Emmanuel de Martonne et la Roumanie communiste
Emanuel de Martone and Communist Romania

Summary/Abstract: This paper examines the fate of the work of eminent French geographer Emmanuel de Martonne (1873-1955) under and after the Communist regime in Romania. Initially, de Martonne was dismissed as a western imperialist, while some of his pre-war Romanian students were sidelined because of their association with ‘Fascist’ geopolitics. However, with the thaw in relations with the west, particularly France, and the ‘nationalist’ turn of the Communist regime, de Martonne and his Romanian associates were gradually, if not fully, rehabilitated. The head of geography at the University of Cluj, Tiberiu Morariu, would play a key role in these developments. The ‘return’ of De Martonne to his beloved Romania was illustrated by his centenary conference in 1973 and the publication of selected works in translation. The fall of Communism restored complete access to his work. However, changes in the field of geography have undermined the once central position his work enjoyed.

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