ROTARY IN THE BALKANS: ROMANIA
Like other former Eastern Bloc countries, ROMANIA had a
flourishing Rotary District (84) in the 1930s, but under
totalitarian influence, firstly as part of the Axis, and later
under Communist control, Rotary and Freemasonry were both
banned.
The first club to be chartered was in Bucharest on 20 May 1929
with Timisoara close behind on May 24 1929. Others followed with
Brasov inaugurated on November 5 1930, Cernauti on November 17,
1930, and then Arad on January 3 1933, Campina on January 29
1934, Iasi on March 30 1934 and finally Ploesti on June 13 1936.
 In 1938, Agripa Popescu from the Bucharest Club, became the
first Romanian to serve as a Director of RI . A letter from him
to Paul Harris asking whether Harris was a freemason received
this response from
Harris.
Thanking you for your kind letter. I will answer by irrevocably stating that I have never been a freemason nor have I ever either
directly or indirectly had any dealings or relationships with them.
I might go so far as to say that I don't even know anything about them other than what is common knowledge to you and to me and to all
other outsiders.
I can even say that I have never been solicited to join them except once when I was about twenty years of age and I did not give the
matter any particular thought even then.
In addition to all this, I can say that Rotary has never been in any manner associated with masonry and I have never heard of Masons
having influence or attempted to influence Rotary.
With kind regards
Sincerely
Paul P Harris
R.C. Cernauti's existence was terminated on August 6 1940 but the
other six officially remained until December 31 1941. However,
the Germans had entered Romania on October 6 1940 and as
elsewhere, Rotary meetings were discouraged, if not immediately
banned.
It was not until May 1 1992 that Bucharest was re-admitted and
in the 2005/6 RI Directory, some 58 clubs are listed for
Romania. Their chartering dates are all post 1992.Posted by
Historian Basil Lewis
18 December 2005
Elsewhere in this archive, there are articles
about 'Freemasons'
and their relations with Rotary. One question sometimes
asked is whether Paul Harris was a mason. We know that
other early Chicago Rotarians were masons, and details
of Gus Loehr's membership appear on our pages. However,
from a letter written in 1937 (above left) to Governor
Agripa Popescu, it appears that Paul Harris was never a
freemason.
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