Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ttngx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-22T21:57:46.728Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Nationalism and orthodoxy: Nichifor Crainic and the political culture of the extreme right in 1930s Romania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Roland Clark
Roland Clark*
Affiliation:
Department of History, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
*
*Email: rdc17@pitt.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article explores the interplay of religion, anti-Semitism, and personal rivalries in building the ultra-nationalist movement in 1930s Romania, using the career of Nichifor Crainic as a case study. As a theologian, Crainic created and taught a synthesis of nationalism and Romanian Orthodoxy which was broadly accepted by most ultra-nationalists in interwar Romania. As a journalist, Crainic directed several newspapers which spearheaded acrimonious attacks on democratic and ultra-nationalist politicians alike. As a politician, he joined and left both Corneliu Zelea Codreanu's Legion of the Archangel Michael and A.C. Cuza's National Christian Defense League before attempting to form his own Christian Workers’ Party. Crainic's writings ultimately earned him a place as a minister in two governments and membership of the Romanian Academy. His career reveals an ultra-nationalist movement rife with division and bickering but united around a vaguely defined ideology of religious nationalism, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism.

Keywords

Nichifor CrainicOrthodoxismnationalismRomaniafascism
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 40 , Issue 1 , January 2012 , pp. 107 - 126
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anonymous. “Caminul Soc. Preotesc ‘Renaştera’ din Oltenia.” Calendarul 20 Aug. 1933: 1. Print.Google Scholar
Anonymous. “Creştinismul şi fascismul.” Universul 6 Feb 1937: 4. Print.Google Scholar
Anonymous. “Dl prof N. Crainic la Focşani, Botoşani şi Bacău.” Apărareă Naţională 5 May 1935: 3. Print.Google Scholar
Anonymous. “D. Nichifor Crainic denunta pe d. Goga.” Dreptatea 23 Oct. 1936: 3. Print.Google Scholar
Anonymous. “Dnii prof. Nichifor Crainic, A.C. Cusin şi Toma Vladescu s'au ìnscris ìn LANC.” Apărareă Naţională 17 Mar 1935: 1, 3. Print.Google Scholar
Anonymous. “Informaţii.” Cuvăntul studenţesc 10 Feb 1935: 3. Print.Google Scholar
Anonymous. “Lamuririle d-lui prof Gh. Cuza ìn chestia francmasoneriei.” Acţiunea romănă 3 Dec 1932: 3. Print.Google Scholar
Anonymous. “Manifestaţie religioasă dela Carpineni-Bucovina.” Calendarul 2 Sept 1933: 3. Print.Google Scholar
Anonymous. “Poşta lui 13…” 13 Jilava 29 Nov 1940: 12. Print.Google Scholar
Bădescu, Laura. Retorica poeziei religioase a lui Nichifor Crainic. Bucharest: Editura Minerva, 2000. Print.Google Scholar
Bălan, Nicolae. “Nichifor Crainic şi timpul nostru.” Găndirea 19.4 (1940): 195–96. Print.Google Scholar
Brudaşcu, Dan. Goga şi francmasoneria. Cluj-Napocă: Editura Sedan, 2007. Print.Google Scholar
Călinescu, George. Istoria literaturii romăne dela origini pănă ìn prezent. Bucharest: Fundaţia Regală pentru Literatură şi Artă, 1941. Print.Google Scholar
Chioveanu, Mihai, Feţele fascismului: Politică, ideologie şi scrisul istoric ìn secolul XX. Bucharest: Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti, 2005.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. “Coaliţia zialelor ìmpotriva ieftenirii vieţii.” Calendarul 31 Jan. 1932: 1. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. Cursurile de mistič. Ed. Ioan I. Ică Jr. Sibiu: Deisis, 2010. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. Elogiul lui Octavian Goga. Vol. 74. Bucharest: Academia Romăna Discursuri de Recepţiune, 1941. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. “Falimentul venerabililor.” Calendarul 15 Feb. 1932: 1. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. “Găndhism şi ortodoxie.” Găndirea 11.1 (1931): 48. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. “Ìn pragul succesiuni.” Sfarmă Piatră 21 Jan. 1937: 2. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. “Ìncepem.” Calendarul 25 Jan. 1932: 1. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. “Istoria ‘Calendarului'.” Sfarmă-Piatră 24 Mar. 1938: 2. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. Lupta pentru spiritul now. Germania şi Italia ìn scrisul meu dela 1932 ìncoace. Bucharest: Editura Cugetarea, 1941. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. “Mărturişire de credinţa.” Găndirea 13.6 (1934): 209–12. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. “Memoriul dela Jilava despre problem generaţiei tinere.” Sfarmă-Piatră 3 June 1937: 2–3. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. “Mistificarea romănismului.” Găndirea 16.7 (1936): 355–62. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. “Naţionalismul şi muncitorimea.” Sfarmă Piatră 28 Jan. 1937: 2–3. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. Nostalgia paradisului. Bucharest: Editura Cugetarea, 1942. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. Ortodoxie şi etnocraţie. Bucharest: Editura Cugetarea, 1937. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. Programul statului etnocratic. Bucharest: Tipografia Ziarului “Universul”, 1938. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. Puncte cardinale ìn haos. Bucharest: Editura Cugetarea, 1936. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. “Rasă şi religiune.” Găndirea 14.2 (1935): 57–66. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. “Reìncepem!” Calendarul 9 June 1932: 1. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. “Reintegrarea muncitorimii ìn naţiune.” Sfarmă Piatră 11 Mar. 1937. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. “Romănismul D-lui Motru.” Găndirea 14.7 (1935): 391–92. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. “Sensul tradiţiei.” Găndirea 9.1-2 (1929): 1–11. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. “Solidaritatea noastra politică.” Universul 14 July 1940: 6. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. “Spiritualitate.” Găndirea 8.8-9 (1928): 307–10. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. “Spiritualitate şi romănism.” Găndirea 16.8 (1936): 377–83. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. “Titanii ateismului.” Găndirea 13.7 (1934): 257–63. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. “To George I. Brătianu.” 18 Feb. 1934. Manuscriptum 26.1–4 (1995): 132–34. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. “Transfigurarea romănismului.” Găndirea 22.4 (1943): 177–85. Print.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. Zile albe, zile negre: Memorii (I). Bucharest: Casa Editurială “Găndirea”, 1991. Print.Google Scholar
Denize, Eugen. Istoria Societăţii Romăne de Radiodifuziune. Bucharest: Societatea Romănă de Radiodifuziune, 1999. Print.Google Scholar
Haynes, Rebecca. Politica Romăniei faţa de Germania ìntre 1936 şi 1940. Trans. Cristina Abobaie. Bucharest: Polirom, 2003. Print.Google Scholar
Heinen, Armin. Legiunea “Arhanghelul Mihail”: Mişcarea socială şi organizeţie politică. Trans. Cornelia and Delia Eşianu. Bucharest: Humanitas, 2006. Print.Google Scholar
Hillgruber, Andreas. Hitler, Regele Carol şi Maresalul Antonescu: Relaţiile Germano-Romăne 1938–1944. Trans. Stelian Neagoe. Bucharest: Humanitas, 1994. Print.Google Scholar
Hitchins, Keith. “Găndirea: Nationalism in a Spiritual Guise.” Studies on Romanian National Consciousness. Ed. Hitchins, Keith. Pelham: Nagard, 1983. 231–58. Print.Google Scholar
Hitchins, Keith. Rumania 1866–1947. Oxford: Clarendon, 1994. Print.Google Scholar
Ică, loan I. Jr. “Nichifor Crainic şi redescoperirea misticii ìn Ortodoxie ìn prima jumătate a secolului XX.” Cursurile de mistică. Ed. Ioan I. Ică Jr. Sibiu: Deisis, 2010. 5–112. Print.Google Scholar
Livezeanu, Irina. Cultural Politics in Greater Romania: Regionalism, Nation Building, and Ethnic Struggle, 1918–1930. London: Cornell UP, 1995. Print.Google Scholar
Love, Joseph. Făurirea lumii a treia: teorii şi teoreticieni ai subdezvoltării ìn Romănia şi Brazilia. Bucharest: Editura Univers, 2003.Google Scholar
Manoilescu, Mihail. Le siècle du corporatisme. Paris: Librarie Félix Alcan, 1934. Print.Google Scholar
Micu, Dumitru. “Găndirea” şi găndirismul. Bucharest: Editura Minerva, 1975. Print.Google Scholar
Muşeţeanu, Liliana. Bibliografie radiofonică romănească. 2 vols. Bucharest: Societatea Romănă de Radiodifuziune, Editura Casa Radio, 2000. Print.Google Scholar
Ornea, Zigu. Anii treizeci: extrema dreaptă romănească. Bucharest: Editura Fundaţiei Culturale Romăne, 1995. Print.Google Scholar
Papadima, Ovidiu. “Literatura 1936.” Sfarmă Piatră 8 Jan. 1937: 8. Print.Google Scholar
Papanace, Constantin. “Cuvănt introductiv.” Fenomenul legionar. Nae Ionescu. Bucharest: Antet, 1993. 5–28. Print.Google Scholar
Păcuraru, Mircea. Dicţionarul teologilor romăni. Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedică, 1996. Print.Google Scholar
Părvănescu, Geta Marcela. Nichifor Crainic: monografie. Deva: Editura Emia, 2010. Print.Google Scholar
Petrescu, Liviu. “Crainic, Nichifor.” Dicţionarul scriitorilor romăni. Eds. Zaciu, Mircea, Papahagi, Marian, and Sasu, Aurel. Bucharest: Editura Fundaţiei Culturale Romăne, 1995. 696–98. Print.Google Scholar
Pintea, Emil. Găndirea: indice bibliografic adnotat. Cluj-Napoca: Editura Echinox, 1998. Print.Google Scholar
Rădulescu-Motru, Constantin. Scrieri politice. Bucharest: Editura Nemira, 1998. Print.Google Scholar
Rupnow, Dirk. “Brüke und Kontinuitäten – Von der NS-Judenforshung zur Nachkriegsjuaistik.” Geistwissenschaften im Nationalsozialismus: Das Beispiel der Universität Wien. Ed. Ash, Mitchell G., Nieß, Wolfram and Pils, Ramon. Göttingen: V & R Unipres, 2010. 79–110. Print.Google Scholar
Schifirneţ, Constantin. Geneza modernă a ideii naţionale: Psihologie etnică şi identitate romănească. Bucharest: Albatros, 2001. Print.Google Scholar
Solonari, Vladimir. Purifying the Nation: Population Exchange and Ethnic Cleansing in Nazi-Allied Romania. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2010. Print.Google Scholar
Stăniloae, Dumitru. “Opera teologică a lui Nichifor Crainic.” Găndirea 14.4 (1940): 264–76. Print.Google Scholar
Stăniloae, Dumitru. Naţiune şi creştinism. Bucharest: Editura Elion, 2004. Print.Google Scholar
Stăniloae, Dumitru. Ortodoxie şi romănism. Sibiu: Tiparul Tipografiei Arhideicezane, 1939. Print.Google Scholar
Şerban, Stelu. Elite, partide şi spectru politic ìn Romănia interbelică. Bucharest: Paideia, 2006. Print.Google Scholar
Vizirescu, Pan M. “Ìmpacare cu muncitorii.” Sfarmă Piatră 14 Jan. 1937. Print.Google Scholar
Vizirescu, Pan M. “Nichifor Crainic la Academia Romănă.” Manuscriptum. 26.1–4 (1995): 172–74. Print.Google Scholar
Vrabie, Gheorghe. Găndirismul: Istoric, doctrină, realizări. Bucharest: Editura Cugetarea, 1940. Print.Google Scholar
Walters, Philip. “Notes on Autocephaly and Phyletism.” Religion, State, and Society 30.4 (2002): 357–64. Print.Google Scholar