Radu CIUCEANU – (16 April 1928, Arad – 12 September 2022, Bucharest) – Honorary Member of AOSR –
The members of the Academy of Romanian Scientists express their deep sadness at the death of Radu CIUCEANU, Doctor of History, Senior Research Scientist, Honorary Member of the Romanian Academy of Sciences, Honorary Member of the Romanian Academy.
Born on 16 April 1928 in Arad, Radu Ciuceanu was a member of the National Resistance Movement of Oltenia, led by General Iancu Carlaonț. He was arrested in 1948, after being active for two years in the National Anti-Communist Resistance Movement of Oltenia. He was sentenced to 15 years of hard prison, having gone through the “experiment” in Pitesti and the Gherla demolitions.
In 1963 he was released, but he was constantly harassed by security officers and had difficulty getting a job as a day labourer.
Radu Ciuceanu graduated in history and worked as an archaeologist at the Institute of Archaeology and later at the National Museum of History and Archaeology of Bucharest. He studied and obtained a PhD in History ( N. Iorga Institute of History , Bucharest, 1998) with a thesis entitled Autocracy and nationalism. The Destiny of a Dynasty (1665-1856)
In 1990 he was one of the founders of the Association of Former Political Prisoners in Romania, and in 1993 he founded the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism (INST), which he has since directed for almost three decades. He was editor and founding member of the journal Archives of Totalitarianism. Senior Research Scientist I, Member of the C.P.U.N. Executive Board, February-May 1990. Founding member of the first Romanian Parliament 1990 and Vice-President of the Chamber of Deputies 1990-1992.
His scientific work focused on Roman and medieval archaeology, studies on anti-communist resistance, the concentration regime in Romania.
For his merits and achievements, in 1995 he received the Liviu Rebreanu Prize, awarded by the National Ecumenical Centre for the volume Horseshoe without Luck (“exceptional memoir prose in terms of literature evoking the universe of political imprisonment in the totalitarian regime, in 2003 he received the National Order of Faithful Service, in the rank of Knight for all cultural, political and scientific activity, and in 2017 he received the highest distinction of the Romanian Patriarchate, the Patriarchal Cross.
Our Academy loses a distinguished member, a chosen man and a great friend. We express our deep regret and deep sadness for this loss and send our condolences to the bereaved family!
We ask the Good Lord to place him among his Righteous, in eternal light!