Sanda Stolojan, née Henriette Lucia Sanda Zamfirescu (19 February 1919,
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 ...
– 2 August 2005,
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
) was a
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
n poet, translator and writer. She was a dissident and prominent figure of the Romanian
anticommunist
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 ...
exile.
Life
Born and raised in a family of intellectuals and diplomats, she received an elite education in Romania and other European countries. After finishing high school in Paris in 1937, she signed up for studies at the Faculty of Arts 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 ...
. In 1943, she married Vlad Stolojan Filipescu and they attempted to leave communist Romania in 1949, but were arrested and sent imprisoned for the crime of preparation for illegal emigration. In following years, both were convicted of further crimes, eventually losing their home to the authorities.
In 1961, Sanda and Vlad Stolojan managed to leave Romania definitively and settled in Paris. She pursued studies at the
École des Hautes Études Commerciales
HEC Paris () is a business school and ''grande école'' located in Jouy-en-Josas, a southwestern outer suburb of Paris, France. It offers Bachelor, MiM, MSc in International Finance, MBA, EMBA, executive education, professional developm ...
and worked as a translator and interpreter of Romanian language for French presidents. She also became active in the circles of Romanian anticommunist dissidents abroad, especially as a collaborator for Radio Free Europe and as President for the Romanian Human Rights League (''Ligue pour la défense des droits de l’homme en Roumanie'', LDHR). She also developed an intense literary activity as a writer and poet, and also as founder of the magazine ''Les Cahiers de l'Est''.
In the 1990s, after the fall of the Romanian communist regime, she developed a number of political and cultural activities in Romania and became an honorary member of the National Institute for the Memory of the Romanian Exile (later known as the
Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile).
Selection of Works
* Stolojan, Sanda (1994), ''Cu De Gaulle în România. Bucharest: Albatros.
* Stolojan, Sanda (1999), ''Au balcon de l'exil roumain à Paris: avec Cioran, Eugène Ionesco, Mircea Eliade, Vintila Horia'', Paris, Montréal:
l'Harmattan
Éditions L'Harmattan, usually known simply as L'Harmattan (), is one of the largest French book publishers. It specialises in non-fiction books with a particular focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. It is named after the Harmattan, a trade wind in W ...
.
* Stolojan, Sanda (2001), ''La Roumanie revisitée: Journal 1990-199''6, Paris, Montréal, Budapest: l'Harmattan.
* Stolojan, Sanda (2006), ''Sub semnul depărtării: Corespondență Constantin Noica – Sanda Stolojan'', Bucharest:
Humanitas
(from the Latin , "human") is a Latin noun meaning human nature, civilization, and kindness. It has uses in the Enlightenment, which are discussed below.
Classical origins of term
The Latin word corresponded to the Greek concepts of (loving ...
.
* Stolojan, Sanda (2007), ''Amurg senin: Jurnal din exilul parizian 1997-2001'', Bucharest: Humanitas.
* Stolojan, Sanda et Stolojan, Vlad (2009) ''Să nu plecăm toți odată: Amintiri din România anilor 1950'', Bucharest: Humanitas.
Bibliography
* Manolescu, Florin (2003), ''Enciclopedia exilului literar românesc 1945-1989: Scriitori, reviste, instituții, organizații'', Bucharest: Compania.
* Scutaru, Beatrice (2012), “The Romanian Anti-Communist Resistance: the League for the Defence of Human Rights of Romania from Paris (1979-1989)”, Peter Jašek (ed.) ''Anti-Communist Resistance in Central and Eastern Europe'', Bratislava: Ústav Pamäti Národa.
* Scutaru, Béatrice (2014), "La Roumanie à Paris : exil politique et lutte anti-communiste", ''Histoire@Politique''. ''Politique, culture, société'',
no 23, May-August 2014.
Archives
Sanda Stolojan's personal archives are currently held in Romania in the collections of the
Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile. The archives of the Romanian Human Rights League, organization that she presided, are currently held at
La contemporaine in
Nanterre
Nanterre (; ) is the prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located some northwest of the centre of Paris. In 2018, the commune had a population of 96,807.
The eastern part of Nanterre, b ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stolojan, Sanda
1919 births
2005 deaths
20th-century Romanian poets
Romanian expatriates in France
Romanian anti-communists
Romanian women poets
Romanian exiles
University of Bucharest alumni
Writers from Bucharest