DIN ISTORIA ASOCIAȚIEI CREȘTINE A FEMEILOR DIN ROMÂNIA ȘI LIDERELE EI

Abstract

The Women Christian Association was founded in 1919, under the patronage of Queen Mary, with the help and guidance of some foreign secretaries, who arrived in the country after the Great War. According to its Statutes, the aim of the Association was to provide young girls with physical, intellectual and moral education. The headquarters of the Association was in Bucharest, and other branches were opened in Iași, Sibiu, Constanța, Craiova, Arad, Timișoara and Cernăuți. The Association organized dormitories for schoolgirls, tailoring workshops, restaurants, canteens, educational circles, schools, courses, libraries, and summer camps. In its headquarters in Bucharest, Popa Rusu street no. 13, it organized constantly courses, conferences, concerts and even cinema. The Association continued to be active during the Second World War, when it carried out an extensive program of assistance to war refugees from Poland, Bessarabia, Northern Bucovina and Northwest Transylvania. The Association had a Christian flag and the members wore a white uniform with blue ties. Its members, belonging to different social and professional categories, were active and devoted. Among its devoted and dedicated leaders, one has to mention Queen Maria – honorary president – and Princess Ileana - president of the Blue Triangle circles. Maria Filipescu, Natalia Slivici, Ioana Burileanu and Elena Orghidan were active presidents, and Alice Grunau Dimăncescu, Alice Voiculescu, Bucura Dumbravă were special members of the Association.