After a great start exploring the multi-faceted reality of pro- and anti-Americanism in the company of PEN Romania President, Radu Vancu, our LEON FERARU CONFERENCES ONLINE continued with a conversation with Professor DENNIS DELETANT, one of the biggest names of Romanian historiography in the Western world.
Professor Deletant, who has recently published a monumental history of Romanian communism, reviewed the operations of Ceaușescu's feared Securitate in the United States during the last decades of the Cold War. He tackled themes like the phases of Romanian-American relations during the communist period, the role of the secret service in the foreign policy execution, Romanian espionage's modus operandi in Western Europe and the U.S., the Securitate's penetration of the Romanian-American communities, and other revelations from a troubled time.
Despite some unexpected technical difficulties, we were able to broadcast the program (a big thank you to our partners at Transconcentric for saving the day!). We're glad to offer you a better version of the live recording and we hope you won't be bothered by the occasional sound fluctuations. In the end Professor Deletant's words have always had an echo :)
DENNIS DELETANT is the Visiting Ratiu Professor of Romanian Studies at Georgetown University. He is Emeritus Professor of Romanian Studies at University College London (UCL), where he taught at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies between 1969 and 2011, and was Professor of Romanian Studies at the University of Amsterdam between 2003 and 2010. Dennis Deletant was appointed to the board of the British Government’s Know-How Fund for Central and Eastern Europe in 1990 and was actively involved in its work in Romania and in the Republic of Moldova until 1999. For this service he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1995. In 2016, he was awarded the National Order of the Star of Romania for his contribution to Romanian studies. He is the author of several monographs on Romanian history, among them Ceauşescu and the Securitate: Coercion and Dissent in Romania, 1965-89 (London, 1995; New York, 1995), Romania under Communist Rule (Bucharest, 1998), Communist Terror in Romania: Gheorghiu-Dej and the Police State, 1948-1965 (London, New York, 1999), Hitler’s Forgotten Ally. Ion Antonescu and his Regime, Romania, 1940-1944 (London, 2006), and British Clandestine Activities in Romania during the Second World War (London, 2016). His most recent study,Romania under Communism: Paradox and Degeneration, was published by Routlegde (Oxford, New York) in January 2019.