Discovering Europe
Romania from A to Z
T-shirt with symbol of Dracula.
© J.-F. Herbecq
Aslan: Developed by Dr Ana Aslan in the 1950s, Gerovital H3 with its extraordinary anti-ageing properties is a cure for almost everything, from arthritis to depression, including hair loss. It has become a symbol of Romanian research and is a popular gift.
Brancusi: The most famous Romanian sculptor and one of the first to experiment with abstract forms, spending much of his life working in France.
Ceausescu: A shoemaker turned despot, he rose to power suddenly in 1965. In the early years he adopted a very independent stance towards Moscow but then his dictatorship descended into a surrealist nightmare earning him a telegram of congratulations from artist Salvador Dali. His great friend, Mobutu, was much affected by his death.
Dracula: ‘The fact that Dracula did not exist does not mean that he does not exist,’ wrote the historian Lucia Boia. Prince Vlad Tepes the Impaler, who lived in the 15th century, is at the origin of this mythical legend often associated with Ceausescu, the ‘red vampire’.
Ecology: An unknown word in Romania until recently.
Francophonie: An island of Latin civilization in a Slavic ocean, the use of French offers Romania a window on the world, and especially Africa.
Garda de Fier: The Iron Guard was an extremist movement of the 1930s that combined nationalist mysticism, anti-Semitism and Orthodox fervour. Its ‘Legions of the Archangel St Michael’ were finally destroyed, politically and physically, by Marshall Ion Antonescu.
Hungarians: Romania’s principal minority, representing 1.7 million among a total population of 22 million. They make up one-fifth of the population in Transylvania where they continue to affirm their identity after years of repression under communism.
Film industry: Since the success of Cristi Puiu, Cristian Mungiu and Corneliu Porumboiu, not to forget the much missed Cristian Nemescu, Romania has been known for its film industry. Behind every Palme d’Or and other awards there are thousands working in the industry. Many foreign filmmakers come to Romania to film, attracted in part by the unique scenery, including Francis Ford Coppola (to name but one).
Jews: According to the Wiesel Commission, ‘Romania is responsible for the deaths of more Jews than any other country except Germany itself.’Yet despite the massacres in Bessarabia, Bucovina and Transnistria and relentless persecution – an estimated 250,000 Jews and Romanies were murdered by the Antonescu regime during the war – the majority of Romania’s Jews survived.
Kronstadt and Koloszvar: These are the names, in German and Hungarian respectively, of two towns in Transylvania, Brasov and Cluj, which illustrate the region’s cultural diversity.
Logan: With more than 700,000 sold in less than four years, Dacia has scored a big success in 55 countries with this Renault-based automobile costing ‘less than €5,000’. Produced in seven countries including Romania, Morocco and soon South Africa, it exists in three versions – saloon, estate and van – and is specifically designed to meet the needs of emerging markets.
Manele: A fashionable musical style. It is a mixture of traditional Romanian music and gypsy chants, with an added touch of commercial pop ‘peppered’ with oriental undertones. It no doubt has as many fans among young people and Roms (Gypsies) as detractors among intellectuals. The often vulgar lyrics speak of money and women, the mafia and love. It is in a way a sort of local rap, n’dombolo or zouk.
New leu: One new leu is worth 10,000 old lei, and the new notes are in machine-washable plastic!
Orphans: Whether street children or placed in homes, they are still among the most disadvantaged in Europe, even if there has been recent improvement in the overall situation.
Petit Paris: Bucharest’s nickname, originating from the desire to westernise the city and its lifestyle in the 19th century.
Quadrilatere: Two counties lying in the south of Dobrogea that were briefly incorporated into Romania between 1913 and 1940 before restitution to Bulgaria. The reason for defiance towards Bulgaria.
Religion: The Romanian population is 86% Orthodox. The collapse of communism left the field open to an Orthodox church with conservative and nationalist values.
Sarmale: A national dish of rolled and stuffed cabbage leaves, served with mamaliga, a type of corn meal.
Tökés Laszlo: A Hungarian protestant pastor who ignited the popular uprising by publicly condemning Ceausescu in Timisoara in 1989. He has just been elected to the European Parliament.
University: It was on University Square in Bucharest that the 1989 revolution turned bloody, with over 1,000 demonstrators killed. It is the ‘kilometre zero of democracy in Romania’.
Vegetarian: A meal without meat is not a meal, except in a period of fasting.
Wurmbrand, Richard: Born in Bucharest in 1909 he was, until his death in 2001, one of the most important Christian preachers. A German Jew born in Romania who converted to Protestantism, he spent 14 years in communist jails.
Xenophobia: The Romanians tend to blame the gypsies or Romanies for all their misfortunes. It is a group that makes up almost a 10th of the population, although the government claims it is much less than this.
Yuan: Cigarettes, furniture, bicycles, agri-foodstuffs: Chinese investments have been flooding into Romania since it joined the European Union. Today, a new Chinatown is being built in Bucharest…. in a sector named Europa!
Zen: Typically absent from relations between Romania’s politicians.
