Vladimir Tismăneanu

Vladimir Tismăneanu (born July 4, 1951 in Brașov ) is a Romanian political scientist who now lives in the USA and is a professor at the University of Maryland, College Park . In addition, he is the chairman of the “Presidential Commission for the Analysis of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania”.

Life

Vladimir Tismăneanu is of Jewish descent and the son of the former militant communists and fighters in the Spanish civil war Leonte Tismăneanu (born Leonid Tisminețki) and Hermine Marcusohn. He attended Lyceum No. 24 (today: Jean Monnet) in Bucharest, where he was able to enjoy the benefits of the system as a classmate of Nicu Ceauşescu , the youngest son of the dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu , and other descendants of the communist nomenclature.

After graduating from the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Bucharest , where he specialized in the field of sociology , Tismăneanu worked as a sociologist for a company in Bucharest from 1974 to 1981. On the occasion of a tourist visit to Spain in 1981, he took the opportunity to leave Romania. After a short stay in Venezuela , he settled in the USA in 1982, where he began his university career.

After the fall of the communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceauşescu in Romania, Tismăneanu was appointed chairman of the “Presidential Commission to analyze the communist dictatorship in Romania”. Because of the communist past of the father, this met with fierce resistance from former fighters against the dictatorship, such as Paul Goma . However, the father was not an exponent of the system, but was twice temporarily expelled from the party on charges of “factionism in favor of Moscow”. Currently, Vladimir Tismăneanu is also active in Romanian politics, where he is campaigning for the opening of a museum to commemorate the victims of communism. A corresponding petition was rejected by a large majority by the Romanian parliament due to lack of money.

Web links

• Vladimir Tismaneanu. In: wilsoncenter.org . (English, presentation with picture). 
• Jesse Mathewson: Vladimir Tismaneanu: An Abridged CV. (pdf, 145 kB) In: umd.edu . October 6, 2009 (English).