Dennis Deletant
Dennis Deletant
Historian, Emeritus Professor of Romanian Studies, University College, London. Currently, he is Ion Rațiu Romanian Scholar at the History and Public Policy Program, Wilson Center, Washington, D.C. He was awarded ‘The Star of Romania’, Romania’s highest civilian honour, by President Klaus Iohannis, on 26 October 2016, for his activity in the promotion of Romanian history, language and culture. He is the author of several monographs and volumes of studies on the recent history of Romania. His most recent study in English, Romania under Communism: Paradox and Degeneration, was published in 2019 (Oxford; New York: Routledge). An autobiographical memoir, In Search of Romania (London: Hurst Publishers), appeared in May 2022.
Some Reflections on My Experience of Romania

Some Reflections on My Experience of Romania

My first direct contact with Romania took place in July 1965. It was choreographed in such a manner that opportunities to meet members of the public were limited. An inescapable feature of life in Romania under the Communist regime was the ubiquity of the Securitate or the security police, known officially for much of the period as the Department of State Security of the Ministry of the Interior. I realised as much from this visit and that realisation was reinforced during my subsequent experience of the country. My professional and personal involvement with Romania encompassed the entire duration of Ceausescu’s rule, from 1965 until 1989, and it was inevitable that this familiarity and my friendship with historians and writers should attract the Securitate’s attention, as confirmed by my consultation in 2007 of my Securitate file.  More


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