Nicholas Cena

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Nikolaus Cena as major general

Nikolaus Cena , also Nikolai Cena or Nicolae Cena , (born December 3, 1844 in Mehadia , Banat , † March 14, 1922 ibid) was an Austro-Hungarian Lieutenant Field Marshal of Romanian descent. After the First World War he was a royal Romanian division general , a member of the parliament of Greater Romania and director of the Băile Herculane spa and hobby archaeologist .

Mehadia in the 19th century

Origin and family

Nicolae came from an old Romanian family from Macedonia who moved to the Banat in Mehadia in the 17th century . His father Nistor was an Imperial and Royal officer in the border regiment there. He was closely related to the Austro-Hungarian general Trajan Doda (1822–1895).

biography

In Austria-Hungary

Battle of Königgrätz

Cena first attended the Grenzer Military School in Caransebeş and then graduated from the Pioneer School in Tulln from 1860 to 1863 with very good success. In 1863 he was transferred to the Romanian Infantry Regiment No. 64 as a lieutenant. He distinguished himself during the Austro-Prussian War and also took part in the famous Battle of Königgrätz . Promoted to first lieutenant in 1873, he taught at the Timișoara military school from 1874 to 1879 . In 1879 he was promoted to captain .

Marburg, infantry barracks

In 1881 he was first transferred to Vienna and shortly afterwards to Bosnia . Between 1881 and 1885 he was in command of the military school for cadets in Königsfeld , and in 1887 at the court of Grand Duke Adolph I of Luxembourg . He was promoted to major in 1890 . He was entrusted with the organization of the military schools in Marburg and Komenitz . Satisfied with the results he had achieved, Emperor Franz Joseph I ordered his promotion to the rank of lieutenant colonel (1894) on site, and on May 22, 1897 his appointment as colonel and commander of the Baron von Bouvard regiment No. 74 in Galicia .

The officer, among other things bearer of the Order of the Iron Crown 3rd Class , the Knight's Cross of the Imperial Austrian Franz Joseph Order , the Military Merit Cross 3rd Class and the Military Merit Medal "Signum Laudis" on the red ribbon , was recognized for his qualification as Officer and bravery as a soldier on August 1, 1904, elevated to the rank of major general and commander of Brigade No. 3 in Rzowszów . Although he had suffered a very serious riding accident in 1904, he remained in the service for four more years before finally retiring on June 17, 1908, with the title of Field Marshal Lieutenant.

On August 24, 1914, the then infantry general Arthur von Bolfras warned his military superior, Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf , that the Hungarian authorities had taken draconian measures against Romanians and Serbs in the Banat after the assassination attempt in Sarajevo, on suspicion of collaboration with the kingdom Serbia , which would be the cause of many problems in the future. In particular, he called on von Hötzendorf to use his influence to put an end to the excesses of the military leadership in Timișoara for southern Hungary, where hundreds of unfounded arrests had taken place since the end of July 1914, after the partial mobilization against Serbia. Because of Cena's national convictions, he was also suspected of having established connections with Romanian army officers. Because of this, he was arrested by Hungarian gendarmes on July 26, 1914 and imprisoned in Caransebeş . The Chancellery in Budapest accused him of being a spy for Romania.

Due to the influence of the Austro-Hungarian General Georg Domaschnian , who at that time held a high office in the War Ministry, Cena was released from prison on August 24, 1914, but had to move into compulsory domicile in Vienna . There he scoured the archives of the War Ministry and made numerous copies of maps of the fighting in the border area and near Mehadia.

In the Kingdom of Romania

Former sulfur baths in Băile Herculane

Cena returned from exile in Vienna in 1917, now already 73 years old. After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, the “Romanian National Committee” was founded in Transylvania and Banat in December 1918 . He was elected chairman of the Mehadia division.

The general was appointed director of the Băile Herculane Spa, the first under Romanian rule. He was also offered a seat in the first parliament of Greater Romania .

By decree no. 45471 of December 2, 1921, he was decorated by King Ferdinand I of Romania with the Order of the Crown of Romania with the rank of Grand Officer and ranked among the divisional generals of the kingdom.

The general was buried in the Mehadia Orthodox cemetery.

Cultural activities

Plan of the Roman fort Ad Medium, Mehadia

After retiring in 1908, he moved to his home town of Mehadia. Here he developed lively cultural activities. He was an active member in all Romanian cultural associations of the time and campaigned for the national unity of Romanians. He supported the activities of ASTRA (Transylvanian Society for Romanian Culture and the Culture of the Romanian People) , the “Romanian Society of Romanian Women” and was the founder of the Mehadia Cultural Center. He always supported the improvement of the school system by spending a lot of money on the purchase of history books for the students in order to develop a sense of nationality in them as well as for the purchase of books for the diocesan library.

Cena was also interested in the archaeological remains of his homeland. As early as 1888, as a young captain from Bosnia, he wrote to the Vienna Academy about the discovery of three sarcophagi. During his retirement in Mehadia, he undertook excavations at the site of the nearby Roman fort " Ad Mediam ". There he discovered numerous coins, religious and profane monuments, inscriptions and statues. In 1911 he reported to the Academy of Sciences in Vienna that a Roman inscription was found in honor of Julia Mamaea , the mother of Emperor Severus Alexander .

He was accompanied by numerous personalities of culture and science, including Dimitrie Onciul , Vasile Pârvan, the bishop Miron Cristea , but also by the Prime Minister and General Alexandru Averescu and Andrei Bârseanu , folklorist and chairman of ASTRA , visited.

He founded the first museum in Băile Herculane, to which he gave his finds from the Roman fort, and he bequeathed his large private library to the "Traian Doda" high school in Caransebeş.

Publications

  • Nikolai Cena: Report on the discovery of three stone sarcophagi with remains of corpses, including details of some of the locations where they were found . In: Anzeiger der Akademie der Wissenschaften. Mathematical and natural science class 27, 1889, p. 245.
  • F. Nikolai Cena: Note from the discovery of an inscription base from the Roman stone fort 'ad Mediam' (the Peutinger tablet). In: Anzeiger der Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philological-historical class 48, 1911, pp. 164–167.
    • annotated Romanian edition: Nicolae Cena, with an introduction by Constantin Juan-Petroi, Nicolae Danciu Petnicinu (ed.): Despre descoperirea unui soclu din castrul roman ad Mediam (On the discovery of a pedestal in the Roman fort Ad Mediam ”), Editura Eurostampa, Timișoara 2002, 34 p. (Also: Verlag Gordian, 2nd edition, Timișoara 2012)

literature

  • Irina Marin: World War One and Internal Repression: The Case of Major General Nikolaus Cena . In: Austrian History Yearbook 44, 2013, pp. 195–208.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Academia de Științe Sociale și Politice a Republicii Socialiste România, Section for Social Sciences Sibiu: Research on Folklore and Regional Studies Volume 31, Verlag der Academia Republicii Populare Romîne, Bucharest 1988, p. 111.
  2. ↑ Irina Marin: The Formation and Allegiance of the Romanian Military Elite Originating from the Banat Military Border . Dissertation University College London, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, London 2009, p. 314 PDF .
  3. ↑ a b Karl Friedrich Kurz: 1811–1911 - History of the Pioneer Cadets and their Schools . Verlag LW Seidel, Vienna 1911, p. 199.
  4. ↑ a b c [1] General Nicolae Cena.
  5. ↑ Schematism for the imperial and royal army and for the imperial and royal navy . KK Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1895, p. 190.
  6. ↑ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Kaiserthums Österreich, Volume 30, kk Hof- und Staats- Aerarial-Druckerey, Vienna 1904, p. 275
  7. ^ Antonio Schmidt-Brentano: The kk or kuk generality 1816-1918 . Austrian State Archives, Vienna 2007, p. 26.
  8. ↑ Irina Marin: World War One and Internal Repression: The Case of Major General Nikolaus Cena . In: Austrian History Yearbook 44, 2013, pp. 195–208 ( abstract ).
  9. ↑ Irina Marin: World War One and Internal Repression: The Case of Major General Nikolaus Cena . In: Austrian History Yearbook 44, 2013, pp. 195–208.
  10. ↑ Nikolai Cena: Report on the discovery of three stone sarcophagi with remains of corpses, including details of some of the sites related to them . In: Anzeiger der Akademie der Wissenschaften. Mathematical and natural science class 27, 1889, p. 245.
  11. ^ F. Nikolai Cena: Note from the discovery of an inscription base from the Roman stone fort 'ad Mediam' (the Peutinger tablet). In: Anzeiger der Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philologische-Historische Klasse 48, 1911, pp. 164–167. Reprinted with commentary on the history of research: Nicolae Cena, with an introduction by Constantin Juan-Petroi, Nicolae Danciu Petnicinu (ed.): Despre descoperirea unui soclu din castrul roman ad Mediam . Editura Eurostampa, Timișoara 2002. The inscription: AE 1912, 5 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Cena, Nicholas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cena, Nicolae; Cena, Nikolai
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austro-Hungarian Lieutenant Field Marshal of Romanian descent
DATE OF BIRTH December 3, 1844
PLACE OF BIRTH Mehadia , Principality of Wallachia
DATE OF DEATH March 14, 1922
Place of death Mehadia , Kingdom of Romania