Horia Stamatu (September 9, 1912 – July 7/8, 1989) was a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

n poet, essayist, and far-right politician.

Biography

Born in

Vălenii de Munte Vălenii de Munte () is a town in Prahova County, southern Romania (the historical region of Muntenia), with a population of 11,707 as of 2011. It lies In the Teleajen river valley, north of the county seat of Ploiești. The town's sister cities ...

, where he attended primary school, Stamatu went on to military high school and then the literature and philosophy faculty of the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...

. From 1936 to 1937, he was a substitute teacher at

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

's Cantemir Vodă High School. He was an editor at '' Enciclopedia României'' from 1938 to 1940, and served as an editor for the far-right newspaper ''

Buna Vestire Buna may refer to: Places * Buna village, a small Bosnia and Herzegovina village at the confluence of the Buna and Neretva rivers * Buna, Kenya, captured by Italy in the East African Campaign * Bouna, Ivory Coast or Buna * Buna, Papua New Guine ...

''. A member of the fascist Iron Guard, he took part in the Legionnaires' rebellion. Paul Miron
"Horia Stamatu"
, in ''

România Literară ''România Literară'' is a cultural and literary magazine from Romania. In its original edition, it was founded on 1 January 1855 by Vasile Alecsandri and published in Iași until 3 December 1855, when it was suppressed. The new series appeared o ...

'', nr. 15/1999 In 1941, in the aftermath of the rebellion, he left for Germany through Bulgaria, and was interned at Buchenwald concentration camp with other members of the Iron Guard from 1942 to 1944. After 1944, upon the establishment of an Iron Guard government-in-exile in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, he was involved in propaganda broadcasts through Radio Donau. He was sentenced to death ''in absentia'' by a Romanian military tribunal. From 1945, he lived in Freiburg im Breisgau, where he studied philosophy with

Max Müller Friedrich Max Müller (; 6 December 1823 – 28 October 1900) was a German-born philologist and Orientalist, who lived and studied in Britain for most of his life. He was one of the founders of the western academic disciplines of Indian ...

at the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemb ...

. Within that institution, he lectured on the Romanian language from 1946 to 1948 in 's department. From 1948 to 1950, he lived in Paris. There, he was among the founders of the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

-affiliated Romanian research institute; other initiators included Eugène Ionesco,

Emil Cioran Emil Mihai Cioran (, ; 8 April 1911 – 20 June 1995) was a Romanian philosopher, aphorist and essayist, who published works in both Romanian and French. His work has been noted for its pervasive philosophical pessimism, style, and aphorisms. ...

Mircea Eliade Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religiou ...

Edmond Jaloux Edmond Jaloux (19 June 1878, Marseille – 22 August 1949, Lutry) was a French novelist, essayist, and critic. His works tended to be set in Paris or his native Provence. He was interested in German Romanticism and English writers. In 1936 h ...

, and

Marcel Brion Marcel Brion (; 21 November 1895 – 23 October 1984) was a French essayist, literary critic, novelist, and historian. Early life The son of a lawyer, Brion was classmates in Thiers with Marcel Pagnol and Albert Cohen. After completing his ...

. Stamatu became head of the literary section. From 1951 to 1961, he lived in Spain, where he was an editor at ''Oriente Europeo'' magazine and co-founded ''Libertatea românească'' and ''Fapta'' magazines. He returned to Freiburg in 1961, living there until his death. From 1962 to 1966, he edited ''Forschungsstelle für Weltzivilisation''. While in exile, he contributed to ''Revista scriitorilor români'', ''Limite'' and ''Ethos''. Stamatu's first published work appeared in 1932 in

Sandu Tudor Sandu Tudor (; born Alexandru Al. Teodorescu, known in church records as Brother Agathon, later Daniil Teodorescu, Daniil Sandu Tudor, Daniil de la Rarău; December 22 or December 24, 1896 – November 17, 1962) was a Romanian poet, journalist, th ...

's ''Floarea de foc'' magazine, and subsequently wrote for ''Ideea europeană'' magazine. His first book, the 1934 ''Memnon'', appeared just as Ionesco, Cioran, and

Ștefan Baciu Ștefan Aurel Baciu ( pt, Estêvão Baciu, es, Esteban Baciu; October 29, 1918 – January 6, 1993) was a Romanian and Brazilian poet, novelist, publicist and academic who lived his later life in Hawaii. A precocious, award-winning, young author ...

were launching their careers. He won the Fundația Regală pentru Literatură și Artă prize. Until going into exile, Stamatu published several lengthy poems, such as ''Moartea lui 1940'', in magazines, but no other books. While in Europe, he published ''Recitativ'' (1963), ''Kairos'' (1974), and ''Imperiul'' (1981). He won the American-Romanian Academy of Arts and Sciences prize for 1988.Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. II, p. 599. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stamatu, Horia 1912 births 1989 deaths People from Vălenii de Munte University of Bucharest alumni Romanian schoolteachers Romanian collaborators with Nazi Germany Romanian magazine editors Romanian poets Romanian essayists Romanian expatriates in Germany Romanian people imprisoned abroad Buchenwald concentration camp survivors Prisoners sentenced to death by Romania People sentenced to death in absentia Members of the Iron Guard 20th-century Romanian politicians 20th-century essayists Romanian expatriates in France Romanian expatriates in Spain Nazis who fled to Spain