No one can argue the fact that the Bulgarians established in the Banat region – a rich, fertile and picturesque area – have been well-known for their capacity to work, tolerance, loyalty and openness in their relations with other co-nationals, regardless of nationality, religion, etc. These characteristics of the Banat Bulgarians were manifested in spite of the political regime. They distinguished themselves as skilled farmers, talented gardeners, gifted craftsmen, as well as genuine intellectuals; below a few great names from the pleiad of the Bulgarian personalities, old immigrants from Bulgaria alongside those who had already settled in Banat. Petar Bogdan Bakshev – born in Ciproviti, Bulgaria, a well renowned cleric, diplomat, Catholic archbishop of Sofia, and leader of the Catholic Bulgarians in the 17th century. The sole purpose of his activity was the social-political, confessional and cultural liberation of Bulgarians from the Ottoman oppression, and the revival of the Bulgarian state. Petar Parcevici – hailing from an old aristocratic family in Ciproviti, he was the spiritual guide of the Catholic Bulgarians, counselor to the Catholic archbishop – Petar Bogdan Bakshev, an active and tenacious militant, and agent for the Christian freedom and his country's liberation from Ottoman occupation. Gjuka Peiacevici – came from a noble family; he was one of the guides of the Bulgarians, leading the Ciproviti uprising. Margareta Tomianin – renowned for her charitable foundations. Gjura Kaciamag – a messenger for the Banat Bulgarians to the Imperial Court in Vienna, he had a decisive part in obtaining more privileges from Empress Maria Theresa for the Bulgarian village of Vinga in Banat, promoted to a town, named Tereziopolis, which nowadays can be found in Arad County, Romania. Nikola Stanislavici – born in 1694 in Craiova, he was a Franciscan monk. On the 25th of September 1725 he was appointed bishop of Nikopol and confirmed in this high ecclesiastical position by the Pope himself; he was also the first Bulgarian bishop in Banat. Maria Theresa's father, Karl III, Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, named him Bishop of Cenad on the 21st of October 1739. Eusebius Fermendjin – born on 21st of September 1845 in Vinga; a scholar and a very pious man, he dedicated his life to the study of the vast European archives, gathering and printing important documents and essential information about the history of the Slavic people from the East; for his contribution and merits in history, the Zagreb Academy elected him a full member. He was the first Bulgarian academician. He wrote Acta Bulgariae ecclesiastica, published in Zagreb in 1887. He died in 1897, and was buried in the crypt of the Franciscan church of Nashitze (Croatia). Stefan Duniov (1815-1889) was a doctor of law and economics, notary, lawyer, captain, and later colonel; he was decorated with high orders of Italy because he fought under General Garibaldi. Karol Telbis (Telbizov) – as mayor of Timisoara, he introduced the first public electric illumination system and the first electric trams in Europe. He was born in 1915 in Besenova Veche, and in 1994 he died in Bulgaria. A native of the Banat town of Besenova Veche (now Dudestii Vechi), he distinguished himself as a journalist, being the manager and editor of the newspaper The Bulgarian Voice; he was also the founder and the first secretary of the Bulgarian Community of Banat. In 1936 he represented the Bulgarian minority of Banat to the International Congress of the Minorities in Geneva; in 1938 he graduated from the faculty of law at the University of Cluj, and in 1940 he settled in the country of his forefathers – Bulgaria. His literary activity includes The Traditional Lifestyle and Culture of the Bulgarians from Banat, The Popular Costumes of the Bulgarians from Banat (he co-authored both with Maria Vekova-Telbizova, his wife), The Bulgarian Education System in Banat and Transylvania (with Maria Vekova-Telbizova and Marin Liuliushe), The Bulgarian Literature from Banat, The Bulgarian Cultural Activity in Banat during the 18th and the 19th Centuries, The Bulgarian Town of Banat – Vinga, Bulgarian Commercial Colonies in Transylvania in the 18th Century. Anton Lebanov – a lawyer by trade, this journalist, prolific poet, militant and activist for the cause of the Bulgarian minority in Banat, vice-president of the Bulgarian Community in Banat, honorific president of the Vinga branch of the Bulgarian Community in Banat, was born in 1912 in Vinga, and in 1943 he settled in Bulgaria, "not for having had difficulties in his activity in Romania, but because he wanted to settle in the land of his ancestors – Bulgaria"; nowadays he lives in Sofia. Antoniu Ciocan – a remarkable representative of his generation, he brought his contribution to maintaining and to the rebirth and development of Bulgarian culture in Banat, beginning with the 1930's to the end of the 20th century. He was born in 1911 in Brestea, and died in Deta in 1990. Historical and Socio-cultural Aspects Regarding the Bulgarians from Banat, Romania Other Romanian personalities with Bulgarian origins are the Arges Metropolitan Bishop, Ilarion, adviser and spiritual guide to Tudor Vladimirescu, the leader of the 1821 rebellion; the army commander Baba Novac, captain in the army of Michael the Brave, the first to unite the three Romanian feudal principalities in 1600; the army commander Gheorghe Pansagy-Velciov, high official in the Hungarian government; the great mathematician Simion Stoilov; the academician linguist Iorgu Iordan; the famous neurologist Constantin Arseni; the singer poet Anton Pann; the poet Panait Cerna; the sculptor Boris Caragea; Vasile Parvan (1882-1927) historian and founder of Romanian archeology.
by Ana-Carolina Ivanciov
