Ion Gheorghe Maurer | |
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Portrait of Ion Gheorghe Maurer
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President of the Presidium of the Great National Assembly | |
In office 11 January 1958 – 21 March 1961 |
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Preceded by | Petru Groza |
Succeeded by | Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej(as President of the Council of State) |
Prime Minister of Romania | |
In office 21 March 1961 – 29 March 1974 |
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Preceded by | Chivu Stoica |
Succeeded by | Manea Mănescu |
Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
In office 15 July 1957 – 15 January 1958 |
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Preceded by | Grigore Preoteasa |
Succeeded by | Avram Bunaciu |
Personal details | |
Born |
Bucharest, Romania |
23 September 1902
Died | 8 February 2000 Bucharest, Romania |
(aged 97)
Political party | Communist Party |
Other political affiliations |
Radical Peasants' Party |
Spouse(s) | Elena Maurer |
Profession | Lawyer |
Religion | Orthodoxy |
Ion Gheorghe Iosif Maurer (23 September 1902 – 8 February 2000) was a Romanian communist politician and lawyer, as well as a former Prime Minister of Romania.
Maurer was born in Bucharest to an Alsatian father of German descent and a Romanian mother, he completed studies in Law and became an attorney, defending in court members of the illegal leftist and Anti-fascist movements. Occasionally, as in the 1936 Craiova Trial of Romanian Communist Party (PCR) activists, including Ana Pauker, Alexandru Drăghici, and Alexandru Moghioroș, he assisted Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu).
Before 1937, he was briefly active in the Radical Peasants' Party, formed by Grigore Iunian as a splinter group of the National Peasants' Party; however, he was by then already a member of the illegal Communist Party and active in the Agitprop section.
In 1942-1943, during World War II he was imprisoned for his political activity (notably, in the camp at Târgu Jiu), and, as a member of a paramilitary grouping, played a secondary part in the events of 23 August 1944 that led to the downfall of the Ion Antonescu regime. During this time, although present among the few active leaders of the Party around general secretary Ștefan Foriș, he became a supporter of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej's faction (dominated by imprisoned activists). In 1944, he played a hand in Foriș's deposition, assisting Emil Bodnăraș and Gheorghiu-Dej.