The events devoted to Romanian politician Corneliu Coposu, a leader of the post-Communist opposition in Romania, which were held in Moldova in November, ended with the sixth Corneliu Coposu Gala. In this year’s edition staged at the Organ Hall, there were awarded the winners of the essays contest entitled “Communist repression in Romania and the Republic of Moldova”, which was organized by the Corneliu Coposu Foundation, IPN reports.

The Foundation’s executive president Ion-Andrei Gherasim said the Corneliu Coposu Gala in Chisinau honors the personality of the great Romanian defender of the democratic values and ideas of national unity. “By understanding the example of Corneliu Coposu’s life, we should acquire something that is more important than politics, democracy and even the national ideal, even if there had been suffering for all these in the case of Corneliu Coposu. This something more important is the moral discernment. There is no assumption of the political notion for common good. There is no authentic aspiration for democracy, for the ideal of the united Europe and for the national ideal if these are not permanently guided by moral discernment, if these are not guided by the capacity not only to identify in our activity what is good and what is bad at a certain moment, but to also take the risk, assume the choice before the signs,” stated Ion-Andrei Gherasim.

The executive president of the Corneliu Coposu Foundation said that he considers the moral education of young people in the spirit of the truth and Christina morality is essential. Therefore, the Corneliu Coposu Foundation, in partnership with the Civic Academy Foundation, the Hanns Seidel Foundation and the Cultural Foundation “Memoria”, staged essays contests intended for young people and students who this year treated the subject of Communist repression in Romania and the Republic of Moldova.

The Rodica Coposu Award went to Matias Vlaicu, an eighth grader of the Brăila School “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” for the work “Communist repression in Romania and the Republic of Moldova”.

The Special Award was handed over to Mălina Rîndașu, a master’s student of the Faculty of History of the Babeș-Bolyai Foundation in Cluj-Napoca, for the work “Perceptions of Communist repression in Romania – subjectivism, empathy, prioritization of oneself”.

The third prize was given to Maria Laura Tomozei, a first-year-student of the Faculty of Medicine of the Iasi University “Grigore T. Popa”, for the work “Adriana Georgescu – professional in the art of supervision”.

The second prize went to Vlad Horațiu Miclăuș, a master’s student of the Faculty of History of the Babeș-Bolyai Foundation in Cluj-Napoca, for the work “Penitentiary regime in Romania during first two Communist decades. Case study: Sibiu penitentiary”.

The top prize, for the work “Communist repression in Romania and the Republic of Moldova”, was given to Maria Seretean, a tenth grader of the Theoretical Lyceum “Emil Nicula” in Mereni village of Anenii Noi district. Maria Seretean said that she was very happy and honored to be the winner of this contest. This was a unique experience for her. In memory of the victims of the Communist repression, she recited Grigore Vieru’s “Ballad of the Deportees”.

Writer Ana Blandiana said the way in which the awardees were chosen was aimed at underlining the extent to which the fight for Christian-democracy is a fight for real liberty, which is simultaneously spiritual, political and social liberty. The wining work impressed the jury by its scientific capacity and by the fact that it integrates the documentary response into the issue about the Communist repression by telling about the repression in the student’s village. “Both the Coposu Foundation and the Civic Academy Foundation that I head aim to make Communism known to the next generations so that these can protect themselves from the Communist ideas that yet persist in society,” stated Ana Blandiana.

In the event, the friends of the Corneliu Coposu Foundation received the Iuliu Maniu medal. Among the friends is the Hanns Seidel Foundation.

The proceeds collected in the Corneliu Coposu Gala will be used to support the laying out of the only open-air Museum Complex in memory of the victims of political repression, which develops in Mereni, Anenii Noi.

The Corneliu Coposu Gala was organized by the Corneliu Coposu Foundation in partnership with the Hanns Seidel Foundation, the Cultural Foundation “Memoria”, the National Museum of History of Moldova, the Agency for Military Science and Memory, the Embassy of Romania in Moldova, the Museum of Communist Horrors of Romania, the Mereni mayor’s office, the State Teacher Training University “Ion Creangă” in Chisinau, the Association of Former Deportees and Political Prisoners of Moldova.