Requiem for a Research Institute Cover Image

Requiem pentru un institut de cercetare
Requiem for a Research Institute

Author(s): Michael Shafir
Subject(s): History
Published by: Editura Academiei Române
Keywords: Radio Free Europe; Noel Bernard; archive; Cold War

Summary/Abstract: Requiem for a research institute brings up the historical transformations/alterations suffered by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Research Institute since 1965. The author recalls the activity of director Noel Bernard, and the aftermath of his disappearance. There are evoked spectres of past researchers and analysts who marked the history of the research institute. The actions of former directors encounter the author's criticism, as his collaboration with the radio station depended upon the leaders character and perception of certain realities. An episode remembered deals with the specifications to destroy the cold war archive of the institute, after 1989, classified as "irrelevant history". The last years of the establishment led to "institutional suicide", without anyone trying to save the organization, which finally ceased to exist, resting in a "better world".

  • Issue Year: XLVIII/2009
  • Issue No: 48
  • Page Range: 299-303
  • Page Count: 5
  • Language: Romanian