CEU eTD Collection Second Reader: Professor Constantin Constantin Iordachi Reader:Professor Second Marsha Siefert Professor Supervisor: The Sovietization of the Romanian Historiography. Case Study: In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Cluj History Institute, 1948-1953. Institute, History Cluj Central European University Central European Grigore ClaudiuGrigore Moldovan. History Department BUDAPEST 2009 Master of Arts Submitted to Submitted By CEU eTD Collection with such instructions may not be made without the written permission of the Author.” the of permission written the without made be not may instructions such with form This a page must part of copies made. Further any such copies madein accordance librarian. the from obtained be may Details Library. European Central in the lodged and full may part beor in madeonly accordance with by instructions the given Author the “Copyright in the text of this thesis rests with the Author. Copies by any process, either in ofCopyright Statement 1 CEU eTD Collection ‘actors’ involved in the implementation of the soviet model? soviet the of implementation in the involved ‘actors’ this institution’s affectformerthe structuring History Institute of were andCluj, what the regime. Its agenda was createto a “new man”, on the model homoof sovieticus. How did the towards devotion with replaced was competence segregated; or either destroyed controlledInstitute bythe Party. The educational and the scientific institutions were History one with replaced were institutions historical Romanian former all act, legislative Abstract In the same year with the creation of the new Academy new educational Academy the and new the of creation the In thesameyearwith 2 CEU eTD Collection BIBLIOGRAPHY: CONCLUSION: INSTITEHISTORY OF CLUJ 1949-1953. ROMANIA: OFHISTORYINCOMMUNIST POLITICS III: THE CHAPTER LEGISLATIVE MEASURES AND THESOVIET‘MODEL’: INSTITUTIONAL II:IMPOSING Chapter MODEL AND AVENUES FOR THE TRANSFORMATION. I: THE SOVIETIZATION OFROMANIANCHAPTER THE HISTORIOGRAPHY: INTRODUCTION Contents of Table III.3. The 1953 Scanteia article and the beginning of a new era...... 59 III.2 Actors in the Sovietization process...... 50 III.1. Eliminating undesirable elements: Ioan Lupas and Alexandru Lapedatu...... 43 II.2. The 1948 Educational act and the organization ...... 37 of Higher Education II.1. The reorganization of the Academy and the new ...... 31 History Institute institutions...... 21 I.3 Avenues of Sovietization: Soviet ‘experts’, ‘academic bureaucrats’, soviet type- I.2 The Soviet model of Historiography...... 15 ...... 10 I.1. Preliminaries ...... 65 ...... 67 4 ...... 31 ...... 41 3 ...... 10 CEU eTD Collection 1 front” was an organization scholarsof authorized towork out aMarxist theory of the past historiography" as exemplified by Mihail Roller’s ’historical front”. This“historical doctrinaire. History became reframed to reflect the narrative of "the conclusions of Soviet and dogmatic ideologically curricula, in universities’ the introduced were programs educational system being Newbasic mandatory reframed. and controlledparty teaching massiveandinstitutes underwent History the restructuring far-reaching the and with The Academy infrastructure. independently newetatizedlonger the under cultural work transformations.” said, “A difficultZhdanovian type was,as policy. It David aprolific Prodan, historian Clujthe of Institute, this of victims main the of one was period disciplines social other alongside history Then, of upheaval, Romanianthe assure Communist Party in to order “revolutionthe historical of writing”. of agitation, of beliefs butalso toprovide constitutive legitimacy identity and newto the ruling power. humiliationsinstrumentum regni inherentprocess to withgreata initiated Party the State the in Romania utopia aim Communist the implement to of attempt its in transforming historyidentity. Therefore in legitimacy and for Europe theirand search of Central regimes East into an important ‘adjustment’ideological of weapon,the past which madethatthe time, future and aspect of understanding present ones towards toan be one of the major temptations of the post-war communist INTRODUCTION David Prodan, The perception of the past always had a determinative role, a considerable impact, The most 1948-1953was period prodigious in the by measures terms taken of Memorii, 1 Thehistorians, whosurvived the purges,suchas Prodan, could no , meant not educate Marxistonly , according the“New to Man”, to (Memoirs)Bucure ú ti, Ed. Enciclopedic 4 ă 1993, 51. CEU eTD Collection 3 (From 1944-1977 (Politics andHistory, The Communists’ Romanian case, 1944-1977).Inhis 2 communist Romania was Vlad Georgescu’s Politic deal which One to in history canbeaddressed.firstone of this the topic with production ways itmanifested itself is a question intellectualof curiosity, and debate disagreement. in andhow this in historiography afterwhat 1948.However, occurred Romanian process dominant became model adifferent consideration political exclusively of out Therefore, number 205. Research Institute the Comintern, the of dissolution the after created structure of a newcommunist part family withas his in Moscow was warended,Roller the Before Party was outlawed. the Romanian and Communist inMoscow who Party studied himself made aname for when duringsome modestand articles he period interwar the was that a member of the Communist in Regimewas instituted isRomania. It however, known, he that published should assist party authorities in effecting a cultural revolution. between formalize thebondscholarship beliefthathistorians the through politics and to meant was and Russia, in Soviet front historical Pokrovskii’s M.N of model the after authors referred to this period as the “Rollerization” of Romanian Historical writing Historical Romanian “Rollerization” of asthe referred tothis period authors some writing, historical Romanian the on influence major its to Due levels. all at policy andtheeducational shaping thescience possibility of academiaandhavingthus the the in as well as in government positions holding skills, entrepreneurial and academic both possessed who a scholar administrator Boia, by Lucian as used History”, of the dictator Florin Constantiniu. Ibid . 5ă utu and Rollerto There are multiple studies that examine this process due the different ways in ways different due the this process examine that studies multiple There are before the unknown person an he rather was Roller concerns In what Dela R Mu ă utu ú at and at and Ardeleanu) Ed., Bucure ú i Roller la Mu 2 After his return to Romania he was deemed ‘the little ú at 5 ú i Ardeleanu, ăú ú ti: Enciclopedic i Istorie. Cazul comuni ă , 2007. ú tilor români 3 . CEU eTD Collection Romaniaobserved, Bucuresti, 1998. “Rewriting the Past: Trends inContemporary Romanian Historiography” inM. Pearton, D. Deleltant, Historiography underCommunist Rule” in EuropeanHistory Quarterly, Vol 26,1996, Dennis Deletant , romaneasca istoriografia romana Marx. Studiidespre comunism si consecintele sale Istorie si practice discursiveIstorie sipractice in Romania “Democrat Populara”, 5 Romania) Bucuresti Ed Humanitas,1991. 4 Opris’s,Istoricii Ioan second, the while and Ceausescu, how history andmastered itproduced regime whothe during of GheorghiuGheorghe Dej National in History hisBucharest Institute personal uses in who experience revealing isRoller MusatandArdeleanu), to atby ahistorian astudy thewritten who worked Ardeleanu,Rautu to si si la 2007 (From laRollerFlorin Musat Rautu Constantiniu’sDe topic, the in several historiography institutes. inhistory how the transformation andbasedonarchival documents, writing reflected was language as politicalthe communism a professional was transferred languageof type how with continues It after. well as war the before historiography Romanian on Marxism complex study in develops author whichthe topica broad starting with influencesthe of Romania,(Politics 1948-1964, and Historiography in ThisRomania, 1948-1964). is a in istoriografie si Politica Muller’s is Florin regime, Dej’s Gheorghiu Gheorge history secondstudy, important focused onthe phenomenon complex bonding politicsof with policy.” aundemocratic and history afalsified between occurred combination yearsthe following the‘glorious liberation’ himwhen, according to “unnatural an in Romanian politics to history of “enslavement” complete the present to aimed émigré, instudy, written 1977 and inMunchenprinted in as 1981, Georgescu a Romanian AlZub, ,, Georgescu, Vlad It is also important to mention that besides several other studies concerned with concerned studies other several besides that mention to important also is It 5 Orizont Inchis, istoriografia romana sub dictatura , Bucuresti, Humanitas, 1997, 2000, Serban Papacostea, “Captive Clio Clio “CaptivePapacostea,Serban 2000, 1997, Humanitas, Bucuresti, , Romanian : two others that appeared recently offer a new perspective to the problem. the to perspective anew offer appeared recently that others two Politica si istoriografie in Romania, 1948-1964, , Bucuresti, Ed, Enciclopedica, 1997, Lucian Boia, Lucian 1997, Enciclopedica, Ed, Bucuresti, , 6 , Iasi, 2005, Keith Hitchins, Institutul European Iasi Andi Mihalache, Albatros, Bucuresti,2003; (Politics and Historiography in Historiography and (Politics ú i securitatea. (The Historians (The i securitatea. Istorie simit in constiinta Mit si realitate in Pe urmele lui 4 The CEU eTD Collection about Poland or Czechoslovakia, not to mention the lands further south and East” 6. East” and south further lands the mention to not Czechoslovakia, or Poland about education 1945-1956 6 study. comparative inyetintegrated sucha are not who andYugoslavia) here Bulgaria Romania, East,(naming in the further lands the about learned be to remains more much Stalinism, though such enquires have helped chipaway atmonoliththe impression of East European from a cultural of view, asa“monolithic point To paraphrase bloc”. John Connelly even least at describe region, the to false assumption bein isit a two would end the the that of hypothesis main The settings. international and national local, varying across operated it how arose, regime academic Soviet aparticular how present to try authors where the far, so written best the are inUpheaval, Academia Fox, David Michael as theoneedited as wellSovietization HigherGerman, PolishEast and 1945,-1956, of Education, Czech, John The Connelly’s, Captive University. andEurope. Central countries of East important studies other of deal aspect thewith Sovietizing culture complex the the of institutions. control and informers of network vast a through control permanent under whosurvivedwere while purged, later those and wereundersurveillance Daicoviciu etc) very which well waysin reflect which (Lupas, Dragomir,Lapedatu, the historians the archives from Securitatea’s the several documents 2-vols), contain and Securitatea, the measures initiated in 1948 history production in communist Romania was at all times all at was Romania communist in production history in 1948 initiated measures after the fact that from the starting model. Therefore institutional asoviet transfer to of attempting theprocess on namely process, this aspectof particular of the one focusing on process institutional aspectof this of from the historiography perspective the John Connelly, Beside thesetypesfocus which studies, of exclusively on several Romania, the This study This study topicwill ofsovietization address complex the Romanianthe of Captive University: The Sovietization of East German, Czech and Polish Higher , 2000, Univ of North Carolina Press, “far more is known about East Germany than Germany East about known is more “far Press, Carolina ofNorth Univ 2000, , 6 7 CEU eTD Collection 2008,1. of Eastern Europe:new perspectives on thepost-war period. Tribuna, issuedby Inaddition publications Academyandthe the History Institute, time,the including newspapers such as:Scanteia,Ardealului, Lupta Contempornul, used organizational regulation of institutionsthe under study, aswell officialas press of university. In order tothe and Committee Party Regional by the byboth created offer documents archival on relied a complex interpretationsuch asof thethe phenomenoninstitutional theI relied on somestudy of the studiestransformation indicatedalso above, while for the particular sections of study, of the Academy transformation. its in involved andactors the and Cluj of History Institute History the on Institute of Clujinstitutions emerged. Starting from such preliminaries, the last partwill exclusively focus I Romania, as well as on of Republic Academy Peoples the coordinateof activity, the entirethe to meant cultural the newly created Historylevel inimposingfocusing themodel, the institutionalon creation an mega-structure of Institute in whichmacro- stateata in by initiated Romanian 1948 ofthe mainmeasures the presentation all former historywell as on sometheoretical approach to this process,focusing on Sovietthe model historiographyof as of the facilitating factors for its transfer. I will then offer a short 7 models developed inthe Soviet Union Cluj. academic neutrality of a specific historical institution, namely the History Institute from institutional structuring the determined internal politicization and cancellation previous of under the control of the state and implicitly to that of the Party I will present how this 7 E.A. Rees “Theories of Sovietization” in Balázs Apor, Péter Apor and E.A. Rees For this study several types of sources have been used. For the general thegeneral For been have of approach For thissources used. types study several As sovietization in general involved the transplantation of institutions and institutions of transplantation the involved general in sovietization As 7 in the first part of the study I will offer a 8 Washington,DC : New Academia Publishing, , ed . The sovietization The CEU eTD Collection Anuarul Institutului dinde Istorie Cluj intowere as well incorporated study. the , istorie de cercetarii si Studii Studii, Române, Populare Republicii Academiei Analele 9 CEU eTD Collection New York, Oxford University Press, 1993, 14. varied once a 1950 early the by and implications its and transformation the of uniformity 8 sterility. ideological and stagnation intellectual adulation, Stalin of cult mindless a implied which Russomania from someworld synthetic and peoples’other democracies, noncommunist extent to an ‘iron the behind in beingcurtain’, countries itfrom terms isolation, described of the he called by what from rest the was separated continent of the part TheEastern Europe. aftermath of World War IIaninsurmountable and impenetrable divide had arisenin I.1. Preliminaries TRANSFORMATION. FOR THE ANDAVENUES THEMODEL HISTORIOGRAPHY: ROMANIAN OF THE SOVIETIZATION CHAPTER I: Joseph Rothschild, Joseph According to Winston Churchill’s mental mapping of the continent, in the Return to Diversity: A political History of East Central Europe since World War II 8 Western observers were stunned at the apparent totality and totality apparent the at stunned were observers Western 10 The Romanian Scholar(…) couldn’tuse in VoropsySociety”, istorii, 1949) (“Basic task ofthe historians ofSoviet of socialist reorganization of their fatherlands. to do the difficult but wonderful and noble work Bulgaria, Albania,Mongolia, China and Koreea Poland,Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, makes iteasier for the working people of The example andexperience of the soviet Union (Romanian Soviet Annales, I, nr.1. Oct1946 emptiness in culture. thinking and felt inawkward mannerthis partially and sporadically the sovietway of The intellectual in general, could not knew but just research. soviet of experience vast the laboratory ) , his CEU eTD Collection 2008, 11. Eastern Europe: new perspectives on the post-war period. institutionsfriendship cultural and societiesdo or so to itperiodicals. Inorder will first in type soviet asexamined of‘model’, imagesof by the occupied cultivation positive the least the study will show that as a part of the sovietization a place of priority was 11 Iasi, 2000,21. romana sub dictatura 10 education 1945-1956 in exileintheUSSRandwhowerethemselves “thoroughly sovietized.” alsobut by carried through whowereMoscow cadres trained,long whohad spent periods soviet advisers andoffered who specialists advicebothof technical and of political kind of help the with effected was this that arguing implementation, its for avenues the for as Stalinism. cultural of years in the Romania model,narrowing down their usetothe situation history of inproduction communist andEurope. Central East sovietization the of process this of aspects the different to the in agreementrespect far from reaching an are historians and inhistoriography debate great is still under how a different Soviet model (in politics, economics and culture ) was actually imposed 9 postbelica’. sowjetica ‘uniformitas of in terms region the Germany described inHalle East at University literature in Romance specialist Klemperer, 1952,Victor In springof the Europe. Central from and East contemporaries block’. ‘monolithic the Hugh Seton toresembleWatson called ofnational what wasthought landscape cultures John Connelly, E.A. Rees “Theories of Sovietization” in Balázs Apor, Péter Apor and E.A. Rees Term used by Alexandru Zub in descriptionhis of 1948-1964 period in This part of the study revolves around such concepts as sovietization and The same feeling a total of and uniform was transformation present among the Captive University: The Sovietization of East German, Czech and Polish Higher , University of North Carolina Press, 2000, 6. , (Dark Horizon, Romanian Historiography under dictatorship, Institutul European 10 11 It represents a quest for the ‘model’ as well 9 However, how transformation occurred, transformation how However, Washington, DC : New Academia Publishing, Orizont inchis, istoriografia , ed . The sovietization of sovietization The 11 Last but Lastnot CEU eTD Collection of the Republic, see L. Salajean, “Doi ani de la instaurarea R.P.R.” in R.P.R.” instaurarea de la ani “Doi Salajean, see L. Republic, the of the ‘objectives ofthe Romanian Communist Party” described inparty press yearstwo after instauration the in Tismaneanu by Vladimir such 14 Watson, Seton Hugh- region., ofthe parties communist the of control the and cohesion the increase to objective immediate an as had and context international the to reaction a was by Moscow ordered change, The region. the across once with1947 the popular fronts time ended and the local communist started to seize total political power communists, were in power. Political and cultural activities, even though limited, were still possible.But 1945-1947 in the countries thatwere under the control of the SovietUnion, ‘coalitiongroups’, led by local nr, 1,January 1950, 29. stages: genuine coalition, façadethree in coalition place took and monolithic take-overs the bloc that He argues Seton-Watson. Hugh by forward put one the is Europe 13 be needto made. Europe several considerations Eastern initself manner of in manifested life countries cultural the which Central the of and the and place took sovietization of phenomenon the which in ways the decoding of terms 12 imposed. itwas where societies the of restructuring fundamental the at aspiration andinstitutional instructures manifestation economics, politics with and culture the Europe. Eastern rule over of Soviet critics westerns human affairs,become in 1940sand1950by usedinapejorative widely sense to the of for system new superior organizing of a establishment the connotations regarding characteristics. clarify the its of importanceuse term forunderstandingthe itsdue to sovietization countries. European stages inmost East distinctthe of through cold war,which proceeded Western commentators was by It and aprocess, asdescribed thus Europe. Central of occupiedcountries Eastern of the post war era, intimately Sovietthe describe imposedon transformation of 1945,to currency process the after connected with the onset of the I use here the three, politics, economics and cultures as the main objectives of sovietization, indicated as indicated sovietization, of objectives main the as cultures and economics politics, three, the here use I Probably the most influential interpretationof how the communist seized powerin Eastern and Central See E.A. Rees Sovietization was aterm initially used in itself the Soviet Union with positive 13 The use of this term implies the creation of a specific Soviet system with The East European Revolution, Ibid , 9. Stalinism Stalinism pentru eternitate New York ; WashingtonPraeger, : 1968. 12 13 . According. tosuch interpretation,during 12 It therefore came into general into came Ittherefore (Stalinism forall seasons) as well as Lupta deClasa (Class Struggle), V, 14 In CEU eTD Collection History,analogies, consequences, In cooperation with Oldrich Tuma and Jiri Jindra ed. step by step depending on internal and external events, Alexandru Zub and Flavius Solomon, project withsimilar or comparable manifestations or rather the result of a Moscow Realpolitk, articulated 16 Connelly, See John of field. regardless contrast the leadership had proclaimed its intention to engage into cooperationwith the professoriate formed by Communist students purged the Czech professoriate of alleged reactionaries. In Poland, by 150-1951 or assert central Party control at universities until after1953, instead revolutionary committees, did not continue to teach after 1945. professors ofthe 80% where professoriate, the among break unprecedented an caused denazification radical 15 late 1920s and early 1930s nor East Central Europe’s Central 1920s late Eastcommunistmakers 1930snor Europe’s policy after and early prototype of Soviet creators of the the the “neither As Gyorgy Peteri argues persuasively, model is 1940sRussian questionable. had of a1920s,or that duplication the asagoal perfectly. occurred transfer the implementation of matters in uniformity was really notmean there that does inintentions uniformity However experiences. Soviet postwar to references explicit with region the over all weredefined apparatus science-political previous, the goals beto achieved and themethods to be applied by the Party cultural and As stated elite. old the replacing or using while intelligentsia anewscientific create andsystem of communistto cadre promotion into broader academiathe to integrate plan creation, the to objectives, andeconomic political promote to andeducation, science of direction and reshape organization the to wereenormous: process the of ambitions brutal suppression of majoritythe its of individualsproducers, and institutions. The in interestwith concurrent etatist culture, an cultivated unprecedented andEurope Central region as a whole, the fact that Soviet Union as well as local communist parties of East One of the frequent questions about the process in the scholarly debate is whether it represented a soviet it represented whether is debate scholarly the in process the about questions frequent of the One An example would be the policies toward the professoriate: In East Germany, wartime migrations and a Secondly, it should be stated plan’it ‘master beshouldthat Secondly,of existence itself stated the aSoviet the for truth a was it years post-war in the that be argued should it all of First Ia 15 ú i: Polirom, 2003, Polirom, i: In Czechoslovakia party officials did not purge the professoriate until professoriate the purge not did officials party Czechoslovakia In Ibid ,3. 13 Sovietization in Romania and Czechoslovakia 11. 15 of such objectives, or the fact that 16 CEU eTD Collection better described with concrete reference to the‘model’. reference to concrete described with better context. academic a different 2) contents, Sovietmodels ofnarrative and structures, institutional 3)Soviet modelsinto ideological Models of Soviet totransfer: 1) attempting as of a process historiography region under study. his Narrowing down definition Klimo describes sovietization of ofinstitutional of process inhistoriography ruptures changes and the countries of the as representedthe that be byArpadvonKlimo,described should ametaphor understood were closed. of Soviet science whichThe subordination a Sovietto ‘model’meant was also reflected in the celebration of the primacy that direct while commandeeringby control science through state of academiaover the anduniversity.the links with westerntransformation in centersthe cultures of the countries of the region was reflectedof in thelearning early 1950s” in Balázs Apor, Péter Apor and E.A. Rees 20 19 18 Bergin&Garvey, 203. Transformations of the Communist Academic Regimein RussiaEast Central and Europe conflict. Cominform, Soviet-Yugoslav the and of the establishment War, the Cold escaladating rapid the country: the andoutside within Communists.” idea,“or even less some detailed design Sovietor Model pursued byHungarian somuch not then a clear was arrangements in line with regime Soviet the the academic Hungarian the brought what that suggest Peteri Academy, Hungarian the of study case 17 in1945 had master thesenseof a <
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