Witnessing Romania's century of turmoil : memoirs of a political prisoner / Nicolae Mărgineanu; edited by Dennis Deletant ; translated by Călin Coțoiu.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mărgineanu, Nicolae, author.

Contributor:

Deletant, Dennis, 1946- editor.

Coțoiu, Călin, translator.

Series:

Rochester studies in East and Central Europe 1528-4808

Rochester studies in East and Central Europe, 1528-4808

Standardized Title:

Mărturii asupra unui veac zbuciumat. English

Language:

English

Romanian

Subjects (All):

Mărgineanu, Nicolae.

College teachers.

Romania--History--20th century.

Romania.

History.

Romania--Politics and government--1944-1989.

Politics and government.

Political prisoners--Romania--Biography.

Political prisoners.

College teachers--Romania--Biography.

Romania--Biography.

Transylvania (Romania)--Biography.

Transylvania (Romania).

Romania--Transylvania.

Genre:

Biographies.

History.

Autobiographies.

Physical Description:

xvii, 332 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Rochester, NY, USA : University of Rochester Press ; Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK : Boydell & Brewer Limited, [2017]

Summary:

Nicolae Margineanu's journey started in 1905 in the village of Obreja in Transylvania and ended in 1980 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. He began his life under Austro-Hungarian rule, was witness to the 1918 Union, lived under three kings (Ferdinand, Carol II, and Mihai) and survived all of Romania's dictatorships, from absolute monarchy to the Legionnaires' rebellion, the Antonescian dictatorship and, finally, the years under Communist rule. Margineanu studied psychology at the University of Cluj and attended postgraduate courses in Leipzig, Berlin, Hamburg, Paris, and London. He was awarded a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship that enabled him to do research for two years in the United States, at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, the University of Chicago, and Duke. He returned to Romania and became chair of the psychology department of the University of Cluj. In 1948, he was arrested on a charge of "high treason," based on his alleged membership in a resistance movement against Communist rule. He was sentenced to twenty-five years' imprisonment, of which he served sixteen, passing through the jails at Malmaison, Jilava, Pitesti, Aiud, and Gherla. This book, his autobiography, is a shocking testimony to the fate of the intellectual elite of Romania during the Communist dictatorship. It is a unique and invaluable addition to the literature in English on the experience of political prisoners, not only in Communist Romania, but in authoritarian states in general.

Contents:

The beginning of the road - In Blaj - In Orăs̜tie - Student in Cluj - The University of Leipzig - Hamburg university - The university of Berlin - My postdoctoral exam - Scientific researcher for the Rockefeller Foundation - Harvard University - Yale University - The University of Chicago - Columbia University - The University of Chicago once more - America's scientific, cultural, and sociopolitical landscape - At the Universities of London and Paris - At the Department and Institute of Psychology in Cluj - Democracy and dictatorship - The repercussions of the international political crisis - The attack against Rector Goangă - The Vienna award - The Legionnaire insanity - Marshal Antonescu's government - Under Stalinist occupation - The Romanian-American association - The United States lectures - Dr. Petru Groza - My dismissal from the university - The ordeal - Malmaison - At the Interior Ministry - The trial - The Calvary - In Aiud Penitentiary - Back to the Interior Ministry - In Jilava - Aiud again - Jilava once more - The Pitesti Penitentiary - In the penitentiaries at Dej and Gherla.

Notes:

"Originally published in Romanian as Mărturii asupra unui veac zbuciumat (Bucharest : Editura Fundatiei Culturale Romane, 2002)"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781580465793

158046579X

OCLC:

1023657089