Alexandru Paleologu (Romanian pronunciation:[alekˈsandrupale.oˈloɡu]; March 14, 1919 – September 2, 2005) was aRomanian essayist, literary critic, diplomat, and politician. He is the father of historianTheodor Paleologu.
Paleologu was born inBucharest, into an ancient Romanianboyar family that claimed descent from thePalaiologoi, the last ruling dynasty of theByzantine Empire. His ancestors had moved fromLesbos Island to theDanubian Principalities at the beginning of the 18th century. Paleologu was also, through various marriages, a descendant of theWallachianPrinceConstantin Brâncoveanu. Alexandru Paleologu's father,Mihail Paleologu, was a lawyer andNational Liberal Member ofParliament, later general secretary in the Ministries of Justice and of Finance, who was known for his association withGrigore Iunian, while his mother was Elena Pennescu-Vidrașcu.[1]
He graduated from theSpiru Haret High School [ro] in Bucharest and then he studied law at theUniversity of Bucharest. In 1944, after theRoyal Coup that overthrewIon Antonescu's dictatorship and took Romania out of theAxis, Paleologu took part in the Romanian committee of thearmistice with theAllies and, between 1946 and 1948, worked for theRomanian Royal Ministry of External Affairs. After theCommunists regime was established, he was under surveillance by theSecuritate, and he lived hidden and under a false name inCâmpulung until 1956, when he began working as a researcher at theRomanian Academy in the Institute of Ancient Art History.
In 1959, Paleologu was arrested and sentenced to 14 years offorced labour. In prison, he met many other important people in Romanian culture such asConstantin Noica andAlexandru Ivasiuc. At the penal colony Salcia fromBrăila Swamp labor camps he metIon Dezideriu Sîrbu,Alexandru Zub, andSergiu Al-George [ro].[2] He was freed in 1964, and he worked at the same Institute in the Theatre section. He was the literary secretary of theConstantin Nottara Theatre [ro] of Bucharest and, in 1967, he became a member of theRomanian Writers' Union. Between 1970 and 1976 he was a writer for theCartea Românească publishing house.
After theRomanian Revolution of 1989, he was named ambassador of Romania toFrance (starting February 1, 1990), but he was replaced in June 1990 because he was a sympathiser of theGolaniad movement ofUniversity Square (he was the self-styled "ambassador of the hooligans" -ambasadorul golanilor), as well due to his pro-monarchist views.
He later became a member of theCivic Alliance Party, founded byNicolae Manolescu and he was elected asenator forArgeș during the1992 election. He was aNational Liberal senator forVrancea (onRomanian Democratic Convention lists) following the1996 election, and reelected forBucharest during the2000 suffrage (serving until 2004).
In the years after 1989 he admitted in a book of interviews with historian and novelistStelian Tănase that during the communist period he eventually ended up collaborating with the Securitate and asked Romanians to forgive him. He died aged 86, at his house at 34 Armenească Street in Bucharest,[1] and was buried in the city'sBellu Cemetery.[3]
