Leonte Tismăneanu (born
Leonid Tisminetski; 1913–1981) was a
Romanian communist activist and propagandist.
Born into a
Jewish family in
Soroca,
Bessarabia,
Russian Empire (now in
Moldova), he joined the
Romanian Communist Party (PCR) in the early 1930s
Stalinism pentru eternitate, p.38. He engaged in illegal communist activities in
Bucharest,
Galaţi,
Brăila and Soroca. Later, he fought as a volunteer in the
International Brigades during the
Spanish Civil War, losing his right arm at the age of 24.Goşu;
Stalinism pentru eternitate, p.38 In 1939, Tisminetski left for the
Soviet Union, where he became a student of the
Moscow State Linguistic University. After the start of
Operation Barbarossa, in which Romania took part (
see Romania during World War II), he worked with
Ana Pauker,
Leonte Răutu, and
Vasile Luca for the
Romanian language branch of
Radio Moscow, first as a newsreader, then as a writer.
In 1948, Tisminetski and his family were sent to
Soviet-occupied Romania, where he changed his name in 1949 to
Leonte Tismăneanu, at the request of the PCR.
Stalinism pentru eternitate, p.320 He was named deputy director of Editura PMR, later
Editura Politică, the publishing house of the Communist Party
Stalinism pentru eternitate p.333 and also held...
Read More