Traian Bratu

He actively opposed the far-right, clashing with the followers of A. C. Cuza and with the Iron Guard; the latter organization made two unsuccessful attempts on his life.

Born in Rășinari, Sibiu County, in the Mărginimea Sibiului area of Transylvania, at the time part of Austria-Hungary, he grew up in a peasant family.

[2][5] Bratu's presence was attested in the village of Voineasa, where, in September 1906, he became honorary president of a Reading Club, with publications that encouraged peasants to take an active part in political life.

[2][5] Subsequently, Bratu specialized in German studies at the University of Berlin from 1902 to 1907, earning a doctorate on the lyric poetry of Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué.

He finished a study of word order in Low German in 1934, published in Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur in mid-1938.

[8] Although an avowed admirer of Germany, Bratu was a second lieutenant in the Romanian Land Forces, and when his country entered World War I on the side of the Allies in 1916, he served with distinction on the front.

[9] Together with faculty colleagues Garabet Ibrăileanu, Dimitrie Gusti, and Ion Petrovici, Bratu displayed left-wing tendencies in the war's aftermath.

[10] Following the creation of Greater Romania in 1918, he advocated a melting pot approach toward the country's ethnic minorities, which would respect their civic rights and ensure their loyalty.

[11] He died of lung cancer in Bucharest, although official historiography under the communist regime would assert his demise was brought on by the Guardist attacks.