ROMANIAN PAGES IN NEW ZEALAND

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ROMANIAN PAGES IN NEW ZEALAND
THE ROMANIAN MAGAZINE IN NEW ZEALAND - YEAR VII - ISSUE 2 ENGLISH - ISSN 1174 4847 - AUCKLAND
“Romanian Pages in New
Zealand” is the
only Romanian
magazine in
New Zealand,
with more than
1300 subscribers
and is an integral
part of the “Romanian
Cultural Centre” from
Auckland, which
includes also the
first Romanian library.
The magazine is edited
by Adina and Cristi
Dumitrache
(Romanian-Kiwi’s),
with the help of the
Romanian community in
New Zealand and their
contributers from all over
the world: New Zealand,
Romania, France, USA,
Holland, Germany, Canada,
Australia or Sweden. This
is the second issue in the
history of the magazine
published only in english,
dedicated to the
Rugby World Cup 2011.
Go Romania!
Go All Blacks!
This issue is dedicated
to all rugby fans from
Romania and
New Zealand.
You will find out
informations
about Romania,
about great
Romanians and
about our rugby team,
the Mighty Romanian
Oaks, curently ranked
17 in the world.
About our hopes and
dreams, about our past ,
present and future,
only by reading our
magazine. Please feel
free to ask us
about Romania,
about our games,
our players, coaches
and officials.
We welcome all
in New Zealand
and we thank you
all for reading this
magazine and
supporting our team.
Hai Romania si bine
ati venit in Noua Zeelanda,
dragii nostri stejari!
Contact George at [email protected] or mobile 0210 575 124
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ROMANIA
Our country is located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern
Europe, on the Lower Danube, within
and outside the Carpathian arch,
bordering on the Black Sea. Romania
shares a border with Hungary and
Serbia to the west, Ukraine and Moldova to the northeast and east, and
Bulgaria to the south. At 238,391
square kilometers (92,043 sq mi),
Romania is the ninth largest country
of the European Union by area, and
has the seventh largest population
of the European Union with 21.5
million people. Its capital and largest
city is Bucharest, the sixth largest
city in the EU with about two million
people.
The Kingdom of Romania
emerged when the principalities of
Moldavia and Wallachia were united
under Prince Alexander Ioan Cuza
in 1859. Independence from the
Ottoman Empire was declared on
May 9, 1877, and was internationally
recognized the following year. At
the end of World War I, Transylvania,
Bukovina and Bessarabia united with
the Kingdom of Romania. Greater
Romania emerged into an era of
progression and prosperity that
would continue until World War II.
By the end of the War, many northeastern areas of Romania’s territories were occupied by the Soviet
Union, and Romania forcibly became
a socialist republic and a member of
the Warsaw Pact.
With the fall of the Iron
Curtain and the 1989 Revolution,
Romania began to transition towards democracy and a capitalist
market economy. After a decade of
post-revolution economic problems,
extensive reforms fostered economic
recovery and the country joined the
European Union on 1 January 2007.
Romania is now an upper middleincome country with high human
development. Romania joined NATO
on 29 March 2004, and is also a
member of the Latin Union, of the
Francophonie, of the OSCE and of
the United Nations. Today, Romania
is a unitary semi-presidential republic, in which the executive branch
consists of the President and the
Government. The name of Romania,
România, comes from român (previously rumân), meaning “Romanian
(man, person)”, which in turn is a
derivative of the Latin romanus,
meaning “citizen of Rome”. The fact
that Romanians call themselves a derivative of romanus is first mentioned
in the 16th century by Italian humanists travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia. The first written
record of a Romance language spoken in the Middle Ages in the Balkans
was written by the Byzantine chronicler Theophanes Confessor in the 6th
century about a military expedition
against the Avars from 587, when
a Vlach muleteer accompanying the
Byzantine army noticed that the load
was falling from one of the animals
and shouted to a companion Torna,
torna fratre (Return, return brother!).
The oldest surviving document written in Romanian is a 1521
letter known as the “Letter of Neacșu
from Câmpulung”. Among other
firsts, this text is also notable for
having the first documented occurrence of a Romanian word denoting the country’s name: Wallachia is
mentioned under the name of Ţeara
Rumânească (“The Romanian Land”,
țara from the Latin: Terra “land”; current spelling: Ţara Românească). The
name România as common homeland
of all Romanians is documented in
the early 19th century. This name
has been officially in use since 11
December 1861. English-language
sources still used the terms Rumania or Roumania, borrowed from
the French spelling Roumanie, as
recently as World War II, but since
then those terms have largely been
replaced with the official spelling
Romania. Some 42,000-year-old
human remains were discovered in
the “Cave With Bones”, and being
Europe’s oldest remains of Homo
sapiens, they may represent the first
modern humans to have entered the
continent. The Romanian expression România Mare (literal translation
“Great Romania”, but more commonly rendered “Greater Romania”)
generally refers to the Romanian
state in the interwar period, and by
extension, to the territory Romania covered at the time. Romania
achieved at that time its greatest
territorial extent (almost 300,000
km2/120,000 sq mi), managing to
unite essentially all of the territories
inhabited by Romanians. Romania
joined the European Union in 2007
and signed the Lisbon Treaty. Post–
Cold War Romania developed closer
ties with Western Europe, eventually
joining NATO in 2004, and host-
ing the 2008 summit in Bucharest.
The country applied in June 1993
for membership in the European
Union and became an Associated
State of the EU in 1995, an Acceding Country in 2004, and a member
on 1 January 2007. Following the
free travel agreement and politics
of the post–Cold War period, as well
as hardship of the life in the 1990s
economic depression, Romania
has an increasingly large diaspora,
estimated at over 2 million people.
The main emigration targets are
Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, the
United Kingdom, Canada and the
United States. Romania is the largest
country in southeastern Europe and
the twelfth-largest in Europe. It lies
between latitudes 43° and 49° N, and
longitudes 20° and 30° E. Romania’s
terrain is distributed roughly equally
between mountainous, hilly and
lowland territories. The Carpathian
Mountains dominate the centre of
Romania, with 14 mountain ranges
reaching above 2,000 m/6,600 ft,
and the highest point at Moldoveanu
Peak (2,544 m/8,346 ft).
Owing to its distance from
the open sea and position on the
southeastern portion of the European continent, Romania has a
climate that is transitional between
temperate and continental, with
four distinct seasons. The average
annual temperature is 11 °C (52 °F)
in the south and 8 °C (46 °F) in the
north.[109] The extreme recorded
temperatures were 44.5 °C (112.1
°F) at Ion Sion in 1951 and −38.5
°C (−37.3 °F) at Bod in 1942. The
integrity of Romanian forest ecosystems is indicated by the presence
of the full range of European forest
fauna, including 60% and 40% of all
European brown bears and wolves,
respectively. There are also almost
400 unique species of mammals (of
which Carpathian chamois are best
known, birds, reptiles and amphibians in Romania. Some 3,700 plant
species have been identified in the
country, from which to date 23 have
been declared natural monuments,
74 missing, 39 endangered, 171
vulnerable and 1,253 rare. There are
almost 10,000 km2 (3,900 sq mi)
(5% of the area) of protected areas in
Romania covering 13 national parks
and three biosphere reserves: the
Danube Delta, Retezat National Park,
and Rodna National Park.
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THE MIGHTY ROMANIAN OAKS
The Romania national rugby union team (Echipa
naţională de rugby a României), nicknamed The
Oaks (Stejarii), is the representative side of Romania
in rugby union. Long considered one of the stronger European teams outside of the Six Nations, they
have participated in all six Rugby World Cups, and
currently compete in the first division of the European Nations Cup, where most recently in the 20082010 competition they finished third. Rugby union
in Romania is administered by the Romanian Rugby
Federation. The team plays in yellow and blue strips.
France first played Test rugby against Romania in 1924 when they tried to establish a rival to
the Five Nations championship. At their best, during
the 1980s, the national side defeated Wales (twice),
Scotland (the 1984 Grand Slam side) and France
(twice). In 1981, they lost to the All Blacks 14-6 but
had two tries disallowed. Many felt it was wrong for
the rugby powers to fail to bring them in to topflight competition. There are even rumours that the
Oaks were invited to join but refused because the
championship took place during their winter break.
However, with the subsequent deterioration of the
domestic political and economic situation in the
country rugby in Romania suffered. Nonetheless,
Romania played in the first six Rugby World Cups
from 1987, with their best result being a win during the pool stages. However, the likes of Georgia
have challenged Romania for top spot below the Six
Nations, and Georgia, along with Portugal have both
won the European Nations Cup (or Six Nations B).
Romania played in Pool C at the 2007 Rugby World
Cup, along with Portugal, New Zealand, Italy and
Scotland. The game itself was introduced by students returning with rugby balls from their studies in
Paris to form clubs such as Stadiul Roman from 1913
onwards. Seventeen other teams would be formed in
the capital, Bucharest. Romania’s first international
was played against the USA in 1919. France first
played rugby union against Romania in May 1924.
A generation of French school trained coaches from
late ’40s, and ’50s built a system and led the national team to success of the 1960s, ’70s and early ’80s.
In this era Romania began to compete more regularly
against the major nations.
Their first win over France came in 1960,
and in 1976 they made a tour of New Zealand. Exposure to international rugby developed the country’s
game and they began to form their own distinctive
style of play, built around giant, bruising packs.
That they were emerging as a real force on the world
stage became clear at Cardiff Arms Park in 1979 in
an unofficial, non-cap match. The Oaks led going
into the dying minutes, only a last-gasp drop goal
from Gareth Davies salvaged a 13-12 victory for
Wales. The improvement continued in 1980, when
Romania crushed the French in a record 15-0 win
in Bucharest. A trip to Lansdowne Road then yielded
a 13-13 draw against Ireland. In the 1980s the
country boasted more than 12,000 players in 110
clubs. Home nations sides began to award international caps for matches against Romania in 1983.
Wales travelled to Bucharest in November 1983 and
were totally overwhelmed, falling to a 24-6 defeat.
Romania’s first win over Scotland came in Bucharest
in 1984 and their first away win against Five Nations
opposition came in 1988 against Wales; 15-9 at
Cardiff Arms Park.
CONSTANTIN BRANCUSI
CONSTANTIN BRANCUSI 1876-1957
Constantin Brancusi (1876–1957)
was an internationally renowned
Romanian sculptor whose sculptures, which blend simplicity and
sophistication, led the way for
modernist sculptors. Brancusi
grew up in the village of Hobita
Romania, an area known for its
rich tradition of folk crafts, particularly ornate woodcarving. The
simple geometric patterns of the
craftsmen is seen in his mature
works. His parents, Nicolae and
Maria Brancusi, were poor peasants who earned a meagre living
through back-breaking labor, and
from the age of 7 he herded the
family’s flock of sheep. He showed
remarkable talent for carving objects out of wood.
Strong-willed and determined, he often ran away from
home to escape the bullying of
his father and older brothers. At
the age nine Brancusi left the village to work at menial jobs in the
nearest large town. At 13 he went
to Craiova, where he worked at a
grocery store for several years.
When he was 18, impressed by Brancusi’s talent, his
employer financed his education
at the Craiova Scoala de Meserii
(School of Crafts). There he indulged his love for woodworking,
taught himself to read and write,
and graduated with honors in
1898. He then enrolled in School
of Fine Arts,where he received
academic training in sculpture. He
worked hard, and quickly distinguished himself as talented. One
of his earliest surviving works,
under the guidance of his anatomy
teacher, Dimitrie Gerota, is a masterfully rendered écorché (statue
of a man with skin removed to
reveal the muscles underneath)
which was exhibited at the Romanian Athenaeum in 1903.
Though just an anatomical study,
it foresha-dowed the sculptor’s
later efforts to reveal essence
rather than merely copy outward
appearance. In 1903 Brancusi
traveled to Munich, and from
there to Paris.
In Paris, he was welcomed
by the community of artists and
intellectuals brimming with new
ideas. He worked for two years in
the workshop of Antonin Mercié
of the École des Beaux-Arts, and
was invited to enter the workshop
of Auguste Rodin.
After leaving Rodin’s
workshop, Brancusi began developing the revolutionary style
for which he is known. His first
commissioned work, “The Prayer”,
was part of a gravestone memorial. He also began doing more
carving, rather than the method
popular with his contemporaries,
that of modeling in clay or plaster
which would be cast in metal and
by 1908 he worked exclusively by
carving. In the following few years
he made many versions of “Sleeping Muse” and “The Kiss”, further
simplifying forms to geometrical
sparse objects.
His works became popular in France, Romania and the
United States. Collectors, notably
John Quinn, bought his pieces,
and reviewers praised his works.
In 1913 Brancusi’s work was displayed at both the Salon des Indépendants and the first exhibition in the U.S. of modern art, the
Armory Show. He began working
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on the group of sculptures that
are known as “Bird in Space”
- simple shapes representing
a bird in flight. The works are
based on his earlier “Maiastra”
series. Over the following 20
years, Brancusi would make 20some versions of “Bird in Space”
out of marble or bronze. Edward
Steichen, a prominent photographer, purchased one of the
“birds” in 1926 and shipped it to
the USA.
The customs officers did
not accept the “bird” as a work
of art and placed a duty upon
its import as an industrial item.
They charged the high tax placed
upon raw metals instead of the
no tax on art. A trial overturned
the assessment. Athena Tacha
Spear’s book, Brancusi’s Birds,
(CAA monographs XXI, NYU
Press, New York, 1969), first
sorted out the 36 versions and
their development, from the
early Maiastra, to the Golden
Bird of the late teens, to the Bird
in Space, which emerged in the
early ‘20s and which Brancusi
perfected all his life. His work
became popular in the US, however, and he visited several times
during his life.
In 1938, he finished the
World War I monument in TarguJiu where he had spent much of
his childhood. “Table of Silence”,
“Gate of the Kiss”, and “Endless Column” commemorate the
courage and sacrifice of Romanian civilians who in 1916 fought
off a German invasion.
The restoration of this
ensemble was spearheaded by
the World Monuments Fund and
was completed in 2004. The
Targu Jiu ensemble marks the
apex of his artistic career. In his
remaining 19 years he created
less than 15 pieces and while his
fame grew he withdrew.
In 1956 Life magazine
reported, “Wearing white pajamas and a yellow gnomelike cap,
Brancusi today hobbles about his
studio tenderly caring for and
communing with the silent host
of fish birds, heads, and endless columns which he created.”
Brancusi was cared for in his
later years by a Romanian refugee couple. He became a French
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citizen in 1952 in order to make
the caregivers his heirs. Brancusi
always dressed in the simple ways
the Romanian peasants did.
His studio was reminiscent of the houses of the peasants
from his native region: there was
a big slab of rock as a table and a
primitive fireplace, similar to those
found in traditional houses in his
native Oltenia, while the rest of
the furniture was made by him out
of wood. Brancusi would cook his
own food, traditional Romanian
dishes, with which he would treat
his guests.
Brancusi held a large spectrum of interests, from science
to music. He was a good violinist
and he would sing old Romanian
folk songs. His circle of friends
included artists and intellectuals
such as Ezra Pound, Pierre Roché,
Apollinaire, Picasso, Duchamp,
Rousseau, Léger, Enescu, Pallady, Ressu, Istrati, Vuia, Ionesco,
Cioran and Paul Celan. He died
on March 16, 1957 at the age of
ALEXANDRA STAN
ALEXANDRA STAN
Alexandra Stan was born in June 10, 1989 in Constanța and she is
a Romanian singer-songwriter. She studied at the “Traian” Lyceum
in Constanța, and as of 2011 she is enrolled in her second year as
a student at the Faculty of Management Andrei Saguna. In the past
she has participated in various music-related contests with a notable
appearance at the Mamaia Festival section interpretation. In 2009 she
released her debut single, “Lollipop (Param Pam Pam)”. The following
year her second single was released, “Mr. Saxobeat”, which reached
number 1 on the Romanian Airplay Chart for a week beginning
November 8. 2010. The song also reached the top spot on the
Romanian Top 100. From then on it slowly began to climb the charts in
Europe, becoming an international hit, peaking within the top 10 in over
20 countries. Her third single “Get Back (ASAP)” is currently climbing the
charts and peaked at number 4 in her native country Romania.
81 leaving 1200 photographs and
215 sculptures. He was buried in
the Cimetière du Montparnasse
in Paris. In 2002, a sculpture by
Brancusi named “Danaide” was
sold for $18.1 million, the highest that a sculpture piece had ever
sold for.In May 2005, a piece from
the “Bird in Space” series broke
that record, selling for $27.5 million in a Christie’s auction. In the
latest Christie’s auction, the Yves
Saint Laurent/Pierre Bergé sale on
2009, another sculpture of Constantin Brancusi, called “Madame
L.R”, was sold for € 29.185 million.
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VLAD THE IMPALER
Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia, more
commonly known as Vlad the Impaler
(Vlad Tepes in Romanian), also known
as Vlad Dracula, or simply Dracula
(1431 – December 1476), was a
Wallachian (present-day sout-hern
Romania) voivode. His three reigns
were in 1448, 1456–1462, and 1476.
Vlad the Impaler is known for the
exceedingly cruel punishments he
imposed during his reign. Impalement
was Tepes’s preferred method of
torture and execution. In the Englishspeaking world, Vlad III is perhaps
most commonly known for inspiring
the name of the vampire in Bram
Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula. As
DRACULA’S REAL STORY
prince, Vlad maintained an
independent policy in relation to the
Ottoman Empire and was a defender
of Wallachia against Ottoman
expansionism. His Romanian surname
“Draculea” means “Son of Dracula” and
is derived from his father’s title, Vlad
the Devil (see Vlad II Dracula); the
latter was a member of the Order of
the Dragon created by Emperor
Sigismund. The word “Dracula” means
“the Devil” in modern Romanian but in
Vlad’s day also meant “dragon” and
derives from the Latin word “Draco”,
also meaning “dragon”. The suffix
“-lea” can be translated as “son of”.
The old Romanian word for serpent
(Cf. “drac”) is nowadays the most
common and casual reference to the
devil—the people of Wallache gave
Vlad II the surname “Dracula”
(“Dracula” being the more
grammatically correct form). His son
Vlad III would later use in several
documents the surname “Draculea”.
Through various translations
(“Dracula”, “Dracula”) Vlad III
eventually came to be known as
“Dracula” (note that this ultimate
version is a neologism). His postMorten moniker of “Tepes” (“Impaler”)
originated in his preferred method for
executing his opponents, impalement
- as popularized by medieval
Transylvanian pamphlets. In Turkish,
he was known as “Kass Voyager” which
means “Impaler Prince”. Vlad was
referred to as “Dracula” in a number of
documents of his times, mainly the
Transylvania Saxon pamphlets and
“The Annals of Jan Długosz”. Vlad was
very likely born in the citadel of
Sighisoara, Transylvania in 1431. He
was born as the second son to his
father Vlad Dracul and his mother
Princess Cneajna of Moldavia. He had
an older brother named Mircea and a
younger brother named Radu the
Handsome. Although his native
country was Wallachia to the south,
the family lived in exile in
Transylvania as his father had been
ousted by pro-Ottoman boyars. In
the same year as his birth, his father
was living in Nuremberg, where he
was vested into the Order of the
Dragon. At the age of five, young
Vlad was also initiated into the Order
of the Dragon. Vlad’s father was
under considerable political pressure
from the Ottoman sultan. Threatened
with invasion, he gave a promise to
be the vassal of the Sultan and gave
up his two younger sons as hostages
so that he would keep his promise.
Vlad developed a well-known hatred
for Radu and for Mehmed, who would
later become the sultan. According to
McNally and Florescu, he also
distrusted his own father for trading
him to the Turks and betraying the
Order of the Dragon’s oath to fight
them.Vlad’s father was assassinated
in the marshes near Balteni in
December 1447 by rebellious boyars
allegedly under the orders of
Hungarian regent John Hunyadi.
Vlad’s older brother Mircea was also
dead at this point, blinded with hot
iron stakes and buried alive by his
political enemies at Targoviste. To
protect their political power in the
region, the Ottomans invaded
Wallachia and the Sultan put Vlad III
on the throne as a puppet ruler. His
rule at this time would be brief;
Hunyadi himself invaded Wallachia
and ousted him the same year. Vlad
fled to Moldavia until October 1451
and was put under the protection of
his uncle, Bogdan II. Bogdan was
assassinated by Petru Aron, and Vlad,
taking a gamble, fled to Hungary.
Impressed by Vlad’s vast know-ledge
of the mindset and inner workings of
the Ottoman Empire as well as his
hatred of the new sultan Mehmed II,
Hunyadi pardoned him and took him
in as an advisor. Eventually Hunyadi
put him forward as the Kingdom of
Hungary’s candidate for the throne of
Wallachia.In 1453, the Ottomans,
under Mehmed II, took Constantinople
after a prolonged siege, thus putting
an end to the final major Christian
presence in the eastern Mediterranean.
Ottoman influence began to spread
from this base through the
Carpathians, and began to threaten
mainland Europe. In 1456, Hungary
invaded Serbia to drive out the
Ottomans, and Vlad III simultaneously
invaded Wallachia with his own
contingent. Both campaigns were
successful, although Hunyadi died
suddenly of the plague. Nevertheless,
Vlad was now prince of his native land.
After the death of his grandfather
(Mircea the Elder) in 1418, Wallachia
had fallen into a somewhat chaotic
situation. A constant state of war had
led to rampant crime, falling
agricultural production, and the virtual
disappearance of trade. Vlad used
severe methods to restore order, as he
needed an economically stable country
if he was to have any chance against
his external enemies. The early part of
Vlad’s reign was dominated by the idea
of eliminating all possible threats to
his power, mainly the rival nobility
groups, i.e. the boyars. This was done
mainly by physical elimination, but
also by reducing the economic role of
the nobility: the key positions in the
Prince’s Council, traditionally
belonging to the country’s greatest
boyars, were handed to obscure
individuals, some of them of foreign
origin, but who manifested loyalty
towards Vlad. For the less important
functions, Vlad also ignored the old
boyars, preferring to knight and
appoint men from the free peasantry.
A key element of the power of the
Wallachian nobility was their
connections in the Saxon-populated
towns of Transylvania, so Vlad acted
against these cities by eliminating their
trade privi-leges in relation with
Wallachia and by organizing raids
against them. In 1459, he had several
of the German settlers and officials of
the Transylvanian city of Kronstadt
who were transgressing his authority
impaled. Vlad III was constantly on
guard against the adherents of the
Danesti clan, and some of his raids
into Transylvania may have been
efforts to capture the clan’s would-be
princes. Several members of the clan
died at Vlad’s hands. Vladislav II of
Wallachia was murdered soon after
Vlad came to power in 1456. Another
Danesti prince, suspected to have
taken part in burying his brother
Mircea alive, was captured during one
of Vlad’s forays into Transylvania.
Rumors (spread by his enemies) say
thousands of citizens of the town that
had sheltered his rival were impaled by
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Vlad. The captured prince was forced to read his own eulogy
while kneeling before an open grave before his execution.
Following family tra-ditions and due to his old hatred towards
the Ottomans, Vlad decided to side with the Hungarians. To the
end of the 1450s there was once again talk about a war against
the Turks, in which the king of Hungary Matthias Corvinus would
play the main role. Knowing this, Vlad stopped paying tribute to
the Ottomans in 1459 and around 1460 made a new alliance
with Corvinus. This angered the Turks, who attempted to
remove him. They failed, however; later in the winter of 1461 to
1462 Vlad crossed south of the Danube and devastated the area
between Serbia and the Black Sea. In Vlad’s own words: “I have
killed men and women, old and young...23,884 Turks and
Bulgarians without counting those whom we burned alive in their
homes or whose heads were not chopped off by our soldiers...”
In response to this, Sultan Mehmed II, the recent conqueror of
Constantinople, raised an army of around 60,000 troops and
30,000 irregulars and in the spring of 1462 headed towards
Wallachia. Other esti-mates for the army include 150,000 by
Michael Doukas, 250,000 by Laonicus Chalcond. Mehmed was
greeted by the sight of a veritable forest of stakes on which Vlad
the Impaler had impaled 20,000 Turkish prisoners. With his
army of 20,000–40,000 men Vlad was unable to stop the Turks
from entering Wallachia and occupying the capital Targoviste
(1462), so he resorted to guerrilla warfare, constantly organizing
small attacks and ambushes on the Turks. The most important
of these attacks took place on the nights of June 16–17, when
Vlad and some of his men allegedly entered the main Turkish
camp (wearing Ottoman disguises) and attempted to assassinate
Mehmed. Unable to subdue Vlad, the Turks left the country.
Despite Vlad achieving military victories, he had alienated
himself from the nobility, which sided with Radu. By August
Radu had struck a deal with the Hungarian Crown. Consequently,
Vlad was imprisoned by Matthias Corvinus. His first wife, whose
name is not recorded, died during the siege of his castle in
1462. The Turkish army surrounded Poienari Castle, led by
Radu. An archer shot an arrow through a window into Vlad’s
main quarters, with a message warning him that Radu’s army
was approaching. McNally and Florescu explain that the archer
was one of Vlad’s former servants who sent the warning out of
loyalty, despite having converted to Islam to escape enslavement
by the Turks. Upon reading the message, Vlad’s wife threw
herself from the tower into a tributary of the Arges River flowing
below the castle. According to legend, she remarked that she
“would rather have her body rot and be eaten by the fish of the
Arges than be led into captivity by the Turks”. Today, the
tributary is called Raul Doamnei.
The exact length of Vlad’s period of captivity is open to
some debate, though indications are that it was from 1462 until
1474. He was able to gradually win his way back into the graces
of Hungary’s monarch, and eventually marry a member of the
royal family. His second wife, Countess Ilona Szilágyi (the cousin
of Matthias), bore him two sons, Vlad Dracula & another son
whose name is unknown, who were about ten years old when
he reconquered Wallachia in 1476. Vlad Dracula was killed in
battle against the Turks near the town of Bucharest in December
of 1476. His body was decapitated by the Turks and his head
sent to Istanbul where the Sultan had it displayed on a stake
as proof that the Impaler was dead. He was reportedly buried
at Snagov, an island monastery located near Bucharest. Vlad
Tepes’s reputation was considerably darker in Western Europe
than in Eastern Europe and Romania. In the West, Vlad III Tepes
has been characterized as a tyrant who took sadistic pleasure
in torturing and killing his enemies. The number of his victims
ranges from 40,000 to 100,000.
Romanian folklore and poetry, on the other hand, paints
Vlad Tepes as a hero. His favorite weapon being the stake,
coupled with his reputation in his native country as a man who
stood up to both foreign and domestic enemies, gives him the
virtual opposite symbolism of Stoker’s vampire. In Romania, he
is considered one of the greatest leaders in the history.
ALEXANDRA NECHITA
LE PETITE PICASSO
Alexandra Nechita was born in August 27,
1985 and she is a Romanian-born American
cubist painter and muralist. She was born in
Vaslui, three months after her father, Niki
Nechita, escaped from Communist Romania.
She and her mother, Viorica Nechita, waited
two years to rejoin him in the United States.
The family settled in California, where her father found work as a lab technician, and her
mother as an office manager. At the age of
two, she was working with pen and ink and
by five was working with watercolors. Upon
her seventh birthday, oil and acrylics were her
tools. She had her first solo exhibition at the
age of eight in Whittier, Los Angeles County.
She has been featured on the Oprah Winfrey
Show and has appeared with celebrities, including Bill Clinton. Her talent led to her being known as the “Petite Picasso” as her work,
to some, resembles that of the master.
prnz 8
NADIA COMANECI
Nadia Elena Comaneci (born
November 12, 1961) is a Romanian
gymnast, winner of five Olympic
gold medals, and the first gymnast
to be awarded a perfect score of
10 in an Olympic gymnastic event.
She is one of the best-known
gymnasts in the world and, along
with Olga Korbut, is credited with
popularizing the sport around
the world. Comaneci was born in
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (now
Oneşti), Romania, as the daughter
of Gheorghe and Ştefania-Alexandrina. Comaneci began gymnastics in kindergarten. At age 6 she
was chosen to attend Béla Károlyi’s
experimental gymnastics school
after Karolyis spotted her.Comaneci
was training with the Károlyis by
the time she was 7 years old, in
1969. She was one of the first
students at the gymnastics school
established in Oneşti by Béla
and his wife, Marta, who would
later defect to the United States
and become coaches of many
prominent American gymnasts.
Unlike many of the other students
at the Károlyi school, Comaneci was
able to commute from home for
many years because she lived in the
area. At the age of 11, in 1973, she
won the all-around gold, as well as
the vault and uneven bars titles, at
the Junior Friendship Tournament,
an important meet for junior
gymnasts. Comaneci’s first major
international success came at the
age of 13, when she nearly swept
the 1975 European Championships
in Skien, Norway, winning the
all-around and gold medals on
every event but the floor exercise,
in which she placed second. She
continued to enjoy success in
other meets in 1975, winning the
all-around at the “Champions All”
competition and placing first in
the all-around, vault, beam, and
bars at the Romanian National
Championships. In the Pre-Olympic
test event in Montreal, Comaneci
won the all-around and the balance
beam golds, as well as silvers in
the vault, floor, and bars behind
accomplished Soviet gymnast
Nellie Kim, who would prove to be
one of her greatest rivals over the
next five years. The international
community took note of Comaneci:
she was named the United Press
International’s “Female Athlete
of the Year” for 1975. At the age
of 14, Comaneci became one of
the stars of the 1976 Summer
Olympics in Montreal. During the
team portion of the competition,
her routine on the uneven bars was
scored at a 10.0. It was the first
time in modern Olympic gymnastics
history that the score had ever
been awarded. The scoreboards
were not even equipped to display
scores of 10.0, so Nadia’s perfect
marks were reported on the boards
as 1.00 instead. Over the course
of the Olympics, Comaneci would
earn six additional 10s, en route to
capturing the all-around, beam, and
bars titles and a bronze medal on
the floor. The Romanian team also
placed second in the competition.
Comaneci was the first Romanian
gymnast to win the all-around
title at the Olympics. She also
holds the record as the youngest
Olympic gymnastics all-around
champion ever; with the revised
age-eligibility requirements in the
sport (gymnasts must now turn 16
in the calendar year to compete in
the Olympics; in 1976 gymnasts
had to be 14 by the first day of
the competition), it is currently
not possible to legally break this
record.Comaneci’s achievements at
NADIA COMANECI
BEST-KNOWN GYMNAST IN THE HISTORY
the Olympics generated a significant
amount of media attention. The
theme song from the American soap
opera “The Young and the Restless”
became associated with her after
cinematographer/feature reporter
Robert Riger used it against slowmotion montages of Nadia on the
television program ABC’s Wide World
Of Sports. The song became a top
ten single in the fall of 1976, and the
composer, Barry De Vorzon, renamed
it to “Nadia’s Theme” after her.
However, Comaneci never actually
performed to “Nadia’s Theme.” Her
floor exercise music was a medley of
the songs “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby”
and “Jump in the Line” arranged for
piano.
She was the 1976 BBC Sports
Personality of the Year in the overseas
athletes category and the Associated
Press’s 1976 “Female Athlete of the
Year”. She also retained her title as
the UPI Female Athlete of the Year.
Back home in Romania, Comaneci’s
success led her to be named a “Hero
of Socialist Labor;” she was the
youngest Romanian to receive such
recognition. Comaneci successfully
defended her European all-around
title in 1977, but when questions
about the scoring were raised,
Ceauşescu ordered the Romanian
gymnasts to return home. The team
followed orders and controversially
walked out of the competition during
the event finals. In 1979, a newly
slim and motivated Comaneci won
her third consecutive European title,
becoming the first gymnast, male or
female, to achieve the feat. At the WC
that December, Comaneci competed
on the beam, where she scored a 9.95.
Her performance helped
give the Romanians their first team
gold medal. Comaneci participated
in the 1980 Summer Olympics in
Moscow, where she placed second.
She defended her Olympic title in the
balance beam and tied with Nellie
Kim for the gold medal in the floor
exercise. The Romanian team finished
second overall.Comaneci retired from
competition in 1981. Her official
retirement ceremony took place in
Bucharest in 1984 being attended
by the IOCC. In November 1989, a
few weeks before the Revolution, she
defected with a group of other young
Romanians. Her overland journey
took her through Hungary, Austria,
and finally, to the United States.
While she was living in Montreal, Bart
Conner, whom she had met for the
first time in 1976 at the American Cup,
contacted her and invited her to live in
Oklahoma.
The couple were married in
Bucharest on April 27, 1996, and they
welcomed their first child, Dylan Paul
Conner, on June 3, 2006 in Oklahoma.
Comaneci received the Olympic
Order, the highest award given by the
International Olympic Committee, in
1984 and 2004. She is the only person
to receive this honor twice, also the
youngest recipient.
9 prnz
Ana Aslan (1897-1988) was
a Romanian biologist and
physician. She is considered
to be a founding figure of
gerontology and geriatrics in
Romania. In 1952, under the
leadership of Prof. Dr. Ana
Aslan, the Geriatric Institute
in Bucharest was founded.
This Institute was the first
of its kind in Romania and
was recognized by the World
Health Organization.
The remainder of this
page concerns a product
marketed by Aslan. A
thorough review of biomedical
research literature shows no
empirical or peer-reviewed
evidence that this product,
under any formulation,
prevents or postpones any
aspect of aging. Further,
there is evidence that the
pharmaceutical ingredients of
this product pose the risk of
respiratory and cardiovascular
complications, as well as
a risk of systemic allergic
reactions.
The Gerovital H3
concept was introduced for
the first time in 1957, in
Verona, Italy, on the occasion
of the 4th International
Gerontology Congress. Many
scientists from the USA,
Germany, England, Japan,
Italy, Austria and Romania
have studied and confirmed
the effects of the Gerovital
H3 treatment suggested
by Prof. Dr. Ana Aslan. In
the 60’s the Gerovital H3
treatment became a scientific
certitude (which, readers
should note, is an oxymoron,
though certainly pedantic
enough to appear credible
to consumers), a high value
anti-aging treatment.
Notables such as French
President Charles De
Gaulle, U.S. President John
F. Kennedy, West German
ANA ASLAN
ANA ASLAN
Chancellor Konrad
Adenauer, Chinese
Chairman Mao Zedong,
and Vietnamese Chairman
Ho Chi Minh have traveled
to Romania to benefit
this anti-aging therapy.
Other well-known people,
including actresses Marlene
Dietrich, Lillian Gish, the
Gabor sisters, actors Charlie
Chaplin and Kirk Douglas,
and artist Salvador Dalí have
also followed the same path.
They traveled to Bucharest,
where Dr. Aslan did her
research with Gerovital H3.
Once discovered by these
celebrities, Gerovital itself
has become famous and
is now used in over twenty
countries around the world
for its renowned anti-aging
properties.
Ana Aslan’s research
activity received many
international distinctions,
among which: “Cross
of Merit” – First Class
of the Order of Merit,
Germany,1971; “Cavalier
de la Nouvelle Europe”
Prize Oscar, Italy, 1973
“Les Palmes Academiques”,
France, 1974; “Honorary
Foreign Citizen and Honorary
Professor of Sciences”,
Philippines, 1978; “Member
Honoris Causa” Diploma of
the Bohemo-Slovakian Society
of Gerontology, 1981; “Leon
Bernard” Prize, important
distinction granted by the
World Health Organization
upon nomination and
endorsement by officials of a
member state (in this case by
the Romanian dictator Nicolae
Ceauşescu) for contributing
to the development of
gerontology and geriatrics,
1982. The Gerovital H3 was
a revolutionary medicine
and many people are trying
nowadays to profit from its
fame. They are using The
“Gh3” or “Gerovital H3” name
to sell some odd antiaging
medicine.
The genuine recipe was
only known by Ana Aslan. The
drugs existing on the market
today are made after the
original medicine but are not
directly related to Ana Aslan’s
medicine. They are only using
the fame of the original name.
Especially the ones produced
outside Romania.
GHEORGHE ZAMFIR
Gheorghe Zamfir was born
in April 6, 1941 and he is a
Romanian pan flute musician
who has received 120 golden
and platinum disc awards
and sold over 40 million
albums. He is widely known
as “Zamfir, Master of the Pan
Flute”.
Zamfir is known for
playing an expanded version
of the traditional Romanianstyle pan flute (nai) of 20
pipes to 22, 25, 28 and 30
pipes to increase its range,
and obtaining as many as
nine tones from each pipe by
changing the embouchure.
Zamfir came to the
public eye when he was
“discovered” by Swiss
ethnomusicologist Marcel
Cellier who extensively
researched Romanian
folk music in the 1960s.
Largely through television
commercials where he was
billed as “Zamfir, Master of
the Pan Flute”, he introduced
the folk instrument to a
modern audience and revived
it from obscurity.
In the United States
his commercials were widely
seen on CNN in the 1980s.
One of his most notable
contributions was to the
prnz 10
ZAMFIR, MASTER OF THE PAN FLUTE
soundtrack for the classic
Australian film “Picnic at
Hanging Rock”. His music
has also been heard on
the soundtracks of many
Hollywood movies. He was
asked by Ennio Morricone
to perform the pieces
“Childhood Memories” and
“Cockeye’s Song” for the
soundtrack of Sergio Leone’s
classic 1984 gangster film
“Once Upon A Time In
America”, his music is heard
throughout the 1984 film
“The Karate Kid”, and his
song “The Lonely Shepherd”,
penned by James Last and
recorded with the James Last
Orchestra, is featured in
Quentin Tarantino’s film “Kill
Bill Vol. 1”.
Zamfir has written
an instructional book,
“Traitė Du Naï Roumain:
méthode de flûte de pan”,
Paris: Chappell S.A., 1975,
ISBN 88-8291-286-8,
and an autobiography
“Binecuvantare şi blestem”
(“Blessing & Curses”), Arad:
Mirador, 2000, ISBN 9739284-56-6.
Zamfir was born in
Găeşti, Romania. Although
initially interested in
becoming an accordionist,
at the age of 14 he began
his pan flute studies. He
continued his education
at the Bucharest Academy
of Music where he was a
student of Fanica Luca at the
Conservatory of Bucharest,
Romania in (1968). He
currently resides and teaches
pan flute in Bucharest.
He has a 22 year old
son who currently resides
in Montreal, Canada, also a
musician. In the recent past,
Zamfir was less frequently
upon European stages.
Reason: Ongoing tours and
en-suite concerts in the USA,
Canada, Australia and Asia
that become victory parades
with virtually gigantic
successes with the public.
Nevertheless, the soloist,
conductor and composer –
he has given up his previous
residence in Canada, lives in
the meantime in Paris and
Bucharest and has a teaching
position for the pan flute in
the Romanian capital city –
again wishes to concentrate
on giving more performances
in Europe.
For future concerts,
particularly in Europe, the
“King of the Pan Flute”
promises a colourful mastery
of the music. He will present
himself and his incomparable
tonal world symphonically
and with chamber orchestras,
but will also give “more
intimate” concerts.
11 prnz
George Enescu is known in
France as Georges Enesco. He
was born in August 19, 1881
at Liveni, Romania and he died
in May 4, 1955 in Paris.
He was the biggest
Romanian composer,
violinist, pianist, conductor
and teacher, preeminent
Romanian musician of the
20th century, and one of
the greatest performers of
his time. He was born in the
village of Liveni, Romania
(Dorohoi County at the time,
today Botosani County), and
showed musical talent from
early in his childhood. A child
prodigy, Enescu created his
first musical composition
at the age of five. Shortly
thereafter, his father presented
him to the professor and
composer Eduard Caudella.
At the age of seven, he
entered the Vienna Conser-
GEORGE ENESCU
chamber music (three
sonatas for violin and piano,
two for cello and piano, a
piano trio, quartets with and
without piano, a wind decet
(French, “dixtuor”), an octet
for strings, a piano quintet,
a chamber symphony for
also a noted violin teacher.
Yehudi Menuhin, Christian
Ferras, Ivry Gitlis, Arthur
Grumiaux, and Ida Haendel
were among his pupils. He
promoted contemporary
Romanian music, playing
works of Constantin Silvestri,
Mihail Jora, Ionel Perlea and
Marţian Negrea.
On his death in 1955,
George Enescu was interred in
the Père Lachaise Cemetery in
Paris. Today, Bucharest houses
a museum in his memory;
likewise, the Symphony
Orchestra of Bucharest, as well
as the George Enescu Festival,
are named and held in his
honor.
ENESCU AND ROMANIAN RHAPSODY
vatory, where he studied with
Joseph Hellmesberger, Jr.,
Robert Fuchs, and Sigismund
Bachrich, and graduated
before his 13th birthday,
earning the silver medal.
In his Viennese concerts
young Enescu played works
by Brahms, Sarasate and
Mendelssohn.
In 1895 he went to
Paris to continue his studies.
He studied violin with Martin
Pierre Marsick, harmony
with André Gédalge, and
composition with Jules
Massenet and Gabriel Fauré.
Many of Enescu’s works
were influenced by Romanian
folk music, his most popular
compositions being the two
Romanian Rhapsodies (1901–
2), the opera Œdipe (1936),
and the suites for orchestra.
He also wrote five
symphonies (two of them
unfinished), a symphonic
poem Vox maris, and much
twelve solo instruments). In
1923 he made his debut as a
conductor in a concert given
by the Phila-delphia Orchestra
in New York City. In 1935,
he conducted the Orchestre
Symphonique de Paris and
Yehudi Menuhin in Mozart’s
Violin Concerto No. 3 in G
major. He also conducted
the New York Philharmonic
between 1937 and 1938.
In 1939 he married
Maria Rosetti (known as the
Princess Cantacuzino through
her first husband Mihail
Cantacuzino), a good friend
of the future Queen Marie
of Romania. While staying in
Bucharest, Enescu lived in the
Cantacuzino Palace on Calea
Victoriei (now the Muzeu
Naţional George Enescu,
dedicated to his work). He
lived in Paris and in Romania,
but after World War II and the
Soviet occupation of Romania,
he remained in Paris. He was
Recently, Bacau International
Airport was named George
Enescu International Airport.
The “George Enescu Festival“
is held annualy in Romania, in
all the major cities. This year
the festival will start in 2011,
and finish in 25 September,
being like a real World Cup
of the Good Music for all the
Romanians.
prnz 12
GEORGE EMIL PALADE
George Emil Palade
(November 19, 1912 –
October 7, 2008) was a highly
regarded Romanian cell
biologist. In 1974, he shared
the Nobel Prize in Physiology
or Medicine with Albert
Claude and Christian de Duve,
for discovering the vacuole.
Palade also received
the U.S. National Medal of
Science in Biological Sciences
for “pioneering discoveries
of a host of fundamental,
highly organized structures
in living cells...” in 1986,
(National Medal of Science),
and was previously elected
a Member of the National
Academy of Science in 1961.
George Emil Palade was born
on November 19th, 1912 at
Iaşi, Romania; his father was a
Professor of Philosophy at the
University and his mother was
a high school teacher. Both
parents strongly encouraged
George to further develop
his abilities through higher
education at the university.
George E. Palade received his
M.D. in 1940 from the Carol
Davila School of Medicine of
the University of Bucharest,
Romania. He was a member
of the faculty of that famous
school until 1945 when he
went to the United States
for postdoctoral studies.
There, he joined Prof. Albert
Claude at the Rockefeller
Institute for Medical Research.
In 1952, Palade became a
natu-ralized citizen of the
United States. He was a
Professor at the Rockefeller
Institute (1958-1973), Yale
University Medical School
(1973-1990), and University
of California, San Diego
(1990-2008). At UCSD, Palade
was Professor of Medicine
in Residence (Emeritus) in
the Department of Cellular
PALADE AND THE NOBEL PRIZE
& Molecular Medicine, as
well as a Dean for Scientific
Affairs (Emeritus), in the
School of Medicine at La Jolla,
California. In 1970, he was
awarded the Louisa Gross
Horwitz Prize from Columbia
University together with
Renato Dulbecco co-winner
of 1974 Nobel Prize in
Physiology or Medicine “for
discoveries concerning the
functional organization of
the cell that were seminal
events in the development
of modern cell biology”,
related to his previous
research carried out at the
Rockefeller Institute for
Medical Research. His Nobel
lecture, delivered on 1974,
was entitled: “Intracellular
Aspects of the Process of
Protein Secretion”, published
in 1992 by the Nobel Prize
Foundation.
At the Rockefeller
Institute for Medical
Re-search, Palade used
electron microscopy
to study the internal
organization of such cell
structures as mitochondria,
chloroplasts, the Golgi
apparatus, and others. His
most important discovery
was made while using an
experimental strategy known
as a pulse-chase analysis.
In the experiment Palade
and his colleagues were
able to confirm an existing
hypothesis that a secretory
pathway exists and that
the Rough ER and the Golgi
apparatus function together.
He focused on Weibel-Palade
bodies (a storage organelle
unique to the endothelium,
containing von Willebrand
factor and various proteins)
which he described together
with the Swiss anatomist
Weibel. Palade was married
to Marilyn Farquhar, a cell
biologist at the University
of California. The following
is a concise excerpt from
Palade’s Autobiography
appearing in the Nobel Award
documents. “In the 1960s,
I continued the work on the
secretory process using in
parallel or in succession two
different approaches. The
first relied exclusively on
cell fractionation, and was
developed in collaboration
with Philip Siekevitz and Lewis
Greene.
13 prnz
Nicolae Paulescu (October
30, 1869 – July 17, 1931)
was a Romanian physiologist
and professor of medicine.
Born in Bucharest, he was
the first of four children of
father Costache Paulescu and
mother Maria Paulescu. He
displayed remarkable abilities
as early as his first school
years. He learned French,
Latin and Ancient Greek at an
early age, so that a few years
later he became fluent in all
these languages and was
able to read classical works
of Latin and Greek literature
in the original. He also had a
particular gift for drawing and
music and special inclinations
towards natural sciences, such
as physics and chemistry.
He graduated from the
Mihai Viteazu High School in
Bucharest, in 1888.
In the autumn of
1888, Paulescu left for
Paris, where he enrolled in
medical school. In 1897 he
graduated with a Doctor of
Medicine degree, and was
immediately appointed as
assistant surgeon at the
Notre-Dame du PerpétuelSecours Hospital. In 1900,
Paulescu returned to Romania,
where he remained until his
death (1931) as Head of the
Physiology Department of
the University of Bucharest
Medical School, as well as a
Professor of Clinical Medicine
at the St. Vincent de Paul
Hospital in Bucharest.
In 1916, he succeeded
in developing an aqueous
pancreatic extract which,
when injected into a
diabetic dog, proved to
have a normalizing effect
on blood sugar levels. After
a gap during World War I,
he resumed his research
and succeeded in isolating
the antidiabetic pancreatic
NICOLAE PAULESCU
hormone (pancreine). From
April 24 to June 23, 1921,
Paulescu published four
papers at the Romanian
Section of the Society of
Biology in Paris: “The effect
of the pancreatic extract
injected into a diabetic
animal by way of the blood”;
“The influence of the time
elapsed from the intravenous
pancreatic injection into a
diabetic animal”; “The effect
of the pancreatic extract
injected into a normal animal
by way of the blood”. An
extensive paper on this
subject - Research on the
Role of the Pancreas in Food
Assimilation - was submitted
by Paulescu on June 22 to the
Archives Internationales de
Physiologie in Liège, Belgium,
and was published in the
August 1921 issue of this
journal.
Furthermore, Paulescu
secured the patent rights for
his method of manufacturing
pancreine (his own term for
insulin) on April 10, 1922
(patent no. 6254) from
the Romanian Ministry of
Industry and Trade. Eight
months after Paulescu’s
works were published, doctor
Frederick Grant Banting and
biochemist John James Richard
Macleod from the University
of Toronto, Canada, published
their paper on the successful
use of a pancreatic extract
for normalizing blood sugar
(glucose) levels (glycemia) in
diabetic dogs.
Their paper is a
mere confirmatory paper,
with direct references to
Paulescu’s article. However,
they misquote that article.
Surprisingly, Ban-ting and
Macleod received the 1923
Nobel Prize in Physiology or
Medicine for the discovery
of insulin, while Paulescu’s
pioneering work was being
completely ignored by the
medical community. Professor
Tiselius, head of the Nobel
Institute, has expressed his
personal opinion that Paulesco
was equally worthy of the
award in 1923.” Paulescu
died in 1931 in Bucharest.
He is buried in Bellu
cemetery. In 1990, he was
elected posthumously to the
Romanian Academy.
PAULESCU AND THE INSULIN
GHEORGHE HAGI
prnz 14
of 1987 Hagi was transferred to
Romanian giants Steaua Bucuresti
as the team prepared their European Super Cup final against FC
Dynamo Kyiv. The original contract was for one game only, the
final. However after winning the
trophy, Hagi scoring the only goal
of the final, Steaua did not want
to release him back to Sportul
Studentesc and retained him for
the next years. During his Steaua
years, (1987 - 1990), Hagi played
97 Liga I games, scoring 76 goals.
He and the team reached the
HAGI, THE CARPATHIAN’S MARADONA!
Gheorghe Hagi was born in February 5, 1965 in Sacele. He is a Romanian former football player. He
was famous for his passing, close
control, long shots and is regarded
as one of the best offensive midfielders in Europe of the 80s and
90s. Nicknamed “The Maradona of
the Carpathians”, he is considered
a hero in his homeland as well as
in Turkey. He has won his country’s “Player of the Year” award six
times, and was recently named
Romanian football player of the
century. He played for the Romanian national team in three World
Cups in 1990, 1994 and 1998, as
well as in three European Football
Championships in 1984, 1996 and
2000. He won a total of 125 caps
for Romania, being ranked second
after Dorinel Munteanu, and scored
35 goals, being ranked first.
In November 2003, to
celebrate UEFA’s Jubilee, he was
selected as the Golden Player of
Romania by the Romanian Football
Federation as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years.
Hagi is one of the few footballers
to have played for both the Spanish rival clubs Real Madrid and FC
Barcelona. In March 2004, he was
named among the top 125 living footballers by Pelé. He started
his career playing for the youth
teams of Farul Constanta in the
1970s, before being selected by
the Romanian Football Federation
to join the squad of Luceafarul
Bucuresti in 1980 for two years.
In 1982 he returned to Constanta,
but one year later, aged 18, he
was prepared to make the step
to a top team. He was originally
directed to Universitatea Craiova,
but chose Sportul Studentesc of
Bucharest instead. In the winter
European Cup semifinal in 1988
and the final in the following year.
Hagi remained one of the most
beloved players in the Turkish and
Romanian championships. Hagi is
not only a prodigy in soccer, he
also raised the quality of Turkish
soccer to a new level.
Hagi made his debut for
the Romania national team at
the age of 18 in 1983 in a game
against Norway played in Oslo. He
was part of the Romanian team
until 2000. Hagi led the Romanian
team to its best ever international
performance at the 1994 World
Cup, where the team reached
the quarterfinals before Sweden
ended their run after winning the
penalty shoot-out. Hagi scored
three times in the tournament,
including a memorable goal in
their 3-2 surprise defeat of South
American powerhouse and previous runners-up Argentina. In the
first of Romania’s group stage
matches, against Colombia, Hagi
scored one of the most memo-
rable goals of that tournament,
curling in a 40-yard lob over Colombian goalkeeper Oscar Córdoba
who was caught out of position.
He was named in the Team of the
Tournament. Four years later, after
the 1998 World Cup, Hagi decided
to retire from the national team,
only to change his mind after few
months and play at the 2000 European Football Championship.Hagi
retired from professional football
in 2001, age 36, in a game called
“Gala Hagi” on the 24th of April. He
still holds the record as Romanian
national team top scorer. In 2001
Hagi was named the manager
of Romania, repla-cing Ladislau
Bölöni, who left the squad to coach
Sporting Clube de Portugal. However, after failing to qualify the
team for the World Cup, Hagi was
sacked. His only notable achievement during the six months as
Romania’s manager was the win in
Budapest against Hungary, the first
of this kind for the Romania national football team. In 2003, Hagi
took over as coach of Turkish first
division side Bursaspor, but left
the club after a disappointing start
to the season. He then became
manager of Galatasaray in 2004,
leading the team to the Turkish
Cup in 2005 with 5-1 as a score
vs. their rivals Fenerbahçe SK.
Romanian team Steaua
Bucuresti wanted to hire him in
the summer of 2005, but Hagi’s
requested wage could not be met
by the Romanian champions. Hagi
became manager of FCU Politehnica Timisoara instead, and after a
string of bad results and disagreements with the management, he
left the club after a few months.
Constanta’s main stadium used to
bear his name, but the name was
changed after Hagi signed with
FCU Politehnica Timisoara. From
June 2007 to September 20th,
Hagi coached Steaua Bucuresti,
had a mediocre start in the internal championship mainly due to
the large number of unavailable
injured players, managed to qualify
the team for the second time in
line to Champions League Groups
passing two qualifying rounds.
He resigned due to a long series
of conflicts with the team’s owner
Gigi Becali, which also happens to
be his godson.
For the last years he is
known in developing young talents
and youth centers in Romania.
15 prnz
O-Zone was a Moldovian pop
music trio that gained global
popularity for their song Dragostea din tei. Its members
were Dan Balan (Crazy Loop),
Radu Sarbu, and Arsenie
Todiras (also known as Arsenium). The group was started
by Dan Balan in the year 1999
and originally consisted of
him and Petru Jelihovschi.
They released their first album, “Dar, unde esti...”, in
2000, and were a major success in Romania. However, for
Petru music was just a hobby,
so the group split up. Dan
was determined not to end
the project though. He later
held open auditions. There he
met Arsenie Todiras.
At first he was a bit
skeptical of Arsenie until
Arsenie started to sing “Love
me Tender”. Then a couple
of weeks later Dan gets a call
from Radu Sirbu saying he
missed the auditions. Radu
later auditioned for Dan and
made it in. They were officially a band. They mainly
sang eurodance music in Romanian, and were especially
famous for their hit single
“Dragostea din tei”, a notable
summer hit from the album
Disc O-Zone.
Dragostea Din Tei
reached Number one on the
singles charts of many European countries in 2003
and 2004, and was Number
three in the United Kingdom.
O-ZONE
Another single called “Despre Tine” from the same
album had similar success
across Europe. Compared to
its multi-platinum status in
Europe, O-Zone never entered the charts in the United
States. With the advent of the
Numa Numa Dance, “Dragostea Din Tei” had a burst
of popularity in the United
States.
While the song received moderate to major
airplay, most Americans never knew who the group was
or the original song’s name.
In January of 2005 the trio
split. Later, though, they got
back together to do a tour in
Japan since “Dragostea Din
Tei” was such a big hit there.
“Dragostea Din Tei” was also
a big hit in other countries,
and new versions were recorded internationally in at
least 12 languages. T.I. and
Rihanna sampled the song in
their 2008 hit “Live Your Life”.
Alina covered the song un-
der the title “When You Leave
(Numa Numa)”. Albums: Dar,
unde esti (1999); Number 1
(2002); DiscO-Zone (2004).
Singles: “Kayla my dear deggie” (1999); “Numai Tu”
(2002); “Despre tine” (2002);
“Dragostea din tei” (2004);
“Despre tine” (2004) (Re-release).
NICOLAE CEAUSESCU
Nicolae Ceausescu (January 26, 1918 – December 25,
1989) was the Secretary General of the Romanian Workers’ Party, later the Romanian
Communist Party from 1965
until 1989, President of the
Council of State from 1967
and President of Romania
from 1974 until 1989. His
rule was marked in the first
decade by an open policy
towards Western Europe and
United States of America,
which deviated from that of
the other Warsaw Pact states
during the Cold War. His second decade was characterized by an increasingly erratic
personality cult, extreme
nationalism and a deterioration of the foreign relations
with Western powers and also
with the Soviet Union. After
Ceausescu’s government was
overthrown late in 1989, he
was shot following a twohour session by a military
court.
Born in the village
of Scornicesti, Olt County,
Ceausescu moved to Bucharest at the age of 11 to work
in the factories. He was the
son of a peasant. He joined
the then-illegal Communist
Party of Romania in early
1932 and was first arrested,
in 1933, for agitating during a strike. He was arrested
again, in 1934, first for collecting signatures on a petition protesting the trial of
railway workers and twice
more for other similar activities. These arrests earned
him the description “dangerous communist agitator” and
“active distributor of communist and anti-fascist propaganda” on his police record.
He then went underground,
but was captured and imprisoned in 1936 for two years
at Doftana Prison for anti-
prnz 16
fascist activities.
While out of jail in 1939,
he met Elena Petrescu (they
married in 1946) —she
would play an increasing role in his political life
over the decades. He was
arrested and imprisoned
again in 1940. In 1943, he
was transferred to Târgu Jiu
internment camp where he
shared a cell with Gheorghe
Gheorghiu-Dej, becoming
his protégé. After World War
II, when Romania was beginning to fall under Soviet
influence, he served as secretary of the Union of Commu-nist Youth (1944–1945).
After the Communists
seized power in Romania in
1947, he headed the ministry of agriculture, then
served as deputy minister
of the armed forces under
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej’s
Stalinist reign. In 1952,
Gheorghiu-Dej brought
him onto the Central Committee months after the
party’s “Muscovite faction”
led by Ana Pauker had been
purged. In 1954, he became
a full member of the Politburo and eventually rose to
occupy the second-highest
position in the party hierarchy. Three days after the
death of Gheorghiu-Dej in
March 1965, Ceausescu became first secretary of the
Romanian Workers’ Party. One
of his first acts was to change
the name of the party to The
Romanian Communist Party,
and declare the country the
Socialist Republic of Romania
rather than a People’s Republic. In 1967, he consolidated
his power by becoming president of the State Council.
Initially, Ceausescu became a popular figure in Romania and also in the Western
World, due to his independent
foreign policy, challenging the authority of the Soviet Union. In the 1960s, he
ended Romania’s active participation in the Warsaw Pact
(though Romania formally
remained a member); he refused to take part in the 1968
invasion of Czechoslovakia by
Warsaw Pact forces, and actively and openly condemned
that action. Although the
Soviet Union largely tolerated
Ceausescu’s recalcitrance,
his seeming independence
CEAUSESCU: THE CURSE OF ROMANIA
17 prnz
from Moscow earned Romania maverick status within the
Eastern Bloc. In 1974, Ceausescu became “President of
Romania”, further consolidating his power. He followed
an independent policy in foreign relations—for example,
in 1984, Romania was one
of only three Communistruled countries (the others
being the People’s Republic
of China, and Yugoslavia) to
take part in the Americanorganized 1984 Summer
Olympics. Also, the country
was the first of the Eastern
Bloc to have official relations
with the European Community. However, Ceausescu
refused to implement any
liberal reforms. The evolution
of his regime followed the
Stalinist path already traced
by Gheor-ghiu-Dej. Beginning in 1972, Ceausescu
instituted a program of systematisation. Promoted as a
way to build a “multilaterally
developed socialist society”,
the program of demolition,
resettlement, and construction began in the countryside, but culminated with
an attempt to reshape the
country’s capital completely.
Over one fifth of central Bucharest, including churches
and historic buildings, was
demolished in the 1980s, in
order to rebuild the city in
his own style. The People’s
House (“Casa Poporului”) in
Bucharest, now the Palace of
the Parliament, is the world’s
second largest administrative
building, after The Pentagon.
Ceausescu also planned to
bulldoze many villages in order to move the peasants into
blocks of flats in the cities,
as part of his “urbanisation”
and “industrialisation” programs. An NGO project called
“Sister Villages” that created
NICOLAE CEAUSESCU
bonds between European
and Romanian communities may have played a role
in thwarting these plans. In
1966, the Ceausescu regime banned all abortion,
and introduced other policies to increase the very low
birth rate and fertility rate
- including a special tax
amounting to between ten
and twenty percent on the
incomes of men and women
who remained childless
after the age of twenty-five,
whether married or single.
The inability to procreate due to medical reasons
did not make a difference.
Abortion was permitted only
in cases where the woman
in question was over fortytwo, or already the mother
of four (later five) children.
Mothers of at least five
children would be entitled
to significant benefits, while
mothers of at least ten children were declared heroine
mothers by the Romanian
State; few women ever
sought this status, the average Romanian family during
the communist era having
two to three children. In the
1980s, Ceausescu ordered
the export of much of the
country’s agricultural and
industrial production in
order to repay its debts. The
resulting domestic shortages made the everyday
life of Romanian citizens
a fight for survival as food
rationing was introduced
and heating, gas and electricity black-outs became
the rule. During the 1980s,
there was a steady decrease
in the living standard, especially the availability and
quality of food and general
goods in stores. The official explanation was that
the country was paying its
debts and people accepted
the suffering, believing it to
be for a short time only and
for the ultimate good. The
debt was fully paid in summer 1989, shortly before
Ceausescu was overthrown,
but heavy exports continued
until the revolution, which
took place in December. By
1989, Ceausescu was showing signs of complete denial
of reality. While the country was going through extremely difficult times with
long bread queues in front
of empty food shops, he
was often shown on state
TV entering stores filled
with food supplies, visiting
large food and arts festivals
where people would serve
him mouthwatering food
and praising the “high living
standard” achieved under
his rule. Special contingents
of food deliveries would fill
stores before his visits, and
even well-fed cows would be
transported across country
in anticipation to his visits of
farms. Ceausescu’s regime
collapsed after a series of
violent events in Timisoara
and Bucharest in December
1989.The Ceausescu couple
was executed on 25 December 1989 and they graves
are located in Bucharest.
ILIE NASTASE
Ilie Nastase (born July 19, 1946,
in Bucharest, Romania) is a former Romanian professional tennis
player, one of the world’s top
players of the 1970s. Nastase was
the World No. 1 in 1973 according
to the Association of Tennis Professionals ranking system, which
placed him first from August 23,
1973 to June 2, 1974. Nastase
won seven Grand Slam titles: two
in singles, three in men’s doubles,
and two in mixed doubles. He
also won four Tennis Masters Cup
championships. In 2005, Tennis magazine ranked him as the
28th-best player of the preceding
forty years.
At the beginning of his
career in 1966 Nastase travelled
around the world competing with
his good friend Ion Tiriac. Together, they represented Romania in
the Davis Cup competition, being
three times runners up: in 1969,
1971 and 1972.
In singles, Nastase won
his first minor tournament at
Cannes on April 16, 1967. His
first final at an important tournament was in 1969 in Stockholm,
where he defeated Tony Roche
and Stan Smith. Nastase became
one of the best players in 1970,
with many experts ranking him as
the sixth best player in the world
at that time after the Australians
Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, John
Newcombe, and Roche and the
American Ashe. Nastase’s high
ranking resulted from his success at the Italian Open in Rome
and at the U.S. Indoor Open in
Salisbury, Maryland. With Tiriac,
Nastase won the men’s doubles
title at the French Open. In 1971,
Nastase was the runner-up at a
depleted French Open with 16 of
the 32 World Championship Tennis (WCT) players absent. Nastase
lost in four sets to Jan Kodes. In
December, Nastase won the Tennis Masters Cup, again without the
WCT players.
The two following years
saw Nastase’s apogee. In 1972, he
became the second ranked player
in the world (see World number
one male tennis player rankings),
owing to his winning the US Open
in a five-set final over Arthur
Ashe. This tournament was the
only event of the year in which
prnz 18
all the best players participated.
Two months before in a depleted
Wimbledon, Nastase lost to Smith
in a dramatic five sets final, one
of the most spectacular of all
time [1]. In the Davis Cup, in
which WCT players were still not
allowed to participate, Nastase
was undefeated in singles until
losing to Smith in the final tie. In
December, Nastase won his first
match of the year against Smith
and his second consecutive Tennis Masters Cup title. (The WCT
players were again absent from
the tournament).
By winning 17 tournaments in 1973 (the French Open,
the Masters Cup and the other 12
listed on the ATP website), Nastase was the undisputed World
No.1 that year. In the Davis Cup,
he won 7 of 8 singles rubbers,
including a victory over Tom
Okker, the “Flying Dutchman.”
In matches against the other top
players, Nastase was 1–0 against
for his technical and physical
genius and for his good humour
on court. But among referees and
other players, his reputation for
gamesmanship resulted in the
nickname “Nasty” after several
incidents where his temperament
got the better of him. For one
year, some players scorned him in
locker rooms and did not speak to
him. In 1973, Wimbledon and the
Australian Open again had very
depleted fields. Roughly 80 players boycotted Wimbledon because
of a controversy involving Nikki
Pilic. Only 4 of the 20 best players in the world entered (Nastase,
Kodes, Roger Taylor and Connors).
As usual from 1972 through 1982,
very few of the best players visited
the Australian continent. Among
the top 20 players, only Rosewall
and Newcombe participated. Five
events stood out that year: (1) the
U.S. Open with only Roy Emerson missing; (2) the French Open
(among the best claycourt players,
Newcombe and 1–1 against
Smith. The Romanian won the
French Open without dropping a
set (a feat repeated by Björn Borg
in 1978 and 1980 and by Rafael
Nadal in 2008), and he won the
French Open (clay), Rome (clay)
and Queen’s Club (grass) in succession, a feat never repeated
in the open era, though Borg
won Rome, the French Open,
and Wimbledon in succession in
1978, and Nadal won the French
Open, Queen’s Club, and Wimbledon in succession in 2008.
In terms of public popularity, Nastase was then at the
peak of his career, famous both
only Rosewall, Laver, and Emerson were absent); (3) the Tennis
Masters Cup, this time accessible
to all players; (4) the WCT finals,
reserved for WCT players (not including Nastase, Newcombe, Connors, and Manuel Orantes); and (5)
the Davis Cup, open to everyone
for the first time in its history. In
1974 he was the only player to
qualify for both the WCT Finals
and the Tennis Masters Cup (also
Newcombe played both events,
although he played the Masters
at Kooyong as an invitee instead
of a qualifier). As usual, Nastase
played well in the Masters Cup,
in particular against Newcombe
19 prnz
in the semifinals. (Nastase finished his career
with a 4–1 record versus Newcombe, losing only
their first match in 1969.) The Romanian, however, lost the final to Guillermo Vilas in five sets.
For the fifth consecutive year, Nastase reached
the Tennis Masters Cup final in 1975, where he
played perhaps the best match of his career to
defeat Borg: 6–2, 6–2, 6–1. During the first half
of 1976, Nastase won four tournaments (Atlanta
WCT, Avis Challenge Cup WCT, U.S. Open Indoor, and La Costa), and head-to-head, he led
Connors 2–1, Vilas 1–0, Ashe 1–0, and Borg 1–0.
Nastase did not enter the Australian Open, which
was again avoided by most of the top players.
Nastase was prevented from entering the French
Open because he participated in World Team
Tennis. In the second half of the year, Nastase
lost to Borg in the men’s singles final of Wimbledon and in the semifinals of the U.S. Open.
Nastase won three other tournaments during
the second half of the year, the Pepsi Grand
Slam, South Orange, and the 4-man tournament of Caracas, Venezuela, in October (not to
be confused with the Caracas WCT tournament
in March), making seven tournament championships for the year. Nastase was generally considered to be the World No. 3 for the year, behind
Connors and Borg. In 1977 Nastase finished
ninth in the ATP rankings. He was a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon and the French Open and
participated in the WCT Finals. Nastase was still
one of the 20 best players in 1978. At Wimbledon, he again reached the quarterfinals, losing
to Okker after defeating Roscoe Tanner. During the remainder of his career, Nastase steadily
declined and only occasionally defeated a good
player, such as Johan Kriek in the third round
of the 1982 U.S. Open. Nastase retired from the
tour in October 1985 at the age of 39 after playing in the tournament in Toulouse, although he
did play the challenger tournament at Dijon in
June 1988.
Nastase won the Tennis Masters Cup
tournament four times, in 1971, 1972, 1973
and 1975. Only Pete Sampras and Ivan Lendl
won more titles there. He has 88 singles titles,
only 57 of which are recorded at the Association
of Tennis Professionals (ATP) website. He won
the U.S. Open in 1972 (defeating Arthur Ashe
in a five set final) and the French Open in 1973.
He was the singles runner-up at Wimbledon in
1972, losing in five sets to Stan Smith, and in
1976, losing to Björn Borg. In men’s doubles, he
won Wimbledon in 1973 (with Jimmy Connors),
the French Open in 1970 (with Ion Tiriac), and
the U.S. Open in 1975 (with Connors). Nastase
was the first professional sports figure to sign
an endorsement contract with Nike in 1972.
Nastase and Connors were good friends, often
playing doubles together. They refused to join
the Association of Tennis Professionals, preferring to play in a parallel tour organized by their
manager.
ALEXANDRU TOMESCU
ALEXANDRU TOMESCU
Alexandru Tomescu won over 20 awards from
national and international contests, over two hundred concerts played and lots of collaborations
with great bandmasters. An important stage in his
development as an artist was the competitional
stage.
From 1 december 2002, Alexandru Tomescu is a permanent soloist of the musical bands
Radio. Also with the National Radio Orchestra
he made many recordings, concerts and tournaments.
As president of the Cultural Foundation
Remember Enescu, Alexandru Tomescu is involved
in many musical projects. In sempember 2008
he was the winner of the Elder - Voicu conest for
the Stradivarius violin. In this position he won the
rights to play the Stradivarius violin for the next
five years.
prnz 20
HENRI COANDA
Henri Marie Coanda (1886–
1972) was a Romanian inventor, aerodynamics pioneer and
the builder of world’s first jet
powered aircraft, the Coanda-1910.
He discovered and gave
his name to the Coanda effect.
Born in Bucharest, Coanda
was the second child of a
large family. His father was
General Constantin Coanda,
a mathematics professor at
the National School of Bridges
and Roads. His mother, Aida
Danet, was the daughter of
French physician Gustave
Danet, and was born in Brittany. Coanda studied at the
Petrache Poenaru Communal
School in Bucharest. After
three years (1899), his father,
who desired a military career
for him, had him transfer to
the Military Lycee in Iasi.
He graduated from that
institution in 1903 with the
rank of sergeant major, and
he continued his studies at the
School of Artillery, Military,
and Naval Engineering in Bucharest. Sent with an artillery
regiment to Germany (1904),
he enrolled in the Technische
Hochschule in Charlottenburg,
Berlin.
Coanda graduated as
an artillery officer, but he was
more interested in the technical problems of flight. In
1905, he built a missile-aeroplane for the Romanian Army.
He continued his studies
(1907-1908) at the Montefiore
Institute in Liège, Belgium,
where he met Gianni Caproni.
In 1908 Coanda returned to
Romania to serve as an active
officer in the Second Artillery
Regiment. However, his inventor’s spirit did not comport
well with military discipline.
He solicited and obtained
permission to leave the army.
In 1909, he travelled to Paris,
where he enrolled in the newly
COANDA: THE WORLD’S FIRST JET AIRCRAFT
founded École Nationale
Supérieure de l’Aéronautique
et de l’Espace. One year
later (1910) he graduated
at the head of the first class
of aeronautical engineers.
With the support of engineer Gustave Eiffel and the
mathematician, politician,
and aeronautical pioneer Paul
Painlevé, he began experimenting the aerodynamic
techniques: one of this experiments was mounting a
device on a train running at
90 km/h so he could analyse
the aerodynamic behavior.
In 1910, using the
workshop of Gianni Caproni, he designed, built and
piloted the first ‘thermojet’
powered aircraft, known as
the Coanda-1910, which he
demonstrated publicly at the
second International Aeronautic Salon in Paris. It would
be nearly 30 years until the
next thermojet powered
aircraft, the Caproni Campini
N.1.
At the airport of Issyles-Moulineaux near Paris,
Coanda lost control of the jet
plane, which went off of the
runway and caught fire. For-
tunately, he escaped with just
a good scare and some minor
injuries to his face and hands.
Around that time, Coanda
abandoned his experiments
due to a lack of interest and
support. Between 1911 and
1914, he worked as technical
director of Bristol Aeroplane
Company in the UK, where he
designed several aeroplanes
known as Bristol-Coanda aeroplanes. In 1912 one of these
planes won the first prize at
the IMA Contest in the UK.
In 1915, he went again
to France where he designed
and built three different models of propeller aeroplane,
including the Coanda-1916,
with two propellers mounted
close to the tail; this design
was to be reprised in the “Caravelle” transport aeroplane, for
which Coanda was a technical
consultant. Probably the most
famous of Coanda’s discoveries is the Coanda Effect. He
won the Laboratories Award,
the Award and Grand Gold
Medal “Vielles Tiges”, UNESCO
Award for Scientific Research,
The Medal of French Aeronautics, Order of Merit, and Commander ring.