Ambassadeurs en pays étranger : la place des lecteurs dans la diplomatie culturelle franco-roumaine (années 1960 et 1970)
Ambassadors in foreign countries: the role of lecturers in the Franco-Romanian Cultural Diplomacy (1960s and 1970s)

Summary/Abstract: After a halt determined by the implementation of communism, French-Romanian relations started to regain impetus. Despite being members of two ideologically opposite camps, France and Romania sustain the development of their bilateral exchanges. This is why cultural relations grow and diversify. Language lectureships are created both in France and Romania. Beyond their official purpose, language teaching, lecturers and lectureships play an important role as information relays and even cultural ambassadors. Archival documents from the French and Romanian Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Romanian universities (Iasi and Bucharest) and oral interviews were used for studying lecturers’ actions during the ‘60 and ’70. They allow and ensure contact, better knowledge, and understanding between citizens East and West of the Iron Curtain. French students discover Romania, its language, its culture, its traditions, while Romanians manage to maintain a connection with the French civilizations and, through it, with the western civilization. In this article I argue that despite all the controls carried out by the Romanian authorities, there were exchanges between French and Romanians, proving that the Iron Curtain was permeable. This study also illustrates the complexity of East-West cultural relations during the Cold War.

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