1959 in Romania explained

Events from the year 1959 in Romania. During the year, the country hosted the first International Mathematical Olympiad.

Incumbents

• President of the Provisional Presidium of the Republic

Ion Gheorghe Maurer.^[1]

• Prime Minister

Chivu Stoica.^[2]

• General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party

Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej.^[3]

Events

• 31 January – Sandu Tudor begins a 40-year sentence at Jilava Prison for "conspiracy against the social order" and "intense activity against the working class".^[4]
• 29 May – Sociologists form a National Sociological Committee, which soon joins the International Sociological Association, to encourage the development of the discipline.^[5]
• July – Babeș-Bolyai University is formed in Cluj by the merger of Babeș and Bolyai Universities, which had as their languages of instruction Romanian and Hungarian respectively.^[6]
• 23 July – Brașov and Bucharest jointly host the first International Mathematical Olympiad, which runs until 31 July.^[7]
• 28 July – The Ioanid Gang allegedly steal 1.6 million lei from a National Bank of Romania armored car.^[8]
• 28 October – The Grand National Assembly adopts Decree No 410 which abolishes many monasteries, including Radu Vodă Monastery.^[9]

Art and literature

• Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: Îndrăzneala (The Daring), a novel by Marin Preda, is published.^[10]

Cinema and theatre

• Eugène Ionesco writes the play Rhinoceros.^[11]
• Mingea (The Ball), directed by Andrei Blaier and Sinișa Ivetici, is released. It is shown at the 1st Moscow International Film Festival.^[12]

Births

• 26 January – Mircea Fulger, boxer, bronze medal winner at the 1984 Summer Olympics.^[13]
• 4 February – Monica Macovei, politician and Minister of Justice between 2004 and 2007.^[14]
• 20 March – Felicia Filip, operatic soprano.^[15]
• 5 April – Florica Prevenda, artist.^[16]
• 28 April – Lucia Romanov-Stark, tennis player.^[17]
• 1 June – Cristian Popescu, poet (died 1995).^[18]
• 13 June – Klaus Iohannis, President of Romania from 2014.^[19]
• 14 June – Alexandru Darie, theater director (died 2019).
• 17 September – Florentin Crihălmeanu, Romanian Greek Catholic bishop of Cluj-Gherla (died 2021).^[20]
• 21 September – Crin Antonescu, politician, served as Acting President of Romania and President of the Senate.
• 6 November – Marin Gheorghe, rower, silver medal winner at the 1992 Summer Olympics.^[21]

Deaths

• 30 January – Elena Săcălici, gymnast, member of the team that won the first Olympic and world team bronze medal for Romania, at the 1956 Summer Olympics (born 1935).^[22]
• 11 February – Ioan Bălan, Bishop of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church (born 1880).^[23]
• 13 May – Emil Hațieganu, politician and jurist (born 1878).
• 24 July – Mihail Lascăr, general during World War II and Minister of Defense from 1946 to 1947 (born 1889).
• 24 November – Ion Gigurtu, far-right politician, officer, engineer, and industrialist who served as Prime Minister from 4 July to 4 September 1940, died at Râmnicu Sărat Prison (born 1886).
• 29 December – Gheorghe N. Leon, economist and politician, died at Râmnicu Sărat Prison (born 1888).

Notes and References

1. Book: Spuler, Bertold . Rulers and Governments of the World Volume 3: 1930 to 1975 . London . Bowker . 1977 . 978-0-85935-056-3 . 443.
2. Book: Vojtech . Mastny . Malcolm . Byrne . A Cardboard Castle?: An Inside History of the Warsaw Pact, 1955–1991 . Budapest . Central European University Press . 2005 . 691 . 978-6-15505-369-6.
3. Book: Tucker, Spencer . The Cold War: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection . Santa Barbara . ABC-CLIO . 2020 . 978-1-44086-076-8 . 669.
4. Ioana . Diaconescu . Sandu Tudor și gruparea 'Rugul Aprins' . Sandu Tudor and the group "Rugul Aprins" by Ioana Diaconescu . . 43 . 2006 . ro . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304064240/http://www.romlit.ro/sandu_tudor_si_gruparea_rugul_aprins . 2016-03-04.
5. Ștefan . Bosomitu . Notes and Remarks on the (Re) Institutionalization of Sociology in Communist Romania in the 1960s . History of Communism in Europe . 2 . 2011 . 183 . 10.7761/HCE.2.169 . 9 May 2022.
6. Book: Altbach, Philip . International Higher Education Volume 2 . 770 . Hoboken . Taylor and Francis . 2014 . 978-1-13662-885-6.
7. Book: Dušan . Djukić . Vladimir . Janković . Ivan . Matić . The IMO Compendium . New York . Springer . 2011 . 2 . 978-1-44199-854-5.
8. Vasile . Lapadusi . Costica . Tanase . Attack on the Car of the National Bank. Atac Asupra Mașinii Băncii Naționale . Romanian Journal of Forensic Science . 13 . 81 . 2012 . 1019.
9. Nicodim . Nicolăescu . The Catastrophic Effects of Decree 410/1959 on Monasticism in Communist Romania . Teologia . 58 . 1 . 2014 . 18 .
10. Book: Ungheanu, Mihai . Marin Preda: vocație și aspirație . Marin Preda: Vocation and Aspiration . Timișoara . Editura Amarcord . 2002 . 407 . 978-9-73820-227-6 . RO.
11. Book: Asfari, Amin . Civility, Nonviolent Resistance, and the New Struggle for Social Justice . Leiden . Brill Rodopi . 2020 . 186 . 978-9-00441-758-8.
12. Book: Krautz, Alfred . International Directory of Cinematographers, Set- and Costume Designers in Film: Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Rumania, Yugoslavia (from the beginnings to 1980) . Munich . Saur . 1983 . 120 . 978-3-59821-433-2.
13. Mircea Fulger. https://web.archive.org/web/20150912011957/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/fu/mircea-fulger-1.html . dead . 12 September 2015 .
14. Book: Mureșan, Marius . Destinația Cotroceni: alegerile prezidențiale în România 1990–2014 . Destination Cotroceni: Presidential Elections in Romania 1990–2014 . Iaşi . Polirom . 2000 . 394 . 978-6-06171-506-0 . RO.
15. Book: Cummings, David M. . International Who's who in Music and Musicians' Directory . Cambridge . International Biographical Centre . 1998 . 169 . 978-0-94887-592-2.
16. Florica Prevenda . Contra Punct . 10 . 1999 . 5 .
17. News: Lucia Romanov: "Am jucat finala în rochia lui Dominique" . ro. Adevărul. 7 September 2009. 11 August 2022.
18. Web site: Popescu, Cristian, 1959 - 1995. . id.loc.gov . August 30, 2023.
19. Book: Heath-Brown, Nick . The Statesman's Yearbook 2016: The Politics, Cultures and Economies of the World . London . Palgrave Macmillan . 2015 . 997 . 9781349578238 .
20. Web site: January 12, 2021 . Episcopul greco-catolic de Cluj-Gherla, Florentin Crihălmeanu, a murit. Fusese infectat cu Covid 19 . The Greek Catholic bishop of Cluj-Gherla, Florentin Crihălmeanu, has died. He was infected with COVID-19 . August 27, 2022 . actualdecluj.ro . ro.
21. Web site: Hilary . Evans . Arild . Gjerde . Jeroen . Heijmans . Bill . Mallon . etal . Marin Gheorghe . https://web.archive.org/web/20150908075300/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/gh/marin-gheorghe-1.html . dead . 8 September 2015 . Sports Reference LLC . Olympics at Sports-Reference.com.
22. Book: Fântâneanu, Emanuel . Inscripții pe columna gimnasticii românești . Reflections on the Romanian gymnastics column . 3 . Bucharest . Tracus Arte . 2017 . 2621 . 978-6-06664-800-4 . RO.
23. Book: Wojciech . Roszkowski . Jan . Kofman . Biographical Dictionary of Central and Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century . New York . . 2015 . 1771 . 978-1-31747-593-4.