Ion Grămadă was an Austro-Hungarian

Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

-born Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

n writer, historian and journalist. A native of Bukovina

Bukovina

Bukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains.-Name:The name Bukovina came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation from the Principality of Moldavia to the possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy, which became...

, he joined the Romanian Army and died in battle during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

.

Biography

Born in Zahareşti (now in Suceava County

Suceava County

Suceava is a county of Romania, in the historical region of Moldavia and few villages in Transylvania, with the capital city at Suceava.- Demographics :...

, Romania), he was registered at Czernowitz University

Chernivtsi University

The Chernivtsi National University is the leading Ukrainian institution for higher education in northern Bukovina, in Chernivtsi, a city in southwest Ukraine....

 and afterwards at the Universität

University of Vienna

The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...

 in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, where he studied History and Geography. Grămadă received his PhD

PHD

PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 in those fields with a thesis about the contribution of Romanians at the Siege of Vienna

Siege of Vienna

The Siege of Vienna in 1529 was the first attempt by the Ottoman Empire, led by Suleiman the Magnificent, to capture the city of Vienna, Austria. The siege signalled the pinnacle of the Ottoman Empire's power, the maximum extent of Ottoman expansion in central Europe, and was the result of a...

 (presented in 1913). He also published many stories and some historical studies of Bukovina in numerous literary magazines. Upon returning to his native region, Ion Grămadă founded the news magazine Deşteptarea ("The Awakening") in Czernowitz in 1907, and also worked as an editor at the local paper Viaţa Nouă ("The New Life").

In 1916, as soon as Romania entered World War I on the Entente side

Allies of World War I

The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...

, he enlisted in the Romanian Army, and specifically asked to be sent to fight to the front line. Grămadă was placed in command of an Elite Hunter

Vânatori de Munte

The vânători de munte |Huntsmen]]) are the elite mountain troops of the Romanian Land Forces. They were first established as an independent Army Corps in 1916 during World War I, and became operational in 1917 under Corpul de Munte designation....

 platoon fighting on difficult mountain terrain during the Romanian Campaign

Romanian Campaign (World War I)

The Romanian Campaign was part of the Balkan theatre of World War I, with Romania and Russia allied against the armies of the Central Powers. Fighting took place from August 1916 to December 1917, across most of present-day Romania, including Transylvania, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian...

, when the Central Powers

Central Powers

The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria...

 fended off Romanian incursions and took fighting into Romanian territory. He was shot down during an assault on August 27, 1917, on the heights of Cireşoaia, now part of Slănic-Moldova in Bacău County

Bacau County

Bacău is a county of Romania, in Moldavia, with its capital city at Bacău. It has one commune, Ghimeş-Făget, in Transylvania.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 706,623 and the population density was 113/km²....

.

Style and legacy

Ion Grămadă, who was of the most interesting writers of Bukovina, authored short stories which, in his lifetime, were only published sporadically in various literary magazines. They reveal a beautiful prose, with sensitive tension and mystery, specific to the literary trends of Central Europe

Central Europe

Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...

, and with psychological technique

Psychological novel

A psychological novel, also called psychological realism, is a work of prose fiction which places more than the usual amount of emphasis on interior characterization, and on the motives, circumstances, and internal action which springs from, and develops, external action...

and remarkable skills of portrayal.

Writings

• Din Bucovina de altădată. Schiţe istorice, Editura Institutului de Arte Grafice C. Sfetea, Bucharest, 1911
• Anteil der Rumänen an der Belagerung Wiens - his unpublished thesis
• Scrieri literare, Institutul de Arte Grafice şi Editură "Glasul Bucovinei", prefaced by Constantin Loghin, "Studiu asupra vieţii şi operei lui", Cernăuţi, 1924
• O broşură umoristică. Câteva reflexiuni la "Habsburgii şi Românii" părintelui Victor Zaharovschi, Editura Societatea tipografică bucovineană, Cernăuţi, 1909
• Societatea academică socială literară "România Jună" din Viena: 1871-1911, monografie istorică, Cernăuţi, 1912
• M. Eminescu. Contribuţii la studiul vieţii şi operei sale, Heidelberg, 1914
• Cartea sângelui, Editora Muşatinii, Suceava, 2002, coordinated by Ion Drăguşanul

External links

• Commemorative site