Romanian historian and philosopher Neagu Djuvara died on Thursday, January 25, at age 101.

Born on August 18, 1916, Neagu Djuvara was the descendant of an aristocratic Aromanian family. He got his bachelor’s degree in History at the Sorbonne in 1937, and three years later got a doctorate in law in Paris.

He returned to Romania during the World War II, where he joined the Romanian Armed Forces. He took part in the military campaign in Bessarabia and Transnistria, and was wounded near Odessa.

He later worked as a diplomat, and decided to remain abroad. He left for Paris and was subsequently involved in advocacy of anti-communist political causes and the rallying of exiled intellectuals.

He spent 45 years abroad, in exile. He settled in Niger in 1961, where he served as an adviser for the country’s Foreign Ministry, and was a professor of international law. After 1984, he returned to Europe, resuming his activities with several Romanian cultural institutions in exile.

Neagu Djuvara returned to Romania after the 1989 Revolution. He worked as an associate professor at the University of Bucharest between 1991 and 1998. In August 2016, when he turned 100, he was decorated by president Klaus Iohannis as knight of the Order of the Star of Romania.

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Wikipedia)