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Register of the Georges de Serdici, baron, Papers, 1947-1990
91016
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Title: Georges de Serdici, baron, Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1947-1990
Collection number: 91016
Creator:
Serdici, Georges de, baron, 1920-
Collection Size:
16 manuscript boxes
4 linear feet)
Repository:
Hoover Institution Archives
Stanford, California 94305-6010
Abstract: Correspondence, memoranda, press releases, depositions, legal documents, and printed
matter, relating to political conditions in Romania; the trial of Iuliu Maniu, Vasile de
Serdici and other leaders of the Partidul National Taranesc in 1947; Romanian émigré
affairs; the Comitetul National Rom^an and other anti-communist organizations; and a
lawsuit for defamation brought against Cicerone Ioanitoiu in France in 1985.
Language:
Romanian,
French
English and
Swedish.
Collection open for research.
The Hoover Institution Archives only allows access to
copies of audiovisual items. To listen to sound recordings or to view videos or films during your visit, please contact the Archives
at least two working days before your arrival. We will then advise you of the accessibility of the material you wish to see
or hear. Please note that not all audiovisual material is immediately accessible.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives.
[Identification of item], Georges de Serdici, baron, Papers, [Box no.], Hoover
Institution Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Archives in 1991.
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. To determine if this has occurred, find
the collection in Stanford University's online catalog at
http://searchworks.stanford.edu/ . Materials have been added to the collection if the number of boxes listed in the online catalog is larger than the number
of boxes listed in this finding aid.
Political crimes and offenses -- Romania
Partidul National Taranesc
Maniu, Iuliu, 1873-1951
Serdici, Vasile de, baron, 1889-1953
Romanians in foreign countries
Anti-communist movements
Comitetul National Român
Ioanitoiu, Cicerone
Romania
Communism
Romania -- Politics and government, 1944-1989
| 1920 | Born in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. Son of Vasile de Serdici, former Romanian landowner and one of the leaders of the Romanian National Peasant Party (Partidul National Taranesc), one of the most important parties during the inter-war period |
| 1947 | Co-defense attorney in the trial organized by the Soviet NKVD and the Romanian communist secret services (Securitate) against the leadership of the Romanian National Peasant Party, including Iuliu Maniu and Vasile de Serdici |
| 1948 March | Escaped illegally from Romania. Since then, has been living in Sweden, Great Britain, and Germany, running his own businesses in real estate, oil, and shipping, and engaging relentlessly in anti-communist activities |
| 1982-1990 | Secretary General of the Romanian National Peasant Party, currently the majority party of the ruling coalition of Romania |
| 1989 | Won the lawsuit he brought against Cicerone Ioanitoiu in 1985 |
Georges de Serdici's papers cover mainly the years he spent as an émigré in the U.S.,
after 1948. His writings and correspondence deal mostly with émigré affairs and with the
lawsuit for defamation he brought against Cicerone Ioanitoiu in 1985.
The grounds for this lawsuit lie in the publication of Ioanitoiu's book entitled
Tombes sans croix (Tombs without a cross). In this book related to the
trial organized in 1947 by the NKVD and by the Romanian communist secret service,
Securitate, against the elite democratic politicians, Ioanitoiu depicts Georges de
Serdici's father (Vasile) as a "traitor." He accused Vasile de Serdici of delivering the
archives of the National Peasant Party (PNT) to the communists, and of betraying the
PNT's leader during the 1947 trial. Ioanitoiu also emphasized that this behavior was
characteristic of Serdici, who left the army during war time in 1918 in order to serve as
a witness to Prince Carol (future Carol II, King of Romania) in his wedding to Zizi
Lambrino.
Bringing Alexandre Cretzianu, Emil Ghilizean, Cornel Bianu and others as witnesses,
Georges de Serdici proved to the Court the irrelevance to the case of the second
accusation, and the groundlessness of the first one. Like all political prisoners in
Romania during the 1940s-1960s, his father was tortured both physically and
psychologically, and administrated drugs, thus rendered many times irresponsible for his
actions. That fact, corroborated by the proof that V. Serdici did not have in his
possession any archival materials to deliver to the communists, enabled Georges de
Serdici to win the case in 1989.
Also of special importance in the collection are the materials related to the Romanian
section of Radio Free Europe, and its alleged collaboration with Securitate (see files
1-5 in box 6 and files 1 and 6-8 in box 7).