in his region. He published his work on "usury" and the Austrian penal code in 1906.Ion Răducanu, "Economiștii străini în Academia Română", in Memoriile Secțiunii Istorice, Series III, Vol. XIX, 1937, p. 308
Before his death from heart disease in May 1901, Dimitrie had served as a Duchy of Bukovina representative in the Austrian House of Deputies.Ceaușu, p. 104; Cocuz, pp. 283–284, 294, 297; Grigoroviță, p. 305 He was affiliated with the Conservative (or "Pactist") Party, headed by Ioan Volcinschi.Cocuz, pp. 280, 283, 294 A member of the breakaway Romanian National People's Party (PNPR) in its new avatar, the Apărărist group, Constantin took over for his father, and ran in the House at the Austrian election of 1907 for Czernowitz, Storozynetz and Bojan."Dela frați. Românii din Bucovina în fața alegerilor", in Tribuna Poporului, Issue 95, May 1907, pp. 3–4; Cocuz, p. 344 He only took the latter two constituencies after winning a runoff against Ioan Iancu Cuparencu, of the Democratic Peasants' Party; in the first round, they had both beaten George Grigorovici, of the Bukovina Socialists."Aleșiĭ Bucovineĭ pentru Reichsrath ", in Adevărul, May 14, 1907, p. 2
This became the first of Isopescu-Grecul's several terms, in a career which would see him elected as vice president of the House. He was perceived as one of Austria's most loyal Romanian subjects, founding the Independent Party, together with Nicu Flondor and Teofil Simionovici. This group emerged in October 1908, when Dorimedont Popovici expelled him from the PNPR, accusing him of opposing a reunification with the Democratic Peasantists. He himself rejected that claim, and accused Popovici of mounting a "diversion"."Din Bucovina", in Tribuna Poporului, Issue 218, October 1908, pp. 2–3. See also Cocuz, p. 347 Subsequently, the Independents occupied the middle ground between two irreconcilable approaches: the radicalized nationalism of the PNPR and Concordia, and the loyalism of the Democratic Peasantists;Gafița, p. 120 in addition to Isopescu-Grecul and Simionovici, they managed to enlist a third deputy in Vienna, namely Alexandru Hurmuzaki. This issue caused an uproar at Concordia: in August 1909, Popovici and Iancu Flondor staged a popular rally in Suczawa, attended by some 3,000 Romanians, and directed specifically against the "dissenting" deputies; the conservatives enlisted support from some of their former critics, including Democratic Peasantist leader Aurel Onciul, who agreed that all Romanian factions needed to be fused into one single party.Alfa, "Scrisori din Bucovina. Marele meeting romînesc din Suceava", in Dimineața, August 10, 1909, p. 4
The Independents failed to survive for long, even though Isopescu-Grecul resisted any attempt at reconciliation with Concordia, and refused to hand in his resignation from the House.Cocuz, pp. 347, 370–373 For much of his subsequent career, he was president of the House's four-member Romanian deputies' group in Vienna,Bălan, pp. 82–83 and in 1909 co-founded a parliamentary "Latin Union"—with Hurmuzaki and various Italian deputies, also joined by Onciul.Ceaușu, p. 107. See also Cocuz, pp. 372–374 Before the end of 1909, Isopescu-Grecul briefly returned into the conservative wing of the old Concordia, under Iancu Flondor.Gheorghe Bucovineanu, "Scrisori din Bucovina. Situația politică.—Chestiuni culturale", in Viața Romînească, Issue 12, December 1909, p. 441 In 1911, when all the Romanian factions briefly cooperated to block out other ethnic communities, he also secured his own election to the Diet of Bukovina, for Storozynetz.Cocuz, pp. 380–382, 435. See also En., p. 137 He had reconciled with Popovici and the PNPR youth wing, becoming one of the group's 7 representatives in the Diet; the Democratic Peasantists had 8, and the Conservatives, heralded by Iancu Flondor, had 5.Cocuz, p. 382; En., p. 137 He also retook his seat in the House in the parliamentary election of that year, again as representative for Storozynetz, Bojan, and Czernowitz.En., p. 142 In Bojan, he defeated Florea Lupu, the Democratic Peasantist banker, during a heated campaign which saw him being injured by Lupu's voters. Isopescu-Grecul was putting out the newspaper Unirea Națională, which claimed that Lupu intended to destroy the network of Bukovinian Romanian banks."Știri din Bucovina", in Tribuna, Issue 120/1911, pp. 6–7
World War I