{{Short description|Romanian military officer (1895–1948)}} '''Modest Isopescu''' (30 November 1895 – 17 October 1948) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian officer, administrator and convicted war criminal.
Born in Frătăuții Vechi, in Austrian-ruled Bukovina,<ref name="roske">Octavian Roske (ed.), ''Mecanisme represive în România 1945-1989: dicționar biografic'', vol. III, p. 274. Bucharest: Institutul Național pentru Studiul Totalitarismului, 2004</ref> he entered the Austro-Hungarian Army in 1916 with the rank of reserve second lieutenant, and fought in World War I. He was promoted to captain in the Romanian Land Forces in 1923, he was advanced to major in 1934 and lieutenant colonel in 1939.<ref name="deletant"/>
Romania entered World War II in June 1941 at the onset of Operation Barbarossa, under the Ion Antonescu regime. At that point, Isopescu was commander of a battalion in the gendarmerie, part of the Romanian 4th Army. He entered Chișinău with his battalion in July 1941, and in August he established a gendarmerie outpost in Bălți. He filled this position until October, when he was named prefect of Golta County in Transnistria Governorate. He remained as such until March 1944; meanwhile, at the end of 1942, he was transferred to the reserves. Under Isopescu's administration, the Golta district became a veritable "kingdom of death" for the Jews deported there.<ref name="deletant">Ottmar Trașcă, Dennis Deletant (eds.), ''"Chestiunea evreiască" în documente militare române, 1941-1944'', p. 479. Bucharest: Institutul "Elie Weisel", 2010</ref>
In January 1945, several months after Antonescu was deposed in King Michael's Coup of August 1944, the Romanian government ordered the arrest of 65 persons, including Isopescu, for the "national disaster".<ref name="roske"/> Charged with war crimes, he was sentenced to death by the Bucharest People's Tribunal on 22 May. On 1 June this was commuted to hard labour for life. He died at Aiud Prison in 1948,<ref name="deletant"/> of cancer and a liver abscess.<ref name="mortii">{{cite web|url=http://www.historica-cluj.ro/anuare/AnuarHistorica2010/09.pdf|title=Morții penitenciarului Aiud 1945–1965|first1=Virgiliu|last1=Țârău|first2=Ioan|last2=Ciupea|language=ro|access-date=March 29, 2021|archive-date=September 24, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924030352/http://www.historica-cluj.ro/anuare/AnuarHistorica2010/09.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Notes== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Isopescu, Modest}} Category:1895 births Category:1948 deaths Category:People from Suceava County Category:Romanians in Austria-Hungary Category:Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I Category:Romanian military personnel of World War II Category:Prefects of Romania Category:People convicted by the Romanian People's Tribunals Category:Romanian people convicted of war crimes Category:Holocaust perpetrators in Romania Category:Prisoners sentenced to death by Romania Category:Romanian prisoners sentenced to death Category:Romanian collaborators with Nazi Germany Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Romania Category:Romanian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Category:Inmates of Aiud Prison Category:Prisoners who died in Securitate custody Category:Romanian people who died in prison custody Category:Deaths from cancer in Romania Category:Deaths from liver disease