Nicolae Iorga was born in Botosani, north-eastern Romania, in 1871. He studied history at
\nuniversities in Romania, Italy, France and Germany. He spoke several languages
\nand he approached various historical themes and subjects and was also
\ninterested in the philosophy of history. He wrote some 20,000 articles and 1200
\nvolumes and brochures. He was the cultural representative of the Samanatorist
\nideology, which glorified the Romanian peasant. From a political point of view,
\nhe was a conservative, an anti-Semite and promoter of authoritarianism. In 1910
\nhe funded the Nationalist Democratic Party, together with lawyer AC Cuza, and
\nstood for Romania’s joining the Entente in WWI. He was close to the future king
\nCarol II, and he became prime-minister in 1931. He was very much convinced that
\nhe had the exceptional mission of being the educator of the nation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In
\n1999, Historian Eliza Campus gave an
\ninterview to the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation’s Oral History Center,
\nspeaking of Nicolae Iorga as a role model, both personally and professionally. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
I met him at the History Faculty and we established a very good
\nrelationship from the very beginning. My father had just died, so I was in
\nmourning, wearing black clothes, and he asked me whether I needed help, lessons or something to earn
\nsome money. Since then, we became close. He would always invite me to his
\nplace, to study in his library, and we were really close until I graduated.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Nicolae
\nIorga was an old-fashioned, 19th century type of nationalist, so he
\ngot into conflict with the legionnaires, who were Fascist radicalists. As a
\nresult of this conflict, their leader, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, died in 1938.
\nIn 1996, journalist Pan Vizirescu, an admirer of Iorga, tried to explain the
\ncircumstances in which the conflict between the two parties occurred:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
After the killing of Codreanu, at a conference held at the Royal
\nFoundations, Mr. Iorga said in front of the audience: ‘I wanted to advise the
\nlegionnaires, as a parent, not to cut their heads off’. It was a big difference
\nbetween his advice and what Carol did. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Literary
\nhistorian Gabriel Tepelea saw Nicolae Iorga for the first time on December 1st,
\n1933, when he was only 17. Tepelea told the public television that he had seen
\nthe historian at the public meeting of the National Revival Front, a
\ntotalitarian party controlled by King Carol II. A devout democrat, Tepelea
\nbelieves that sometimes a person’s intellectual capacity does not match their
\ncharacter, and Iorga was such a person.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
I remember Iorga, with a patriarch’s beard, dressed up in a blue uniform,
\nas royal adviser, member of the National Revival Front. There are many
\noutstanding cultural figures who have not been able to say no to their own
\nambitions, and in Iorga’s case, he could not stand up to both the king’s and
\nhis own personal ambitions. So they resorted to some measures used by
\ndictators, such as dismantling political parties, abolishing democracy and
\nneglecting traditional alliances.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Engineer
\nPaul Stiubei recalled, back in 1994, how Iorga spoke on the public radio in
\n1940. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
He had a text, but he would always derail from the text and digress. I
\nattended many of his public conferences, and he would always do the same, and
\ninnuendos were his favorite. I remember that, one time, he came here and the
\nGeneral Director Nicolae Sarateanu told me to let him operate the recording. He
\nwas afraid that Iorga would say something against the Germans, as back then Romania
\nwas pro-Germany.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
On
\nNovember 27, 1940, Nicolae Iorga was taken to Strejnicu forest and killed by
\nlegionnaires. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a 2006 contest organized by the public television, Nicolae Iorga came in 17th out of 100 personalities most admired by Romanians<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":130805,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41141],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-130804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-history-show"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n