Dr. Vladimir Solonari
Panel 1 Greater Romania
Abstract
Vladimir Solonari examines the origin of the policy of “ethnic purification” which was pursued by the Romanian government during World War II. He argues that this policy had its roots in the traditional Romanian understanding of the nation as an ethnic entity which excluded national minorities from its body. In the inter-war period a series of nationalistic ideologues propagated the idea that only an ethnically “pure” country could succeed economically and politically. They recommended various measures of ethnic homogenization, among which population exchange with neighboring countries and resettlement of ethnic Romanians on “freed” properties featured prominently. The spectacular successes of Nazi Germany added luster to their cause.
