Tensiuni şi reorientări în mediul universitar: cazul epurărilor din 1944-1947
Tension and changes in universities: the purges between 1944-1947

Summary/Abstract: The changes that took place after August 23, 1944 led to a drastic staff change within each higher education institution. Previously threatened with removal (by committees organized during the national-legionary state), some professors had the chance to initiate an outstanding carrer during the communist regime. Thus, universities became the scene of the confrontation between characters with radically different political choices. The procedures adopted by the two comittees regarding the selection of proffesors were largely similar. The decision to maintain or to dismiss a certain professor was directly influenced by the information contained in the self-evaluation reports, any memoirs – favorable or unfavorable – written by other professors or members of the committee. Those threatened with dismissal could challenge the committee's decision by memorandums that could also include favorable statements of people who were trusted by members of the political regime.In both cases, the creation of reward and penalty mechanisms led to the emergence of opportunity windows that some academics tried to take advantage of. For these people, it became obvious that after August 23, 1944, Romania had entered a completely new course and that each had to find its place from the early stage of the establishment of the communist regime. In addition, the work of the two committees reflects the evolution of interpersonal relationships, characterized by a fragmentation due to different interests or sympathies/ antipathy. While limiting university autonomy, the new legislative framework provided a fertile ground for expressing frustrations and rivalries.

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