Vol III, 2024
Doctorand, Facultatea de Istorie, Universitatea din București; e-mail: ionelmunteanu20@yahoo.com.
Cercetător științific dr. asociat la Centrul de studii dunărene Brăila-Galați „Episcop Melchisedec Ștefănescu”, Academia Română; Centrul de Istorie urbană, Universitatea din Hradec Králové, Republica Cehă; e-mail: cristian.constantin@hotmail.com.
INTEGRAREA CEREALELOR DIN HINTERLANDUL MOLDO-VALAH ÎN ANTREPOZITELE BELGIENE (1830 -1914)
Abstract: This study deals with the commercialization of grains produced in Moldavia and Wallachia onto the international market in Anvers. Previous research conducted by international scholars has not thoroughly examined how Belgium’s extensive grain imports in the 19th century boosted Moldovan-Walachian production structures and implicitly adjusted the entire trade chain. Our contribution, therefore, aims to show how the infrastructure of the Western Black Sea foreland contributed to the maximization of the agricultural and commercial potential of the Danube hinterland. A particular attention is paid to the mechanisms that led to the consolidation of a link between the ports of the lower Danube and the entrepôt in Anvers, which proved indispensable for both ends of the network and the business environment. Once the Romanian grain had landed in the warehouses at the mouth of the Scheldt, it was brought to the Western European markets at the right time by the skilful merchants of the most important international trading houses. In addition to the classical historiography, this article draws on recent studies and unpublished statistical data from Belgian and Romanian archives.
Keywords: Brăila, Sulina, Anvers, maritime trade, infrastructure.
Dr., cercetător științific, Muzeul Maramureșan, Sighetul Marmației; e-mail: ionboroica@yahoo.com
Între cutumă și lege. Composesoratele din Maramureșul istoric în secolul al XIX-lea și începutul secolului XX
Abstract: Historically, the noble composesorate referred to the models of the social organization of small noble villages from the Middle Ages onwards. At the heart of its functioning was the idea of the hereditary transfer of property rights to common land and the structures of undivided ownership of forests, pastures, reeds, and others. In historical Maramureș, there were more than 20 noble compososerates, the origin of which could not be clarified by previous research. After the Revolution of 1848, 14 new land compososerates were founded. As these new structures replicated the organizational and functional principles of the noble compososerates of the Middle Ages, the modern state felt compelled to intervene more and more in their organization and operation. Thus, from the second half of the 19th century onwards, the forests were managed according to an economic plan, which played a decisive role in transforming their social role into an eminently economic one in accordance with the new laws and regulations. The case studies
discussed in this article illustrate the efforts of these Maramures compososerates to adapt to the new legal framework.
Keywords: noble composesorates, urbarial composesorates, urbarial reforms, customary norms, historical Maramureș.
Cercetător științific II dr., Institutul de Istorie „George Barițiu” din Cluj-Napoca; e-mail: maramarginean@yahoo.com
Locuire, muncă și dezvoltare în România postbelică: schiță pentru o cercetare interdisciplinară a orașului industrial (1945-1989)
Abstract: Building on extensive scholarly production, this study proposes a reading of the long-term social effects of the spatial and labor policies that underpinned the development project adopted by the communist regime after 1945. This paper problematizes the changes in the urban-industrial environment resulting from the Romanian state’s efforts to promote the country’s industrialization. It aims to show the successive stages in which Romania gave social content to the economic measures adopted. The analysis begins with a brief discussion of the development of the building materials industry to show how various economic constraints influenced the dynamics of the space in Romania. It highlights the successive phases of restructuring the built fabric from small urban cores during the first post-war decade to networks of more or less modernized localities in the years of late socialism. Without ignoring the peculiarities, excesses, and nonsense that characterized many of the economic decisions of the communist leadership in these decades, the article shows how Romania, oscillating between proximity to the Soviet Union and the pursuit of European modernity, experienced the changes of the post-war period not only as part of a natural transformation of industrial society in relation to the increasingly complex demands of the workforce but also as an illustration of the local impact of global economic dynamics.
Keywords: Romania, urban, industry, development, growth, global.
Doctor în istorie, șef serviciu, Banca Națională a României, Sucursala Cluj; e-mail: mogaseptimiu@gmail.com
Clujul în vâltoarea marii crize economice dintre 1929-1933. Amprenta evenimentelor în presa vremii
Abstract: By the end of the 1920s, numerous economic difficulties had contributed to the accumulation of tensions in many strata of the Romanian society. The overproduction crisis of 1927 and the dramatic fall in the prices of agricultural products on foreign markets were among the leading causes that significantly contributed to this reality. As the effects of the Great Depression were felt throughout the country, Cluj was by no means safe from the contagion of the global economic crisis. This contribution shews how in the first two years of the crisis, the credit institutions appeared to successfully cope with the challenges caused by the decline in the production value and, thus, the population’s income. However, as months passed, the credit institutions accumulated new burdens, which suddenly manifested shortly after the bankruptcy of one of Vienna’s largest banks, Creditanstalt, in May 1931. To this end, my article affords an ample space of unveiling the abrupt succession of events that led to the shaking of population’s confidence in the banking system as more and more banks went bankrupt. The summer and fall of 1931 became a nightmare for the Cluj bankers. Local press abunds in references to fraud trials and fraudulent bankruptcies involving politicians, local personalities, and even members of the old Cluj bourgeoisie and aristocracy. As I show below, not only that the intervention of the authorities came late, but was often flawed, inconsistent, and sometimes grounded by a political rather than an economic agenda. As banking legislation was still in its infancy, court proceedings were protracted and often ended in acquittals or lenient sentences. The bankruptcy of Marmorosch Blank Bank led to panic and the use of reactive measures by bankers and the authorities. Tensions increased even more, and the population’s trust in the banks of Cluj collapsed.
Keywords: banking history, Cluj, economic crisis, panic, interwar period, bankrupcy.
Profesor dr., Liceul Teoretic „Petőfi Sándor” Săcuieni – Bihor/ Centrul de Studii Interdisciplinare „Silviu Dragomir”, Oradea; e-mail: delya_cora@yahoo.com
Reforma monetară din 1947 – necesitate economică, obiective și consecințe politice și sociale economică
Abstract: The significant changes in Romania’s political and economic situation in the mid-1940s seriously affected society as a whole. In that context, legislation regarding financial sabotage (Law 351/1945) was introduced, which concerned tax evasion and failure to keep trade registers by merchants and industrialists. However, inflation reached unimaginable levels due to the lack of products on the market and the issuance of banknotes without adequate coverage. Between June 1945 and August 1947, banknotes in circulation increased from 650 billion lei to 40.247 billion lei. As the economic situation deteriorated from one day to the next, the state was forced to postpone the payment of pensions and salaries, and some expenses for health, the army, culture, etc. were suspended. The communists’ objectives were successful because they neutralized the bourgeoisie (the main goal), even if, theoretically, they created the conditions for an economic recovery. Economic growth was ensured by placing additional burdens on new
workers and employers. Limiting inflation failed due to unrealistic forecasts dictated by the political factor.
Keywords: currency reform, communism, political repression, 1947, Romania.
Asistent cercetare, drd., Facultatea de Istorie, Universitatea din București; e-mail: stefan.marius.deaconu@drd.unibuc.ro.
Contracția învățământului universitar în România anilor 1980 – între raționament economic și imperativ politic
Abstract: This study analyses the decline in the number of students in Romania in the 1980s, focusing on the political and economic factors that led to this trend. The research shows that the main reason for this decline was not financial, as the savings from the budget were relatively insignificant compared to the overall education budget. On the contrary, the cuts were driven primarily by political objectives to restrict social mobility and limit access to higher education, especially in technical, economic, and legal studies. In other words, this article shows that the communist regime sought to suppress an intellectual class that had the potential to pose a significant challenge to its rule. The analysis uncovered flaws in centralized work planning that led to inconsistencies in employment prospects for graduates in various sectors. However, the government’s allocation of graduates did not match the actual needs of the labor market, resulting in both an oversupply and a shortage of graduates in specific fields. The rigidity of the enrolment policy is evidence of a workforce planning strategy that prioritized administrative control over societal demands. To this end, my contribution draws
on a comprehensive analysis of available archival resources and data on education budgets in the late socialist period.
Keywords: Higher education in socialist Romania, educational policies in Communism, social control and mobility, centralised manpower planning, enrolment cuts.
Prof. univ. Departamentul de Istorie, Universitatea din Oradea, Membru titular al Academiei Oamenilor de Știință din România; e-mail: drecin_mihai@yahoo.com
Noi date despre familia bancherului Partenie Cosma – director executiv al băncii Albina din Sibiu (1885-1915)
Abstract: This article looks at the family history of Partenie Cosma (born 1837 – died 1923), the manager of the „Albina” Bank in Sibiu between 1885 and 1915, paying particular attention to his wife Maria Roman (parents, brothers, and other relatives who were known as personalities of the Romanian nation) and the children from the two marriages. They are: Lucia, Minerva, Hortensia – married to Octavian Goga, Romulus, and Remus. Their educational training and professional development is analyzed according to the educational standards of the time among the political and cultural elite of the Austro-Hungarian society. The article also shows the different fates of Maria’s and Partenia Cosma’s children. While Lucia, an artist who maintained good relations with dr. Petru Groza and adapted to the requirements of the democratic-popular regime after 1945, the others survived in modest material conditions, marginalized because of their „bourgeois” origin. The research is based on extensive documentation carried out in the archives available in Beiuș, Oradea, Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu, Brașov, Bucharest, within the „Samuil Vulcan” high school Beiuș, Oradea Romanian Orthodox Episcopate, National Archives (branches: Sibiu (Fund: Headquarters Bank „Albina”) and Brașov (Fund: Brașov Branch of Bank „Albina”), Romanian National Bank Archives Bucharest, Octavian Archives Goga – Manuscripts Department of the Romanian Academy in Bucharest.Keywords: Partenie Cosma, Lucia, Minerva, Hortensia, Remus, banking history.
Doctor în istorie, muzeograf; director Muzeul de Istorie Sighișoara; e-mail: nicolaetescula@gmail.com
Din istoria băncii românești Târnăveana din Sighișoara (1905-1924)
Abstract: The article presents aspects of the history of the first Romanian bank in Sighișoara, the „Târnăveana”, which was organized along the lines of the Romanian banks that operated in the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. Founded in 1905, the bank brought together the local Romanian elite from the city and the surrounding villages: priests, lawyers, and wealthy farmers. The activity of the first Romanian credit institution in Sighișoara between 1905, the first year of its existence, and 1924, when it could no longer recover from bankruptcy and disappeared from the Romanian banking system, showed the presence of a mature Romanian elite in the town on the Târnava Mare, with solid connections within the Romanian elites of Transylvania. Even though this bank did not reach the level of other banks, such as Victoria in Arad or Economul in Cluj, it proved to be a reputable middle-class bank within the Romanian credit system, despite the competition from the local Saxon and Romanian banks in the surrounding cities, and was able to survive and operate successfully even during the difficult period of the First World War. The establishment and functioning of the bank is an expression of an active local elite involved in the Transylvanian public life, aware of its role in the life of the Romanian population, and contributed to the development of the community. This elite was aware that national and political activities were doomed to failure without economic support. Therefore, they were not only involved on a national and cultural level but also economically. It is the expression of an extraordinary generation that significantly contributed to the creation of the modern Romanian nation-state.
Keywords: Banks, Sighișoara, Transylvania, Romanians, economic activities, early 20th century.
Doctorand, Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai, Școala Doctorală Studii de Populație și Istoria Minorităților; e-mail:catalinneuer3@gmail.com
Băncile populare vâlcene în preajma Primului Război Mondial (1903-1918). Rolul și activitatea lor reflectate în presa vremii
Abstract: The present work aims to build an overview of the cooperative movement in Vâlcea county, Oltenia region. The historiography of popular banks and cooperative associationism can be boosted with the help of discovering the particularities of credit institutions at the level of each constituency of the territories inhabited by Romanians. To begin with, in the current analysis we will consider the evolution of popular Romanian banks from the beginning of the 20th century, under the influence of a changing legislation. The second spectrum of study will be the cooperation in Vâlcea county, between 1903-1918. With the help of press sources and the funds of the National Archive, we will reveal the organization of credit cooperatives in this area, the versatility of these entities, the local communities that rallied to this movement, but also the effects of the outbreak of the First World War.
Keywords: Oltenia, popular banks, economic history, cooperation, press.
Conf. univ. dr., Facultatea de Studii Europene, Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai Cluj-
Napoca; e-mail: astangaciu@yahoo.com.
Contribuția capitalului bancar italian la înscrierea unor întreprinderi românești în circuitul economic european. Filiera elvețiană
Abstract: This article analyzes the contribution of Italian banking capital to the development of Romanian financial and industrial structures. Particular attention is paid to participation, financing, and lending, as these actions allowed Italian finance to participate in the capital increase of some Romanian companies and get involved in their management and organization. The article also deals with the provision of Italian technology and equipment to the Romanian industry, thus documenting the conditions that led to the professionalization of the companies’ workforce and management. Last but not least, the article reports on the contribution of Italian banking capital to the integration of some Romanian companies into the European economic cycle through their integration into large European groups. The most important example in this regard are the companies of the Foresta Română Group, which were first integrated into the Foresta S.A. Milan Group and later into the Swiss groups Foresta Svizzera Romena S.A. Holding, Zurich and Foresta Romena Holding, Zürich.
Keywords: Banks, Italian capital, Swiss concerns, capital, management
Prof. univ. dr., Universitatea de Medicină, Farmacie, Științe și Tehnologie „George Emil Palade” din Târgu Mureș; e-mail: vasiledobrescu@yahoo.com
Lect. univ. dr., Universitatea de Medicină, Farmacie, Științe și Tehnologie „George Emil Palade” din Târgu Mureș; e-mail: marria.dan@gmail.com
Un deceniu din istoria băncii Aurora (Năsăud) 1938-1948. De la refacerea financiară la lichidarea juridică
Abstract: The article deals with the activity of Aurora Bank, the most important Romanian credit institution in Năsăud County, between 1938 and 1948. Building on a series of previous research and on a sizeable unpublished documentary corpus – which, although incomplete, is in a relatively acceptable state compared to the state of the archives of other similar institutions in the country – the article shows the orientation of the financial business channels, the policies and management practices adopted by the bank’s management in response to the economic and political dynamics that shook Romania in the period 1940-1947. Our contribution also provides a space for analyzing the biographies of the bank’s leaders; thus, we highlighted their leadership qualities based on solid professional training, exemplary behavior, and civic involvement in the life of the Năsăud community through cultural, educational, social, or political activities. We also showed how unfavorable internal and external political circumstances, even more than the harsh socio-economic conditions of the post-war period, had a decisive impact on the relatively normal functioning of the bank, which practically forced, subjectively speaking, the legal liquidation of the Aurora bank as well as the entire private credit system in the summer of 1948.Keywords: Romanian credit institution, Năsăud county, Aurora bank, financial activities, socio-economic interrelations.
Keywords: Romanian credit institution, Năsăud county, Aurora bank, financial activities, socio-economic interrelations.