Neagu Djuvara

Neagu Djuvara was a Romanian historian, essayist, philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat. Born in Bucharest, he was descended from an aristocratic Aromanian family. His father, Marcel, a graduate of the Technical University of Berlin and a captain in the Romanian Royal Army's Engineer Corps, died of the Spanish flu in 1918; his mother, Tinca, was the last descendant of the Grădișteanu family of boyar origins. Djuvara's uncles Trandafir and Alexandru Djuvara were notable public figures. He attended lycée in Nice, France, and graduated in Letters (1937) and Law (1940) from the University of Paris. During World War II, he returned to Romania, where he married and fathered a daughter. He joined the Romanian Armed Forces and was stationed in Ploiești under the Iron Guard's National Legionary government. Following the establishment of Ion Antonescu's dictatorship and the start of Operation Barbarossa, as an officer cadet, he fought on the Eastern Front, saw action in Bassarabia and Transnistria, before being wounded in the arm during the Battle of Odessa (1941). After the war, he became a supporter of parliamentary democracy and had a distinguished career as a diplomat and academic.