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Eugen D. Relgis (backward reading of Eisig D. Sigler; first name also Eugenio, Eugène or Eugene, last name also Siegler or Siegler Watchel;Ephéméride Anarchiste
entry; retrieved 10 March 2011
22 March 1895 – 24 May 1987) was a Romanian writer,
pacifist Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ''a ...
philosopher and
anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...
militant, known as a theorist of
humanitarianism Humanitarianism is an ideology centered on the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotion ...
. His internationalist dogma, with distinct echoes from
Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...
and
Jewish ethics Jewish ethics are the ethics of the Jewish religion or the Jewish people. A type of normative ethics, Jewish ethics may involve issues in Jewish law as well as non-legal issues, and may involve the convergence of Judaism and the Western phil ...
, was first shaped during
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, when Relgis was a
conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...
. Infused with
anarcho-pacifism Anarcho-pacifism, also referred to as anarchist pacifism and pacifist anarchism, is an anarchist school of thought that advocates for the use of peaceful, non-violent forms of resistance in the struggle for social change. Anarcho-pacifism reject ...
and
socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
, it provided Relgis with an international profile, and earned him the support of pacifists such as
Romain Rolland Romain Rolland (; 29 January 1866 – 30 December 1944) was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and Mysticism, mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915 "as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary pro ...
,
Stefan Zweig Stefan Zweig ( ; ; 28 November 1881 – 22 February 1942) was an Austrian writer. At the height of his literary career, in the 1920s and 1930s, he was one of the most widely translated and popular writers in the world. Zweig was raised in V ...
and
Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...
. Another, more controversial, aspect of Relgis' philosophy was his support for
eugenics Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human phenotypes by inhibiting the fer ...
, which centered on the
compulsory sterilization Compulsory sterilization, also known as forced or coerced sterilization, refers to any government-mandated program to involuntarily sterilize a specific group of people. Sterilization removes a person's capacity to reproduce, and is usually do ...
of " degenerates". The latter proposal was voiced by several of Relgis' essays and
sociological Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociology was coined in ...
tracts. After an early debut with Romania's Symbolist movement, Relgis promoted
modernist literature Modernist literature originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and is characterised by a self-conscious separation from traditional ways of writing in both poetry and prose fiction writing. Modernism experimented with literary form a ...
and the poetry of
Tudor Arghezi Ion Nae Theodorescu (21 May 1880 – 14 July 1967) was a Romanian writer who wrote under the pen name Tudor Arghezi (. He is best known for his unique contribution to poetry and children's literature. Biography Early life He graduated from Sai ...
, signing his name to a succession of literary and political magazines. His work in fiction and poetry alternates the extremes of
Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
and didactic art, giving artistic representation to his activism, his pacifist vision, or his struggle with a
hearing impairment Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to Hearing, hear. Hearing loss may be present at birth or acquired at any time afterwards. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing problems can affect the ability to Lang ...
. He was a member of several modernist circles, formed around Romanian magazines such as ''
Sburătorul ''Sburătorul'' was a Romanian modernist literary magazine and literary society, established in Bucharest in April 1919. Led by Eugen Lovinescu, the circle was instrumental in developing new trends and styles in Romanian literature, ranging f ...
'', ''
Contimporanul ''Contimporanul'' (antiquated spelling of the Romanian word for "the Contemporary", singular masculine form) was a Romanian (initially a weekly and later a monthly) avant-garde literary and art magazine, published in Bucharest between June 1922 ...
'' or '' Șantier'', but also close to the more mainstream journal ''
Viața Românească ''Viața Românească'' (, "The Romanian Life") is a monthly literary magazine published in Romania. Formerly the platform of the left-wing traditionalist trend known as poporanism, it is now one of the Writers' Union of Romania's main venues. ...
''. His political and literary choices made Relgis an enemy of both
fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...
and
communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...
: persecuted during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, he eventually took refuge in
Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...
. From 1947 to the moment of his death, Relgis earned the respect of
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
n circles as an anarchist commentator and proponent of solutions to
world peace World peace is the concept of an ideal state of peace within and among all people and nations on Earth. Different cultures, religions, philosophies, and organizations have varying concepts on how such a state would come about. Various relig ...
, as well as a promoter of
Latin American culture The culture of Latin America is the formal or informal expression of the people of Latin America and includes both high culture (literature and high art) and popular culture (music, folk art, and dance), as well as religion and other customary prac ...
.


Biography


Early life and literary debut

The future Eugen Relgis was a native of
Moldavia Moldavia (, or ; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ) is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially in ...
region, belonging to the local Jewish community. His father, David Sigler, professed Judaism, Boris Marian, , in ''
Realitatea Evreiască ''Realitatea Evreiască'' ( Romanian for "The Jewish Reality") is a Romanian cultural and news magazine, based in Bucharest, and addressed to the local Jewish community. The magazine was founded in 1956 under the name ''Revista Cultului Mozaic ...
'', Nr. 227 (1027), March–April 2005, p.13
and descended from tanners settled in
Neamț County Neamț County () is a county ( județ) of Romania, in the historic region of Moldavia, with the county seat at Piatra Neamț. The county takes its name from the Neamț River. Demographics Population In 2011, it had a population of 470,766 ...
.Dorian & Șerban, p.III-IV Eisig had two sisters, Adelina Derevici and Eugenia Soru, both of whom had careers in
biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...
.Dorian & Șerban, p.IV Born in either
Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the Cities in Romania, third largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical ...

Eugenio Relgis. 1895–1987
'
Proyecto filosofía en español
entry; retrieved March 10, 2011

"Relgis, Eugen"

Dictionaire international des militants anarchistes
' entry; retrieved March 10, 2011
"Note on the Eugen Relgis Papers"
at the
International Institute of Social History International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...
; retrieved March 9, 2011
Agustín Courtoisie
"Notas de Análisis. Eugen Relgis (1895–1987): un pensador rumano en Uruguay"
in ORT Uruguay
Letras Internacionales
', Nr. 74
or
Piatra Neamț Piatra Neamț (; ; ) is the capital city of Neamț County, in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in northeastern Romania. Because of its very privileged location in the Divisions of the Carpathians, Eastern Carpathian mountains, it is con ...
,
Geo Șerban Geo- is a prefix derived from the Greek word ''γη'' or ''γαια'', meaning "earth", usually in the sense of "ground or land”. GEO or Geo may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''GEO'' (magazine), a popular scientific magazi ...
, Leon Volovici, , in ''
Realitatea Evreiască ''Realitatea Evreiască'' ( Romanian for "The Jewish Reality") is a Romanian cultural and news magazine, based in Bucharest, and addressed to the local Jewish community. The magazine was founded in 1956 under the name ''Revista Cultului Mozaic ...
'', Nr. 306-307 (1106–1107), October–November 2008, p.11
Eisig was educated in Piatra Neamț, where he became friends with the family of novelist and
Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...
leader A. L. Zissu. It was in Zissu's circle that Relgis probably first met his mentor, the Romanian modernist author Tudor Arghezi; at the time, Arghezi was married to Constanța Zissu, mother of his photographer son Eli Lotar.Cernat, p.56 The young writer later noted that he and Zissu were both touched by the wild landscape of the
Ceahlău Massif The Ceahlău Massif () is one of the most famous mountains of Romania. It is part of the Bistrița Mountains range of the Eastern Carpathians division, in Neamț County, in the Moldavia region. The two most important peaks are Toaca (1904 m e ...
and Piatra's ''
shtetl or ( ; , ; Grammatical number#Overview, pl. ''shtetelekh'') is a Yiddish term for small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Jewish populations which Eastern European Jewry, existed in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust. The t ...
'' atmosphere. In another one of his texts, Relgis recalled having been influenced in childhood by selective readings from the Romanian Jewish scholar Moses Schwarzfeld and his ''Anuarul pentru Israeliți'' journal (he told that, during later years, he had collected the entire ''Anuarul'' collection).Dorian & Șerban, p.V Taking his first steps in literary life, Eisig Sigler adopted his new name through forms of wordplay which enjoyed some popularity among pseudonymous Jewish writers (the case of
Paul Celan Paul Celan (; ; born Paul Antschel; 23 November 1920 – c. 20 April 1970) was a German-speaking Romanian poet, Holocaust survivor, and literary translation, literary translator. He adopted his pen name (an anagram of the Romanian spelling Ancel ...
, born ''Ancel''). He was from early on a promoter of
Symbolist Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...
and modernist literature, a cause into which he blended his
left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...
perspective and calls for
Jewish emancipation Jewish emancipation was the process in various nations in Europe of eliminating Jewish disabilities, to which European Jews were then subject, and the recognition of Jews as entitled to equality and citizenship rights. It included efforts withi ...
. Writing in 2007, literary historian
Paul Cernat Paul Cernat (born August 5, 1972 in Bucharest) is a Romanian essayist and literary critic. He has a Ph.D. summa cum laude in philology. Cernat has been a member of the Writers' Union of Romania since 2009. As of 2013, he is lecturer of Romanian l ...
suggested that Relgis, like fellow humanitarian and Jewish intellectual Isac Ludo, had a "not at all negligible" part to play in the early diffusion of Romanian modernism. Relgis' main contribution in the 1910s was the Symbolist tribune ''Fronda'' ("The Fronde"), the three consecutive issues of which he edited, in Iași, between April and June 1912. Like Ludo's review ''Absolutio'' (which saw print two years later), ''Fronda'' stood for the radical branch of the Romanian Symbolist movement in Iași, in contrast to both the left-leaning but traditionalist magazine ''
Viața Românească ''Viața Românească'' (, "The Romanian Life") is a monthly literary magazine published in Romania. Formerly the platform of the left-wing traditionalist trend known as poporanism, it is now one of the Writers' Union of Romania's main venues. ...
'' and the more conventional Symbolism of '' Versuri și Proză'' journal. Its editorial board, Relgis included, went anonymous, but their names were known to other periodicals of the day and to later researchers. According to Cernat, Relgis was "the most significant ''Frondiste''", seconded by two future figures in Romanian Jewish journalism: Albert Schreiber and Carol Steinberg. Like Ludo and poet
Benjamin Fondane Benjamin Fondane () or Benjamin Fundoianu (; born Benjamin Wechsler, Wexler or Vecsler, first name also Beniamin or Barbu, usually abridged to B.; November 14, 1898 – October 2, 1944) was a Romanian and French poet, critic and existentialist ph ...
, the ''Fronda'' group represented those Romanian Jewish aficionados in Iași who followed the Symbolist-modernist school of Arghezi, and who promoted Arghezi's poetry in northern Romania: ''Fronda''s writers were noted for saluting ''Viața Românească'' when it too began hosting poems by Arghezi. ''Fronda'' put out three issues in all, after which time Relgis became an occasional contributor to more circulated periodicals, among them '' Rampa'' (founded by Arghezi and the socialist agitator
N. D. Cocea N. D. Cocea (common rendition of Nicolae Dumitru Cocea, , also known as Niculae, Niculici or Nicu Cocea; November 29, 1880 – February 1, 1949) was a Romanian journalist, novelist, critic and left-wing political activist, known as a major but c ...
) and '' Vieața Nouă'' (led by Symbolist critic Ovid Densusianu). In 1913, he collected his loose philosophical essays, or "fantasies", in the volume ''Triumful neființei'' ("The Triumph of Non-Being"). , at the ; retrieved March 10, 2011 He published his first two books of poems during
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, but before the end of Romania's neutrality period. The first one was a collection of
sonnet A sonnet is a fixed poetic form with a structure traditionally consisting of fourteen lines adhering to a set Rhyme scheme, rhyming scheme. The term derives from the Italian word ''sonetto'' (, from the Latin word ''sonus'', ). Originating in ...
s, ''Sonetele nebuniei'' ("Sonnets of Madness"), printed at Iași in 1914; the second was published in the capital,
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 ...
, as ''Nebunia'' ("Madness").Călinescu, p.1029 Some of these poems were illustrated with drawings in Relgis' own hand.


From ''Umanitatea'' to ''Mântuirea''

After training in architecture, Relgis was enrolled 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 ...
, where he took courses in Philosophy. During the period, he first left Romania on a trip to the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
and
Kingdom of Greece The Kingdom of Greece (, Romanization, romanized: ''Vasíleion tis Elládos'', pronounced ) was the Greece, Greek Nation state, nation-state established in 1832 and was the successor state to the First Hellenic Republic. It was internationally ...
. He interrupted his studies shortly after Romania entered the war, in the second half of 1916. Back in Iași after the
Central Powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,; ; , ; were one of the two main coalitions that fought in World War I (1914–1918). It consisted of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulga ...
stormed into southern Romania, he was reportedly drafted into the
Romanian Land Forces The Romanian Land Forces () is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. Since 2007, full professionalization and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Land Forces. The Romanian Land Force ...
, but refused to take up arms as a
conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...
; briefly imprisoned as a result, he was in the end discharged for his deafness. Resuming his publishing activity upon the end of war, Eugen Relgis began publicizing his humanitarianist and pacifist agenda. In summer 1918, Relgis became one of the contributors to the Iași-based review ''Umanitatea'' ("The Humanity" or "The Human Race"). Historian
Lucian Boia Lucian Boia (born 1 February 1944) is a Romanian historian. He is mostly known for his debunking of historical myths about Romania, for purging mainstream Romanian history of deformations arising from ideological propaganda, and as a fighter ag ...
, who notes that ''Umanitatea'' was published when Romania's temporary defeat seemed to announce sweeping political reforms, believes that the magazine mainly reflected the "nebulous" agenda of a senior editor, the
Bessarabia Bessarabia () is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Bessarabia lies within modern-day Moldova, with the Budjak region covering the southern coa ...
n journalist Alexis Nour. In addition to Relgis and Nour, ''Umanitatea'' enlisted contributions from Ludo and Avram Steuerman-Rodion.Boia, p.260 The short-lived magazine, Boia writes, supported
land reform Land reform (also known as agrarian reform) involves the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership, land use, and land transfers. The reforms may be initiated by governments, by interested groups, or by revolution. Lan ...
,
labor rights Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, the ...
and, unusually in the context of "pronounced Romanian
antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
", Jewish emancipation. On his own, Relgis published a magazine of the same title, issued during 1920.Dorian & Șerban, p.II According to one account, ''Umanitatea'' was closed down by Romania's military censorship, which kept a check on radical publications. In 1921, an unsigned chronicle in the
Cluj Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...
-based ''
Gândirea ''Gândirea'' ("The Thinking"), known during its early years as ''Gândirea Literară - Artistică - Socială'' ("The Literary - Artistic - Social Thinking"), was a Romanian literary, political and art magazine. Overview Founded by Cezar P ...
'' journal recognized in Relgis "the kind and enthusiastic young man who was propagating ..the religion of man through ''Umanitatea'' magazine"."Cărți și reviste. G. Fr. Nicolai, ''Biologia războiului''"
in ''
Gândirea ''Gândirea'' ("The Thinking"), known during its early years as ''Gândirea Literară - Artistică - Socială'' ("The Literary - Artistic - Social Thinking"), was a Romanian literary, political and art magazine. Overview Founded by Cezar P ...
'', Nr. 3/1921, p.54 (digitized by the
Babeș-Bolyai University The Babeș-Bolyai University ( , , commonly known as UBB) is a public research university located in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Established in 1581 as Academia Claudiopolitana, it underwent several reorganizations over the centuries, eventually taking ...
br>Transsylvanica Online Library
Relgis resumed his literary activity early in the
interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...
. He authored his ideological essay ''Literatura războiului și era nouă'' (Bucharest, 1919); another such piece, ''Umanitarism sau Internaționala intelectualilor'' ("Humanitarianism or the Intellectuals' Internationale"), taken up by ''Viața Românească'' in 1922.Dora Litani-Littman, Abraham Feller
"Relgis (Sigler), Eugen"
''
Encyclopaedia Judaica The ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' is a multi-volume English-language encyclopedia of the Jewish people, Judaism, and Israel. It covers diverse areas of the Jewish world and civilization, including Jewish history of all eras, culture, Jewish holida ...
'' entry (republished by the
Jewish Virtual Library The Jewish Virtual Library (JVL, formerly known as JSOURCE) is an online encyclopedia published by the American foreign policy analyst Mitchell Bard's non-profit organization American–Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE). It is a website cove ...
); retrieved March 10, 2011
''Viața Românească'' also published Relgis' abridged translation of ''The Biology of War'', a pacifist treatise by German physician
Georg Friedrich Nicolai Georg Friedrich Nicolai (born Lewinstein; 6 February 1874 – 8 October 1964) was a German physiologist. Biography He was born in 1874 in Berlin. He studied at the University of Berlin, and later practiced medicine at the Charité in Berlin. He ...
. 1922 witnessed the birth of Relgis' manifesto ''Principiile umanitariste'' ("Humanitarianist Principles"), which offered Relgis' own conclusions on
world peace World peace is the concept of an ideal state of peace within and among all people and nations on Earth. Different cultures, religions, philosophies, and organizations have varying concepts on how such a state would come about. Various relig ...
, while reaffirming the need to create an international pacifist forum of intellectuals. It carried a preface by Nicolai. Relgis also set up the First Humanitarianist Group of Romania, as well as a leftist library, ''Biblioteca Cercului Libertatea'' ("Freedom Circle Library"). Joined in such efforts by the veteran anarchists
Han Ryner Jacques Élie Henri Ambroise Ner (7 December 1861 – 6 February 1938), also known by the pseudonym Han Ryner, was a French individualist anarchist philosopher and activist and a novelist. He wrote for publications such as ''L'Art soc ...
and Panait Mușoiu, Relgis also circulated an ''Apel către toți intelectualii liberi și muncitorii luminați'' ("Appeal to All the Free Intellectuals and the Enlightened Workers"). Before 1932, the Humanitarianist Group created some 23 regional branches in
Greater Romania Greater Romania () is the Kingdom of Romania in the interwar period, achieved after the Great Union or the related pan-nationalist ideal of a nation-state which would incorporate all Romanian speakers.Irina LivezeanuCultural Politics in Greate ...
. Beginning 1925, Relgis also represented Romanian pacifists within the
War Resisters' International War Resisters' International (WRI), headquartered in London, is an international anti-war organisation with members and affiliates in over 40 countries. History ''War Resisters' International'' was founded in Bilthoven, Netherlands in 1921 un ...
. In the meantime, he continued to publish sporadic poems, such as ''Ascetism'' ("Asceticism"), featured in ''Gândirea''. Eugen Relgis
"Ascetism"
in ''
Gândirea ''Gândirea'' ("The Thinking"), known during its early years as ''Gândirea Literară - Artistică - Socială'' ("The Literary - Artistic - Social Thinking"), was a Romanian literary, political and art magazine. Overview Founded by Cezar P ...
'', Nr. 10/1921, p.189 (digitized by the
Babeș-Bolyai University The Babeș-Bolyai University ( , , commonly known as UBB) is a public research university located in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Established in 1581 as Academia Claudiopolitana, it underwent several reorganizations over the centuries, eventually taking ...
br>Transsylvanica Online Library
The year 1923 witnessed the beginnings of a friendship between Relgis and the aspiring pacifist author
George Mihail Zamfirescu George Mihail Zamfirescu (born Gheorghe Petre Mihai; 13 October 1898 – 8 August 1939) was a Romanian prose writer and playwright. He was born in Bucharest, the son of Petre Mihai, a drayman, and his wife Lina (Raluca) Costache. Between 19 ...
. Relgis prefaced Zamfirescu's book ''Flamura albă'' ("The White Flag"), and contributed to Zamfirescu's magazine ''Icoane Maramureșene'' ("
Maramureș ( ; ; ; ) is a geographical, historical and cultural region in northern Romania and western Ukraine. It is situated in the northeastern Carpathians, along parts of the upper Tisza River drainage basin; it covers the Maramureș Depression and the ...
Icons"). Mircea Popa
"George Mihail Zamfirescu"
, in the December 1 University of Alba Iuliabr>''Philologica Yearbook''
, 2006, I, p.30
A prose volume, ''Peregrinări'' ("Wanderings"), saw print with Editura Socec the same year. Relgis also published, in 1924, the 3 volumes of his main novel ''Petru Arbore'' (a ''
Bildungsroman In literary criticism, a bildungsroman () is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth and change of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood (coming of age). The term comes from the German words ('formation' or 'edu ...
'' named after its main protagonist). Two new volumes of his topical essays saw print in later years: the first one, published by the printing offices of fellow journalist
Barbu Brănișteanu Barbu may refer to: People * Barbu (name), a list of people with the name and surname ''Barbu'' * Alejandro Barbudo Lorenzo, nicknamed ''Barbu'', Spanish footballer Places * Barbu, Iran, a village in the Bushehr Province of Iran * Barbu, Norway, ...
, was ''Umanitarism și socialism'' ("Humanitarianism and Socialism", 1925); the second, printed in 1926, was titled ''Umanitarismul biblic'' ("Humanitarianism in the
Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
"). His press activity included contributions to Zionist papers: a writer for '' Știri din Lumea Evreiască'', he was also briefly on the staff of Zissu's '' Mântuirea''.


''Sburătorul'' and ''Umanitarismul''

Also during the early 1920s, Eugen Relgis came into contact with the Bucharest-based ''
Sburătorul ''Sburătorul'' was a Romanian modernist literary magazine and literary society, established in Bucharest in April 1919. Led by Eugen Lovinescu, the circle was instrumental in developing new trends and styles in Romanian literature, ranging f ...
'' circle, which stood for modernist literature and
aesthetic relativism Aesthetic relativism is the idea that views of beauty are relative to differences in perception and consideration, and intrinsically, have no absolute truth or validity. Context Aesthetic relativism might be regarded as a sub-set of an overall ...
. The eponymous magazine published samples of his
lyrical poetry Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. The term for both modern lyric poetry and modern song lyrics derives from a form of Ancient Greek literature, ...
. With his humanitarian literature, Relgis was a singular figure among the many ''Sburătorul'' factions, as later noted by literary historian Ovid Crohmălniceanu in discussing the studied eclecticism of ''Sburătorul'' doyen
Eugen Lovinescu Eugen Lovinescu (; 31 October 1881 – 16 July 1943) was a Romanian modernist literary historian, literary critic, academic, and novelist, who in 1919 established the ''Sburătorul'' literary club. He was the father of Monica Lovinescu, and the ...
. Another Romanian researcher, Henri Zalis, notes that Relgis was one of the many Jewish intellectuals whom Lovinescu cultivated in reaction to the tradition of ethno-nationalist discrimination. However, according to critic
Eugen Simion Eugen Simion (25 May 1933 – 18 October 2022) was a Romanian literary critic and historian, editor, essayist and academic. Born in Chiojdeanca, Prahova County, the son of two farmers, Simion completed his secondary education at the Saints Pe ...
, Lovinescu also greatly exaggerated Relgis' literary worth. Relgis' contribution to
Romanian literature Romanian literature () is the entirety of literature written by Romanian authors, although the term may also be used to refer to all literature written in the Romanian language or by any authors native to Romania. Early Romanian literature inc ...
was renewed in 1926, when he published ''Melodiile tăcerii'' ("Melodies of Silence") and the collection ''Poezii'' ("Poems"), followed in 1927 by ''Glasuri în surdină'' ("Muted Voices"). The latter novel, later republished with a foreword by Austrian author
Stefan Zweig Stefan Zweig ( ; ; 28 November 1881 – 22 February 1942) was an Austrian writer. At the height of his literary career, in the 1920s and 1930s, he was one of the most widely translated and popular writers in the world. Zweig was raised in V ...
,Rose, p.12
Archivi di personalità. Mancuso Gaspare
', Central Archives of the Statebr>Sistema Informativo Unificato per le Soprintendenze Archivistiche
entry; retrieved March 10, 2011
chronicled Relgis' own difficulties with his post-lingual deafness. At that stage in his career, Eugen Relgis was also a contributor to the Bucharest left-wing dailies ''
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 during the Kingd ...
'' and '' Dimineața'', part of a new generation of radical or pacifist authors cultivated by the newspaper (alongside Zamfirescu, Ion Marin Sadoveanu and various others). His pieces for ''Adevărul'' include insights into
medical sociology Medical sociology is the sociological analysis of health, Illness, differential access to medical resources, the social organization of medicine, Health Care Delivery, the production of medical knowledge, selection of methods, the study of action ...
, such as the September 1922 ''Înapoi, la biologie!'' ("Back to Biology!"). P. Trișcă
''Les médecins sociologues et hommes d'État''
Félix Alcan Felix Mardochée Alcan (March 18, 1841 – February 18, 1925) was a French Jewish publisher and scholar, born in Metz. He was the grandson of Gerson Lévy, author of ''Orgue et Pioutim'', and son of Moyse Alcan, a well-known publisher at Metz. ...
, Paris, 1923, p.162-163 (digitized by the
Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...
br>''Gallica'' digital library
The ''Adevărul'' publishing house issued his 1925 translation of
Knut Hamsun Knut Hamsun (4 August 1859 – 19 February 1952) was a Norwegian writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920 Nobel Prize in Literature, 1920. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to conscio ...
's story ''Slaves of Love''. At around the same time, the Căminul Library, publishers of
popular education Popular education is a concept grounded in notions of class, political struggle, critical theory and social transformation. The term is a translation from the Spanish or the Portuguese . The term 'popular' in this case means 'of the people'. ...
books, issued Relgis' translation from ''
Thus Spoke Zarathustra ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None'' (), also translated as ''Thus Spake Zarathustra'', is a work of philosophical fiction written by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche; it was published in four volumes between 1883 and 1885. ...
'', the classic novel of German philosopher
Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philology, classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche bec ...
. It endured as one of two Romanian-language versions of Nietzsche's main works to be published before the 1970s, together with George B. Rateș's '' The Antichrist''. Relgis' work as a translator also included versions of writings by Zweig,
Émile Armand E. Armand (March 26, 1872 – February 19, 1963), pseudonym of Ernest-Lucien Juin, was an influential French individualist anarchist at the beginning of the 20th century and also a dedicated free love/polyamory, intentional community, and pacifi ...
,
Selma Lagerlöf Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf (, , ; 20 November 1858 – 16 March 1940) was a Swedish writer. She published her first novel, ''Gösta Berling's Saga'', at the age of 33. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, which she was ...
, Emil Ludwig and
Jakob Wassermann Jakob Wassermann (; 10 March 1873 – 1 January 1934) was a German writer and novelist. Life Born in Fürth, Wassermann was the son of a shopkeeper and lost his mother at an early age. He showed literary interest early and published various ...
. After editing the short-lived gazette ''Cugetul Liber'' ("
Freethought Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an unorthodox attitude or belief. A freethinker holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and should instead be reached by other meth ...
"), Eugen Relgis put out the political and cultural review ''Umanitarismul'' ("Humanitarianism"). It enlisted contributions from the Romanian writers Ion Barbu, Alexandru Al. Philippide and
Ion Vinea Ion Vinea (born Ioan Eugen Iovanaki, sometimes Iovanache; April 17, 1895 – July 6, 1964) was a Romanian poet, novelist, journalist, literary theorist, and political figure. He became active on the Modernist literature, modernist scene during hi ...
, and was positively reviewed by other cultural figures (
Tudor Arghezi Ion Nae Theodorescu (21 May 1880 – 14 July 1967) was a Romanian writer who wrote under the pen name Tudor Arghezi (. He is best known for his unique contribution to poetry and children's literature. Biography Early life He graduated from Sai ...
, Enric Furtună, Meyer Abraham Halevy,
Perpessicius Perpessicius (; pen name of Dumitru S. Panaitescu, also known as Panait Șt. Dumitru, D. P. Perpessicius and Panaitescu-Perpessicius; October 22, 1891 – March 29, 1971) was a Romanian literary historian and critic, poet, essayist and fiction wr ...
). He published his work in a variety of periodicals, from Vinea's modernist mouthpiece ''
Contimporanul ''Contimporanul'' (antiquated spelling of the Romanian word for "the Contemporary", singular masculine form) was a Romanian (initially a weekly and later a monthly) avant-garde literary and art magazine, published in Bucharest between June 1922 ...
'', Ludo's ''Adam'' review and the Zionist ''Cuvântul Nostru'' to the Romanian traditionalist journal '' Cuget Clar''. With his publishing house Editura Umanitatea, Relgis also contributed a 1929 book of interviews, based on texts previously featured in ''Umanitarismul'': ''Anchetă asupra internaționalei pacifiste'' ("An Inquiry about the Pacifist International"). The same year, Relgis lectured at the Zionist Avodah circle about the opportunities of Jewish return to the
Land of Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine. The definition ...
.


Travels abroad and ''Șantier'' affiliation

The Romanian writer traveled extensively to promote his ideas of social change. By 1928, he was in regular correspondence with French writer and
human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
activist
Romain Rolland Romain Rolland (; 29 January 1866 – 30 December 1944) was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and Mysticism, mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915 "as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary pro ...
, who answered in writing to Relgis' various inquiries. He was a delegate to pacifist reunions in
Hoddesdon Hoddesdon () is a town in the Borough of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, lying entirely within the London Metropolitan Area and Greater London Urban Area. The area is on the River Lea and the Lee Navigation along with the New River. Hoddesdon ...
, England and Sonntagberg, Austria (1928). Relgis also exchanged letters with various other prestigious left-wing intellectuals: Zweig,
Upton Sinclair Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968) was an American author, muckraker journalist, and political activist, and the 1934 California gubernatorial election, 1934 Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...
,
Henri Barbusse Henri Barbusse (; 17 May 1873 – 30 August 1935) was a French novelist, short story writer, journalist, poet and political activist. He began his literary career in the 1890s as a Symbolist poet and continued as a neo-Naturalist novelist; i ...
, Max Nettlau etc. His various inquiries also enlisted positive replies from other international supporters of pacifism: physicist
Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...
, biologist
Auguste Forel Auguste-Henri Forel (; 1 September 1848 – 27 July 1931) was a Swiss myrmecologist, neuroanatomist, psychiatrist and former eugenicist, notable for his investigations into the structure of the human brain and that of ants. He is considered a c ...
, writer
Heinrich Mann Luiz Heinrich Mann (; March 27, 1871 – March 11, 1950), best known as simply Heinrich Mann, was a German writer known for his sociopolitical novels. From 1930 until 1933, he was president of the fine poetry division of the Prussian Academy ...
and anarchist militant Paul Reclus. He became a contributor to
Sébastien Faure Sébastien Faure (; 6 January 1858 – 14 July 1942) was a French anarchist, convicted sex offender, freethought and secularist activist and a principal proponent of synthesis anarchism. Biography Before becoming a free-thinker, Faure w ...
's ''
Anarchist Encyclopedia file:Éditions Anarchistes.jpgalt=Prometheus stands nude except for a loincloth, lofting a torch and stepping over a set of manaclesthumbdevice of the Éditions Anarchistes (publishers of the ''Anarchist Encyclopedia'') depicting Prometheus bringi ...
'', with the "Humanitarianism" entry. In 1929, Delpeuch company published his French-language essay ''L'Internationale pacifiste'' ("The Pacifist International"), reissued the same year in
Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...
, Spain, as ''La Internacional Pacifista''. Around 1930, Relgis was in Paris, where he met with Han Ryner, and in Berlin, where he conversed with his mentor Nicolai.Rose, p.13 In its new translated editions, ''Apel către...'' was signed by a number of leading pacifist intellectuals of various persuasions, among them Zweig, Sinclair, Barbusse, Campio Carpio,
Manuel Devaldès Manuel may refer to: People * Manuel (name), a given name and surname * Manuel (Fawlty Towers), Manuel (''Fawlty Towers''), a fictional character from the sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'' * Manuel I Komnenos, emperor of the Byzantine Empire * Manuel I ...
, Philéas Lebesgue,
Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...
. While in France, where his work was notably popularized by ''
L'En-Dehors ''l'Endehors'' and ''l'en dehors'' (, ''The Outside'') is the title of two distinct French Anarchism, anarchist periodicals. The first was published by Zo d'Axa between 1891 and 1893. It was a prominent publication during the Ère des attentat ...
'' magazine and
Gérard de Lacaze-Duthiers Gérard de Lacaze-Duthiers (26 January 1876 – 3 May 1958) was a French writer, art critic, pacifist and anarchist. Lacaze-Duthiers, an art critic for the Symbolist review journal '' La Plume'', was influenced by Oscar Wilde, Nietzsche and Max S ...
's ''Bibliothèque de l'Artistocratie'' book collection, he was for a while close to Barbusse's ''Clarté'' circle, but left it after discovering its
communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
militancy and
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
connections. His Intellectuals' Internationale therefore took distance from both the
Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...
and the
International Working Union of Socialist Parties The International Working Union of Socialist Parties (IWUSP; also known as the 2½ International or the Vienna International; , IASP) was a political international for the co-operation of socialist parties. History The IWUSP was founded on 27 Feb ...
. In 1932, he published the German-language collection of interviews ''Wege zum Friede'' ("Path toward Peace"). His other travels into
Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
, where he represented Romanian
vegetarians Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. A person who pra ...
at an international congress, were discussed in his 1933 volume ''Bulgaria necunoscută'' ("Unknown Bulgaria"). The volume ''Cosmometápolis'', about the creation of a
world government World government is the concept of a single political authority governing all of Earth and humanity. It is conceived in a variety of forms, from tyrannical to democratic, which reflects its wide array of proponents and detractors. There has ...
,Joseph Preston Baratta, ''The Politics of World Federation: From World Federation to Global Governance'',
Greenwood Publishing Group Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (GPG) was an educational and academic publisher (middle school through university level) which was part of ABC-Clio. Since 2021, ABC-Clio and its suite of imprints, including GPG, are collectively imprints of ...
, Vol. 2, Westport, 2004, p.638.
was first published in Bucharest by Cultura Poporului imprint, and reissued in Paris by Mignolet et Storz. Relgis' participation in left-wing causes was attacked at home by the antisemitic and proto-
fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...
National-Christian Defense League The National-Christian Defense League (, LANC) was a far-right political party of Romania formed by A. C. Cuza. Origins The LANC had its roots in the National Christian Union, formed in 1922 by Cuza and the famed physiologist Nicolae Paulescu. ...
, whose press organ ''Înfrățirea Românească'' alleged that "squire Siegler" and his ''Umanitarismul'', together with the
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is a non-profit non-governmental organization working "to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make kno ...
, were fostering communist agitation. After the 1933 establishment of a Nazi regime in Germany, Relgis' books of interviews became subject to ceremonial burnings. By that moment in his career, Relgis became a contributor to '' Vremea'' newspaper and to
Ion Pas Ion Pas (born Ioan M. Pascu; October 6, 1895 – May 20, 1974) was a Romanian novelist, translator and left-wing politician. He was born in Bucharest in to a family of small craftsman. He attended primary school in the slum where he grew up, but w ...
' political and art magazine, '' Șantier''. The latter periodical was close to the Romanian Social Democratic Party, and had a strongly
anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...
agenda. It published, in 1932, the Relgis essay ''Europa cea tânără'' ("Young Europe"), which talked about civilization,
imperialism Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of Power (international relations), power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power (diplomatic power and cultura ...
and war.Dorian & Șerban, p.VII Relgis' contributions to ''Șantier'' also include a January 12, 1934 essay about "
anonymous work Anonymous works are works, such as art or literature, that have an anonymous, undisclosed, or unknown creator or author. In the case of very old works, the author's name may simply be lost over the course of history and time. There are a number ...
s" and their impact on art history, which was later quoted in ''Viața Românească''."Revista revistelor", in ''
Viața Românească ''Viața Românească'' (, "The Romanian Life") is a monthly literary magazine published in Romania. Formerly the platform of the left-wing traditionalist trend known as poporanism, it is now one of the Writers' Union of Romania's main venues. ...
'', Nr. 1/1934, p.60
The same year, Relgis published the novel ''Prieteniile lui Miron'' ("Miron's Friendships") with Editura Cugetarea.
Ion Clopoțel Ion Clopoțel (November 10, 1892 – August 23, 1986) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian journalist, sociographer and memoirist. The native of a rural area west of Brașov, he attended high school in that city and ultimately earned a univer ...

"Discuții și recensii. Eugen Relgis: ''Prieteniile lui Miron''"
in '' Societatea de Mâine'', Nr. 7-10/1934, p.150 (digitized by the
Babeș-Bolyai University The Babeș-Bolyai University ( , , commonly known as UBB) is a public research university located in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Established in 1581 as Academia Claudiopolitana, it underwent several reorganizations over the centuries, eventually taking ...
br>Transsylvanica Online Library
In his subsequent activity as a journalist and publisher, Relgis combined his humanitarianism with topical interests. He was by then an advocate of
eugenics Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human phenotypes by inhibiting the fer ...
, an interest reflected in his 1934 (or 1935) tract ''Umanitarism și eugenism'' ("Humanitarianism and Eugenism"), published by Editura Vegetarianismul company. In 1936, he also released the collection ''Esseuri despre iudaism'' ("Essays on
Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...
") with Cultura Poporului.Dorian & Șerban, p.II, V He was at the time active within the Jewish Cultural Institute, an annex of the Bucharest Choral Temple. His international activity peaked during the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
, when he helped organize anarchist support for the Spanish Republican regime, elected Councilor of the International Antifascist Solidarity.


World War II, persecution and departure

Eugen Relgis was still active on the literary scene during the first two years of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, before Romania formalized its military alliance with the
Axis Powers The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...
. The
Phoney War The Phoney War (; ; ) was an eight-month period at the outset of World War II during which there were virtually no Allied military land operations on the Western Front from roughly September 1939 to May 1940. World War II began on 3 Septembe ...
caught him in France, but he returned to Romania shortly after, exposing himself to persecution by the growing Romanian fascist movements. In February 1940, he gave a retrospective lecture, republished by the newspaper '' L'Indépendence Roumaine'', on the work of Austrian
psychoanalyst PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious processes and their influence on conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on dream interpretation, psychoanalysis is also a talk th ...
Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...
. Another book of his political prose, ''Spiritul activ'' ("The Active Spirit"), saw print the same year. The emergence of antisemitic and fascist regimes (''see
Romania in World War II The Kingdom of Romania, under the rule of King Carol II, initially maintained neutrality in World War II. However, fascist political forces, especially the Iron Guard, rose in popularity and power, urging an alliance with Nazi Germany and its ...
, Holocaust in Romania'') signified the beginning of Relgis' marginalization. During the short-lived
National Legionary State The National Legionary State () was a Totalitarianism, totalitarian Fascism, fascist regime which governed Kingdom of Romania, Romania for five months, from 14 September 1940 until its official dissolution on 14 February 1941. The regime was led ...
, established by the
Iron Guard The Iron Guard () was a Romanian militant revolutionary nationalism, revolutionary Clerical fascism, religious fascist Political movement, movement and political party founded in 1927 by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu as the Legion of the Archangel M ...
fascists between 1940 and early 1941, the author lived in seclusion. His ''Biblioteca Cercului Libertatea'' was banned in 1940, but Relgis secretly moved the books into a stable. After the Guard fell from power, the
Ion Antonescu Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and Mareșal (Romania), marshal who presided over two successive Romania during World War II, wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister of Romania, Prime Minister and ''Conduc� ...
dictatorship still included Relgis on a nationally circulated list of banned Romanian Jewish authors, but Relgis continued to write. His texts of the time include a posthumous praise of his pacifist disciple Iosif Gutman, the son of a Bucharest
rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...
, who had been killed during the
Bucharest pogrom Between 21 and 23 January 1941, a rebellion of the Iron Guard paramilitary organization, whose members were known as Legionnaires, occurred in Bucharest, Romania. As their privileges were being gradually removed by the '' Conducător'' Ion An ...
. The essay was planned as part of Rabbi Gutman's volume ''Slove de martiri'' ("Notes by Martyrs"), which, although anti-Guard, was not given Antonescu's imprimatur. Relgis was however able to publish an article in the Jewish-only magazine ''Renașterea Noastră'', on the occasion of Iosif's ''
yahrtzeit Yahrzeit (, plural , ) is the anniversary of a death in Judaism. It is traditionally commemorated by reciting the Kaddish in synagogue and by lighting a long-burning candle. Name The word ''Yahrzeit'' is a borrowing from the Yiddish (), ul ...
'', where he compared the Gutmans to
Laocoön and His Sons The statue of ''Laocoön and His Sons'', also called the Laocoön Group (), has been one of the most famous ancient sculptures since it was excavated in Rome in 1506 and put on public display in the Vatican Museums, where it remains today. The st ...
. Relgis' own son fled Romania in 1942, and settled in Argentina. A final period in Relgis' Romanian activity came after the August 1944 Coup toppled Antonescu and denounced Romania's Axis alliance. In 1945, he was dedicated a public celebration at the Jewish Cultural Institute, which included a speech by
Chief Rabbi Chief Rabbi () is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities. Since 1911, through a capitulation by Ben-Zion Meir ...
Alexandru Șafran. ''Slove de martiri'' was eventually published that year, and a revised Romanian edition of ''Petru Arbore'' saw print in 1946. Also then, he completed work on an essay about
Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...
,
The Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
and sexuality: ''Eros în al treilea Reich'' ("Eros in the Third Reich"). Relgis was again active in the political press, lending his signature to several independent newspapers: Sebastian Șerbescu's ''Semnalul'',
Tudor Teodorescu-Braniște Tudor Teodorescu-Braniște (April 12, 1899 – March 23, 1969) was a Romanian journalist. He was editor at a number of newspapers, including ''Cuvântul Liber (1924), Cuvântul Liber'' from 1933 to 1936, ''Aurora'', ''Adevărul'' and, from 1944 ...
's ''Jurnalul de Dimineață'' etc. He described himself as diametrically opposed to the process of
communization Communization theory (or communisation theory in British English) refers to a tendency on the ultra-left that understands communism as a process that, in a social revolution, immediately begins to replace all capitalist social relations with ...
, as well as to the
Soviet occupation of Romania The Soviet occupation of Romania refers to the period from 1944 to August 1958, during which the Soviet Union maintained a significant military presence in Socialist Republic of Romania, Romania. The fate of the territories held by Romania after 1 ...
. With
refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...
status, having reportedly been singled out for arrest by 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 ...
officials, Relgis departed from Romania in 1947, shortly before 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 ...
took hold. After a brief stay in Paris, he spent some time in Argentina, with his son and his female companion Ana Taubes. He later went to
Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...
, in
Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...
, where he lived the remainder of his life. At home, his works were included in an official ''Publicații interzise'' ("Works Forbidden from Publishing") list, published by the communist censorship apparatus. Al. Săndulescu
"Cum se distruge o cultură"
, 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 ...
'', Nr. 27/2003
During his last decades, Eugen Relgis dedicated himself to sociological research and political activism. He embarked on a series of university lectures, which carried him throughout Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil. In 1950, he founded an international anarchist archive in Montevideo, reportedly one of the few political libraries in
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
at the time of its creation. The effort was supported by the exiled
Spanish anarchist Anarchism in Spain has historically gained some support and influence, especially before Francisco Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, when it played an active political role and is considered the end of the golden age of c ...
Abraham Guillén Abraham Guillén Sanz (13 March 1913 – 1 August 1993), was a Spanish author, economist, and political theorist. He was a veteran of the Spanish Civil War, influenced by anarchism, and developed a theory of urban guerrilla warfare that was t ...
, and received documentary funds from Europe, but reputedly drew suspicion from Uruguay police forces, and was consequently shut down.


South American career

With noted help from anarchist translator Vladimiro Muñoz, Relgis began his new career as a
Spanish-language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...
writer and publicist with a succession of works. ''Umanitarism și eugenism'' was translated into a Spanish edition: ''Humanitarismo y eugenismo'', Ediciones Universo,
Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...
, 1950. Ana Esmeralda Rizo López
"Apuntes sobre la comunidad gitana española: breves trazos de su historia en conexión con el contexto europeo"
in the
University of Costa Rica The University of Costa Rica (Spanish: ''Universidad de Costa Rica,'' abbreviated UCR) is a public university in the Republic of Costa Rica, in Central America. Its main campus, Ciudad Universitaria Rodrigo Facio, is located in San Pedro Mo ...
''Diálogos. Revista Electrónica de Historia'', Nr. 1/2005, p.226 (
Redalyc The Scientific Information System Redalyc is a bibliographic database and a digital library of Open Access journal Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which nominally copyrightable publications are del ...
version)
The same imprint released his essay ''Las aberraciones sexuales en la Alemania nazi'' ("Sexual Aberrations in Nazi Germany"), which discussed in some depth the characteristics of
Nazi eugenics The social policies of eugenics in Nazi Germany were composed of various ideas about genetics. The Nazi racial theories, racial ideology of Nazism placed the biological improvement of the German people by selective breeding of "Nordic race, No ...
. Also in 1950, with his Montevideo printing office Ediciones Humanidad, Relgis released a Spanish edition of his ''Principiile'', a version of Max Nettlau's ''World Peace'' volume, as well as reissuing ''Cosmometápolis''. Two years later, Ediciones Humanidad published Relgis' biographical essay ''Stefan Zweig, cazador de almas'' ("Stefan Zweig, the Soul Hunter"), followed in 1953 by a
Hachette Hachette may refer to: * Hachette (surname) * Hachette Livre, a French publisher, the imprint of Lagardère Publishing ** Hachette Book Group, the American subsidiary ** Hachette Distribution Services, the distribution arm See also * Hachette Fil ...
version of ''De mis peregrinaciones europeas'' ("From My Wanderings in Europe"). Relgis also tried to get his contributions translated into Portuguese, asking anarchist philosopher José Oiticica for assistance. He was at the time employed by ''El Plata'' daily, editing its Wednesday literary page, and helping to discover, in 1954, the twelve-year-old poet Teresa Porzecanski. In 1954, Relgis printed another biographical study, on Romain Rolland: ''El hombre libre frente a la barbarie totalitaria'' ("A Free Man Confronts
Totalitarian Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public sph ...
Barbarity"). The following year, he gave a public lecture at the
University of the Republic The University of the Republic (, sometimes ''UdelaR'') is a public research university in Montevideo, Uruguay. It is the country's oldest and largest university, as well as one of the largest public universities in South America in terms of en ...
, titled "A Writer's Confession", and reissued ''Esseuri despre iudaism'' as ''Profetas y poetas. Valores permanentes y temporarios del judaísmo'' ("Prophets and Poets. The Permanent and Timely Values of Judaism"). A Spanish version of ''Umanitarism sau Internaționala intelectualilor'' was published, as ''El Humanitarismo'', by Editorial Americalee in
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
(1956). One edition of the latter was prefaced by Nicolai, who was at the time living in Argentina.Cappelletti, p.LXXVII In November 1956, the same company issued Relgis' ''Diario de otoño'' ("Autumn Diary"), a collection of notes he had kept during the war years. Another tract, ''Albores de libertad'' ("Dawns of Freedom"), was prefaced by Rudolf Rocker, the
anarcho-syndicalist Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchist organisational model that centres trade unions as a vehicle for class conflict. Drawing from the theory of libertarian socialism and the practice of syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism sees trade unions as both ...
thinker. In 1958, the University of the Republic published Eugen Relgis' acclaimed political essay ''Perspectivas culturales en Sudamérica'' ("Cultural Perspectives in South America"), for which he received a prize from the Uruguayan Ministry of Public Instruction and Social Prevision. Relgis' reputation was consolidated in the intellectual circles and, in 1955, his name was unsuccessfully advanced for the
Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...
. The same year, a volume of his collected Spanish texts and studies on his work was published in Montevideo, as ''Homenaje a Eugen Relgis en su 60º aniversario'' ("Homage to Eugen Relgis on His 60th Anniversary"). Relgis returned to poetry in 1960 and 1961, with the volumes ''En un lugar de los Andes'' ("Some Place in the
Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...
") and ''Locura'' ("Madness"), both translated by Pablo R. Troise. They were followed by two other booklets, also in Troise's translation: ''Corazones y motores'' ("Hearts and Engines", 1963), ''Últimos poemas'' ("The Last Poems", 1967). His complete ''Obras'' ("Works") were published over the next decades, while the essay ''¿Qué es el humanitarismo? Principios y acción'' ("What Is Humanitarianism? Principles and Action") went through several successive editions and featured a prologue by
Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...
. Another one of Relgis' Spanish-language volumes, ''Testigo de mi tiempo'' ("A Witness of My Time"), with more essays on Judaism, came in 1961. His leading eugenics and
sexology Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, Human sexual activity, behaviors, and functions. The term ''sexology'' does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sexuality, such as social crit ...
treatise, ''Historia sexual de la Humanidad'' ("The Sexual History of Humanity"), was also published in 1961 (Libro-Mex Editores,
Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
), and, in 1965, his biography of Nicolai saw print in Buenos Aires.


Final years and death

In 1962, Eugen Relgis visited Israel and
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
, tightening his links with the Romanian Israeli community, including the Menora Association and Rabbi David Șafran. It was in Israel that Relgis published another volume of memoirs, in his native
Romanian language Romanian (obsolete spelling: Roumanian; , or , ) is the official and main language of Romania and Moldova. Romanian is part of the Eastern Romance languages, Eastern Romance sub-branch of Romance languages, a linguistic group that evolved fr ...
: ''Mărturii de ieri și de azi'' ("Testimonies of Yesterday and Today"). In 1972, he was made an honorary staff member of the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...
. From the early 1960s, Relgis was in correspondence with figures in the Italian radical circles, such as the anarchist Gaspare Mancuso. In 1964, Mancuso and Regis' other Italian disciples founded the political journal ''Quaderini degli amici di Eugen Relgis'' ("The Friends of Eugen Relgis Notebooks"). He also became an occasional contributor to '' Mujeres Libres'', the Spanish anarcha-feminist tribune in the United Kingdom. During the 1960s and '70s, as a spell of
liberalization Liberalization or liberalisation (British English) is a broad term that refers to the practice of making laws, systems, or opinions less severe, usually in the sense of eliminating certain government regulations or restrictions. The term is used ...
occurred in
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 ...
's Romania, Relgis was again in contact with Romanian intellectuals. Before the massive earthquake of 1977 devastated Bucharest, he was in regular correspondence with scholar Mircea Handoca. Eugen Relgis lived the final decade of his life as a pensioner of the Uruguayan state—in 1985, a law raised his ''pensión graciable'' to 20,000 new pesos a month. In the 1980s, Relgis was exchanging letters with Romanian cultural historian Leon Volovici, and entertained thoughts about a recovery of his work by Romanian critics and historians. He died before this could happen, in Montevideo, at age 92.


Political doctrine


Main ideas

Throughout his career, Relgis was the proponent of
anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...
. The Romanian writer spoke about the negativity of "state
fetishism A fetish is an object believed to have supernatural powers, or in particular, a human-made object that has power over others. Essentially, fetishism is the attribution of inherent non-material value, or powers, to an object. Talismans and amulet ...
", seeking to overturn it and create "universal fraternity",Călinescu, p.937 and, in ''Diario de otoño'', postulated a necessary distinction between Law ("which may be interpreted for or against") and Justice ("elementary" and unavoidable). Relgis likewise believed that war could be overcome once humanity shall have toppled "the three idols: State, Property, Money." Political philosopher
Ángel Cappelletti Ángel Cappelletti (March 15, 1927– November 25, 1995) was a philosopher and university professor. He was born in Rosario, Santa Fe, Rosario. He studied philosophy at the Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires where he also received his PhD in 1 ...
argues: "Relgis was not an anarchist militant, but was always close to
libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...
ideas". According to
Stefan Zweig Stefan Zweig ( ; ; 28 November 1881 – 22 February 1942) was an Austrian writer. At the height of his literary career, in the 1920s and 1930s, he was one of the most widely translated and popular writers in the world. Zweig was raised in V ...
, Relgis fought "tirelessly for the great goal of spiritual fraternity." The sentiment was echoed by
Romain Rolland Romain Rolland (; 29 January 1866 – 30 December 1944) was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and Mysticism, mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915 "as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary pro ...
, who recognized in Relgis his disciple: "There is no other European man in whose hands I could place, with as much confidence, ..my pacifist and universalist idea, for it to be passed on into the future. For none other has such far-reaching intelligence to this goal, and none other would feel this idea so intimately connected to his being."Dorian & Șerban, p.I Speaking from the cultural mainstream, Romanian literary historian
George Călinescu George Călinescu (; 19 June 1899 – 12 March 1965) was a Romanian literary critic, historian, novelist, academician and journalist, and a writer of classicist and humanist tendencies. He is currently considered one of the most important Romani ...
observed Relgis'
anti-establishment An anti-establishment view or belief is one which stands in opposition to the conventional social, political, and economic principles of a society. The term was first used in the modern sense in 1958 by the British magazine ''New Statesman'' ...
and
anti-art Anti-art is a loosely used term applied to an array of concepts and attitudes that reject prior definitions of art and question art in general. Somewhat paradoxically, anti-art tends to conduct this questioning and rejection from the vantage poi ...
istic rhetoric, but described it as mere "
idealist Idealism in philosophy, also known as philosophical realism or metaphysical idealism, is the set of metaphysical perspectives asserting that, most fundamentally, reality is equivalent to mind, spirit, or consciousness; that reality is entir ...
reverie", "without any daring proposals that would threaten our
self-preservation Self-preservation is a behavior or set of behaviors that ensures the survival of an organism. It is thought to be universal among all living organisms. Self-preservation is essentially the process of an organism preventing itself from being harm ...
instincts". Contrarily, scholar William Rose sees Relgis as "an idealist deeply preoccupied by social problems", "a practical and not a
utopian A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', which describes a fictional island soci ...
thinker", and a theorist aware that social or economic evolution was needed before his goals could be achieved. Relgis'
humanitarianism Humanitarianism is an ideology centered on the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotion ...
(also known as
humanism Humanism is a philosophy, philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and Agency (philosophy), agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The me ...
or pan-humanism; ) was a practical extension of
anarcho-pacifism Anarcho-pacifism, also referred to as anarchist pacifism and pacifist anarchism, is an anarchist school of thought that advocates for the use of peaceful, non-violent forms of resistance in the struggle for social change. Anarcho-pacifism reject ...
. William Rose describes this doctrine as both "universalist and pacifist", noting that one of its leading purposes was to eliminate those things "which separate man from man and cause wars". Relgis himself spoke of his movement as a form of "active thought", and "a critical method applied to natural, human and social realities", while expressing admiration for the
nonviolent resistance Nonviolent resistance, or nonviolent action, sometimes called civil resistance, is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, construct ...
tactics advocated in
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...
by
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ru ...
or
Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...
. At the time, he attacked all forms of
pan-nationalism Pan-nationalism () in the social sciences includes forms of nationalism that aim to transcend (overcome, expand) traditional boundaries of basic or historical national identities in order to create a "higher" pan-national (all-inclusive) identit ...
, from
Pan-Germanism Pan-Germanism ( or '), also occasionally known as Pan-Germanicism, is a pan-nationalist political idea. Pan-Germanism seeks to unify all ethnic Germans, German-speaking people, and possibly also non-German Germanic peoples – into a sin ...
to
Pan-European nationalism European nationalism (sometimes called pan-European nationalism) is a form of pan-nationalism based on a pan-European identity. It is considered minor since the National Party of Europe disintegrated in the 1970s. It is distinct from Pro-Europ ...
, defining pan-humanism as "the only 'pan' that can be accepted as a natural law of the human species". In ''El humanitarismo'', he called all internationalist movements, except his own, corrupted by "the practice of violence and intolerance". Writing in 1933, the leftist literary columnist
Ion Clopoțel Ion Clopoțel (November 10, 1892 – August 23, 1986) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian journalist, sociographer and memoirist. The native of a rural area west of Brașov, he attended high school in that city and ultimately earned a univer ...
stressed that Relgis' vision combined humanitarianism with "a lively, dynamic and innovating
socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
".Clopoțel (1933), p.169 Although left-wing, Relgis' vision also incorporated militant
anti-communism Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism, communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global ...
. As noted by literary historian
Geo Șerban Geo- is a prefix derived from the Greek word ''γη'' or ''γαια'', meaning "earth", usually in the sense of "ground or land”. GEO or Geo may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''GEO'' (magazine), a popular scientific magazi ...
, he was from early on skeptical about the outcome of "
social revolution Social revolutions are sudden changes in the structure and nature of society. These revolutions are usually recognized as having transformed society, economy, culture, philosophy, and technology along with but more than just the political system ...
s" and
Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
insurgency. In the first issue of ''Umanitarianismul'', Relgis criticized both the
far right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and Nativism (politics), nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on ...
and the
far left Far or FAR may refer to: Government * Federal Acquisition Regulation, US * Federal Aviation Regulations, US * Florida Administrative Register, US Military and paramilitary * Rebel Armed Forces (Spanish: '), a defunct guerilla organization ...
, noting that his ideology was "apolitical, in fact antipolitical". In ''Europa cea tânără'', he referred to the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
as the home of "
proletarian The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian or a . Marxist philo ...
imperialism Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of Power (international relations), power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power (diplomatic power and cultura ...
". These thoughts were detailed by ''Diario de otoño'', which drew a direct comparison between the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
, pushing Romania into an "armed peace", and the
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
.


Judaism, Zionism, Jewish culture

Beginning in the late 1920s, Relgis was also a supporter of
Zionism Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...
, convinced that the path of
Jewish assimilation Jewish assimilation (, ''hitbolelut'') refers either to the gradual cultural assimilation and social integration of Jews in their surrounding culture or to an ideological program in the age of emancipation promoting conformity as a potential so ...
was unsatisfactory for the affirmation of Jewish talents. He also adhered to philosopher
Martin Buber Martin Buber (; , ; ; 8 February 1878 – 13 June 1965) was an Austrian-Israeli philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of existentialism centered on the distinction between the I and Thou, I–Thou relationship and the I� ...
's ideas about reuniting the three paths chosen by
diaspora Jews The Jewish diaspora ( ), alternatively the dispersion ( ) or the exile ( ; ), consists of Jews who reside outside of the Land of Israel. Historically, it refers to the expansive scattering of the Israelites out of their homeland in the Southe ...
: universalism, Zionism and
Conservative Judaism Conservative Judaism, also known as Masorti Judaism, is a Jewish religious movements, Jewish religious movement that regards the authority of Jewish law and tradition as emanating primarily from the assent of the people through the generations ...
. In his 1929 Avodah conference, he analyzed the ongoing Jewish resettlement into the
Land of Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine. The definition ...
, and investigated the causes of violent clashes between Jewish migrants and the Palestine Arabs. In other public statements, Relgis proudly stated his Judaic faith, noting that he had never actually left Judaism, "being integrated into its vast reality by the very reality of my own preoccupations, sociological and ethical, humanitarianist and pacifist." However, he explained to Iosif Gutman that joining a Zionist organization was not worth the effort, since membership was a form of captivity, and elsewhere suggested that Zionism was justified only as long as it did not follow "the restrictive methods of vulgar nationalism." The writer also described himself as committed to
Romanian culture The culture of Romania is an umbrella term used to encapsulate the ideas, customs and social behaviours of the people of Romania that developed due to the country's distinct geopolitical history and evolution. It is theorized that Romanians an ...
, and, as late as 1981, noted that
Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...
was still his language of choice. His essays on Judaism (some of which were dedicated to his father David) speak about the threat of
societal collapse Societal collapse (also known as civilizational collapse or systems collapse) is the fall of a complex human society characterized by the loss of cultural identity and of social complexity as an Complex adaptive system, adaptive system, the downf ...
, which the author connected with mankind's spiritual decline after
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. His theory on "dehumanization" postulated: "the spiritual evolution of mankind has proceeded to descent just as mankind is progressing in material terms." As a reversal of this trend, Relgis proposed a return to the roots of Judaism, in whose monotheism and Messianism he decoded the basic representation of moral responsibility, and the immediate precursors of Christianity. The Romanian writer was interested in those aspects of
Jewish ethics Jewish ethics are the ethics of the Jewish religion or the Jewish people. A type of normative ethics, Jewish ethics may involve issues in Jewish law as well as non-legal issues, and may involve the convergence of Judaism and the Western phil ...
which anticipated humanitarianism or pacifism, citing the
Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
as "that most humane book", and identifying himself with the lament of Malachi 2:10 ("Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers?"). He later wrote that Jews, and Israelis in particular, were entrusted with keeping alive "the ancient wisdom, poetry and faith", with creating "new values from the old ones". Defining in his own terms the relationship between Biblical proto-universalism and 20th century humanitarianism, Relgis wrote: "Judaism is comprised into modern humanitarianism like a flame within a crystal globe." In tandem, he rejected those aspects of Judaism or Christianity which he believed where bigotry, and his pacifist discourse criticized all religions as potential instigators or ideological props of hawkish rhetoric. He reserved special criticism for the notions of a "vengeful God" and "Jews as a chosen people, Jewish chosenness", arguing that they are "primitive", and expressed more sympathy for Buddhism, Buddhist universalism. His texts, including the 1922 ''Apel către...'', are thought by some to be purposefully reusing the pro-universalist vocabulary of Freemasonry, Freemasons. Relgis' Judaic-themed tracts cover a wide range of subjects. In several of them, Relgis concentrates on the Biblical prophet Moses, in whom he sees the symbol of "great human aspirations". Some texts trace the impact of Moses' teaching on more modern authors (from Baruch Spinoza to Charles Darwin), others talk about Jewish culture, secular Jewish culture, and still others focus on individual Jewish personalities: Buber, Edmond Fleg, Theodor Herzl. As a critic, he also investigated the survival of ancient Judaic themes in the modern art of Marcel Janco, Lazăr Zin or Reuven Rubin, and in the literature of Zweig, S. Ansky, Mendele Mocher Sforim and even Marcel Proust. Other such writings are individual portraits of Romanian Jewish men of letters, from A. L. Zissu and Iosif Brucăr to Avram Steuerman-Rodion and Enric Furtună. According to Geo Șerban, Relgis spent much of his later career promoting "a more fertile awareness of the links between Judaism and the modern world." A critic of
antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
, Eugen Relgis also dedicated some of his main works in the essay genre to the cause of anti-fascism. Early on, he exposed claims about Judeo-Masonic conspiracy theory, Judeo-Masonic domination as canards, and noted that antisemitism was a negative reaction to the Jews' own status as natural innovators in both politics and culture. He wrote: "I take antisemitism to be that psychological disease whose manifestations display the characteristics of a phobia, that is to say an Fixation (psychology), obsession. When someone is obsessed with an image, an individual or even a collective entity, these become the center of their world—and all causes and effects, no matter how far apart and different from each other, are connected to the initial obsession." Writing in 1946, shortly after the scale of
The Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
became known to Romanian Jews, Relgis gave credit to the popular, but since challenged rumor that Soap made from human corpses, Nazis fabricated human soap. Historian of ideas Andrei Oișteanu analyzes Relgis' text as more of a reaction to Nazism's own obsessive take on cleanliness, and writes that, at that time, Jews and Christians in Romania had been collecting certain brands of German soap and burying them as human remains.


On Latin America

After his move to Uruguay, Relgis developed a personal theory on Latin America as a "neohumanist" continent. Earlier, in ''Europa cea tânără'', Relgis had claimed that the European continent needed to revisit its "pathetic history" of violence and imperialism, and reconvert by combining the lessons of Eastern philosophy and United States models of industrialization. Both models, he warned, carried risks: Asia's "spiritual renunciations" were mirrored by a "cancer of machinism" in North America. With ''Perspectivas culturales en Sudamérica'', he expanded on a distinction between civilization and culture: the former as a transitory phase in human development, the latter as a permanent and characteristic sum of ideas; civilization, he argued, was in existence within the New World, but a
Latin American culture The culture of Latin America is the formal or informal expression of the people of Latin America and includes both high culture (literature and high art) and popular culture (music, folk art, and dance), as well as religion and other customary prac ...
was still ahead. Relgis identified this as a merit, describing
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
in general and Uruguay in particular as exceptionally fertile and a "healthier" example for the whole world, offering safe haven to independent thinkers and defying the ideological divisions of the Cold War era.Rose, p.13-14 Summarizing the future links between the Latin American regions and Europe as envisaged by Relgis, William Rose wrote: "the cultural mission of America consists in a careful selection of the eternal and universal values of Europe and their assimilation ..to create typically American values that later, transcending the limits of this continent, will carry their message of peace and fraternity to the entire world." Latin America, Relgis cautioned, should leave behind its own traditions of dictatorial government, fanaticism and "Utilitarianism, utilitarian mentality", while fighting the "false moral" of North America; it could thus contribute to the cultural renaissance of a Europe corrupted by totalitarianism and imperialism. Also important in Relgis' assessment was Latin America's capacity to resist modern dehumanization by granting a social role to its intellectuals, an idea impressed upon him by the writings of Uruguayan humanist José Enrique Rodó. Relgis' theory was received with interest by some of his South American colleagues. One was Argentina, Argentine poet and historian Arturo Capdevila, who wrote about Relgis as a "meritorious" visionary with a "grave and vital message", assuring him: "You can say from now on that you did not suffer in vain, gravely and deeply, the sorrows of the spirit. Your voice will be heard; all of your lesson will be applied." Those Uruguayan public figures who paid homage to Relgis on his 60th anniversary included Socialist Party of Uruguay, Socialist Party leader Emilio Frugoni, Colorado Party (Uruguay), Colorado Party politician Amílcar Vasconcellos, Zionist academic Joel Gak and poet Carlos Sabat Ercasty. While comparing Relgis' pacifist message with the legendary warnings of Antigone, Frugoni's praise was somewhat skeptical, noting that the Romanian's projects, however grand, could find themselves in disagreement with "the constricting reality". Reviewing such appraisals, Uruguayan philosopher Agustín Courtoisie calls Relgis "eccentric and genial", and sees in him a real-life version of characters in Jorge Luis Borges' fantasy literature.


Eugenics

Like other intellectuals of his generation, Eugen Relgis believed that biology served to explain the background of "social and cultural problems that influence the intellectual movement." Controversially, he merged his anarchist perspective with support for
eugenics Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human phenotypes by inhibiting the fer ...
, advocating universal birth control and
compulsory sterilization Compulsory sterilization, also known as forced or coerced sterilization, refers to any government-mandated program to involuntarily sterilize a specific group of people. Sterilization removes a person's capacity to reproduce, and is usually do ...
in cases of "Social degeneration, degeneration".Turda, p.93-94 According to Agustín Courtoisie: "Anarchist pacifism and the once fashionable eugenics seem to be the concepts one can associate with [Relgis]". In favoring this option, Relgis identified himself with those of his anarchist forerunners who were also dedicated Neo-Malthusianism, neo-Malthusians, and especially with
Manuel Devaldès Manuel may refer to: People * Manuel (name), a given name and surname * Manuel (Fawlty Towers), Manuel (''Fawlty Towers''), a fictional character from the sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'' * Manuel I Komnenos, emperor of the Byzantine Empire * Manuel I ...
. He praised Devaldès' call for vasectomy as a regulatory practice, calling the procedure "a true revolution" in population growth. His works defended other anarchists who recommended the practice, including the tried anarchist eugenists Norbert Bardoseck and Pierre Ramus. According to Romanian biomedicine historian Marius Turda, Relgis was among the social scientists who, in 1930s Romania, "forced [eugenic sterilization] into the realm of public debate".Turda, p.93 Turda also notes that ''Umanitarism și eugenism'' went beyond sterilization advocacy to propose the involuntary euthanasia of "degenerate" individuals: those with "pathological characteristics or incurable diseases." Relgis' call to action in eugenics came with a provision: "It is, however, preferable, from all points of view, that degenerates should not be born, or, even better, not conceived." His views on this subject included an economic rationale, since, he argued, the community could not be expected to provide for sexually "prolific", but otherwise "degenerate", individuals. To this goal, he supported abortion, both for eugenic and pro-choice reasons. Relgis also argued: "Instead of natural selection, man should practice rational selection." With ''Las aberraciones sexuales...'', Relgis condemned
Nazi eugenics The social policies of eugenics in Nazi Germany were composed of various ideas about genetics. The Nazi racial theories, racial ideology of Nazism placed the biological improvement of the German people by selective breeding of "Nordic race, No ...
as barbaric, but agreed that those identified as "Untermensch, sub-humans" needed to be reeducated and (if "incurable") sterilized by non-Nazi physicians. In this context, Relgis identified multiracial society as a positive paradigm. The emergence of an exemplary Latin American culture was conceived by Relgis as running parallel to a Race of the Future, future American racial type. In this, Relgis saw the "integral man" of his humanitarianism, "healthy and strong", with a mind unbound by "super-refined culture", and without the traumatic experience of "tyrannical ideologies". The idea, Rose noted, was somewhat similar to, but "more universal" than, the La Raza Cósmica, Cosmic Race theory of Mexican academic José Vasconcelos.


Literary contribution


Literary style and principles

Eugen Relgis blended a critique of capitalism, advocacy of internationalism and modern art interest with all his main contributions to literature. In his essays and "all too cerebral" novels, George Călinescu argues, Eugen Relgis was "obsessed with humanitarianism" and self-help techniques. With his 1934 piece for '' Șantier'', Relgis divided the experience and nature of art into a primordial, collective, form and a newer, Individualism, individualist one: in the past, Relgis noted, creativity was consumed into creating vast anonymous works ("the Egyptian pyramids, pyramid, the temple, the cathedral"), often demanding "the silent and tenacious effort of successive generations." Presently, he thought, the combat against the "imperative of Profit" and "Economic materialism, vulgar materialism" justified the "ethical and Aesthetic relativism, aesthetic individualism". Relgis' essay described industrial society in harsh terms, as directed by "the bloody gods" of "Capitalism and War", and cautioned that the advocacy of anonymity in modern art could lead to kitsch ("serialized production, without the significance it used to carry in bygone days"). Elsewhere, however, Relgis also argued that books needed to have a formative value, and that literature, unlike journalism, "needs to be the expression of length and depth." Some of Relgis' preferences were shaped from his time at ''Fronda''. Its art manifestos, described by
Paul Cernat Paul Cernat (born August 5, 1972 in Bucharest) is a Romanian essayist and literary critic. He has a Ph.D. summa cum laude in philology. Cernat has been a member of the Writers' Union of Romania since 2009. As of 2013, he is lecturer of Romanian l ...
as "virtually illegible", announced radical ideals, such as art for art's sake through Great Fire of Rome, Neronian destruction: ''Qualis artifex pereo''. Leon Baconsky, a historian of Romanian Symbolism, notes that all ''Frondistes'' were at the time enthusiastic followers of French literary theorist Remy de Gourmont, to whom Cernat adds philosopher Henri Bergson and Epicureanism, Epicurean thinker Jean-Marie Guyau (both of them dedicated "prolix-metaphoric commentary" in the review's pages). In matters of poetics, the group declared its deep admiration for the loose Symbolism of
Tudor Arghezi Ion Nae Theodorescu (21 May 1880 – 14 July 1967) was a Romanian writer who wrote under the pen name Tudor Arghezi (. He is best known for his unique contribution to poetry and children's literature. Biography Early life He graduated from Sai ...
(whose poems were amply reviewed by all three ''Fronda'' issues) and, to a lesser extent, Ion Minulescu—according to Baconsky, ''Fronda'' was the first-ever voice in literary criticism to comment on Arghezi's work as an integral phenomenon. The cause of pacifism infused Relgis' work as a writer: a contemporary, the literary critic Pompiliu Păltânea, believed that, with his contribution to
Romanian literature Romanian literature () is the entirety of literature written by Romanian authors, although the term may also be used to refer to all literature written in the Romanian language or by any authors native to Romania. Early Romanian literature inc ...
, Relgis was part of a diverse anti-war "ideological" group of writers (alongside Felix Aderca, Ioan Alexandru Brătescu-Voinești, Barbu Lăzăreanu and some others). According to Călinescu, Relgis' literary ideal became "the living book", the immediate and raw rendition of an individual's experience, with such "idols" as Rolland, Zweig,
Henri Barbusse Henri Barbusse (; 17 May 1873 – 30 August 1935) was a French novelist, short story writer, journalist, poet and political activist. He began his literary career in the 1890s as a Symbolist poet and continued as a neo-Naturalist novelist; i ...
,
Heinrich Mann Luiz Heinrich Mann (; March 27, 1871 – March 11, 1950), best known as simply Heinrich Mann, was a German writer known for his sociopolitical novels. From 1930 until 1933, he was president of the fine poetry division of the Prussian Academy ...
and Ludwig Rubiner. An additional influence was, according to poet-critic Boris Marian, European
Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
, in fashion at the start of Relgis' career. In addition to political essays and fiction, Relgis' prose includes contributions to travel literature, deemed "his most characteristic works" by William Rose. These writings include attempts by Relgis to illustrate in plastic terms the application of his ideology:
Ion Clopoțel Ion Clopoțel (November 10, 1892 – August 23, 1986) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian journalist, sociographer and memoirist. The native of a rural area west of Brașov, he attended high school in that city and ultimately earned a univer ...
noted that, in his volume about interwar
Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
, Relgis went beyond the facade of "savage" Bulgarian militarism to depict the humanist, vegetarian and "Tolstoyan movement, Tolstoyan" civil society of that age. ''Bulgaria necunoscută'' also worked as a manifesto of anti-intellectualism, chastising the "Demagogy, demagogue" academics and praising the simplicity of "collective life". In a similar way, Relgis' scattered memoirs, among them ''Strămoșul meu, "David Gugumanul"'' ("My Ancestor, 'Nitwit David' "), shed intimate light on his ideas about Judaism. Other such Didacticism, didactic texts detail Relgis' advice on the art of living. ''Glasuri în surdină'' is noted for depicting the disorientation of a young man who becomes deaf: Relgis' alter ego, Miron, finds that such a disability has turned his old friends into opportunistic exploiters, but his imaginative spirit and his (minutely chronicled) self-determination allow him to rebel and start over in life. However, deaf studies experts Trenton W. Batson and Eugene Bergman write, Miron "is not really representative of the deaf majority", leading a life of isolation and, out of despair, seeking out a miracle cure for deafness. Relgis' patron
Eugen Lovinescu Eugen Lovinescu (; 31 October 1881 – 16 July 1943) was a Romanian modernist literary historian, literary critic, academic, and novelist, who in 1919 established the ''Sburătorul'' literary club. He was the father of Monica Lovinescu, and the ...
was especially critical of the work, judging its "self-analyzing" internal monologue as burdensome. The ''
Bildungsroman In literary criticism, a bildungsroman () is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth and change of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood (coming of age). The term comes from the German words ('formation' or 'edu ...
'' ''Petru Arbore'' is noted by
Geo Șerban Geo- is a prefix derived from the Greek word ''γη'' or ''γαια'', meaning "earth", usually in the sense of "ground or land”. GEO or Geo may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''GEO'' (magazine), a popular scientific magazi ...
as a "rarity" in Romanian literature, "instructive despite its excessive rhetoricism." Eugen Lovinescu notes its traditional theme of social "inadaptation", which, to him, echoes the right-wing didacticism of ''Sămănătorul'' writers.Lovinescu, p.237 Over the three volumes, the idealistic Arbore falls in love with women of various conditions, and, to the backdrop of World War I, tries to build a business as an army supplier. Relgis himself warned that the book should not be seen as his autobiography, but as the "spiritual mirror" of each reader. Lovinescu believed the work to be heavily influenced by Rolland's ''Jean-Christophe'', lacking "inventiveness". Called a "sweet volume of essays" by Clopoțel, ''Prieteniile lui Miron'' chronicles love and desire in relation to age and sex. The work shows a young girl losing and then regaining her faith in true love, a daring young man, "who mistakes love for sport", being rejected by his female companions, and lastly a mature couple whose love has undergone the test of friendship. Clopoțel praised the text for its "seriousness", "finesse" and "reflections enlightened by knowledge and responsibility", concluding: "[This is] a literature of moral health." These characteristics were also discerned by critics in his various contributions to Latin American literature. Courtoisie found ''Diario de otoño'', a book that is "miscellaneous, multithematic, [moving] between the poetic and the everyday", comparable to the ''Fermentario'' essays of Uruguay's Carlos Vaz Ferreira. According to critic William T. Starr, ''El hombre libre frente a la barbarie totalitaria'' and other such recollections reveal "more about Relgis than about Rolland".


Poetry

During his time at ''Fronda'', Eugen Relgis and his fellow writers published Collective poetry, collective, Experimental literature, experimental and unsigned poems, largely echoing the influence of Arghezi and Minulescu, but, according to Cernat, "aesthetically monstrous". This perspective is echoed by Șerban, who notes that Relgis' debut as a poet was largely without "convincing results". In ''Triumful neființei'', the main stylistic reference was, according to Lovinescu, the Romanian Symbolist Prose poetry, prose poet Dimitrie Anghel, imitated to the point of "pastiche". With time, Relgis developed a style deemed "the poetry of professions" by George Călinescu. According to Călinescu's classification, Relgis the poet is similar in this respect to fellow Symbolists Alexandru Tudor-Miu and Barbu Solacolu, but also to Simona Basarab, Leon Feraru, Cristian Sârbu and Stelian Constantin-Stelian. The same critic notes that Relgis "attempted, with some beautiful poetic suggestions, to establish a modern-era mythology with abstract gods ..and other machinist monsters."Călinescu, p.936 Lovinescu describes the poet in Relgis as one who "survived" through humanitarian propaganda, returning "in a compact Émile Verhaeren, Verhaeren form, rhetorical and accumulative." Lovinescu includes the resulting works in a category of "descriptive" and "social" poems, relating Relgis to Feraru, Alice Călugăru, Aron Cotruș, Vasile Demetrius, Camil Petrescu and I. Valerian. Relgis' poems, Călinescu notes, were individual portraits of industrial machinery ("The Elevator", "The Cement Mixer") or workers ("The Builder", "The Day Laborer"), as temples and deities; by "natural association", the critic suggests, Relgis applied the same technique in his lyrical homages to the very large animals ("The Giraffe", "The Elephant"), but "this requires greater means of suggestion". In one piece quoted by George Călinescu, Relgis showed a bricklayer contemplating the modern city from the top of a scaffolding structure:


Legacy

The political ideas of Eugen Relgis were largely incompatible with the totalitarianism prevalent in Romania between World War II and the Romanian Revolution of 1989: as Rose notes, the scholar was persecuted by "four dictatorial regimes in his native country". Before this, Șerban writes, Relgis' intellectual contacts may have stimulated public debate, even though the writer himself could not claim the status of "opinion maker". Likewise, Boris Marian describes Relgis as "almost forgotten" by Romanians after his self-exile. In addition to Iosif Gutman, Relgis' Jewish Romanian disciples included Fălticeni journalist Iacob Bacalu, founder of a Relgis Circle. According to journalist Victor Frunză, Relgis' targeting by Censorship in Communist Romania, communist censorship had a paradoxical antisemitic undertone, as one of the repressive measures which touched Jewish culture in general. Attempts to recover Relgis' work were made during the latter half of Romanian communist rule and after the 1989, several of them from within the Romanian Jewish community. In April 1982, the Jewish cultural journal ''Revista Cultului Mozaic'' published Leon Volovici's note about Relgis and Judaism. Late in the 1980s, Volovici also contacted Relgis' surviving sisters, then Relgis himself, becoming curator of the manuscripts left behind by the philosopher upon his relocation to South America. These were later donated to the Philippide Institute of the Romanian Academy, where they are kept as the Eugen Relgis library fund. Relgis enjoys a more enduring reputation abroad. Initially, his anarchist eugenics enjoyed some popularity among Anarchism in Spain, Spanish anarchists; his pacifism also inspired Llorenç Vidal Vidal, the Balearic Islands, Balearic poet and educator. Some of his tracts have been reissued after 2001, with the Anselmo Lorenzo Foundation (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo). Italian language, Italian-language versions of his novels, poems and political tracts, including ''Cosmometápolis'', were published by Gaspare Mancuso and his Libero Accordo group, over the 1960s and '70s. By then, Relgis' works had been translated into fourteen languages, although they still remained largely unknown in the United States; ''Principiile umanitariste'' alone had been translated into some 18 languages before 1982. The popularization of Relgis' ideas in America was first taken up by reviews such as ''The Humanist'' and ''Books Abroad'', while Oriole Press reprinted ''Muted Voices''. A second revised edition of ''Profetas y poetas'', prefaced by the Spanish intellectual Rafael Cansinos-Asséns, saw print in Montevideo (1981). At around the same time, in Mexico, his poems were being reprinted in Alfonso Camín's ''Norte'' literary review. In addition to the Philippide Institute collection, part of Relgis' personal archive is being preserved in
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
, at the National Library of Israel. His other notebooks and letters are kept in the Netherlands, at the
International Institute of Social History International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...
. Relgis' likeness is preserved in drawings by Marcel Janco, Lazăr Zin,Dorian & Șerban, p.III Louis Moreau and Carmelo de Arzadun.


See also

* List of peace activists


Notes


References

*Trenton W. Batson, Eugene Bergman, preface and notes to ''Angels and Outcasts: An Anthology of Deaf Characters in Literature'', Gallaudet University Press, Washington, 1985. *
Lucian Boia Lucian Boia (born 1 February 1944) is a Romanian historian. He is mostly known for his debunking of historical myths about Romania, for purging mainstream Romanian history of deformations arising from ideological propaganda, and as a fighter ag ...
, ''"Germanofilii". Elita intelectuală românească în anii Primului Război Mondial'', Humanitas publishing house, Humanitas, Bucharest, 2010. *Maria Bucur, ''Eugenics and Modernization in Interwar Romania'', University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, 2002. *
George Călinescu George Călinescu (; 19 June 1899 – 12 March 1965) was a Romanian literary critic, historian, novelist, academician and journalist, and a writer of classicist and humanist tendencies. He is currently considered one of the most important Romani ...
, ''Istoria literaturii române de la origini pînă în prezent'', Editura Minerva, Bucharest, 1986 *
Ángel Cappelletti Ángel Cappelletti (March 15, 1927– November 25, 1995) was a philosopher and university professor. He was born in Rosario, Santa Fe, Rosario. He studied philosophy at the Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires where he also received his PhD in 1 ...
, "Anarquismo latinoamericano", in Carlos M. Rama, ''El Anarquismo en América Latina'', Biblioteca Ayacucho, Caracas, 1990. *
Paul Cernat Paul Cernat (born August 5, 1972 in Bucharest) is a Romanian essayist and literary critic. He has a Ph.D. summa cum laude in philology. Cernat has been a member of the Writers' Union of Romania since 2009. As of 2013, he is lecturer of Romanian l ...
, ''Avangarda românească și complexul periferiei: primul val'', Cartea Românească, Bucharest, 2007. *
Ion Clopoțel Ion Clopoțel (November 10, 1892 – August 23, 1986) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian journalist, sociographer and memoirist. The native of a rural area west of Brașov, he attended high school in that city and ultimately earned a univer ...

"Discuții și recensii. Eugen Relgis: ''Bulgaria necunoscută''"
in '' Societatea de Mâine'', Nr. 7-9/1933, p. 168–169 (digitized by the
Babeș-Bolyai University The Babeș-Bolyai University ( , , commonly known as UBB) is a public research university located in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Established in 1581 as Academia Claudiopolitana, it underwent several reorganizations over the centuries, eventually taking ...
br>Transsylvanica Online Library
* Ovid Crohmălniceanu, ''Literatura română între cele două războaie mondiale'', Vol. I, Editura Minerva, Bucharest, 1972. * Dorel Dorian,
Geo Șerban Geo- is a prefix derived from the Greek word ''γη'' or ''γαια'', meaning "earth", usually in the sense of "ground or land”. GEO or Geo may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''GEO'' (magazine), a popular scientific magazi ...
, "Eugen Relgis: un literat provoacă destinul: îngrijorat de învrăjbirile umanității", ''
Realitatea Evreiască ''Realitatea Evreiască'' ( Romanian for "The Jewish Reality") is a Romanian cultural and news magazine, based in Bucharest, and addressed to the local Jewish community. The magazine was founded in 1956 under the name ''Revista Cultului Mozaic ...
'' supplement, Nr. 310-311 (1010–1011), December 2008 – January 2009: , , , , , , , * Bernard Duchatelet,
Liste des publications de correspondances de Romain Rolland
', at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, Centre for Study of Correspondence and Diaries [UMR 6563]; retrieved March 7, 2011 *
Eugen Lovinescu Eugen Lovinescu (; 31 October 1881 – 16 July 1943) was a Romanian modernist literary historian, literary critic, academic, and novelist, who in 1919 established the ''Sburătorul'' literary club. He was the father of Monica Lovinescu, and the ...
, ''Istoria literaturii române contemporane'', Editura Minerva, Bucharest, 1989 (with a postscript by
Eugen Simion Eugen Simion (25 May 1933 – 18 October 2022) was a Romanian literary critic and historian, editor, essayist and academic. Born in Chiojdeanca, Prahova County, the son of two farmers, Simion completed his secondary education at the Saints Pe ...
). *Eduard Masjuan, ''La ecología humana en el anarquismo ibérico: urbanismo "orgánico" o ecológico, neomalthusianismo y naturismo social'', Icaria Editorial, Barcelona, 2000. *Andrei Oișteanu, ''Inventing the Jew. Antisemitic Stereotypes in Romanian and Other Central East-European Cultures'', University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 2009. *William Rose
"Frontiers. A Voice of Europe in America"
in ''MANAS Journal'', Nr. 28/1962, p. 12–14 * Liviu Rotman (ed.),
Demnitate în vremuri de restriște
', Editura Hasefer, Federation of Jewish Communities of Romania & Elie Wiesel National Institute for Studying the Holocaust in Romania, Bucharest, 2008. *Marius Turda, " 'To End the Degeneration of a Nation': Debates on Eugenic Sterilization in Interwar Romania", in ''Medical History'', Nr. 53/2009, p. 77–104


External links

* Eugen Relgis
"Humanitarisme, n. m."
in the
Anarchist Encyclopedia file:Éditions Anarchistes.jpgalt=Prometheus stands nude except for a loincloth, lofting a torch and stepping over a set of manaclesthumbdevice of the Éditions Anarchistes (publishers of the ''Anarchist Encyclopedia'') depicting Prometheus bringi ...
* Relgis' works, at th
Proyecto filosofía en español








{{DEFAULTSORT:Relgis, Eugen 1895 births 1987 deaths 20th-century anarchists 20th-century Romanian essayists 20th-century Romanian male writers 20th-century Romanian memoirists 20th-century Romanian novelists 20th-century Romanian philosophers 20th-century Romanian poets 20th-century Romanian translators Adevărul writers Anarcho-pacifists Birth control activists Deaf activists Deaf poets Eugenicists with disabilities Expressionist writers Gândirea Idealists Involuntary euthanasia Jewish anarchists Jewish eugenicists Jewish novelists Jewish pacifists Jewish philosophers Jewish poets Jewish Romanian writers banned by the Antonescu regime Jewish sociologists Latin Americanists Medical sociologists Jews from Western Moldavia Prisoners and detainees of Romania Romanian activist journalists Romanian anarchists Romanian anti–World War I activists Romanian art critics Romanian conscientious objectors Romanian deaf people Romanian eugenicists Romanian expatriates in Uruguay Romanian health professionals Romanian humanists Romanian librarians Romanian literary critics Romanian magazine editors Romanian magazine founders Romanian male biographers Romanian male essayists Romanian male novelists Romanian male poets Romanian opinion journalists Romanian pacifists Romanian people of the Spanish Civil War Romanian people of World War I Romanian publishers (people) Romanian refugees Romanian self-help writers Romanian socialists Romanian sociologists Romanian travel writers Romanian writers in French Romanian writers with disabilities Romanian Zionists Scientists with disabilities Sexologists Sonneteers Symbolist poets Universalists Uruguayan male writers Uruguayan writers in French Writers who illustrated their own writing