252-451: Ramuri ("Twigs" or "Branches") is a Romanian literary magazine put out from Craiova , the regional center of Oltenia region. Its first edition appeared from December 1905, and was closely tied to Nicolae Iorga 's Sămănătorul , published in Bucharest ; both magazines stood out as voices of traditionalism and Romanian nationalism , reacting against the more cosmopolitan currents in what
504-524: A parastas service was held for both of them at the Bucharest White Church . The magazine was revived as a monthly publication appearing at Craiova from August 1964. That date was selected to coincide with the 20th Liberation from Fascist Occupation Day —marked as a national holiday in the Romanian People's Republic . The issue opened with an account by Arghezi, describing his feelings about
756-1087: A Marxist and a Symbolist, notes that, by 1915, Farago was the central figure in Craiova's cultural life, with a salon that grouped himself, "nationalists such as those from Ramuri ", and the Conservative Vasile Sandulian. Făgețel was reportedly resisting offers made by the Conservative-Democratic Party , which was offering to pay him for running its rival newspaper. Poetry held an important place in Ramuri ; contributors included Octavian Goga ("Revedere", "A fost odată"), George Topîrceanu , Ștefan Octavian Iosif , Nicolae Davidescu , Farago, Eugen Constant , Marcel Romanescu , Vulovici, Al. Iacobescu, Al. C. Calotescu-Neicu , N. Milcu, Ștefan Bălcești, I. C. Popescu-Polyclet, Victor Eftimiu , Ecaterina Pitiș [ ro ] , George Tutoveanu , I. M. Marinescu, Maria Nicolau, and Dem. Bassarabescu. In 1909,
1008-493: A high-income economy , recognized as a middle power in international affairs . It hosts several UNESCO World Heritage Sites and is a growing tourist attraction, receiving 13 million foreign visitors in 2023 . Its economy ranks among the fastest growing in the European Union, primarily driven by the service sector . Romania is a net exporter of cars and electric energy worldwide, and its citizens benefit from some of
1260-761: A "great many hours" of broadcast time were devoted to the dissemination of life-saving news and information following the disaster. Broadcast topics included "precautions for exposure to radioactive fallout" and reporting on the plight of the Estonians who were tasked with providing the clean-up operations in Ukraine. Communist governments also sent agents to infiltrate RFE's headquarters. Although some remained on staff for extended periods of time, government authorities discouraged their agents from interfering with broadcast activity, fearing that this could arouse suspicions and detract from their original purpose of gathering information on
1512-695: A "likable aesthetic format", adding: "except for these past years". That year, the Ramuri Foundation, as editor of the magazine, qualified for state financing by the National Cultural Fund, to the amount of 4,550 lei . It also still obtained contributions from writers such as the Bucharest-based Horia Gârbea , who had been assigned a permanent column in 2008. Romania – in Europe (green & dark grey) – in
1764-507: A 1521 letter known as the " Letter of Neacșu from Câmpulung ", is notable for including the first documented occurrence of Romanian in a country name: Wallachia is mentioned as Țara Rumânească . Human remains found in Peștera cu Oase ("Cave with Bones"), radiocarbon date from circa 40,000 years ago, and represent the oldest known Homo sapiens in Europe. Neolithic agriculture spread after
2016-591: A European-based organization. According to Puddington, Polish Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa and Russian reformer Grigory Yavlinsky would later recall secretly listening to the broadcasts despite the heavy jamming. The Soviet government turned its efforts towards blocking reception of Western programs. To limit access to foreign broadcasts, the Central Committee decreed that factories should remove all components allowing short-wave reception from USSR -made radio receivers. However, consumers easily learned that
2268-564: A ban on all foreign media in the country, including RFE/RL. Kyrgyzstan suspended broadcasts of Radio Azattyk, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz language service, because it had asked that the government be able to pre-approve its programming. Other states such as Belarus , Iran , Turkmenistan , Tajikistan , and Uzbekistan prohibit re-broadcasting to local stations, making programming difficult for average listeners to access. In 1998, RFE/RL began broadcasting to Iraq . Iraqi president Saddam Hussein ordered Iraqi Intelligence Service , to "violently disrupt
2520-459: A base at Platja de Pals , Spain . Radio Liberty expanded its audience by broadcasting programs in languages other than Russian. By March 1954, Radio Liberty was broadcasting six to seven hours daily in eleven languages. By December 1954, Radio Liberty was broadcasting in 17 languages including Ukrainian , Belarusian , Kazakh , Kyrgyz , Tajik , Turkmen , Uzbek , Tatar , Bashkir , Armenian , Azerbaijani , Georgian , and other languages of
2772-645: A building designed largely by architect Constantin Iotzu (with additional decorative work by Iorga and Francisc Trybalski). The magazine itself reappeared as a literary weekly in 1915–1916; for most of that interval (24 January 1915 to 15 July 1917), it was merged with Iorga's Drum Drept . During this stage of its existence, it became mocked by the post-Symbolist poet and journalist Ion Vinea , who took Ramuri and Sămănătorul as icons of incompetence. As Vinea put it, his and Aderca's new poetry could not by understood by such critics, since "they're so uncultured that they think
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#17328528050533024-722: A category that comprises Bănescu, Făgețel and Tomescu, as well as Nicolau, Vulovici, Eugeniu Revent, Lucreția Stergeanu, M. Străjan and Const. S. Stoenescu (but not the more competent Farago). The more viable works, including those by Goga, Sadoveanu, Topîrceanu, I. A. Bassarabescu , Aron Cotruș , I. Dragoslav and George Ranetti , were only obtained with great effort on Făgețel's part. Numerous translations also appeared, sampling works by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Friedrich Schiller , Dante Alighieri , Giovanni Boccaccio , Giacomo Leopardi , Rabindranath Tagore , Alexander Pushkin , Mikhail Lermontov , Ivan Krylov , Henryk Sienkiewicz , Anton Chekhov , Rainer Maria Rilke , Paul Valéry , and
3276-641: A collaboration with Radio Free Europe, through both Lovinescu and Virgil Ierunca , praising them at Ramuri , and reportedly informing them that he was "no longer afraid". While visiting the RFE's studio in Paris , he also met the exile Paul Goma , who remained his staunch critic; as a sign of reconciliation, Sorescu invited Goma to write for his magazine. He himself remained at Ramuri only until February 1991, when he came into conflict with his colleagues, who voted to have him sacked. In their justification, which earned support from
3528-661: A contributor to Ramuri before setting up the rival regionalist publication, Năzuința Românească , argued in Gândirea that Făgețel and Tomescu's enterprise was dying. After most professional writers have "escaped from under Iorga", the remaining contributors were of an inferior quality: "[they] will drink, eat, breathe just like you and me, but when it comes to writing poetry, they do so with their feet". Ramuri engaged in polemics with Lovinescu, Mihail Dragomirescu , Ovid Densusianu and certain modernist factions (for instance: "Intelectualizarea", "Impertinență sau aiurea", by Tomescu), on
3780-523: A cordial rapport with other magazines put out by Iorga's disciples—in January 1906, it gave extremely positive coverage to A. C. Cuza 's aesthetic guidelines, as published by Făt Frumos of Bârlad . As noted by Ornea, Sămănătorism required not just a rejection of art for art's sake , but also a near-complete denial of aesthetics. With an article he published in mid-1907, Tomescu elaborated on this, arguing that only didactic art in support of nationalism and
4032-536: A curb on cultural liberalization. After a short interlude in 1976–1978, Ramuri was taken over by poet Marin Sorescu , who changed the editorial line to accommodate modernist literature. Despite Sorescu's own flirtations with, and concessions to, national-communist dogmas , the magazine openly engaged in increasingly bitter debates with established national-communists, such as Eugen Barbu and Corneliu Vadim Tudor ; it featured contributions by former political prisoners of
4284-565: A dissident poet engaged with the anti-Stalinist left , was tasked with answering letters to the editor. As one who reviewed aspiring authors, he was eventually allowed in April 1966 to publish Ramuri ' s literary supplement, Povestea Vorbei ("The Story of the Word"), which he turned from a provincial-level publication into a nationally-famous institution for debuting young writers. A group of Onirist authors, previously indexed by communist censorship ,
4536-491: A failed attempt by a Czechoslovak Intelligence Service (StB) agent in 1959 to poison the salt shakers in the organization's cafeteria. In late 1960, an upheaval in the Czechoslovak service led to a number of dramatic changes in the organization's structure. RFE's New York headquarters could no longer effectively manage their Munich subsidiary. As a result major management responsibilities were transferred to Munich, making RFE
4788-662: A fragmentary novel. It also delved deeper in history with its recovery efforts: also in 1968, it became the first publication to host Eminescu's fragmentary translations from Immanuel Kant 's Critique of Pure Reason . During Purcaru's tenure, Ramuri launched a debate about the "crisis of [Romanian] prose" and pioneered the reportage genre, with contributions made by Purcaru himself—and also by other writers, including Anghel, Adrian Păunescu , Mihai Pelin , Mihai Caranfil, and Ștefan Tunsoiu. In June 1967, Purcaru had been interviewed by Scînteia Tineretului newspaper regarding his expectations from this type of writings. He commented that
5040-478: A habit of vetoing the entire staff, "chang[ing] the entire content" as he saw fit, and based on personal animosities—against Gheorghe Grigurcu and Emil Cioran , and against any political content. Sorescu responded in Adevărul daily, suggesting that the Ramuri staff resented his a-political line (including his refusal to publish current-affairs commentary), but also agreeing to hand in his resignation. He ridiculed
5292-667: A leader of the opposition to Antonescu, entered into secret negotiations with British diplomats who made it clear that Romania had to seek reconciliation with the Soviet Union. To facilitate the coordination of their activities against Antonescu's regime, the National Liberal and National Peasants' parties established the National Democratic Bloc, which also included the Social Democratic and Communist parties. After
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#17328528050535544-850: A leading focus of the magazine throughout the following decades, when Ramuri hosted articles by seniors such as Cioculescu, Dima, Marino, Ion Biberi , Ovid Crohmălniceanu , Mihai Novicov and Vladimir Streinu , but also new-generation critics of every background and orientation— Mircea Iorgulescu (who made his debut here), Vartan Arachelian , Dan Culcer , Dinu Flămând , Gheorghe Grigurcu , Nicolae Manolescu , Romul Munteanu , Eugen Negrici , Eugen Simion , Mihai Ungheanu , Cornel Ungureanu , and Dan Zamfirescu . With less regularity, Ramuri hosted contributions to art, film, theatrical and music criticism, with authors such as Săraru, Petru Comarnescu , Lucian Pintilie , Valentin Silvestru , Ion Dezideriu Sîrbu , and Anatol Vieru . Piru's tenure coincided with
5796-475: A letter he addressed to Sorescu: "Someone apparently jumped in to defend that inveterate intriguer". In late 1987, Ramuri ' s almanac edition also doubled as a Festschrift marking Eliade's recovery. Put out by Mircea Handoca, it featured a contribution by Steinhardt, who had been Eliade's personal friend. That year, the Securitate intervened to prevent Ramuri from publishing two articles about Noica, who
6048-719: A literary and an arts column, sections of poetry, prose, translations, commentaries ("Notes"), folklore, articles on aesthetics, art theory, philosophy, psychology, morals, history, geography, ethnography, as well as letters, memories, commemorations and obituaries. Among the artists who illustrated the pages were Francisc Șirato , Mircea Olarian, Costin Oper, Nadia Bulighin, I. Nițescu, Sever Burada [ ro ] , O. Rădulescu, and G. Billek. Ramuri created its own publishing house and printing office informally in 1911, when it put out works by Mihail Sorbul , and more formally in 1915. In 1921, it opened its own " Ramuri Palace" in Craiova, in
6300-521: A long list of projects to counter the "Communist appeal" among intellectuals in Europe and the developing world. RFE was developed out of a belief that the Cold War would eventually be fought by political rather than military means. American policymakers such as George Kennan and John Foster Dulles acknowledged that the Cold War was essentially a war of ideas . The implementation of surrogate radio stations
6552-514: A major decline in the output of literary prose, with Agârbiceanu as the only genuine writer still featured in that issue. In later years, this sector was represented by debuting authors, such as Cezar Petrescu ("Învierea căpitanului Lazăr", "Omul din vis"), Gib Mihăescu ("Scuarul"), and Victor Papilian [ ro ] ("P. N. V.", "Popa ăl bătrân"). Shortly after, Ramuri had regained its independence; Iorga served as its director continuously from 1923 to 1927, with Drum Drept still used as
6804-511: A mild regionalist focus. The publishing venue had also employed Sîrbu, who was a known dissident and a former political prisoner. Reportedly, the Transylvanian Sîrbu, who deeply resented Craiova as his place of exile in the Balkans , also had an ongoing rivalry with Firan; he only enjoyed the company of G. T. Pop (who was himself of Transylvanian origin). Sîrbu's exact relationship with Sorescu
7056-723: A nation of "Very High Human Development". Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty ( RFE/RL ) is an American government -funded media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe , Central Asia , the Caucasus , and the Middle East . Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL operates 21 local bureaus with over 500 core staff, 1,300 freelancers, and 680 employees at its corporate offices in Washington, D.C. Nicola Careem serves as
7308-502: A network of well-connected émigrés and interviews with travelers and defectors. RFE did not use paid agents inside the Iron Curtain and based its bureaus in regions popular with exiles. RFE also extensively monitored Communist bloc publications and radio services, creating a body of information that would later serve as a resource for organizations across the world. In addition to its regular broadcasts, RFE spread broadcasts through
7560-495: A new state under Ottoman suzerainty, the Principality of Transylvania . Reformation spread and four denominations— Calvinism , Lutheranism , Unitarianism , and Roman Catholicism—were officially acknowledged in 1568. The Romanians' Orthodox faith remained only tolerated, although they made up more than one-third of the population, according to 17th-century estimations. The princes of Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia joined
7812-502: A noticeable decline in the quality of its print. Shortly after, Carol Sebestyen, the columnist at Orizont , described Ramuri as heavily politicized, with current-issue articles of "questionable taste". Despite his resignation, in September 1992 Sorescu was identified as Ramuri editor by Fernand Jué company of Villers-sous-Saint-Leu , France, which sent the magazine a rotary printing press . According to Chifu's critics, this potential
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8064-621: A number of central security concerns, including cyberterrorist attacks and general terrorist threats. After the September 11 attacks , American and Czech authorities agreed to move RFE/RL's Prague headquarters away from the city center in order to make it less vulnerable to terrorist attack. On February 19, 2009, RFE/RL began broadcasting from its new headquarters east of the city center. RFE/RL says that it continues to struggle with authoritarian regimes for permission to broadcast freely within their countries. On January 1, 2009, Azerbaijan imposed
8316-468: A number of changes, and earned him the respect of other cultural figures. According to a September note by poet Nicolae Prelipceanu [ ro ] , his arrival was a qualitative boost for Ramuri —introducing the public to new talents, such as Dorin Tudoran and Ion Cocora . During Sorescu's period as editor, with Diaconescu kept on as the second editor, Ramuri was primarily a poetry magazine, and had
8568-583: A permanent bureau in Moscow. Following the November 17 demonstrations in 1989 and brutal crackdown by Czechoslovak riot police, Drahomíra Dražská [ cs ] , a porter at a dormitory in Prague, reported that a student, Martin Šmíd , had been killed during the clashes. The Charter 77 activist Petr Uhl believed this account and passed it along to major news organizations, who broadcast it. After Reuters and
8820-457: A policy of total reimbursement of the foreign debt by imposing austerity steps that impoverished the population and exhausted the economy. The process succeeded in repaying all of Romania's foreign government debt in 1989. At the same time, Ceaușescu greatly extended the authority of the Securitate secret police and imposed a severe cult of personality , which led to a dramatic decrease in the dictator's popularity and culminated in his overthrow in
9072-498: A political column, Ioan advised it to renounce covering literature altogether (though he also mentioned the presence of a "vigorous young talent", Val Mugur). Early on, the eponymous publishing house worked on reissuing various of Iorga's early works as a poet, translator, historian and culture critic. He gave them approval, but later stated his disappointment, noting that Ramuri had taken "disagreeable" editorial decisions, such as putting out Istoria românilor în chipuri și icoane as
9324-546: A political crisis in 2012. Near the end of 2013, The Economist reported Romania again enjoying "booming" economic growth at 4.1% that year, with wages rising fast and a lower unemployment than in Britain. Economic growth accelerated in the midst of government liberalisation in opening up new sectors to competition and investment—most notably, energy and telecoms. In 2016, the Human Development Index ranked Romania as
9576-615: A population of 19 million people (2023). Romania is the twelfth-largest country in Europe and the sixth-most populous member state of the European Union . Europe's second-longest river, the Danube , empties into the Danube Delta in the southeast of the country. The Carpathian Mountains cross Romania from the north to the southwest and include Moldoveanu Peak , at an altitude of 2,544 m (8,346 ft). Romania's capital and largest city
9828-754: A positive review by Lovinescu at Radio Free Europe. The controversy also divided the former writing and editorial staff, with Purcaru standing out as a supporter of Barbu, and interviewing him in October 1982. During their exchange, Purcaru alleged that Ion Caraion , who had since defected to the West and was emerging as a critic of the regime, had always been a spy for outside forces—including at Ramuri . Ramuri persisted in its attempts to celebrate Eliade, and prepared an issue marking his anniversary, fully printed before in April 1982. All copies had to be melted down, allegedly on Ceaușescu's orders, upon Eliade's publicized siding with
10080-607: A principle was enacted, but women could not vote or be candidates. Calypso Botez established the National Council of Romanian Women to promote feminist ideas. Romania was a multiethnic country, with ethnic minorities making up about 30% of the population, but the new constitution declared it a unitary national state in 1923. Although minorities could establish their own schools, Romanian language, history and geography could only be taught in Romanian. Agriculture remained
10332-466: A publicity trip to more than 20 U.S. cities and contributed $ 1,317,000 to the expansion of RFE. Writer Sig Mickelson said that the NCFE's mission was to support refugees and provide them with a useful outlet for their opinions and creativity while increasing exposure to the modern world. The NCFE divided its program into three parts: exile relations, radio , and American contacts. The United States funded
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10584-575: A publishing venture, Ramuri was active throughout the 1930s, with Alexandru Busuioceanu launching his Apollo Collection, comprising livres d'art mostly dedicated to the classics of Romanian painting and sculpture. In a 1931 piece, former Ramuri editor Crainic commended Busuioceanu's effort, while noting that the enterprise could not supply "the precision and graphic panache that such a collection would require." From 1936, Făgețel curated an "Oltenian Writers' Collection", which issued works by (among others) Calotescu-Neicu, Dima, and Ion Biberi . In 1938,
10836-487: A push-back against the national-communist supremacy in arts and letters. Sorescu's friend and collaborator, Tudor Nedelcea, recalls that Ramuri was supposed to feature revelations about Barbu's habitual plagiarism, but that the Communist Party delayed its imprimatur for this piece, giving Barbu forewarning, and ample time to prepare his response. According to other accounts, including one by diarist Mircea Zaciu , Sorescu
11088-719: A regular tribute to the Ottoman sultans from 1417 and 1456, respectively. A military commander of Romanian origin, John Hunyadi , organised the defence of the Kingdom of Hungary until his death in 1456. Increasing taxes outraged the Transylvanian peasants, and they rose up in an open rebellion in 1437, but the Hungarian nobles and the heads of the Saxon and Székely communities jointly suppressed their revolt. The formal alliance of
11340-594: A result of Hungarian oppression in the region. In April 1990, a sit-in protest contesting the results of that year's legislative elections and accusing the FSN, including Iliescu, of being made up of former Communists and members of the Securitate grew rapidly to become what was called the Golaniad . Peaceful demonstrations degenerated into violence, prompting the intervention of coal miners summoned by Iliescu. This episode has been documented widely by both local and foreign media, and
11592-591: A retrospective on Ionescu, who had been his own intellectual master. Eliade feared that "such 'excesses' might be used by the Stalinists (or whatever they're called) to turn the screws back on them." In April, as leader of the Communist-Party cell in Craiova, Ștefan Voitec both praised and chided Ramuri : the magazine had a "luminous tradition", but had allowed itself to publish promote a "distorted image of [Ionescu], glossing over his reactionary ideas." A case file in
11844-646: A series of operations that distributed leaflets via meteorological balloons ; one such operation, Prospero, sent messages to Czechoslovakia. From October 1951 to November 1956, the skies of Central Europe were filled with more than 350,000 balloons carrying over 300 million leaflets, posters, books, and other printed matter. The nature of the leaflets varied, and according to Arch Puddington included messages of support and encouragement "to citizens suffering under communist oppression", "satirical criticisms of communist regimes and leaders", information about dissident movements and human rights campaigns, and messages expressing
12096-522: A significant improvement in living standards as the country successfully reduced domestic poverty and established a functional democratic state. However, Romania's development suffered a major setback during the late 2000s' recession leading to a large gross domestic product contraction and a budget deficit in 2009. This led to Romania borrowing from the International Monetary Fund. Worsening economic conditions led to unrest and triggered
12348-439: A single, virtually unreadable, volume. Iorga was also disappointed by the graphic quality of his Roumanie Pittoresque (1925), and also by Făgețel's incompetence in promoting his monograph on the Balkans . In mid-1929, Făgețel declared his frustration that Iorga's account of life during World War I had only sold 2,500 copies, and that Ramuri ' s best-selling author was Dongorozi (who sold more copies than Cezar Petrescu ). As
12600-479: A steep decline even after the 1933 revival—as reported in June 1935 by the cultural journalist Mihail Sebastian . Offering his musings on the "decomposition of our provincial cities", Sebastian noted: "The magazine Ramuri , good or bad as it may have been, no longer appears, or, if does still appear, is no longer visible." In 1937, Dumitru Mercaș reviewed another issue (with articles by Dima, Struțeanu, and Păunescu-Ulmu) for
12852-519: A subtitle throughout those years (to April 1927). Folklore played an important part in this edition; its collectors included Constantin Rădulescu-Codin [ ro ] , D. Lungulescu and Traian Păunescu-Ulmu. Scholarly studies on the subject were signed by Alexandru Dima [ ro ] , Scarlat Struțeanu, Ovidiu Papadima , Dumitru Caracostea , and Al. Popescu-Telega. In 1925, Iorga allowed Nicolăescu-Plopșor to publish in Ramuri one of
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#173285280505313104-466: A successful Soviet offensive, the young King Michael I ordered Antonescu's arrest and appointed politicians from the National Democratic Bloc to form a new government on 23 August 1944. Romania switched sides during the war, and nearly 250,000 Romanian troops joined the Red Army's military campaign against Hungary and Germany, but Joseph Stalin regarded the country as an occupied territory within
13356-495: A transmitter base at Glória , Portugal in 1951. It also had a base at Oberwiesenfeld Airport on the outskirts of Munich, employing several former Nazi agents who had been involved in the Ostministerium under Gerhard von Mende during World War II. In 1955, Radio Liberty began broadcasting programs to Russia's eastern provinces from shortwave transmitters located on Taiwan . In 1959, Radio Liberty commenced broadcasts from
13608-580: Is Bucharest . Other major urban centers include Cluj-Napoca , Timișoara , Iași , Constanța and Brașov . Settlement in the territory of modern Romania began in the Lower Paleolithic , later becoming the kingdom of Dacia before Roman conquest and Romanisation . The modern Romanian state emerged in 1859 through the union of Moldavia and Wallachia and gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877. During World War I , Romania joined
13860-628: Is a private 501(c)(3) corporation supervised by the U.S. Agency for Global Media , which oversees all government-supported international broadcasting. Since the Revolutions of 1989 and the Soviet Union's dissolution , the organization's European presence has been reduced. Radio Free Europe was created and grew in its early years through the efforts of the National Committee for a Free Europe (NCFE), an anti-communist CIA front organization that
14112-698: Is remembered as the June 1990 Mineriad . The subsequent disintegration of the Front produced several political parties, including most notably the Social Democratic Party (PDSR then PSD) and the Democratic Party (PD and subsequently PDL). The former governed Romania from 1990 until 1996 through several coalitions and governments, with Ion Iliescu as head of state. Since then, there have been several other democratic changes of government: in 1996 Emil Constantinescu
14364-570: Is still debated. In 1958, the Central Committee mentioned that the sum spent on jamming was greater than the sum spent on domestic and international broadcasting combined. The Central Committee has admitted that circumventing jamming was both possible and practised in the Soviet Union. Due to limited resources, authorities prioritized jamming based on the location, language, time, and theme of Western transmissions. Highly political programs in Russian, broadcast at prime time to urban centers, were perceived as
14616-660: Is strong as a poet, but a scatographer in his prose". Făgețel's magazine put out a bibliophile edition, also in 1929, and took a gold medal for design at the Barcelona International Exposition , but was no longer in print in 1930–1933. Craiova's Ramuri hall was by then a venue for public debates, airing a large array of grievances and projects. Around 1930, Cruceanu, who had joined the clandestine Romanian Communist Party , appeared there to lecture on monopolies and cartels . This topic allowed him to flaunt conventions by citing Vladimir Lenin 's Imperialism,
14868-440: Is the topic of dispute: some witnesses argue that they were friends, though Sîrbu denied this in his diaries. Also according to Sîrbu: "When I come up to visit Ramuri ' s offices (which I only do at solstice), they all stop talking and turn pale: they all act as if one of them—who exactly, I couldn't tell you—has just been castrated on the spot, without anesthesia, but they're not to talk about it." Overall, Sîrbu's presence made
15120-602: Is well documented from the end of the 11th century. Scholars who reject the Daco-Roman continuity theory say that the first Vlach groups left their Balkan homeland for the mountain pastures of the eastern and southern Carpathians in the 11th century, establishing the Romanians' presence in the lands to the north of the Lower Danube. Exposed to nomadic incursions, Transylvania developed into an important border province of
15372-551: The 2008 summit in Bucharest. The country applied in June 1993 for membership in the European Union and became an Associated State of the EU in 1995, an Acceding Country in 2004, and a full member on 1 January 2007. During the 2000s, Romania had one of the highest economic growth rates in Europe and has been referred at times as "the Tiger of Eastern Europe". This has been accompanied by
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#173285280505315624-781: The Arab countries and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) allowed Romania to play a key role in the Israel– Egypt and Israel–PLO peace talks. As Romania's foreign debt increased sharply between 1977 and 1981 (from US$ 3 billion to $ 10 billion), the influence of international financial organisations—such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank —grew, gradually conflicting with Ceaușescu's autocratic rule. He eventually initiated
15876-626: The Christian right —his defense of the Romanian Orthodox Church as a source of Romanian identity having never been explicit in Sămănătorism . Tomescu voiced his support for Sămănătorist ideology, especially against Crainic's admiration of fascism; he argued that Iorga had already stated "all the elements of the nationalist doctrine", accusing Crainic, who quoted from Nikolai Berdyaev , of being an undisclosed Slavophile . Ramuri had entered
16128-528: The Czech Republic proceeded for three more years under the agreement with Czech Radio. In 2004 RFE/RL stopped broadcasting to Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania , Slovakia , Croatia , Montenegro , Bulgaria , and Romania . RFE/RL Chief Jeffrey Gedmin said in 2008 that the agency's mission is to serve as a surrogate free press in countries where such press is banned by the government or not fully established. It maintains 20 local bureaus. Governments that are subjected to critical reporting often attempt to obstruct
16380-417: The Danubian Principalities ) in 1774. Taking advantage of the Greek War of Independence , a Wallachian lesser nobleman, Tudor Vladimirescu, stirred up a revolt against the Ottomans in January 1821, but he was murdered in June by Phanariot Greeks. After a new Russo-Turkish War , the Treaty of Adrianople strengthened the autonomy of the Danubian Principalities in 1829, although it also acknowledged
16632-402: The European Union (green) Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Eastern and Southeast Europe . It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to the east, and the Black Sea to the southeast. It has a mainly continental climate , and an area of 238,397 km (92,046 sq mi) with
16884-406: The Holy League against the Ottoman Empire in 1594. The Wallachian prince, Michael the Brave , united the three principalities under his rule in May 1600. The neighboring powers forced him to abdicate in September, but he became a symbol of the unification of the Romanian lands in the 19th century. Although the rulers of the three principalities continued to pay tribute to the Ottomans,
17136-442: The Hungarian revolution that year. During the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 , RFE broadcasts encouraged rebels to fight and suggested that Western support was imminent. These RFE broadcasts violated Eisenhower 's policy, which had determined that the United States would not provide military support for the Revolution. According to Arch Puddington, a former bureau manager for RFL/RL, a number of changes were implemented at RFE in
17388-425: The July Theses , whereby Ceaușescu reissued social commands in the field of culture—and, as such, selectively introduced neo-Stalinism . According to Lovinescu, Piru originally resisted the trend, criticizing Nicolae Breban and Alexandru Ivasiuc for supporting "socialized literature", but by May 1972 reappeared in public with a "firebrand defense of censorship". Throughout those years, the editorial work at Ramuri
17640-402: The Kingdom of Hungary . The Székelys—a community of free warriors—settled in central Transylvania around 1100 and moved to the easternmost regions around 1200. Colonists from the Holy Roman Empire —the Transylvanian Saxons ' ancestors—came to the province in the 1150s. A high-ranking royal official, styled voivode , ruled the Transylvanian counties from the 1170s, but
17892-423: The Republic of Genoa started establishing colonies on the Black Sea, including Calafat , and Constanța . The Mongols destroyed large territories during their invasion of Eastern and Central Europe in 1241 and 1242. The Mongols' Golden Horde emerged as the dominant power of Eastern Europe, but Béla IV of Hungary's land grant to the Knights Hospitallers in Oltenia and Muntenia shows that
18144-648: The Romanian Symbolist movement , described by Tomescu as cosmopolitans with the "blurry eyes of sickly souls". This notion was also carried in a poem by "Chesefe and Nevepe", which borrowed the characteristic prosody of Symbolist Ion Minulescu to poke fun at the Macedonskians: Iată-l pe maestrul Macedonschy Cu ceata lui de nespălați, Lugubru azi cum se ridică Din lumile celor uitați. —Sărmane Trubadur — fosilă, Cum moare glasu-ți de sybilă! Gaze thou upon their Macedonski maven As he lifts up
18396-467: The Socialist Party , who had been arrested during a workers' strike. Ramuri ' s first issue for 1922 credited Iorga as director, again mentioning that the magazine had merged with Drum Drept into a weekly publication. In that format, the editorial board included Agârbiceanu, Făgețel, Iacobescu, Tomescu, Gheorghe Bogdan-Duică , Nichifor Crainic , and I. U. Soricu . In this twinned incarnation,
18648-724: The Stolojan Cabinet for having massively reduced public expenditure, including for state-dependent cultural venues. The magazine reappeared in 1993, when economic policy was being steered by the Văcăroiu Cabinet . Chifu stayed on as editor-in-chief, but some of his attributions were supplanted by an "honorary editorial board", whose members were authors Dinescu, Ștefan Augustin Doinaș , Mircea Iorgulescu , Eugen Negrici , and Virgil Nemoianu . In April 1995, România Literară looked back on Ramuri ' s 90-year existence as "exemplary for
18900-545: The Sămănătorist legacy. As noted by art historian Dan Grigorescu , Iorga steered clear of polemics with Crainic. He "distinguished between Crainic's own poetry (which he treasured) and Expressionist poetry." Iorga's effort was backed by Ion Sân-Giorgiu , who in his 1923 articles for Ramuri was describing the Expressionists (whose ranks he would later join) as "obsessed" with metaphors. In 1926, N. I. Herescu , who had been
19152-595: The Tripartite Pact of Germany, Italy and Japan on 23 November. The Iron Guard staged a coup against Antonescu, but he crushed the riot with German support and introduced a military dictatorship in early 1941. Romania entered World War II soon after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. The country regained Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, and the Germans placed Transnistria (the territory between
19404-507: The U.S. Secretary of State . The end to jamming came abruptly on 21 November 1988 when Soviet and Eastern European jamming of virtually all foreign broadcasts, including RFE/RL services, ceased at 21:00 CET . During the Cold War, RFE was often criticized in the United States as not being sufficiently anti-communist. Although its non-governmental status spared it from full scale McCarthyist investigations, several RFE journalists, including
19656-528: The Vietnam War from North Vietnam . At the beginning of the post-Paraschivescu decade, in February 1967, Ramuri was the center of a cultural circle involving Pandrea, Georgescu Paleolog, and Nicolăescu-Plopșor; their activities focused on recovering contributions by other old-regime figures, including Brâncuși and novelist Gib Mihăescu . Ramuri ' s enduring interest in reconnecting with old-regime literature
19908-573: The Voice of America (VOA) launched a new Russian-language TV news program, Current Time , "to provide audiences in countries bordering Russia with a balanced alternative to the disinformation produced by Russian media outlets that is driving instability in the region ". Over the next two years, Current Time – led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA – expanded to become a 24/7 digital and TV stream for Russian-speaking audiences worldwide. Around 2017, Voice of America and RFE/RL launched Polygraph.info , and
20160-526: The Voice of America (VOA) reported the story, RFE/RL decided to run it too. However, the report later turned out to be false. The story is credited by many sources with inspiring Czechoslovak citizens to join the subsequent (larger) demonstrations which eventually brought down the communist government. In 1995, RFE/RL moved its headquarters from Munich to Prague, to the building of the Czechoslovak Federal Assembly . It had been vacant since
20412-711: The fastest internet speeds globally . Romania is a member of several international organizations , including the European Union , NATO , and the BSEC . "Romania" derives from the local name for Romanian ( Romanian : român ), which in turn derives from Latin romanus , meaning " Roman " or "of Rome ". This ethnonym for Romanians is first attested in the 16th century by Italian humanists travelling in Transylvania , Moldavia , and Wallachia . The oldest known surviving document written in Romanian that can be precisely dated,
20664-473: The final stages of Soviet-style communism , Securitate officers were reviewing allegations that Sorescu had presented the staff of Radio Free Europe with his copy of Nicolae Steinhardt 's samizdat (detailing Steinhardt's experience as a political prisoner of the communists). Steinhardt, by then a monk and librarian at Rohia , was also a contributor to Ramuri —in June 1985, it published his review of Doina Graur's book of religious cosmology . In January 1987,
20916-583: The first constitution of Romania in the same year. The Great Powers acknowledged Romania's full independence at the Congress of Berlin and Carol I was crowned king in 1881. The Congress also granted the Danube Delta and Dobruja to Romania. Although Romanian scholars strove for the unification of all Romanians into a Greater Romania , the government did not openly support their irredentist projects. The Transylvanian Romanians and Saxons wanted to maintain
21168-571: The national flag . In Transylvania, most Romanians supported the imperial government against the Hungarian revolutionaries after the Diet passed a law concerning the union of Transylvania and Hungary. Bishop Andrei Șaguna proposed the unification of the Romanians of the Habsburg Monarchy in a separate duchy, but the central government refused to change the internal borders. The Treaty of Paris put
21420-637: The "social aspect" of literature had any reason for being cultivated in Romania. Overall, Ramuri considered itself "a timid green shoot, sprouted from the vigorous trunk of a literary current that had conquered the entire Romanian soul", as Făgețel wrote. Other articles setting forth a vision include "Rostul și atitudinea noastră" ("Our Purpose and Attitude"; 1908, Tomescu) and "După șase ani de luptă. Literatura în 1911" ("After Six Years of Struggle. Literature in 1911”; 1911, Făgețel). With these, Ramuri mounted an attack against Alexandru Macedonski and his disciples in
21672-401: The 1930s. The democratic parties were squeezed between conflicts with the fascist and anti-Semitic Iron Guard and the authoritarian tendencies of King Carol II . The King promulgated a new constitution and dissolved the political parties in 1938, replacing the parliamentary system with a royal dictatorship. The 1938 Munich Agreement convinced King Carol II that France and
21924-547: The 1960s, direct funding responsibility shifted to Congress. RFE/RL received funds from the CIA until 1972. The CIA's relationship with the radio stations began to break down in 1967, when Ramparts magazine published an exposé claiming that the CIA was channeling funds to civilian organizations. Further investigation into the CIA's funding activities revealed its connection to both RFE and RL, sparking significant media outrage. In 1971,
22176-743: The 1992 dissolution of Czechoslovakia . The Clinton Administration reduced funding significantly and placed the service under the United States Information Agency 's oversight. RFE/RL ended broadcasts to Hungary in 1993 and stopped broadcasts to Poland in 1997. On January 31, 1994, RFE/RL launched broadcasts to the former Yugoslavia in Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian languages. In the late 1990s RFE/RL launched broadcast to Kosovo in Albanian and to North Macedonia in Macedonian. Broadcast to
22428-571: The Allies , and after the war, territories including Transylvania and Bukovina were integrated into Romania. In World War II , Romania initially aligned with the Axis but switched to the Allies in 1944. After the war, Romania became a socialist republic and a member of the Warsaw Pact , transitioning to democracy and a market economy after the 1989 Revolution . Romania is a developing country with
22680-520: The Bulgar elite had already begun in the 9th century. Following the conquest of southern Transylvania around 830, people from the Bulgar Empire mined salt at the local salt mines. The Council of Preslav declared Old Church Slavonic the language of liturgy in the country in 893. The Vlachs also adopted Old Church Slavonic as their liturgical language. The Magyars (or Hungarians) took control of
22932-489: The CIA officer in charge of overseeing broadcast services from 1954 to 1971, the CIA took a position of minimal government interference in radio affairs and programming. In 1974, they came under the control of an organization called the Board for International Broadcasting (BIB). The BIB was designed to receive appropriations from Congress, give them to radio managements, and oversee the appropriation of funds. On 1 October 1976,
23184-549: The Caucasus ), focused on local and international news and current affairs, organized in coordination with RFE/RL's Georgian Service. On January 15, 2010, RFE/RL began broadcasting to the Pashtun tribal areas of Pakistan in Pashto . The service, known as Radio Mashaal ("Torch"), was created in an attempt to counter the growing number of local Islamic extremist radio stations broadcasting in
23436-686: The Caucasus and Central Asia. According to certain European politicians such as Petr Nečas , RFE played a significant role in the collapse of communism and the development of democracy in Eastern Europe. Unlike government-censored programs, RFE publicized anti-Soviet protests and nationalist movements. Its audience increased substantially following the failed Berlin riots of 1953 and the highly publicized defection of Józef Światło . Arch Puddington argues that its Hungarian service's coverage of Poland 's Poznań riots in 1956 served as an inspiration for
23688-622: The Cucuteni–Trypillia culture built the largest settlements in Neolithic Europe , some of which contained as many as three thousand structures and were possibly inhabited by 20,000 to 46,000 people. The first fortified settlements appeared around 1800 BC, showing the militant character of Bronze Age societies. Greek colonies established on the Black Sea coast in the 7th century BC became important centres of commerce with
23940-625: The Danubian Principalities under the collective guardianship of the Great Powers in 1856. After special assemblies convoked in Moldavia and Wallachia urged the unification of the two principalities , the Great Powers did not prevent the election of Alexandru Ioan Cuza as their collective domnitor (or ruling prince) in January 1859. The united principalities officially adopted
24192-634: The European Pontic steppe , occupied the Lower Danube region in 680. After the Avar Khaganate collapsed in the 790s, the First Bulgarian Empire became the dominant power of the region, occupying lands as far as the river Tisa . The First Bulgarian Empire had a mixed population consisting of the Bulgar conquerors, Slavs , and Vlachs (or Romanians) but the Slavicisation of
24444-517: The Highest Stage of Capitalism as a scientific reference. On 7 August 1933, Grigore Filipescu , who favored economic liberalism as a means of tackling the Great Depression , was scheduled to speak at Ramuri ; his intervention was prevented by advocates of debt relief . Through Tomescu, Ramuri documented the rift occurring in 1935 between Iorga and Crainic, as the latter chose to embrace
24696-616: The Hungarian, Saxon, and Székely leaders, known as the Union of the Three Nations , became an important element of the self-government of Transylvania. The Orthodox Romanian knezes ("chiefs") were excluded from the Union. The Kingdom of Hungary collapsed, and the Ottomans occupied parts of Banat and Crișana in 1541. Transylvania and Maramureș , along with the rest of Banat and Crișana developed into
24948-459: The Iraqi broadcasting of Radio Free Europe". IIS planned to attack the headquarters with an RPG-7 from a window across the street. Czech Security Information Service (BIS) foiled the plot. In 2008, Afghan president Hamid Karzai urged his government to provide assistance to a rape victim after listening to her story on Radio Azadi , RFE/RL's Afghan service. According to REF/RL in 2009, Radio Azadi
25200-547: The Jackal"), and paid for by Nicolae Ceaușescu , president of Romania. But, according to the former head of the KGB Counterintelligence Department K, general Oleg Kalugin , the bombing operation was planned over two years by Department K, with the active involvement of a KGB mole inside the radio station, Oleg Tumanov. This revelation directly implicates KGB colonel Oleg Nechiporenko , who recruited Tumanov in
25452-615: The Oltenian town of Târgu Cărbunești ; also included were included lyrics by Marin Sorescu and Nicolae Dragoș [ ro ] . Much of the issue was Brâncuși-themed, with a portrait of him as a symbol of the magazine itself, done by Benedict Gănescu, alongside the summary of a round-table on the life and times of Brâncuși (with participants such as André Frénaud ). Beginning with the second issue, Ramuri had contributions from an old collaborator, Vianu, as well as from Vianu's colleague George Călinescu . The staff chronicler at Luceafărul
25704-656: The Orthodox Romanian prelates to accept the union with the Roman Catholic Church in 1699. The Church Union strengthened the Romanian intellectuals' devotion to their Roman heritage. The Orthodox Church was restored in Transylvania only after Orthodox monks stirred up revolts in 1744 and 1759. The organisation of the Transylvanian Military Frontier caused further disturbances, especially among
25956-605: The Romanian army on behalf of the Entente Powers a day before Germany capitulated on 11 November 1918. Austria-Hungary quickly disintegrated after the war. The General Congress of Bukovina proclaimed the union of the province with Romania on 28 November 1918, and the Grand National Assembly proclaimed the union of Transylvania, Banat, Crișana and Maramureș with the kingdom on 1 December. Peace treaties with Austria, Bulgaria and Hungary delineated
26208-501: The Romanian crew at Radio Free Europe . Within a year, Chifu, backed by the Writers' Union of Romania , stripped Sorescu of his managerial duties, arguing that he was incompetent—this sparked an enduring controversy, with Sorescu's supporters arguing that he had been rejected due to his refusal to endorse liberal doctrines. Ramuri remained in print after that date, but with interruptions and changes of management. The magazine's first period
26460-438: The Romanian reportage had been granted a "solemn funeral" by Geo Bogza in 1945, since every other such work published since had been copying "a foreign model, arrived here from some place, the sort of place where there are no opinions, and no actual press, and no actual reportage". The censors picked this out as a reference to Soviet propaganda , and the corresponding fragment was cut out of the interview. In June 1969, Purcaru
26712-520: The Romanians as the fourth privileged nation was forced into exile. Uniate and Orthodox clerics and laymen jointly signed a plea for the Transylvanian Romanians' emancipation in 1791, but the monarch and the local authorities refused to grant their requests. The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca authorised the Russian ambassador in Istanbul to defend the autonomy of Moldavia and Wallachia (known as
26964-563: The Russian-language factograph.info , as fact-checking sites. On July 19, 2018, RFE/RL announced it will be returning its news services to Bulgaria and Romania by the end of 2018 amid growing concern about a reversal in democratic gains and attacks on the rule of law and the judiciary in the two countries. The Romanian news service re-launched on January 14, 2019, and the Bulgarian service re-launched on January 21, 2019. On 8 September 2020
27216-589: The Securitate archive, compiled shortly after, spoke of Ramuri as reviving fascism. This source focused its report on Purcaru's editorial praise of Ionescu, and noted that Ramuri had almost succeeded in publishing articles by surviving former members of the Iron Guard and the National Christian Party . After Pandrea's own death in July 1968, the magazine put out installments from his posthumous papers, including
27468-565: The Securitate had by then become virtually obligatory for people involved in editorial work. Sorescu also infused the magazine with his "metaphoric-aggressive" style, including in the publicized polemics. In the late 1970s, Ramuri hosted criticism of the national-communist venues, engaging itself in polemics with writers Eugen Barbu and Corneliu Vadim Tudor . The latter two had declared Sorescu's novel, La lilieci , to have been attack on "national specificity"; in his reply, carried by Ramuri of December 1978, Sorescu ridiculed Barbu, signaling
27720-452: The Securitate heard additional reports that, at a Ramuri conference, Chifu had told the audience that "inadequate people have been planted in all of society's key spots" and that the magazine now stood for a "supreme nostalgia", that of art for art's sake . This speech resulted in Chifu and all of his associates being closely monitored by the regime. Sorescu was still allowed to travel abroad, and
27972-427: The Securitate proceeded to enhance its surveillance of Papu. In the early 1980s, Securitate informants centered their accusations on Sorescu's protegé, Gabriel Chifu , who had been brought in as a member of the editorial staff. Such allegations had it that Chifu, who had been awarded a national prize by the Union of Communist Youth , was in fact a favorite of the anticommunists—since his literary work had also been given
28224-552: The September 1943 Allied armistice with Italy , Romania became the second Axis power in Europe in 1943–1944. After the German occupation of Hungary in March 1944, about 132,000 Jews – mainly Hungarian-speaking – were deported to extermination camps from Northern Transylvania with the Hungarian authorities' support. After the Soviet victory in the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943, Iuliu Maniu ,
28476-446: The Soviet Union on 26 June 1940, Northern Transylvania to Hungary on 30 August, and Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria in September. After the territorial losses, the King was forced to abdicate in favour of his minor son, Michael I , on 6 September, and Romania was transformed into a national-legionary state under the leadership of General Ion Antonescu . Antonescu signed
28728-588: The Soviet sphere of influence. Stalin's deputy instructed the King to make the Communists' candidate, Petru Groza , the prime minister in March 1945. The Romanian administration in Northern Transylvania was soon restored, and Groza's government carried out an agrarian reform. In February 1947, the Paris Peace Treaties confirmed the return of Northern Transylvania to Romania, but they also legalised
28980-468: The Soviet-led 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia . Ceaușescu even publicly condemned the action as "a big mistake, [and] a serious danger to peace in Europe and to the fate of Communism in the world". It was the only Communist state to maintain diplomatic relations with Israel after 1967's Six-Day War and established diplomatic relations with West Germany the same year. At the same time, close ties with
29232-506: The Székely and Saxon seats (or districts) were not subject to the voivodes' authority. Royal charters wrote of the " Vlachs ' land" in southern Transylvania in the early 13th century, indicating the existence of autonomous Romanian communities . Papal correspondence mentions the activities of Orthodox prelates among the Romanians in Muntenia in the 1230s. Also in the 13th century,
29484-625: The Székelys in 1764 . Princes Dimitrie Cantemir of Moldavia and Constantin Brâncoveanu of Wallachia concluded alliances with the Habsburg Monarchy and Russia against the Ottomans, but they were dethroned in 1711 and 1714, respectively. The sultans lost confidence in the native princes and appointed Orthodox merchants from the Phanar district of Istanbul to rule Moldova and Wallachia. The Phanariot princes pursued oppressive fiscal policies and dissolved
29736-466: The United Kingdom could not defend Romanian interests. German preparations for a new war required the regular supply of Romanian oil and agricultural products. The two countries concluded a treaty concerning the coordination of their economic policies in 1939, but the King could not persuade Adolf Hitler to guarantee Romania's frontiers. Romania was forced to cede Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to
29988-518: The United States Congress and that a new organization, the Board for International Broadcasting (BIB) would simultaneously link the stations and the federal government, and serve as an editorial buffer between them. According to Arch Puddington, a former bureau manager for RFE/RL, though both radio stations initially received most of their funding from the CIA, RFE maintained a strong sense of autonomy; Puddington says that under Cord Meyer ,
30240-514: The anticommunist Romanian diaspora , who was probing the limits of anti-Soviet liberalization at home . Radio Free Europe 's Monica Lovinescu surmised that Paraschivescu had not been sidelined because of his modernist aesthetics, but simply because he and the Onirists were advocating generic independence from the party line. As she put it: "One cannot possibly overstate just how much M. R. Paraschivescu, with his productive heresies, stokes and supports
30492-506: The anticommunist priest Gheorghe Calciu-Dumitreasa . By May, Sorescu was being followed around for having briefly engaged with the Transcendental Meditation movement, which the communist regime had since banned. The affair almost resulted in his being banned from literature altogether, until Nedelcea began circulating a photocopied bibliography, providing communist officials with direct proof of Sorescu's international fame. Both
30744-604: The army. The neighboring powers took advantage of the situation: the Habsburg Monarchy annexed the northwestern part of Moldavia, or Bukovina , in 1775, and the Russian Empire seized the eastern half of Moldavia, or Bessarabia , in 1812. A census revealed that the Romanians were more numerous than any other ethnic group in Transylvania in 1733, but legislation continued to use contemptuous adjectives (such as "tolerated" and "admitted") when referring to them. The Uniate bishop , Inocențiu Micu-Klein who demanded recognition of
30996-695: The arrival of a mixed group of people from Thessaly in the 6th millennium BC. Excavations near a salt spring at Lunca yielded the earliest evidence for salt exploitation in Europe; here salt production began between the 5th and 4th millennium BC. The first permanent settlements developed into "proto-cities", which were larger than 320 hectares (800 acres). The Cucuteni–Trypillia culture —the best known archaeological culture of Old Europe —flourished in Muntenia , southeastern Transylvania and northeastern Moldavia between c. 5500 to 2750 BC. During its middle phase (c. 4000 to 3500 BC), populations belonging to
31248-555: The book was "toned down" in comparison to his earlier and later communist-inspired works, since the "full-on fascist regime" had made it impossible for leftists to communicate freely. Ramuri ' s depreciation was still ongoing after Antonescu's ouster in August 1944 , despite it being placed under the patronage of the Michael I Royal Foundation . Before the full closure, only one issue saw print for all of 1945, and none appeared in 1946. With
31500-459: The border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Radio Mashaal says that it broadcasts local and international news with in-depth reports on terrorism, politics, women's issues, and health care (with an emphasis on preventive medicine ). The station broadcasts roundtable discussions and interviews with tribal leaders and local policymakers, in addition to regular call-in programs. On October 14, 2014, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and
31752-483: The controversial circumstances surrounding the deaths of three directors of RFE/RL's Romanian Service. On February 21, 1981, RFE/RL's headquarters in Munich was struck by a massive bomb, causing $ 2 million in damage. Several employees were injured, but there were no fatalities. Stasi files opened after 1989 indicated that the bombing was carried out by a group under the direction of Ilich Ramírez Sánchez (known as "Carlos
32004-455: The controversy over its alleged role in the Hungarian Revolution. During the Mikhail Gorbachev era in the Soviet Union under Glasnost , RFE/RL benefited significantly from the Soviet Union's new openness. Gorbachev stopped the practice of jamming the broadcasts. In addition, dissident politicians and officials could be freely interviewed by RFE/RL for the first time without fearing persecution or imprisonment. By 1990, Radio Liberty had become
32256-442: The country and proclaimed Romania a people's republic . Romania remained under the direct military occupation and economic control of the USSR until the late 1950s. During this period, Romania's vast natural resources were drained continuously by mixed Soviet-Romanian companies ( SovRoms ) set up for unilateral exploitative purposes. In 1948, the state began to nationalise private firms and to collectivise agriculture. Until
32508-437: The cultural landscape of its day. Other authors included Emanoil Bucuța , Zaharia Bârsan , Nicolae Constantin Batzaria , Nicolae M. Condiescu , Ion Dongorozi , Anastasie Mândru , Mihai Moșandrei , Gavril Rotică , George Vâlsan , George Voevidca, I. Pavelescu, G. D. Pencioiu, Soricu, and Liviu Marian. In a 1927 article for Sburătorul , which spoke of Sămănătorism as being soundly defeated, Aderca also noted that Făgețel
32760-402: The director of the Czech service, Ferdinand Peroutka , were accused of being soft on Communism. Fulton Lewis , a U.S. radio commentator and fervent anti-communist, was one of RFE's sharpest critics throughout the 1950s. His critical broadcasts inspired other journalists to investigate the inner workings of the organization, including its connection to the CIA. When its CIA ties were exposed in
33012-479: The early 1960s and was his Moscow curator. Nechiporenko has never denied his involvement. In an interview with Radio Liberty in 2003, he justified the bombing on the grounds that RFE/RL was an American propaganda tool against the Soviet Union. Tumanov was exfiltrated back to the USSR in 1986. Nechiporenko contacts with Carlos in the 1970s were confirmed by Nechiporenko himself in an article published by Segodnya in 2000 and by an article in Izvestia in 2001. For
33264-541: The early 1960s, the government severely curtailed political liberties and vigorously suppressed any dissent with the help of the Securitate —the Romanian secret police. During this period the regime launched several campaigns of purges during which numerous " enemies of the state " and "parasite elements" were targeted for different forms of punishment including: deportation, internal exile, internment in forced labour camps and prisons—sometimes for life—as well as extrajudicial killing . Nevertheless, anti-communist resistance
33516-456: The early 7th century. The Goths were expanding towards the Lower Danube from the 230s, forcing the native peoples to flee to the Roman Empire or to accept their suzerainty . The Goths' rule ended abruptly when the Huns invaded their territory in 376, causing new waves of migrations. The Huns forced the remnants of the local population into submission, but their empire collapsed in 454. The Gepids took possession of
33768-439: The early years of World War II, and in 1940 curated another bibliophile edition, called Oltenia —with contributions by Arghezi, Fortunescu, Papilian, Romanescu, and Constantin Rădulescu-Motru . In late 1943, Ramuri celebrated "Oltenia Week". The event was given a lukewarm review by sociologist Petre Pandrea , who saw Făgețel and Tomescu as unable to shake off their "elegiac and retrograde" Sămănătorism . According to Pandrea,
34020-497: The editor-in-chief. Founded during the Cold War , RFE began in 1949 targeting Soviet satellite states , while RL, established in 1951, focused on the Soviet Union . Initially funded covertly by the CIA until 1972, the two merged in 1976. RFE/RL was headquartered in Munich from 1949 to 1995, with additional broadcasts from Portugal's Glória do Ribatejo until 1996. Soviet authorities jammed their signals, and communist regimes often infiltrated their operations. Today, RFE/RL
34272-507: The editorial offices, with Piru himself intervening to stop them; however, his own move to Oltenia was a haphazard decision, or a "tribute to an autumnal fling of his." In April 1976, Piru was replaced with an editorial board, including Romulus Diaconescu and Pelin as the executive directors. Under their watch, Ramuri was generally focused on Oltenia, and compatible with the generic lines of communist propaganda. Sorescu's promotion to manager of Ramuri , made official on 15 July 1978, brought in
34524-489: The end of a line is where they're supposed to breathe out." This period saw Romania entry into World War I . Ramuri lost two members of its staff during the subsequent campaigns of September 1916: Volovici died in the Battle of Transylvania , and administrative director Tiberiu Constantinescu was killed at Turtucaia . The magazine was printed at Bucharest throughout that year, at Iași in 1917 (during The Romanian Debacle ), and not published at all in 1918. Iorga himself
34776-414: The evacuation of the province Dacia Trajana in the 270s. Scholars supporting the continuity theory are convinced that most Latin-speaking commoners stayed behind when the army and civil administration were withdrawn. The Romans did not abandon their fortresses along the northern banks of the Lower Danube for decades, and Dobruja (known as Scythia Minor ) remained an integral part of the Roman Empire until
35028-399: The evolution of the Romanian literary press, for the confrontation between 'local patriotism' and value, between conjectural obligations and an aesthetic program". The unsigned columnist cited Chifu's argument that Ramuri had returned to its "animators" stage, as under Făgețel, being pushed into it by a constant need to secure money. The columnist also noted with satisfaction that the magazine
35280-413: The fact that most of the former industrial and economic enterprises which were built and operated during the communist period were closed, mainly as a result of the policies of privatisation of the post–1989 regimes. Corruption has been a major issue in contemporary Romanian politics. In November 2015, massive anti-corruption protests which developed in the wake of the Colectiv nightclub fire led to
35532-479: The federalisation of Austria-Hungary and the Romanian intellectuals established a cultural association to promote the use of Romanian. Fearing Russian expansionism, Romania secretly joined the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy in 1883, but public opinion remained hostile to Austria-Hungary. Romania seized Southern Dobruja from Bulgaria in the Second Balkan War in 1913. German and Austrian-Hungarian diplomacy supported Bulgaria during
35784-430: The first five years, its editor-in-chief was an Oltenian journalist, Ilie Purcaru , who had modernist sympathies. In this new edition, Ramuri discarded traditionalism and presented both Arghezi and modernist sculptor Constantin Brâncuși as its intellectual mentors. Purcaru also proceeded to openly challenge communist censorship ; his close associate was Miron Radu Paraschivescu , who opened Ramuri to contributions by
36036-399: The first issues of the first edition, and who was aged ninety. This pedigree was highlighted in 1984 by museologist Tiberiu Alexa, who saw Ramuri , Familia , Viața Românească and Convorbiri Literare as the four Romanian cultural magazines to have preserved not just an interwar tradition, but also their city of residence. The new edition's first 25 years of existence coincided with
36288-434: The first poems by a post-Onirist generation of poets— Ștefan Agopian [ ro ] and Virgil Mazilescu . Other Paraschivescu discoveries were Norman Manea , whose first experimental short-story was taken by Povestea Vorbei in 1966, and the literary historian Florea Firan [ ro ] , who in 1995 published a Ramuri -themed monograph. Purcaru was largely absent from Romania in 1966–1967, when he covered
36540-464: The first two days following the Chernobyl disaster on April 26, 1986, the official Eastern Bloc media did not report any news about the disaster, nor any full account for another four months. According to the Hoover Institute , the people of the Soviet Union "became frustrated with inconsistent and contradictory reports", and 36% of them turned to Western radio to provide accurate and pertinent information. Listenership at RFE/RL "shot up dramatically" as
36792-529: The folktales he had collected from Oltenia, but publicly indicated his displeasure that the text was relying heavily on the westernmost Wallachian dialects . Iorga suggested that this focus had destroyed the narrative, and that Nicolăescu-Plopșor did not display a "loving hand" in transcribing the source material. Literary commentary was offered by Iorga, Bogdan-Duică, Caracostea, Tudor Vianu , Tomescu, Făgețel, Dima, and Păunescu-Ulmu. Most articles in this area promoted traditionalist literature; modernist literature
37044-416: The former Dacia province. Place names that are of Slavic origin abound in Romania, indicating that a significant Slavic-speaking population lived in the territory. The first Slavic groups settled in Moldavia and Wallachia in the 6th century, in Transylvania around 600. The nomadic Avars defeated the Gepids and established a powerful empire around 570. The Bulgars , who also came from
37296-454: The height of Ion Antonescu 's dictatorship, Făgețel was presiding upon an Oltenian Writers' Association, which also recruited Arghezi. When the latter came into conflict with the regime, and was deported inside the region (at Târgu Jiu internment camp ), Făgețel continued to speak out in his favor. As a publishing venture, Ramuri issued Liviu Bratoloveanu 's versified diary, Eu și Dunărea . As explained by Bratoloveanu some thirty years later,
37548-472: The independent newspaper Calendarul , which ended up being taken over by the Guardists. Nicolăescu-Plopșor was an organizer of the dissident National Liberal Party-Brătianu , and was involved in street battles during the general election of December 1933 . By May 1940, he had joined the catch-all National Renaissance Front , formed around the authoritarian King Carol II , and was active within its Oltenian sections. The magazine itself continued to appear into
37800-458: The interwar diplomacy of Nicolae Titulescu . Around the same time, the magazine featured an "article series" by Țepeneag, wherein he sought to revive interest for writers of the first modernist generations—variously including Caraion, Mateiu Caragiale , Eusebiu Camilar , and Constant Tonegaru . The Caraion piece irritated the censors, and only appeared in a heavily modified version, prompting Țepeneag to suspend his participation. Caraion himself
38052-451: The interwar period, though Ramuri itself was always struggling during that interval. The issue contributed to a split between Făgețel, who came to support the National Liberal Party in hopes of obtaining material aid, and Iorga. It continued to appear with interruptions throughout that period and World War II, being discontinued in 1947. When it reemerged in 1964, it was under the Romanian communist regime , which controlled its content. For
38304-420: The late 1960s. Technically, he was not a journalist. As a historian by training, he worked in the RFE's media analysis service in Munich. After more than five years, Czechowicz returned to Poland in 1971 and participated in programs aimed at embarrassing Radio Free Europe and the United States government." According to Richard Cummings, former Security Chief of Radio Free Europe, other espionage incidents included
38556-528: The latter current was of Western Moldavian source, and as such had always been ill-suited to the Oltenian psyche. He recommended instead an Oltenian modernism—connected with the rawest folklore, and bridging Arghezi's literary expression with Brâncuși's visual simplification. Also then, the magazine hosted a series of literary meetings, attended by Bălcești, Farago, Iacobescu, and Nicolăescu-Plopșor, as well as by Virgil Carianopol , Mircea Damian , George Gregorian , Ion Minulescu , and chanteuse Maria Tănase . At
38808-510: The leading traditionalists and moderates, and in practice became eclectic. At various intervals, it merged into Iorga's other magazine, Drum Drept , maintaining its traditionalist credentials while the nationalist movement went into crisis. For most of the 1920s, Iorga took over as Ramuri ' s manager—though his influence there was undermined by contributors from the modernist camp, and in particular by Făgețel's friend Tudor Arghezi . The magazine's publishing company enjoyed success during
39060-409: The local Vlach rulers were subject to the king's authority in 1247. Basarab I of Wallachia united the Romanian polities between the southern Carpathians and the Lower Danube in the 1310s. He defeated the Hungarian royal army in the Battle of Posada and secured the independence of Wallachia in 1330. The second Romanian principality, Moldavia , achieved full autonomy during
39312-415: The local chieftains and established Roman Catholic bishoprics (office of a bishop) in Transylvania and Banat in the early 11th century. Significant Pecheneg groups fled to the Byzantine Empire in the 1040s; the Oghuz Turks followed them, and the nomadic Cumans became the dominant power of the steppes in the 1060s. Cooperation between the Cumans and the Vlachs against the Byzantine Empire
39564-424: The local tribes. Among the native peoples, Herodotus listed the Getae of the Lower Danube region, the Agathyrsi of Transylvania and the Syginnae of the plains along the river Tisza at the beginning of the 5th century BC. Centuries later, Strabo associated the Getae with the Dacians who dominated the lands along the southern Carpathian Mountains in the 1st century BC. Burebista
39816-462: The magazine a target of constant surveillance by the Securitate, who relied on a growing network of Craiova informants. Building on documents provided by historian Clara Mareș in 2012, literary critic Dan C. Mihăilescu [ ro ] opined that the network must have included Sorescu himself, who "managed to both inform on Sîrbu and protect him, being, as it turns out, himself the target of surveillance"; according to Mihăilescu, collaboration with
40068-521: The magazine adopted a mix of traditionalism, agrarianism , and nationalism , as promoted by Sămănătorul ; the staff of the two publications, together called a Sămănătorist current, were close. "Credințele și gândul nostru" ("Our Beliefs and Thought"), the magazine's manifesto signed by Tomescu, eulogized the literary course charted by Iorga, considered a veritable "emperor of thought", while Sămănătorul represented "the most proper and healthy direction" in Romanian literary life. Ramuri also cultivated
40320-451: The magazine also hosted his essay on the life and times of Sofronie Miclescu , which touched on Miclescu's role in promoting the union of Moldavia and Wallachia during the 1850s. The text as sent by Steinhardt also included a disparaging reference to the anti-unionist leader, Nicolae Vogoride , as pramatie primejdioasă ("dangerous scoundrel"); this was eliminated from the published version, prompting Steinhardt to declare his bemusement, in
40572-450: The magazine and its writer were endorsed internationally in March 1983, when Ramuri ' s literary club hosted Justo Jorge Padrón and Omar Lara in Craiova. Writing in 2006, literary historian Valentin Tașcu, himself a contributor to Ramuri , argued that during the 1980s the magazine had been required to promote "politicized texts"—but also that it largely toed the party line, and was never "overzealous" in this respect. In June 1984,
40824-490: The magazine hosted the debuting poet Felix Aderca , who was at the time a Sămănătorist , but would later serve as a leading figure in modernist rebellion. Prose contributions were supplied by Ioan Slavici ("Amurg de viață", "Fragmente din jurnalul intim în formă epistolară"), Dimitrie Anghel ("Pelerinul pasionat", "Povestea celor necăjiți", "Tinereță"), Mihail Sadoveanu ("Biserica Jitarului"), and Liviu Rebreanu ("Ordonanța domnului colonel", "Mărturisire"). Ion Agârbiceanu
41076-541: The magazine met for business in one of the members' homes, usually the most spacious and better heated one. Ramuri was led over the years by a committee, the composition of which appeared in a square on the front cover until 1923. In its first stage, the committee was composed of Bănescu, Făgețel, Șt. Braborescu, D. N. Ciotori, Gheorghe Ionescu-Sisești , and Nicolae Vulovici. Other editors included Elena Farago , Emil Gârleanu , I. M. Marinescu, C. D. Fortunescu, and later Constantin S. Nicolăescu-Plopșor . From its early years,
41328-401: The magazine obtained contributions from Olga Bălcescu-Gigurtu, a niece of the historian Nicolae Bălcescu , who debuted in Ramuri with distinctly feminine prose. Referring to the 1900s and 1910s, Ornea sees Ramuri as promoting "obsolete" local writings, "most often rated below the most basic level of one's exigence". He is critical in particular of the "indescribable" Oltenian contributors,
41580-439: The marginalized group of Onirist poets. The magazine became a target for surveillance by the Securitate , especially after hosting a positive review of the far-right theorist Nae Ionescu . Paraschivescu was sidelined, and Purcaru replaced with Alexandru Piru , who mainly used it to publish contributions to literary history and literary theory. Piru also endorsed the July Theses , whereby President Nicolae Ceaușescu announced
41832-509: The misfortune of long-surviving the current that had overseen its birth". It appeared from 5 December 1905 until May 1947, with interruptions, changes in publication location and frequency. At first, it was monthly, then in 1908–1910 a bimonthly, appearing weekly in October 1910–May 1911, and again bimonthly in 1912–1914 (in 1913, it was subtitled "Illustrated literary magazine"). As reported by Tribuna newspaper in October 1908, Făgețel had not set up an editorial address, and those in charge of
42084-439: The most dangerous. Seen as less politically threatening, Western music such as jazz was often transmitted unjammed. During and after the Cuban Missile Crisis in late 1962, jamming was intensified. The Cuban Missile Crisis, however, was followed by a five-year period when the jamming of most foreign broadcasters ceased, only to intensify again with the Prague Spring in 1968. It ceased again in 1973, when Henry Kissinger became
42336-426: The most listened-to Western radio station broadcasting to the Soviet Union. Its coverage of the 1991 August coup enriched sparse domestic coverage of the event and drew in a wide audience. The broadcasts allowed Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin to stay in touch with the Russian people during this turbulent period. Boris Yeltsin later expressed his gratitude through a presidential decree allowing Radio Liberty to open
42588-403: The most talented princes— Gabriel Bethlen of Transylvania, Matei Basarab of Wallachia, and Vasile Lupu of Moldavia—strengthened their autonomy. The united armies of the Holy League expelled the Ottoman troops from Central Europe between 1684 and 1699, and the Principality of Transylvania was integrated into the Habsburg monarchy . The Habsburgs supported the Catholic clergy and persuaded
42840-414: The name Romania on 21 February 1862. Cuza's government carried out a series of reforms, including the secularisation of the property of monasteries and agrarian reform, but a coalition of conservative and radical politicians forced him to abdicate in February 1866. Cuza's successor, a German prince, Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (or Carol I), was elected in May. The parliament adopted
43092-411: The necessary spare parts were available on the black market, and electronics engineers opposing the idea would gladly convert radios back to being able to receive short-wave transmissions. The most extensive form of reception obstruction was radio jamming . This was controlled by the KGB , which in turn reported to the Central Committee. Jamming was an expensive and arduous procedure, and its efficacy
43344-465: The new borders in 1919 and 1920, but the Soviet Union did not acknowledge the loss of Bessarabia. Romania achieved its greatest territorial extent, expanding from the pre-war 137,000 to 295,000 km (53,000 to 114,000 sq mi). A new electoral system granted voting rights to all adult male citizens, and a series of radical agrarian reforms transformed the country into a "nation of small landowners" between 1918 and 1921. Gender equality as
43596-400: The new editorial team, headed by Chifu, as "tiny venomous monsters", reproaching his own past leniency toward them; a note in Adevărul and a piece by Gheorghe Tomozei endorsed such claims, arguing that Chifu and the others were virtual unknowns in the literary world. Sorescu was instead criticized by Libertatea daily and by writer Mircea Dinescu , who noted that, under his watch, Ramuri
43848-517: The onset of Soviet occupation and the rise of the Communist Party, Făgețel was increasingly seen as a reactionary. The communist organ Scînteia welcomed Ramuri ' s reemergence in January 1947, but immediately noted its disappointment that the magazine was still in its " ivory tower ". It expressed distaste that the writers featured included those who had been associated with Crainic and Gândirea , listing Dima, Papilian, Păunescu-Ulmu, and Voiculescu. The final issue, appearing in May of that year,
44100-405: The opinion polls. This surprise victory was attributed by many analysts to the implication of the Romanian diaspora in the voting process, with almost 50% casting their votes for Klaus Iohannis in the first round, compared to only 16% for Ponta. In 2019, Iohannis was re-elected president in a landslide victory over former Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă . The post–1989 period is characterised by
44352-446: The other strands of nationalism, including Edgar Papu 's Protochronism . In 1977, Papu and fellow philosopher Constantin Noica established a "board of initiative" for a Ramuri supplement on the theory of culture, also obtaining support from Anghel and Mihai Șora . Though Protochronism was already supported within some of the Communist Party's higher echelons, the project was disavowed in 1978, after being vetoed by Leonte Răutu , and
44604-496: The overseeing Writers' Union of Romania , they alleged that Sorescu had been dictatorial in his behavior, and disrespectful of other writers (among them Manolescu, Ana Blandiana , and Eugène Ionesco ). Sabin Gherman , whom Sorescu had included on Ramuri ' s editorial team in 1991 (where he remained until 1992), defended the decision: "we did not sign the request against the poet Sorescu, but against Sorescu as clerk, as editor-in-chief." As reported by Gherman, Sorescu had made it
44856-505: The pack of the unwashed, Lugubrious, yet seeking one's poetic haven, Just when you'd think that they had all been quashed. —O Minstrel — o my poor, poor corpse, Your Sibyl 's voice has squandered all its force! According to philologist Gabriel Coșoveanu, Ramuri also had a regionalist ethos, as an "emblem of the Oltenian spirit". In practice, it was eclectic, and tolerated dialogue with other branches of regional culture. Poet and schoolteacher Mihail Cruceanu , who identified as both
45108-544: The presence of units of the Red Army in the country. During the Soviet occupation of Romania , the communist-dominated government called for new elections in 1946, which they fraudulently won , with a fabricated 70% majority of the vote. Thus, they rapidly established themselves as the dominant political force. Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej , a communist party leader imprisoned in 1933, escaped in 1944 to become Romania's first communist leader. In February 1947, he and others forced King Michael I to abdicate and leave
45360-467: The principal sector of economy, but several branches of industry—especially the production of coal, oil, metals, synthetic rubber, explosives and cosmetics—developed during the interwar period . With oil production of 5.8 million tons in 1930, Romania ranked sixth in the world. Two parties, the National Liberal Party and the National Peasants' Party , dominated political life, but the Great Depression in Romania brought about significant changes in
45612-493: The provincial magazine Însemnări Ieșene , commending those involved for their "great effort" of keeping Ramuri afloat. I. D. Ioan of Convorbiri Literare was less welcoming, suggesting that the writing team at Ramuri approached exciting topics without rising to the occasion. For instance Păunescu-Ulmu wrote polemically against the young generation, but "[the youths'] higher and more fecund sense of purpose eludes [his] sclerosed neurons." Noting that Ramuri had begun publishing
45864-516: The provincials enjoyed a long period of peace and prosperity in the 2nd century. Scholars accepting the Daco-Roman continuity theory—one of the main theories about the origin of the Romanians —say that the cohabitation of the native Dacians and the Roman colonists in Roman Dacia was the first phase of the Romanians' ethnogenesis . The Carpians , Goths , and other neighbouring tribes made regular raids against Dacia from the 210s. The Romans could not resist, and Emperor Aurelian ordered
46116-486: The publishing venture also featured the first-ever monograph on the Oltenian modernist sculptor, Constantin Brâncuși , as authored by Vasile Georgescu Paleolog. The Ramuri imprint also issued notable works of political literature, including Alexandru Sahia 's account of his trips in the Soviet Union (which doubled as a defense of Soviet policies) and the first Romanian textbook of geopolitics , which had three authors (including Anton Golopenția ). The late interwar saw
46368-412: The radicalization of some nationalists, who converted to fascism, while others embraced political moderation; this also divided the Ramuri staff and its affiliate poets. In the late 1930s, Eugen Constant publicly affiliated with the Iron Guard —even as Iorga himself was emerging as one of the Guard's critics on the right. The extremes of nationalism were also probed by Crainic, who had moved on to publish
46620-418: The radio station's activities. From 1965 to 1971, an agent of the SB ( Służba Bezpieczeństwa , Communist Poland's security service) successfully infiltrated the station with an operative, Captain Andrzej Czechowicz. According to former Voice of America Polish service director Ted Lipien: "Czechowicz is perhaps the most well known communist-era Polish spy who was still an active agent while working at RFE in
46872-501: The radio stations came under public spotlight once more when U.S. Senator Clifford Case introduced Senate Bill 18, which would have removed funding for RFE and RL from the CIA's budget, appropriated $ 30 million to pay for fiscal year 1972 activities, and required the State Department to temporarily oversee the radio stations. In May 1972, President Richard Nixon appointed a special commission to deliberate RFE/RL's future. The commission proposed that funding come directly from
47124-494: The regime, including Ion Dezideriu Sîrbu and Nicolae Steinhardt , but alongside conventional pieces by pro-regime authors, and samples of official propaganda. Sorescu and his associates, including Gabriel Chifu , found themselves supervised and harassed by Securitate agents. Closely reviewed by censors, Ramuri appeared infrequently in the final months before the Romanian Revolution of 1989. It re-emerged in 1990, with Sorescu reconfirmed as editor, publicizing its connections with
47376-511: The region's natural beauty. Contributors were also interested in documents and archives, unearthing important new information about writers such as Grigore Alexandrescu , Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu , Iosif Vulcan , Costache Caragiale , Ioan Maiorescu [ ro ] , and Traian Demetrescu . The magazine also included a review of magazines, as well as notes and commentaries on morals, religion, psychology, education, history, geography and ethnology, bringing an essential contribution to shaping
47628-421: The regional magazine's "only two" founders, though N. Bănescu is generally mentioned as their partner. As cultural sociologist Z. Ornea remarks, Ramuri was planned as a separate venture in mid-1905, at a time when Sămănătorul and its traditionalist ideology were experiencing their "zenith". However, by the time it was actually ready for print, Iorga's doctrines were being "overshadowed"; Ramuri therefore "had
47880-416: The reign of Bogdan I around 1360. A local dynasty ruled the Despotate of Dobruja in the second half of the 14th century, but the Ottoman Empire took possession of the territory after 1388. Princes Mircea I and Vlad III of Wallachia , and Stephen III of Moldavia defended their countries' independence against the Ottomans. Most Wallachian and Moldavian princes paid
48132-403: The resignation of Romania's Prime Minister Victor Ponta. During 2017–2018, in response to measures which were perceived to weaken the fight against corruption, some of the biggest protests since 1989 took place in Romania, with over 500,000 people protesting across the country. Nevertheless, there have been significant reforms aimed at tackling corruption. A National Anticorruption Directorate
48384-532: The review hosted Iorga's essay against the emergence of a Romanian decadent movement , including his translation of "healthy" Western European poetry (Iorga encouraged Romanian authors to model themselves on the latter category). Sburătorul derided this effort, and especially its assumption that modernism in other countries was based on nationalism and "ethno-psychological normality". According to this source, Iorga and his disciples had not ceased promoting "sectarian reactionarism" and artistic "mediocrity". Iorga's text
48636-410: The rivers Dniester and Dnieper) under Romanian administration. Romanian and German troops massacred at least 160,000 local Jews in these territories; more than 105,000 Jews and about 11,000 Gypsies died during their deportation from Bessarabia to Transnistria. Most of the Jewish population of Moldavia, Wallachia, Banat and Southern Transylvania survived, but their fundamental rights were limited. After
48888-533: The same regions. The reliability of the Gesta is debated. Some scholars regard it as a basically accurate account, others describe it as a literary work filled with invented details. The Pechenegs seized the lowlands abandoned by the Hungarians to the east of the Carpathians. Byzantine missionaries proselytised in the lands east of the Tisa from the 940s and Byzantine troops occupied Dobruja in the 970s. The first king of Hungary , Stephen I , who supported Western European missionaries, defeated
49140-443: The second half of Romania's communist regime. Hinoveanu states that the magazine was closely following the agenda imposed by Ceaușescu, as Communist General Secretary, during the party's 9th Congress in 1965. These directives allowed for a recovery of interwar cultural themes, generating what Hinoveanu called a "free multilaterally developed culture within a free multilaterally developed society." In 1965–1966, Miron Radu Paraschivescu ,
49392-412: The separate status of Transylvania in the Habsburg Monarchy, but the Austro-Hungarian Compromise brought about the union of the province with Hungary in 1867. Ethnic Romanian politicians sharply opposed the Hungarian government's attempts to transform Hungary into a national state, especially the laws prescribing the obligatory teaching of Hungarian. Leaders of the Romanian National Party proposed
49644-492: The solidarity of the American people with the residents of Eastern European nations. Puddington stated that "the project served as a publicity tool to solidify RFE's reputation as an unbiased broadcaster". Whereas Radio Free Europe broadcast to Soviet satellite countries, Radio Liberty broadcast to the Soviet Union . Radio Liberty was formed by American Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (Amcomlib) in 1951. Originally named Radio Liberation from Bolshevism,
49896-542: The standard Romanian literary schoolbook, by George Muntean. Arghezi returned in 1965 with quasi-sociological musings about Oltenia, describing Oltenian migrations to other areas of Romania as not unlike the seasonal migration of swallows , and expressing his verdict that Romanians and Bukovinans formed the best two specimens of the Romanian people. Ilie Purcaru was this edition's first managerial director, seconded by Gănescu as artistic designer and Dinu Săraru as theater columnist. In 1985, Purcaru and Ilarie Hinoveanu, who
50148-539: The station provided free media to German listeners. In January 1950, the NCFE obtained a transmitter base at Lampertheim , West Germany, and on July 4 of the same year RFE completed its first broadcast aimed at Czechoslovakia . In late 1950, RFE began to assemble a full-fledged foreign broadcast staff, becoming more than a "mouthpiece for exiles". Teams of journalists were hired for each language service, and an elaborate system of intelligence gathering provided up-to-date broadcast material. Most of this material came from
50400-489: The station was renamed in 1956 to Radio Liberation in 1956, and received its present name, Radio Liberty after a policy statement emphasizing "liberalization" rather than "liberation". Radio Liberty began broadcasting from Lampertheim on March 1, 1953, gaining a substantial audience when it covered the death of Joseph Stalin four days later. In order to better serve a greater geographic area, RFE supplemented its shortwave transmissions from Lampertheim with broadcasts from
50652-403: The station's activities through a range of tactics, including extensive jamming, shutting down local re-broadcasting affiliates, or finding legal excuses to close down offices. RFE/RL says that its journalists and freelancers often risk their lives to broadcast information, and their safety has always been a major issue. Reporters have frequently been threatened and persecuted. RFE/RL also faces
50904-478: The steppes north of the Lower Danube in the 830s, but the Bulgarians and the Pechenegs jointly forced them to abandon this region for the lowlands along the Middle Danube around 894. Centuries later, the Gesta Hungarorum wrote of the invading Magyars' wars against three dukes— Glad , Menumorut and the Vlach Gelou —for Banat, Crișana and Transylvania. The Gesta also listed many peoples—Slavs, Bulgarians, Vlachs, Khazars , and Székelys —inhabiting
51156-493: The subject of promoting national characteristics in literature. Vianu wrote "Universul moral al lui Macedonski" and "Gustul literar", Struțeanu surveyed the work of Mihai Eminescu , Petre Partenie commented on Vasile Alecsandri . Among the poets who were featured by Ramuri after 1920 were Arghezi ("Oraș medieval"), Lucian Blaga ("Lume"), Ion Pillat ("Elegie", "Recuerdo", "Cules"), Vasile Voiculescu ("Avariție", "Înaintea aurorei", "Apocalips"), and Zaharia Stancu . The theater
51408-407: The sultan's right to confirm the election of the princes. Mihail Kogălniceanu , Nicolae Bălcescu and other leaders of the 1848 revolutions in Moldavia and Wallachia demanded the emancipation of the peasants and the union of the two principalities, but Russian and Ottoman troops crushed their revolt. The Wallachian revolutionists were the first to adopt the blue, yellow and red tricolour as
51660-449: The towns of Oltenia during the modernization phase of 1760–1830, with similar interests being expressed by Bănescu, Furtună, Lazăr Toma, Fortunescu, Sextil Pușcariu , Ioan Lupaș , M. Strajaru, and Constantin Cehan-Racoviță. More informally, at a literary meeting staged by Ramuri in 1929, Arghezi proceeded to explore his own roots (described by Tomescu as planted in "Oltenia's vigorous soil"), and gave some of his first impressions regarding
51912-425: The two radio stations merged to form Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and added the three Baltic language services to their repertoire. Funding for RFE/RL increased during the Reagan administration . President Ronald Reagan , a fervent anticommunist, urged the stations to be more critical of the communist regimes. This presented a challenge to RFE/RL's broadcast strategy, which had been very cautious since
52164-435: The verses of Charles Baudelaire , rendered by Ion Pillat and Al. T. Stamatiad . Meanwhile, Farago translated Émile Verhaeren , while D. Nanu , Leconte de Lisle . Other translators included Iacobescu, I. M. Marinescu, Iorga, and M. D. Ioanid. Travel literature was contributed by Iorga, Ionescu-Șișești (notes from Germany), Virgil Tempeanu ("Note de drum"), and C. D. Ionescu ("Prin Munții Mehedinților"). The magazine included
52416-592: The violent Romanian Revolution of December 1989 in which thousands were killed or injured. After a trial, Ceaușescu and his wife were executed by firing squad at a military base outside Bucharest on 25 December 1989. The charges for which they were executed were, among others, genocide by starvation. After the 1989 revolution, the National Salvation Front (FSN), led by Ion Iliescu , took partial and superficial multi-party democratic and free market measures after seizing power as an ad interim governing body. In March 1990, violent outbreaks went on in Târgu Mureș as
52668-511: The wake of this scandal, including the establishment of the Broadcast Analysis Division to ensure that broadcasts were accurate and professional while maintaining the journalists' autonomy. RFE was seen as a serious threat by Romanian president Nicolae Ceaușescu . From the mid-1970s to his overthrow and execution in December 1989, Ceaușescu waged a vengeful war against the RFE/RL under the program "Ether". Ether operations included physical attacks on Romanian journalists working for RFE/RL, including
52920-459: The war against the Central Powers in 1916. The German and Austrian-Hungarian troops defeated the Romanian army and occupied three-quarters of the country by early 1917. After the October Revolution turned Russia from an ally into an enemy, Romania was forced to sign a harsh peace treaty with the Central Powers in May 1918, but the collapse of Russia also enabled the union of Bessarabia with Romania . King Ferdinand again mobilised
53172-441: The war, bringing about a rapprochement between Romania and the Triple Entente of France, Russia and the United Kingdom. The country remained neutral when World War I broke out in 1914, but Prime Minister Ion I. C. Brătianu started negotiations with the Entente Powers. After they promised Austrian-Hungarian territories with a majority of ethnic Romanian population to Romania in the Treaty of Bucharest , Romania entered
53424-419: The youths' own courage." Before his ouster, Paraschivescu had granted editorial space to many writers who had been fully banned, and were just then allowed to resume work (examples range from Aurel Ciurunga and Nicolae Crevedia to Iordan Chimet and Gellu Naum ). He had personally handled the publication of poems by the Onirists, including Leonid Dimov and Vintilă Ivănceanu [ ro ] , but also
53676-415: Was a key part of the greater psychological war effort. RFE was modeled after Radio in the American Sector (RIAS) a U.S. government-sponsored radio service initially intended for Germans living in the American sector of Berlin. According to Arch Puddington, a former bureau manager for RFE/RL, it was also widely listened to by East Germans. Staffed almost entirely by Germans with minimal U.S. supervision,
53928-792: Was a regular presence at Ramuri , part of a team of translators that also grew to include Sorescu, Aurora Cornu , Geo Dumitrescu , Ștefan Augustin Doinaș , Mihnea Gheorghiu , Tașcu Gheorghiu , and Teohar Mihadaș . Over the following decades, Ramuri put out numerous authors in translation—variously including Endre Ady , Anna Akhmatova , Ivo Andrić , Alain Bosquet , Robert Desnos , T. S. Eliot , Lawrence Ferlinghetti , Allen Ginsberg , Eugenio Montale , Ovid , Octavio Paz , Plato , Ezra Pound , Robert Sabatier , William Saroyan , Georg Trakl , Giuseppe Ungaretti , Walt Whitman , and Sergei Yesenin . Paraschivescu only preserved his Povestea Vorbei until December 1966, when censors intervened "for ideological reasons". The event earned attention within
54180-432: Was again united under Decebalus around 85 AD. He resisted the Romans for decades, but the Roman army defeated his troops in 106 AD. Emperor Trajan transformed Banat , Oltenia , and the greater part of Transylvania into a new province called Roman Dacia , but Dacian and Sarmatian tribes continued to dominate the lands along the Roman frontiers. The Romans pursued an organised colonisation policy, and
54432-505: Was another topic of interest for observers in the diaspora, but also a source of irritation for the regime at home. As early as 1961, Securitate spies heard reports that Paraschivescu was supporting the rehabilitation of Nae Ionescu —officially still reviled as an ideologue of the Iron Guard—, on grounds that Ionescu was primarily a "man of talent". In February 1968, Mircea Eliade , the self-exiled philosopher and culture critic, reported his astonishment that Ramuri had been allowed to host
54684-421: Was at the time the Minister of Culture , serving until his death in December 1996. According to Nedelcea, his demise was hastened by the injustices he had suffered (including the Ramuri affair), and also by a "dubious vaccine" he had received "at some airport." Over the following years, the magazine, whose triumvirate staff included Chifu, Diaconescu and Ghica, went into another period of relative decline. This
54936-453: Was attested in October 1998 by Marino, the former Ramuri house critic, who saluted the appearance in Craiova of a rival literary sheet, Mozaicul . According to Marino, Ramuri was by then a "semi-official magazine", and as such affected by the pitfalls of "official culture"—including, "above all, a lack of money." In his personal notes, Marino describes himself as flattered by Chifu's attempts to reconnect with him, though he also notes that he
55188-447: Was blocked from expanding on this topic by the head censor, Dumitru Popescu-Dumnezeu , who warned Ramuri that they risked upsetting the Soviets. To Barbu's chagrin, Sorescu also managed to obtain an increase in circulation (which was handled by the local censorship and propaganda apparatus). This was granted after his friend, the poet Gheorghe Izbășescu , engaged in astroturfing on Ramuri ' s behalf, telling officials that Ramuri
55440-544: Was directly involved with the magazine's publication in the 1920s, after the establishment of Greater Romania —the reemerging Ramuri was again a bimonthly in 1919–1921. In January 1921, Iorga informed his Oltenian readers that " Ramuri magazine has again been entrusted to me"; in parallel, Făgețel was busy handling a Ramuri printing press and editorial office. By December, the magazine was struggling to recover contributors who had since rallied around magazines such as Eugen Lovinescu 's Sburătorul . According to Nanu, Făgețel
55692-450: Was elected president, in 2000 Iliescu returned to power, while Traian Băsescu was elected in 2004 and narrowly re-elected in 2009. In 2009, the country was bailed out by the International Monetary Fund as an aftershock of the Great Recession in Europe . In November 2014, Sibiu former FDGR/DFDR mayor Klaus Iohannis was elected president, unexpectedly defeating former Prime Minister Victor Ponta , who had been previously leading in
55944-415: Was entirely wasted, as the press ended up being used for labeling locally produced spirits. Over those months, Chifu turned the magazine into a bimonthly. According to a review in Orizont , its quality actually increased: "Splendidly illustrated with works by Francis Bacon , this magazine is lively, exciting, and with a certified intellectual ascent." In December 1992, Ramuri appeared with a note condemning
56196-406: Was expected to endorse Transylvanian devolution in exchange for such honors. Ramuri reappeared with a special issue on 25 December 1989, under the provisional title of Ramuri în Libertate . Another, regular, issue appeared in January 1990 with an editorial note by Sorescu, announcing to Romanians that: "The nightmare is over". Also that month, Sorescu resumed his traveling abroad. He established
56448-403: Was for a while the second editor, reminisced that the magazine was given the go-ahead by a local communist leader, and future President of Romania , Nicolae Ceaușescu . From the first days of 1965, the two men were joined by an editorial board, comprising two of the first-edition contributors, Constant and Nicolăescu-Plopșor, alongside Sina Dănciulescu and Petre Dragu. Their institutional overseer
56700-521: Was formed by Allen Dulles in New York City in 1949. RFE/RL received funds covertly from the CIA until 1972. During RFE's earliest years of existence, the CIA and U.S. Department of State issued broad policy directives, and a system evolved where broadcast policy was determined through negotiation between them and RFE staff. Radio Free Europe received widespread public support from Eisenhower's " Crusade for Freedom " campaign. In 1950, over 16 million Americans signed Eisenhower's "Freedom Scrolls" on
56952-463: Was formed in the country in 2002, inspired by similar institutions in Belgium , Norway and Spain . Since 2014, Romania launched an anti-corruption effort that led to the prosecution of medium- and high-level political, judicial and administrative offenses by the National Anticorruption Directorate . After the end of the Cold War , Romania developed closer ties with Western Europe and the United States, eventually joining NATO in 2004, and hosting
57204-516: Was handled by Piru, Marino, Grigore Traian Pop, and Niculae Gheran. The latter published memoirs of the period, noting that much of their time, officially described as participation in literary colloquiums, was spent on erotic pursuits (with aspiring women poets from the provincial towns of Oltenia) and drunken escapades. According to Gheran, Piru was well liked by his students at the University of Craiova : when Înainte hosted an article sharply critical of his tenure, they rebelled and nearly stormed into
57456-497: Was hosted by Ramuri . To the rise of modernist culture, Tomescu was opposing the poetry of apparent neo- Sămănătorists , including Voiculescu and Radu Gyr . With Iorga no longer in charge, in mid-1929 Arghezi published in Ramuri a tribute to Aderca himself, described therein as one of the most accomplished aesthetes in modern Romania. As remarked by journalist A. P. Samson, Ramuri had "discarded N. Iorga's directional flashes in favor of being nudged into potholes by Tudor Arghezi, who
57708-417: Was in high demand among the readers of Onești . In addition to supporting liberalization in the arts, Ramuri had also created itself a sports page. It was largely dedicated to the coverage of Romanian football , with contributions by Ilie Balaci and by Sorescu himself; both covered the exceptionally productive seasons of CS Universitatea Craiova . Sorescu himself was seen as sufficiently compatible with
57960-401: Was instead welcomed by Tiberiu Crudu in Revista Moldovei , who also commended Iorga's renditions from French, English, Italian and German poetry. Various editorial constraints meant that these samples, though rhyming in the Romanian version, generally appeared in blank verse ; exceptions included a fragment from John Masefield , seen by Crudu as outstandingly translated. The same reviewer noted
58212-457: Was largely modeled on România Literară itself, to the point of copying the textual arrangement, and praised Marius Ghica as a translator of Lorand Gaspar , but also questioned some of the content choices (in particular the publication of a "rambling" diary by George Astaloș ). Largely a conventional literary publication, which covered cultural events throughout Romania, Ramuri maintained some of its Oltenian focus, particularly in poetry. Sorescu
58464-418: Was losing 1 million lei each year. Among Sorescu's defenders, novelist Fănuș Neagu acknowledged that the latter claim was true, but also asked the Writers' Union to disclose the budgetary expenditures of other magazines which it sponsored. The April 1991 issue, which was the first one to feature Chifu as editor, also witnessed severe budget cuts; for a while after, Ramuri appeared in smaller format, and with
58716-525: Was mocked by another communist newspaper, România Liberă , as an "island offering asylum to a handful of obsolete and confused intellectuals". The contributors were ridiculed in turn, but also listed for their ideological nonconformity: Al. Popescu Teiușan, for an essay which criticized " people's democracies " and rejected the indoctrination of children; Romulus Vulcănescu , for his association with nationalist doctrines; Ion Caraion , for his "inept" poems. Both Făgețel and Tomescu had died by January 1948, when
58968-411: Was more impressed by the third issue, which established Ramuri as "one of the most interesting profiles in our press, both in what it publishes and in its graphic format." Returning with a historical essay on Constantin Brâncoveanu , contributed by Paul Anghel , this issue also had critical takes on new Romanian poetry (one by Alexandru A. Philippide , the other by Carlo Salinari ), and an analysis of
59220-430: Was never interested in being reactivated as a literary critic, since he did not consider himself one. Viewed as "mediocre" when compared to Mozaicul in a 2000 piece by critic Cezar Paul-Bădescu , Ramuri had a relaunch and graphic redesign in April 2002. In later years, the magazine continued to be regarded as not entirely up to its previous standards. In his 2006 dictionary entry, Tașcu noted that Ramuri had always had
59472-476: Was no longer interested in editorial work, and was mainly a printer, as well as a perennial candidate for the office of Craiova Mayor. This account is partly supported by Iorga. According to him, Făgețel had run the Ramuri enterprise into debt, and as a result had tried to win favors from the political establishment, joining the National Liberal Party . Aderca also noted that the defense of aesthetic traditionalism fell exclusively on Tomescu, whose long topical essay
59724-549: Was often met with visible reservations (Petre Drăgescu, "Extremismul literar"; Păunescu-Ulmu, "Tradiție și literatură"). In August 1923, Ramuri hosted Iorga's entire conference against Expressionism , which he regarded as a Germanization of Romanian culture (by 1924, the issue was expanded upon in several Ramuri articles, with Iorga detailing his accusations against modernists such as Aderca). This stance nominally placed Ramuri in conflict with Crainic's own magazine, Gândirea , which had welcomed Expressionism as compatible with
59976-409: Was one of the most long-lasting and strongest in the Eastern Bloc. A 2006 commission estimated the number of direct victims of the Communist repression at two million people. In 1965, Nicolae Ceaușescu came to power and started to conduct the country's foreign policy more independently from the Soviet Union. Thus, communist Romania was the only Warsaw Pact country which refused to participate in
60228-476: Was part of the Romanian delegation in Rome during December 1984. He was joined there by his former Ramuri colleague, Marino; the two were attending a function where it was announced that Marino had been shortlisted for the Herder Prize . According to Marino, the news sent Sorescu into a fit of jealous rage—contextualizing the reason why, upon his return to Craiova, Sorescu issued at least one article specifically downplaying Marino's scholarly contribution. During
60480-656: Was present almost from the beginning, with a large number of sketches and short stories ("Adormirea lui Moș Ioniță", "Râvna părintelui Man", "Lumea bătrânilor", "Legământul diavolului", "Baba Ilina se pregătește de drum", "Se-mpacă doi dușmani", "Pocăința neamului"). Other prose writers, with Sămănătorist affinities, included Gârleanu ("Călătorie", "O lacrimă pe o geană"), Ioan Alexandru Brătescu-Voinești ("Părtașul"), Caton Theodorian ("De închiriat", "În paraclisul iubirii"), Alexandru Lascarov-Moldovanu [ ro ] ("O vizită"), Ion Ciocârlan , Eugen Boureanul , Petre Partenie, Tiberiu Crudu, and Ion Dragu. Through Gârleanu,
60732-423: Was presented therein as "Europe's greatest philosopher." The July 1989 issue of Ramuri appeared with significant and unexplained delay. Rumors collected at the time by diarist Liviu Ioan Stoiciu had it that the magazine had not been sufficiently enthusiastic in covering preparations for the 14th Communist Party Congress, and that censorship forced it to reprint that issue. According to Sorescu's own testimony, he
60984-632: Was replaced by Alexandru Piru , who took Ilarie Hinoveanu as his adjunct. Together, they refashioned Ramuri into a magazine of literary theory. This trend was noted in July by România Literară magazine, since that month's issue featured a high number of theoretical essays, including Teodor Bugnariu 's take on Marxist literary criticism , Adrian Marino 's "Critique of literary ideas", and Piru's own musings about literary critics as poets; other portions focused on Oltenian literary history, with Șerban Cioculescu showcasing his discovery of an dramatic poem about Tudor Vladimirescu . Literary criticism remained
61236-424: Was represented by Eftimiu ( Rapsozii ), Iorga ( Tudor Vladimirescu , Sarmală, amicul poporului ), and G. M. Vlădescu ( Omul care nu mai vine ). Blaga was also featured in this category, with a fragment of Zamolxe , which is often seen as a sample of Expressionist drama . Iorga was particularly active, discussing numerous questions of literary history and aspects of daily life in the past. He signed an article about
61488-514: Was still being attacked for his involvement in the Transcendental Meditation affair, and effectively sidelined in October, when "I had been replaced in all by name with Romulus Diaconescu"; Ramuri never printed issues for November and December 1989. That period also witnessed Sîrbu's death in Craiova. The funeral, which had two writers and two Jiu Valley miners as pallbearers, was attended by at least some of Ramuri ' s editors. According to Nedelcea, Sorescu, though mainly active from Bucharest ,
61740-403: Was still manager of Ramuri during the Romanian Revolution of December 1989, which ended communism. As reported by the same source, Sorescu was invited to participate in the revolutionary events, but refrained from such engagements; Nedelcea also argues that foreign powers extended his friend an offer to take over as President of Romania , but that Sorescu again declined, after realizing that he
61992-476: Was the Committee for Culture and the Arts in Craiova Region (later Dolj County ), accounting for their pledge to uphold "the teachings of Marxism-Leninism "; the editorial offices were in the same building as the local daily, Înainte . This incarnation considers itself a successor of Făgețel's enterprise, celebrating 1980 as its 75th anniversary, and 2005 as its centennial. In its first year, it received contributions from C. D. Fortunescu, who had collaborated from
62244-398: Was the first Dacian ruler to unite the local tribes. He also conquered the Greek colonies in Dobruja and the neighbouring peoples as far as the Middle Danube and the Balkan Mountains between around 55 and 44 BC. After Burebista was murdered in 44 BC, his kingdom collapsed. The Romans reached Dacia during Burebista's reign and conquered Dobruja in 46 AD. Dacia
62496-482: Was the most popular radio station in Afghanistan, and Afghan listeners mailed hundreds of hand-written letters to the station each month. In September 2009, RFE/RL announced that it would begin new Pashto-language broadcasting to the Afghanistan–Pakistan border region. The following month RFE/RL introduced a daily, one-hour Russian-language broadcast, broadcasting to the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia . The program, called Ekho Kavkaza ( Echo of
62748-462: Was the public face of this effort to "revive Sămănătorul ", but Iorga directed him discreetly. Nanu was pleasantly surprised that, after having published in Sburătorul an article which openly questioned Iorga's politics, his own poetry was still welcomed at Ramuri . Reaching out across ideological divides, Făgețel also cultivated the post-Symbolist poet Tudor Arghezi . In September 1921, Arghezi asked his support toward liberating an Oltenian member of
63000-469: Was then the Kingdom of Romania . At this stage, it was mainly edited by Constantin Șaban Făgețel and D. Tomescu, with support from Iorga, Elena Farago , and various others. At this stage, Ramuri was also noted for its promotion of exceedingly minor Oltenian writers, compensating instead with translation work. Before and during World War I (when it was briefly chased into exile by The Romanian Debacle ), it managed to obtain sporadic contributions from some of
63252-514: Was tied to the cultural life of what was back then the Kingdom of Romania . Ramuri was closely preceded by N. Popescu-Gorgota's Noua Revistă Olteană , also appearing at Craiova , which had many of the same contributors and is described by scholar Florea Firan [ ro ] as a predecessor; it also emerged as a regional satellite of the more influential Sămănătorul magazine—itself put out from Bucharest by Nicolae Iorga . Constantin Șaban Făgețel and D. Tomescu once described themselves
63504-419: Was welcomed by this venue, which became that group's original mouthpiece. As later reported by the Onirist Dumitru Țepeneag , Paraschivescu, having once been engaged with Surrealism , was hoping to construct a "'holy alliance' of the entire avant-garde." As Ramuri ' s editor-in-chief, Purcaru also tested censorship—by allowing a former political prisoner, Leon Kalustian , to contribute a set of articles on
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