Emil Rebreanu

Emil Rebreanu (December 17, 1891 – May 14, 1917) was an Austro-Hungarian Romanian military officer executed during World War I. The protagonist in Forest of the Hanged, a 1922 novel by his brother Liviu Rebreanu, is influenced by his experience.

Rebreanu was born into a Greek-Catholic family in Major, Beszterce-Naszód County, now Maieru, Bistrița-Năsăud County, the fifth of fourteen children. He graduated from high school in 1913 and entered the Law faculty of Franz Joseph University in Cluj (Kolozsvár), but was forced to interrupt his studies upon the war's outbreak. Within a year of joining combat, he was made a second lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian Army. He fought in Russia and Galicia, sustaining multiple injuries. Rebreanu also distinguished himself on the Italian Front and was given the Gold Medal for Bravery, the highest award granted by the Austrian command to a Romanian. However, once arrived on the Romanian Front, he decided that rather than fight against his fellow Romanians, he would join them. Constantin Kirițescu wrote: "Approaching Romanian soil, Rebreanu heard the secret call of his brothers' souls, whispering from beyond the trenches. Between his unnatural soldierly duty and his holy duty as a Romanian, Rebreanu heeded the latter."

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