Gheorghe Tașcă

Gheorghe Tașcă (born Iorgu Tașcă, January 30, 1875 – March 25, 1951) was a Romanian economist, lawyer, academic, diplomat, and politician. He was a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy.

After a distinguished career as jurist and professor at the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, ambassador to Germany, and Minister of Industry and Commerce, he became a victim of the Communist regime, dying at Sighet Prison.

Back in Romania, Tașcă applied again in 1912 and was offered an assistant professor position in political economy at the University of Bucharest. When the Central Powers occupied Bucharest in World War I, he took refuge in late 1916 in Moldavia; conscripted into the Romanian Army, he served as diplomatic courier between Iași and Saint Petersburg. Returning to his teaching at the end of the war, he was promoted to associate professor in 1921, and in 1925 to full professor, a position which he held until 1940.

In 1925 he was elected corresponding member of the Romanian Academy. He was professor of political economy and rector (1929–1931) of the Academy of High Commercial and Industrial Studies of Bucharest (now the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies).

Political career

In 1910 Tașcă followed Take Ionescu and joined the Conservative-Democratic Party, contributing to the development of its political platform. When the party was dissolved in 1922, he joined Nicolae Iorga's Democratic Nationalist Party, and was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in the 1926 elections. From 1927 to 1929 he was Editor in Chief of Iorga's magazine, Neamul Românesc.

From May 1, 1930, to May 1, 1932, Tașcă was Romania's ambassador to Germany. From January 12 to June 5, 1932, he served as Minister of Industry and Commerce in the Iorga cabinet. He then became an admirer of Nazism and, in May 1933, contributed to the reestablishment of the National Socialist Party.

Last years Tașcă was arrested on August 1, 1950, by the Communist authorities and incarcerated in the notorious Sighet Prison, Maramureș County in cell number 58. He died on March 25, 1951, after a harsh detention regime and was buried at the Paupers Cemetery in Sighetu Marmației, in a common grave.

Works

Decorations and awards

Commander of the Order of the Crown (Romania) Grand Cross of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas