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. 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. 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. He attended school in his native city, then enrolling in Czernowitz University. 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. 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. Also under this signature, he published his first and only poetry pieces. Having received a law doctorate in 1897, He married in 1897, and had a son and a daughter. 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"). Before his death from heart disease in May 1901, Dimitrie had served as a
Duchy of Bukovina representative in the
Austrian House of Deputies. He was affiliated with the Conservative (or "Pactist") Party, headed by
Ioan Volcinschi. 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. 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. This became the first of Isopescu-Grecul's several terms, in a career which would see him elected as vice president of the House. 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; 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. 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. For much of his subsequent career, he was president of the House's four-member Romanian deputies' group in Vienna, and in 1909 co-founded a parliamentary "Latin Union"—with Hurmuzaki and various Italian deputies, also joined by Onciul. Before the end of 1909, Isopescu-Grecul briefly returned into the conservative wing of the old Concordia, under Iancu Flondor. 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. 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. He also retook his seat in the House in the
parliamentary election of that year, again as representative for Storozynetz, Bojan, and Czernowitz. 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.
World War I With his background in law, Isopescu-Grecul spent much time reforming the antiquated military penal code, and helped write a new one. In 1911, he was bestowed the rank of adviser to
Emperor Francis Joseph, However, at home he was criticized for supporting the bill on conscription. This law gave
Hungarian Transleithania increased control over much of the
Austro-Hungarian Army, and, as such, harmed the agenda of Transleithanian Romanians. Elevated into
Austrian nobility in June of the following year, Isopescu-Grecul was sent on a diplomatic tour of Romania, alongside
Mihail Chisanovici. This was a mission prepared by
Count Leopold Berchtold, the
Minister President of Austria, who wanted to calm the anti-Austrian irredentism of
Romanian nationalists such as
Nicolae Iorga. Upon the end of the
First Balkan War, Isopescu-Grecul used his contacts in Romania to promote a favorite cause: statehood for the
Aromanians. Already in 1912, he had backed
Dervish Hima and
Andrei Balamace, who petitioned internationally for an
Independent Albania with Aromanian national representation. He proposed that Romania and the
Central Powers could together offer the best guarantees for the Aromanians, promoting "Romanianism" against the ambitions of
Greece and
Serbia. In February 1914, a bomb exploded at the
Hajdúdorog Bishopric palace in the Hungarian city of
Debrecen, killing civilians. This attack, universally blamed on Romanian nationalists, was later revealed to have been done by
Ilie Cătărău—a likely double agent of the
Russian Empire and the Romanian
Siguranța, who was trying to accelerate a crisis and bring Romania into a war with Austria-Hungary. Isopescu-Grecul responded with an op-ed in
Czernowitzer Zeitung, stating his belief that "Romanian fanatics" were not responsible, but rather a
false-flag operation by the "
Pan-Slavists". Also in that piece, he argued for a cross-border entente between the Hungarians and the Romanians, noting that such a pact was being prepared by the
Hungarian Prime Minister,
István Tisza. Isopescu-Grecul maintained his support for the status-quo during the early stages of World War I, while Romania remained
neutral but hostile toward Austria. He openly disapproved of Bukovinians who considered
union with Romania. He also deplored the growth of anti-Austrian sentiment in Romania-proper, insisting that it was being stoked by the Russians. In November 1914, a reserve
Unterleutnant in the Austro-Hungarian Army, he was promoted to
Oberleutnant-Auditor by the emperor himself. Isopescu-Grecul also began networking with
Iuliu Maniu, of the more powerful
Romanian National Party (PNR), which represented Romanians in
Transylvania and other Hungarian-ruled provinces. According to his own testimony (publicized in 1928), he tried to protect Maniu from conscription into the
Hungarian Landwehr, trying to find him employment at a military tribunal; Maniu refused, because "he'd have rather died in the trenches than accept favors from any Hungarian authorities." During 1916–1917, with Romania having
joined the war on Austria-Hungary, the authorities clamped down on displays of nationalism—particularly so in Hungarian Transleithania. In his addresses in the House, Isopescu-Grecul claimed that some 6,000 Romanians had been interned as suspects, and suggested their release. Premier Tisza, his erstwhile friend, ordered the arrest of 16 Romanian nationalist leaders, 9 of whom were sentenced to death in a subsequent trial. Isopescu-Grecul took up their cause in the Viennese parliament, earning support from prominent figures such as
Karl Seitz and
Ignaz Seipel; they pleaded with Francis Joseph, arranging the prisoners' pardon and release. According to a 1918 report in
Pesti Napló, he had also been petitioning
Samu Hazai, the
Hungarian Minister of Defense, that he himself be allowed to practice as a lawyer for the Transleithanian
court-martial. In February 1918, as premier
Ernst Seidler von Feuchtenegg proposed a new budget, Isopescu-Grecul agreed to support it out of Austrian patriotism, though he publicly expressed the wish that the government would follow up with concrete measures to grant Romanian subjects their autonomy; he explained that: "the start of [Romania's] war was the saddest moment in any Bukovinian's life. Yet they never strayed away from the true path, and continued to fight for country and throne." At the time, as Romania was negotiating the terms of
her surrender to Austria, Isopescu-Grecul supported a peace "without annexations and reparations", which would treat the defeated with dignity. With the
collapse of Austria-Hungary in sight, Isopescu-Grecul became more closely involved with Romanian nationalism, taking his distance from Democratic Peasantists such as Aurel Onciul. He also disapproved of Austrian plans to transfer part of Bukovina to either a Ukrainianized Galicia or to the
Ukrainian People's Republic. Isopescu-Grecul publicly stated being for the preservation of "non-dismembered Bukovina". More discreetly, his party prepared for ceding
Schipenitz and other northern areas to the Ukrainian state, but demanded that the rest be preserved as a Romanian homeland; The
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk put an end to the war on the
Russian Front, and returned the Austrian administration to Czernowitz. As skirmishes continued between Austro-Hungarian and
Romanian armies during summer 1918, Isopescu-Grecul congratulated
Emperor Charles on restoring Austrian Bukovina.
Vienna crisis In September, Isopescu-Grecul and Simionovici informed
Baron Hussarek, the Minister President, that Bukovinian Romanians felt betrayed by the regime, and no longer considered themselves loyal to the monarchy. On October 4, during an interview with the emperor, he asserted that the 4 million Romanians of Bukovina and Transylvania now wished to form their own independent state, or a single autonomous unit of Austria. While mentioned in some reports as supportive of a
Danubian Federation, which had been proposed by
Woodrow Wilson, he described it in his speeches as no longer feasible or desirable. On October 16, Isopescu-Grecul became head of the Romanian National Council in Vienna, which regarded itself as a constitutional assembly for Transylvania–Bukovina. It was a five-member body: the four House deputies caucusing as Romanians, joined by the Socialist Grigorovici. On the same day, Emperor Charles released his proclamation
To my peoples, which promised a new political system for
Cisleithania, but made virtually no mention of Bukovina's future organization. Isopescu-Grecul obtained that the House session of October 22 be assigned to presenting the Romanian Bukovinian viewpoint. In his own speech, he referred to the
Fourteen Points doctrine as a guarantee of self-determination, criticizing the emperor's "nebulous" promises; he also attacked Austria for not intervening to support the Romanian cause in Transylvania or Transleithania at large. Rejecting any offer of partition, as had most non-Ukrainian deputies for Bukovina, he declared that he looked forward to the subject being tackled at the peace conference. He then led the Romanian deputies into a rendition of
Deșteaptă-te, române!, the Romanian patriotic hymn. Isopescu-Grecul then received Maniu in Vienna; the two of them, alongside Simionovici, formed the triumvirate leadership of the reorganized Romanian Council.
Viorel Tilea and Epifane Munteanu were appointed as their secretaries. On November 1, Isopescu and Maniu visited
General Stöger-Steiner, nominally in charge of the
War Ministry, and demanded direct control over Romanian units in the
Common Army. Stöger yielded within the hour, although he admitted that he no longer controlled the troops, which answered to a revolutionary committee. Isopescu-Grecul reported in 1928 that the general had issued a veiled threat, informing him and Maniu that they too risked being toppled by a military dictatorship, which would then proceed to shoot them. Maniu reportedly shrugged this off: "I don't feel it likely that the reactionaries could succeed, but, even if they were to, we must not falter. And then, if this is indeed a revolution, it needs its martyrs. Should they shoot us, we'll be laid side by side in our graves." According to Tilea, the Senate was able to defend the War Ministry against armed assaults by groups answering to the
Communist Party. A while after, the Council dissolved itself, and its members had placed themselves at the disposal of a similarly named committee in Czernowitz, which openly campaigned for union with Romania. Isopescu-Grecul himself was elected as one of the committee's 50 members, overseeing the incorporation of Bukovina into
Greater Romania. On December 1, day of the "
Great Union" in which Transylvanian Romanians declared their own
union with Romania, he stated his "unconditional adherence" to the unionist proclamation. In early 1919 he represented both Bukovina and Transylvania in Vienna, with the title of Commissioner for
King Ferdinand I, as well as being, from February 8, Romania's first ambassador to Czechoslovakia. Simultaneously, he was head of a liquidation committee tasked with addressing litigious issues between Romania on one hand and, on the other,
Republican Austria and the
White Government of Hungary. Assisted by General Ioan Boeriu, he also formally dissolved the Military Senate of Vienna.
Hungarian mission and return to Bukovina In his new capacity, Isopescu-Grecul favored an understanding with Hungarian conservatives during the
War of 1919, in which Romania defeated the
Hungarian Soviet Republic. In his indirect contacts with
József Somssich, the conservative
Minister of Foreign Affairs, he proposed a
détente, noting that both their countries were threatened by
Slavic encroachment. Reportedly, he described the Romanian military's conduct in Hungary as "most regrettable", and complained to his own co-nationals about the style of Romanian administration in the new regions. He also circulated rumors about a possible
Hungarian–Romanian federation, as proposed to him by Hungarian landowners. In June 1919, Isopescu-Grecul noted with worry that the Hungarians were losing interest in forming a league with Romania, and were instead pondering a personal union with the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia, under
Alexander Karađorđević. In August, as that project came to a halt, he expressed his support for a
customs union and "tight alliance" between Hungary and Romania, arguing that the two countries formed an "economic whole". Hungarian diplomatic records of the time also suggest that Isopescu-Grecul vetoed Romania's alliance with Czechoslovakia and Austria against a restored
Hungarian Kingdom, because "Rumania prefers a conservative rather than a socialist government in her rear." He also agreed to allow Hungary to rearm herself and join the
Allied cause against
Bolshevist Russia, and promised to help restore communications between Hungary and Transylvania. Isopescu-Grecul's mission came to an end in September 1920, when Hungary and Romania exchanged ambassadors: he arranged for
Szilárd Masirevich to be recognized as the Hungarian envoy to Romania, before being himself relieved by Ambassador
Traian Stârcea. In December, he began working as an adviser for the
Romanian Ministry of Agriculture and Royal Domains, under
Dimitrie A. Grecianu. and Chairman of the eponymous
S.A. corporation Industria Silvică din Bucovina. He was resuming his collaboration with Maniu, hoping to draw him and the PNR into an alliance with Flondor. Their politics was aimed against the centralizing
National Liberal Party and its Bukovinian allies, the
Democratic Unionists. By early 1925, Isopescu-Grecul had revived the PNPR's sections; in April, after negotiations between him and
Traian Brăileanu, he agreed to fuse these into the
Democratic Nationalist Party, whose national leader was his old rival Iorga. Speaking on the occasion, he declared that all other political parties in Bukovina were "weeds" which needed to be uprooted. Isopescu-Grecul finally entered national politics during late 1926, upon rallying with Maniu's PNR. He then negotiated the merger between this group and the
Peasants' Party (represented in Bukovina by
Constantin Krakalia and Orest Bodnărescu); the resulting
National Peasants' Party (PNȚ) had him as head organizer for
Cernăuți County. He was subsequently elected vice president of the PNȚ chapter in Bukovina, and became a host of its national congress in
Alba Iulia (May 1928). Isopescu-Grecul then ran in the
general election of 1928, winning a seat in the
Assembly of Deputies after the party's landslide victory. His was one of four taken by the PNȚ in Cernăuți County—a list headed by
Teofil Sauciuc-Săveanu. In this capacity, he advised the new
Ministry of Transport on the supervision of the private railways. In November 1929, he was made a Commander of the
Order of Pope Pius IX by the
Holy See. On November 18, 1930, Isopescu-Grecul put himself up as a candidate for one of the six vice presidential seats in the Assembly, winning by 92 votes. According to his political adversaries at
Glasul Bucovinei, the PNȚ forced his victory by stuffing the urn with ballots. The
Iași-based newspaper
Lumea attributed this claim to deputy
Vasile Georgescu Bârlad, who had seen suspicious behavior from
Ștefan Cicio Pop, the
Assembly President. Cicio Pop was outraged by this claim, and sent Georgescu Bârlad to be tried by a committee on discipline; according to
Lumea, Georgescu Bârlad's accusation was not implausible, since Isopescu-Grecul had received "the exact number of votes" he needed.
Rector and retiree , also mentioning Constantin Isopescu-Grecul From late 1930 to 1933, Isopescu-Grecul was rector of Cernăuți University, and, from May 1931, obtained the university's assigned seat in the
Senate of Romania. Under his management, King
Carol II received an
honorary degree, thereafter lending his name to the university itself. Once the institution was hit by the
Great Depression, Isopescu-Grecul formally demanded financial assistance for "Bukovina's brain and heart" from the government, led at the time by Iorga. In late May 1933, the institution also witnessed a round of clashes between Christian and
Jewish students. Just before the buildings had been evacutaed and occupied by the Romanian Army as peacekeepers, the law faculty asked him to intervene for the conditional release of Christians arrested as agitators; he instead "issued parental demands that the students settle down and refrain from causing any additional regrettable incidents". On June 3, he presided upon a meeting of the university senate, which was also attended by a
Siguranța inspector. It upheld sanctions against "student agitators", enforced a
curfew, and reviewed a warrant to arrest "student Petricariu, identified as the author of a manifesto against the university senate". On June 7, Isopescu-Grecul sough to make sure that Jewish students could take their examinations, segregating them from their Christian colleagues (who had by then gone on strike). On June 22, 1933, the king created Isopescu-Grecul a Grand Cross of the
Order of the Star of Romania. Upon completing his stint as rector, he withdrew into academic work and contributed essays on legal topics, most of which only remained known to the community of specialists. He tried to preserve his university-assigned seat in the national Senate during the
legislative election of December 1933, but lost to theologian Vasile Loichiță, 24 votes to 18. In his late years, Isopescu-Grecul was also involved in intrigues between the
Rusyn and
Ukrainian communities, supporting
Kassian Bogatyrets and
Jevhen Kozak as the authorized representatives of the former. Appearing at a political rally on September 10, he endorsed the PNȚ program of transforming Romania into a "peasant state", describing the need to harness
productive capital against a "coterie that has taken hold of the country." Another such rally was held in November 1936, with Isopescu-Grecul appearing at the rostrum in Alecsandri Square alongside members of the PNȚ elite—
Ion Mihalache,
Virgil Madgearu, and
Pan Halippa. The event doubled as a rally against
Hungarian irredentism; according to
Curentul newspaper, it was used by Ukrainian Peasantists as an opportunity to demand regional autonomy for Bukovina. At the time, Isopescu-Grecul's idea of unifying Romania and Hungary was again being championed by the likes of
István Bethlen and
Hermann Müller, who proposed it to Carol II; on the Romanian side, the negotiations reportedly involved
Dimitrie Ghyka. One of Isopescu-Grecul's final assignments was as a delegate of the Romanian academic body in the
Kingdom of Italy. In February 1938, Carol formally outlawed all political parties, including the PNȚ, and introduced his own
corporative constitution. Isopescu-Grecul saluted this move in a latter to Maniu, declaring that he had long resented the PNȚ's ideology, and that he was resigning the party. He died shortly after in his native city. According to the left-wing lawyer
Otto Roth, by 1939 the project for a personal union between Hungary and Romania was again being promoted by Budapest dissidents, being seen as a possible bulwark against encroachment by
Nazi Germany. ==Notes==