Abstract
Murgescu examines history education in Romania with reference to the ‘History Textbook Scandal’ of 1999, which occurred in the context of a severe economic and social crisis. With the development of a new curriculum for the 12th grade, a textbook published by a group of young historians at the ‘Sigma Publishing House’ provoked strong debate. The media played an instrumental role in transforming this debate into a public scandal. The debate also revealed the different standards and diverging sensibilities of professional historians, causing damage to the profession’s reputation, and culminated in Education Minister Andronescu’s decision to ban the textbook in 2001. The low profile of subsequent debates reflects the declining prestige of not only history education but the education system as a whole in Romania.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
S. Mitu et al., Istoria românilor. Manual pentru clasa a XII-a [History of the Romanians. Textbook for the 12th Grade] (Bucureşti: Sigma, 1999).
- 2.
Prince of Wallachia in 1593–1601, Michael the Brave managed in 1600 to briefly unite Wallachia, Transylvania and Moldavia, and since the mid-nineteenth century has been perceived as a symbol of the Romanian struggle for independence and national unity. For details, see: M.-L. Murgescu, ‘Mythistory in Elementary School: Michael the Brave in Romanian Textbooks (1830–1918)’, Analele, Istorie XLII–XLIII (1993/1994), 53–66; M. L. Murgescu, ‘Trecutul între cunoaştere şi cultul eroilor patriei. Figura lui Mihai Viteazul în manualele şcolare de istorie (1831–1994) [The Past between Knowledge and the Glorification of National Heroes: Michael the Brave in Romanian History Textbooks]’. In Mituri istorice româneşti [Romanian Historical Myths], ed. L. Boia (Bucureşti: Editura Universității din Bucureşti, 1995), 42–71.
- 3.
‘Monitorul oficial al României. Partea a II-a. Dezbateri parlamentare’ (further MO), X 183 (1999), 9.
- 4.
Declaraţie a ministrului Educaţiei Naţionale, Andrei Marga, privind manualele de Istoria Românilor [Statement by Andrei Marga, the minister for education, regarding Romanian history textbooks], M.E.N., Cabinet Ministru (10 October 1999).
- 5.
MO, X, nr.35/C (1999), 6.
- 6.
See, for example, I. Novăcescu, ‘Tupeul ministrului Educaţiei Naţionale nu are limite: Andrei Marga a desemnat să îndrepte abominabilul manual al lui Mitu o comisie formată din istorici care susţin demitizarea istoriei româneşti [The Insolence of the National Education Minister has no Limits: Andrei Marga has Appointed a Committee of Historians to Correct the Dreadful Mitu Textbook, Who Support the Demystification of Romanian History]’, Cotidianul, IX, 2492, 22 October 1999, 3.
- 7.
MO, X, 219 (1999), 40.
- 8.
F. Constantiniu, ‘Sfîrşitul istoriei [The End of History]’, Naţional 3 (1999) 729, 28 October, 6. (All translations by the author unless otherwise stated).
- 9.
Declaraţie [Declaration], 8 October 1999 (copy, personal archive).
- 10.
Protestul profesorilor Facultăţii de Istorie a Universităţii din Bucureşti [The Protest of the Teaching Staff of the Faculty of History, University of Bucharest] (12 October 1999), published in some of the main daily newspapers on 13 October (Adevărul, România liberă, Naţional).
- 11.
Interview published in Adevărul 2908, 12 October 1999, 9.
- 12.
The statement was published in Adevărul, 2909, 13 October 1999, 10, immediately after the opposition protest from the teaching staff in the history department of Bucharest University.
- 13.
The motion presented by Anghel Stanciu in the Chamber of Deputies included critical statements issued by the history departments from Timişoara and Constanţa, MO, X, 219, 1999, 9.
- 14.
One of the issues the media seized upon was the fact that some of the major journalists, such as Ion Cristoiu and Cristian Tudor Popescu, were unhappy about being personally invoked in the lesson about media evolution in the 1990s; in contrast with the other alternative textbooks, the Sigma textbook included several portraits of journalists (Mitu Istoria românilor, 140–141).
- 15.
F. Antonescu, ‘Mai marii Europei ne “recomandă” cum să ne scriem istoria [The Grandees of Europe “Suggest” How we Should Write our History]’, Curierul Naţional, X (1999) 2629, 27 October, 1.
- 16.
C. T. Popescu, ‘Câte istorii are România? [How Many Histories has Romania?]’, Adevărul, 2903 (1999) 6 October, 1.
- 17.
I have explained elsewhere in more detail why a comparable public debate did not emerge in 2005–2006 (see M.-L. Murgescu, ‘L’histoire à l’école au temps de transition. Les avatars de l’enseignement de l’histoire dans la Roumanie après 1989’, La revue française d’éducation comparée 4 (2009), 71–84).
- 18.
MO, X, 183, (1999), 9.
- 19.
MO, X, 183, (1999), 10.
- 20.
Official address by the history department of Bucharest University, 19 October 1999. Needless to say, Anghel Stanciu quoted only part of this address in the preamble to the motion (cf. MO, X, 219, [1999], 9).
- 21.
Mihail Roller was a Romanian historian and propagandist who controlled Romanian historiography and the historical narrative in education during the formative years of the communist regime.
- 22.
MO, X, part II, 219, 11.
- 23.
‘Curierul Naţional’, X, nr.2620, 16/17 October 1999, 3.
Further Reading
Boia, L. History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness. Budapest: Central European University, 2001.
Heinen, A. ‘Auf den Schwingen Draculas nach Europa? Die öffentliche Debatte um neue Schulbücher als Indikator der Transformationkrise der Rumänischen Geschichtskultur’. Jahrbücher für Geschichte und Kultur Südosteuropas 2 (2000), 91–104.
Kahl, T., M. Metzeltin and M.-R. Ungureanu, eds. Rumänien (= Österreichische Osthefte, 46). Vienna: LIT Verlag, 2006.
Murgescu, B. ‘Geschichte im Transformationsprozeß: Rumänien’. In GegenErinnerung: Geschichte als Politisches Argument, edited by H. Altrichter, 237–259. Munich: Oldenbourg, 2006.
Murgescu, M.-L. ‘L’histoire à l’école au temps de transition. Les avatars de l’enseignement de l’histoire dans la Roumanie après 1989’. La revue française d’éducation comparée 4 (2009), 71–84.
Murgescu, M.-L. Istoria din ghiozdan [History from the Schoolbag]. București: Dominor, 2004.
Pârâianu, R. ‘National Prejudices, Mass Media and History Textbooks: Mitu Controversy’. In Nation-Building and Contested Identities: Romanian and Hungarian Case Studies, edited by B. Trencsényi et al., 93–117. Budapest-Jassy: Regio Books & Polirom, 2001.
Pârâianu, R. ‘Politica și predarea istoriei [Politics and History Teaching]’. Eurozine (2005), accessed 27 June 2016, http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-12-01-paraianu-ro.html.
Szakács, S. ‘Now and Then: National Identity Construction in Romanian History. A Comparative Study of Communist and Post-Communist School Textbooks’. Internationale Schulbuchforschung/International Textbook Research 29 (2007) 1, 23–47.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Murgescu, ML. (2019). Romania. In: Cajani, L., Lässig, S., Repoussi, M. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Conflict and History Education in the Post-Cold War Era. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05722-0_38
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05722-0_38
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-05721-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-05722-0
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)