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Entries from January 30th, 2017

“Blouse Roumaine”, ou le rayonnement de la culture Roumaine en France: par Constantin ROMAN

January 30th, 2017 · Comments Off on “Blouse Roumaine”, ou le rayonnement de la culture Roumaine en France: par Constantin ROMAN · Books, Communist Prisons, Diaspora, Famous People, History, OPINION, PEOPLE, Poetry, POLITICAL DETENTION / DISSENT, quotations, Reviews, Science, Translations

“Blouse Roumaine” is not intended as a feminist book, although it will interest feminists. However this Anthology reflects the social history of a corner of Europe through the perception and the avatars of Romanian women, who remained native, or those who took the sad road of exile.
This anthology covers both 19th and the 20th centuries, with an emphasis on women since WWII. A number of ‘unknown illustrious’ women, whom the author considers quite exceptional for their character, are also included, such as political prisoners, women of the maquis, who perished in the Romanian gulags, (not just the upper classes and the dispossessed, but also the less formally educated, farming, or working class women).

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Constantin ROMAN: Memoirs “Continental Drift, Colliding Continents, Converging Cultures” (extract)

January 6th, 2017 · Comments Off on Constantin ROMAN: Memoirs “Continental Drift, Colliding Continents, Converging Cultures” (extract) · Books, Diary, Education, History, International Media, PEOPLE, POLITICAL DETENTION / DISSENT, Reviews, Science, Short Stories & Cameos

Mi-am analizat rapid, din interstiţiile memoriei, virtuţile eventuale ale originii noastre sociale, pentru ca să pot avea o ideie de cum m-aş fi putut bucura de libertatea de a călători în străinătate, atâta timp cât paşaportul era acordat doar pe criterii de apartenenţă la o anumită clasă socială şi politică privilegiată: era evident că în familia noastră nu ne-am născut “ilegalişti”. Departe de a aparţine categoriei privilegiate de comunişti nomenclaturişti, familia noastră nu dorea să se compromită luând din mers trenul communist, ba chiar dimpotrivă, după ce ne pierdusem prin expropriere şi naţionalizare toate economiile şi bunurile mobile şi imobile, ajunsesem să fim marginalizaţi. Şansa noastră de supravieţuire nu era foarte bună, să nu mai vorbim de luxul de a fi obţinut un paşaport.

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“Blouse Roumaine”: Henriette-Yvonne Stahl (Mrs. Petru Dumitriu), (1900-1984), Romania, “Prisoner of Conscience”

January 4th, 2017 · Comments Off on “Blouse Roumaine”: Henriette-Yvonne Stahl (Mrs. Petru Dumitriu), (1900-1984), Romania, “Prisoner of Conscience” · Books, Communist Prisons, Diary, Diaspora, Famous People, International Media, PEOPLE, POLITICAL DETENTION / DISSENT, quotations, Reviews, Translations

By contrast to Stahl, Dumitriu was an unknown quantity, a rough diamond from the provinces, the young-man-in-a-hurry, ready to climb the greasy pole of the communist political establishment. This may not be the place to discuss this ‘fatal attraction’, which the fragrant 45 year-old Stahl had for the handsome 22 year-old muscle.

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