Mihai Șora (; 7 November 1916 – 25 February 2023) was a Romanian philosopher and essayist.

Career

After travelling back to Romania in 1948, Șora became a member of the

Romanian Communist Party The Romanian Communist Party ( ; PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave an ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that would replace the social system ...

(PCR) and was employed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the time led by communist leader

Ana Pauker Ana Pauker (born Hannah Rabinsohn; 13 February 1893 – 3 June 1960) was a Romanian communist leader and served as the country's List of Romanian Foreign Ministers, foreign minister in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Ana Pauker became the world' ...

. In interviews published after the fall of Communist Party rule in 1989, Șora said that he was unofficially "arrested". He was barred from holding a teaching appointment in

Communist Romania The Socialist Republic of Romania (, RSR) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist One-party state, one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989 (see Revolutions of 1989). From 1947 to 1965, the state was ...

, but nevertheless became an influential editor for one of the main Romanian publishers, ESPLA. Șora's family emigrated to the West in the 1970s, and he was allowed to visit them in the 1980s. According to Aurelia Crăiuțu, he was forced to publish under pseudonyms rather than use his own name. However, Șora was still able to publish his third book in 1985. In March 1989, he joined intellectuals protesting the treatment of dissident poet

Mircea Dinescu Mircea Dinescu (; born November 11, 1950) is a Romanian poet, journalist, and editor. Biography Early life and poetry He was born in Slobozia, the son of Ștefan Dinescu, a metalworker, and Aurelia (born Badea). Dinescu studied at the Faculty ...

. After the fall of

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( ; ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian politician who was the second and last Communism, communist leader of Socialist Romania, Romania, serving as the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 u ...

in December 1989, he briefly served as minister of education in

Petre Roman Petre Roman (; born 22 July 1946) is a Romanian engineer and politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from 1989 to 1991, when his Third Roman cabinet, government was overthrown by the Mineriad, intervention of the miners led by Miron Cozma ...

's post-revolutionary coalition. He was one of only two cabinet members to endorse the March 1990 Timișoara Proclamation, which unsuccessfully proposed a law to prevent former ''

Securitate The Department of State Security (), commonly known as the Securitate (, ), was the secret police agency of the Socialist Republic of Romania. It was founded on 30 August 1948 from the '' Siguranța'' with help and direction from the Soviet MG ...

'' members from occupying leading political positions. He was a member of the

Group for Social Dialogue The ''Group for Social Dialogue'' (, GDS) is a Romanian non-governmental organization whose stated mission is to protect and promote democracy, human rights and civil liberties. It was founded in January 1990 and issues the weekly magazine ''Revist ...

, writing for its weekly publication ''

Revista 22 ''Revista 22'' (''22 Magazine'') is a Romanian weekly magazine, issued by the Group for Social Dialogue and focused mainly on politics and culture. History and profile ''Revista 22'' was started in 1990. The first edition of the magazine was prin ...

'', and the Civic Alliance Foundation, which later became the Civic Alliance Party (PAC). In 2022,

Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Pictures is an American film Film production company, production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios (division), the Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company. The st ...

choose in premiere Șora to provide the Romanian voice of Talent Scout in The Fox and the Hound 2; at 106 years old, he became the oldest personality in the world to do a voice over in a movie/animation.

Personal life

Șora was born in Ianova,

Timiș County Timiș () is a county (''județ'') of western Romania on the border with Hungary and Serbia, in the historical regions of Romania, historical region of Banat, with the county seat at Timișoara. It is the westernmost and the largest county in Ro ...

, the son of an Orthodox priest. He studied philosophy at the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest (UB) () is a public university, public research university in Bucharest, Romania. It was founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princely Academy of Bucharest, P ...

from 1934 to 1938, where he was a student of

Mircea Eliade Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanian History of religion, historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. One of the most influential scholars of religion of the 20th century and in ...

. From 1939 to 1948 he studied in Paris and

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

on a fellowship granted by the French government. He joined the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

during this period. Șora was married twice: the first time to writer Mariana Klein (1917–2011), in 1939, with whom he had three children, and the second time to Luiza Palanciuc, an essayist and poet, in 2014. He turned 100 in November 2016. Șora died on 25 February 2023, at the age of 106.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sora, Mihai 1916 births 2023 deaths People from Timiș County Romanian writers Ministers of education of Romania Romanian editors French Communist Party members 20th-century Romanian philosophers University of Bucharest alumni Honorary members of the Romanian Academy Knights of the Order of the Star of Romania Recipients of the National Order of Merit (Romania) Romanian men centenarians