Neagu Djuvara

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

Neagu Djuvara (b. August 18, 1916) is a Romanian historian, essayist, philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

A native of Bucharest, he descended from a prestigious Aromanian family.[1] His father Marcel, a graduate of the Technical University of Berlin and a Captain in the Romanian Army's Engineer Corps, died of Spanish flu in 1918;[2] his mother Tinca was the last descendant of the Gradişteanu family of boyar origins (according to Djuvara, she was related to all boyar families in Wallachia).[3] Djuvara's uncles Trandafir and Alexandru Djuvara were notorious public figures.[4] Djuvara was born during World War I; as an infant, was taken by his family into refuge in Iaşi after the occupation of southern Romania by the Central Powers, and then, through Imperial Russia, into Belgium (where Trandafir Djuvara was Minister Plenipotentiary).[5]

He attended lycée in Nice, France, and graduated in Letters (1937) and Law (1940) from the University of Paris (his Law thesis dealt with the antisemitic legislation passed by the governments of King Carol II in Romania).[6] Djuvara later stated that, at the time, his political sympathies veered towards the far right: he became a supporter of the Romanian fascist movement, the Iron Guard, and took part in the 1934 riot against the French Radical-Socialist government of Édouard Daladier.[7]

During World War II, he returned to Romania , where he married and fathered a child.[8] He joined the Romanian Army and was stationed in Ploieşti under the Iron Guard's National Legionary government.[9]

Following the establishment of Ion Antonescu's dictatorship and the start of Operation Barbarossa (see Romania during World War II), as an Officer Cadet, he fought on the Eastern Front, saw action in Bessarabia and Transnistria, before being wounded in the arm during the Battle of Odessa (1941).[10] He stated that he gave up his interest in the far right after a 1943 dialog with fellow diplomat Victor Rădulescu-Pogoneanu, who convinced Djuvara to become "a supporter of parliamentary democracy".[11]

[edit] Diplomat

Subsequently, Djuvara decided to apply for office in the diplomatic corps, won the competition, and was sent by Foreign Minister Mihai Antonescu as Diplomatic Courier to Sweden, on the very day Ion Antonescu was toppled by a coup d'état and Romania pulled out of the Axis Powers to join the Allies (August 23, 1944).[12] In this capacity, he was instructed to communicate to the Romanian Ambassador in Stockholm, Frederic Nanu, that he was to ask the Soviet representative Alexandra Kollontai whether earlier terms advanced by Joseph Stalin in regard to peace with Romania were still valid (Nanu was also told not to inform the Western Allies of these talks).[13]

Speaking in retrospect, he argued against claims made by Nanu, according to which Ion Antonescu had thus indicated his willingness to step down and hand leadership of Romania to King Mihai I.[14] According to Djuvara, the last Soviet offer for Antonescu made only minor concessions — the entire country was to occupied by the Red Army, with the exception of a random western county (to function as a provisional administrative center), and 15 days were given to the Romanian government to reach an armistice with Nazi Germany[15] (Djuvara considered this latter expectation particularly unrealistic, as it involved Germany consciously abandoning Romanian territory to its enemy).[16] Furthermore, Djuvara indicated, "Neither I nor Nanu were mandated to sign any document, to launch into any peace process".[17]

Appointed Legation Secretary in Stockholm by the Constantin Sănătescu executive, Djuvara was dismissed by the new Romanian Communist Party officials upon Ana Pauker's appointment as Foreign Minister (1947).[18]

[edit] Exile

Having been implicated in absentia in the series of show trials inaugurated in the wake of Communist Romania by the Tămădău Affair, accused of being a spy,[19] he decided to remain abroad.[20] He left for Paris and was subsequently involved in advocacy of anti-communist political causes and the rallying of exiled intellectuals.[21] Briefly employed by the International Refugee Organization, Djuvara became involved with the body of Romanian exiles, the National Romanian Committee, and helped organize American-assisted drops of voluntary paratroopers in support of the Romanian anti-communist resistance (most of whom were captured by the Securitate).[22] He renounced his position by 1951,[23] and subsequently worked for the exile magazine Casa Românească.[24]

In 1961, he settled in Niger, serving as an adviser for the country's Foreign Ministry (extending a two-year contract until 1984),[25] and was a Professor of International law and Economic history at the University of Niamey. Djuvara was an acquaintance of President Hamani Diori, and notably accompanied him on official duty to Addis Ababa, attending the opening session of the Organisation of African Unity (1963).[26] Having already begun to further his studies of Philosophy in Paris, he received a doctorat d'État in the Philosophy of history (with the thesis Civilisations et lois historiques).[27] He was later awarded a diploma in Philology from INALCO.

After 1984, he returned to Europe, resuming his activities with Casa Românească and other Romanian cultural institutions in exile.[28] Djuvara was an active contributor to Radio Free Europe,[29] and divided his time between Paris and Munich (occasionally traveling to Canada and the United States).[30]

[edit] Post-1989

Djuvara returned to his native country soon after the Romanian Revolution of 1989. Between 1991 and 1998, he was an Associate Professor at the University of Bucharest. During the early 1990s, has been a noted critic of Romanian political developments, and especially of the Mineriad and the National Salvation Front government.[31]

He has since joined the National Liberal Party,[32] and expressed his concern that President Traian Băsescu was unable to complete planned reforms in the wake of Romania's accession to the European Union, as well as his belief that the former Securitate was still in a position of power.[33] He has also taken a conservative stance on European affairs, being a vocal critic of Europe's multiculturalism.[34]

Most of his works in Romanian have been published by Humanitas.

[edit] Works

  • Civilisations et lois historiques. Essai d’étude comparée des civilisations ("Civilizations and Historical Laws. Essay of Comparative Studies on Civilizations"), Mouton, 1975
  • Les Aroumians ("The Aromanians"), INALCO, 1989; published in Romanian as Aromânii: istorie, limbă, destin ("The Aromanians: History, Language, Destiny"), Editura Fundaţiei Culturale Române, 1996
  • Les pays roumains entre Orient et Occident. Les Principautés danubiennes au début du XIXe siecle ("The Romanian Lands between Orient and Occident. The Danubian Principalities at the Beginning of the 19th Century"), Publications Orientalistes de France, 1989
  • Le pays roumain entre Orient et Occident. Les Principautés danubiennes au début du XXe siècle ("The Romanian Land between Orient and Occident. The Danubian Principalities at the Beginning of the 20th Century"), Publications orientalistes de France, 1989
  • Între Orient şi Occident. Ţările române la începutul epocii moderne ("Between East and West. The Romanian Lands at the Beginning of the Modern Era"), Humanitas, 1995
  • Cum s-a născut poporul român? ("How Was the Romanian People Born?"), Humanitas, 2001
  • Mircea cel Bătrân şi luptele cu turcii ("Mircea the Elder and Battles with the Turks"), Humanits, 2001
  • O scurtă istorie a românilor povestită celor tineri ("A Short History of the Romanians Narrated for the Youth"), Humanitas, 2001
  • De la Vlad Ţepeş la Dracula Vampirul ("From Vlad the Impaler to Dracula the Vampire"), Humanitas, 2003
  • Bucarest-Paris-Niamey et retour ou Souvenirs de 42 ans d'exil (1948-1990) ("Bucharest-Paris-Niamey and Back or Recollections from 42 Years of Exile"), L'Harmattan, 2004
  • Există istorie adevarată? ("Is There a Truthful History?"), Humanitas, 2004
  • Însemnările lui Gheorghe Milescu ("Gheorghe Milescu's Notes"), Humanitas, 2004
  • Amintiri din pribegie ("Recollections from Exile"), Humanitas, 2005

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Nicolai; Roman
  2. ^ Nicolai; Roman
  3. ^ Nicolai; Roman
  4. ^ Nicolai; Roman
  5. ^ Roman
  6. ^ Roman
  7. ^ Roman
  8. ^ Roman
  9. ^ Roman
  10. ^ Giju; Nicolai; Roman
  11. ^ Roman
  12. ^ Deletant, p.46-47; Nicolai; Roman
  13. ^ Deletant, p.47
  14. ^ Deletant, p.47
  15. ^ Roman
  16. ^ Roman
  17. ^ Roman
  18. ^ Giju; Roman
  19. ^ Roman
  20. ^ Nicolai; Roman
  21. ^ Roman
  22. ^ Roman
  23. ^ Roman
  24. ^ Nicolai
  25. ^ Nicolai
  26. ^ Nicolai
  27. ^ Giju; Longre
  28. ^ Nicolai
  29. ^ Longre
  30. ^ Longre
  31. ^ Nicolai; Longre
  32. ^ Şimonca
  33. ^ Şimonca
  34. ^ Şimonca

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../n/e/a/Neagu_Djuvara_8558.html"
In other languages