Tag: Constantin

  • Historian Constantin Kiritescu

    Historian Constantin Kiritescu

    The First World War also known as the
    Great War was a period in time when the world decided to get rid of
    frustrations in the most violent way. According to historians, roughly 10
    million people were killed in action during the four years of armed conflict. A
    lot was written about those years to depict the gruesome realities of war and a
    many inspired authors produced genuine literary gems, such as Camil Petrescu’s
    ‘The last night of Love, the First of War’ or the orthopedic doctor Ion
    Ghilamila’s research ‘The Work of Providing Assistance and Re-education to
    Romania’s Disabled Veterans’. The most successful history book though was ‘A History
    of the War for Greater Romania 1916-1919’, which was largely employed by all those
    who wrote about the Great War.








    A
    surprising detail about Kiritescu and his history book is the fact that the
    author wasn’t actually a historian. He was born on September 3rd
    1876 in Bucharest, where he also died on august 12th 1965 at the age
    of 88. During his life, Kiritescu witnessed two major changes in people’s
    outlook over the world, in 1918 and 1945. He was born and educated in a Romania
    built by its first monarch, Carol I of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in the second
    half of the 19th century. He witnessed the birth of Greater Romania
    under its second king, Ferdinand I in 1918. And also saw the collapse of
    democracy under the communist regime backed by the Soviet Union after 1945.
    Kirițescu was a zoologist with a PhD in natural science and teacher at the
    famous high-school in Bucharest Sfântu Sava.






    He
    was the man who paved the way for the study of serpents and reptiles in Romania.
    He wrote a volume on ‘Research over Romania’s Herpethological Fauna and discovered
    an unknown species by that time, a serpent called Eryx jaculus or the javelin
    sand boa, which lives around the city of Cernavoda on the banks of the Danube
    river. He also discovered the Danube newt (Triturus
    dobrogicus
    ), which lives in Dobruja, south-eastern Romania. With a great
    passion for history as a publicist, he wrote the portrait of several people and
    places. He got involved with the country’s education system and represented
    Romania at the Nations League, the ancestor of the present-day UNO.






    A
    History of the War for Greater Romania 1916-1919 the book that made Constantin
    Kiritescu famous was published three times. The first edition was published in
    1922 and 1923 shortly after the war, and the second between 1925-1927. The
    latest edition was printed in the year when communism collapsed in Romania, 1989.


    The teacher and economist Costin
    Kirițescu was interviewed by Radio Romania in 1994 and he recollected the
    success his father’s book enjoyed.






    Costin Kiritescu: The book first
    appeared in two volumes, but they needed a third edition and the book got
    revised, enlarged, updated and that time had three volumes. That proved the
    perseverance of the author, who didn’t even go to war as he was disabled and
    exempted from conscription. But with the connections he had and the huge amount
    of reading that he had done, he managed to write this book, which is seemingly
    a reference one.






    The
    third edition appeared in 1989, the last year of the communist regime in
    Romania, when censorship was very tough. Here is Costin Kirițescu at the
    microphone again.


    Costin Kiritescu: I was working with
    the Finance Ministry and a person from the Central Committee of the Romanian
    Communist Party who wanted to know if it was possible to have a third edition
    of the aforementioned book contacted me. Of course I said yes, and that was the
    beginning of a real tragicomedy. Because after the dictator’s wife, Elena
    Ceausescu had learnt about this project of reediting the book, she called in the
    secretary in charge of the project and hit him in the head with the ink bottle.
    After a series of delays and postponements, for one reason or another, the
    third edition of this book appeared in the autumn of 1989. The third edition was
    completed and commented upon by my father. I was asked to remove a couple of
    words, which I wrote and somehow offended the communist party. That was all.






    Constantin Kirițescu was a
    teacher of zoology with a great passion for history who gave us one of the most
    successful history books in Romania’s historiography.

    (bill)

  • Nachrichten 19.03.2017

    Nachrichten 19.03.2017

    Die internen Verhandlungen der Führungsriege der mitregierenden ALDE sind von einem Eklat überschattet worden. Der Co-Vorsitzende Daniel Constantin verließ den Sitzungssaal gemeinsam mit einer Gruppe von Mitgliedern. Das Treffen sei nicht satzungsgemäß, lautete die Begründung. Die Parteiführung war am Sonntagnachmittag zu Verhandlungen zusammengetroffen. Dabei sollte ein Termin für den Parteitag zur Wahl eines einzigen Vorsitzenden der Partei festgelegt werden. Die aktuellen Koalitionspartner des Sozialdemokraten werden derzeit von zwei Co-Vorsitzenden angeführt, dem Senatschef Calin Popescu Tariceanu und dem Umweltminister Daniel Constantin. Laut Angaben Presseagenturen können sich die beiden Co-Vorsitzenden nicht über die Festlegung eines Termins für den Parteitag einigen. Tariceanu möchte einen möglichst frühen Parteitag Ende April organisieren, während Constantin zunächst interne Wahlen in den Kreisfilialen bevorzugt. Die gewählten Filialenvorsitzenden sollten anschließend den zukünftigen Vorsitzenden der Partei bestimmen.



    Nach dem Angriff auf Soldaten am Pariser Flughafen Orly vermuten die Ermittler ein terroristisches Motiv. Der später erschossene Angreifer habe bei der Attacke gerufen, er wolle durch Allah“ sterben, sagte der Pariser Anti-Terror-Staatsanwalt François Molins am Samstagabend. Auch würden das Angriffsziel – eine Soldatenpatrouille – und frühere Hinweise auf eine Radikalisierung des Mannes für eine terroristisch motivierte Tat sprechen. Der Flugverkehr im Pariser Flughafen Orly wurde indes an beiden Terminals schrittweise wieder aufgenommen. Nach dem West-Terminal wurde am Samstagnachmittag auch der Süd-Terminal wieder geöffnet, wie die französische Luftfahrtaufsicht DGAC mitteilte. Nach der Attacke im Süd-Terminal, bei welcher der Angreifer erschossen wurde, war der komplette Flugverkehr in Orly vorübergehend ausgesetzt worden. Ein polizeibekannter Franzose hatte am Samstagmorgen versucht, einer patrouillierenden Soldatin das Sturmgewehr zu entreißen. Er wurde von anderen Soldaten erschossen. Am frühen Morgen hatte der Mann bei einer Polizeikontrolle nördlich von Paris mit einer Schrotpistole auf Beamte geschossen und einen von ihnen leicht verletzt, meldete AFP.