IICCMER’s Yearbook: Repression and Social Control in Communist Romania, Polirom Publishing House, 2011

The Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile resumed the publishing of IICCMER’s Yearbook by releasing two volumes in one issue (no. V-VI, 2010-2011, Polirom Publishing House). The current edition was co-ordinated by Adrian Cioflâncă and Luciana Jinga.

The Yearbook brings together contributions dealing with the following topics: the institutions and agents instrumental to repression during the communist period; the methods of mobilization, co-option, and social control; and, the practices of the communization of culture and science in Romania. Moreover, the Yearbook contains case studies that offer relevant data on the anti-communist resistance, the victims of repression, and the situation of religious communities under the communist regime. The new issue provides an interdisciplinary and nuanced inquiry on the consequences of communist rule over Romanian society.

Among the authors are: Vladimir Tismăneanu, Paul Hollander, Smaranda Vultur, Cristian Vasile, Bogdan C. Iacob, Mihail Neamțu, Andi Mihalache, Silviu B. Moldovan, Liviu Pleșa, Luciana M. Jinga, Dumitru Lăcătușu, etc. The contributions in the Yearbook make use of archival documents that have only recently been available to scholars, thus providing a novel insights on the various topics analyzed.

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History of Communism in Europe, Zeta Books Publishing House, 2010

The History of Communism's first issue, entitled Politics of Memory in Post-Communist Europe, examines themes like memory, nostalgia and historical past of the former Soviet bloc - Romania, Hungary, former Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, former GDR, Poland, former USSR and former Yugoslavia.

History of Communism in Europe (HCE) presents itself as a journal open to all academic inquiries, which are sensitive to the moral sobriety, conceptual complexity, and methodological sophistication required by any sustained research on totalitarianism. The scholarly investigations of the 20th century must remain an interdisciplinary enterprise, in which raw data and refined concepts help us understand the subtle dynamics of any given phenomenon. History is polyphonic and so the writing of it must be. It is never easy to pinpoint the causal relationship between distinct events, or the agency of different ideas. Historians talk about chronologies, philosophers study the ideological mutations of the Communist doctrinal monism, sociologists and anthropologists look at everyday life (such as the interaction between majority and minority groups). Some are interested in overarching narratives, while others enrich our knowledge of the past with case-studies. The study of Communism calls for a subtle “fusion of horizons”: on the one hand, there is the interpreter, with his or her subjective background, prejudices, and intellectual proclivities. On the other hand, a whole historical age looms at large over the object found under scholarly scrutiny.

The Intellectuals and the Communist Regime. The Stories of a Relationship, Polirom Publishing House, 2009

The fourth yearbook of the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania brings together a series of studies addressing the role played by the Romanian intelligentsia as well as the complicated interactions between the Romanian intellectuals and the communist regime, that is, either their adhesion or opposition to the system.

The situation of the Romanian historiography under the impact of Soviet influence during the first decade of the regime, the analysis of the Securitate files on the name of some of the members of the Writers’ Union, or the case studies referring to Monica Lovinescu, Ion D. Sîrbu, Miron Constantinescu are as many subjects of interest for all those preoccupied with this specific and yet extremely important part of Romania’s recent history.

Party and State Institutions during the Communist Regime, Polirom Publishing House, 2008

The 3^rd edition of the yearbook of the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania is a complex work which brings together studies referring the organization, functioning and attributions held by the Party and state institutions during the communist regime. Through its concrete theme, the volume proposes a clear analysis of the communist period by investigating and researching on the structures that assured the functioning and perpetuation of the totalitarian system.

One can differentiate three parts within the structure of the yearbook. The first one is focused on the structures of the Communist Party, such as the Department of Cadres of PCR Iasi, The Department of Agitation and Propaganda, the organizations of women within the Communist Party; the second part proposes an analysis on communist institutions such as the frontier troops and the militia, while the third part makes an enquiry on the relationship between the church and the political power (the party-state).

Communist Elites before and after 1989, Polirom Publishing House, 2007

The second yearbook edited by the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania,

Communist Elites before and after 1989

, comprises a series of articles referring to the way that the party and the state elites of the communist period were recruited and structured, as well as to their subsequent evolution; the political and economic conversion strategies adopted after 1989 are furthermore examined.

Within the first part of the yearbook, Laurenţiu Stefan considers the evolution of the recruiting patterns of governmental elites by means of compared analysis. Ruxandra Ivan insists on the overlapping of state and party elites during the communist regime and thus brings forward the situation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs at the beginning of the 1950s. Marius Stan, Mihai Burcea and Mihail Bumbeş reconstruct the recruiting pattern of superior penitentiary cadres, while Cristina Roman analyses the factions within the sole party since its setting up until 1952.

Within the second part of the volume, George Mink and Jean-Charles Szurek evaluate the role of the nomenklatura during the transitional process from one regime to another, focusing on identifying the conversion directions of the communist elites in Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic. Raluca Grosescu operates category cutting ups within the Romanian parties founded by the former nomenklatura and analyses their connection to the major themes that fuelled political conflicts in the aftermath of 1990. Alexandra Ionaşcu examines the perenity of the communist heritage as regards the recruiting of the members of post-1989 governments, while Mihăiţă Lupu brings forward a study on the functioning of the “ Ştefan Gheorghiu” party school and its postcommunist destiny.

The third part of the yearbook comprises reviews on the latest works published in Romania on the issue of communist elites. The second yearbook edited by the IICCR aims, as well, at filling the academic gap referring to the foregoing subject. Making no claims to having exhausted the topic, the volume aims at re-opening and nourishing related scientific debates.

"Why Communism Must Be Condemned", Polirom Publishing House, 2006

The first yearbook of the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania, entitled "Why Communism Must Be Condemned", was published by Polirom Publishing House.

The studies comprised within this volume attempt at offering new and often provocative answers to the interrogation that comes as the title of the book.

The volume consists of articles referring to the functioning of the repressive apparatus of the communist state, to the repressive legislation and the study cases which illustrate the relationship between the Party and the Securitate, on one hand, and the various social groups subjected to repression, on the other.

The authors of the above-mentioned studies concentrate on the institutional analysis of the communist regime, on the description of the political police activities and the identification of the abuses and crimes perpetrated in the name of "class fight", as well as on the identification of the persons who may be held responsible.

Contents

Marius Oprea, Argument
Stejărel Olaru, About the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania

IN MEMORIAM

In memoriam Ioan Gavrilă Ogoranu
Clara Mareş, In memoriam Virgil Ierunca

THE DECONSTRUCTION OF THE COMMUNIST REPRESSIVE SYSTEM

Larisa Muşat, State Terrorism in Communist Romania
Cristina Roman, The Legislative Bases of Communist Repression in Romania
Marius Oprea, An Insight into the Securitate Apparatus
Raluca Grosescu, The Physiognomy of Nomenclature
Andrei Muraru, The Cadres' Department as Probing and Control Instrument within the Communist Party

DIMENSIONS OF THE TOTALITARIAN INFERNO

Marius Stan, On the Tragedy of Imposing the New Man. The Pitesti Phenomenon
Dumitru Lăcătuşu, Vasile Ciolpan: A Torturer's Profile
Clara Mareş, The Repression of the Securitate upon Writers between 1986 and 1988
Lucia Hossu Longin, The Drama of the Greek-Catholic Church: An Eternity of Terror

COMMUNISTS IN POST-COMMUNISM

Raluca Grosescu, The Conversion of Communist Elites in Transitional Romania (1989-2000)
Mihai Burcea, Mihai Bumbeş, Public Figures under the Incidence of Lustration

IN SUPPORT OF THE VICTIMS OF COMMUNISM

In Support of the Victims of Communism: Letters to the IICCR

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