I try to put on paper what I think at the end of reading the book The Romanian Cultural Elite and the Interwar Anti-Semitic Discoursea book published at the end of 2022 under the signature of Alexandru Florian and Ana Berbulescu, thanks to the collaboration between Publishing House of the Elie Wiesel National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust and a publishing house from Iasi Polisher, I feel like I’m holding a hot potato. I mean, no matter what I do, no matter what I write, I still can’t please everyone.

Rarely have I felt like I could risk so much when writing a review.

The book consists of a sequence of seven studies about the type, nuances, in some cases, stages of anti-Semitic discourse, as it was manifested in writings, public appearances, conferences, or even in the practical activities of some of the greatest figures of Romanian culture in the interwar period. The seven studies are united by a preface signed by Armin Heinen and a short concluding chapter entitled Right-wing radicalism, the interwar cultural current at the end. A chapter written by Alexander Florian who, using the concept TRANSFORMATION introduced by the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, tries to find out how the public discourse of those seven intellectuals who survived the fall of General Antonescu’s regime developed. Either by fleeing the country, or by somehow reintegrating into Romanian society after difficult years in prison.

Alexandru Florian writes about Mircea Vulcanescu and Vintila Horia, Ana Barbulescu deals with Nicolae Iorga, A. S. Cuza, Octavian Goga, Nae Ionescu and Nichifor Krajnik. In fact, it is mostly an update of older studies published in perhaps smaller editions, mostly in English.

This is how we learn, or our information is multiplied, and the authors provide concrete, incontrovertible evidence to support how much Octavian Gogh’s anti-Semitic speech has escalated over time (hence the pun Hoga towards the synagogue), like Naye Ionescu, who never joined the legionary formations, although he was annexed as their ideologist, he had strong anti-Semitic beliefs, as confirmed, among other things, in the famous preface to the novel by Michael Sebastian In two thousand years, a preface that Ana Barbulescu carefully analyzes and argues, or how there were three stages in Nicolae Yorga’s beliefs, the middle of which was the least radical. We will also learn how Nychifor Krajnich passed after many years of imprisonment at the service of the discourse of the Communist Party, whose mouthpiece was the magazine Voice of the Motherland . the edition about which we have a book available by Ana Sălăjan. The section dedicated to A. K. Kouzi does not cause any problems, the former professor of the University of Iasi is unanimously considered a known anti-Semite.

Naturally, the hottest sections, most open to renewed controversy, are those devoted to Mircea Vulcanescu and Vintila Horia. Names entered in the index immediately after August 1944, brought back to the present, rediscovered after the 1989 revolution. We are talking about intellectuals whose texts were quickly published by corporate publishing houses. Both Vulcanescu and Vintila Horia benefited from careful exegesis, taking advantage of all that comes with the temptation of a fetus that has been denied access for a long time. Both were convicted by justice after 1944-1945, Vulcanescu was arrested and died in prison, Vintila Horia lived for some time in France and mainly in Spain, where he continued to promote fascist and anti-Semitic beliefs, using Alexandra Florian to declare indirect protection of the Francoist regime. More correctly, his ideologies. The awarding episode also interfered in the biography of Vintil Horia Goncourt for the novel God was born in exile. The award has been announced but never de facto awarded under the terms described in lavish detail in the author’s chapter of the book.

There is no doubt that both Vulcanescu and Vintila Horia had strong anti-Semitic feelings. Which they did not try to express in countless texts that appeared in far-right publications in the interwar period. Publications, we admit, are not few. Mircea Vulcanescu was part of Antonescu’s government, he was undersecretary of state for finance, and the journals of the Council of Ministers do not show that he showed any opposition to the anti-Semitic measures ordered by the head of state. For his part, Vintila Horia admired Hitler and Mussolini, morally and journalistically vouched for General Antonescu, applauded the destruction of the Jews and the USSR.

As I said, both Vulcanescu and Vintila Horia were criminally convicted. The conviction has sparked numerous controversies, with many accusing heavy political interference. Even before 1948, the communists controlled the judicial system, the country was already subjected to Sovietization, Moscow imposed its wishes through the Union Control Commission and communist minions in the Soviet country. Vulcanescu’s and Vintil Horia’s defense attorneys allege the political nature of the trials and convictions, which their accusers, including Alexandra Florian, deny. Hence the disputes, hence the periodic return to relevance and condemnation of symbolic tributes to the two intellectuals. The accusers want their complete exclusion, their complete undermining, formulating a flurry of accusations against those who will remain under their names for the time being. Monica Lovinescu, Virgil Ierunka, Gabriel Liicianu and Andrii Plesu and Marilena Rotaru are those who in the book, and not only, conduct real tests of intentions. It comes to the point that the subtitle in the section dedicated to Mircea Vulcanescu is called, in my opinion, unacceptable, rude, Romania is a country out of phase on the memory lane. We remind you that while the works of Vulcanescu and Horia are being republished, and their names appear on the facades of some universities, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel removed the works signed by Emil Nolde from her office. maybe. But Merkel has many other wines. Especially in her relationship with Putin. –

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