British historian Dennis Deletant, a specialist in the History of Romania, on Tuesday will hold a conference on the role of history at the Tara Crisurilor Museum (MTC) in Oradea, to release a Romanian version of his „In search of Romania,” which will be presented by the museum’s historian and director, Gabriel Moisa, write Agerpres.
„The theme of the conference – ‘The importance of the past and the role of history’ – which Professor Dennis Deletant will hold is of crucial importance in the current context, in which societies face numerous challenges and changes. Professor Dennis Deletant will explore how the understanding of the past and the lessons learned from history can contribute to making decisions for a better future,”MTC says in a press release.
Deletant, who is also a linguist, political analyst and humanitarian activist, will hold the conference as part of the Colloquiums of the Tara Crisurilor Museum on Tuesday, September 12, in the conference hall. Admission is free limited to 150 seats. Dennis Deletant is visiting professor at the Ion RatiuDepartment of Romanian Studies at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., and professor emeritus at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London. He studied the Romanian language as a student at the University of London and made contact with Romania in 1965, when he attended summer camp in Sinaia. Since then, he has returned countless times to Romania, where he met his future wife. He has frequently visited the country, making contact with the Romanian realities under the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu, being surveilled step by step by the late Securitate political police and finally declared persona non grata in 1988 by the communist regime.
Deletant’s activity was acknowledged after 1990 through numerous awards he received, including honorary doctorates from Romanian universities. He was also decorated with a Commander medal of the For Merit National Order for his services to Romania’s democracy (2000), and in 2022 he became a Romanian citizen. He has published more than ten books about Romania.
„In Search of Romania” is, according to MTC, a book of „memoirs written with empathy and humor about his back and forth between London and Bucharest, about the daunting obstacles put up by Ceausescu’s political police Securitate to the young British researcher eager to study the language and history of Romania in the 60s, about how difficult it was in the 70s to get a passport with an exit visa for his new Romanian wife, about a 1,500-page dossier kept on him by Securitatea.”
The event is organised by the Tara Crisurilor Museum together with the University of Oradea, the Faculty of History, International Affairs, Political Sciences and Communication Sciences and in partnership with the Bihor County Council and the Oradea City Hall.
