"Our soul is just an urn where we close, once and for all, the ashes of our lost passions !"

joi, 31 decembrie 2009

A Happy New Year!


When I started this blog I strongly refused to make it as my diary . After 8 months of Romanian. Death. Cremation I'm proud by what became this blog: an easier way to keep in touch of death scholars in worldwide. This blog didn't represent just my contribution but a wider one of all the people who believed and sustained this project! Thank you very much! A Happy New Year for all of you!
I don't know if this picture is the proper one in order to express these lines from above but this photo is a very interesting one: one of the biggest problems of death system in Romania of nowadays is the crisis of burial places in urban area so this photo, taken in the Alba Iulia's cemetery, show us the real dimensions of this situation - a burial place between corns! Hallelujah!

luni, 28 decembrie 2009

One moment - three pictures at the Ceremony of Re-burial of Unknown Soldier at Bucharest (1923)





In 1923 it was organized a big ceremony for the eternal honor of the fallen Romanian soldier during the First World War. In the presence of the royal family of Romania the burial ceremony took place at Bucharest on 17th May 1923 and on the slab of the crypt were written: "Here lies at rest happily unto the Lord the Unknown Soldier, extinguished from life in the sacrifice for the unity of the Romanian people. On his bones lies the land of united Romania. 1916-1919".

Books

Finnaly, the website of Accent Publishing House is available on http://www.accentpublisher.ro/
Here You can find and buy on-line the Dying and Death in 18th-21srt century Europe, International Conference's proceedings 2008-2009; my book Moartea in Transilvania in secolul al XIX-lea (Death in 19th century Transylvania), second volume, 2007 - http://www.accentpublisher.ro/site/autori/?a=view:25# ; Victor Tudor Rosu's book, August Treboniu Laurian (1810-1891). Discurs istoric romantic - http://www.accentpublisher.ro/site/autori/?a=view:37 - and also Corina Rotar's books on evolutionary computation - http://www.accentpublisher.ro/site/autori/?a=view:27

duminică, 27 decembrie 2009

One moment - four pictures at the death of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (1965)






4 photos from Scanteia- the official newspaper of Romanian Communist Party at the death and burial of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (1901-1965), communist leader of Romania (1948-1965), being succeeded by Nicolae Ceausescu.

One moment - two pictures at the death of Joseph Stalin




There are two pictures from Scanteia *Sparkle, the official newspaper of Romanian Communist Party at the death of Joseph Stalin (1878-1953).

sâmbătă, 26 decembrie 2009

Romanian Death Association for Death Studies

This is a provisional list of the persons interested to become founders of Romanian Association for Death Studies:

1. Marius Rotar, historian, PhD., "1 Decembrie 1918" University of Alba Iulia
2. Tudor Victor Rosu, historian, PhD., National Museum of Unification, Alba Iulia
3. Corina Rotar, computer scientist, PhD., "1 Decembrie 1918" University of Alba Iulia
4. Cosmin Bodrean, manager, "Sf. Gheorghe" Cemetery, Hunedoara
5. Cristina Bogdan, historian, PhD., University of Bucharest
6. Silvia Marin, historian, PhD., University of Bucharest
7. Nicu Mihai, historian, PhD., "C.S. Plopsor" Romanian Academy Institute, Craiova
8. Mihai Burlacu, sociologist, PhD. student, "Transylvania" University of Brasov
9. Adriana Teodorescu, PhD. student, "Babes-Boylai" University of Cluj Napoca
10. Corneliu Simut, theologian, PhD., "Emmanuel" University of Oradea
11. Florina Codreanu, PhD. student, "Babes-Boylai" University of Cluj Napoca
12. Gabriela Boiangiu, PhD., "C.S. Plopsor" Romanian Academy Institute, Craiova
13. Andi Mihalache, historian, Ph.D, "A.D. Xenopol", Romanian Academy Institute, Jassy
14. Carmen Alexandrache, Ph.D student, University of Galati

If you want to be between founders of this unique Association please send me a mail and a short CV at mrotar2000@yahoo.com
The main aim of Romanian Association for Death Studies is to develop and to improve the quality of death studies in our country. Also, we try to keep alive the flames of Dying and Death in 18th-21srt Century Europe, International Conference! This is the only conference on death in Romania and also in this part of Europe! For all of these and other 1000 unspoken reasons I do need you by our side!

A Short Portrait of a Romanian Cremationist



It's about Radu D. Rosetti (1874-1964) - poet, one of the best authors of epigrams in Romanian literature, a famous lawyer during the interwar period and also author of some travel books. According to George Calinescu, Radu D. Rosetti used, in the last years of his life, to sleep with the urn on his night table, expressing in this manner his adhesion to cremation. With Constantin I. Istrati, Grigore Trancu-Iasi, Mihai (Max) Popovici, C. Comanescu, V.I. Zorca and few others, too RADU D. ROSETTI had been one of the most important romanian cremationists. Unfortunately surfing on net I haven't found until now any picture of Radu D. Rosetti and for this reason I posted it.

joi, 24 decembrie 2009

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!



I wish Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to all members of our team, the participants of our conferences, the collaborators, the contributors of the conferences' proceedings and, also to our friends from Italy, UK, The Netherlands, USA, Canada, Poland, Czech Republic, Russian Federation, Serbia, Ireland, Australia, Germany, Hungary, Republic of Moldova and of course Romania. For us 2009 was a good year and we hope to go on and to improve our actions in 2010!
Like a card for celebration of all of these we can see here a picture of Cenusa Crematorium in Bucharest in 1930. In spite of the fact the building of this crematorium wasn't finished Romanian cremationists of those times performed cremation inside of. This is for me and I hope for all of you a stronger impulse to work for improving all I started through this project. Thank you very much! Sarbatori fericite!

sâmbătă, 19 decembrie 2009

Famous Cremated Romanians (XIX)

1948
Maria Giurgea - one of the most talented actress from the interwar period; due to some problems when she considered herself humiliated Maria Giurgea gave up to play at 48 age.

2000 ?
Ion Herdan - an excellent translator of some very important works for Romanian culture

2007
Isidore Isou (Ioan Isidor Goldstein) - Romanian/French poet and artist, the founder of Lettrism cultural movement. He died in France and his ashes are kept in Pere Lachaise Cemetery

2008
Ana Voindrouh, the younger sister of Romanian singer Nadine. Ana committed suicide at 29 age and she was cremated at Vitan Barzesti crematorium in Bucharest

2009
Mircea Constantiniu - the twin brother of the famous Romanian singer Cornel Constantiniu. Mircea Constantiniu, working for many years like graphics arts artist, suffered by cancer, died in South Africa where he was cremated, too. It's very interesting the fact that Cornel Constantiuniu public declared he felt some burns in his stomach during the cremation of his brother!

Also, there are two very interesting cases of some cremated non-Romanians but connected to Romania:
1. Amita Bhose - Indian writer, teacher and translator: she died in Romania in 1992 being cremated at Cenusa Crematorium in Bucharest but living and teaching for a long time here *she was the best translation in begali language of the most important Romanian poet Mihai Eminescu - his family decided to keep her urn in Bucharest
2. Hajime Hori - Japanese business man, died in 2006, bled to death after a dog bit on a Bucharest street. Hori was cremated in the presence of his son at Vitan-Barzesti Crematorium in Bucharest and his urn transported in his native country. This case produced a big scandal in Romania regarding the situation and the danger of the "vagabond" dogs on the street of Bucharest *see the "famous" debate for the euthanasia of this type of dogs.

joi, 17 decembrie 2009

Three Short arguments for RADS

1. The poorness of palliative cares: Today romanian newspaper Evenimentul Zilei published a very interesting paper about the situation of palliative care and hospice services in Romania: http://www.evz.ro/articole/detalii-articol/879986/Ghid-de-comunicare-a-vestilor-proaste/
For example just 95% from Romanians suffered by cancer died in pains. This is a stupid situation and must be changed!
2. The crisis of the burial places in urban area in Romania and the alternative of cremation!
3. The improvement of the death studies in Romania!
Our future association will encoure very strong the debates on the the first two topics and on others, too trying to influence the public politics upon death system in Romania! For this aim we need you by our side!

RADS + Famous Cremated Romanians (XVIII)

1. Yesterday I received by post from the Romanian Minister of Justice the approval for the validity of name for Romanian Association for Death Studies *Asociatia Romana de Studii asupra Mortii. Although there are some steps from the legal point of view for the official opening of RADS the first one of this and the most important steps had made until now. As we decided at the conference any possible member of RADS must pay for her/his registration 50 RON. Until now 10 persons have expressed their wish to become member of RADS. So, I think in January 2010 we will be able to make the first official registrations for RADS. Meanwhile I will post here, in short time, my proposal for RADS rules waiting for your comments and suggestions to improve it.

2. It's very possible that some papers from the Proceedings of Alcoholism: Historical and Social Issues, International Conference, to be re-published into The Social History of Alcohol and Drugs: An Interdisciplinary Journal (SHAD)http://historyofalcoholanddrugs.typepad.com/alcohol_and_drugs_history/description.html . My friend, Dan Malleck proposed to me this and we must select some from the proceedings' papers and also to find an English co-editor for it.

3. Famous Cremated Romanians (XVIII):

2002

Ion Omescu - poet, he died in France, being cremated at Pere Lachaise Crematorium in Paris

2006

Gheorghe Moruju - professor, the modern "father" of fruit growing in Romania
Aurel Acasandrei - painter artist
Ion Capanu - professor at ASE, Bucharest
Paul Matei Mustata - mathematician, associative professor at University of Galati
Gheorghe Gyuri Kazar - art historian
Valentina Tariceanu - doctor
Constantin Cezar Serbu - professor at Polytechnic of Bucharest *Electronics
Mircea Herford - actor
Mircea Socolescu - doctor, Orthopedist
Toma Viorel - pilot
Alexandru Serafim - convicted by Romanian communists by jail and also the ex-mayor of Tr. Severin
Titi Dumitrescu - actor

2007

Florin Teodosiu - professor *landscape painting, his wife was also cremated in 2008
Florina Magureanu - chief editor, Radio Romania

2008

Ionescu Dumitru Ilie - druggist, PhD.
Rodica Sfintescu - writer
Ion Mitran - doctor, journalist
Susana Heitel - art historian, PhD.
Mircea Cojan - actor
Mircea Danciulescu - professor, journalist
Niculae (Nicolae) Noica - doctor, professor, member of Romanian Academy for Medical Sciences
George Ionescu - professor singing lesson at the Romanian Academy for Music, Bucharest and also general of Romanian Army

marți, 15 decembrie 2009

Proceedings of Alcoholism: Historical and Social Issues, International Conference, Alba Iulia, Romania, 28-29 August 2009

Proceedings of Alcoholism: Historical and Social Issues, International Conference, Alba Iulia, Romania, 28-29 August 2009, Victor Tudor Rosu, Marius Rotar (editors), Cluj Napoca, Accent, 2009
ABSTRACTS:

BETWEEN SUPPORT, LACK OF INTEREST AND MOCKERY. PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF ALCOHOLISM AND ANTI-ALCOHOLISM IN SERBIA IN THE FIRST HALF OF 20TH CENTURY
Petar ATANACKOVIĆ

ABSTRACT: End of 19th and beginning of 20th century was the time when problem of alcoholism became visible in the public in Serbia. Intensive public interest for the problem itself and the possible ways of its solutions was the confirmation of this fact. One of manifestations of this change was appearance of the anti-alcoholic (abstinence) societies, whose activities evoke different reactions from the State and wide public. Intention of this text is to show the scale of the problem of alcoholism, from the perspective of anti-alcoholic societies, and to show reactions of the public (press, other civil societies, institutions and citizens) on their activities. What was the perception of alcoholism, and what was the perception of activities of anti-alcoholic societies in 3 different socio-political contexts (in Serbia, Kingdom of Yugoslavia and socialist Yugoslavia)? Whether the activities of abstinence societies visible in the media? How were reacting other civil societies and institutions, and how were reacting citizens (ordinary people) on those activities?
FACT OR FICTION?AN OUTLINE OF THE HISTORICAL ANTHROPOLOGY OF ALCOHOLOSM[1]
Hasso SPODE

ABSTRACT. Alcohol consumption has accompanied the human species since millennia, alcoholism, however, has not. The annals are well full of records of drunkards like the Spartan king Cleomenes who drank his wine in the “Scythian fashion”, i.e. unmixed, and who in a state of intoxication fell into his sword - like Alexander the Great or imperator Tiberius, a deterrent example of excess. Although the boundaries between permissible and impermissible, use and misuse (usus and abusus), were always assessed controversial, there was no doubt that frequent indulging oneself in wine or beer is a vice that may result in various diseases. Some authors even defined drunkenness as a temporary “wilful insanity”. However, nobody imagined the existence of a mental disease characterised by the necessity to drink. This notion is a result of the modern idea of man.

[1] This article is based upon my congress lecture “Sucht – Faktum oder Fiktion?” In: Karl-Friedrich Wessels et al. (eds.): Menschenbilder in der Medizin – Medizin in den Menschenbildern, Bielefeld 1999.
ALCOHOL AND ALCOHOLISM IN WOMEN EVERYDAYS IN THE ROMANIAN SPACE (1850-1940)
Iulia Adina POP

ABSTRACT. Recent research on the history of women in Romanian historiography has eliminated several preconceptions that history had assumed about behaviours considered to be far too contemporary to be discussed in connection with past societies. The collective representations of alcohol and its medical or social effects remained long subordinated to a masculine approach, given that the studies of the time either focus on the integrative and general treatment of the problem, or follow male case studies exclusively. Few specialists had taken into consideration female alcoholism prior to the end of the 19th century; therefore we tend to think that it were the applicable social norms that protected such behaviour by an excessive chastity imposed upon women. This does not mean however that women were not affected, directly or indirectly, by this flaw. Beginning with the second half of the 19th century, alcoholism raised ardent discussions among specialists of various fields, such as medicine or law, and it was also emphasized in moralizing or folkloric popular works. The identification of the effects it had on the everydays of women must be included into what we now call gender history, because, as many researchers of this phenomenon claim, alcoholism is one the oldest and most constant human manifestations.
VITICULTURE IN ALBA COUNTY
Adriana ŢUŢUIANU, Daniela Elena CUCUI, Adina GOŞA


ABSTRACT. On the territory of Alba County, tradition of cultivating vine and producing wine date from the Dacian and Roman period, fact proven by archaeological discoveries (Dacian pruning knives, funerary monuments or votive altars which are decorated with vines and bunches of grapes, stone beds from winepresses). Next, the study discusses: the attestation of vines (from donations, privileges or litigations documents); the viticulture tools as related to the agricultural inventory or as special tools; the process of traditional peasant vinification.
INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SUBSTANCE DEPENDENCE PREVENTION
Patrick Dimitris AKRIVOS


ABSTRACT. This article explores susbtance dependence prevention oppossed to substance dependnece education. It explores scientific research on the psychological-medical model of susbtance dependence and proposes prevention supported by research. Individual psychology offers a framework that support the medical model and at the same timeoofers comprehensive prevention strategies.


THE COMPATIBILITY OF THE MINNESOTA MODEL OF ADDICTIONS TREATMENT WITH THE ROMANIAN CULTURE

Floyd FRANTZ

ABSTRACT. Over the past 50 years research has shown that the Minnesota Model of addictions treatment is an effective method of treating alcoholism and drug addiction in the United States. It is based in medicine, psychology and the social sciences, but because it uses a clinical adaptation of the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous is at its very heart a recovery program based in spirituality. Having used this program in Romania over the past 9 years, we have found it to be amendable to the Romanian culture and society. It greatest strength is its bio/psycho/social/spiritual approach with the support of the existing recovering community of Alcoholics Anonymous. It greatest weakness is the expense involved in having interdisciplinary teams, the necessity of training in a new paradigm, and generally the difficulty of introducing the disease concept of addictions to the society at large.
PSYCHOLOGYCAL MODELS OF ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE
Ioana TODOR

ABSTRACT. In this paper are presented several of the most influential psychological models which attempt to explain the underlying mechanisms of alcohol dependence. According to the classical conditioning theory, stimuli or environmental conditions that are repeatedly associated with alcohol consumption become conditioned stimuli that trigger the urge to drink. From the classical behaviorist perspective, addiction is a learned behavior, being perpetuated by its consequences: positive reinforcements (e.g. expected states of relaxation, joy, euphoria etc.) or negative reinforcements (e.g. expected effects of alcohol on tension reduction, reduction of feelings of insecurity, anxiety etc). The social learning theory emphasizes the role of social factors and the role of cognitive mechanisms of self-regulation in the etiology of alcoholism. From the cognitive perspective, alcohol dependence is the result of complex interactions between predisposing factors (anxiety, depression, low self-esteem etc.), maintenance factors (particular personality patterns - e.g. borderline, dependent or antisocial - and environmental triggers - conflict, failure etc).
SPIRITUALITY OF THE ADDICTION. ALCOHOL: A BLESSING OR A CURSE?
Fr. Iulian NEGRU

ABSTRACT. Alcohol/Spiritus (lat.) is a material substance which has the same effect upon the brain as the psychological/spiritual causes: anger, sadness, fear, etc. “Drunkenness” is a consciously changed state of being. You can get it without alcohol. Non-alcoholic drunkenness could be worse than the alcoholic drunkenness. Alcohol is only one of the causes which can cause drunkenness. Alcohol addiction is only a symptom of the real problem. Addiction is a symptom of the spiritual emptiness and consequence of a lack of meaning in life. Alcohol addiction is a spiritual matter and therefore needs a spiritual approach. So, recovery means alcoholic drunkenness to be changed with divine drunkenness, to be dependent upon God, rather than drugs for a sense of wellness in being.


“THE EVILS OF ARDENT SPIRITS”: QUAKERS AND TEMPERANCE
IN EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY AUSTRALIA
Judy STOVE

ABSTRACT. It is often maintained that the nineteenth-century Temperance movement began as what is called an elitist push for the restriction of the lower-class pleasures such as spirit drinking. This paper takes the view that the anti-spirits movement, introduced to Australia in the 1830s by Quaker missionaries James Backhouse and George Washington Walker, may have had its genesis in the Quaker belief in each person’s internal moral compass. It will also have owed much to the well-known phenomenon of Quaker pragmatism.
SOCIOCULTURAL ASPECTS: TREATMENT OF ALCOHOLISM IN A MULTI-CULTURAL SOCIETY
Wilfried K. KOEHLER

ABSTRACT. The following study discusses different issues regarding the sources, the characteristics, and the treatment of alcoholism in Germany, from a multi-cultural perspective, concerning the population with a immigration background.

“100 grams for Victory!” or the dilemmas of collective memory in the Republic of Moldova

Ludmila COJOCARI

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the significance of the ritual of „100 grams of vodka for the Victory Day!” practiced in the Republic of Moldova at the initiative of communist authorities (2001-2009) in the context of commemoration of the „victory over fascism”. The collective consumption of alcohol in the symbolic perimeter of the „Victory Day” every time provokes different opinions and attitudes depending on the perception of this ritual in the context of cultural and, respectively, historical memory. The research analyzes the phenomenon of „100 grams of vodka for the Victory Day!” without missing the initiatives of the officials pointed towards the construction of their own ideological narrative of the WW II.


BACTERIAL INFECTIONS IN CHRONIC ALCOHOLIC PATIENTS

I. MARINCU, L. NEGRUŢIU, I. IACOBICIU, Ioana TODOR, A.M. NEGHINĂ, M. CORNIANU, R. NEGHINĂ

ABSTRACT. The Objective is the study of prevalence and etiological spectrum of bacterial infections at a group of chronic alcoholic patients. Concerning the patiens and methods, the authors studied retrospectively 42 chronic alcoholic patients hospitalized in Clinic of Infectious Diseases Timisoara. The positive diagnostic was established by epidemiological elements, clinical-objective elements, associated with biological samples, and paraclinics results. The statistic data was processes with the help of Epi Info program. As results, out of 42 monitorized patients, 26 patients were diagnosticated with acute pneumonia, 18 patients with acute bronchitis, 15 patients with chronic bronchitis, 12 patients with acute tonsillitis, 8 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, 18 patients with skin infections, 8 patients with erysipelas, 14 patients with urinary infections, 6 patients with acute meningitis, 16 patients with acute enterocolitis etc. Only for 32 patients the etiological agent was established. As conclusions, high prevalence of bacterial infections in chronic alcoholic patients require improving of prophylaxis measures and treatment.
PREVALENCE OF HEPATITIS C VIRUS INFECTION IN CHRONIC ALCOHOLIC PATIENS

I. MARINCU, L. NEGRUŢIU, I. IACOBICIU, Ioana TODOR, A.M. NEGHINĂ, M. CORNIANU, R. NEGHINĂ

ABSTRACT. Objectives: to determine the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in an group of chronic alcoholic patients. Methods: the authors studied retrospectively 34 chronic alcoholic patients hospitalized. The positive diagnostic was established by epidemiological elements, clinical-objective elements, biological samples and paraclinics results. The determination of viral markers was effectuated using the ELISA method with Sanofi Pasteur tests. Results: out of 34 monitorized patients, 4 patients was diagnosticated with HCV infection. All 4 patients with Ab anti HCV presented risk factors for hepatitis C virus infection: 2 patients with history for blood transfusions, 2 with abdominal surgery, all patients with history for multiples stomatological treatments. Abdominal echographic ultrasound for all 4 patients with Ab anti HCV, hepatic steatosis, along hepatomegaly, splenomegaly was detected. The values of biological samples and histopathological examination results confirmed diagnostic of chronic hepatitis C and cirrhosis. Conclusions: the study of the prevalence of HCV infection in chronic alcoholic patients allows usage of the specific prophylaxis and therapeutic measures for the two diseases in these patients.

ALCOHOLISM AS GROUNDS FOR DIVORCE IN THE TRANSYLVANIAN GREEK-CATHOLIC COMMUNITY IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH AND THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY

Monica MUREŞAN

ABSTRACT. The Greek-Catholic community of Transylvania, by the evident approach to the strictness characteristic to Catholicism, outlined for itself a rigorous image and conduct in the modern age. It became very attentive in managing the moral problems of society. Thus, divorce, in the strict sense of the word, was not accepted, only the annulment of marriage, a process which could last several years because of the delay of ecclesiastic courts. Because of this reason the grounds referred to in order to obtain the permission to separate the more serious had to be, the greater the strictness was. During the whole period we studied, alcoholism represents one of the main grounds for divorce referred to both by women and men. In most cases alcoholism was accompanied by violence in the case of men and depravity in the case of women. Therefore a difference in attitude can be observed generated by the sex of the person blamed for this social vice: drunkard women were much more severely condemned than men with same problem.
ALCOHOLISM AND ITS IMPACT ON SOCIETY: INDIAN PERSPECTIVE

Naima KHATOON

ABSTRACT. The impact of alcohol use can have different implications for each community and policies and programmes need to be developed taking into account the local situation. Recognition of the consequences of Alcohol use on physical and mental health as well as socio-occupational life is a necessary step for initiating appropriate action to reduce the harm from alcohol use. In the absence of rational alcohol policies, and with the belief that alcohol revenues can be used for the development of the society, the problem has aggravated further. While revenues earned yield only short term gains. The present paper highlights the menace of Alcoholism related to above aspects with special reference to India.

ALCOHOLISM, A SOCIAL PHENOMENON IN THE ROMANIAN TERRITORIES IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY

Oana Mihaela Tămaş


ABSTRACT. The following paper wishes to bring forward the anti-alcoholism measures and strategies using a multiple discourse of the modern Romanian society. Within this frame the head poster for this actions (measures) are supported by public opinion which proves the most active. Beside society, we are discussing about a religious, medical and legal anti-alcoholism discourse. More than a multi-discourse, the paper wishes to present the campaign to educate and inform the population concerning the effects that alcohol has on the life of the nineteenth century Romanian. The focus is on the development (evolution) of alcohol from its initial use as a medicine, then as to reach an excess consumption, to a disease, a scourge, a phenomenon. Public opinion plays an important role in the campaign to educate and inform regarding anti-alcoholism.
The anti-alcoholism action in Soviet Moldova
beetwen 1985-1987

Virgiliu BÎRLĂDEANU

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the impact of the anti-alcoholism action, developed in the Soviet Union during the period 1985-87, on the social and economic development of the Soviet Moldova. The author argues, relaying on the investigations of the USSR experience in promoting the anti-alcoholism action, that this kind of administrative initiatives, without a socio-economic base and a multidimensional reform, were very close to compromise its finalities and destabilise the economic and social situation. In the Soviet Moldova the abuses of hierarchical administrative system produced a consistent decrease of vineyards, which consequences are still today visible in the Republic of Moldova.
DRUGS OF THE WORKING CLASSES”. THE SUBSTITUES OF LEGAL VODKA IN INTERWAR POLAND
Adrian ZANDBERG


ABSTRACT. This paper analyses how Polish consumers reacted to the policy of the alcohol monopoly in the interwar period. During the economic depression monopoly initially ignored the fall of real incomes.This policy translated into decreased legal consumption of alcohol. Large groups of consumers turned to illegal alternatives. This paper examines four major substitutes of legal vodka: illicit distillation, smuggle, consumption of denatured alcohol and ether drinking.
A SOCIAL STUDY OF ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION IN ALBA COUNTY
Claudiu ŞTEFANI


ABSTRACT. The aim of the paper is to study the patterns of alcohol consumption and the prevalence of different types of drinking regarding population. For this, a household survey was carried out in a sample of 514 subjects in the Alba County. The results show that 73% of the sample used to drink alcohol and 27% were abstinents. Overall consumption was significantly related to gender (male), marital status (married) and material status. No significant differences were found regarding educational status, ethnicity and living conditions (town or village). The results also revelead that the main features of social patterns of alcohol consumption are: alcohol is integrated in the family life, it is associated to social and religous rituals; there is a social model of use which encorages moderation, beer and wine-based drinks; alcohol is not a part of the diet consumed regularly during meals, and the initiation of alcohol consumption relatively occurs early in life.
TEMPERANCE AND ABSTINENCE IN TRANSYLVANIA AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY. THE CASE OF THE THEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION IN BLAJ
Victor-Tudor ROŞU


ABSTRACT. The issue of alcoholism in Romanian history during the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century has not been systematically analyzed. In a historiographic landscape that resembles a desert, the oasis comes from the remarkable research pursued by Marius Rotar, which has resulted in several important articles. The following article exhaustively analyzes the documents of The Temperance Reunion of Blaj, and to describe it in its historical context, emphasizing the structure, the actions, the members’ profile, the ideas and resources of anti-alcoholism at the time and other aspects that are characteristic of an anti-alcoholic reunion at the beginning of the 20th century.
ANTI-ALCOHOLISM ACTIONS IN ROMANIA DURING THE INTER-WAR PERIOD
Marius ROTAR


ABSTRACT. The present inquiry tries to analyze the topic of propaganda and multiple measures against alcoholism patterns during the interwar Romania. There are many historical sources regarding this and a survey of these seems to be a very complicate one. We can notice for those times that the existence of a multiple discourses on this topic is an expression of different adopted laws, actions of Romanian Orthodox Church, actions of ASTRA society and so on. The main consequence of the interwar romanian propaganda and due to the actions against alcoholism was the foundation in 1929 of „Temperanţa” League. This league tried to be the best tool in the „war” against alcoholism and in 1937 it became part of the Romanian Health Minister. On the other hand, during that period, the patterns of alcoholism became more and more a medicalized issue and the entire discourse against it tried to make the Romanian society more sensitive regarding the threat of a alcohol addiction.

Also, the influence of western patterns of those times (i.e. American laws of prohibition) had a strong echo in Romanian interwar society.

luni, 14 decembrie 2009

Call for Papers + Famous Cremated Romanias (XVII)

1. Call for Papers:

XIVème CONGRÈS international D’ÉTUDES SUR LES DANSES MACABRES ET L’ART MACABRE EN GÉNÉRAL, SIBIU, TRANSYLVANIE (ROUMANIE) 20 - 23 MAI 2010

Organisé par l’Association « Danses Macabres d’Europe »
et La Faculté de Lettres de l’Université de Bucarest avec le concurs de La Faculté d’Histoire et de Patrimoine de l’Université « Lucian Blaga » de Sibiu, du Musée National « Brukenthal » et
du Musée « ASTRA »

APPEL À COMMUNICATIONS
pour le 15 février 2010

RECOMMANDATIONS AUX AUTEURS
Mise en forme des articles en vue de la publication
des Actes du 14e Congrès de l’Association « Danses Macabres d’Europe »
(qui aura lieu à SIBIU, dans la période 20-23 mai 2010)
Date de remise de votre texte, avec les photos :
AU PLUS TARD LE 15 fÉVRIER 2010
Les textes version électronique (.doc ou .rtf) doivent parvenir à CRISTINA BOGDAN – cristinabogdan1976@yahoo.fr ou à SILVIA BARUTCIEFF – silviahmarin@yahoo.fr

I Rédaction du texte :
Nombre de page limité à 20.
Si le texte écrit paraît beaucoup plus long que ne le permet le temps de parole (20 minutes), il est suggéré d’utiliser dans le texte deux typographies ; des passages non lus mais explicatifs peuvent être ainsi insérés, en caractère 10.
Ne pas aérer abusivement le texte.

II Mise en page
Indiquer sur la première page le prénom, nom, nationalité, fonction et affiliation en caractère 14.
Indiquer ensuite le titre de la communication et un résumé en anglais ou allemand (pour les textes en français) ; en français ou en allemand (pour les textes en anglais).

Le texte doit être justifié.

Les notes seront placées en bas de page et également justifiées.

III Typographie
Police souhaitée : Times New Roman, taille 14 uniquement pour le titre, 12 pour le texte, 10 pour les notes et le texte non prononcé.

Interligne simple

Marges :
Marge en haut et en bas : 2,5 cm.
Marges latérales :
o au recto : marge gauche 4 cm et marge droite 2,5 cm,
o au verso : marge gauche 2,5 cm et marge droite 4 cm,
o ou choisir dans Word reliure : 1 cm et cocher : pages en vis-à-vis.
Illustrations :

Les illustrations, tout à fait bienvenues, seront reproduites en noir et blanc ;
- les documents doivent être numérotés et légendés,
- les appels de figures seront à insérer dans le texte : (fig. 1)… (fig. 2)…
-
Principales conventions typographiques :
- accentuer les majuscules (ex. : École, À Hambourg, etc.),
- œuvre ou sœur, et non : oeuvre ou soeur,
- XIVe siècle et non : 14e s. ou XIVème siècle,
- Philippe Ier et non Philippe I,
- en italiques : supra, infra, ibid., op. cit., a priori, a posteriori, passim, etc., sans oublier la majuscule en début de phrase,
- p. 12 ; p. 45-58 ; p. 32 et suiv.,
- fol. = folio ; fol. 1 pour le recto et fol. 1v pour le verso,
- note = n. ; tome = t. ; volume = vol.

Références bibliographiques en notes :
- Nom de l’auteur en petites capitales, précédé de l’initiale du prénom suivie d’un point, puis le titre en italique, suivi du lieu, de la maison d’édition et de la date d’édition. Tous ces éléments séparés par une virgule. Les lieux étrangers doivent être orthographiés à la française (Londres et pas London). Exemple : G. Duby, Guillaume le Maréchal, Paris, Fayard, 1984, p. 134.
- Dans le cas d’ouvrages collectifs, d’éditions, de traductions : titre de l’article entre guillemets, indiquer ‘dans’ (ou ‘in’), puis le titre de l’ouvrage en italique, enfin le nom du directeur, de l’éditeur ou du traducteur, suivi de dir., éd., ou trad. Exemple : J.-P. Azéma, « La guerre », dans (in) Pour une histoire politique, R. Rémond dir., Paris, Seuil, 1988, p. 250-270.
- Pas de ‘dans’ (ou ‘in’) devant les titres de revues. Référence au tome et à l’année comme suit : E. Galtier, « Byzantina », Romanica, 29, 1900, p. 501-527.
- Indiquer les collections de la manière suivante : Max Weber. Der Historiker, J. Kocka dir., Göttingen, 1986 (Kritische Studien zur Geschichtswissenschaft, 73).
- Rédiger en entier les noms propres anciens (antiques et médiévaux). Exemple : écrire ‘Thomas d’Aquin’ et pas ‘Th. d’Aquin’.
- Si la référence a déjà été donnée précédemment, écrire op. cit., suivi de la page, et non op. cité. Ne pas oublier la majuscule à Op. en début de note. Si la référence se trouve dans la note immédiatement précédente, écrire Ibid., suivi de la référence à la page. S’il ne s’agit pas du même livre, mais du même auteur, écrire Id. (sans italiques), en lieu et place du nom de l’auteur.
IV Les orateurs

Disposeront d’un micro, d’un ordinateur avec Power Point© et d’un rétroprojecteur.
Devront impérativement respecter le temps de parole imparti (20 minutes).
Sont priés de préparer à l’avance un très court document les concernant qui permettra à leur président de séance de les présenter le moment venu.

2. Famous Cremated Romanians (XVII)
2005
Marian Dumitru - writer
Adriana Georgescu - cremated in Great Britain, she was secretary of the former Romanian Prime Minister Radescu, she was arrested for a while by the romanian communists
Lena Constante - painter artist
Ion Dumitriu Tataranu - professor at the Universty of Bucharest
Moni Silberman - associate professor at the University of Bucharest
Mircea Oncescu - physicist
Liana Micescu - translater - wife of Istrate Micescu, Minister of External Affair *1937-1938, died at the Aiud Jail in 1951, sentenced by romanian communists
2007
Eugen Cornilescu - chemist
Petru Agrigoroaie - engineer
Virgil Mahulet - general of Romanian Army

duminică, 13 decembrie 2009

Proceedings of Dying and Death in 18th-21st Century Europe, International Conference, second edition, Alba Iulia, Romania, 25-27 September 2009

EXCERPT:

The Second Breathing: Some Impressions at the Opening Ceremony of Dying and Death in 18th-21rt century Europe, International Conference, second edition

Last month I organized together with my colleagues and friends from the National Museum of Unification, Alba Iulia a conference on Alcoholism: Historical and Social Issues. It was a great experience for us and all the attendees declared it was a successful and inspiring conference. But after a while, thinking about it, a very strange feeling began running through my head, just like a wild spring river: I felt guilty because I had betrayed my very close research interest: dying and death. Once more I understood in those moments how strong my personal bonds to this subject were. Furthermore, I understood with my heartbeats how important the stability in researching a topic was and how this stability brought me success and tranquility. In this manner, knowing that the following edition of Dying and Death in 18th-21st century Europe would take place very soon, that strange feeling of having betrayed my topic turned into a warm and nutritious feeling of coming home.
I’m a historian and in my opinion, the connection between history, as a science, and death, as an event, is intrinsic, due to three particular reasons:
(1) A historical inquiry into past realities is a type of funeral; after analysis and a series of conclusions, the past realities are buried.
(2) Without death, there would be no history; in a more general perspective, history is a science dealing with the actions of the dead rather than of the living. In one of his essays, Carl Haub, the demographer, estimated that 106 billion people have been born into the world since its beginnings and 6 billion are currently alive. Hence, historians are special scientists as they are the only ones to systematically deal with all those who died at different moments in time.
(3) Death is a particular research subject to the historian; death is an eternal event and can lead to an analysis of collective attitudes and behaviours people have experienced across the ages. As a result, if the dead have dignity and deserve respect, historians are the scientific category entitled to represent them.
This is just a possible explanation of the relevance of dying and death issues for a historian and I’m sure that any scientist attending this conference could say more about it.
As this is the second edition of the conference, the main question is the following: what is new this time? There is a very simple answer to this question: there are new people, new topics, and new plans. For this reason I’m grateful to all the participants at this conference and to all the people who understand the relevance of this idea and support it. Special thanks to those participants who came back to Romania for this conference: Peter Jupp, Tony Walter, Emilie Jaworski and Joanna Wojtkoviak. But my deepest hope regarding this edition is to organize RADS (the Romanian Association for Death Studies) as the best streamline for guiding death studies in Romania. I believe RADS is necessary because it brings us together into an organized network in order to improve studies in this field in Romania.
Looking through the conference programme, I have noticed the complexity of the sessions and, especially the quality of the presented papers, which fills me with energy. We will talk about topics such as history of death, religion, cemeteries, cremation, culture and death, suicide, diseases and so on but first of all, about the hopes and death as our final future. Like a wild wind, the famous words of Cesare Pavese have come to my mind: Death is repose, but the thought of death disturbs all repose.
I would like to believe that we can save the world from death through this conference but I know, as everybody from this room already knows, that this is impossible: death is an eternal event which cannot lose its freshness although we have been dying since the beginnings of time. But such an unpleasant situation shows the relevance, the importance of this conference especially here in Romania where we have much specificity in our death system. So, no more silence upon death in Romania and I would like to believe that after our conference and after organizing RADS, this topic will be understood in Romania much better than before.
One of the most important poets in present day Romania once said: Death is but a young widow eager for unexpected, total and complete encounters with me. With his words in our mind, having our heartbeats prepared to be in tune with the music of dying and death, I'm very happy to be here with you today! Our time is here and now! Thank you!

Marius Rotar

These are the proceedings of Dying and Death in 18th-21rt century Europe, International Conference, second edition organized by National Museum of Unification Alba Iulia and “1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia. The partners of this event were National Authority for Scientific Research (ANCS – Romania) and Direction for Culture, Cults and National-Cultural Heritage of Alba County. There were 36 participants from seven countries (UK, France, Serbia, Hungary, Poland, the Netherlands and Romania). The conference was organized in six sections: Cemeteries and their Destiny; Cremation and Scattering the Ashes; Religion and the Meaning of Death, History of Death; Places of Dead, Rites of death and Culture and Death. Unfortunately not all participants sent us their full papers to publish in these proceedings. The next edition of the conference will take place either in July or September 2009. The call for papers will come out in December 2009. You are welcome to our conference!

Marius Rotar
Tudor Roşu
Helen Frisby

Abstracts of Proceedings of Dying and Death in 18th-21st century Europe, International Conference, second edition, Alba Iulia, Romania, 2009

Post-modern crematorium Haarlem: a place to remember
Mirjam Klaassens, Peter Groote
Abstract: One consequence of the introduction of cremation as a way of disposal was the creation of a new landscape of mourning and remembrance. A shift in commemorative culture within the last decades makes the modern crematoria inadequate for post-modern death rituals. In this paper we use post-modern crematorium Haarlem to analyze its sense of place, as it stands out with an innovative ideology, lay-out and architecture. An in-depth interview with the architect revealed that as bereaved people attach meaning to a farewell ceremony that is strongly remembered, the key feature behind his design is about recalling the crematorium and the ritual procession. The light-footed, transparent chapel is intended not to dominate the place, while it incorporates the surroundings within its design. Physical influences are important during the ceremony and the ritual procession, as along with time and distance, environmental transitions will provide comfort and will help to recall the whole event. Interviews with the staff of crematorium Haarlem shows that they changed some ideas in order to meet what they considered as the needs of the bereaved. If this is true, does this mean that the general public is not yet ready for Zeinstra’s crematorium?
La Roue de la Vie mène à la Mort. Parcours d’un thème iconographique dans l’espace roumain et bulgare (XVIIe-XIXe siècles)
Cristina Bogdan
Abstract : The following paper aims at presenting the successive metamorphoses of a motif from the Romanian and Bulgarian 17th-19th century religious iconography: the Wheel of Life. Two visual sequences, those of the linear, respectively circular time, – the Wheel of Life (or that of human ages) and the Wheel of Fortune – were popular in Western medieval art (especially in the rock decorations of the cathedrals, the mural paintings or in the pages of the miniature manuscripts). A few centuries later, the Wheel of Life is seen in the universe of post-Byzantine frescoes, revealed in conformity with the laws of Byzantine erminies. The images that appear in the Romanian and Bulgarian realm are proof of the way in which the painters understood and interpreted the model proposed in the Painting Manual of Dionysos from Furna.
Mots clés : iconographie religieuse, représentations macabres, temps circulaire, temps linéaire, roue de la Vie, roue de Fortune
Cremation and post-modernity. The case of Polish society.
Emilie Jaworski

Abstract:In Poland, the first crematorium has been built in 1993 in Poznań, just after the entry in the post-modern era.
According to the theories of denial of death developed during the 70s this phenomenon would have been considered as a proof that (post-)modernity leads to deny death. Indeed, researchers from this time interpreted the increasing use of cremation as a symptom of an ill society who refuses the death and who wants to destroy the dead. However, from two decades those theories are less and less used to explain funeral phenomena such as cremation. Indeed, nowadays more and more researchers in social sciences think in terms of privatisation or personalization of funeral practices instead of thinking in terms of taboo. In this case of theoretical renewal, cremation can not be explained anymore as a way to destroy the dead. Then, how can be explained the increasing use of this “new” practice through the case of Poland
Point of No Return: Proposal for a Romanian Cremation Association
Marius Rotar, Cosmin Bodrean

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the necessity of a cremation association in Romania for promoting and sustaining this practice of the disposal of the body. At the very beginning is presented a short history of the former cremation society in Romania. But, the starting point of this pleading is the framework of cremation in Romania of nowadays: there is just one functional crematorium for a country having about 22 million of inhabitants Under these circumstances, this association claims to be the heir of the Romanian inter-war cremationist movement, present in the activities of the cremation society Nirvana, later entitled Cenuşa, whose activity was brutally ended by the Romanian Communist regime. The name of this association is Amurg (Twilight in English). Foundation of this association is based on the reality of the burial crisis places in urban area and also, due to the economical reasons. The authors showed up some of the possible difficulties trying to implement the cremation realities in Romania: for instance the strong rejection of cremation by the Romanian Orthodox Church. Also, the authors emphasize the legal status of cremation in Romania drawing the main aims and objectives of their association.
Death Images – The First World War and French Cinema during the Interwar Period: Two Patterns – Les Croix de bois (1932) and La grande illusion (1937)
Victor-Tudor Roşu

Abstract:The First World War brought a new idea of war, contesting all the common reasons of war and showing its pointless. Like literature, cinematography came with an vanguard representation of war. In this article, two film patterns are analyzed, insisting on the way how death is represented. “Les croix de bois” (directed by Raymond Bernard, 1932) is an “ordeal-movie”, one of the most realistic films dedicated to the Great War; the film focuses the first line of the battle, so death is very present, and the whole film looks like a long agony and a clinging to life. “La grande illusion” (directed by Jean Renoir, 1937), on the other hand comes with a similar perspective and a very strong anti-war message, but a different theme and technique; here the war behind the lines is depicted, and death is rather exceptional.
The cemetery in the countryside: towards a history of rural burial in England
Julie Rugg

Abstract: In England, the history of change in burial provision has tended to be dominated by narratives that focus on the urban experience. In the nineteenth century, the cemetery emerged as a new kind of burial space – large in scale, owned by municipal authorities and intended to cater for the needs of the entire community. Unlike many countries in continental Western Europe, in England the cemetery did not develop as a consequence of the Edict of Saint Cloud in 1804 that was disseminated largely through the imposition of the Napoleonic Code. Rather, the English cemetery’s history lies more squarely within a context of independent burial provision funded and managed by religious denominations outside the dominant Church of England. These Nonconformists – including Methodists, Unitarians, Baptists, and Quakers – benefited substantially from increasing industrialisation and rose to achieve considerable economic and political importance in the rapidly increasing towns and cities of the provinces in the first half of the nineteenth century. By the mid-nineteenth century, national legislation underlined the principal that local agencies should retain control of burial space: as a consequence, there has never been any level of state provision of cemeteries or even any statutory requirement that a community should make provision for interment of the dead.
Opiates and Palliative Care in the 19th Century Western Culture
Andrada Fătu-tutoveanu

Abstract:The nineteenth century was the Golden Age of the opiates (laudanum, morphine, heroine and so on), due both to the scientific evolution, cultural interest and lack of legal and social boarders. The search of a more and more powerful painkillers and anesthesia – to heal serious illnesses or injuries (in the wars, for instance) or alleviate (palliatives for the dying) led to the interest in discovering synthetic opiates such as morphine or heroine. The scientists dealing with this newly born ‘dangerous chemistry’ played a game at the boarder between life and death (such as Paracelsus said: “everything is poison, nothing is poison, only the dose makes the difference”), increasing more and more the power of opiate medication and therefore approaching the thin barrier between cure, addiction and lethal dosage. The present study focuses on this relation between life and death marked by the ‘invention’ of opiates: on one hands this obsessively present interest (especially in the second half of the nineteenth century) for alleviating strong pains and on the other hand, the deadly ‘demon’ of the opiates themselves.
The Constructive Dimension of Death in the Romanian Viewpoint (Between Medieval-Modern)
Carmen Alexandrache

Abstract: This historical time remains dominated by superstition and religious belief, despite the openness towards modernity. A piece of evidence in this respect is the perception of death, as a fact and experienced feeling, which leads individual destinies through collectivity. The various literary works of the age, the writings of the foreign travelers, the artistic representations inside churches, they all present death, not as an ending, but under the following shapes:
loss of the soul, leading to social banishment as well
forgetfulness, that is social death
death of the body, as a necessity for destiny fulfillment.
Death did not discourage, it was a landmark with moral significance, a corrector of behaviour, a determinant of ethical recovery and of ensured permanence, thus strengthening the individual’s role among the others.
Les masques. Aspects de l'imaginaire actuel de la mort
Adriana Teodorescu

Résumé :Le paradigme de la mort interdite semble entrer dans un temps dissolutif. Le signe de l'absence sous lequel la mort se trouvait dans l'imaginaire, depuis longtemps, s'irise des couleurs de la présence. Témoignages: l'émergence augmentante de la mort sujet mass-médiatique, ou la diversification des études regardant la mort. Mais, entre ce vieillissement d'un paradigme culturel et la détabouisation de la mort, la direction est minée par des courants souterrains qui lui donnent une configuration insolite, à explorer. C'est ce que ce travail se propose. On détecte les mécanismes socio-culturels qui déterminent des transformations dans l'imaginaire de la mort, en les soumettant à une analyse herméneutique.
On investigue plusieurs facteurs comme l'hyperconsommation (l'approche du problème de la consommation médiatique), le nouveau rationalisme (la psychologie superficialisante, l'idéal du progrès), la tyrannie visuelle, l'hédonisme (l'infantilisation, la déculpabilisation) etc. On observe ainsi les manières dont la mort se charge de masques, contenus prépondérant imagistiques, d'une solide base (néo)clichéisée, nouvelle tentative d'apprivoisement, plutôt centripète (le masque construit plus qu'il ne déconstruit). L'étude examine le masque en tant que processus/stratégie (cacher/dévoiler) et quelques types de masques. Aussi relève-t-on la structure ambiguë des masques, leurs fonctions et leurs limites.
Les conclusions convergent vers la nécessité de la ressémantisation de la mort et la distinction entre les possibilités des masques, soit d'y contribuer, soit d'y préjudicier.
The social memoralization of death on the Web.
Anna E. Kubiak
Abstract: The author describes the virtual cemeteries, mourning blogs and the electronic participation in funerals. The growing impact of the electronic communication gradually changes the traditional features of the Polish death. As McLuhan puts it: the medium is the message. Construction and visiting of the Polish and Word Wide Web e-cemeteries has to be followed by cultural postmortem rituals. The communication with the dead in cyberspace creates the new patterns of death. The author characterizes the visual and statistical features of the virtual cemeteries. The paper analyzes the content of the memorials in reference to the traditional patterns of grief and memory. It is argued that e-cemeteries are the other world. The three functions of the virtual cemeteries are distinguished: self-reflexive, communicative and evocative.
Cemeteries' Destiny in the Istro-Romanian Villages - an Anthropological Viewpoint
Mihai BURLACU

Abstract – This paper approaches aspects regarding cemeteries’ destiny in the (former) vlachs villages from Istria. Part of a larger research project regarding Istro-Romanians, the study of cemeteries is an important aspect in order to learn more about the Istro-Romanians culture in villages like Susnievika, Zejane, Brdo, Poljane, Hum etc. An increasing number of these villages have very few actual residents, so my construct addresses the way cemeteries are preserved, their evolution, in some cases – their fall into ruin and the role of the Diaspora in preserving them (i.e. Istro-Romanians that established themselves in the U.S., Australia etc.). From the anthropological viewpoint, cemeteries are an important place to obtain data regarding: family genealogy, villages’ former social composition, and to better understand the way social identity of the dead is preserved. The study of cemeteries is crucial for a better understanding of the way Istro-Romanians regard death and the relatives that are dead.[1]
[1] This paper represents a part of broader study developed in the project UESISCO ROMANIA, PN 2 IDEI, CNCSIS GRANT, SU 57-09-01.
Meurtre et suicide dans les récits de l’écrivain québécois Hubert Aquin
Dorin Comşa
La mort martyrique dans la réclusion communiste roumaine
Constantin Mihai
Abstract: This study tries to underline the central meanings of the martyrical death in the Romanian communist reclusion. Focused on the oral history (documents, testimonies of the survivors), on the detention literature, this study proposes to explain such a complex phenomenon (martyrical death) whose spiritual implication is pre-eminent. The martyrdom in the communist prisons is followed in our research through certain pattern of the anticommunist prisoner (the case of Valeriu Gafencu), guided by an extraordinary spiritual modus vivendi. This significant figure of the Romanian Anticommunist Resistance prove that the way of martyrdom he chose is not accidental, being the expression of the belief exercised along his entire life, upon the spiritual change (metanoia) of the Romanian face. The assuming of the sacrifice on behalf of the Christian religion as the only opportunity to preserve the national identity and the self-denial represent the major articulations of the martyrical death. From the perspective of the history’s theology, the martyrical death in the communist reclusion constitute a supreme and exemplary form of the Romanian Anticommunist resistance to the red hell incarnated by the Bolshevik ideology.
Death Irrelevancy in the Postmodern Era
Florina Codreanu
Abstract: In the 21st century the phenomenon of death is no longer surrounded by fear, anxiety and traumas. On the whole artistic expression has removed the question of dying from its representational storage. Starting with the Expressionist groups, death is rather a risible mask than a vibrant happening, rather an act of sloppiness belonging with the academic traditional culture than a serious matter for the new modern spirit. The fall into desuetude can be linked either to the short term visual language shifts along the Modernism, to the impact of historical events (especially war), or to the subsequent media implication in art fluency. An obvious weakness in the meaning of death is due to the props used to convey it: skeletons, skulls or funeral masks – no more death icons, but bedchamber ornaments. From that reason Death became the otherness per se, accepted in our homes, but never interrupting or taking trouble.
Nowadays, death confused with televised live show friezes indecency and wild voyeurism. Art in action such as performance or happening prepared the contemporary stage for the inconsequent drama of death. By replacing representation with experiment, vendible art with noncommercial art, the value of death has dropped consequently. According to the postmodern age death is under a stultification process: a theme amongst other themes, a concept that can be explored at the mercy of economic and social powers. For the fact of being disposable, art itself is at the same time imperfect and easily accessed. Therefore, death is at least a general question of freedom in relation to a corporative authority, not anymore a vision or a private question upon dying.
These Horrid Superstitions: death and dying amongst the English ‘folk’, c.1840-c.1914.
Helen Frisby

Abstract: Folklore has traditionally as a potential source of evidence for historical popular cultures. This paper seeks to demonstrate that although folklore is indeed not unproblematic in this regard, it can nonetheless yield a rich, fascinating picture of the popular rituals and beliefs which attended death and dying in England during the nineteenth century. In so doing, the traditional view of the nineteenth century as a time of progress is challenged, and inter-class tensions evidenced. The paper opens with discussion of some of the challenges encountered in using folklore as historical evidence, before proceeding to summarise a portion of the folklore material collected during the author’s PhD research. Particular attention is paid to the Yorkshire region of England. The paper concludes with a brief analysis of some of the implicit (or not so implicit) socio-cultural values revealed by the folklorists through the construction and presentation of their material.
Woodland’ Burial: A contemporary burial innovation in Britain
Hannah Rumble
Abstract This paper focuses upon the recent emergence of woodland burial practice in Britain, in particular how and why people engage with this innovative burial provision. The paper begins with a description of woodland burial and how it began, before demonstrating, how in the absence of a headstone, the bereaved still find ways to memorialise at woodland burial sites. The paper concludes with a presentation of some of the emerging reasons people choose to be buried in a woodland burial ground; reasons, I argue, that are predicated upon cultural imaginaries of qualities such as renewal, abundance, longevity and healing associated with nature and in particular, trees. This paper represents one theme from initial data analysis of interview transcripts from my ongoing doctoral research into woodland burial practice in England.
Adapting to Loss: Do Nations grieve?
Ann Malamah-Thomas

Abstract:Grief has traditionally been the domain of the individual. Whether approached from a personal angle, as an interior process, or from a social perspective, emphasising the griever’s social context and relationships, grief theory and research have relentlessly focussed on the grieving individual. Collective grief has not received the same amount of attention. Moreover, studies of grief within collective units, such as the family, the work team or the local community, have tended to concentrate on the reactions to loss of individual members of that unit: a genuinely collective approach is rare. This paper seeks to explore the feasibility of a collective approach to grief in the largest social grouping, that of the nation, by first analysing the grief experience, as described and defined in the academic literature and as applied to individuals, into its fundamental components; and then by examining whether, and in what ways, these same components might be seen to manifest in a national setting, might be deemed to apply to a collective national experience of adapting to loss.
Providing Palliative Care in End-Stage of Patients with HIV/AIDS
I.Marincu1, L.Negrutiu1, I.Iacobiciu2, Ioana Todor3, A.M.Neghina1, R.Neghina2
Abstract. Opportunistic infections that occur in the final stage of HIV/AIDS require the implementation of specific palliative care strategies. Objectives: In this paper, the authors have studied the particularities of palliative care actions and outcomes in a group of patients with HIV/AIDS in the terminal stage. Patients and methods: The authors analyzed retrospectively a group of 28 patients with HIV/AIDS infection in end-stage; all patients were admitted in the Department of Infectious Diseases, Timisoara, Romania. The positive diagnosis was established based on the physical examination (prolonged feverish syndrome associated with weight loss, malaise, generalized lymphadenopathy, fatigue, white depots on the tongue etc.), biological samples (number of leukocytes, leukocytary formula, ESR, CRP, ELISA tests, Western blot test, glossal exudate etc.). The results of the biological and paraclinical investigations were registered in the individual patient files. Results: In the study group, 22 patients were detected with oral candidiasis, 6 patients with esophageal candidiasis, 2 patients with unilateral blindness after chorioretinitis with Cytomegalovirus, 6 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, 4 with Tuberculous meningitis, 8 with meningitis by Cryptococcus neophormans, 2 with Kaposi's sarcoma and 6 with toxoplasmosis. We should mention that 20 patients had CD4 counts below 100 cells/mm3, and 8 between 100-150 cells/mm3. All the patients required clinical and biological monitoring in the intensive care compartment, where besides etio-pathogenic specific therapy for the developed infections, they also received palliative care, aimed at ensuring the necessary energetic support: vitamins, analgesics, antithermics, antiemetics, laxatives, sedatives, anxiolytics, antiseptics, etc. Conclusion: The patients with HIV/AIDS in the terminal stage require, in addition to antiretroviral and etio-pathogenic therapy for opportunistic complications, palliative care measures that should be clearly indicated in the healthcare guidelines.
The Russian Path from Corpse to Relic – A History of the Russian Orthodox Relic Cult.
Olga Grădinaru
Abstract: According to some historians the first Russian Orthodox relic is considered kniagina Olga’s from the 11th century. However, the relic cult explosion in Orthodox Russia began during the 15th-16th centuries, being completed with Russian believers’ hopes and understanding of the notion of sainthood. More “new” relics appeared in the 17th-18th centuries, followed by Moscow Church Council of 1667 and through the Spiritual Regulation of 1721 in order to control the proliferation of unregulated cults. 1917 is the starting point of Soviet anti-religious campaign when lots of the so-called “incorruptible” corpses were destroyed or exposed in 1920 in the Commissary National Museum, being named the “Relic exhibition”. After the Second World War the anticlerical campaign diminished its force, even returning relics to the churches they belonged to up to 1988 - the starting point of a new stage in the Russian relic history, as being the year of celebrating 1000 years from the Russian Christening and the year of Orthodox faith rebirth. The nowadays Russian Orthodox relic cult redefines the understanding of incorruptibility notion through the origins of the Russian term relic, mosci.
Representations of Thanatos in the funerary iconography from Apulum
Radu Ota

Abstract: The author has tried to talk about Thanatos, the personification of Death in greek-roman mithology seen through sculptural roman works descovered along the time in the ancient Apulum, the most important urban centre of Dacia. Roman Apulum enjoys a wide variety of funerary monuments which offered the specialists the occasion to research them along time.
There are presented four statues and a funerary relief representing Thanatos in two hypostasis, which attest the two iconographic types recognized in the Hellenistic art: a winged Eros, sleeping, with inclined head, leans against the reversed torch which symbolizes the end of life, or as a naked child, sleeping on a rock. The closed eyes symbolise the eternal sleep. The second statue is the only statue from Dacia, facing Thanatos in this hypostasis, meaning Eros sleeping on a rock, naked with the head laid on the left bended knee. This iconographic scheme definetly belongs to Greek tradition, being more rarely found in the provinces of the Empire, compared to the classic way of representing the god.
Initially the winged Eroses were associated with the deceased, symbolizing the soul that rose to heavens. The idea of everlasting rest was compared by the Greeks with that of immortality, of souls’ survival, thus being created the iconographic type of Eros sleeping. All artifacts are poorly created artistically, suggesting us a local art. Apulum is the urban centre from Dacia with the most attestations of this god. The Romans, being very supersticious, avoided even pronounce the name of this god.
Les représentations dramatisées de la mort
Sarah Mezaguer

Resume: Notre propos va tourner ici autour des représentations dramatisées de la mort, c’est-à-dire de représentations qui, loin de nous offrir un visage pacifié de la mort nous la présente sous des dehors encore plus inquiétants. Pour ne citer que quelques exemples célèbres, on a affaire à de telles représentations dans Une Charogne de Charles Baudelaire, poème où le narrateur, au détour d’un chemin, rencontre une charogne animale qu’il va décrire à la manière naturaliste ; c’est le cas également du Radeau de la Méduse, où Géricault peint, là encore, de manière on ne peut plus réaliste des naufragés livrés aux affres de la survie en haute mer ou du tableau de Goya Saturne dévorant un de ses enfants ; mais pour citer des exemples plus triviaux, mais plus proches de nous, c’est le cas de l’imagerie des films d’horreur mettant en scène la déréliction de cadavres. Notre tâche consistera à mettre en lumière le fonctionnement de telles représentations afin de comprendre en quoi, bien que paradoxalement, ces images qui exaltent la mort nous permettent de juguler l’angoisse de mort.
Accompagner Saint Christophe, le protecteur contre «la male mort». Des thèmes eschatologiques dans l'iconographie occidentale et roumaine
Silvia Marin-Barutcieff
Abstract: The aim of this study is to explore the connection between Saint Christopher and death in Romanian iconography from the 18th and19th centuries. It is well known that in Western Europe, starting from Late Middle Ages until Modernity, this saint was invoked against sudden death, the kind of death that does not allow the Christian to prepare for redemption. Although this belief is wide spread in popular culture from Roman-Catholics areas, in Romanian Christian Orthodox tradition Saint Christopher is not explicitly associated with death. Despite this fact, I will try to demonstrate that the saint has unquestionable eschatological attributes due to its position within the sacred spaces and its proximity to other characters that refer to the end of the world.
Understanding Death in the 21st Century: Vito Mancuso and His Re-Assessment of the Christian Teaching on Death from the Perspective of Man’s Historical Experience
Corneliu C. Simut

Abstract. An acquaintance of Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, Vito Mancuso—a young lay theologian whose latest book L’anima e il suo destino (The Soul and Its Destiny) triggered a significant amount of controversy within Italy for the past two years as it turned into a theological best-seller—sets up to re-define Christian theology from the viewpoint of human experience within history. Mancuso’s conviction that the discourse about God must to justice to man’s contemporary expectations leads him to profess a theology “from below”, as he himself labels it, which is based on the presupposition that matter is the source of all things. Such a definition also includes the problematics of the human soul which, like anything else, results from the very being of matter. It is from this particular theological perspective which gives up traditional Christian theology that Mancuso attempts to re-found or rather to re-build Christian theology with view to making it more accessible to the scientifically-informed minds of today’s people. The issue of death and dying becomes therefore a reality which needs to be re-interpreted in light of his theology from below. Thus, he elaborates on the mortality of the soul as well as on how we should understand immortality given that death is the end of human individual existence within history, as detailed in his Rifondazione della fede (Rebuilding Faith). He also explains what this perspective, namely that death is the end of the human being, entails with reference to his radical re-reading of traditional doctrines such as our union with God, hell/inferno, and resurrection.
Infanticide – Between Private Matter and Public Concern in Serbia c.1800 – c.1860
Aleksandra Vuletic

Abstract: This paper deals with the practice of infanticide in the Serbian society during the first half of the 19th century. On the basis of legal sources and court records it explores the manners in which family, community, church and state have responded to that practice. A focus is on the changing attitude towards infant murder – it seeks to identify the ways in which infanticide began to be considered less a personal matter and social strategy and more a criminal offence.
Preserving social identity of the dead and dying: the importance of ritual
Janneke Peelen & Joanna Wojtkowiak
Abstract:This paper discusses the subject of social identity in relation to the dead and dying body in the context of contemporary funeral culture in the Netherlands. Two cases are analyzed to illustrate our argument that ritual constructs and preserves social identity in the phase between life and death. First, the case of stillborn children and the social birth within funerary rituals. Second, the social death of the dying and the creation of an after death symbolic existence, the postself. The liminal body, which is on a social level not really alive and not really dead, is defined by its social meaning that is given within the use of ritual. We state that biological boundaries of life and death are moved symbolically in ritual and that social identity is created and preserved despite the physically dead or dying body.
Socio-cultural determinants of suicide
Claudiu Stefani

Abstract: This study investigates the impact of some socio-cultural effects upon suicidal behavior using the analysis of contents of articles published in the media. 332 cases of suicide and suicide attempts published in the national daily newspaper Adevărul, Libertatea and the local daily newspaper Unirea were analyzed. The results support the hypothesis that the main reason for suicide is represented by the dysfunctions in families, marital conflicts, breaking-up, and the battle between generations and do not prove any link between the impact of youth subcultures upon their suicidal behavior.
Une courte histoire de l’historiographie de l’épitaphe
Mihaela Grancea

Abstract: The ancient Athenians understood this – epitaphios – as the speech held at the cemetery, for the funeral ceremony or the commemoration of those who had died for the City. This speech was elaborated according to a conventional structure comprising a eulogy of the City and the words of consolation for the surviving family. Among the most famous of the Greek epitaphs still preserved, we can mention: those of Pericles, as well as the ones honoring the first Athenian soldiers fallen during the Peloponnesian War (431 – 430 b.C.). These were reproduced by Thucydides in The Peloponnesian War (L. II, XXXIV, LVI). The term epitaphios also defines the tomb inscription, for the Greeks. Practically, the epitaphs (especially the Spartan ones) are present in various forms of narrative literature; but, the most complex ones (the later ones, from the imperial age) represented appraisals, included in a narrative similar to the imperial decrees and letters of congratulation addressed to governors by the emperor. The study of epitaphs is of particular interest in understanding the aspects of the religious life and even of the everyday life. Some of the texts can even compete with literary works, from the point of view of their artistic suggestion. From this perspective, the 700 Greek epitaphs anthologized so far are quite revealing. However, most of the inscriptions are short, concise and refer to “glorious death”. The common epitaphs are often adjusted to the professional context, age, and the deceased’s habits. The most frequent references are Parce and Styx. The Romans would later induce an even greater power of suggestion to the epitaph, developing various forms of expression for it. They were meant to be written on the sarcophagus. The large number of funerary Latin and Greek inscriptions (pagan and Christian) represented the argument for the assertion of epigraphy as a modern discipline auxiliary (to history), a discipline analyzing critically / scientifically official / public and private inscriptions on monuments, and even on everyday objects.
In Europe, as early as the Middle Ages, the term épitaphe only designated the funerary inscription with a commemorative value. From a formal point of view, the Christian epitaphs do not differ substantially from the Roman ones, dating from the period of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire. The Latin Pre-Christian funerary inscriptions started with the letters DM (i.e. “Dis Manibus”), or with DMS (“Dis Manibus Sacrum”), because the texts were dedicated to the Mani Gods. The Christian epitaphs introduced (within the Western Christianity) the monogram of Jesus Christ: IHS (the modern formula requires the monogram INRI, summarizing the inscription on the cross on which Jesus was crucified – “Iesus Nazaraeus Rex Judaeorum”) and the first specific symbols for the Christian iconography – the fish, the lamb, and the anchor. However, at least during the first centuries of Christianity, the simple monogram crosses were most common. As it happened in the pre-Christian tradition, on the tombstone there appeared the name, age, date of death of the deceased, his / her message addressed to the survivor / “passenger”, even information about the person who had ordered the tomb. As it happens today, many funerary inscriptions only included INRI and the name of the deceased (see the epitaphs from the catacombs of Rome, those from the Protestant cemeteries during the 17th century, and the inscriptions from the cemeteries for the poor). The inscriptions on the graves can not be considered a unitary discourse (a doctrine) related to Death, but rather “speeches” about the deaths of the buried ones. However, exploiting the epigraphic existing material enables a process of “mirror” reflection of the various conceptions of death. Usually, epitaphs are detached from the classical pattern requiring the presentation of the deceased, the mourning of their absence, their life’s eulogy, or a warning related to its fragility. The common themes during the medieval period were related to the nature of the relationship between body and soul, the idea of life as an exile on earth, death as a condition for the access to Eternal Life. Thus, it was an attempt to idealize the physical death, although the iconography dating from that period seemed dominated by themes derived from the “dance macabre” and was subjected to the image of the body decomposition. The funerary inscription that marked the grave and identified the deceased provided data related to the deceased, their names being always present in an epitaph, as its function is, first of all, that of celebrating the memory of the deceased. The medieval and pre-modern epitaph text was almost “liturgical”, as it also contained prayers, and, above all, asked survivors to pray for the soul of the dead. This approach was natural during the Middle Ages, and later, in the case of practitioners, as the fundamental concern (of the believers!) was / is saving the soul. The inscriptions, especially those in France, presented their texts in the vernacular language, described the beauty of the world beyond, the Life after death. Hell was never described according to the church’s doctrine. In all cultures, death was “customized” through the epitaph, as it only provided the expiration date of a single person, it did not speak about death in general. The functions of the Christian epitaph are commemorative and therapeutic, the Christian epitaph having a high formal and functional homogeneity.
At the beginning of modernity, the epitaph described the personality of the deceased and the circumstances of his / her death. The stylistic approaches of the texts, as well as their tones, were various. Thus, some texts praised the deceased and provided information about his / her age, about the death occurred due to disease or war, about death itself, brought consolation to the survivors, maintaining confidence in the Resurrection, the recipients of such an epitaphic message were / are: the “passenger”, the family, posterity etc. On the contrary, the “classic” epitaph of the time firstly involved commemoration; specifically, this meant: lamentation, exposure of the circumstances of the death, evaluation of the human potential loss which was assumed by the death of the praised one, consolation of the survivors.
There are some common features in the pre-modern epitaph: the “soul” qualities seem determined by geo-cultural circumstances, such as “the place of birth” (town, country), the educational level, “glory” (reputation), social and political influence, the nature of death (the “heroic death” was considered, as in the Ancient period, a “fortunate death”). Moreover, the physical “virtues” were mentioned: strength and virile beauty. The “virtues” of the heart also held an important place in the economy of the epitaph (the frequency with which they were listed, especially in the epitaphs for women, made it a common feature, a conventional definition), men were admired for: wisdom, courage, piety, respectability and pragmatism.
As early as the 17th-18th centuries, the epitaph (medieval and pre-modern) has was the subject for numerous and impressive anthologies, as well as for various approaches. These corpuses were, firstly, significant referential documentary sources related to the funeral event. These anthologies presented the funeral ceremony and speech, reproduced medieval tomb inscriptions, as well as contemporary ones. The epitaph specialists continue to edit and also explore medieval inscriptions belonging to regional or national areas. After the epitaph became a literary genre, encountered quite frequently in the French and Anglo-Saxon poetry during the 17th-18th centuries, during the 19th century it became an object of study from the historical perspective, especially in the context of the affirmation of archeology. Anthologies reproduced the most significant epitaphs in the funeral and political culture of the Middle Ages and early modernity. Corpuses listing the most significant funerary monuments, representative for funerary art and iconography, due to their age, as well as epitaphs were also printed. There were even some attempts towards “structural” analyses. Such an approach implied the classification of the epitaphs by various criteria, the inscriptions reproduced were texts taken from the graves of soldiers and sailors, officers, people killed or mortally injured, infants and children, young people, friends, artists, musicians, actors, servants, devoted wives, demanding wives, happy couples, poets and writers, elders, clergymen, nobles, persons of modest condition, judges and politicians, architects and sculptors, astronomers, outstanding people (famous personalities).
The elaboration of anthologies of epitaphs as a positivist (and traditional) approach continued and was generalized during the 20th century. In our opinion, the earliest serious study, imposed by its complex structure, and by its fresh anthropological approach is represented by Lawrence Weaver’s work, Memorials & Monuments, Old and New: Two Hundred Subjects Chosen from Seven Centuries, an approach from the perspective of art history, concerning “venerable” monuments and memorials from the 2nd – 19th centuries, a guide that provides information about the history of the monuments described, the style and iconography / emblematic applied, an epitaph typology (military, civil, religious – the work being particularly concerned with funerary inscriptions of the clergy).
U.S. researchers elaborated collections of epitaphs and proposed a classification as early as the 19th century. It is perhaps due to this tradition that today, in America, Cemetery Studies are successful, popular university projects; they are concerned with anthologies of old, famous, funny / eccentric, literary epitaphs. Most of these American funerary inscriptions selections are called On Death and Dying. The above mentioned projects imply the study of documents dating from the 18th-19th centuries (particularly “literature” of a commemorative nature, homiletics, descriptions of the funeral ceremonies of the time), but also present epitaphs from tombstones in cemeteries (particularly from Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine). The previous attempts, especially the anthologies realized during the 19th century, were sporadic, amateur, and did not receive scientific support. Only the post-war approaches - American and European - achieved a comprehensive and rigorous scientific analysis related to the epitaph of pre-modern history until the 20th century. Especially in the U.S.A., the monographic study and the “recovery” through publishing of the epitaphs considered as elements of funeral heritage has become a tradition.
In parallel with the individual and group scientific approaches (see university projects, the research institutes), foundations and local historical societies are also investigating the local cemeteries, and funeral inscriptions in particular. Thus, the United States, the “Association for Gravestone Studies (AGS)” supports the specialized studies and historical cemetery preservation through publications, such as Markers, an annual bulletin presenting works related to the meanings of epitaphs and the cultural-historical functionality of cemeteries, the phenomenon of memorial proliferation commemorating soldiers killed in the 20th century wars (the Vietnam Veterans Memorial opened in 1982, visited by many people). They also studied events, recent monuments dedicated to those who died in car accidents, young people, collective attitudes manifested on the death of Princess Diana, the military cemeteries / of the heroes from Australia, UK, USA, USSR, the official involvement in the process of its elaboration and study. As “sites of the tragedy”, they are investigated along with those from other historical eras, particularly medieval artifact cemeteries.
In this respect, in America, the works of James Deetz and Edwin Dethlefsen, Sarah Tarlow are representative. In their studies, the authors state that the graves also represent the manifestations of society axiology, the cult of the dead and of the ancestors, patriotism. The researchers combined the inventory and classification of epitaphs as a traditional approach with the new trans-disciplinary methodologies. More specifically, they established the historical age and confessional affiliation of the funerary inscriptions, their specific linguistic and semantic characteristics, the literary influences and models. They considered the epitaphs as indirect sources indicating the high and low tides of religiosity, the advances of secularization, they extracted from the epitaphs the portraiture of civic exemplarity and the division of intra-family functions.
In the Romanian culture, anthologizing and analyzing epitaphs began along with the Romanian identity project affirmed since the middle of the 19th century and the cultural elite’s attempt to integrate with cultural movement, respectively European historical research. The first to study hundreds of Western Christian epitaphs was Alexander Odobescu, followed by Grigore Tocilescu and Vasile Pârvan who also manifested their interest for Greek and Dacian-Roman “antiques” within the Romanian historical provinces. In the larger context of publishing corpuses of historical sources, the members of the Romanian Academy planned an impressive series of inscriptions tomes. Nicolae Iorga, especially, dreamed of Mommsien-size editions. He only managed to publish two fascicles of inscriptions from Inscripţiile din bisericile României (The Inscriptions from the Churches from Romania) (1905, 1908). The elaboration of an epigraphic series remained only an “eternal desire”. During the communist years the publishing of medieval funeral inscriptions was only a sporadic phenomenon, the only possible continuity being recorded within the traditions of the Hebrew epitaph specialists, which were perpetuated more successfully after 1989.
In the context of affirmation, within the Romanian preoccupation with the history of death, we have tried to suggest a classification and analysis of funerary inscriptions, especially contemporary ones, from the urban cemeteries of Transylvania and Banat, in a series of studies which have partially achieved their goal.
Vlad Milea, Le voise vers la mort pour les malades de cancer en etat terminal. Le perspective du personnel medicale
Dumitru Vanca, Liturgy of funerals in the Orthodox Church at the end of 17th and beginning of 18th century reflecting into the first Romanian printed books

vineri, 11 decembrie 2009

Famous Cremated Romanians (XVII)

2005

Viorica Voiculescu - doctor, Vlad Voiculescu's wife *he was member of Romanian Academy and also cremated in 2001, died on the same day with his wife, namely 21 february!
Ioan Henter - actor
Axente Constantin Banciu - chemist, PhD.
Ghizela Vass - she was one of the most important member of Romanian Communist Party, her husband, Ladislau Vass was cremated also. Ghizela Vass is the grandmother of Bogdan Olteanu, ex-vice-president of Romanian Senate and also one of the leaders of actual Liberal Party!
Vito Grasso - profesor, the director of Cultural Italian Centre, Bucharest, he was not Romanian but he was cremated at Vitan Crematorium in Bucharest at 8 april 2005.
George Mihail - engineer, director
Petru Cmit - enginner, director ex- Romanian Industrial Buildings Minister
Ion Galeseanu - architect