Dennis Deletant and Romania’s history seen from Great Britain

Dennis Deletant is one of the most prominent foreign scholars from the second half of the 20th century to write about Romania.

Steliu Lambru, 15.12.2025, 14:00

The History Show: Dennis Deletant and Romania’s history seen from Great Britain

Among the foreign historians who have studied the history of Romania, the name of the British Dennis Deletant stands out for the diversity and the meticulousness of his academic output. He and the American historian Keith Hitchins (1931-2020) dedicated an important part of their studies and research to the history of Romania and can be considered the most prominent foreign scholars from the second half of the 20th century to write about Romania.

Born in 1946 in Norfolk, the UK, Dennis Deletant studied history at the University of London and became a professor at University College London, School of Slavonic and East European Studies. His work includes books on the political history of Romania in the 20th century, the history of Romanian communism, the history of communist intelligence services in post-communism, and the clandestine activities of the British in Romania during World War II. Because of his pro-democratic activities, the regime led by Nicolae Ceaușescu declared him persona non-grata before 1989. He is the recipient of the Order of the British Empire awarded by the British state and of the Cultural Merit by the Romanian state. He also won the title of doctor honoris causa from several universities.

Dennis Deletant’s latest book is about Romania under communism, a synthesis of the political, economic and cultural implications of the communist regime between 1945 and 1989. At the launch, the British historian referred to one of the major themes in contemporary Romanian political history that he and others have written about, namely the identity crisis of the Romanian Communist Party in the interwar period:

“What happened immediately after World War I in the ranks of the Socialist Party? Most of its members were not Romanian. The documents we’ve had access to, including Soviet documents, show that the Socialist Party of Romania in the early 1920s was dominated by members who were from the ethnic minorities in Romania. With difficulty, the Comintern found a Romanian first secretary for the Communist Party of Romania, Gheorghe Cristescu, who ended up in communist prisons after 1944. He was the only Romanian first secretary in the ranks of the Romanian Communist Party during the interwar period. All the other first secretaries were chosen from among the members of the ethnic minorities in Romania and it is easy to understand why these leaders led the party in the direction of Moscow.”

The Romanian Communist Party pursued a policy that was against the Romanian state, which the latter declaring it a terrorist group in 1924 and outlawing it. A move Dennis Deletant views as justified:

“The Romanian Communist Party at that time adopted an anti-Romanian policy in the sense that it wanted provinces like Bessarabia to join the Soviet Union. Of course, these policies antagonised and angered most Romanians. The Romanian Communist Party had no chance of coming to power with such Stalin-inspired policies in the interwar period.”

In his writings, Dennis Deletant also drew on face-to-face interviews with prominent historical figures. One such man was Gheorghe Apostol, Nicolae Ceaușescu’s competitor for the leadership position in 1965, following the death of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej:

“Mr. Apostol, who welcomed me to his home, after the Revolution, of course, told me all sorts of absolutely fascinating things. It was clear that he was very angry with Ceaușescu at the time. Of course, both of them were in competition for the position of leader of the Communist Party after the death of Dej. Apostol never really got over the fact that he lost the contest, let’s call it that. I realised that he simply couldn’t stand the impertinent Ceaușescu.”

The depths of Dennis Deletant’s books even earned him the respect of some of the people who used to be part of the communist regime’s security police:

“I was doing research at the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives for my book on Antonescu and August 23, 1944  when a gentleman I knew came up to me. I knew he was from the Romanian Intelligence Service, and gave me some sheets of paper containing Apostol’s letter. Even today, without asking, I receive documents about the communist era even from former Securitate officers, who perhaps have some unfinished business and who want to give me certain details. I receive them with great pleasure, of course. This reminds me of what Mr. Virgil Măgureanu [the first head of the Romanian Intelligence Service in the post-communist period] told me in the summer of 1993, in an incident that I recounted in my memoirs. That’s when I received access to the Securitate archive and found documents there that apparently no longer exist in today’s archive of National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives. When Mr. Măgureanu approved my access, I asked him why he was giving me permission, as a foreigner? His answer was that he trusted me and that he didn’t trust others. This was my luck that being from outside, people trust me and my fairness.”

Dennis Deletant’s work has contributed to shedding more light on contemporary Romanian history and helped form new generations of Romanian historians after 1989.