Emil Hațieganu

Emil Hațieganu
Minister of Labour, Health, and Social Security
In office 10 October 1930 – 17 April 1931
Prime Minister	Gheorghe Mironescu
Preceded by	Pantelimon Halippa
Succeeded by	Ioan Cantacuzino
Minister of State
In office 29 April 1931 – 14 July 1931
Prime Minister	Nicolae Iorga
In office 6 June 1932 – 19 October 1932
Prime Minister	Alexandru Vaida-Voevod
In office 14 January 1933 – 13 November 1933
Prime Minister	Alexandru Vaida-Voevod
Minister Secretary of State
In office 7 January 1946 – 30 November 1946
Prime Minister	Petru Groza
Personal details
Born	(1878-12-09)December 9, 1878 Tritenii de Jos, Austria-Hungary
Died	May 13, 1959(1959-05-13) (aged 80) Cluj, Romanian People's Republic
Political party	Romanian National Party National Peasants' Party
Parent	Ioan Hațeganu (father)
Relatives	Iuliu, Eugen, Simion, Ioan (brothers)
Alma mater	Franz Joseph University
Profession	Jurist
Awards	Honorary member of the Romanian Academy
Academic work
Institutions	University of Cluj

Emil Hațieganu (December 9, 1878—May 13, 1959) was a Romanian politician and jurist, a prominent member of the Romanian National Party (PNR) and of its successor, the National Peasants' Party (PNȚ); he was physician Iuliu Hațieganu's brother. Before his arrest, he was an honorary member of the Romanian Academy.

He was born in Tritenii de Jos, Transylvania (inside the Kingdom of Hungary in Austria-Hungary at the time, now in Cluj County, Romania), the son of Ioan Hațeganu, a Greek Catholic priest. He attended gymnasium and high school in Blaj and Cluj, and then studied Law at Franz Joseph University in Cluj, graduating in 1901. Afterwards, he practiced Law and was a judge in Huedin, Ileanda, and Cluj.

Hațieganu later became a professor at the University of Cluj, and served as its rector in 1929–1930. Following World War I and the Aster Revolution in Hungary, he was present with PNR leaders at the Alba Iulia assembly that called for the union of Transylvania with Romania, and served on the Directory Council designated by the participants.

A Minister of Labour and Social Security in the Iuliu Maniu cabinets in Bucharest, he was kept in the Gheorghe Mironescu government (that brought about the return of Carol II as King of Romania). Hațieganu also held the office of Minister of State for Transylvania. In 1940, he became noted for his vocal protest against the cession of Northern Transylvania to Hungary (the signing of the Second Vienna Award).

Retreated from political life during World War II, he returned to the forefront of illegal opposition before the fall of the Ion Antonescu pro-Nazi dictatorship (see Romania during World War II). After the start of Soviet military occupation in Romania, Hațieganu held the position of PNȚ Minister without Portfolio in the first Petru Groza Romanian Communist Party-dominated cabinet; his appointment, like that of the National Liberal Mihail Romniceanu, followed pressures on Groza to open executive structures to politicians from outside the Communist-led National Democratic Front alliance — both mandates were ended by the 1946 general election.

In front of mounting Communist influence, Hațieganu approached Iuliu Maniu with a proposal to establish direct contacts with the Western Allies by having Ion Mihalache evade the country (July 1947); the attempt, known as the Tămădău Affair, eventually led to the prosecution of the PNȚ leadership during a show trial and to an official ban on all party activities.

Arrested in Sibiu by the authorities of Communist Romania, he was investigated by the notorious Securitate officer Gheorghe Crăciun. Hațieganu was prosecuted and sentenced on November 6, 1948 to three years in prison for "PNȚ activism" and "sabotage". He was incarcerated at Cluj, Sighet, Jilava, Văcărești, and Ocnele Mari. In 1951, the term of his imprisonment in the infamous Sighet Prison was increased by another 60 months. He was released on June 15, 1955, and died in Cluj four years later.

References

• "Penal Registration File: Emil Hațieganu". www.memorialsighet.ro. Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance. 30 October 2015. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
• Cioroianu, Adrian (2005). Pe umerii lui Marx. O introducere în istoria comunismului românesc [On the Shoulders of Marx. An Incursion into the History of Romanian Communism] (in Romanian). București: Editura Curtea Veche. ISBN 973-669-175-6. OCLC 70707609.
• Lăcustă, Ioan (October 1997). "În București, acum 50 ani" [In Bucharest, 50 Years Ago]. Magazin Istoric (in Romanian). Archived from the original on 2005-02-18.
• Țiu, Ilarion (August 29, 2005). "A cui este țara aceasta?" [Whose Country is This?]. Jurnalul Național (in Romanian). Retrieved December 4, 2021. (Insights into the events following the Second Vienna Award.)