Nae Ionescu
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Nae Ionescu (born Nicolae C. Ionescu; June 16 [O.S. June 4] 1890—March 15, 1940) was a Romanian philosopher, logician, mathematician, professor, and journalist.
Born in Brăila, Ionescu studied Letters at the University of Bucharest until 1912. Upon graduation, he was appointed a teacher at the Matei Basarab High School in Bucharest. When World War I began, he was in Germany for additional studies at the University of Göttingen. Romania's entry into the war on the Entente side side prevented him from returning, but he was to be awarded a doctorate in Philosophy (1919) by the University of Munich. His thesis was entitled Die Logistik als Versuch einer neuer Bergründung der Mathematik ("Formal logic as an attempt at a new foundation of mathematics").
Back in Romania, after a brief return to a teacher's position, Ionescu was appointed assistant to Constantin Rădulescu-Motru at the University of Bucharest department of Logic and Theory of Knowledge.
His lectures had a profound inspiration on a new generation of nationalist and far right figures such as Constantin Noica, Mircea Eliade, Emil Cioran, Mircea Vulcănescu, and Petre Ţuţea. The existentialist and partly mystical school of thought Ionescu introduced bore the name Trăirism. Trăirism intersected at several points with the ideology of the Iron Guard; the connection became even more direct when many of its adherents also publicly associated with the latter.
Ionescu himself was more reserved in his dealings with the Guard. He was the editor of the highly influential newspaper Cuvântul, which had for long backed King Carol II - the major rival of the Guard. However, Ionescu moved away from the monarchy when Carol surrounded himself with an inner circle of (mostly Jewish) businessmen. Ionescu's Anti-semitism was a decisive factor in his switching of allegiances: Jewish writer Mihail Sebastian's Journal depicts the interval during which Ionescu's virulence grew, as well as the reasons that were animating his large following.
During the period when Sebastian and Ionescu were still on speaking terms, the latter had agreed to write the preface of Sebastian's book De două mii de ani... ("It's been two thousand years..."). In it, Ionescu wrote down abrupt sentences such as: "Şi evreii nu au ei oare nici o vină, n-au avut ei nici un rol în răspîndirea acestor basme?" ("And the Jews, do they really have no guilt, did they really play no part in the dissemination of such stories [of ritual murder]?").
After Carol's crackdown on the Iron Guard, Nae Ionescu and his disciples were rounded up and imprisoned at a makeshift camp in Miercurea-Ciuc. The experience took a toll on his fragile health, and he died soon after.
