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Nicu Steinhardt era prieten bun cu părinţii mei şi venea des la noi acasă când eram copil. Îmi amintesc conversaţiile lui cu mama mea pe teme intelectuale, el fi ind extraordinar de cultivat şi de interesat de noutăţile literare sau fi lozofi ce. Era un om de o imensă bună dispoziţie, mereu gata să glumească. Duminica după masa mergeam uneori cu el, cu părinţii şi cu sora mea Veronica la mănăstirile din jurul Bucureştiului, expediţii turistice, căci el pe vremea aceea nu se convertise încă. Dar iubea Bucureştiul şi împrejurimile lui
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The article shows the impact The Diary of Happiness had on the young generations after the Revolution in 1989. Nicolae Steinhardt, along with St. Silouan the Athonite, contributed, for many young theologians, to the redemption from an absurd scholastic thinking, belonging to a strange dialectic post-materialism set into manuals that is still visible in the spirituality of Europe
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The author discusses the fi rst edition of The Diary of Happiness (Dacia Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca, 1991), a very modest book from a typographical perspective, but with an incredible spiritual impact. For the young generation following the Revolution in December 1989, Nicolae Steinhardt can’t be understood but in the perspective of the 90s, years of gradual denial of N. Ceauşescu and of communism. Everything, from the “quality of paper without quality” to the reception of this volume in that era, evokes a specifi c “spirit” of those years, the years of growing up. The reading of forbidden “classics” meant the setting free from a prison of thought; and The Diary of Happiness was wonderfully contingent to such a state of mind. The 30s and the sufferings in prison have become “the golden age” of a generation of young men in the quest for meaning
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The author underlines the importance of the publishing of a complete edition with Steinhardt’s works in order to highlight the extent, the consistency and the continuity of the writings between 1934 and 1989. In the bright pages with essays by this author, one can fi nd the metaphors of the diagrams of fate (the Swiss rivers’ lines) and this author’s type of observation (the constellation of miradors), as well as suggestive images for “the proclamation of the superiority of culture”
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In his writings, as well as in life, N. Steinhardt proved he had a special interest in guiding and advising people from a moral perspective. He had a great ability to uncover – especially in the books he read – moral-based references. He also believed that there is a strong connection between a work of art and life and between a work of art and its author. Starting from here, N. Steinhardt, even though he wrote in communist times, pointed out unequivocally the moral sideslips of his times: the lie; social relations undermined by lack of trust; the mendacity of behavior; unfounded wickedness. On the other hand, he underlined the uplifting sense of freedom, courage, fi delity, truth, gratitude, and good. A fi rst ethical approach found in his works is about the realities of his time, Steinhardt’s axiological perspective focusing on the identifi cation, the affi rmation, and the recognition of the state of affairs of communism and of its effects on human thought and behavior. In a second register, N. Steinhardt warns about the blamable acts of people; whereas in a third register he offers a few practical solutions with the purpose of “healing” from a moral perspective the man and the society. Steinhardt also remarked the moral qualities of the writer. In his vision however, Christianity can’t possibly be reduced to morality or moral attitude. These two can’t be one, as morality is but the proof of inner transformation determined by faith, whereas Christianity is the way of actually living through faith
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This critical essay is intended to debate a few aspects less known of the personality of Father Nicolae Steinhardt, whose opinions regarding the evolution, the status, the mechanisms and the identity of the Romanian culture prove both pertinent and interesting when immersed in contemporary reality. Especially in his volumes of correspondence and memoires, one can fi nd ideas, attitudes, confessions, theories and analyses which mirror an intellectual and man of letters with an obvious axiological vocation, drawing his fundaments from a plural cultural basis. The text renders especially his beliefs regarding the condition of the writer in society and the mechanism that led to the disruption of the cultural balance in the national and European space alike; in this context, Father Steinhardt had the gift of some obvious premonitions
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Essential writer and theologian, N. Steinhardt is one of the most interesting Romanian intellectual fi gures after the Second World War. Being politically detained by the socialistic dictatorial regime and Jewish by birth, he receives his baptism in prison, thus fi nding in Orthodoxy the true spiritual support to overcome the hardships of his mundane penance. After his sentence, he becomes a monk in Rohia monastery, in Transylvania, where he lives until his death, writing and publishing many literature and theology books. He has contact with many people of culture and artists – writers, philosophy professors, church fi gures – thus living in a context of moral purity and elevation. Their testimonies about him have been gathered in a volume of real documentary and evocative value, presented by this text, which, using the characterizations of those who knew him or who were close to him, draws a nice portrait in the context of that erA
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N. Steinhardt had a continuous preoccupation with regard to the relation between theology and science. He had two major qualities: the curiosity of the scientist and the special faith of a converted Jew. We’re dealing here with an excellent mediator between these two fi elds. What Steinhardt tells us through his mediation between science and theology helps us better understand the world that was given to us. He establishes a dialogue between different areas, apparently divergent, that have different lengths and types of development, but which offer surprising results when seen as teleological ways to knowledge and faith. The world of science is actually and rightfully a part of God’s world. Theologians and Scientists say this more and more often. N. Steinhardt is, from this perspective, an illustrious forerunner and an example that’s worth being followed. The essays of N. Steinhardt are extremely generous with regard to the dialogue between theology and science. When you don’t expect at all or when you expect less, a reference to a chemical formula, to a theory from physics or mathematics emerges. N. Steinhardt is interested in all that can support, from a scientifi c perspective, the faith in God
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This text is a testimony about father Nicolae Steinhardt, based on a profound spiritual relation. Father Nicolae remained as one of the brightest icons of an intellectual and, at the same time, true monk. Father Nicolae was a profound spiritual thinker. He was hardened by suffering. Not only did he have to bear fi ve years of detention between 1959 and 1964, but, for a lifetime, he was watched and chased in a devilish manner. Instead of making him bad, all these improved his spirit, because he, the converted Jew, interpreted his hardships in a spiritual way. He also proved strength of character when they locked him. They locked him because he didn’t want to confess against his friends, important scholars, some of which were legionaries. The investigators thought they could make him say something against his friends, as he was Jew. He didn’t do it and went to prison along with them. From his writings, it is obvious that he thought and lived like a Christian, confessing on behalf of Christ until the last moment.
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In this study, we want to analyze the relation between two Romanian internationally-renowned men of culture: Mircea Eliade (often considered one of the greatest historians of religion of all times) and Nicolae Steinhardt (whose name and memory have been mentioned by Pope John the Second in his visit in Romania). Though they had about the same age (a difference of 5 years), they had little connections in the interwar period (a few meetings and, later, Steinhardt’s volume The Way of… the Young [În genul… tinerilor] from 1934, where he parodies Eliade, among others). A strong infl uence (which changed destinies) occurred during 1958-1960, when Steinhardt was imprisoned for having read and spread writings of Romanians found in exile, including the novel Midsummer Night (The Forbidden Forest) [Noaptea de Sânziene (Pădurea interzisă)] by Eliade. After the release in 1964, Steinhardt was continuously watched by the communist Securitate and reports have been written about him, where his main guilt was his friendship with Mircea Eliade, Emil Cioran, Eugen Ionescu, Virgil Ierunca, Monica Lovinescu, et al. Beyond these biographical intersections between Eliade and Steinhardt, there are also connections with regard to the Romanian culture, literary ideas, and visions on religious life. Steinhardt brings appreciations to the scholar in Chicago for the fact that he presents the beauty of the Romanian culture in the Western desecrated world and considers Eliade – and he’s one of the few who does this – infl uenced in his thinking by Christian ideals (in this direction, memorable are Steinhardt’s appreciations of the role played by Eliade in the Western culture, especially with his volume From Zamolxis to Genghis-Kahn [De la Zalmoxis la Genghis-Han], but also with his fi ction, marking a direct reference to the novella A Fourteen Year Old Photograph [O fotografi e veche de 14 ani])
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This text examines the relations between N. Steinhardt and the two totalitarian regimes of the 20th century, with a special stress on the communist totalitarian system. It is based on both the interwar texts in periodicals and volumes published by N. Steinhardt, as well as on the texts publish after the war, especially on the new version of The Happiness Diary (The Happiness Diary. The Manuscript from Rohia) [Jurnalului fericirii (Jurnalul fericirii. Manuscrisul de la Rohia)], recently published by the Polirom Publishing House. Commemorating 100 years from the birth of N. Steinhardt, we want to offer, through this essay, the image of a lucid intellectual (a real critic intellectual), constantly immersed in the fi ght with the 20th century utopias
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After 100 years from the birth of Nicolae Steinhard, I fi nd it adequate to ask ourselves what has become of his The Diary of Happiness, published 22 years ago and what has become of our freedom we earned just about then. How many still have the power, the intelligence and the common sense to understand Nicolae Steinhardt today? And, if the answer is yes, how many can still uplift their souls to the Path truly assumed and followed by Nicolae Steinhardt? Do we still remember the true dimension of the Mystery of Freedom?
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This text is an attempt to present a less studied dimension of the Nicolae Steinhardt’s personality, that of elite Orthodox preacher, which had a great impact both on the people living in or visiting the Rohia monastery in the times past and on those that read the beloved volume of sermons-essays Giving, You Shall Receive [Dăruind vei dobândi]. The author considers that one cannot build an objective image of monach Nicolae’s homiletic work based solely on texts and bibliography; one also needs to turn to good account the testimonies of those who knew him directly. This is the reason why the author chooses to start a pilgrimage to Rohia, visiting all the places and objectives that once were in relation with the preacher: the church, the hermitage, the library, and the tomb, and then goes to Sighetul Marmaţiei and visits the Sighet Memorial, especially the by-then cell 43, consecrated to the memory of the Romanian writers detained on political grounds, where Nicolae Steinhardt is presented as a “case study”. Based on the sermons in the volume, on direct accounts and critical references on behalf of important intellectuals, father Gordon concludes that Nicolae Steinhardt has a place of honor in Romanian homiletics and that Giving, You Shall Receive is a fi rst-hand resource for the contemporary preacher
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This text presents a point of view on the relation between Nicolae Steinhardt and the divine nature of Christ. On his road full of stumbles, tortures, nightmares, doubt and skepticism, Nicolae Steinhardt wanted to have Christ at his side. He wanted Him as a companion to his conscience and spirit, his acts and faith. With Christ at his side, not with His transcendence, not with His holy all eternity, but with the real man – familiar, living among us, the God of human underground. In the subtle pages of theological exegesis, Christ is not that much of a builder as he is a mediator between the building and the eternity, called, at the frightening judgment, as a witness of human tragedy and suffering and of the absurd forming of time. In the admirable sermons of the monach from Rohia, the Son of God is contemporary with us through the joy of spiritual, historical, and cultural fruits
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The author analyzes the signifi cances of the notion of happiness, a concept discussed by many Romanian renowned intellectuals, including Nicolae Steinhardt. Steinhardt attempts to present happiness in a genetic, chronological manner, implying what’s before and after it. This is the signifi cance of his thought. What intrigues in The Happiness Diary [Jurnalul fericirii] is the fact that data is not presented chronologically, but spread in pieces between 1924 and 1971. Yet, the stages are clear, and the core of the entire diary is represented by detention and baptism. The mechanism which triggered happiness couldn’t have produced without the intervention of detention. This doesn’t mean that detention is necessarily needed, but for the superfi cial and volatile Steinhardt, it was essential. It separated him, in existential terms, from common life and prepared him for the time of authentic living. Steinhardt’s conception is obviously existentialist; sometimes even acknowledged as such. After the baptism received with his entire thought and spirit in the hard conditions of detention, Steinhardt lives the existential moment of happiness.
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The fragmentated practice of the courts regarding the application of Law no. 119/2010 for the establioshment of measures regarding pensions has determined the managing colleges of the Courts of Appeal of Galați, Craiova, Brașov and Cluj to refer the issue to the Supreme Court of Justice, without pointing out to a certain interpretation. The contestations were rejected, thus maintaining the recalculation decisions of the pensions in accordance with Law no. 119/2010, an decision which was considered to be legal. This jursprudence is not very well founded, for which thereinterpretation efforts were maed and fundamental principles of law were abandoned.
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Fraudulent acts are concluded with malfoy in order to breach another persons’ rights or to breach the law, with the purpose of obtaining a profit for the debtor or another person. As a consequence of the annulment of the act, the value returns to the assets of the debtor, and the eventual restitution of his/her prestation, the party that contracted with the bnkrupt, if he/she wa not an accomplice to to fraud, he/she will have a debt that she/he will present, together with the other creditors, at the assement of affairs. The legislator refers to the acts concluded or executed by the bankrupt debtor, meaning affairs that suppose a wilful act from the debtor’s side, specifically contract concluded with commercial partners.
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On the 3rd and 4th of April 2012 discussions where held inside the Legal Committe for appointments, discipline, immunities and validations of the Senate, as a first instance, regarding the bill above mentioned. Representatives of the Supreme Court of Justice, the Superior Council of Magistracy, the Ministry of Justice and of the Union of Jurists of Romania participated in the discussions.
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Given the national provisions concerning the right of a person tried and sentenced in absentia to request a retrial after his/her surrender in Romania in the execution of a European arrest warrant, especially regarding the conditions of admissibility of such requests and national court practice in this matter, the question arises whether the granting of a formal guarantee from the Romanian courts, the issuing of an EAW, really open the possibility of retrial convicted person.
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Pending the courts there has been a large number of causes which have had as object the censorship of administrative acts – decisions issued by the Court of Auditors either under the Regulation no. 1/2009, or under the new Regulation approved by Decision of the Plenary of the Court of Auditors no. 130/2010, thus creating a fragmanted practice regarding the establishment of the jurisdiction of resolving conflicts. From the start, we feel the need to point aut that we agree with the motives of the Constnața Court of Appeal as stated in this civil sentence.
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Introducing in the Romanian criminal legislation Law no. 202/2010 regarding some measures to accelerate the settlement process had, in addition to the obvious advantages in expediting the proceedings, and serious shortcomings, consisting, in particular, the uncorrelation of provisions of the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code with Law no. 202/2010 in relation to the European Court of Human Rights, the Constitutional Court and the principles that should govern this matter. One of the issues that arose in practice was that the applicability of art. 3201 of the Criminal Procedure Code (article introduced by Law no. 202/2010) for retrial after extradition, according to art. 5221 of the Criminal Procedure Code, when the sentence imposed in absentia predates the entry into force of Law no. 202/20102.
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The provisions of art. 141 para. (1) final thesis of the Criminal Procedure Code states that "The conclusion of the first court or the appeal court rejected the application for revocation, replacement or termination of the preventive measure is not subject to appeal." This regulation restricts the right of access to a court by restricting the right to an appeal, as a fundamental principle established by art. 21 para. (1) of the Constitution, and the provisions of art. 5 § 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In this case there is a mismatch between domestic and international regulations on fundamental human rights, in which, pursuant to art. 20 para. (2) of the Constitution, the national court applies international regulation, noting the admissibility of appeal.
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The changes brought to the labour legislation regarding the flexibility of labour relations while maintaining the level of prtection of employees. If these objectives were attained is to be considered after a detailed evaluation of the impact that these changes have had in practice. An eventual revision of the legislation will have to take in consideration the aspects regarding flexiblity, encouragement of employers in creationg new jobs and employing personne, protection of employees rights, assuring conformity with the EU legislation in this field, but also the difficulties encountered in practice when implementing the legal provisions in force.
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The inovations brought by the new Civil Procedure Code regarding the above mentioned concept are very interesting, and some unique. We tend to consider that the distinction bewtween the general and special appeal for annulment is still in force, although this distinction is no longer that obvious in the current legislation, which makes aclear distinction between two categories of judicial decisions: definitive and irrevocable. This paper does not intend to analyse strictly from a doctrinarian point of view, but also, and mainly, the distinction made by the current legislation in the field, the new Civil Procedure Code.
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The paper considers the relation between the urban organisations of medieval Romanian towns of Moldavia and Walachia and the state intervention (the intervention of the ruling princes), a problem being the subject of a controversy in different publications. One opinion (considering architectural and urban arguments, and having been adopted also by some historians and archaeologists) is that as early as the 14th and 15th century coherent central public spaces (urban squares) existed. The other (considering historical and archaeological arguments) places the appearance of these squares only later, beginning with the 16th century. This work using information from of the varied fields, supports the first theory, reviewing the genesis and early development of the towns having been studies in relation with the role of the ruling princes. The study is organized observing the following pattern: - the appearance and development of a network of medieval towns in Moldavia and Walachia, - the role and status of the colonists and their relation to the state, - the genesis and perfection of the urban structures, - the genesis and perfection of the organization of central squares. Case studies for Suceava, Roman, Iaşi, Câmpulung and Piteşti follow. Finally, the two formerly stated opinions are compeered in graphic format. Some older studies of the author concerning the urban structure of some Romanian medieval towns complete the work.
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Le XIXe siècle a constitué, pour quelques localités du sud de Banate, le début de leur urbanisation. Ce développement a eu bien en étapes et avec des intensités différentes d’une localité à l’autre, en liaison directe avec la situation politique de la zone. Parmi les événements politiques gui ont influencé directement la vie de ces localités il y a: les révolutions de 1848–1849; l’annulation des régiments qui avaient rapport à la garde des frontières (1872) et la translation de la zone sous l’administration hongrois de l’est de l’ Empire Autrichien-Hongrois; l’émancipation nationale des peuples de cette zone; la première guerre mondiale et l’intégration de la zone dans la Roumanie recomplétée; la vie politique nationale et internationale entre les deux guerres mondiales; l’instauration du communisme. L’auteur suit le développement permanent de la ville d’Orşova et de la station Băile Herculane, mais aussi celui de Baziaş, en declin après la première guerre mondiale et devenu un petit hameau a l’époque du communisme. De même, l’auteur se réfère aux localités qui sont restées uniquement des villages plus grands (Mehadia, Topleţ), bien qu’ils aient eu un début d’industrie et d’urbanisation.
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Enoncé en tant que vastes possibilités de mettre en évidence certains aspects du développement de la ville, la thématique de cette session propose le facteur politique en lui attribuant un rôle de choix à chaque étape du devenir urbain. Tout en insistant sur le fait que les actuelles recherches historiques sur le Moyen Age soulèvent toute une série d’interrogations, voire de problèmes difficiles, notamment quant à l’interprétation à donner à certains rapports entre pouvoir politique central et pouvoirs locaux au sujet du développement de la ville. Un vaste tour d’horizon à travers des recherches occidentales me permet d’avancer quelques mises au point, ayant le rôle de situer cette (apparente) nouvelle problématique dans le cadre européen de la ville du Moyen Age. Car, en fait, il ne peut s’agir d’un seul facteur politique mais d’une série de mesures (facteurs) à caractère politique, social, démographique ou autres qui présidèrent à la fondation, à la formation et au développement des villes.
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In den ersten Teilen der Mitteilung wird das zeitlich unterschiedliche Verhältnis zwischen der Zentralmacht und den Städten hervorgehoben: eine relativ kleine Bedeutung der Städte vor dem Schwarzen Tod, eine Überragende Bedeutung der Städte während der Agrarkrise (vor allem als Verbündeter der Zentralmacht in der Türkenabwehr) und eine sich wiederum verringernde Bedeutung der Städte in der darauf folgenden Periode. Vor diesem Hintergrund wird die Entwicklung von Temeschwar aufgerollt. Zunächst gab es dort eine kleine Streusiedlung auf einer Einödblockflur und, aus strategischen Gründen, eine bewohnte Burg. Als sich König Karl Robert für einige Jahre hier niederließ, entstand ein Schloss und eine neue, regelmäßige ausgebildete Siedlung, die vermutlich von Handwerkern bewohnt war. Etwa gleichzeitig mit einer stärkeren Befestigungsanlage der alten Siedlung bildete sich eine Vorstadt heraus. Nach zeitgenössischen Zeichnungen hatte die Siedlung bis Mitte des 16. Jhs. ein zentraleuropäisches Gepräge, nach der Einnahme durch die Türken änderte sich dieses jedoch. Völlig umgestaltet wurde die Stadt nach der Eroberung durch die Habsburger.
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This study proposes a reconstitution of the urban plan of Iaşi from the 18th century. In the context of all the historical researches done until today, this reconstitution confirms some hypothesis, but also promote new ones, like about the route of the old roads, or about the site of some squares, markets and old streets. Also, an important basis for this reconstituted plan was the historical evolution of the town. In order to analyze and decipher better the old urban configurations, this work of reconstitution used a very efficient instrument: a permanent correlation and superposition of the old and new plans of Iaşi, from the 18th until the 20 century. The correct transposition on this plan of all the historical information collected was an important part of this work, too. Also, the transposition in chronological order of some historical buildings and archaeological discoveries became an efficient guide and an important verification instrument for this reconstituted plan. Fortunately, due to an inertia phenomenon of the old streets network of Iaşi, some of the zonal urban characteristics were preserved until nowadays and they were precious reference points in the reconstitution of this old urban plan.
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Urban history of Chişinău knows not only two stages – till 1812 and after 1812–, but four with different judicial status and three urban, political factors determining the further way of development of locality. Identified in 1436 and till the end of the XVII century that it is a state initially of boyar afterward monastic village founded near Fântâna Mare (Great Fountain) (or – Albişoara). Intention of the regent Eustrate Dabija of outfit of Chişinău with detour for its rising at the rang of market fails due to its dependence on cloister Saint Friday (Sf. Vineri, or Balica) from Iaşi. Economic development of the locality situated on one of the most utilized way of communication from zone leads to the formation of Chişinău as market dependent on the closter. In 1739 the market Chişinău is destroyed by Turkish, afterward he extends on the narrow terrain situated downstream of river Bâc, on the estate of Buiucani village which was belonging to the cloister Sf. Arhangheli from Iaşi (later known as cloister Galata where was situated the gorge across the river utilized by the menzil (Turkish poste). It forms the commercial market which through its trapezoid outline confesses the genesis of the locality – market at crossing of ways. In short time Chişinău becomes the biggest market from the inter-river Prut-Nistru situated on the land of two cloisters. During a fight from December 1788, between Russian and Turkish army, the locality is set on fire together with those „6 or 7 churches”. The town is remaking at great pains, only on the eve of the year 1812 arriving at number of churches from previous period. After incorporation of the inter-river Prut-Nistru in the composition of Russian Empire, the territory occupied by Chişinău in 1818 is given by the cloisters to the „Russian crown” and the locality becomes the capital of region Basarabia. In its plane fixed in the first project of urban systematization from 1817, the street trama is dominated by directions of ways: of Turkish post became The Great Street of those of transit oriented to 2-3 gorges across river Bâc and of the river oriented to source The Great Fountain. Other streets represent the directions of relation with neighboring villages etc. After 1834, year where is confirmed the urban systematization plane, the town developed on two portions of the urban territory relatively independent. New Russian town is founded to the West of Chişinău on waste land where in 1789–1790 was previously cantoned the military Russian camping but without using grating remained from subdivisions. New town was created in orthogonal system, with rectangular districts whose size was dictated by the occupied district by Metropoly placed in the geometric circle of systematized Chişinău. The street trama of Ancient Town, medieval Chişinău, was pointed after what became, how it was characterized by contemporaries „chaotic, lack of logic, with devious streets” etc. Plane of Chişinău elaborated in first postwar years...
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Politische Phänomene haben seit jeher die Kontinuität der Stadtentwicklung beeinflusst. Sie waren weitgehend von dem Willen der Menschen unabhängig; politische Konjunkturen bedingten Perioden mit unterschiedlichen Merkmalen. Dieser Prozess kann sowohl positive als auch negative Auswirkungen haben, jedoch werden betonte politische Faktoren sowie häufige und radikale Veränderungen auf die organische und harmonische Entwicklung, auf die Bewahrung und Fortführung von Traditionen ungünstig einwirken. In diesem Sinn versucht die Arbeit zwischen einer normalen, gesetzmäßigen Entwicklung und einer willkürlichen Veränderung zu unterscheiden und deren Auswirkungen auf das Gepräge der Stadt nachzugehen. Beispiele aus Zeiten politischer Diktatur, faschistischer oder kommunistischer Prägung, mit deren spezifischen Bauprogrammen und Merkmalen zeigen, dass unter diesen Umständen selbst wertvolle Bauten und Gebäudekomplexe Fremdkörper im Organismus einer Stadt bilden. Ein besonderer Abschnitt ist den großen Zerstörungen der Diktaturen und Kriege gewidmet, und in diesem Zusammenhang stellt sich die Frage nach der Opportunität eines Wideraufbaus verschwundener Bauten und Anlagen, welche große Brüche in der Stadtanlage mildern und sich damit auf die Kontinuität des Stadtgepräges günstig auswirken. Demgegenüber wirkt sich eine stabile politische Entwicklung, die eng an wirtschaftliche und soziale Prozesse gebunden ist auf städtebauliche und architektonische Veränderungen der Städte stetig aber fast unmerkbar aus. Auch unter stabilen gesellschaftlichen Verhältnissen bedeuten Eingriffe in Altstädte jedoch fast immer Opfer, die sich aus den Gegensätzen zu denkmalpflegerischen und sozialen Fragen ergeben: Selbst vorteilhafte politische Entscheidungen führen gleichzeitig zu Verlusten. Zwischen besonders starken oder zurückhaltenden Auswirkungen der Politik gibt es jedoch auch Zwischenformen, die als Politik der „Bestrebungen“ bezeichnet werden können, wobei auch Interessengruppen, verschiedene Bestrebungen und religiöse Bekenntnisse eine Rolle spielen können. Selbst eine Politik der Entwicklung kann aber unter den Bedingungen eines aggressiven Neokapitalismus den vorgegebenen baulichen Rahmen missachten: Eine maximale Verwertung des Bodens durch hohe Bauten führt zu Fremdkörpern im Stadtgepräge. Als notwendig erweist sich ein Mittelweg in den entsprechenden Ausmaßen, zwischen einer Politik der Entwicklung und einer Politik der Erhaltung von Altstädten und deren Denkmälern.
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As might have been expected, most new building trends set in Romanian architecture in the Stalinist period are to be accounted for by the influence of ideology and politics. But the Stalinist period is also one of experiments in the construction and design of apartment building. If the quality of such experimental buildings appears to be in utter contradiction with the parsimonious spirit of the epoch, this is certainly due to the ability of the “old” generation of architects to adjust to certain formal ideological frames.
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La ville de Câmpulung, située tout près de la frontière hungaro-valache, sur une importante voie de commerce entre les territoires hongrois et le bas-Danube, était constamment soumise aux pressions catholicisantes et expansionnistes de la dynastie Arpadienne auxquels la ville devait résister. C’est pourquoi le pouvoir Valache était bien intéressé à soutenir la communauté de la ville, en lui accordant des privilèges exceptionnels. D’autre part, la cour princière de Câmpulung, avec une très imposante église en pierre, semblait être placée très proche du monastère catholique pour que l’autorité du prince puisse contrôler le prosélytisme catholique, en témoignant une politique duplicitaire des voïvodes roumains qui, par des raisons de politique internationale, s’étaient engagés à soutenir le catholicisme. La choie des premiers voïvodes roumains, Basarab I (1310–1352) et Nicolas Alexandre (1352–1364) d’être enterrés dans cette église, semble porter aussi un message politique. Mais c’est le règne de Matei Basarab (1632–1654) qui eût le plus fort impact sur l’évolution de Câmpulung pendant le Moyen Age. Par des raisons politiques, ce voïvode a fait reconstruire la cour princière mais comme un grand monastère, en s’érigeant en héritier de la dynastie Bassarabe, déjà éteinte. Pendante la première moitié du XIX-e siècle, la ville a mené une politique sage et appliqué pour se créer une belle image de station de villégiature. Visité plusieurs fois par le premier roi de Roumanie, qui semblait désirer se construire ici une résidence d’été, Câmpulung a attiré constamment des visiteurs jusqu’à 1925, l’année ou elle a été officiellement déclarée station climatique. Pendant le communisme, en perdant la qualité de résidence de département, Câmpulung n’as pas été soumis aux pressions de l’industrialisation forcé, par conséquence les investissions locatives ont été diminué. C’est pourquoi l’ancien paysage construit n’a pas été essentiellement changé. C’est pourquoi après la chute du communisme la ville était vraiment représentative comme petite ville historique roumaine. Malheureusement, après 1990, une politique urbaine pas de tout intéressé par les problèmes culturels et historiques permet transformer radicalement le paysage construit de Câmpulung.
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La phase de la reconstruction du fond construit détruit pendant les années de la deuxième guerre mondiale correspond à la «période soviétique» de la République Soviétique Socialiste Moldave. Maintenant toutes les tâches posées en face des urbanistes sont en relation avec la politique de l’Union Soviétique - État puissant, riches en ressources minérales et humaines avec la propriété nationalisée et l’économie centralisée. Pendant la prospérité du culte de la personnalité de I.V. Staline au pays on met en évidence les principes «de l‘urbanisme autoritaire» (staliniste). La nouvelle construction urbaine inclut des ensembles de loger, exclusivement collectifs. On trace la tendance vers la grandeur et l’idée de la représentativité devient dominante. On accorde une grande attention aux effets visuels et aux architectures monumentales qui rendent service à la propagande et constituent «la façade de parade» de l’État Soviétique. Des accents urbanistes «oppressifs» persistent et concentrent «l’essence idéologique» du nouveau système. On élabore des projets de systématisation selon lesquels on réalise la construction urbaine pour les villes les plus importantes de la république. On rédige des séries modèles de bâtiments aux 2, 3 et 4 niveaux. On édifie aussi des constructions à la décoration riche qui ont des détails sculpturaux de pierre, céramique etc., spécifiques aux pays au régime totalitaire pendant la première moitié du XX-ième siècle. Les éléments décoratifs de la symbolique socialiste sont omniprésents dans l’architecture.
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The present text is the written form of the lecture with the same title delivered on 21 November 2006 at the “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu. The term “culture” is taken here for “the ability to master a well structured amount of knowledge, as well as the process of getting it”. Further on, “to have an anthropological culture means to have an adequate perception over the domain called ‘anthropology’”. This adequacy is analysed from both the theoretical and practical perspective. Theoretically, a few aspects of adequacy are identified, namely: the appropriation of the history of anthropology, an accurate covering of its up-to-date paradigms, the familiarisation with the leading figures of anthropology in the history of this discipline, and a real idea of its object, methods, and concepts. As to the practical perspective, the applications of anthropology in politics, social development, education, architecture, religious dialogue, and, recently, in diplomacy are presented.
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This essay deals with one of the most difficult problems modern society faces nowadays, that is juvenile delinquency. Juvenile delinquency is a “deviation” which refers to any social conduct and gesture that are different from the general behavior and is seen from various points of view: biological, psychological, social and cultural. One fact emerges clearly; the modern society we live in alongside with the complex phenomena of urbanization, industrialization and economic development are factors that lead to juvenile delinquency.
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Nur durch den Missbrauch des Konzeptes „Heilung“ kann man über den Komunismus als Krankheit sprechen und infolge dessen von „Therapie“ als Ziel des Zuwendungsprozesses. Eher, sollte man über die eigentlichen Zustände des Realsozialismus und der angepassten Einlebung großer Gesellschaften sprechen, über ein radikales Systemwechsel, dessen Projekt, über die dazupassenden Mitteln, Planung, Rahmenbedingungen, Schwierigkeiten, Risiken und Ablaufkrisen, hauptsächlich über das Organisieren des Änderungsprozesses. Die Konzentration auf Erscheinungen und Nebensächlichkeiten kann Ausgangspunkt für Manipulation und Ablenkung werden, wenn sie nicht Oberflächlichkeit widerspigelt, wenn sie nicht durch mangeln an einer systematischer Analyse und globalen Bewertung, an einem Änderungsplan mit der entsprechender Strategie und Taktik, wirksam und originell, anfällt.
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Dans le présent étude nous nous proposons une analyse comparative des recherches nationales et internationales effectuées dans le domaine de l’adoption des enfants, en visant trois dimensions : les principales thèmes abordés, les méthodologies et les résultats des études nationales et internationales dans le domaine de l’adoption, qui reflètent les particularités sociodémographiques et les ressources des parents adoptifs.
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Suicide is a complex phenomen with a plurifactorial etiology for many specialists like: medicals conditions, sociological conditions and economicals conditions. The most frequent causes are: mental troubles, drugs dependention, alcoholic states, personality troubles or painful actions.
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The Theory and nature of language developed by Richard Rorty is a continuation of the concept of relativist theories of Ludwig Wittgenstein and the American pragmatist. Although some linguistic and conceptual schemes in other areas (e.g. for morality) are so deeply rooted in the consciousness of men that seem to be necessary, immutable, they are in fact contingent. Frameworks fundamental conceptual basis of language patterns are not absolute, therefore they should not be considered as Noam Chomsky discovered, but created. What the pragmatical philosophy sustains is that life and human knowledge can have a positive, desirable even if we accept the idea that there is a transcendental reality in which we relate, to get closer to whenever we discover something new. There is an absolute finality of our intellectual effort, there is a transcendental truth that always need to compare our ideas. Belief in a transcendental truth that seemed to be essential may be removed from the speech pro-Sofica without it to suffer, even more, by removing these false problems opens to us the door to philosophical discourses more successful than previous.
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The beginning of the XX century is characterized by the developing of philosophical anthropology which rejects the traditional metaphysics, the natural sciences and moves towards nature, the world of life in order to find a new fundament for the value of life. The main representatives of the philosophical anthropology are: Max Scheler, Helmuth Plessner and Arnold Gehlen. Their main preoccupation was to find that element that gives human being the special place/position in the world and based on this element to define the human being in a universalistic matter that transgress the previous representations and understandings (mainly from religion, science, philosophy). Their approaches are described by an outlined attempt to summarize the humanization of man, who managed to rise, beyond his animalism, to an unprecedented level among the other living beings. Their writings share a comparative reference and hierarchical classification for the other living beings. The philosophical anthropology concludes that the man’s special place in the world cannot be founded on his biological nature. Whereas regarding the relationship analysis between humans and other living beings, the mentioned authors promote a similar vision; the difference stands out when they need to step beyond his natural character, meaning to explain his special biological nature. The paper will present the main argumentation of these writers and will try to follow the impact of philosophical anthropology and its relevance today.
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Accounting appeared thousands of years ago, a period in which people used the representation of aspects of their daily lives by: notches on bones, the notches on the walls of caves, clay tablets, coated tablets, with knotted strings on papyrus, with which to store the quantities of goods which played the role of an inventory of goods scripting. The evolution of accounting, we can distinguish the following periods: ancient, medieval, late medieval to early nineteenth century, nineteenth century until the first half of the twentieth century, the contemporary period. In our country, accounting emerged and developed over time in relation to domestic economic requirements, the transition to capitalism was more difficult, which has left its mark in the development of accounting.
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What is centrism and what kind of influences has the researcher’s cultural model on his/her subject of investigation, and in which ways the given historical context gains different meanings in time, are some of the key questions of this paper. Taking into account the historians’ socio-psychological biases when they do researches in the socio-humanistic realms, their (ethno)centrically embeddings, we can move away from a history of an unrepeatable contingency of events, towards a relativistic consideration of history’s objects of study. By adding on this path a genuine cultural relativism, various socio-anthropological methods and techniques, thinkers of history could overpass the social-cultural influences (upon their investigated phenomena/groups/historical periods) of their belonging social groups, and catch up properly the “original meanings”. Looking at various historical facts through the double opaque lens of sociology and history, I have emphasized the syntheticphenomenological solution/theoretical frame which could smooth the progress of (socio-historical) data examination.
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L’histoire de l’humanité a consigné une part significative de l’expérience de vie sous forme de proverbes et maximes. Celles-ci constituent des repères importants des représentations sociales concernant la vie sociale quotidienne, l’interaction humaine et la manière de laquelle nous justifions nos comportements. Il n’existe pratiquement pas de société, culture ou domaine de l’existence humaine qui ne soit pas illustré par ces assertions au caractère général. Les proverbes sont porteurs d’une forte charge symbolique, déterminée par les différents contextes et groups au milieu desquels ils réunissent le consensus. La recherche sociologique peut relever la place que les proverbes occupent dans la structure des représentations sociales, leur capacité à refléter les réalités sociales ainsi que leurs fonctions. Cette étude représente les repères théorétiques et méthodologiques nécessaires à révéler les valences sociales des proverbes.
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The movement – operation and evolution – in time and space represent the form of existence of reality and therefore of human society and all its structures. Concretely, we are talking about all forms of activity undertaken by the society’s members through all forms of organization. These activities take place spontaneously and/or conscientiously, in very different proportions at all its levels of organization/selforganization; it is and has to be oriented. Orientation aims, above all, at identifying the directions of evolution, at establishing the desired purpose/purposes/ targets, ways and means of action, rhythms (speed) of development. In order that the societal movement and, equally, the economic one take place normally and with this hope, all its communities seek some guidance cues, which serve as guiding points or signs. These are the spatial and geographic cardinal directions, from the scale of the smallest human community to the planet’s scale and not infrequently going far beyond this. The most important instrument, the compass by which human society governs its ship through the whirling waves of time is science. Extremely complex and complicated realities, contradictory components which assume and repel each other can develop and function normally only to the extent that their actors – people, organizations and other structures – establish appropriate benchmarks with discernment and ensure that they will be obeyed within the elaboration and implementation of development strategies. The following study expresses the author’s opinion regarding some of the benchmarks considered important for the building and sustainable development of a new society and its economy.
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In the present paper the author aims at demonstrating that the Romanian Social Institute of Bucharest was not the sole institutional framework for the social research carried out in interwar Romania. Side by side with the respective Institute (and those which were organizationally and/or methodologically affiliated to it) the history of Romanian sociology also recorded among others the sociographic activity of the researchers gathered around the journal “Societatea de mâine” [Tomorrow’s Society] led by I. Clopoţel. In order to evaluate the activity of the group, the author discusses two issues: 1) to what extent the activity of the sociographic group from Cluj can be evaluated in terms of a scientific movement proper? 2) what is the relationship between the sociography promoted by the researchers from Cluj and sociology, to be more specific monographic sociology? Emphasizing the fact that the survey was the basis of social theory and practice, I. Clopoţel attempted at gathering all potential research forces throughout the country around the journal “Societatea de mâine” and initiating systematic social researches. Methodologically speaking, the researchers from Cluj elaborated common working tools with the view to developing a unitary research and collecting scientifically relevant data. According to the group, sociolography was not an autonomous discipline, but rather a “science” complementary to sociology or, to be more specific, a first and mandatory stage of sociological knowledge, the stage of collecting the data required by any theoretical construct. In agreement to this opinion, sociographic research should be subordinated to sociology, namely to monographic sociology and adopt the latter’s concerns and research methodology. Nevertheless, I. Clopoţel suggested and practiced another approach to social reality. He did not participate in the activity of monographing social units, which sketched a rather static picture of the village despite its systematic character, but aimed at capturing the dynamics of the rural area. His thematic choices and the researches resulted from their implementation in social research practice enriched the “classic” sociographic model with a new meaning, namely the definition, and examination of, and finding a solution to social issues. All in all, according to the researchers around the journal “Societatea de mâine” sociography was more than a mere antechamber of sociology, it was an autonomous discipline between sociology and politics.
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This text is an unpublished draft of lectures on the history of aesthetics given by the Professor Dumitru Isac (1914–1984). The draft lectures, from among agreat number of disparate manuscripts that Professor Isac left after his death, were undated, but it is known that he conceived and wrote his first lectures on aesthetics during the 1950s and it is reasonable to believe that he continued this work until the last years of his life. The drafts were probably designed to initiate and support some more developed lectures, each of them treating a historical moment, an epoch or a certain distinguished author (e.g. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle in antiquity; Shaftesbury, Hutcheson, Hume, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Rousseau, etc. in modern times). Despite the fact that only a small number of these texts have been published, such works have contributed to the professional profile of Dumitru Isac and contributed to the reputation that he gained and maintained over time among his academic colleagues.
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The present study is first of all an attempt to describe and reanalyse Feuerbach’s critique of religion in general and of Christianity in particular, as well as his arguments in favour of atheism and the need to overcome religion. Secondly, the following pages will also structure a critique of Feuerbach from a theological angle, showing that no matter how radical and welcome an atheistic interpretation may have seemed in the 19th century, today it turns out to be just another phase in the criticism of a conceptual and metaphysical God. There is an enormous gap between this God and the apophatic God of the Tradition of the Church, whose radical difference is not only defined by a maximization of the presence of human qualities – love, compassion, power to create etc. – but also by a completely unknowable nature. Once this reality is appropriated, Feuerbach’s critique could actually become instrumental in helping dethrone the metaphysical idol of God and making room for an extremely contemporary post-metaphysical understanding of the divine.
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The present study inquires into the relationships between the variables measured by the Eating Disorder Inventory-3 (EDI-3), the body mass index, and the difference between current and desired weight in three groups of women: women who wish to gain weight, women who wish to maintain their current weight, and women wishing to lose weight. The study sample consisted of 91 women, aged between 18 and 34 years, without eating disorders. The main results of this study are the following: (a) women who wish to have a different weight than that they already have (irrespective of the direction of change – gaining or losing weight) have a higher risk to develop an eating disorder comparing with women wishing to preserve their current weight; (b) the association between the risk for developing an eating disorder (as measured using the specific EDI-3 scales) and the psychological characteristics of studied sample differs depending on the relationship between the current and desired weight.
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We live in a world of prices which violate the life and ‘pockets’ of most people almost non stop, but we don’t realize that this world is dominated by all sorts of strategies, policies and movements controlled by prices, meant to obtain as much profit as possible and/or market monopoly, but also to alienate individuals, groups of individuals and states with dimensions which can be sometimes compared to those of ancient times or the Middle Ages. For a better understanding of the price machinations in today’s world, the study provides the interested reader with: a.) an attempt to conceptualize the price strategy as a gnoseological and ontological establishment of a price level that allows the accomplishment of another objective, purpose or goal, more or less general and/or moral than the price itself, by the individual that will charge that price by doing and/or offering something (a commodity) which corresponds, to a greater or lesser extent, to the objective and/or subjective needs of the buyer or buyers of that commodity; b.) an attempt to conceptualize the price policy as an act of denying, approving or imposing a price level, together with some means, ways of action and terms of achieving that price, established more or less strategically; c.) a brief analysis of the formation of a costbased price and price segmentation depending on distance, commercial area and buyers’ incomes; d) some price movements.
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Respecting the right of property and the necessity for equitable law suits, demand that the damages – that a perpetrator must make up for – be accurately established with regard to both criminal and contractual responsibility. In the context of the inflation process, which inevitably leads to the devaluation of debt claims, pecuniary obligations need reevaluation. Whereas the old Civil Code included no explicit regulations in this respect, in the new Civil Code they have been introduced even with regard to the obligation of providing sustenance.
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The real “asset” of the performing companies is the sum of knowledge and experience gained from the relationships with their clients, which will determine their future market value. The customer orientation principles dominate and will dominate, in any competitive economy, the business mission of any company. The impeccable customer service must represent the reason why companies exist; and this because it will determine the client’s loyalty towards the company and its products, loyalty which in turn will generate a high profitability.
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The present approach focuses some of the main problems of Simion Bărnuţiu’s philosophical activity. While he taught philosophy in Blaj (1839–1845), then in Iaşi (1855–1864), S. Bărnuţiu focused his lectures on the ontology (metaphysics), logic, theory of knowledge and law science. All of them reflect the obvious influence of I. Kant (1724–1804) and W. T. Krug (1770–1842) – the last one being considered in the whole Europe as an authority concerning philosophical education. However, the influence of Krug’s ideas was rather one in their spirit: the philosophical transcendental synthetism entails a political liberalism with openness to the criticism and anti-dogmatism. Thus, Bărnuţiu had found a way to make from Krug’s ideas a support for his own views about the social and political problems in Transylvania. This way, the Romanian Professor grasped and stressed the connections allowed by Krug’s philosophy between metaphysics, epistemology, ontology and ethics, as well as pedagogy. Very often he adapted the Krugian genuine text to his arguments and examples concerning the problems of Transylvanian society at the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the modern era.
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In this study we have analyzed the normative model of the public sphere, as it was proposed by Habermas in his seminal work on the structural transformation of the public sphere. Habermas not only describes the formation of the liberal bourgeois public sphere in modernity, but also criticizes this model following the lines of his normative model. We believe that this model is still actual and usable in the context of the new public spheres created in connection with the new communication technologies and globalization and we tried to prove along our study that this is true.
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This paper will present the sociological research carried out in the ’80s by the Department of Sociology at the University of Cluj, in view of settling an industrial enterprise – Roşia-Poieni Copper Mining Company – in the region of Apuseni Mountains. Beginning from the requirements of the Design Institute from Cluj, which was the beneficiary of this project, the research had several main objectives: 1) knowing the options for residence; 2) becoming aware of the labor force availability and of the professional options; 3) the dead reckoning of the financial situation of the families located in the researched areas; 4) becoming acquainted with the main features, the demographic and socio-professional characteristics of the entire population that is to be displaced. All these objectives came under the general purposes of research, i.e., that of highlighting the social and human implications of grounding a mining industrial plant in the investigated area and that of assessing the attitudes of the people born in that area towards the changes called forth by settling there that mining plant. An “inventory” of positive effects (the modernization of the socio-professional structure, the urbanization, the change of a predominantly rural-archaic way of living through an intensive uptake of urban standards by the entire population from the area, the upturn of their level of material living by increasing their cash income, the improvement of their living conditions and the betterment of the health service) and negative impacts (the danger of an excessive exodus form the area, the possible diminution of labor force in agriculture and, as a direct consequence, a reduction of the agricultural production) of the project resulted as a follow-up of the research conducted in the nine village-communes which were substantially involved in that project. The research revealed the favorable attitude of the local population (especially of the younger age groups) towards that particular project, but, at the same time, it also disclosed a certain opposition to the proposed changes (this was typical especially of the older age groups, but also of the wealthier ones).
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Our research sought to identify the social representation of the moral individual in present day Romania, distinct at people who have higher education and people who only graduated high school. The research took place between February and August 2011, in the counties Timiş, Arad, Cluj, and Caraş-Severin. It consisted of three stages. First it was determined the content of social representation, through the method of free associations. The 9 terms noted down with highest frequency have been reunite into a list. In the second stage we sought to identify the place of each term into the content of the social representation, through the ordering method from the list of terms. Then, we determined the relationship between the terms which constitutes the content of social representation through a variant of the method of free association. For the high school graduates, the central node of the social representation is the term fair. It is associated with the terms rarely encountered in our state and responsible. For the people with higher education, the central node of the social representation is the term acting according to principles relating to the truth, good, beautiful. It is associated with the terms appreciated by others for what he is doing, example for others and fair.
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This article is focused on some crucial features of the epistemology of the Swiss Professor Ferdinand Gonseth (1890–1975), mathematician and philosopher of science. Thus, the most important ideas expressed during some important discussions and debates concerning Gonseth’s epistemology and philosophy, as well as his wellknown conceptual contributions (the idoneism or the adequacy, the horizon of reality, the relationship subject-object in the knowledge, an epistemological interpretation of quantum mechanics etc.) are emphasized. All of these are an intrinsic part of what one could name as Gonseth’s way to an original epistemological and philosophical view: the ‘idoneism’ or ‘idonéité’ – some kind of ‘adequacy’, near to what van Fraassen calls empirical adequacy, according to François Bonsack. In Gonseth’s view, the human knowledge is always approximate and revisable, being always adequate and never completely certain or true. However, this is not an argument for agnosticism or pessimism; on the contrary, it is an argument for adequacy.
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The „white stains” of the „bizarre transnistrian war” represent a less transparent aspect for both the press of that period and for reference documents. It is even more controversial and difficult to comprehend for anyone who wants to gain an insight into the essence of the events that took place in the spring and summer of 1992, as well as a significant challenge for resolute researchers that aim to get to the bottom of the investigated issues, to the very core of the entire transnistrian conflict, a conflict that spans a decade without having been clarified in spite of the international dimension it took. The illustrated material questions the statements made by the leaders of the separatist nistrian enclave and as well as those made by the heads of state of the Moldavian Republic, who are sometimes involuntarily portrayed as string-puppets in the hands of a third party, a party whose implication during the entire conflict has become more and more obvious. Due to the valour, commitment, patriotism and bravery demonstrated during the military actions, the moldavian police officers and combatants have triumphed in the war of positions that took place on the banks of the Nistru River, but the interference of the military incompetent politicians has had an ill-fated effect on the final outcome. Even the so called common diplomacy has often had a more feasible and efficient impact than the actions undertook by the platoon commanders. The crimes committed during the war call for an ample investigation on behalf of the international organizations, and those guilty of acts of genocide against the people of the Moldavian Republic must be handed over to justice and convicted according to the legislation in effect. The author would therefore like to express his appreciation to all those who have contributed to the publication of the material and especially to those who have had the fortitude to acknowledge some „peculiar” features related to the transnistrian war.
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In order to resist within the communist Inferno, the female prisoners were forced to elaborate strategies of psychological resistance. The survival and escape from detention Inferno take into account the following meanings: resistance to the consequences of re-education and depersonalization, a high level of elation, intransigency, and in a general way the idea, even dreamlike, of a certain liberty. Two major types of escape, depending on backgrounds, could be possible: the soundless escape (look on Lena Constante’ memories) and the social escape, full of acts. This study deals with “language escape”, understanding the resistance against re-education with stories, chats and faith inside the women prison of communist Romania. Of the most used forms of escape experimented by women, narration and faith were the most genuine and successful. The stories unburden in an evident way the stress of detention. They were based on memories and oral teaching. In prisons the intellectuals were respected and admired by the others. All along the detention famous or less known novels or even questionable literary products were told, as well as fairy tales, poems, proverbs, some of them fabricated right away. The most important virtue of the stories and talks was a temporary forgot of repression and a building of another universe: they (the oppressors) having the ideologically paltry world, us (the imprisoned) with an entire fictional, above time universe, antidote to lies, beating and abuse.
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The captivity is an immediate consequence of wars as well as death and injuries. Still, no status of war prisoners existed until the end of 19th century. This means that war prisoners and civilians in the occupied territories were at the disposal of the winner. The captivity is an important problem especially for the young generation because it is a part of the history of humanity and it is not an exhausted subject yet. This study deals with the testimonies of the former soldiers imprisoned in the ex Soviet Union. Their stories are related to the beginning of the captivity, first experiences with Russians, ritual of catchments, the way to the prison camp, life during prison, nourishment, medical assistance, work in the camp, escape attempts, propaganda, sexual aspects, literary preoccupations, correspondence, the way back home. Those who survived proved that miracles exist and faith and the strength to resist are more important than body condition. Their stories are incredible but entirely true.
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The paper attempts to outline the large area of research on symbolism, as focused in social sciences, primarily in history and social psychology, as well. It elicits different meanings and features of this field - which has been lately an attractive, though highly demanding object of study-, pointing out some clarifications on the fuzzy concepts it deals with. In what concerns the relevance of this topic for oral history, the implicit assumption of the paper is that collective memories, at the core of the oral history approach, are inextricably mixed with social imaginary. Therefore, a prior comprehension of the vast world of symbols and a peculiar awareness of their complexity and subtleties are needed. The first part of the paper presents a general theory on imaginary, particularly Gilbert Durand’s work on mythodologie. In the meantime, outlining the world of symbols, with their characteristics and social functions, an emphasis is put on their dual nature, as both benign and malign potentiality, which might carry unexpected effects on human personality and cultures. The study considers as well the imaginary in the history, and the historical imaginary. Drawing mainly on the work of Jacques Le Goff, it suggests that the approach on mentalities and imaginary - the fruitful, even though rather ambiguous and vaguely defined concepts of the „new history”- could be usefully focused at the level of social representations, a more concrete and nuanced notion borrowed from social psychology. In the second part of this study, which is to be published in the next issue of the Annual of Oral History, I am going to describe some classic characters of the political mythology, such as the savior or the charismatic leader in history. As a matter of fact, this recurrent and powerful myth of the Romanian social imaginary played a crucial role in the 1989 Romanian revolution, as it is largely analyzed in a previous article that I published, based on my 1996 BA thesis. In conclusion, this paper advocates a comprehensive approach on social imaginary, as a constant dimension of humanity and therefore, an important object of social sciences. Since it warns of the symbols’ mixed benign and malign effects on both individuals and cultures, the paper finally suggests a balanced attitude in approaching the world of symbols, neither enthusiastically overwhelmed by their power, nor reluctantly neglecting them as mere non-rational forces.
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The present study attempts to highlight certain aspects regarding the manner in which the dissolution the Romanian Unitarian Church was perceived by part of the church elite. Consequently we have chosen to consider as an elite the best part of a community, that is those who contribute to the opinion creation, without disregarding also the meaning of organized minority, whose certain superiority and capacity to influence the social setting in which it resides is acknowledged at a social level. The study focused on a relatively small number of people, coming from various regions and backgrounds (bishops, vicars, monks, priests) and which we deemed as representative in order to illustrate the impact of the dissolution the Romanian Unitarian Church in 1948, as well as the sacrifices that were made for preserving the faith, in spite of all the constraints imposed by the repression authorities. Part of the information was retrieved from the field literature, archive sources, but also from oral sources coming from the area of the man who has suffered, who was forced to endure incarcerations, house arrests and a clandestine spiritual life in the “Underground Church” for decades. After 1948, when the Act of 1st of December gained a permanent and irrevocable meaning, the Unitarian Church became a thing of the past. The Romanian Unitarian Church pursued nevertheless its activity clandestinely, a fact which came also to the attention of the State Police leading thus to a more and more suffocating surveillance. The majority of the hierarchs and clerics of the Church United with Rome followed the path of prisons, labor camps and house arrests. Some of the priests managed to maintain their freedom by camouflaging their pasts, religious belonging and by continuing to hold the Greek-catholic religious sermons clandestinely. It was with great sacrifices that the regeneration and enhancement of the group of Greek-catholic priests was achieved, enabling thus the pursuit of their clandestine activity. In spite of all the restrictions against it, the “Underground Church” endured. The communist regime collapsed in 1989, but unfortunately the same cannot be concluded about the relationship it imposed among Christians. The bitter fruits that were sawn among them have led to the perpetuation of the conflict between the adherents of the two denominations (Orthodox and Greek- Catholic).
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The German community of Romania may become an oral history subject quite because the official history has serious lacks on this regard due to the political regime of the 20th century and the unknown less convenient part of the problem, ignored most of the time, could become more of interest. We had in mind for this study the German community of Orăştie, where due to industrialization of the 60s and 70s local Germans from the neighborhood went together, as well as in other towns as Blaj, Arad, Sebeş, Lupeni. Most of them setteled down right where they worked. Although their traditions, told events, even language or religion differ they form a community whose values are respected. They suffered together with the others and the single matter that counted was that they spoke another language than the oficial one for they were local Germans. The aim of the study is to integrate individual memory to a collective one, of the native place. We took 15 interviews with people born between 1917-1954, most of them women who had lived the experience of the Second World War and after that deported, but also people who analyze the German community and the changes in time. Their testimonies can be considered historical sources and also points of view on the events lived and told about because after decades the events are viewed within other experiences receiving new meanings. The refreshing process is integrated to a social framework due to numerous political coercions local Germans were confronted with but also implies the process of almost living again the event as well as justifies, understandings and interpreting.
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The present article focuses on the study and analysis of the rank relations which were established between the Russian soldiers during the Afghanistan war, reflected from both a vertical and a horizontal perspective. The inter human relations between the Russian militaries were established in a tense context and they were enhanced by a series of traditions, regulations as well as by an inherent metamorphosis induced in a new social and cultural environment, and a lifestyle that was most of the times brought about at the very brink of infamy, of the multi national mixture and of the psychological profile of the soviet militaries. The young recruits perceived their military superiors as a leaning point, an idealized image shifted towards a patriarchal one. In spite of this fact, the exhibition of hierarchy was at the same time not ruled out, a fact that is noticeable if one observes the background of divergences which sometimes led to tragic consequences. The hardest mechanism of communication between the soviet militaries was generated by the institution known as Dedovscina (familiar among both soldiers and officers), which instituted an informal, hierarchical structure, which was based on consuetude and presented a specific terminology. At times it was employed more intensively in Afghanistan than in the USSR. Unlike the Dedovscina established in the USSR, the one encountered in Afghanistan was even more excessive due to the war circumstances. Dedovşcina was an embodiment of an unrealistic dimension and it inflicted a system of intense physical and moral sufferings. Moreover, the arbitrary pattern of the relations which were established outside regulations led to suicides and the desertions from the garrisons. But the most extreme form of human degradation and proscription was outlined by the group of subsidiary soldiers.
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The communist regime’s sustained offensive, meant to obtain a total control of the Romanian State and society led to responses. At the end of the 1940s, numerous anticommunist armed resistance groups appeared; one of the most important areas where this phenomenon manifested itself was the Apuseni Mountains. Among the most important organizations of this region there was „Frontul Apărării Naţionale. Corpul de Haiduci” (National Defence Front. Outlaws’ Body), under the direction of Major Nicolae Dabija and engineer Traian Macovei. The organization was founded in 1948, the action area being situated on the Eastern flank of the Apuseni Mountains, in Muntele Mare, near the communes of Bistra and Câmpeni. In the autumn of 1948, a group settled in Muntele Mare, where they built a fortified shelter (a „blockhouse”). At the same time, in the localities down the mountains, supporting groups were made up (for instance „Liga Apuseană a Moţilor”/Moţi’s Western League) and a genuine network providing information about the authorities’ actions. Major Nicolae Dabija was the constructor of one of the most ambitious plans that the Resistance in Romania had made, comparing with Colonel Ion Uţă’s one, the leader of a Resistance group in the region of Banat. The goal was to start an insurrection in 1949, when the war between the Soviets and the Americans was expected to begin; the armed actions were then meant to occupy the State institutions, the armament and ammunition deposits, as well as the strategic points (the defiles of Mureş, Someş, Olt, Prahova and Dorna). The group created and spread anticommunist handbills, for the population’s mobilization. Furthermore, it made up an information network in Bucharest and tried from there to establish connections with the western diplomatic milieus. All these underlined the existence of a strategic, not only a tactic, vision, although the external factor was probably too much relied on. Well informed about the activity of the „National Defence Front. Outlaws’ Body”, the authorities started, at the beginning of March 1949, an ample action against the group. In the fight taking place in Muntele Mare were killed or caught several partisans. At the same time, members and people who had supported the group, from the localities around or from Bucharest, were arrested. A trial taking place in October 1949 at Sibiu had as a result the sentence to death of several members of the group in the mountains, including Major Dabija, as well as numerous and hard imprisonment decisions. Securitate did not execute only the ones who had received the capital punishment, but also many of those sentenced to prison, in which case we can speak of real assassinations. The same thing happened to some of the partisans caught in the mountains, or to their supporters, who were executed on the spot, without mention of a trial...
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The present paper attempts to re-enact the nationalization process which occurred in the villages of Damieni and Calugareni, situated on the bank of the Upper Niraj, settlements which were administratively integrated in the last phase of transformations in the Targu Mures rayon, in the Mures Autonomous Hungarian Region. The conducted research focuses on two main topics: the consequences of the communist legislation, its impact on the investigated settlements and the evolution of the socialist agricultural structures in consonance with the Stalinist pattern. The legislation of the quotas and the suppression under any form of those considered to be „chiaburi” (wealthy people), led to a certain flexibility on behalf of the townsmen, who would first join associations (a mass phenomena at Damieni) throughout the year 1960, until the Collective Agricultural Household was established by the end of 1962 in both settlements and encompassed them both almost entirely. The merger of the „30th December” collective agricultural household from Damieni and that of „Lenin’s Way” in Calugareni, in August 1962, represented the first phase of this process and did not bring about any major changes. To investigate the facts we resorted to an innovative material from the National Romanian Archives, the Mures branch, as well as to a less conventional source of oral history, the testimonies, completing 18 interviews with the persons that were directly involved in the analyzed process. The present study represents to a certain extent a history of the nameless, which means to round out in detail the conventional official history.
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