Nicolae Cristea (communist) Nicolae Cristea (communist) Nicolas or Nicolae Cristea (also known under the "nom de guerre" Joseph Copla; November 26, 1906 – March 1943) was a Romanian communist, a volunteer in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War and in the French Resistance during World War II. Cristea was born in a poor workers family in Galaţi. During the Great Depression he participated in the protests organized by the Romanian Communist Party in Bucharest, afterwards being forced by the Siguranţa Statului (Romania's secret police) to move back to his native town. He returned to Bucharest in 1931, and in 1933 was
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" is a Christmas carol based on the 1863 poem "Christmas Bells" by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The song tells of the narrator's despair, upon hearing Christmas bells, that "hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men". The carol concludes with the bells carrying renewed hope for peace among men. In 1861, two years before writing this poem, Longfellow's personal peace was shaken when his second wife of 18 years, to whom he was very devoted, was tragically burned