Stiintele socio-umaniste in contextul evolutiei globalizate
- dezvoltarea si implementarea programului de studii si cercetare postdoctorala

Profil

“Dunărea de Jos” University of Galati, Str. Domnească nr. 111, Cod 800.201, Galaţi
Tel.: +4/0336/130.194

Education

• Romanian Academy, New Europe College, Bucharest, post-doctoral scholarship in the programme "The socio-humanistic sciences in the context of a global evolution", October 2011 – September 2012. Topic – the history of the Jewish community from the Lower Danube;
• "Stefan cel Mare" University of Suceava, October 2003 – May 2008, Contemporary History, Ph. D. in History (Ph.D. thesis – The Maritime Danube between the Sinaia Settlement and the Belgrade Agreement (1938-1948) – coordinated by Professor Dumitru Şandru);
• "Dunărea de Jos" University of Galati, Faculty of Letters, History and Theology, 1999-2000, M.A. in History;
• "Dunărea de Jos" University of Galati, Faculty of Letters, History and Theology, 1995-1999, B.A. in History and Philosophy.

Work Experience

• February 2003 – present. Assistant Lecturer and (currently) Lecturer at the History Department, "Dunărea de Jos" University of Galati. Responsible with courses and seminars in the field of contemporary history, as well as administrative activities and scientific research.

Research Activities

• The role of the Danube in Romanian and European history; ethnic relations and movements of population in the Lower Danube area.
• Member in the editorial board of scientific and cultural journals (member in the editorial board of the scientific journal The Annals of the “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galati, History Series and of the cultural magazine Dominus).

Publications

• About 25 scientific papers published in Romanian and foreign journals and collective books (papers in Romanian, English and Russian);
• Author of book (in Romanian): The Maritime Danube between the Sinaia Settlement and the Belgrade Agreement (1938-1948) , Galaţi University Press, Galaţi, 2008, 351 p. (ISBN – 978-606-8008-01-1).

Research grants

• Member in national research teams: 2005-2007 – the project Romania and the European Commission of the Danube (1856-1948) , funded by The National Council for Scientific Research in Higher Education (CNCSIS), coordinated by prof. Ion Agrigoroaiei, History Faculty, “Al. I. Cuza” University of Iasi.
• Member in national research teams: 2007-2008 – the project The Maritime Danube in the route-ways of European trade (1829-1948). Qualitative and quantitative aspects regarding the economic exchanges and the navigation at the Lower Danube, funded by The National Council for Scientific Research in Higher Education (CNCSIS), coordinated by lecturer Constantin Ardeleanu, Faculty of History, Philosophy and Teology, “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galati.

Other abilities

• Administrative and budgetary abilities (as former head of the History Department and coordinator of research programs);
• Interpersonal skills, enjoy working in a team.

Zionism and Communism among the Jewish community from the Lower Danube. Contemporary perceptions, historiographical myths and historical realities

The project starts from the premise that the Jewish minority reacted in specific ways to the increasing antisemitism of the Romanian society and of the Romanian authorities and some of these reactions took either the form of Zionism, either the form of Communism. The present project doesn’t intend to deny the Jewish – phobia that existed among Romanian citizens during the inter-war period, but aims at analyzing this phobia in relation to the main accusation brought against the Jews in the period between the two World Wars, namely their asociation with Communist ideology. Was this a true accusation? The question concerns one of the major myths and controvercies of the Romanian historiography and not only. Most of the historians and the so-called specialists adopted a firm position, either a positive or a negative one, but they generally skipped any justification of their own position and also omitted to analyze the issue through the five fundamental terms that characterize the research on any topic: who, what, how, why, what for?

We intend to approach this issue in a deductive way. Starting from the general (from the hypothesis that a part of the Jewish community from Romania adhered either to the cause of Zionism, either to the cause of Communism), we will systematically analyze a particular situation, namely the situation from the Lower Danube area. The area of the Lower Danube, including the whole region around the maritime Danube (South of Moldavia and of Bessarabia, North of Dobrudja and Braila County), it is a very interesting region, since it blends several elements.

• The existence of large Jewish communities.
• The high degree of heterogenity of the Jewish communities, due to the return of Basarabia by Romania.
• The area of the Lower Danube was quite close to the Soviet Union and, subsequent to the Soviet ultimatum from June 1940, it became the new border area between Romania and the Soviet Union. The geopolitical changes that occured to the area of the maritime Danube turned this area into a favorite target for the Communist propaganda carried on by Moscow, which tried to draw on its side the discontented ethnical and social groups.
• The ports from the maritime Danube represented excellent emigration ports for the Jewish population going to Palestine (Zionism).

Subsequently on the grounds of our observations, we can accept or reject the suggested hypothesis.

Relevant publications

• Aspecte privind emigrarea evreilor din porturile Dunării Maritime în Palestina între 1939 - iunie 1941 / Some aspects regarding the emigration of the Jews from the ports of the maritime Danube to Palestina, between 1939 – June, 1941, in “Studia et Acta Historiae Judaeorum Romaniae”, vol. IX, Editori Silviu Sanie, Dumitru Vitcu, Editura Hasefer, Bucureşti, 2005, pp. 243-262 (ISBN 1224-8789; ISBN 973-630-086-2).
• Porturile de la Dunărea maritimă între 1938 – iunie 1941: centre de emigraţie a populaţiei evreieşti spre Palestina / The ports from the maritime Danube, between 1938 and June, 1941: emigration centers towards Palestine, for the Jewish population, in “Mişcări de populaţie şi aspecte demografice în România în prima jumătate a sec. XX”, Ioan Bolovan et alii (coord.), Presa Universitară Clujeană, Cluj Napoca, 2007, pp. 189-199 (ISBN 978-973-610-530-2).
• Dunărea maritimă între Aranjamentul de la Sinaia şi Acordul de la Belgrad (1938-1948) / The Maritime Danube between the Sinaia Settlement and the Belgrade Agreement (1938-1948) , Galaţi University Press, Galaţi, 2008, 351 p, (ISBN – 978-606-8008-01-1).
• The Geopolitical Consequences of the Soviet Union’s Regained Acces to the Maritime Danube through the Annexation of Basarabia (June, 1940) , in “ПІВДЕНЬ УКРАЇНИ: ЕТНОІСТОРИЧНИЙ, МОВНИЙ, КУЛЬТУРНИЙ ТА РЕЛІГІЙНИЙ ВИМІРИ” [The South of Ukraine: ethno-historical, linguistical, cultural and religious dimensions], “ВМВ”, Оdеssа, 2009, pp. 328-334.