The relentless victory over the past. Conversations with Olga Racoviță
(Abstract)
Twenty years ago, Olga Racoviță (1915-2009), descendant of important aristocratic families (Suțu, Cantacuzino, Lahovary) and niece of the great conservative politician Petre P. Carp, former prime minister of Romania, gave an interwiev about her life story. Sevastia Cantacuzino-Carp, the maternal grand mother whose remembrance shone brightly in Olga’s memory, raised the little girl because the father was killed on the battlefield during the Great War (1916) and the mother was involved in a new marriage.
The Carp manor at Țibănești (Iași County), place of a happy childhood, is nostalgically evoked, recalling the special atmosphere of this aristocratic residence in good times and also after the devastations that followed the entrance of the Soviet Army in Romania. Historical places like Miclăușeni castle, ennobled once before by aristocratic characters, became intertwined in Olga Racoviță’s memories with dramas that followed the year 1948 when her life turned into an endless fight for survival, her mind being focused only at her descendants and their future. The victory over the past was the result obtained by Olga Racoviță at the sunset of her life.
Cuvinte cheie: Petre P. Carp, Sevastia Carp, Petre P. P. Carp, Marie-Jeanne Soutzo, Alexandru-Anton Rosetti, Alexandru-Scarlat Rosetti, Nicolae Racoviță, Ruxandra Racoviță, Ioan Cantacuzino, Maria Mavros, Dimitrie A. Sturdza, Țibănești, Miclăușeni, București, Iași, Sibiu, moșie, parc, conac, cavou, bibliotecă, naționalizare, devastare, restituire
Keywords: Petre P. Carp, Sevastia Carp, Petre P. P. Carp, Marie-Jeanne Soutzo, Alexandru-Anton Rosetti, Alexandru-Scarlat Rosetti, Nicolae Racoviță, Ruxandra Racoviță, Ioan Cantacuzino, Maria Mavros, Dimitrie A. Sturdza, Țibănești, Miclăușeni, București, Iași, Sibiu, estate, park, manor, burial chamber, library, nationalization, devastation, restitution