Twentieth-Century Romania Research Articles

The “Is” at Home, the “Ought” Abroad: Self-Comparison as Self-Criticism and the Transylvanian Model in Early Twentieth-Century Romania

AbstractWhat happens when nation-builders in an independent state imagine themselves to have fallen behind kinfolk living under imperial oppression, and how does this affect their vision of a future of national unity? This paper explores the shapes that critical self-comparison could take among Romanians in the Kingdom of Romania around the turn of the twentieth century by considering three interconnected vignettes. First, it outlines the context in which politicized notions of mutual interdependence between the Kingdom and Transylvania allowed for comparison as self-criticism to take root and gain salience in the public sphere. It explores the implications that comparison as self-criticism had on ascribing agency and apportioning blame for causes of the disparity between state and kinfolk. Second, it examines two Transylvanian travelogues produced by major political and cultural figures on the fringes of the Romanian establishment, and, in a reflexive move, contrasts their politics of comparison. Third, it offers a grassroots perspective on how the travelogues of teachers and priests, as rank-and-file nation-builders, expressed these topoi. The article contributes to the nascent trend of considering historical comparisons in actors’ own terms, and as historical processes unto themselves.

Perceived needs and barriers related to continuing professional development of child protection social workers in Romania

In twentieth-century Romania, professional social work faced a tortuous development trajectory following the collapse of the communist regime. Such discontinuity, nevertheless, positively influenced specialized education. Trends included government-mandated (Labor Law) continuing professional development (CPD) in 2003, the formation of the National College of Social Workers of Romania in 2005, and specific regulations for child protection workers in 2006. Our paper fills a gap in specialized knowledge regarding CPD in social work in Romania by examining how child protection Romanian social workers experience CPD throughout their professional lives. Twenty-seven in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with child protection social workers with varying years of experience employed in both public service agencies and NGOs. The findings indicate that these social workers are generally motivated to engage in CPD despite barriers such as finances and time. The unidirectional top-down decisions on participation, however, produced discrepancies between completed CPD activities and employees’ perceived educational/learning needs. Implications for the enhancement of dialogue between the various key stakeholders (e.g., social workers, employers, professional bodies, government policymakers) as a measure for optimizing the CPD framework for the child protection social workers are addressed.

From Propagandistic Exploitation to Post-Communist Sensationalism: Beethoven Reception in Twentieth- and Twenty-First-Century Romania

This paper mainly investigates the way Beethoven’s image was turned, during the totalitarian political regimes of twentieth-century Romania, into a tool of propaganda. Two such ideological annexations are striking: one took place in the period when Romania, as Germany’s ally during World War II and led by Marshall Ion Antonescu, who was loyal to Adolf Hitler, to a certain extent copied the Nazi model (1940–1944); the other, much longer, began when Communists took power in 1947 and lasted until 1989, with some inevitable continuations. The beginnings of contemporary Romanian capitalism in the 1990s brought, in addition to an attempt to depoliticize Beethoven by means of professional, responsible musicological enquiries, no longer grounded in Fascist or Communist ideologies, another type of approach: sensationalist, related to the “identification” of some of Beethoven’s love interests who reportedly lived on the territory of present-day Romania.

The Cost of Juridification: Lineages of Cheap Labor in Twentieth-Century Romania

This article explores the relationship between the development of labor law and the cost of labor in Romania between the end of World War I and the 1960s. Drawing on a variety of archival and printed sources, the author argues that the historical trajectory of this peripheral East European country shows in exemplary fashion how the increasing juridification of labor relations was first enabled by policy makers’ concern to neutralize class conflict during the 1920s and then propelled by the collapse of industrial wages and the turn to import substitution in the aftermath of the Great Depression. The state socialist regime after 1945, the author further contends, inherited not merely the cheap labor of the interwar epoch but also the institutional mechanisms for controlling prices and wages set up to manage the economy during World War II, all of which facilitated the expansion of socialist labor law during the first two postwar decades. By the second half of the twentieth century, rapidly industrializing socialist Romania could thus integrate an expanding workforce into a type of employment relationship normally deemed standard: full-time, stable, dependent, and socially protected work. The author concludes by pointing out some of the implications of this Eastern European case study for how we might rethink the twin issues of the cost of labor and the transformation of labor law in our age of precarity.

Football and authoritarianism in twentieth century Romania: between propaganda and subversion

What was the relationship of Romanian football to authoritarianism (1938-1989)? Was it only a propaganda tool or did it also provide room for freedom of expression in the stadiums?Political instrum...

The Jewish Fusgeyer Migration Movement from Early Twentieth-Century Romania as Transcultural Rhetorical Tool in US Memorial Literary Culture

AbstractFrom 1900 to 1907, a so-called fusgeyer phenomenon was the most salient characteristic of Jewish emigration from Romania, given the high number of impoverished, desperate Jews who were on the brink of starvation and started to go on foot in the attempt to leave the country. My essay considers the literary representation of this fusgeyer movement over time as a conduit upholding transcultural networks of memory work in the United States. To that end, I will examine the representation of fusgeyers in the literature produced by immigrant fusgeyers to the United States immediately after emigration (M. E. Ravage’s 1917 An American in the Making: The Life Story of an Immigrant and Jacob Finkelstein’s 1942 “Memoirs of a Fusgeyer from Romania to America”) and in the literature created in contemporary times in the United States (Stuart Tower’s 2003 historical novel The Wayfarers). In my analysis, I rely on Astrid Erll’s demonstration that literature can be a powerful conduit of cultural memory by its use of “four modes of a ‘rhetoric of collective memory’: the experiential, the mythical, the antagonistic, and the reflexive mode.” I will show which of these modes of rhetoric apply to the literary works I consider and how they highlight a dynamic movement toward a transcultural type of rhetoric shaping Jewish memory forms in contemporary US literature.

Global Challenges, Local Knowledges: Politics and Expertise at the World Population Conference in Bucharest, 1974

Population dynamics became a key variable of the developmentalist rhetoric during the postwar era. The World Population Conference (wpc) in Bucharest (1974) was marked by open disagreements regarding the interpretation of the relationship between the ‘Third World’s’ underdevelopment and its overpopulation. The main outcome of the wpc 1974, the World Population Plan of Action (wppa) was the product of negotiations and compromises reached by the parties involved. The study deals with the role that the Romanian representatives at wpc 1974 played in the creation of wppa’s final version. The organization of the wpc in Bucharest gave the Romanian delegation a privileged position. The study contextualizes its contribution to the wppa within the particular conditions of population expertise’s emergence in postwar Romania. The study investigates previously unexplored archival fonds (the Archive of Romanian Ministry for Foreign Affairs) and brings into play unknown details of the maneuvers by various actors during the Bucharest conference. The Romanian version of the story adds nuance to the general narrative on the wpc’s outcomes, which presumes a strict separation between the domains of expertise and politics. The article argues that the Romanians’ alternative interpretations of the wppa were not only the result of the political control and ideological conformity, but also an expression of the particular way in which the field of population expertise developed in twentieth-century Romania.

Strong Periphery, Weak Centre: The Paradox of Sport in Early Twentieth-Century Romania

When looking at the impact of the political, territorial, and social transformations which occurred in Central and Eastern Europe after the defeat of the Central Powers in the First World War, an evidence check suggests that sport was deeply influenced by the sudden disappearance of the Habsburg Empire. This article examines the shift triggered in the relation between a ‘centre’ (e.g. Bucharest) and a ‘periphery’ (former Austro-Hungarian provinces) of sporting life by the political outcome of the First World War. The joy and difficulties surrounding the emergence of ‘Greater Romania’ were well highlighted in the field of sport by tensions which appeared mostly in internal competitions and debates, rather than in the international arena.

Regime Change and Shifting Modernization Patterns: Professional Trajectories in the Field of Psychology during the Twentieth Century Romania

Abstract Throughout the 19th and the 20th century the modernization process that Romania has undergone has revolved around two major poles, the Western pattern of development, and the Soviet one that has been enforced at the end of the Second World War. The regime change experienced after 1945 has shown however that the new leaders needed to rely on some of the existing administrative, technical and scientific cadres in order to implement the new political, social and cultural programme. The careers of Alexandria Roşca and Mihai Beniuc, two psychologists that have been trained in Western Universities and worked at the Institute of Psychology in Cluj, followed the same path that the country was on. Having manifested clear left-wing sympathies during the interwar period, they have managed to maintain their professional status and even gained access to important political positions; therefore, they have contributed to the implementation of two consecutive modernization projects.

Regime Change and Shifting Modernization Patterns: Professional Trajectories in the Field of Psychology during the Twentieth-Century Romania

Throughout the 19th and the 20th century the modernization process chat Romania has undergone has revolved around two major poles, the Western pattern of development, and the Soviet one chat has been enforced at the end of the Second World War. The regime change experienced after 1945 has shown however chat the new leaders needed to rely on some of the existing administrative, technical and scientific cadres in order co implement the new political, social and cultural programme. The careers of Alexandru Rosca and Mihai Beniuc, two psychologists chat have been trained in Western Universities and worked at the Institute of Psychology in Cluj, followed the same path chat the country was on. Having manifested clear left-wing sympathies during the interwar period, they have managed to maintain their professional status and even gained access to imponant political positions ; therefore, they have contributed to the implementation of two consecutive modernization projects.

Forms without Substance or Synchronism? Attempts to Define Culture and Civilisation in Early Twentieth-Century Romania

This article discusses attempts to define culture and civilisation in early twentieth-century Romania on the basis of two fundamental Romanian models of development: the theory of forms without substance and the theory of synchronism. The former is studied here primarily in relation to the views of Titu Maiorescu (1840–1917) and Constantin Radulescu-Motru (1868–1957) and the latter in relation to the views of Eugen Lovinescu (1881–1943). While the theory of forms without substance asserts a would-be ‘traditional’ and ‘organic’ development of Romanian culture and civilisation, the theory of synchronism proposes a development according to the ‘spirit of the age’ and the ‘law of simulation-stimulation’. In the present study, these opposed models of development are observed in relation to the general tendencies towards a pronounced critical spirit and towards discussing cultural vs. structural changes or culture vs. power in late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century Europe. The Romanian models of development are also studied on the background of wider European discussions on Enlightenment and modernism, historicism, conservatism and liberalism, German vs. French influence and nationalist vs. cosmopolitan attitudes.

Heroes and victims: remembering war in twentieth-century Romania

Contents Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: Memory Traces: On Local Practices of Remembering and Commemorating 1. Death and Ritual: Mourning and Commemorative Practices before 1914 2. Mourning, Burying, and Remembering the War Dead: How Communities Coped with the Memory of Wartime Violence, 1918-1940 3. Remembering the Great War through Autobiographical Narratives 4. The Politics of Commemoration in Interwar Romania, 1919-1940: Dialogues and Conflicts 5. War Commemorations and State Propaganda under Dictatorship: From the Crusade against Bolshevism to Ceausescu's Cult of Personality, 1940-1989 6. Everyone a Victim: Forging the Mythology of Anti-Communism Counter-Memory 7. The Dilemmas of Post-Memory in Post-Communist Romania Notes Selected Bibliography Index

Romani (Gypsy) Music-Making at Weddings in Post-Communist Romania: Political Transitions and Cultural Adaptations

Anyone attending a traditional wedding in Romania during the communist period, such as in the 1970s or ‘80s, and returning to such a celebration during the 1990s or early 2000s would immediately notice that, although structurally the wedding ritual proceeds more or less the same now as before, the non-ritual music and dance that currently form part of the festivities are significantly different. Amplified instruments in many cases have replaced acoustic ones, and electronic instruments have joined and often supplanted traditional ones. Moreover, the songs now widely heard are more frequently “Balkan pop” and “Gypsy” music rather than Romanian traditional repertoire, and “Gypsy” as opposed to Romanian dance forms dominate. This article examines how and why these changes have taken place, and provides a description of a typical contemporary village wedding. I explore, in particular, how the political and cultural developments in post-communist Romania have affected music-making by Romani (Gypsy) performers at traditional weddings. My primary questions concern how Romanian wedding music and dance repertoire have changed since the communist period and why. I suggest that the developments in traditional dance since 1989 reflect, in cultural terms, Romania’s transition from forty-five years of communism to the post-communism of the present and future, envisioned as a democratic market economy in which anticipated membership in the European Union looms on a moderately distant horizon. I argue the following three points: first, the changes that have occurred in the wedding dance repertoire over the past fifteen years have generally represented a shift from Romanian traditional dance genres to genres that are or are coded as Romani. Second, these changes are a result of the more open political and social climate that followed the fall of communism, especially the freedom of speech and contacts with the outside world that were permitted. And third, issues of cultural, ethnic, and gender identity in transition in postcommunist Romanian society are mirrored in the dances now performed at weddings. My findings are based on fieldwork in southern Romania, where I have interviewed many Romani musicians and attended numerous weddings at which they performed.(1) My observations are also informed by cultural developments elsewhere in the post-communist Balkan world.(2) Brief introductory remarks on politics in twentieth-century Romania, Romani musicians, traditional weddings, and communist-period repertoire precede my main discussion of post-communist wedding music and dance genres, including a detailed treatment of two principal forms (the “manea” and “lautar hora”). I also include a summary ethnographic account of a village wedding that I attended in 2002 that illustrates, in particular, post-communist celebratory music and dance.

Heroes and Victims: Remembering War in Twentieth-Century Romania. By Maria Bucur. Indiana-Michigan Series in Russian and East European Studies. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009. xxi, 352 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Illustrations. Maps. $75.00, hard bound. $27.95, paper.

Heroes and Victims: Remembering War in Twentieth-Century Romania. By Maria Bucur. Indiana-Michigan Series in Russian and East European Studies. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009. xxi, 352 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Illustrations. Maps. 27.95, paper. - Volume 69 Issue 4

Peripheral Solutions to Peripheral Development: The Case of Early 20th Century Romania

The article furthers the claim that many of the weaknesses of Marxist theory that constituted the starting point of critical approaches from Latin American dependency theory to world-systems analysis had been addressed in very similar terms as early as the 1900s. The focus is on intellectual debates in early twentieth-century Romania, especially as engendered by the theory of “forms without substance“ as an alternative project of modernization for the periphery and the follow-up confrontation between the socialist Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea and the Poporanist Constantin Stere on the issue of social and economic development.

History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness

Taken from the precept that there is a considerable difference between real history and discourse history, Boia points out that history is constantly reconstructed, adapted and sometimes mythified from the perspective of the present day, of present states of mind and ideologies. Boia closely examines the process of historical culture and conscience in nineteenth and twentieth century Romania, particularly concentrating on the impact of the national ideology on history. Based upon his findings, the author identifies several key mythical configurations and analyses the manner in which Romanians have reconstituted their own highly ideologized history over the last two centuries. In essence, the author has attempted to fully deconstruct the Romanian historiographic system and demonstrate the increasing acuteness of national problems in general, and in particular the exploitation of history to support national ideology.