Aurel Cosma
Aurel Cosma (September 26, 1867 – July 31, 1931) was a Romanian lawyer and politician. A leader of the National Party in Timișoara before World War I, Cosma was a representative of the Banat in the Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia that voted for the Union of Transylvania with Romania on 1 December 1918. Early life Aurel Cosma was born in the village Beregsău Mare in the family of the school teacher Damaschin (1844–1915) and Maria Panaiot. He went to the primary school in Topolovățu Mare. Later (in 1877) Cosma moved to a state school in the Fabric district of Timișoara where he was taught in Hungarian language, which was required in order for him to be able to attend a secondary school ("Gymnasium"). He graduated in 1888 from the in Timișoara. Afterwards he received an "Emanoil Gojdu" scholarship of 150 florins, enabling him to study Law at Debrecen. In 1890 Cosma was drafted in the army, graduating from the Artillery School in Sibiu after a year. In October 1891 he resumed his law studies at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, earning on 28 April 1894 his PhD degree in Law with the thesis "Death Penalty". Professional activity