Corneliu Coposu Gala, organized for the first time in Cluj

Cluj will host the Corneliu Coposu Gala for the first time. It is an annual event organised to pay tribute to the memory of the Romanian political leader. Corneliu Coposu was the leader of the democratic opposition to the communist dictatorship and to the neo-communist regime installed in power after the 1989 Revolution. A disciple of the great statesman Iuliu Maniu, Corneliu Coposu paid for his commitment to democratic values with 17 years of political imprisonment. Then, in difficult circumstances, he reorganised the PNȚCD, which re-entered the political scene in the early days after the fall of communism, and then united the democratic opposition in the Democratic Convention of Romania, a coalition that played a key role in Romania’s transition to democracy. Corneliu Coposu was deeply connected to Cluj. He graduated from the Faculty of Law at King Ferdinand I University in Cluj, was a sportsman at the Universitatea Cluj club and worked as a journalist in Cluj before moving to Bucharest. This is why the president of the Corneliu Coposu Foundation, Ion-Andrei Gherasim, decided to organise this year’s Corneliu Coposu Gala in the city of the senior’s student.

Here is the press release received from the Corneliu Coposu Foundation:

“The Corneliu Coposu Foundation, since its foundation in 1996, has aimed to promote the culture of memory and history, to attract, train and improve young people in the educational process of knowledge and analysis of the phenomenon called “communism in Romania”, as well as to publish books.

On the basis of this aim, our foundation has organized an annual essay contest for Romanian pupils and students from all over the world, promoted and supported the publication of history books, memoirs, poems, as well as cultural events for charity purposes. Each time, this series of events ended with a gala with an audience, close to the 11th of November, the day on which Corneliu Coposu went to God in 1995.

This year, the 5th edition of the Corneliu Coposu Gala will be held in Cluj-Napoca on 10-11 November, to mark the great politician’s connection with the Transylvanian capital: graduate of the Faculty of Law and State Sciences of the Babeș-Bolyai University (1934) and editor of the newspaper “România Nouă” between 1933 and 1938.

The gala organized by the Corneliu Coposu Foundation in Cluj-Napoca will start on 10.11.2022, at 11,00 a.m., with a press conference, followed by the launch of an album dedicated to the life of the Senior, events that will take place in the “Mușlea” hall – “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library. At 18:30, in the Aula Mihail Șerban of USAMV, a debate will take place on the model of Senior Coposu for future generations, with the participation of Ana Blandiana, Dan Grigore, Ruxandra Cesereanu and other prestigious guests, in a dialogue with young people and students from Cluj.

On 11.11.2022, at 11:00 am, on the 27th anniversary of the passing away of Senior Corneliu Coposu, a Holy Mass and a Parastas in memory of Corneliu Coposu will take place at the Greek-Catholic Cathedral “Schimbarea la Față”, presided by His Grace, Bishop of Cluj-Gherla, Claudiu Pop.

In the evening, at 19:00, the main event of the 5th edition of the Corneliu Coposu Gala will take place in the Auditorium Maximum in the building of the Academic College of “Babeș-Bolyai” University, presented by Ion-Andrei Gherasim, Executive President of the “Corneliu Coposu” Foundation. The winners of the essay competition – 7th edition, on the themes of Romania’s relations with Tsarist Russia, the USSR and the Russian Federation and the importance of Euro-Atlantic guarantees and Why some democracies succeed and others don’t, will be awarded. (Jury: Ana Blandiana, writer, president of the jury; Doina Alexandru, journalist; Dan Pavel, professor of political science; Ioana Boca, historian; Tudor Călin Zarojanu, writer and journalist).

In the second part of the gala, Maestro Dan Grigore will perform an extraordinary concert dedicated to the memory of Senior Coposu and to raising funds for the reconstruction of Teodor Șușman’s house in Răchițele, destroyed by the communists, and its installation as a museum of the anti-communist resistance in the Apuseni Mountains.

At the end of the gala, the Corneliu Coposu Foundation, together with its friends and partners, will offer a cocktail.

On behalf of the Corneliu Coposu Foundation and the organizers, Hanns Seidel Foundation, Civic Academy Foundation, Cardinal Iuliu Hossu Association, Clubul Monarhiștilor Clujeni and Via Cluj TV, I would like to thank all the partners who joined us for the success of the project: JTI, “Babeș-Bolyai” University, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj County Council, “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library, Museum of the Horrors of Communism in Romania, “Memoria” Foundation, National Museum of History of Transylvania, “Iuliu Maniu” Memorial House in Bădăcin, Film and History Festival in Râșnov, “Doina Cornea” Foundation, “Argonaut” Publishing House. I would also like to thank our media partners: TVR Cluj, Profit News, Radio România Cultural, Radio Cluj, Radio Transilvania, Cluj Today”, says Ion-Andrei Gherasim, through the press release.

Comments

comments