Buciu Grigore (1 results)

Soft cover. Condition: New. 1st Edition. Text is in Romanian. First Edition. Original publisher's black paper wrappers. White and yellow lettering on front cover and spine. 5 1/4" x 8." 220 pages, complete. Black-and-white illustrations, complete. Twelve additional pages in back with captioned black-and-white illustrations. Index in back. Pages are virtually pristine and intact except for slight bumping at bottom corners of fore-edge. Covers are virtually pristine and intact except for slightly bumped corners and a few tiny bumps along bottom edges. A New copy. This is the fascinating autobiography of Opritsa Dragalina-Popa (b. 1942) who was born in Bucharest, Romania to Virgil Alexandru Dragalina, a Navy commander and adjutant to the Royal Prince of Romania, and Virginia Dragalina, a professor. Dragalina-Popa grew up during the oppressive years of Soviet occupation and Communist dictatorship in Romania but later found refuge when she and her husband, Valentin Popa, immigrated to the United States in 1968. There, she earned Master's degrees in German and Library Science and became an Academic Librarian at the University of California, Davis and an author. In her memoir, Dragalina-Popa vividly describes her life in both Romania and the U.S. and the lives her family members and ancestors. She writes about the heroism of her grandfather, General Ioan Dragalina, who fought in World War I and lost his life on the battlefield; the life of her uncle, General Corneliu Dragalina, who fought in Stalingrad during World War II and helped save the lives of 14,000 Jews in Bukovina; and the life of her father, Virgil Alexandru Dragalina, who fought against the Russians on the Danube in 1916 and endured the terrors of the Communist regime in Romania. Of her own life, Dragalina-Popa recounts the trials and tribulations of her youth in Romania and her later years of joy and success in the U.S.