C.V. Gheorghiu: drama identității românești în exil
C.V. Gheorghiu: The Drama of Romanian Identity in Exile

Summary/Abstract: Adrian Alui Gheorghe’s article examines the trajectory of C.V. Gheorghiu after 1944, when he served as a diplomat for the Antonescu government in Berlin before seeking refuge in France, where the communist regime condemned him in absentia as a war criminal. In France, he experienced a double marginalization: as a Romanian exile in a war-torn Europe and as an Orthodox priest in a predominantly Catholic and secular society. His exile was not merely geographical but also one of identity, suspended between the lost homeland and a Western world perceived as cold, bureaucratic, and alienating. Most of Gheorghiu’s works were written in French, a choice that partially distanced him from his Romanian readership while at the same time securing him an international audience. Even so, his writings remained rooted in Romanian themes, including the fate of the peasantry, the Orthodox faith, and suffering under foreign occupation. Through his literary success in France, Gheorghiu became an unintended cultural ambassador. Yet, rather than promoting Romanian identity as a particularity, he presented it as an expression of a wounded common humanity.

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