Series VI: Medical Sciences – SUPPLEMENT ... - Krongres

D. BARAN: Dr. Victor Gomoiu, Balkan paradigms and lessons of a lifetime 143
Cantacuzino, member of the Romanian
Academy and president of the RSHM, by
then. Gomoiu`s attitude earned him the
titles of honorary member of the Greek
Society for the History of Medicine
(Athenes, 1932), honorary member of the
Association of the Serbian, Croatian and
Slovene Physicians (Zagreb, 1933),
member of the «Hippocrates» Society in
Belgrad (1939); honorary member of the
Turkish Society for the History of
Medicine (Istambul, 1940). [6, 10]
Resistance and correspondence
After 1946, Dr.Victor Gomoiu was
marginalized by the communist regime.
He ostentatively refused to integrate the
new political and ideological realities of
his country, even though he turned down
the royal family`s proposal to accompany
them in their exile.
He simply tried to resist imposture and
fight for his country and people, for his
credo, to the end of his life, assuming the
supreme sacrifice. [7]
Immediately after 1945, communists
imposed their own rigorous laws.
Opposing psychological pressure and
ostracization, Gomoiu maintained his
correspondence with former friends and
collaborators: Tricot-Royer, Giordano,
Siegerist, Castiglioni, Diepgen, Pazzini,
Guiart, Verhoeven, Sergescu.
Letters were censored and details had to
be unvoiced or subtly implied. Western
correspondents had a faint idea about what
was going on beyond the iron curtain.
When addressing colleagues from the
communist camp, e.g., Bulgaria or
Yugoslavia, Gomoiu`s language became
more sympathetic and even direct. [7]
They were experiencing a similar tragedy.
Behavioural paradigms and the
lessons of history
Victor Gomoiu`s memoirs reveal his
disappointment that under the particular
post-
World War II circumstances, Valeriu
Bologa had chosen a different, more
“materialistic” way. [7]
Bologa bowed to political pressure and
advised Gomoiu to accept reality. But for
Gomoiu «moral death seemed more
serious than physical decay».
It was unbearable for the intransigent
Gomoiu who, to metamorphosing into a
«new man», preferred martyrdom and the
final «judgement of history» which gave
him a sense of relief. Bologa, instead,
coped with the new social order and
political rules.
Gomoiu exceptionally pioneered and
sanctioned medical historical research in
Romania; Bologa exceptionally developed
this domain and became a reference author
of classic writings and of the first
handbooks.
President of the RSHM (1949-1971)
and vice-president of the ISHM (1964-
1970), Bologa organized in 1970 the
XXII nd ISHM Congress in Bucharest and
Constantza, the second of this kind in
Romania.
Which was the right choice for
intellectuals under «the terror of history»?
This still is both a Romanian and Balkan
dilemma, another tragic «riddle of
history».
References
[1]. Bologa V. L., Br�tescu G. et al., Istoria
medicinei române�ti, Ed. Medical�,
Bucure�ti, 1972.
[2]. Colan H., Petre Sergescu, historien des
sciences ou la fascination de la
générosité, à travers quelques
souvenirs, Noesis, Académie
Roumaine, 2006, 30-31: 195-204.
[3]. Colan H., Bref historique du
développement de l’histoire des
sciences et des techniques en
Roumanie. Noesis, Académie
Roumaine, 2002, XXVII: 95–100.