Gheorghe (or George) Pop de Băsești (; 1 August 1835 – 23 February 1919), also known under the nickname Badea Gheorghe or Badea George (roughly "Brother/Uncle George"), was an Imperial Austrian-born Romanian politician, philanthropist and patriot, who served as vice president (1881–1902) and president (1902–1919) of the Romanian National Party at a time when Transylvania was part of the Kingdom of Hungary within Austria-Hungary, and eventually as the president of the Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia that declared the Union of Transylvania with Romania on 1 December 1918.
Early life
Gheorghe Pop de Băsești was born on 1 August 1835 in the village of Szilágyillésfalva/Băsești (Transylvania, Austrian Empire), as the son of Petru Pop de Băsești and Susana Pop de Turț, both members of the local gentry. He completed the gymnasium in Nagybánya/Baia Mare (the first 6 grades) and in Nagyvárad/Oradea (the last 2 grades of the gymnasium), before moving on to study Law at the Nagyvárad Academy.
After graduating from the Oradea Academy in 1859, Pop de Băsești found a clerk's job, but shortly after he was conscripted in the Austrian Imperial Army and participated in the Second Italian War of Independence (1859–1860). and Elena (1862–1940).
Political activity
Deputy in the Diet of Hungary
thumb|right|300px|Ethnic groups of the Hungarian Kingdom according to the 1880 census (ethnic Romanians depicted in grey)
On 22 June 1872, Pop de Băsești was elected for the first time deputy in the Hungarian diet in the Szilágycseh electoral district, where, for the following nine years (he was again elected in 1875 and 1878), he advocated for the rights of ethnic Romanians living in Transylvania. On the adoption of the Trefort education bill in 1879, which sought to make the Hungarian language mandatory in primary and confessional schools, Pop de Băsești stated the following: "If it's a sin to make an attempt on another man's life, in the case of the present law it is a greater sin to make an attempt on the life of an ethnicity, even of more nationalities, of all nationalities of the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen". His resignation provided the occasion for Kálmán Tisza to attempt convincing Gheorghe Pop de Băsești to join his party: "We would need brave and determined men. Come and join us and I guarantee there is no dignity in Hungary you couldn't obtain", to which Pop de Băsești replied: "Even if you gave me the whole Hungary I would not betray the righteous cause of my poor and unfortunate people, who, beside God, my comrades and myself, has no other defenders against your oppressive tendencies". Nevertheless, at the next national conference (1890) it was decided to postpone this endeavor to a later, more convenient date.
Pop de Băsești served his sentence in the Vác prison until 5 August 1895.
On 30 November 1918 Pop de Băsești, elected as a representative and accompanied by lieutenant Alexandru Kiș of the Romanian National Guard, set off by train to Alba Iulia, despite his old age. The trip was not without incident: in the Războieni railway station their railcar was fired upon by the Hungarian National Guard, killing . After he had arrived in Alba Iulia, on a blistering cold day, the monk Leon Manu asked him: "For the love of God, Brother George, how could you venture to make such a long and exhausting journey on such weather?", to which Pop de Băsești replied: "How could I have missed it since I've been waiting for this day for 80 years? I came even if I should pay with my life for this, because now nothing else remains for me to say but the following, like the righteous Simeon of the Gospels: 'Lord, now let your servant depart in peace'". They were later joined there by Pop de Băseşti's son-in-law Francisc Hossu-Longin, who was the representative of Deva in the Great National Assembly. On the same day the Assembly unanimously decreed the union between the Romanian Old Kingdom and Transylvania, the Banat, Crișana and Maramureș.
The next day the Assembly established the () as the provisional parliament of Transylvania, and the () as the provisional government of Transylvania, electing Gheorghe Pop de Băsești as president of the High Council and Iuliu Maniu as president of the Directory Council. His epitaph reads: "Lord, now let your servant depart in peace", the words he uttered at Alba Iulia. Pop de Băsești's birthplace is now home to a .
Gallery
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File:Gheorghe Pop de Băsești 2018 stamp of Romania.jpg|Gheorghe Pop de Băsești on a 2018 stamp of Romania
File:Monument - Gheorghe Pop de Basesti - Alba Iulia.png|Bust in Alba Iulia
</gallery>