Societatea Academică Junimea

Societatea Academică Junimea (Romanian for "Junimea Academic Society") was a society (Studentenverbindung) for Romanian students in the Austro-Hungarian city of Czernowitz, located in the Bukovina region of Cisleithania. The city was called Cernăuți after the region united with Romania in 1918, and today is Chernivtsi, Ukraine. The society operated between 1878 and 1938, spanning both the Austro-Hungarian and the Romanian periods.

Affiliated with Czernowitz University, Junimea was established on December 7, 1878. It carried forth the patriotic ideals proclaimed by Arboroasa, which the authorities had suppressed the previous November. Nearly all the members of the defunct society joined Junimea. The initial leadership included Dimitrie Onciul and president and Ciprian Porumbescu as secretary. Members habitually wore a ribbon patterned after the Romanian tricolor. They raised the flag on festive occasions, as well as an insignia inscribed Vivat, crescat, floreat Junimea.

A festive celebration was held in January 1879, following which Junimea began its activities, which were of a cultural and patriotic nature, with particular attention given to the cultural history of Romanians in Bukovina. By the end of 1880, the society had 39 regular members and 49 supporters, and focused on refinement of the Romanian language for the 1880–1881 academic year. Among those who visited the members were Gheorghe Sion, Titu Maiorescu and Agatha Bârsescu. In 1884, Junimea strongly lobbied against plans by the Austrian government to move the university to Brno.

Over the course of the 1880s, members consciously viewed themselves as upholding a Romanian culture imperiled by foreign domination, and propagated patriotic ideals. In towns and villages, they organized conferences devoted to national history and literature; musical, literary and theatrical evening performances; celebrations with folk songs and traditional dances; and commemorations of national heroes. By 1900, they were raising the tricolor at every occasion; marking 300 years since Michael the Brave briefly united the Romanian lands; and feasting in honor of Vasile Alecsandri, "the king of poetry". They actively combated the cosmopolitanism of the empire, instead promoting national pride.

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