Șerban Rădulescu-Zoner (May 29, 1929,

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

– March 14, 2012, Moroeni,

Dâmbovița County Dâmbovița County (; also spelt Dîmbovița) is a county () of Romania, in Muntenia, with the capital city at Târgoviște, the most important economic, political, administrative and cultural center of the county. It is a traditional administra ...

) was a

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

n historian and politician. Born in

, Rădulescu-Zoner was active in the National Liberal Youth from 1945 to 1947. While a student at Cantemir Vodă High School,"8 noiembrie 1945 - ultima mare demonstrație pro regalistă și anticomunistă din București"
RADOR, October 25, 2011 he participated in the pro-monarchist demonstrations of February 11 and November 8, 1945. During the 1946 election campaign, he put up posters and distributed flyers.“A murit Șerban Rădulescu-Zoner”
''

Observator Cultural ''Observator Cultural'' (meaning "The Cultural Observer" in English) is a weekly literary magazine based in Bucharest, Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast ...

'', March 15, 2012 In 1948, after the onset of the

communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...

, he became a fugitive, hiding for eleven years. Sabina Fati
"In memoriam: Șerban Rădulescu Zoner (1929-2012)"
Radio Europa Liberă Moldova, March 14, 2012 Arrested in 1959, he was sentenced to ten years at hard labor for the political offense of "conspiracy against the social order". He passed through the prisons at

Ploiești Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a Municipiu, city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest. The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Ble ...

Galați Galați ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names) is the capital city of Galați County in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in eastern Romania. Galați is a port town on the river Danube. and the sixth-larges ...

, and

Jilava Jilava is a commune in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania, near Bucharest. It is composed of a single village, Jilava. The name derives from a Romanian word of Slavic origin ( Bulgarian жилав ''žilav'' (tough), which passed into Romanian as ...

, as well as the

forced labor Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

camps at Salcia, Stoienești, and Strâmba in the

Brăila Swamp labor camps The Brăila Swamp labor camps () were a series of labor camps operated by the Romanian communist regime in the 1950s and ‘60s, around the Great Brăila Island. History This set of camps was established in order to carry out various agricultural ...

system. He was released by decree in 1962, after which he refused any collaboration with the

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 ...

secret police. He even declined to sign the customary release paper by which former prisoners promised to work with the authorities, instead throwing it into the official's face and asking to be sent back to prison. Rădulescu-Zoner held a doctorate from 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 ...

. Joining the Nicolae Iorga Institute of History, he was fired in 1975, during the

cultural revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

of the

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 ...

regime, and sent to the National Museum of Romanian History. Rodica Palade
“In memoriam Șerban Rădulescu-Zoner (1929-2012)”
''

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 ...

'', March 20, 2012 He was restored to the institute in 1990, after the

Romanian Revolution The Romanian revolution () was a period of violent Civil disorder, civil unrest in Socialist Republic of Romania, Romania during December 1989 as a part of the revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several countries around the world, primarily ...

, remaining until 1996. Meanwhile, he re-entered politics, serving two terms in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

from 1992 to 2000. He first represented the

Romanian Democratic Convention The Romanian Democratic Convention (; abbreviated CDR) was an electoral alliance of several democratic, anti-communist, anti-totalitarian, and centre-right political parties in Romania, active from 1991 until 2000. The most prominent leaders o ...

and then the National Liberal Party, which he quit near the end of his time in office, refusing to work with “opportunistic” colleagues such as

Valeriu Stoica Valeriu Stoica (; born 1 October 1953, Bucharest, Socialist Republic of Romania) is a Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to t ...

. From 2001 to 2007, he headed the Civic Alliance Foundation. Politically,

lustration Lustration in Central and Eastern Europe is the official public procedure of scrutinizing a public official or a candidate for public office in terms of their history as a witting confidential collaborator (informant) of relevant former commun ...

of former communist officials was a priority for Rădulescu-Zoner. As a historian, he attempted to understand what happened to Romania and its people after falling into the Soviet sphere of influence. His late work, ''A fost un destin. Amintiri, marturii, dezvaluiri'' (2003), a memoir spanning over 500 pages, chronicled his life story. It included fragments of his Securitate file, and lists of those who had denounced, beaten, harassed as well as helped and sheltered him. Other books include: ''România și Tripla Alianță. 1878–1914'' (co-author, 1979); ''Dunărea, Marea Neagră și Puterile Centrale: 1878–1898'' (1982); ''Bucureștii în anii primului război mondial'' (co-authored, 1993); ''Instaurarea totalitarismului comunist în România'' (co-authored, 1995); and ''Scrieri politice. 1990–2006'' (2007). Ovidiu Pecican
"O profesie pentru conștiințe"
''

'', April 27, 2012

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Radulescu-Zoner, Serban 1929 births 2012 deaths Politicians from Bucharest University of Bucharest alumni 20th-century Romanian historians 21st-century Romanian historians Romanian memoirists Romanian activists Romanian anti-communists National Liberal Party (Romania) politicians Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania) Fugitives wanted by Romania Romanian prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Romania People detained by the Securitate Inmates of Jilava Prison Cantemir Vodă National College alumni