Florian Medrea

Dear friends,

I have recently read a book about the history of the 1st Bosnian and Herzegowinian Infantry Regiment and in one of the chapters the author also mentions the regimental pioner officer, a certain Captain (Hauptmann) FLORIAN MEDREA who previously distinguished himself by sucessfully escaping from the Russian captivity. Now I have been doing some quick googling and have come up with a few hits about one Captain Florian Medrea, so I was wondering if some kind soul could translate me a short biography of this man and what exactly did he do after the war?

MEDREA, Florian. Cpitan în armata austro-ungar, conductorul detaamentului ce a asigurat paza militar a Marii Adunri Naionale de la Alba Iulia la 1 decembrie 1918. Chestor în oraul Cluj (1928 œ 1934), prefect al judeului Bistria Nsud (1939), prefect de Orhei (1941), inspector la Sigurana Cluj. Ímpucat mortal pe strad, în 1946

URL: http://procesulcomunismului.com/marturii/f...ctionarm_24.pdf

Found another two links where he is mentioned:
http://www.geocities.com/rsorban/despre_nr_refugiatilor.htm

URL: http://www.jurnalul.ro/articole/11794/seri...imentat-romania

If my fledgeling Romanian is of any good I would guess as him being a commander of the Romanian National Guard in Alba Iulia in October 1918. Am I right? Anyone here from Alba Iulia who knows more about this man? I would like to get some confirmation whether Captain Florian Medrea, a Pionieroffizier from Bih IR.1. is the this same man who later assumed the command of the National Guard in Alba Iulia after the collaps of the Austro-Hungary?

I also wouldn't mind any other details from his post-war life, particularly if he continued to serve in the new post-1918 Romanian Army.

Best regards,

Klemen

This post has been edited by Klemen on June 02, 2007 10:03 pm

1. Florian Medrea, as a captain in Feb. 1919, was military adviser to Dr. Ioan Suciu, civilian appointed by the CONSILIUL DIRIGENT led by Iuliu Maniu to set-up forces able to forbid access of Hungarian forces in Apuseni Mts. area (early Feb. 1919). HORIA VOLUNTEER CORPS.
This decision was based on his good results in Alba county where he commanded the local National Guard, being appointed right before the huge meeting of representatives (1 Dec. 1918). This is an excerpt from Order no. 4/20 Nov. 1918 issued in Arad.

See link to this site (Medrea is a colonel by now, at Ioan Suciu's funerals !).

http://www.darnick.com/halmagiu/anexe4.html

2. History of HORIA Volunteer Corps (Regiment "Beius") is mentioned on many topics, especially the one opened by me in 2007 about gen. GHEORGHE RASOVICEANU (9th Hunters Regiment, 2nd Hunters Division) and his role in the offensive of April 1919 in Apuseni Mts.

3. Medrea was probably promoted as a colonel, but I think he already retired from the army. From his brief career mentioned in that dictionary (letter M), he had various public positions (police, public administration). For instance, King Carol II appointed only retired colonels as county prefects in 1938-1940.
I suppose he had to be killed in 1946 as he was an inspector in SIGURANTA (Secret Police) because Cluj county was a "bastion" of the National Peasant Party (Iuliu Maniu) and communists were eager to win also here elections in November 1946. In Cluj were lots of battles in those days, especially between communist workers from "Dermata" factory and students (workers attacked the student campuses !).

4. RAOUL SERBAN is a fantastic character and he was involved in helping Jews from Transylvania occupied by Horthyists to cross in secret the Carpathian Mts. and arrive in Romania. His testimony in favor of col. FLORIAN MEDREA as the man who arranged this operation with Sionists from Transylvania is very interesting (in Serban's discussion in 1943 with a local Jew !). This source mentions that MEDREA, head of Siguranta/Secret Police in Alba and Cluj county, was murdered in Apuseni Mts. by the Gestapo !



Best regards,

This post has been edited by mateias on January 22, 2008 08:22 am