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Doina Cornea

Doina Cornea was born in Braşov, on 30 May 1929. She taught French as assistant professor at the Faculty of Filology within the Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj.

Doina Cornea
In the 1980s, Doina Cornea was among the well-known opponents of the communist regime in Romania. In 1980, she became the author of the first samizdat, that is, a volume made manually and distributed with the help of her friends. Its title was The Challenge of the Labyrinth and it was followed by other four samizdat translations from French, to which she added notes and prefaces: Priest Petru Gherman – Ieremia the Wallachian, Lao-tse – Tao to king, Gabriel Marcel – Justice and Truth, Ştefan Lupaşcu – the Trilogy from Man and his Three Ethics.

Between 1982 and 1989, Free Europe Radio Station broadcasted 31 texts and protests against the regime, all read by Doina Cornea. In 1983 she was fired from the University of Cluj and subjected to endless enquiries, interrogations, beatings and threats. Together with her son, Leontin Iuhas, she spread 160 manifests of solidarity with the workers of Braşov, who rose against the system on 15 November 1987. They were both arrested for five weeks, from the month of November until the month of December 1987. Then, she was practically home-confined until 21 December 1989.

Doina Cornea took part in the street revolt of Cluj, on 21 December 1989, facing the bullets. In the aftermath of 22 December 1989, she was co-opted within the National Council of the National Salvation Front (FSN), which she quitted on 23 January 1990, because of the Front's dependence on Gorbatchev and his political doctrines. She founded, together with other people, the Anti-Totalitarian Democratic Forum in Romania on 6 August 1990, in Cluj, as a first step towards the coagulation of all democratic political organizations, which was concluded later, when The Democratic Convention in Romania (CDR) was set up. She is also a founding member of the Group for Social Dialogue, the Civic Alliance and the Cultural Foundation Memoria.

Doina Cornea published over 100 articles in various Romanian newspapers and magazines, such as 22, România Liberă, Vatra or Memoria. She held many conferences in Romania and abroad, their content being published within collective works. Among these, one can mention Une culture pour l'Europe de demain, Il nuovo Areopago, Mission, Quelle securité en Europe a l'aube du XXI ème siècle, Europe: les chemins de la democratie, Politique Internationale or Amicizia fra i popoli.

Books

Liberté – Criterion Publishing House, Paris, 1990
Liberty – Humanitas Publishing House, Bucharest, 1991
Open Letters and other Texts, Dacia Publishing House, Cluj, 1991
The Unseen Face of Things, Dacia Publishing House, Cluj, 1999
La face cachée des choses, Du Felin Publishing House, Paris, 2000
Translations, Dacia Publishing House, Cluj, 2000

Awards and Titles

Doina Cornea was awarded an impressive number of distinctions and honoring titles out of which one can mention:
The Thorolf Rafto Award (Norway, 1989)
Dr. honoris causa of the Université Libre de Bruxelles in 1989
Ordre national de la Légion d’Honneur of France (as Grand Officier)
Cross of Merit, Steaua României Order, 2000

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