Culture as Bridge between France and Romania in the Early Period of the Communist Regime

Abstract

The establishment of the communist regime in Romania led to the country’s diplomatic isolation in the first years after 1948. Western states were considered enemy states from an ideological point of view, therefore diplomatic, economic and cultural connections were greatly diminished. Some changes in the dynamic between the two blocs can be observed in the mid-50s, when the Cold War seemed to become an accepted reality and the desire of the two sides was, first, to improve their economic collaboration and, second, to use cultural exchanges as a connecting bridge between the East and West and a practical tool of soft power. Among western countries, France was one of the states with which Romania had the richest and longest cultural, educational and intellectual connections until the advent of the Cold War. In this article we propose to analyze the dynamics of Romanian-French cultural relations in the first years of the communist regime, with a particular focus on the French perspective regarding Romania’s cultural landscape at that time.