Romanian Post-communist Historiography and the History of the Romanian Communist Regime

Before 1989 the Romanian communist regime tightly controlled the work of historians. In fact, the use of historiography, in the nationalist perspective, had become one of the vehicles of legitimacy of that dictatorship. After December 1989, the Romanian historians, in very complex political and material conditions, attempted to reassert the autonomy of historical research. The author of this article wants to show the difficult course of the research taken by the Romanian historiography, after-eighty-nine, in an attempt to narrate the country's communist past. The essay focuses on the analysis of the transformation taken up by Romanian historiography and the evolution of studies during the past two decades. The study also discusses the birth of several research institutes and their control, on the part of the political forces that have identified the use of history as an instrument of political struggle and delegitimation of their opponents. Finally, the article also outlines the main areas of research identified by Romanian historians, the most important historiographical results achieved, as well as the goals that are still to be reached.

Keywords: Communism, Romania, Romanian historiography, research institutes, transition

Alberto Basciani, La storiografia romena postcomunista e la storia della dittatura comunista in Romania in "MONDO CONTEMPORANEO" 1/2015, pp 173-196, DOI: 10.3280/MON2015-001007