Victor Neumann

Victor Neumann is a Romanian historian, political analyst, and professor at the West University in Timișoara. He is a well-known specialist in the recent cultural and intellectual histories of Eastern and Central Europe (focusing his research on interculturality and multiculturality). Much of his work deals with Conceptual History, history of political thought and theory of history. As of October 2013, he is Director of the Timișoara Art Museum.

For the Mexican mathematician, see Víctor Neumann-Lara.
Victor Neumann

Biography

Born in Lugoj, Victor Neumann graduated from the University of Cluj-Napoca in 1976, and earned his PhD in History from the University of Bucharest in 1992. He was a visiting professor at the Université d'Angers (1999), Emory University in Atlanta, and Georgia State University in Athens, Georgia (1999), the National Foreign Affairs Training Center from Washington, D.C. (2001), and the University of Vienna (2003–2004). He received NATO Scholarship (1995-1997) and he was Fulbright Senior Scholar (September 2000 - September 2001) affiliated with The Catholic University of America and with the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies within the Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C.

Neumann was also head of research at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris, and a lecturer at several higher learning institutions (the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Columbia University, the London School of Slavonic and East European Studies, and the University of Udine).

Works

As author
  • The Temptation of Homo Europaeus, East European Monographs, Boulder, Colorado, 1993 (Tentația lui Homo Europaeus. Geneza spiritului modern în Europa Centrală și de Sud-Est, 1st edition, Stiințifica Publishing House, Bucharest, 1991; second edition, All Publishing House, Bucharest, 1997; 3rd edition, Polirom Publishing House, Iassy, 2006)
  • Istoria evreilor din România. Studii documentare și teoretice, Amarcord Publishing House, Timișoara, 1996
  • Identități multiple în Europa regiunilor. Interculturalitatea Banatului, Hestia Publishing House, Timișoara, 1997
  • The End of a History: The Jews of Banat from the Beginning to Nowadays, translated by Simona Neumann, The University of Bucharest Publishing House, Bucharest, 2006 (Istoria evreilor din Banat. O mărturie a multi- și interculturalității Europei oriental-centrale, Atlas-Du Style Publishing House, Bucharest, 1999)
  • Ideologie și fantasmagorie. Perspective comparative asupra istoriei gîndirii politice în Europa Est-Centrală, Polirom Publishing House, Iassy, 2001
  • Between Words and Reality. Studies on the Politics of Recognition and Changes of Regime in Contemporary Romania, translated by Simona Neumann, Council for Research of Values and Philosophy, The Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D.C., 2001
  • Neam, Popor sau Națiune? Despre Identitățile Politice Europene, 1st edition, Curtea Veche Publishing House, Bucharest, 2003; second edition, Curtea Veche Publishing House, Bucharest, 2005
  • Conceptually Mystified: East-Central Europe Torn Between Ethnicism and Recognition of Multiple Identities, translated by Mihai Luca, Enciclopedică Publishing House, Bucharest, 2004
  • Essays on Romanian Intellectual History, translated by Simona Neumann, West University of Timișoara Publishing House, Timișoara, 2008. The second edition Center for Advanced Studies in History Timișoara and Institutul European Publishing House, Iassy, 2013
  • Sinntausch/Sinntauschungen. Nationalismus und Ethnische Vielfalt in Mitteleuropa, translated by Patrick Lavrits, Dresden Universitaet Verlag (TUD), 2009
  • Iskusenia Homo Europaeusa, translation by Milisav Firulovič, Pešič I Sinovi, Beograd, 2011
  • Interculturalitatea Banatului, Art Press – Institutul European Publishing House, Timișoara – Iassy, 2012
  • Die Interkulturalitaet des Banats, Frank und Timme Verlag, Berlin, 2015
  • Conceptualizarea istoriei și limitele paradigmei naționale, RAO, București, 2015

Edited and coordinated by
  • Identitate și Cultură. Studii privind istoria Banatului, Romanian Academy of Sciences Publishing House, Bucharest, 2009
  • Istoria Romaniai prin concepte. Perspective alternative asupra limbajelor social-politice (together with Armin Heinen), Polirom Publishing House, Iassy, 2010
  • Key concepts of Romanian history: alternative approaches to socio-political languages (together with Armin Heinen), translated by Dana Mihailescu, Central European University Press, Budapest-New York, 2013
  • Modernity in Central and Southeastern Europe. Ideas, Concepts, Discourses Edited by/Coordinator and Coauthor Victor Neumann and Armin Heinen, RAO Publisher, Bucharest, 2018
  • The Banat of Timișoara. A European Melting Pot Edited by Victor Neumann, Scala Arts&Heritage Publishers, London, 2019

Translations
  • Reinhart Koselleck, Conceptul de istorie, Introduction by Victor Neumann, translated into Romanian by ... together with Patrick Lavrits, Al.I. Cuza University Publishing House, Iassy, 2005

In collaboration

Selected articles and book chapters
  • "Peculiarities of the Translation and Adaptation of the Concept of Nation in East-Central Europe. The Hungarian and Romanian Cases in the Nineteenth Century" in Contributions to the History of Concepts (Berghahn Publishers, New York), vol. 7, N. 1, Summer 2012, p. 72-101.
  • "Reinhart Koselleck şi Şcoala de Istorie Conceptuală de la Timișoara", [Reinhart Koselleck and the Doctoral School of Conceptual History from Timișoara] in Timpul, N. 4/2012, p. 12-13.
  • "The Concept of Totalitarianism in the Romanian Social-Political Languages" in Divinatio. Studia Culturologica Series, N. 31, Sofia, 2010, p. 145-161.
  • "Timișoara: A multi- and intercultural city" in Transylvanian Review, vol. 17, N. 3, Sept. 2008, p. 29-37.

Researching the Nation: The Romanian File. Studies and Selected Bibliography on Romanian Nationalism, Edited by Sorin Mitu, International Book Access, Cluj, 2008, 307p. + 165p.

  • "Istoria conceptuală şi deconstrucţia limbajelor social-politice. O contribuţie la înnoirea metodologică a istoriografiei române", [Conceptual History and the Deconstruction of Social-Political Languages. A Contribution to the Methodological Renewing of Romanian History] in Memoriile Secţiei de Ştiinţe Istorice şi Arheologie, Series IV, Tome XXXII, 2007, p. 179-191.
  • "Multiculturality and Interculturality: The Case of Timișoara" in Hungarian Studies, vol. 21, N. 1, June 2007, p. 3-18.
  • "Approche comparative de l’histoire et de la theorie multiculturelle" in Revue Roumaine d’Histoire, Romanian Academy Publishing, N. 1-4, 2007, p. 279-303.
  • "Conceptual confusions concerning the Romanian identity: Neam and Popor as expressions of ethno-nationalism" in Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – East European Perspectives, I, vol. 6, nr. 22, December 17, 2004; II, vol. 7, nr. 1, January 11, 2005; III, vol. 7, N. 2, March 9, 2005.
  • "Vergleichende Betrachtungen über die Multikulturelle Philosophie", in Forschungen zur Volks-und Landeskunde, Institutul de Studii Socio-Umane din Sibiu al Academiei Române, N. 48, 2005, Bucharest-Sibiu, p. 7-33.
  • "Umbruch im östlichen Europa. Die nationale Wende und das kollektive Gedächtnis", Andrei Corbea-Hoisie/Rudolf Jaworski/Monika Sommer (editors), Innsbruck: Studien Verlag, 2004, the study "Alternative Romanian Textbooks as Sites of Memory", p. 137-149.
  • "Romanian-Hungarian Relations and the French-German Reconciliation", Smaranda Enache and Salat Levente (editors), Cluj: Centrul de Resurse pentru Diversitate Etno-Culturală, 2004, the study "Relaţiile româno-maghiare într-un moment de răscruce" [The Romanian-Hungarian Relations at a Turning Point], p. 307-317.
  • "Permanences et ruptures dans l’ histoire des Juifs de Roumanie", Carol Iancu (editor), Montpellier: Université Paul Valery, 2004, the study Les Juifs du Banat à la fin du XIXe siècle et au debut du XX-e siècle [The Jews from Banat at the end of the 19th Century and at the Beginning of the 20th Century], p. 127-139.
  • "Vertreibungen europäisch erinnern? Historische Erfahrungen – Vergangenheitspolitik – Zukunftskonzepzionen", Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2003, the study "Erzwungene Auswanderungen. Der Fall der Deutschen aus Rumänien. Der Fall der Magyaren aus Rumänien" [Forced Emigrations. The Case of the Germans from Romania. The Case of the Hungarians from Romania], p. 102-112.
  • "Temps historique et temporalité". Autour de Reinhart Koselleck (Die historische Zeit und die Zeitlichkeit. Um Reinhart Koselleck herum), Yvailo Znepolski (editor), Paris: Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, 2003, the study "Le temps historique: une perspective comparative entre Braudel et Koselleck" [The Historical Time: a Comparative Perspective between Braudel and Koselleck], p. 444-460.
  • "Civic Education and Human Rights in an Intercultural Perspectives: The Case of Transylvania", in the East-European Studies Journal Papeles del Este, University Computense from Barcelona, N. 3, 2002, p. 1-52.
  • "Federalism and Nationalism in Austro-Hungarian Monarchy: The Aurel C. Popovici’s Theory" in East European Politics and Societies, California University Press, N. 16, 2002, p. 864-897.
  • "Conceptualizing Modernity in Multi- and Intercultural Spaces. The Case of Central and Eastern Europe", în vol. Conceptual History in the European Space, edited by Willibald Steinmetz, Michael Freeden, Javier Fernandez Sebastian, Berghahn Publishers, New York-Oxford, 2017, pp.236-263.

Reviews
  • Review by Carol IANCU, Professor Emeritus at Paul Valéry University of Montpellier, France, Honorary Member, Romanian Academy Professor:

Neumann made himself known among historians, one who made important contributions to the various strands of Clio's universe. Four challenging realms have been thoroughly explored : European, Banat, Jewish and Conceptual History. The problems of the first three already are found in the volume I cited above and through which he has become well-known in academic, cultural and even political circles.

I propose here to sketch an outline of the main orientations that come from the four areas of the vast territory studied by my esteemed colleague. In The Temptation of Homo Europaeus, he deliberately chooses the geographic area of Central and South-Eastern Europe and aims to rediscover the past from "books that include a modern vision of these spaces". This is all the more meritorious given that the vast majority of the writings devoted to the history of Europe exemplify only the Western space. Professor Neumann consecrated a whole chapter of the transition from medieval to modern times, invoking the echo of Renaissance in East-Central Europe and the Balkan Peninsula. Erasmus's conceptions, dialogues and polemics with different personalities have attracted his attention, causing him to draw parallels between the West and East of the continent as far as the spirits of European thinking are concerned. He finds that the renewal of the humanist culture through art and science has taken place in schools set up by cities, and this culture was not just in the Occident. The historian cites the renewal, due to cultural interference, such as the Oradea Humanist Learning Center, where the diplomats of the Hungarian Royal Court were formed. He also speaks of a Renaissance echo felt in the Balkans, insisting on the printing or transcription of Cyrillic books, as occurred in the printing houses of Belgrade and Skandar in the middle of the 16th century. Then he shows how in Wallachia and Moldavia, under the reigns of Matei Basarab and Vasile Lupu, the foundations of the humanist culture were established thanks to Orthodox Metropolitan Varlaam.

In presenting religious reform in East-Central Europe, the focus is on the consequences of Catholic propaganda. In the Age of Enlightenment, there was a real intellectual revolution that marked the European Man, but the events in Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia could not be broken by the thinking of the time: "The same decades that flow between 1791, the year of the Supplex, and 1848, according to which the individual will have to guide himself to a right that belongs to him since his birth: the right to liberty".

Resuming the thesis of Professor Răzvan Theodorescu relative to the cultural corridors of South-Eastern Europe during in the Middle Ages, Professor Neumann has expanded his research both in time and space, considering people who have propagated books, information, and ideas. He pursued "corridors facilitating communication from the north in Gothenburg to eastern Transylvania, from the Flemish world to the Austrian, Hungarian and Romanian universities, from the Halle and Berlin universities to Buda, Karlowitz, Sibiu, Blaj, Iasi, Bucharest not excluding Russia to Peter the Great or the Greek Mount Athos." The multiple plans of the cultural dialogue have continued in other important books, including: Between Words and Reality. Studies on the Politics of Recognition and the Changes of Regime in Contemporary Romania (2001); Neam, Popor sau Națiune? (Kin, People or Nation?, 1st Edition, 2003, 2nd edition, 2005, 3rd edition, 2015); and Essays on Romanian Intellectual History (1st Edition, 2008, 2nd Edition, 2013).

The second theme for which Professor Neumann has demonstrated a sincere passion is that of Banat. From Romanian historian’s point of view, Banat is "a region of convergence," "a territory in which the civilizations of the Center and South-East intertwine, generating on the one hand the multiple internal dialogue, on the other hand, the great European dialogue." Furthermore, a turntable of the area between Vienna and Constantinople". Banat is also the birthplace of Professor Neumann; this story also is woven through studies and books. The various linguistic and religious communities that coexisted with the Romanians benefited from a rich description, thus understanding the dialogue with Central and Western Europe, the Balkans and before and after Byzantium. It is the note of originality in Banat, a region located between two worlds, between two civilizations and influenced by the ideas of the French Revolution, which gave rise to a "form of manifestation of bourgeois democratism".

Banat is present in many historical writings, coordinated collective volumes including the most important, Identitate și Cultură. Studii privind istoria Banatului (Identity and Culture. Studies on Banat History, 2009) and Istoria Banatului. Studii privind particularitățile unei regiuni transfrontaliere (History of The Banat. The Peculiarities of a Cross-Border Region, 1st edition, 2015, 2nd editions, 2016). Professor Neumann is the author of most chapters among the 23 contributions included in the final edition entitled, The Banat of Timişoara. A European Melting Pot (Scala Arts & Heritage, London, 2019). It is a highly relevant synthesis, one that explains in detail the genesis of the region's particularities due to the cultural diversity of its inhabitants.

The third theme is present in a remarkable chapter in Homo Europaeus entitled, "A convergence-generating diaspora? Radiation of Judaism in Central and South-Eastern Europe". Professor Neumann has succeeded here in a fascinating fresco of the Jewish community, with particular attention being given to the original diaspora, namely to Sephardic people expelled from the Iberian Peninsula at the end of the 15th century, and who found special refuge in the Ottoman Empire. The attraction for the history of the Jews has as its starting point the observation that "the Jew is the most important alterity within the European civilization”. Analyzing a little- known Jewish diaspora, the historian shows that the presence of Jews in the Balkans and Pannonia dates back to Antiquity, noting that archaeological excavations in Greece, the former Yugoslavia, Hungary and Romania have led to the discovery of new testimonies, especially in archaeological research. For medieval and modern epochs, rabbinic responses evoke facts and events about everyday life. When describing the major centers of the Jewish diaspora in South-Eastern Europe, the historian does not miss out on any outstanding events: Neither the controversial problem of the Khazars nor the false Messianism represented by Sabbatai Zevi; nor the Kabbalist universe, nor the mystical movement of Hasidism; neither the encyclopedic culture of the Jews nor the changing intellectual orientations of the century of Enlightenment (the role of engine being played by Moses Mendelssohn, the Father of Haskalah) in a vast geographic territory including Boemia, Austria, Hungary, Transylvania, Banat, Maramureş, Moldova, Wallachia, Serbia, Bosnia and Greece.

The author has returned to the history of the Jews in a series of studies that have been gathered under the titles of the Istoria evreilor din România. Studii documentare și teoretice (History of the Jews in Romania. Documentary and Theoretical Studies, 1st edition, 1996, second edition, 2018); and History of the Jews in Banat. A testimony of the multi- and interculturality of East-Central Europe (1999). In the first collection, research is devoted to the Jewish emancipation, Jewish-Romanian cultural and political relations in the Old Kingdom of Romania, their condition in Romania during the interwar years and under the Antonescu regime, as well as the "controversial case" during the communist totalitarian regime. The second collection includes descriptions of the Jewish communities in the 18th century, religious reform and political emancipation in the 19th century, their situation during the reign of King Carol II, Ion Antonescu's fascist dictatorship, and dictatorship of the communist regime. It is worth mentioning two other articles in the volume Identitate și Cultură. Studii privind istoria Banatului (Identity and Culture. Studies on the History of Banat): “Ecoul pogromului de la Iași în presa din Banat" (The Echo of the Iasi Pogrom in Banat Press) and “Evreii din Banat și Transilvania de sud în timpul celui de-al doilea război mondial” (The Jews of Banat and Southern Transylvania in the Second World War). All of these are contributions based on numerous archived sources, on a broad bibliography, but also on keen analyses, contextualizations and original interpretations.

As for the fourth theme of research, the theorizing of history, it is particularly present in the books of Ideologie și Fantasmagorie (Ideology and Fantasy, 2001, 2015); Neam, Popor sau Națiune? (Kin, People or Nation?, 2003, 2005, 2015); and Conceptualizarea istoriei și limitele paradigmei naționale (The Conceptualization of History and the Limits of the National Paradigm, 2015). Professor Neumann is concerned here with the concept of identity, exploring new interpretative angles, starting from social heterogeneity and linguistic, religious and cultural pluralism. As in the other three themes, his studies in the field of "conceptual history" are remarkable in their approach and balanced analysis of the different concepts that concern contemporary history including: multiculturality; interdisciplinarity; ethnicity; isolationism; integration; community; people, nation; nationality; nationalism; and anti-Semitism.

Notes

    References
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