BOGDAN, CORNELIU

BOGDAN, CORNELIU (1921–1990), Romanian diplomat. During World War II, he was unable to continue his studies in Romania because he was a Jew and eventually went to study at the Sorbonne in Paris where he joined the Communist Party. Returning to Romania after the end of World War II, he became a Romanian diplomat and, under the Ceausescu regime, served as Romanian ambassador to the U.S. (1967–70), Canada (1968–70), and Costa Rica (1970–71), subsequently heading the West European desk in the Romanian Foreign Ministry. He and the foreign minister, Corneliu Manescu, also a longtime Communist, shared the same sophisticated intellectual background, with less nationalistic tendencies, and both came to differ with Ceausescu, and – as a result – in due course they lost their official jobs. For most of the 1980s, Bogdan earned his living as a translator and was under virtual house arrest. In 1988, he was allowed to move to the U.S. where he had been awarded a fellowship. He remained there until the new regime established after the execution of Ceausescu recalled him and appointed him foreign minister, hoping that his expertise would help in forging new ties with the West. However, he died a few days after his appointment.