October 11 is a reference day for the Romanian pigeon sport. It is the day when, at the beginning of the last century, in 1903, in Buftea, Major Traian Niţescu was born, the father of Romanian pigeon fancier and the founder of the “Columba”, the first pigeon fancier entity with legal personality in Romania. The first imports of pigeons from important fanciers in Belgium and Germany are also linked to his name, pigeons that have provided the genetic base of native pigeon fanciers for a long time.

Considered as being the founder of the Romanian racing pigeon sport, Major Traian Niţescu was born near Bucharest, in Buftea. During the interwar period, he fought and managed to establish the first racing pigeon entity with legal personality in Romania. It happened on March 21, 1939 when, in court, under no. 46 of 1939, the company “Columba” was registered, which had the following board of directors: founder president: col (res.) Xenofon Roman, technical advisor: lieutenant Traian Niţescu, secretary: Anton Tomasevschi, consulting lawyer: Adis Anastasiu, lawyer: Aurel Puiu, reserve lieutenant Marin Niţescu, engineer Jean Niţescu, engineer Adrian Niţescu, Anastasie Angelescu , censors: C. Dobrescu, Alex. Cristescu, Constantin Cantacuzino.
A year later, on October 29, 1940, also at the insistence and initiative of Major Niţescu, Decree no. 3627 which, for the first time in Romania, authorizes the establishment and organization of civil columbariums. It is the moment when, practically, the Romanian civil pigeon sport starts.
The decree contained 7 main chapters:
– organizing the national racing pigeon sport;
– establishment of civilian resorts for traveling pigeons;
– duties of owners of traveling pigeons;
– protection and insurance measures;
– the rights of the authorities;
– criminal stipulations;
– final stipulations.

Unfortunately, the Second World War, which had already taken over the entire continent, turned almost every aspect of daily life upside down, so that, starting with the summer of 1941, the activity of the “Columba” society was almost stopped. The situation changed in January 1948 when, after the conference at the National Zootechnical Institute in Bucharest, Traian Niţescu was elected president of the Pigeon Union in Romania. At that event, Major Niţescu gave a memorable speech, apotheotically concluded with the famous slogan “Long live Romania, Long live King Mihai I, long live the sincere friendship between our country and our great allies: England and the United States. “Unfortunately, the words spoken then only hastened his arrest, in 1949, by the romania security, which, at the orders of Moscow, arrested most of the Romanian army officers. Major Niţescu, along with many of his comrades, were sent to the canal and to the prisons of Sighet and Gherla, where most died because of the inhuman treatment to which they were subjected. The father of the Romanian racing pigeon sport passed away on May 19, 1957, at the Gherla penitentiary, being buried in a common grave. A tragic end for a personality of the Romanian society from the interwar period, a man totally dedicated to a noble sport and extremely loved by the hundreds of thousands of fanciers who followed his passion. Major Traian Niţescu left behind, in addition to the legacy represented by the “Columba” society, a precious genetic base obtained between 1936 and 1938 when, through huge efforts and sacrifices, he managed to import six pigeons from Germany, from Iosef Mohr from Aachen, as well as thirty pigeons from the famous Arthur Bricoux from Jolimont, Belgium. These birds were practically the starting point for the Romanian pigeon fancier and provided Traian Niţescu with a place of honor in the history of this sport and, at the same time, in the history of the country!