#bucharest diaries

[nobeerreviews]

Memory... is the diary that we all carry about with us.

-- Oscar Wilde

(Bucharest, Romania)

[dantesmaiden]

raw Bucharest over the last two weeks

[rollsrocker]

Today marks 83 years since the Soviet annexation of Bessarabia from Romania

SOURCE - Deschide

Today marks 83 years since one of the darkest chapters in the history of the Romanian nation. On 28 June 1940, the USSR issued an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Romania, following the abduction of Bessarabia, northern Bukovina and Herta Land. Under political pressure dictated by the dirty diplomacy of the great global powers and advised by the 'allies' to accept the Soviet government's conditions, Bucharest ceded the requested territories, a total area of 50,762 km2 with a population of about 4 million inhabitants, mostly ethnic Romanians.

On 26 June 1940, the Government of the Kingdom of Romania received a final note from the representatives of the USSR asking it to cede Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina.

In the interest of "restoring the truth"

In that text, Soviet Foreign Minister Veaceslav Molotov argued that Romania had taken advantage of Russia's military weakness and severed the territory of Bessarabia from the Soviet Union in 1918, "thereby violating the centuries-old unity of Bessarabia, populated mainly by Ukrainians, with the Ukrainian Soviet Republic".

"The Soviet Union has never reconciled itself to the fact of taking Bessarabia by force, which the Soviet government declared not once and openly before the whole world. Now that the military weakness of the USSR is a thing of the past, and the international situation that has arisen requires the rapid resolution of the questions inherited from the past in order to finally lay the foundations of a solid peace between countries, the USSR considers it necessary and opportune, in the interest of restoring the truth, to work with Romania for the immediate resolution of the question of the return of Bessarabia to the Soviet Union," the document added.

The Soviet government asked the Kingdom of Romania to return 'at all costs' the territory of Bessarabia to the Soviet Union and to hand over the northern part of Bukovina to the Soviet Union, with the proviso that it expected a reply no later than 27 June.

Manipulation of history

Historical studies have repeatedly noted that the Soviet last note has no support in reality, for several reasons.

First, Bessarabia never had a Ukrainian majority, nor did it have any "secular unity" with Ukraine. On the contrary, ever since the annexation in 1812 by the Russian Empire, the ethnic majority has always been Romanian. The same was true of Bukovina.

Secondly, Bessarabia declared its independence in 1918 from the Russian Federal Republic. The USSR was created in 1922. So Romania could not 'untie' Bessarabia from the USSR for the simple reason that the Soviet Union did not exist.

If anyone should have been compensated, it was the Kingdom of Romania for 107 years of Russian occupation, not the USSR.

Unfortunately, the Kingdom of Romania was at that time internally collapsed, de facto, so it had no one to respond properly to this mocking final note from the USSR.

The notion of "surrender" was avoided

The Kingdom of Romania conveyed to the Soviet government that "immediate negotiations on a wide range of issues" were necessary, a response that did not please the USSR, which demanded Romania's absolute submission and unconditional acceptance, without negotiation, of the conditions imposed.

As a result, on 27 June, Russia issued a second ultimatum, demanding the evacuation of the Romanian administration and army from Bessarabia and northern Bukovina within four days.

The next day, the Romanian government led by Gheorghe Tătărescu, after receiving advice from Germany and Italy, agreed to submit to Soviet conditions.

The decision to accept the Soviet ultimatum and to carry out a 'withdrawal' (the word 'surrender' was avoided) from Bessarabia and northern Bukovina was taken in the Crown Council on the night of 27-28 June 1940.

The diary of King Charles II records that there were 6 votes in favour of rejecting the ultimatum, 20 votes in favour of accepting it and only one abstention.

The King bowed his head to Russian pressure

On the morning of 28 June, the population was officially informed of the existence of the ultimatum and its acceptance by the Romanian Army's General Staff, in communication no. 25.

According to the terms of the ultimatum, three key cities - Chisinau, Chernivtsi and White Fortress - were to be surrendered to the Soviets by 2 p.m.

By 2 July, the new border along the Prut River was permanently closed.

The Romanian government sought to avoid, if only temporarily, a war with the Soviet Union.

As a result, all military installations were surrendered without being destroyed and without a single shot being fired, the Romanian army having strict orders not to respond to any provocation.

More than 200,000 people of all ethnicities fled to Romania in the few days following 28 June.

Forced ideologisation and deportations

Only a small part of the population of Bessarabia and Bukovina greeted the Soviet annexation with positive feelings.

According to Professor Anton Moraru, PhD in history, the character of the occupation of Bessarabia in 1940 was very clearly and convincingly seen in the policy of the communist regime promoted towards the population of Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina and Herta Land, as archival documents show that the population of these territories rejected the occupation regime.

"The smallest protests were suppressed and suppressed by the Russian NKVD and KGB forces. According to some data, in 1940-1941 alone, the communist occupation regime arrested, ill-treated, fined, sentenced, deported and shot more than 300 thousand people in Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina and Herta Land, including 32 thousand innocent people, who were deported on 12-13 June 1941," Anton Moraru said.

In most of the occupied territory, the Soviets proclaimed the Moldovan SSR, while the southern part of Bessarabia, Bugev, and northern Bukovina were annexed to the Ukrainian SSR.

With the proclamation of the Moldovan SSR, the RASSM, the autonomous "Moldovan" republic east of the Dniester, was divided between the two neighbouring Soviet republics, Soviet Moldova and Ukraine.

The losses suffered in the summer of 1940 affected the geopolitical and strategic role and weight of the Romanian state in the region. But the heaviest blow was a moral one. Only 22 years after the fulfilment of an ideal - a united Romania - Romanians had to resume the struggle for national unity from the beginning.

The annexation of Bessarabia by the Soviets anticipated the establishment of the communist regime in Romania after 1944. Since the ethnic Romanian majority in Bessarabia was made up of peasants, and this class was targeted by the measures of terror, the repression indirectly took on a pronounced anti-Romanian character.

[mioritic]

Fave non fiction jewish books?

off the top of my head:

Mihail Sebastian - Journal 1935-1944: The Fascist Years

Sebastian was a great Romanian-Jewish novelist/playwright but imo an even more compelling diarist. He was mostly friends with the far-right/nationalist circle around Nae Ionescu (Mircea Eliade, Mihail Polihroniade, all of those people) and here he writes about his increasing isolation as a Jew who is 1) almost exclusively good friends with fascists, and 2) living in Bucharest during a long series of fascist governments. I've read it four or five times now and go back to it all the time not only because Sebastian is (to me, at least - some would disagree strongly) a very sympathetic character but because he knew almost every intellectual in interwar Romania and it's an incredible resource. The footnotes really suck though, so if you're not familiar with Romania's interwar intellectual scene you might be doing a lot of Googling or missing a ton of context.

Etty Hillesum - An Interrupted Life: The Diaries 1941-1943

Another diary, which I haven't read in years, but it made an impression on me and I still remember a few of the entries word for word. Hillesum was a Dutch Jewish woman living in Amsterdam who was killed in Auschwitz. This diary documents her life under German occupation and (if I remember correctly) her experiences working for the local Judenrat, but also her exploration of Christianity/Catholicisim.

Sam Waagenaar - Women of Israel

The actual text of this is, meh, whatever — but really beautiful photos of early Israeli statehood.

Paul Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz - The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary History

We used this as a textbook for one of my undergraduate courses and it continues to be very useful to me. Original documents, charts, tables, etc. stemming from the 17th century to the modern period. I have the 1995 edition, I think there's a new one from the 2010s which might include more recent documents.

Jacob R. Marcus - The Jew in the Medieval World: A Source Book, 315-1791

Basically the same as above but... medieval!

also:

Tadeusz Borowski - This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen

This is cheating for two reasons but I wanted to put it on the list as it left a deep impression on me. Borowski was a Polish, non-Jewish prisoner at Auschwitz and these are (semi-fictionalized) short stories based on his experience there. But a really tough read, probably the only book I've read where I felt like vomiting after finishing it.

That's what comes to mind... there are probably others that I can't think of at the moment (I kept thinking of novels or poetry while making this list). I hope that's useful to you!

[jayhorsestar]

issue, USA. 2023 early January, HDDs 3x locked and bought SSDs Patriot Elite Burst, installed new, and went on. mid June smth, also ThinkVision LCD pivot went down, had to improvise. recovered and back online. early November, ping of death, ISP awareness, not the STS RO of the SRI RO, but apparently the Internal affairs IA. ten days after the blackout, i managed buy NEW SSD less performance, reinstall WIN10PRO, lost 'facebook ability to logon, kept that onto LAPTOP only, cannot logon from NEW SSD of November. Facebook Albums are only seen by LAPTOP. Tmblr works, Instagram works, emails work well, Facebook wants only LAPTOP logon, telling me i was logging in using old password of June 2023. at least IT TELLS ME they saw me last time during mid June 2023. both or either accounts, 'steven bonin and 'shoemaker levy, same issue. 10 days after the event, i was using AX503 AllView locally assembled tablet of 2018, and suddenly addressed email to AllView, 2 years since cov19, 8mpx as minimum requirements needed to QR med file scanning of vaccines history so to allow access, if shopping and another cov19 risen environment. copied to Allen the Mayor. 48h later on JUMBO real event, minors pick pocketing or thieves of toys, nowadays FINGERPRINTED even if not yet 14 of age, merely 11 old. Law of Aug.2021 tells ID card also biometric, was only the Passport since 2010. Gendarmerie corps no longer sent to beat PAX (or gypsies), caught stealing and volunteers needed for jail, so beating them up, to filter and decide. nowadays fingerprinting 11 of age. so IT WAS internal affairs to knock my D13ROBRW offline during early November 2023, not ISP telecom derivatives. AllView contacted Germanos GSM stores Lawyers, and those fellas contacted Greek sisters at Bucharest, the Translations GRK-ROM office of Olympos Inc diary, competing MILK of Moldova, Asia. ladies sent out for JMB a cousin in law, bro of Ionel, we briefly talked t'was very poor weather and snowing heavily. i might buy a NEW GSM number, SET NEW Facebook and publish them to you, also email. and upload some of those Albums, AGAIN. like the 9th time again, becoming the 9th Facebook attempt since 2007-2008. m

[hiphoprolli]

Plant tycoon flower breeding chart

",fresco,ochreous,jaipur,willamette,quercus,eastwards,mortars,champaign,braille,reforming,horned,hunan,spacious,agitation,draught,specialties,flourishing,greensboro,necessitated,swedes,elemental,whorls,hugely,structurally,plurality,synthesizers,embassies,assad,contradictory,inference,discontent,recreated,inspectors,unicef,commuters,embryo,modifying,stints,numerals,communicated,boosted,trumpeter,brightly,adherence,remade,leases,restrained,eucalyptus,dwellers,planar,grooves,gainesville,daimler,anzac,szczecin,cornerback,prized,peking,mauritania,khalifa,motorized,lodging,instrumentalist,fortresses,cervical,formula_15,passerine,sectarian,researches,apprenticed,reliefs,disclose,gliding,repairing,queue,kyushu,literate,canoeing,sacrament,separatist,calabria,parkland,flowed,investigates,statistically,visionary,commits,dragoons,scrolls,premieres,revisited,subdued,censored,patterned,elective,outlawed,orphaned,leyland,richly,fujian,miniatures,heresy,plaques,countered,nonfiction,exponent,moravia,dispersion,marylebone,midwe" (Indicator: "ntice") "eration,commissioning,yukon,archaic,reluctantly,retailer,northamptonshire,universally,crossings,boilers,nickelodeon,revue,abbreviation,retaliation,scripture,routinely,medicinal,benedictine,kenyan,retention,deteriorated,glaciers,apprenticeship,coupling,researched,topography,entrances,anaheim,pivotal,compensate,arched,modify,reinforce,dusseldorf,journeys,motorsport,conceded,sumatra,spaniards,quantitative,loire,cinematography,discarded,botswana,morale,engined,zionist,philanthropy,sainte,fatalities,cypriot,motorsports,indicators,pricing,institut,bethlehem,implicated,gravitational,differentiation,rotor,thriving,precedent,ambiguous,concessions,forecast,conserved,fremantle,asphalt,landslide,middlesbrough,formula_7,humidity,overseeing,chronological,diaries,multinational,crimean,turnover,improvised,youths,declares,tasmanian,canadiens,fumble,refinery,weekdays,unconstitutional,upward,guardians,brownish,imminent,hamas,endorsement,naturalist,martyrs,caledonia,chords,yeshiva,reptiles,severity,mitsubishi,fairs,installment,s" (Indicator: "ntice") "o,emerge,modeled,adjoining,counterparts,paraguay,redevelopment,renewal,unreleased,equilibrium,similarity,minorities,soviets,comprise,nodes,tasked,unrelated,expired,johan,precursor,examinations,electrons,socialism,exiled,admiralty,floods,wigan,nonprofit,lacks,brigades,screens,repaired,hanover,fascist,labs,osaka,delays,judged,statutory,colt,col.,offspring,solving,bred,assisting,retains,somalia,grouped,corresponds,tunisia,chaplain,eminent,chord,22nd,spans,viral,innovations,possessions,mikhail,kolkata,icelandic,implications,introduces,racism,workforce,alto,compulsory,admits,censorship,onset,reluctant,inferior,iconic,progression,liability,turnout,satellites,behavioral,coordinated,exploitation,posterior,averaging,fringe,krakow,mountainous,greenwich,para,plantations,reinforcements,offerings,famed,intervals,constraints,individually,nutrition,1870s,taxation,threshold,tomatoes,fungi,contractor,ethiopian,apprentice,diabetes,wool,gujarat,honduras,norse,bucharest,23rd,arguably,accompany,prone,teammates,perennial,vacancy,p" (Indicator: "ntice")

[jakobmandel]

[put-the-gundown]

[fregolicotard]

30.12.2017

Made a small trip to Bucharest today <3

#364of365

[dantesmaiden]

snapped by the soul who’s catharsis mirrors mine

[officialromaniantranslatiuni]

Why is that guy from The Vampire Diaries in Bucharest?

[gunshou]

plan for 2022

get fit

blowout my hair

leave my job

start a diary

get a boyfriend

get my own place

move to Bucharest

eat more plums

get falsely accused of murder

become an international fugitive

vacation somewhere warm

[craigmania]

Nathaniel Buzolic @natebuzz : -19th century castle. Building started in 1887. #Romania

#Nathaniel Buzolic #Craig Parker

[paulaerizanu]

I am a journalist writing about politics, arts and culture in Eastern Europe. My work has featured on the BBC World Service and Radio 4, as well as in The Guardian, The Financial Times, London Review of Books, Meduza, Novaya Gazeta, CNN, OpenDemocracy, The Architectural Review, Dazed and other publications. I have repeatedly commented on news from Moldova, my home country — as well as events around the world — for the BBC World Service News Hour and Weekend programmes, but also for CNN, Monocle Radio, ABC, CBC and other broadcasters. I lived in London, UK, for 10 years but am currently reporting from Chișinău, Moldova.

Between 2019 and 2022, I was The Calvert Journal’s Culture Editor, writing and editing news and features on life and culture in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. As part of my role, I also managed the literature section of the magazine. During my time at Calvert, I initiated and coordinated two successful special projects: 100 books to read from Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and After the Fall: 30 years since the end of the Soviet Union. 

In 2019, I was shortlisted for UK’s Culture Journalist of the Year Award by Words by Women. 

I am also an award-winning Romanian-language author. My first book, a diary from the 2009 mass protests in Moldova, This is my first revolution. Steal It (Cartier, 2010, trilingual edition), won UNESCO Germany’s Most Beautiful Book of the Year award. I also authored a poetry collection, Take Care (Charmides, 2015), and edited the pioneering three-part anthology A Century of Romanian Poetry Written by Women (Cartier, 2019-2021), together with the poet and critic Alina Purcaru. My debut novel, The Woods Are Burning, a fictionalised historical account of the lives of early Soviet feminists Alexandra Kollontai and Inessa Armand, was published in 2021, winning the Young Writer of the Year Award at Romania’s Young Writers’ Gala and being shortlisted for the Sofia Nădejde Prize in Bucharest, Romania, and Festival du Premier Roman in Chambery, France.

In addition to English, I speak Romanian, Russian and French.

If you’d like to get in touch, you can write to me at paula.erizanu@gmail.com or on Twitter at @paulaerizanu.

[sailorgreywolf-german]

Germanic Rarepairs: Prussia and Romania

------------------------------

Prussia was sitting and writing down his thoughts before they vanished. It was an unsettled night, and his mind felt equally tumultuous. He was taking down notes of which of his old allies could be counted on to support Germany.

He was running through scenarios in his head. He was already planning on wars that were not yet declared or fought. This was one of Graf von Bismarck’s many lessons that he should be prepared to be several steps ahead. Germany had given Prussia a prominent position in the government and he intended to be useful.

It was strange and stressful to contemplate alliances that were all contingent on his brother securing them. Those who he had cultivated ties with could easily slip away if Germany did not handle them deftly. For the moment Bismarck would be enough to keep things stable. But once he retired it would be hard to say. The uncertainty was enough to give Prussia a headache, especially when he could no longer control diplomacy directly.

Romania settled himself on the divan right next to Prussia and put his head on the man’s shoulder. He said, glancing at the diary in Prussia’s lap, “What are you doing?”

Prussia bit the inside of his lip and tried to decide how much he could say. Romania was a new ally, and was not nearly as comfortable as the old ones. Prussia was counting on his grudge against Hungary to provide a counterbalance against Austria’s empire, but that hardly made him trustworthy. If he were talking to Russia, he would simply voice his thoughts. But the man beside him was not Russia, and it was no longer that easy.

Instead, he snapped the book closed and said, “Just thinking about the future. I want to be prepared.”

Romania gave him a skeptical glance and said, as he put a hand on Prussia’s thigh, “You do look stressed though. Too much of that isn’t good for you.”

Prussia chuckled and replied, “And are you going to offer me something to help me relax?”

He felt like he already knew the answer, and the look in Romania’s eyes only confirmed it. In the dim candlelight his eyes were the most perplexing shade of hazel, and it reminded Prussia distinctly of a wolf. The man seemed to be part predator, both alluring and foreboding.

Romania moved his hand assertively up Prussia’s leg and answered, “Only the best kind of stress relief.” He leaned closer and said in the other’s ear, “Put away the boring work, and I promise I’ll make you forget it.”

Prussia thought for a moment about turning him down, but the temptation was too great with a handsome man pressed against his body. He replied, “Very well. Do your worst.”

Romania smirked and climbed fully into his lap, pushing the book to the side as he did so. He then took Prussia’s face assertively in his hands, and kissed him deeply.

The man tasted like vice. Like sin and lust. Prussia had never experienced quite the same sensation of doing something deeply sinful before, even when he had kissed other in absolute secret. Stolen kisses were not like one made with full knowledge of how damning it was. But it was impossible to pull away.

Romania only paused briefly to shift his attention to the other’s neck right above the stiff collar of his uniform. Prussia exhaled sharply as he felt teeth against his skin. It was equal parts exhilarating and taboo, like he should not allow a mark where the world would see it. Germany already looked at him with suspicion when he returned from his trips to Bucharest.

The urge to push Romania away passed quickly as the man said, in a voice that caused goosebumps on Prussia’s pale skin, “You know you like it. Let me spoil you.”

His mind already made up for the night, Prussia turned his head and allowed Romania to kiss him again.

----------------------

Historical notes under cut:

- After the removal of Alexandru Iona Cuza from power in 1866, a coalition offered the throne to a Hohenzollern prince.

- He accepted the throne and ruled as King Carol I, creating a dynastic link between Prussia and Romania.

- Romania was officially internationally recognized with the backing of the German government at the treaty of Berlin in 1879.

-An independent Romanian kingdom was declared in 1881, with the house of Hohenzollern-Sigmarigen as the royal house.

-Romania remained effectively pro-German in its international politics until the outbreak of the first World War. When any pro-German sentiment was overridden by the desire to oppose both Hungary and Bulgaria.

-Romania benefited immensely from dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian empire and the Treaty of Trianon.

[jakobmandel]