Alexandru C. Constantinescu

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Not to be confused with Alecu Constantinescu.
Alexandru C. Constantinescu in 1914

Alexandru C. "Alecu" Constantinescu (4 September 1859 – 18 November 1926) was a Romanian politician.

Biography

Background and early political activity

Born in

Senate for Putna County. He joined the Chamber of Deputies in 1901.[1]

He was

Agriculture and Domains Minister from November 1909 to December 1910, and from January 1914 to December 1916. During the latter period, Constantinescu faced a problem posed by the outbreak of World War I and the position of neutrality adopted by Romania for the time being. The government refused to sell excess grain, as this could only be purchased by the Central Powers, which would have weakened the economic blockade imposed by the Entente Powers. Meanwhile, the grain was rotting, which led the large landowners to exert increasing pressure on the government. Prime Minister Ion I. C. Brătianu received permission from the Entente leadership to sell part of the grain, and decided to sell from state to state rather than to the German–Austro-Hungarian cartel. Thus, in January 1916, the British government signed a contract for 80,000 wagons full of grain. The Romanian government built warehouses near railway stations; these were needed to store the grain prior to transport, since it could not be picked up directly from the country.[3]

Wartime Interior Minister

He was

Romanian Army, while a group of 160 gendarmes was put together to guard military sites in the Danube Delta. Each infantry division was assigned a police company for counterespionage purposes.[5]

One of the ministry's challenges during 1917 was to identify new spies of the Central Powers in the occupied territory. At the beginning of the year, Romanian and Russian agents worked together, quickly identifying over 2500 suspected spies.[6] Following the retreat to Moldavia, some of the most competent policemen were, following brief training, sent behind the front in order to organize a resistance movement and networks to keep the military command informed of developments. During the Romanian counteroffensive of the summer of 1917, thousands of policemen and gendarmes participated, serving as military police and ensuring security at the front. Meanwhile, the police, together with the army, guarded prisoner-of-war camps.[3]

Subsequent career

Later on, Constantinescu held the

Bellu cemetery.[3] He married a German woman, but when he had a son by her sister, the couple divorced by mutual understanding, the procedure taking an unusually short twelve days. He then married his sister-in-law, legitimizing his only and well-beloved son.[8] This son, Constantin Al. "Atta" Constantinescu, grew up to become a diplomat and cabinet minister.[9]

Various

Statue of Constantinescu in Brăila, later torn down

Constantinescu was nicknamed Porcu ("the pig"). Ion G. Duca notes in his memoirs that this originated during his school days and was due to his "short, thick, rotund physique, rosy skin and reddish hair", but later also applied to his reputed moral character. Whether fairly or not, all the negative aspects that the name implied were ascribed to him, although Duca says he never noticed dubious conduct about the man while they served in cabinet. This perception was confirmed by their fellow Liberal minister (and scrupulous moralist) Vintilă Brătianu, who kept him under close observation.[10]

In 1935, a bronze statue of Constantinescu was unveiled before the

communist regime and replaced by parking spaces.[11][12] A street in Bucharest, called “Câmpina” under communism, bears his name.[13]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Grigore and Șerbu, p.179
  2. ^ Rădulescu, p.109
  3. ^ a b c d Grigore and Șerbu, p.181
  4. ^ Grigore and Șerbu, p.179-80
  5. ^ Grigore and Șerbu, p.180
  6. ^ Grigore and Șerbu, p.180-81
  7. ^ Olaru, p.79
  8. ^ Argetoianu, p.203
  9. ^ Lăzărescu, Țoancă, p.64, 94
  10. ^ Duca, p.88-9
  11. ^ Revista Pădurilor, vol. 47/1935, p.792
  12. ^ (in Romanian) Marian Gheorghe, "Povestea monumentelor brăilene dispărute", Historia, September 4, 2012
  13. ^ Uricaru, p.37

References

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