Iosif Constantin Drăgan

Iosif Constantin Drăgan (June 20, 1917 – August 21, 2008) was a Romanian and Italian businessman, writer and historian. In 2005, he was the second wealthiest Romanian, according to the Romanian financial magazine "Capital", having a wealth estimated at $850 million."Jurnalul Naţional", [http://www.jurnalul.ro/articol_40664/top_300___ion_tiriac_the_richest_romanian.html "Top 300 – Ion Tiriac the Richest Romanian"] , 16 November 2005] According to the same financial magazine, in 2006, he became the wealthiest Romanian, at $ 1.3-1.6 billion."Evenimentul Zilei", [http://www.expres.ro/article.php?artid=280367 "Cei mai bogaţi români" ("The Richest Romanians)"] , 15 November 2006]

Drăgan was involved in a series of controversies, including some alleged deals with the Securitate, his admiration of Romanian Fascist leader Ion Antonescu and being one of the main figures in the Protochronist current of Romanian historiography. [http://www.evz.ro/articole/detalii-articol/817690/Primul-miliardar-roman-isi-ia-secretele-in-groapa/ Primul miliardar român îşi ia secretele în groapă] , "Evenimentul Zilei", 23 August 2008]

Biography

Early life

Born in Lugoj, he graduated from Law School at the University of Bucharest in 1938, and earned in 1940 a scholarship at the University of Rome, where he studied political science and economics, earning a Ph.D. in law. At the time, Drăgan was attracted to fascist ideals and the Iron Guard, representing a corporatist trend inside the latter.Francisco Veiga, "Istoria Gărzii de Fier, 1919-1941: Mistica ultranaţionalismului" ("History of the Iron Guard, 1919-1941: The Mistque of Ultra-Nationalism"), Humanitas, Bucharest, 1993, p.287, 307]

Drăgan explained his views on the Fascist Iron Guard in 1940 in the pro-Mussolini newspaper "Conquiste d'Impero" in two articles entitled "The Mistique of Codreanu's Legionnaires" and "Romanian Corporatism: Pieces of Legionnaire Doctrine". In 1987, based on these articles, the Italian magazine "Il Panorama" called him "a Legionnaire", but Drăgan sued them and won the trial, as they were not able to bring a proof that he was an actual member of the organization. [ [http://www.evz.ro/articole/detalii-articol/817798/Misterul-lui-Dragan-de-la-legionar-la-gazarul-rosu/ "Misterul lui Drăgan: de la legionar la „găzarul roşu“"] , "Evenimentul Zilei", 24 August 2008]

Business in Italy

In 1941, he started a company which exported Romanian petroleum products to Fascist Italy. After World War II, in 1948, he established a gas distribution company in Italy, Butan Gas."Jurnalul Naţional", [http://www.jurnalul.ro/articol_14692/omul_care_transforma_gazul_in_bani_gheata.html "Omul care transformă gazul în bani gheaţă" ("The Man Turning Gas into Cash")] , 26 July 2004] After the war, with the Romanian Communist Party gaining power in Romania, he was not allowed for 30 years to return to Romania.

Protochronism and the relation with Ceauşescu

In 1967, he started the "European Foundation Drăgan", a foundation which has the goal to promote the "values of the Romanian civilization". He is also the founder of two publishing houses ("Nagard" in Italy and "Europa Nova" in Romania), a privately-owned university, "Universitatea Europeană Drăgan" (founded in 1991 in Lugoj), a TV station, a radio station ("Radio NovaFm") and a weekly newspaper ("Redeşteptarea") and a daily local newspaper ("Renaşterea Bănăţeană"), all in Romania. He also funded the construction, near Orşova, of the Statue of Decebalus, a 40-meter high statue that is the tallest rock sculpture in Europe.

He has written many historical works associated with the Protochronism nationalist movement in Romanian history, which was later promoted by Nicolae Ceauşescu's regime.Katherine Verdery, National Ideology under Socialism. Identity and Cultural Politics in Ceauşescu's Romania, University of California Press, 1991. ISBN 0-520-20358-5] Despite being a sympathiser of the Iron Guard, Drăgan became a semi-official collaborator of Ceauşescu and the Communist regime, and as a result, he had access to some documents never published before on Ion Antonescu, using them in a four volume-book which put him in a good light. [http://www1.yadvashem.org/about_yad/what_new/index_whats_new-report.html Report of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania] (RICHR) submitted to President Ion Iliescu in Bucharest on November 11, 2004, [http://www.ushmm.org/research/center/presentations/index.php?content=programs/presentations/2005-03-10/ and accepted by the Romanian government] .]

After 1989

After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, it was alleged that he supported financially Eugen Barbu and Corneliu Vadim Tudor to launch their far right "România Mare" newspaper. Nevertheless, in 2008, Vadim denied that he got any funding from Drăgan. Together with Vadim Tudor, he was the founder of "Liga Mareşal Ion Antonescu" in 1990, later renamed to "Liga Mareşalilor" following the changes in the Romanian legislation which disallowed the praise of the pro-Nazi dictator.

At age 78, Drăgan married Daniela Veronica Guşe, aged 22 at the time, the daughter of Ştefan Guşe, a Romanian Army General who disappeared in strange circumstances after the 1989 Revolution."Ziua" [http://www.ziua.ro/display.php?id=178022&data=2005-06-09&ziua=c9b2ce17bae421659fd2ae99739d01f0 "Fiul rătăcitor în căutarea lui Iosif Constantin Drăgan" ("The Prodigal Son in Search for Iosif Constantin Drăgan")] 9 June 2005] Drăgan also has an older son, Mike Fink, born in 1971, who, in 2005, announced he could not contact by any means his father in the previous three years. "Ziua" reached the conclusion that Drăgan was being held captive by his younger wife and his business partners."Ziua", [http://www.ziua.net/display.php?id=177752&data=2005-06-06&ziua=72598cb63e13ff9b2612a49f4dc16dd8 "Drăgan, tot în geam" ("Drăgan, Still on Display")] , 6 June 2005] However, he was seen dining in a restaurant only a few days later in Bucharest, together with his wife. ["Averea", "L-am descoperit pe I. C. Dragăn" ("We Have Uncovered I. C. Dragăn"), 14 June 2005]

He died on August 21 2008, at his house in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

Works

History

*1973: "Romania: paese dei due mondi", Nagard/Milano
*1976: "Noi tracii şi istoria noastra multimilenară", Scrisul Românesc/Craiova (1976), Dacia (1980)
**Translations:
**"We, the Thracians and our multimillenary history", Nagard/Milano (1976)
**"Les Roumains, peuple multimillénaire de l'Europe", Editions Europe/Rome (1983)
*1977: "Aurel C. Popovici"
*1977: "Idealuri şi destine: eseu asupra evoluţiei conştiinţei europene", Cartea Românească
*1986: "Mileniul imperial al Daciei", Editura Ştiinţifică şi Enciclopedică
*1986: "Antonescu. Mareşalul României şi războaiele de reîntregire," (4 vols.), Nagard/Venice (1986-1990), Fundaţia Europeană Drăgan (1991),
*1993: "Il mondo dei Traci", Nagard/Rome
*1994: "Istoria Românilor", Europa Nova/Bucharest
*1996: "Adevarata istorie a românilor", Nagard/Milano
*2000: "Imperiul romano-trac", Europa Nova/Bucharest

Autobiography

*1971: "În serviciul Europei", Nagard/Milano
*1973-2005: "Prin Europa" (5 vols./2112 pages) Editura Eminescu/Dacia (1973-80), Europa Nova (1997), RAO (2005) ISBN 9735768267
**"Uitarea este, în fond, o trădare"
**"Europa Phoenix"
**"În drum spre Roma"
**"În lumea petrolului"
**"Mediterana, vrajă şi primejdie"
*1982: "Din ţara lui Dracula", Nagard/Milano
*1990: "Italia mea", Franco Orlandi/Milano

Marketing and others

*1972: "Marketing for Africa's development", Nagard/Milan
*1972: "Tabele pentru trasarea curbelor la proiectarea şi execuţia căilor de comunicaţie" with D. A. Sburlan, Ceres/Bucharest
*1986: "Entropy and bioeconomics : the new paradigm of Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen", with Mihai C. Demetrescu, Nagard/Milano, (1986-1991)
*1987: "Geoclimate and history", Nagard/Rome, with Ştefan Airinei
** in Romanian: "Geoclima şi istoria", Europa Nova (1993)
*1996: "Practica prospectarii pieţei: tehnici de cercetare în marketing", with M. C. Demetrescu, Europa Nova
*1998: "Noul marketing la începutul mileniului III", with M. C. Demetrescu, Europa Nova

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References