Ștefan Voitec

Ștefan Voitec

Ștefan Voitec (born July 19, 1900 in Corabia ; † December 4, 1984 in Bucharest ) was a Romanian journalist and politician of the Romanian Workers' Party PMR (Partidul Muncitoresc Român) and from 1965 PCR (Partidul Comunist Român) , who worked among other things from 1944 to 1947 Minister of National Education, between 1948 and 1952 a member and from 1955 to 1965 a candidate of the Politburo of the Central Committee (Central Committee ). He was Deputy Prime Minister from 1948 to 1949 and again from 1956 to 1961 and continued to hold several ministerial offices.

In addition, he was between 1961 and 1974 President of the Grand National Assembly (Marea Adunare Națională) and from 1961 to 1965 and again from 1974 to 1984 Vice President of the Council of State (Consiliul de Stat) . He was also a member of the Executive Committee of the Central Committee between 1965 and 1974 and of the Political Executive Committee of the Central Committee from 1974 until his death on December 4, 1984.

Life

Journalist, Social Democrat and Minister of Education

Ștefan Voitec

After attending the Polytechnic School in Bucharest, Voitec worked as a substitute teacher at the St. Josef Gymnasium there and was a member of the Socialist Party (Partidul Socialist) between 1918 and 1920 . In 1925 he became editor of the newspaper Socialismul and worked until 1927. He then wrote articles for newspapers such as Lumea Nouă , Proletarul and Libertatea between 1927 and 1948 . Between 1927 and 1948 he was a member of the social democratic party PSD (Partidul Social Democrat Român) and during this time he held various leadership positions within the party and between 1944 and 1948 he was instrumental in the cooperation between the PSD and the then Communist Party PCR (Partidul Comunist din România) involved.

On November 4, 1944, Voitec was appointed by Prime Minister Constantin Sănătescu as Minister of National Education (Ministrul Educației Naționale) in his cabinet. He also held this ministerial office in the subsequent governments of Prime Ministers Nicolae Rădescu and Petru Groza until December 30, 1947. In 1946 he became a member of the Chamber of Deputies (Adunarea Deputaților) and represented the constituency of Dolj in this until 1948 .

In 1948 he was one of the leading supporters of the merger of the PSD and the PCR to form the Romanian Workers' Party PMR (Partidul Muncitoresc Român) and subsequently took on numerous leadership roles in this newly founded party.

Vice-Prime Minister, Minister and Politburo member

At the Sixth Party Congress of the PMR from February 21 to 23, 1948 Voitec became a member of the Central Committee of the PMR and was a member of this body until his death on December 4, 1984. At the same time he became a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee on February 24, 1948, to which he belonged until the Central Committee Plenum on May 27, 1952 . In 1948 he became a member of the Grand National Assembly (Marea Adunare Națională) for the first time , where he initially represented the Dolj constituency until 1952 , then the Corabia constituency between 1952 and 1961 , then the Electroputere constituency from 1961 to 1965 and Electroputere no 1 , before he last represented the constituency Craiova-Electroputere No. 1 from 1980 until his death in 1984 .

In the fourth government of Prime Minister Petru Groza on April 15, 1948, he took over the function of 3rd vice-president and coordinator of the activities of the ministries for social affairs and culture and held this function until April 16, 1949. He was then from April 16, 1949 President of the Committee for the Organization of Consumer Cooperatives until October 4, 1955.

On October 4, 1955 he took over the office of Minister for Internal Trade (Ministrul Comerțului Interior) and held this office until November 24, 1956. At the Seventh Party Congress of the PMR from December 23 to 28, 1955 , Voitec was a candidate for the Politburo of the Central Committee and held this position until July 24, 1965. He was also Vice-President of the Council of Ministers (Vicepreședinte al Consiliului de Miniștri) between November 24, 1956 and March 25, 1961 and at the same time Minister for the Consumer Goods Industry (Ministrul Industriei Bunurilor de Consum) from March 28, 1957 to April 17, 1959 . Voitec was a member of a Romanian delegation consisting of Chivu Stoica , Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej , Nicolae Ceaușescu , Filip Geltz , Grigore Preoteasa and Josiv Puvak , which visited East Berlin in 1957 .

President of Parliament

Ștefan Voitec handing over the presidential bishop to Nicolae Ceaușescu (April 29, 1974)

Voitec became President of the Grand National Assembly on March 26, 1961, succeeding Ion Gheorghe Maurer . He held the office of President of Parliament until March 1974 and was then replaced by Miron Constantinescu .

In addition, from March 25, 1961 to 1965, he was also Vice President of the Council of State of the People's Republic of Romania and the Socialist Republic of Romania. He became a member of the Executive Committee of the Central Committee at the Ninth Party Congress of the PCR from July 19 to 24, 1965 and remained in this position until November 28, 1974.

Most recently Voitec became a member of the Political Executive Committee of the Central Committee at the Eleventh Party Congress of the PCR from November 24th to 27th, 1974 and held this post until his death on December 4th, 1984. Between 1974 and 1984 he was again Vice-President of the State Council.

Furthermore, he was since May 9, 1980 President of the Supreme Council for Education and was on June 18, 1980 also a member of the Romanian Academy .

honors and awards

Voitec has received several awards for its many years of service and received, among other things, the Star of the People's Republic of Romania, First Class (Ordinul Steaua Republicii Populare Române) in 1948, the Order of Labor First Class (Ordinul Muncii) in 1948, and the Order of Defense of the Fatherland Third Class in 1949 ( Apărarea Patriei ) , 1959 the Order of August 23rd First Class (Ordinul August 23) , 1966 the Order of Tudor Vladimirescu First Class (Ordinul Tudor Vladimirescu) , 1971 Order for the Victory of Socialism (Ordinul Victoria Socialismului) , 1974 the title of Hero socialist work (Erou al Muncii Socialiste) and 1980 the star of the Socialist Republic of Romania first class (Ordinul Steaua Republicii Socialiste Romania) .

literature

• Voitec Ștefan. In: Florica Dobre (ed.): Consiliul Național pentru Studiera Arhivelor Securității. Membrii CC al PCR 1945-1989. Dicționary. Editura Enciclopedicã, Bucharest 2004, ISBN 973-45-0486-X , p. 626 f. ( PDF; 12.1 MB ).

Individual evidence

1. ^ New Germany : Government Reception for Romanian Guests , April 27, 1957