Suchergebnisse

The last years of World War II have brought, per ensemble, complex problems for the "Regele Ferdinand I" University, which, after the Vienna Treaty of 1940, has been functioning in exile from Sibiu and Timişoara. From 1944 the model of the modern University of Cluj was brutally converted to an instrument of propaganda for a communist ideology, far fetched from its original nationalistic vocation. The period of transition from democracy to totalitarianism, 1944-1947, was marked by a series of events such as: the beginning of the process of politicization within the University of Cluj, the problems related to the foundation of "Bolyai" University, the return in 1945 of the University to its original sight from Cluj, the students strikes in January-June 1946, the university repression generally speaking, and particularly the repressions of students, and, last but not least, the debates of the University Senate concerning the politicization of the academic environment and the dismissal of some "compromised" members of the teaching staff. After 1944, the communists were interested in eliminating all political rivals, therefore the dismissal threats, followed by the contractions within the Departments of the University of Cluj, became a cruel reality between 1944-1948. Like all the other Romanian universities, the Cluj University began compiling "expurgation" dossiers for the so called "fascist" university professors, and substituting the old rectors and deans with new ones from amongst those who had adapted to the "new age". The public stand of the academics has gradually declined after 1944, when their life and activity has been brought to challenge, the changing values after March 1945 favouring the devotion towards the new regime, and praising less and less the academic fulfilment. On the background of "democratic" reforms, the new regime authorities have intensified the brutal isolation, especially of scholars among which a great number of university professors, by means of massive arrests. The most invoked reasons were: denigration of the power of the state, opposition to the construction of socialism, or the need to re-educate the "hostile" elements from within the Popular Republic of Romania.

This study depicts the biography of a young communist (Ion Călin) who volunteered for the International Brigades in Spain, and thus it features – within the historiography of the topic – the destinies of the antifascist Romanian combatants. Since the vast majority of these combatants was composed of members and supporters of PCdR, the regime of popular democracy honored and glorified them after March 6, 1945, in the same vein as those Communist inlanders who were repressed by the "bourgeois regime". The Romanian Communists who fought in the French Resistance received a similar treatment. After 1989, the names of the Romanian volunteers who had joined the cause of the Spanish Republicans went in the shadow due to their political affiliation to a party utterly compromised in the eye of the public. This study also deals with a broader context, including international politics, the reasons behind such an enthusiasm binding young people to go abroad to a front at over 2.000 km, the social strata they derived from, PCdR's efforts to organize and send combatants across the borders, Ion Călin's clandestine journey to the Iberian peninsula (via Czechoslovakia, Austria, Switzerland and France), as well as details of the fights of which he was a part of during the war.

This study depicts the biography of a young communist (Ion Călin) who volunteered for the International Brigades in Spain, and thus it features - within the historiography of the topic -
the destinies of the antifascist Romanian combatants. Since the vast majority of these combatants was composed of members and supporters of PCdR, the regime of popular democracy honored
and glorified them after March 6, 1945, in the same vein as those Communist inlanders who were
repressed by the "bourgeois regime". The Romanian Communists who fought in the French Resistance received a similar follow-up. After 1989, the names of the Romanian volunteers who had joined the Spanish Republicans' cause went in the shadow due to their political affiliation to a party utterly compromised in the eye of the public.
This study also deals with a broader context, including international politics, the reasons
behind such an enthusiasm binding young people to go abroad to a front at over 2.000 km, the social
strata they derived from, PCdR's efforts to organize and send combatants across the borders, Ion Călin's clandestine journey to the Iberian peninsula (via Czechoslovakia, Austria, Switzerland, or France), as well as aspects and details of the fights of which he was a part of during the war.

The author of the article proposes a few reflections on the Romanian fascist movement in the 30s: the originality of the Legion of the Archangel Michael, the ideological struggle between the communists and the legionnaries, the conflicts and the cooperation between the extreme right parties, the connections between the legionnaries and the German national-socialists, the electoral campain of the Iron Guard in 1937, the anti-fascist movement before World War II. The study is based on documents from the Romanian National Archives, articles published between the Wars in Romania and unique bibliography sources.