Repressive mechanisms within the Romanian School of Architecture on the onset of the communist regime. The case of Professor Gheorghe Simotta
Repressive mechanisms within the Romanian School of Architecture on the onset of the communist regime. The case of Professor Gheorghe Simotta

Summary/Abstract: Following the August 23rd, 1944 events, the sovietisation of the Romanian education proclaimed its shift from fascism, a process that carried on through the 1948 reform. The list of its major effects comprises the purge of academia and their replacement with politically compliant peers, the concessions made to the senior professors and opening of their political files, intimidation and surveillance, the consideration of the social background criterion upon admission into universities, along with the pressures applied on the existing students, their inclusion into the new political academic structures, the shift in the curriculum towards ideologization. For the particular case of the Faculty of Architecture of Bucharest, a large number of academia was removed while others were allowed to keep their teaching positions yet subjected to years of abusive tests – intimidation, constraint, intelligence surveillance, attempts of recruiting from the Securitate etc. These people have to be recognized for being able to thwart such actions – when circumstances were favourable – and managed to provide continuity to the school, a partial return to normality after the closure of the “tormenting decade”. Among these teachers was Gheorghe Simotta, an esteemed professor of the interwar Romanian architecture, whose case will be delved into from the perspective of the documents in the Securitate archives.

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