Ionel Bujoi, a warm soul you could get close to immediately

Engineer Bujoi, Ionel to his intimates, came from the great bourgeoisie: his father was General Director of the Romanian Railways and his father-in-law, Ștefănescu, was Governor of the National Bank. With such a background and professional training, Bujoi became a young man in the management of the Petroșani Company, the largest coal company in the country, and eventually chairman of the board of directors of this company, which exploited the mines in the Jiu Valley. In addition, Bujoi had also created an important group of his own companies, consisting of the Lupeni viscose factory, the Vlăhița metallurgical company, a glass factory in Tomești in Banat, and others.

As a result of his important position in the economic life of the country, Bujoi was appointed minister, apparently of the economy, in the Gigurtu government of technicians in 1940. This government lasted only a few months, without any glory, as it was an improvisation by King Charles II, who resorted to all sorts of political expediencies during his dictatorship. For this reason, Bujoi avoids talking about this episode in his past.

After 1944, he established links with the Allied diplomatic missions in Bucharest. He was, among other things, president of the Romanian YMCA – a well-known international youth organisation initiated by the Americans – and had, under the circumstances, become somewhat politically active along traditional democratic lines.

Especially after the banning of the political parties P.N.T. and N.L.P. and the arrest of their leaders, Bujoi was for a short time considered the most representative figure of the opposition among those still at large. Of course, he had no mass appeal, but his name was circulating in political circles, and for this reason, because of his activities during this period, he was arrested in the spring of 1948, along with a group of personalities from the country’s economic life, and in the autumn of 1948 he was sentenced to life imprisonment in Aiud.

Ionel Bujoi was a very pleasant person to talk to, open, very kind, well-read, not very combative.

He had many qualities, but I don’t think he could have been a real political leader. It seemed to me that he lacked the strength or the fighting temperament necessary for such a leader. However, he was seriously considering such a role if circumstances allowed. I often discussed this with him in the technical office.

Based on the political configuration of the microcosm represented by our colonyă[1], he seemed to foresee the possibility that the disappearance of the old democratic leaders due to age would create an open space just right for the emergence of a new democratic political force led by him. This force would be supported, among others, by this mass of people called legionnaires, whom he saw in prison, but who could not be transformed into a fascist party.

Of course, at that time it was only speculation, depending on the conjuncture, and things have changed since then, I don’t know how many times. In any case, I have only fond memories of Ionel Bujoi, a warm soul with whom it was easy to get close to.

(Ion Diaconescu – Temnița, destinul generației noastre, Nemira Publishing House, Bucharest, 1998, pp. 95-96)

1. It is about the Baia Sprie forced labour colony.