MAURICIU BROCINER (1855-1946): FUNCȚIONAR ȘI PENSIONAR AL CASEI REGALE
Maurice Brociner (1855-1946): On his service to the Royal Household and his retirement

Summary/Abstract: Maurice (Mauriciu) Brociner was a longtime official of the Royal Household of Romania, serving under king Carol I and king Ferdinand I for 36 years. The presence at the Royal Court of a Jewish-descended Romanian veteran of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 (known for Romanians as the War for Independence), a few years after the Constitution was revised in 1879, allowing Jews to obtain Romanian citizenship, illustrated the efforts led by the Royal Family to integrate minorities into the Romanian society. During the First World War, given a position of importance at the Palace, to keep things in check while the Royal Family left for Jassy, Brociner was forced into retirement for alleged wrongdoings during the wartime German occupation of Bucharest, living for almost three decades from his veteran and Royal House-given pensions. Through historical archives and memoirs, we will provide details on Brociner’s longtime service at the Royal Household, with the purpose of understanding an attempt made by the Romanian royalty as part of a larger effort to keep anti-Jewish sentiment in check. Since Jews were the largest minority of Romania before the Great Union of 1918, the matter of their treatment became a matter of European concern, which the king knew should be dealt with accordingly.

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