Aurel Popovici

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Aurel Constantin Popovici (born October 16, 1863 in Lugosch , Banat , Austrian Empire ; † February 9, 1917 in Geneva ) was an Austro-Hungarian politician and publicist of Romanian nationality.

Life

Distribution of ethnic groups in Austria-Hungary

Coming from the multicultural Banat, he was the descendant of Romanian-speaking, Greek-Orthodox fortified farmers on the old Austrian military border . He attended schools in Kronstadt (Brașov) and Belényes (Beiuș). He then studied medicine in Vienna and Graz . Early on he turned against the Magyarization policy in the Transleithan half of the empire, u. a. in the protest writing Replică (answer) to a Hungarian memorandum, which he co-authored , from the year 1893. Thereupon, following an indictment by the Klausenburger public prosecutor's office, he was sentenced to four years in prison. On bail, Popovici fled to Romania via Switzerland . Popovici's struggle was only directed against the Hungarian half of the empire; he remained a supporter of the Habsburg monarchy throughout his life .

At the beginning of the 20th century he found himself together with like-minded people in a circle around the Austro-Hungarian heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand , who gathered ideas for a reorganization of the multi-ethnic empire. In this context, Popovici proposed the creation of a federal state structure in 1906 , to which he wanted to name the United States of Greater Austria . The concept included the establishment of 16 largely autonomous provinces, which should be structured according to the nationality principle. One of the most important contents of the concept was the loss of importance of Hungary . Due to resistance from the Hungarian side and the murder of Franz Ferdinand , the model no longer had any chance of being realized.

At the beginning of the First World War , Popovici continued his mediation between Romania and the Habsburg Monarchy from Switzerland, but ultimately failed because of the irreconcilable differences between Hungary and Romania.

Works

  • The United States of Greater Austria. Political studies to solve national questions and constitutional crises in Austria-Hungary . Leipzig 1906.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Distribution of Races in Austria-Hungary . In: William R. Shepherd : Historical Atlas . New York 1911.
  2. ^ Franz Wolf: Aurel Constantin Popovici . In: Austria in history and literature . Volume 8, part 10 (1964). Pp. 477-492. Here: pp. 477-480.
  3. ^ Franz Wolf: Aurel Constantin Popovici . In: Austria in history and literature . Volume 8, part 10 (1964). Pp. 477-492. Here: p. 488.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Popovici, Aurel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Popovici, Aurel Constantin (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Romanian publicist and politician
DATE OF BIRTH October 16, 1863
PLACE OF BIRTH Lugosch
DATE OF DEATH February 9, 1917
Place of death Geneva