Corneliu Vadim Tudor
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Corneliu Vadim Tudor (; 28 November 1949 – 14 September 2015) also colloquially known as "Tribunul" was the leader of the
Greater Romania Party The Greater Romania Party ( ro, Partidul România Mare, PRM) is a Romanian nationalist political party. Founded in May 1991 by Eugen Barbu and Corneliu Vadim Tudor, it was led by the latter from that point until his death in September 2015. The ...
( ro, Partidul România Mare), poet, writer, journalist, and a
Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...
. He was a Romanian Senator from 1992 to 2008. He was born and died in
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 ...
,
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
. As a political figure, he was known for having held strong
nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...
views, which were reflected in his rhetoric and his denunciation of political opponents (a tactic which the judgements in several civil lawsuits handed down against him deemed to be
slander Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
ous). He was most commonly referred to as "Vadim", which was a name he selected for himself but not a family name (and not shared with his brother, former
Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
officer ).


Biography

Tudor was born in
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 ...
on 28 November 1949 into a working-class family, his father being a tailor. In his youth, being an admirer of the French film director
Roger Vadim Roger Vadim Plemiannikov (; 26 January 1928 – 11 February 2000) was a French screenwriter, film director and producer, as well as an author, artist and occasional actor. His best-known works are visually lavish films with erotic qualities, su ...
, he chose the pseudonym Vadim as his middle name. In 1971, he received a degree in sociology from the Faculty of Philosophy 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 ...
, and in 1975, he studied at the School for Reserve Officers in Bucharest. With the help of his mentor, Herder Prize winner
Eugen Barbu Eugen Barbu (; 20 February 1924 – 7 September 1993) was a Romanian modern novelist, short story writer, journalist, and correspondent member of the Romanian Academy. The latter position was vehemently criticized by those who contended tha ...
, he obtained a scholarship and studied 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 ...
from 1978 to 1979. During the communist era, he worked as a journalist, editor, and poet: in the early 1970s, he was one of the editors at ''
România Liberă ''România liberă'' ("") is a Romanian daily newspaper founded in 1943 and currently based in Bucharest. A newspaper of the same name also existed between 1877 and 1888. History and profile The name ''România liberă'' was first used by a dai ...
'', and after 1975 was an editor at the Romanian official press agency,
Agerpress AGERPRES () is the national news agency of Romania. History The National News Agency "AGERPRES" is the oldest Romanian news agency and the first autonomous agency in Romania. It was established in March 1889 at the initiative of Foreign Minist ...
. He served as senator from 1992 to 2008. For the first time since 1990, after the election of 30 November 2008, he and his party were no longer present in either of the Romanian legislative chambers. On 25 September 2001, Tudor renounced his parliamentary immunity from prosecution. In December 2004,
Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...
laureate
Elie Wiesel Elie Wiesel (, born Eliezer Wiesel ''Eliezer Vizel''; September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Peace Prize, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored Elie Wiesel b ...
returned the '' Steaua României'' medal, one of the country's highest honors, after President
Ion Iliescu Ion Iliescu (; born 3 March 1930) is a Romanian politician and engineer who served as President of Romania from 1989 until 1996 and from 2000 until 2004. Between 1996 and 2000 and also from 2004 to 2008, the year in which he retired, Iliescu ...
awarded Tudor the same honor in the last days of his presidency. Wiesel said he was returning the honor because he could not "accept being placed on the same level" as Tudor and fellow party member (and honor recipient)
Gheorghe Buzatu Gheorghe Buzatu (6 June 1939 – 20 May 2013)
. 15
Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...
journalists, Timişoara mayor
Gheorghe Ciuhandu Gheorghe Coriolan Ciuhandu (; born 15 June 1947) is a Romanian politician. A building engineer by profession, he graduated from the Traian Vuia Polytechnic Institute in 1970, earning a doctorate in 1986 and joining the faculty in 1993. He was ...
, songwriter Alexandru Andrieș, and historian
Randolph Braham Randolph Lewis Braham (December 20, 1922 – November 25, 2018) was an American historian and political scientist, born in Romania, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the City College and The Graduate Center of the City Un ...
all returned their ''Steaua României'' medals as well due to the awards given Tudor and Buzatu. According to the conservative newspaper ''
Ziua ''Ziua'' (''The Day'' in Romanian) was a major Romanian daily newspaper published in Bucharest. It was published in Romanian with a fairly sizeable and often informative English section. ''Ziua'' was founded in 1994 by Sorin Roşca Stănescu, eve ...
'', Tudor's ''Steaua României'' appointment was revoked by Romanian president
Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a conservative Romanian politician who served as President of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions between 1991 ...
in May 2007. Tudor consequently announced that he would sue Traian Băsescu for abuse of power. As a poet he made his debut in May 1965 at the national radio station with a poem read in the George Călinescu literary circle. He published several volumes of prose and poetry: ''Poezii'' (''Poems''; 1977), ''Epistole vieneze'' (''Viennese Epistles''; 1979), ''Poeme de dragoste, ură și speranță'' (''Poems of Love, Hatred and Hope''; 1981), ''Idealuri'' (''Ideals''; 1983), ''Saturnalii'' (''Saturnalia'', 1983), ''Istorie și civilizatie'' (''History and Civilization''; 1983), ''Mândria de a fi români'' (''The Pride of Being Romanian''; 1985), ''Miracole'' (''Miracles''; 1986 anthology), ''Jurnal de vacanță'' (''Holiday Journal'', 1996), ''Poems'' (translated in seven languages, published in Torino, Italy, 1998), ''Europa Creștină'' (''Christian Europe''), and ''Artificii'' (''Artifices''; 2010).


Personal life

Tudor was married and had two children. He died of a heart attack on 14 September 2015 in his native
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 ...
, and was buried in the city's
Ghencea Cemetery Ghencea Cemetery is located in Ghencea neighbourhood of Bucharest, on Ghencea Boulevard, in Sector 6 (Bucharest), Sector 6. The cemetery has two sections, civilian and military. Notable interments * Cabiria Andreian Cazacu, mathematician * Gheo ...
.


Ideology

In June 1990, Tudor and
Eugen Barbu Eugen Barbu (; 20 February 1924 – 7 September 1993) was a Romanian modern novelist, short story writer, journalist, and correspondent member of the Romanian Academy. The latter position was vehemently criticized by those who contended tha ...
founded the nationalist weekly magazine ''România Mare'' ("Greater Romania"), which began as a magazine for the government's policies. Later evidence affirmed "Greater Romania" was released with the help of the left-wing administration in Bucharest.Petre Berteanu, Romanian nationalism and political communication: Greater Romania Party (Partidul Romania Mare), a case-study, In: Jaroslav Hroch, David Hollan, George F. McLean
National, Cultural, and Ethnic Identities: Harmony Beyond Conflict
CRVP, 1998, p. 170.
In 1991, they founded the Greater Romania Party, the platform of which ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine described as "a crude mixture of
anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
, racism and nostalgia for the good old days of
communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
". Some statements and articles by Tudor and his colleagues can be described as ultranationalist, anti- Hungarian,
anti-Roma Anti-Romani sentiment (also antigypsyism, anti-Romanyism, Romaphobia, or Antiziganism) is hostility, prejudice, discrimination or racism which is specifically directed at Romani people (Roma, Sinti, Iberian Kale, Welsh Kale, Finnish Kale, Ho ...
and
homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, m ...
. Besides Moldova, Tudor wanted Greater Romania to include
Budjak Budjak or Budzhak ( Bulgarian and Ukrainian: Буджак; ro, Bugeac; Gagauz and Turkish: ''Bucak''), historically part of Bessarabia until 1812, is a historical region in Ukraine and Moldova. Lying along the Black Sea between the Danube ...
, Northern Bessarabia, the
Hertsa region The Hertsa region, also known as the Hertza region ( uk, Край Герца, Kraj Herca; ro, Ținutul Herța), is a region around the town of Hertsa within Chernivtsi Raion in the southern part of Chernivtsi Oblast in southwestern Ukraine, ne ...
, and
Northern Bukovina Bukovinagerman: Bukowina or ; hu, Bukovina; pl, Bukowina; ro, Bucovina; uk, Буковина, ; see also other languages. is a historical region, variously described as part of either Central or Eastern Europe (or both).Klaus Peter Berger ...
, which have belonged to
Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
since the
dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
but were part of
Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centr ...
until the Russian annexation in 1812, and part of Romania between 1918 and 1940 and between 1941 and 1944. ''România Mare'' has been sued for
libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
with stunning frequency, often for Tudor's own writings (which he usually—l, if not always, signed under the pseudonym '' Alcibiade''). Between 1993 and 1996, his party supported the leftist governmental coalition (the "
Red Quadrilateral The Red Quadrilateral (in Romanian: Patrulaterul roșu) was a term used by the media to describe the political alliance that supported the Romanian government between the 1992 and 1996 legislative elections. The 'Quadrilateral', informal at first, c ...
"). Tudor's and his party's change from
national communism National communism represents various forms in which Marxism–Leninism and socialism has been adopted and/or implemented by leaders in different countries using aspects of nationalism or national identity to form a policy independent from comm ...
to
ultranationalism Ultranationalism or extreme nationalism is an Extremism, extreme form of nationalism in which a country asserts or maintains detrimental hegemony, Supremacism, supremacy, or other forms of control over other nations (usually through violent coerc ...
took place after 1996. In 1999, Dan Corneliu Hudici, a former reporter at ''România Mare'', claimed there was a "secret blacklist" of dozens of politicians (including President
Emil Constantinescu Emil Constantinescu () (born 19 November 1939) is a Romanian professor and politician, who served as the President of Romania, from 1996 to 2000. After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, Constantinescu became a founding member and vice president ...
), journalists, and businessmen to be arrested if Tudor's party came to power. That allegation only increase Tudor's popularity. In the first round of the Romanian presidential elections on 26 November 2000, Tudor finished second with 28% of the vote. Four years earlier, he had come in fifth. However, nearly all other parties backed
Ion Iliescu Ion Iliescu (; born 3 March 1930) is a Romanian politician and engineer who served as President of Romania from 1989 until 1996 and from 2000 until 2004. Between 1996 and 2000 and also from 2004 to 2008, the year in which he retired, Iliescu ...
in the 11 December runoff, and Tudor only gained five points compared to his first round performance while Iliescu surged from 36% to 67%. Tudor supported Romania's entry to the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
and sustained its presence in
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
. In 2003, Tudor claimed to have changed his views on Jews and the
Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
. In a letter dated 1 February 2004, he retracted certain earlier statements he had made as inappropriately anti-Semitic. Further, he wrote: "I know that I was wrong to have denied the Holocaust in Romania, which happened between 1941 and 1944 under Antonescu's regime". Many publicly questioned his sincerity and motivations of the change and viewed it simply as a political ploy. Ahead of the 2000 presidential election, Tudor, who finished in second, made the reintroduction of capital punishment a major plank of his campaign. Cristian Delcea
"Pedeapsa cu moartea, o problemă care a divizat România" ("Capital Punishment, a Problem That Has Divided Romania")
''
Adevărul ''Adevărul'' (; meaning "The Truth", formerly spelled ''Adevĕrul'') is a Romanian daily newspaper, based in Bucharest. Founded in Iași, in 1871, and reestablished in 1888, in Bucharest, it was the main left-wing press venue to be published dur ...
'', 25 July 2014.
On 18 October 2012, while he was speaking on the talk show ''Romania la Raport'', Tudor said that "in Romania there was never a Holocaust ... I will deny it till I die because I love my people". He fired an advisor, who happened to be Jewish and a member of the
Romanian Chamber of Deputies ); – Committee for Industries and Services ( ro, Comisia pentru industrii și servicii); – Committee for Transport and Infrastructure ( ro, Comisia pentru transporturi și infrastructură); – Committee for Agriculture, Forestry, Food Indu ...
,
Nati Meir Nati Meir (born 23 May 1955) is a Romanian politician and member of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania), Chamber of Deputies from 2004 to 2008. He became a member of the Chamber of Deputies on the lists of the Greater Romania Party (PRM), but from A ...
. Tudor claimed it was because of allegations of bribery, but Meir claimed it was because of antisemitism. It turned out that the Romanian press discovered that Meir had been convicted in Israel of banking fraud and so was incompatible with the office of member of the Chamber of Deputies. On 15 November 2006, Meir was brought to trial by the Romanian authorities for tax evasion, fraud and swindling and was accused of illegalities concerning work permits for Israel. Tudor styled himself ''The
Tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs acted as a check on the ...
'', a title that originates in
Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...
but has more combative meaning in Romanian history since it stood for certain activists in the self-defence of Romanian communities in
Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
against the Revolutionary government in
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
(see
Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas The Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire were a set of revolutions that took place in the Austrian Empire from March 1848 to November 1849. Much of the revolutionary activity had a nationalist character: the Empire, ruled from Vienna, incl ...
).


Awards

* Knight of the
Order of the Star of Romania The Order of the Star of Romania (Romanian: ''Ordinul Steaua României'') is Romania's highest civil Order and second highest State decoration after the defunct Order of Michael the Brave. It is awarded by the President of Romania. It has five r ...
(2004) * Corresponding member of the Pontificia Accademia Tiberina – November 2004 * Member of the
Academy of Political Science The Academy of Political Science is an American non-profit organization and publisher devoted to cultivating non-partisan, objective analysis of political, social, and economic issues. It is headquartered in The Interchurch Center in New York City ...
in New York; * Member of the
Russian Academy of Natural Sciences The Russian Academy of Natural Sciences ( Russian: Российская академия естественных наук) is a Russian non-governmental organization founded on August 31 1990 in Moscow in the former Soviet Union, following a de ...
.


Electoral history


Presidential elections


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tudor, Corneliu Vadim 1949 births 2015 deaths Leaders of political parties in Romania Greater Romania Party politicians Romanian communists Romanian nationalists Candidates for President of Romania Members of the Senate of Romania Romanian magazine editors Romanian magazine founders Romanian newspaper editors Romanian newspaper founders 20th-century Romanian poets Romanian male poets Politicians from Bucharest Eastern Orthodox Christians from Romania Members of the Romanian Orthodox Church Knights of the Order of the Star of Romania Saint Sava National College alumni Greater Romania Party MEPs MEPs for Romania 2009–2014 21st-century Romanian poets 20th-century Romanian male writers 21st-century male writers Burials at Ghencea Cemetery Far-right politics in Romania