Corneliu Vadim Tudor

2025-09-15T19:12:09Z

188.27.132.69:

{{Short description|Romanian politician, poet and writer (1949–2015)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Corneliu Vadim Tudor
| image = Corneliu Vadim Tudor - Declaratii la BEC.png
| imagesize = 170px
| office = [[Member of the European Parliament]] for [[Romania (European Parliament constituency)|Romania]]
| term_start = 14 July 2009
| term_end = 1 July 2014
| office1 = [[Standing Bureau of the Senate of Romania|Vice-President of the Senate of Romania]]
| 1blankname1 = {{nowrap|[[President of the Senate of Romania|President]]}}
| 1namedata1 = [[Nicolae Văcăroiu]]
| term_start1 = 19 December 2004
| term_end1 = 14 December 2008
| office2 = Member of the [[Senate of Romania]]
| term_start2 = 16 October 1992
| term_end2 = 14 December 2008
| constituency2 = [[Bucharest]]
| office3 = Leader of the [[Greater Romania Party]]
| term_start3 = 20 June 1991
| term_end3 = 14 September 2015
| successor3 = [[Emil Străinu]]
| party = [[Romanian Communist Party]] {{small|(1980–⁠1989)}} <br /> [[Greater Romania Party]] {{small|(1991–⁠2015)}}
| spouse = {{Marriage|Doina Tudor|1987|2015}}
| children = [[Lidia Vadim-Tudor|Lidia]], Eugenia
| relatives = Marcu Tudor (brother)
| education = [[Saint Sava National College]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Bucharest]] <br /> [[University of Vienna]] <br /> [[University of Craiova]] <br /> [[Ovidius University]]
| occupation = Writer, poet, journalist, politician
| profession = Historian, sociologist, theologian, limbolog
| nationality = [[Romanian]]
| birth_name = Corneliu Tudor
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1949|11|28}}
| birth_place = [[Bucharest]], [[Socialist Republic of Romania|Romanian People's Republic]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|2015|09|14|1949|11|28}}
| death_place = [[Bucharest]], [[Romania]]
| resting_place = [[Ghencea Cemetery]], Bucharest
| blank1 = Religion
| data1 = Romanian Pentecostal
| website = {{URL|https://vadim-tudor.ro/}}
}}

'''Corneliu Vadim Tudor''' ({{IPA|ro|korˈnelju vaˈdim ˈtudor}}; 28 November 1949 – 14 September 2015), also colloquially known as "'''Tribunul'''", was a Romanian politician, poet, writer, and journalist who was the leader of the [[Greater Romania Party]] ({{langx|ro|Partidul România Mare}}) and a [[Member of the European Parliament]]. He was a [[Senate of Romania|Romanian senator]] from 1992 to 2008. He was born and died in [[Bucharest]], Romania.<ref>{{cite news|author=Alison Mutler|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/corneliu-vadim-tudor-ultranationalist-romanian-poet-and-politician-dies-at-65/2015/09/14/b4d4d48c-5b28-11e5-8e9e-dce8a2a2a679_story.html|title=Corneliu Vadim Tudor, ultranationalist Romanian poet and politician, dies at 65|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=14 September 2015|access-date=16 September 2015}}</ref>

As a political figure, he was known for having held strong [[Nationalism|nationalist]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://cdnedge.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1044023.stm|title=Romania's far-right contender|publisher=BBC|access-date=28 December 2012}}</ref> views, which were reflected in his rhetoric and his denunciation of political opponents (a tactic which the judgements in several civil lawsuits handed down against him deemed to be [[defamation|slander]]ous).{{citation needed|date=December 2017}} He was most commonly referred to as "Vadim", which was a name he selected for himself, not a family name (and not shared with his brother, former [[Romanian Land Forces|Romanian Army]] officer {{ill|Marcu Tudor|ro}}).<ref>[http://www.cdep.ro/pls/parlam/structura.mp?idm=278&cam=2&leg=2004&pag=0&prn=0&par=&idl=2 Deputy Marcu Tudor's webpage], cdep.ro; accessed 17 September 2015.{{in lang|ro}}</ref>

==Biography==
Tudor was born in [[Bucharest]] on 28 November 1949, into a working-class family, his father being a tailor.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,461425,00.html|title=Far-Right MPs Join Forces in EU Parliament: A Small Thorn in The EU's Side|publisher=Spiegel|date=23 January 2007|access-date=28 December 2012}}</ref> In his youth, being an admirer of the French film director [[Roger Vadim]], he chose the pseudonym '''Vadim''' as his middle name.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}}

In 1971, he received a degree in sociology from the Faculty of Philosophy of the [[University of Bucharest]], and in 1975, he studied at the School for Reserve Officers in Bucharest.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ziare.com/corneliu-vadim-tudor/stiri-corneliu-vadim-tudor/corneliu-vadim-tudor-implineste-61-de-ani-1058629|title=Corneliu Vadim Tudor implineste 61 de ani|publisher=Ziare|date=26 June 2003|accessdate=28 December 2012|language=ro}}</ref> With the help of his mentor, [[Herder Prize]] winner [[Eugen Barbu]], he obtained a scholarship and studied in [[Vienna]] from 1978 to 1979.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.munzinger.de/search/portrait/Corneliu+Vadim+Tudor/0/23579.html|title=Corneliu Vadim Tudor|website=www.munzinger.de|access-date=28 December 2012|language=German}}</ref> During the communist era, he worked as a journalist, editor, and poet: in the early 1970s, he was one of the editors at ''[[România liberă]]'', and after 1975 was an editor at the Romanian official press agency, [[Agerpress]]. He served as senator from 1992 to 2008. For the first time since 1990, after the [[2008 Romanian legislative election|election of 30 November 2008]], he and his party were no longer present in either of the Romanian legislative chambers. On 25 September 2001, Tudor renounced his parliamentary immunity from prosecution.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hri.org/news/balkans/rferl/2001/01-09-25.rferl.html#30|title=RFE/RL Newsline|publisher=HRI|date=9 January 2001|access-date=28 December 2012}}</ref>

In December 2004, [[Nobel Peace Prize]] laureate [[Elie Wiesel]] returned the ''[[Order of the Star of Romania|Steaua României]]'' medal, one of the country's highest honors, after President [[Ion Iliescu]] awarded Tudor the same honor in the last days of his presidency. Wiesel said he was returning the honor because he could not "accept being placed on the same level" as Tudor and fellow party member (and honor recipient) [[Gheorghe Buzatu]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.worldpress.org/Europe/2001.cfm |title=Controversial Moves by Romanian President Before Exit|date=23 December 2004|website=www.worldpress.org}}</ref> 15 [[Radio Free Europe]] journalists, [[Timișoara]] mayor [[Gheorghe Ciuhandu]], songwriter {{ill|Alexandru Andrieș|ro}}, and historian [[Randolph Braham]] all returned their ''Steaua României'' medals as well due to the awards given Tudor and Buzatu.<ref>see the [[Ion Iliescu#Decorating Vadim Tudor|Ion Iliescu]] article</ref> Tudor's ''Steaua României'' award was revoked by Romanian president [[Traian Băsescu]] in May 2007.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ziua.ro/display.php?data=2007-05-28&id=221358 |title=Vadim Tudor dez-onorat |lang=ro|date=27 May 2007|access-date=27 May 2007 |newspaper=[[Ziua]]|url-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070702071123/http://www.ziua.ro/display.php?data=2007-05-28&id=221358 |archive-date=2 July 2007}}</ref> Tudor consequently announced that he would sue Băsescu for abuse of power;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ziare.com/corneliu-vadim-tudor/traian-basescu/vadim-il-da-in-judecata-pe-basescu-pentru-retragerea-decoratiei-93736 |title=Vadim îl dă in judecată pe Băsescu pentru retragerea decorației|website=www.ziare.com|access-date=28 December 2012}}</ref> in the end, Tudor won the trial with Băsescu.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ziare.com/corneliu-vadim-tudor/traian-basescu/c-v-tudor-am-castigat-procesul-cu-basescu-in-cazul-steaua-romaniei-723453|title=C.V. Tudor: Am câștigat procesul cu Băsescu in cazul Steaua României|website=www.ziare.com}}</ref>

As a poet he made his debut in May 1965 at the national radio station with a poem read in the George Călinescu literary circle. He published several volumes of prose and poetry: ''Poezii'' (''Poems''; 1977), ''Epistole vieneze'' (''Viennese Epistles''; 1979), ''Poeme de dragoste, ură și speranță'' (''Poems of Love, Hatred and Hope''; 1981), ''Idealuri'' (''Ideals''; 1983), ''Saturnalii'' (''Saturnalia'', 1983), ''Istorie și civilizatie'' (''History and Civilization''; 1983), ''Mândria de a fi români'' (''The Pride of Being Romanian''; 1985), ''Miracole'' (''Miracles''; 1986 anthology), ''Jurnal de vacanță'' (''Holiday Journal'', 1996), ''Poems'' (translated in seven languages, published in Torino, Italy, 1998), ''Europa Creștină'' (''Christian Europe''), and ''Artificii'' (''Artifices''; 2010).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Corneliu Vadim Tudor, Romania's most influential politician, dies at age 65|url=http://diasporaonline.info/home/actualitate/1715-corneliu-vadim-tudor-romanias-most-influential-politician-dies-at-age-65.html|accessdate=15 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304072324/http://diasporaonline.info/home/actualitate/1715-corneliu-vadim-tudor-romanias-most-influential-politician-dies-at-age-65.html|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Tudor was married and had two children. He died of a heart attack on 14 September 2015 in his native [[Bucharest]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.mediafax.ro/politic/corneliu-vadim-tudor-a-murit-14712365|title=Corneliu Vadim Tudor a murit|author=Livia Ispas|agency=Mediax|date=14 September 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/corneliu-vadim-tudor-court-poet-to-nicolae-ceausescu-who-became-an-extreme-nationalist-figure-after-the-fall-of-communism-in-romania-10504432.html|title= Corneliu Vadim Tudor: Court poet to Nicolae Ceaușescu who became an extreme nationalist figure after the fall of communism in Romania|newspaper= [[The Independent]]|date= 16 September 2015|access-date=24 January 2021}}</ref> and was buried in the city's [[Ghencea Cemetery]].

His daughter, [[Lidia Vadim-Tudor]], was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in [[2024 Romanian parliamentary election|2024]] for the for the [[Alliance for the Union of Romanians]] (AUR) party.<ref>{{Cite web | title=Lidia Vadim Tudor: Poliția a săltat oamenii din case, pentru opiniile lor exprimate pe rețelele de socializare în legătură cu decizia scandaloasă a CCR - | url=https://www.amosnews.ro/lidia-vadim-tudor-politia-a-saltat-oamenii-din-case-pentru-opiniile-lor-exprimate-pe-retelele-de-socializare-in-legatura-cu-decizia-scandaloasa-a-ccr/ | access-date=2025-08-18 | website=www.amosnews.ro}}</ref>

==Ideology==
In June 1990, Tudor and [[Eugen Barbu]] founded the nationalist weekly magazine ''România Mare'' ("Greater Romania"), which began as a magazine for the government's policies.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}} Later evidence affirmed "Greater Romania" was released with the help of the Communist administration in Bucharest.<ref name="Berteanu">Petre Berteanu, Romanian nationalism and political communication: Greater Romania Party (Partidul Romania Mare), a case-study, In: Jaroslav Hroch, David Hollan, George F. McLean, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ziOsTiZe_qAC National, Cultural, and Ethnic Identities: Harmony Beyond Conflict], CRVP, 1998, p. 170. {{ISBN|978-1-56518-170-0}}</ref>

In 1991, they founded the Greater Romania Party, the platform of which ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine described as "a crude mixture of [[anti-Semitism]],<ref>Daniela Humoreanu, [http://www.bu.edu/globalbeat/ROMANIA/romdaniela.html "His Blood Upon Your Children"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160520151902/http://www.bu.edu/globalbeat/ROMANIA/romdaniela.html |date=20 May 2016 }}, bu.edu; accessed 11 January 2007.</ref> racism and nostalgia for the good old days of [[communism]]". Some statements and articles by Tudor and his colleagues can be described{{citation needed|date=September 2015}} as ultranationalist, anti-[[Hungarians|Hungarian]], [[antiziganism|anti-Roma]] and [[homophobia|homophobic]].<ref>[http://www.sfbaytimes.com/index.php?sec=article&article_id=4066 LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area], ''[[San Francisco Bay Times]]''; retrieved 30 December 2013.</ref><ref>[https://www.errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=2513 Romanian Equality Watchdog Rules Anti-Romani Speech by Romanian Politician is Discriminatory], ERRC.org; retrieved 30 December 2013.</ref><ref>[https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/romania/tudor.html Frontline/World: Reporter's Notebook: House of Tudor], PBS.org; retrieved 30 December 2013.</ref><ref>[http://www.bu.edu/globalbeat/ROMANIA/romeugenelucian.html The Primitive Discrimination] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171127140155/http://www.bu.edu/globalbeat/ROMANIA/romeugenelucian.html |date=27 November 2017 }}. Bu.edu; retrieved 30 December 2013.</ref>

Besides Moldova, Tudor wanted [[Greater Romania]] to include [[Bessarabia]], [[Budjak]], [[Bukovina|Northern Bukovina]], and the [[Hertsa region]], which have belonged to [[Ukraine]] since the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] but were part of [[Moldavia]] until the Russian annexation in 1812, and part of Romania between 1918 and 1940 and between 1941 and 1944. ''România Mare'' has been sued for [[Defamation|libel]] with stunning frequency, often for Tudor's own writings (which he usually, if not always, signed under the pseudonym ''[[Alcibiades|Alcibiade]]''). Between 1993 and 1996, his party supported the leftist governmental coalition (the "[[Red Quadrilateral]]").{{citation needed|date=September 2015}}

Tudor's and his party's change from [[national communism]] to [[ultranationalism]] took place after 1996. In 1999, Dan Corneliu Hudici, a former reporter at ''România Mare'', claimed there was a "secret blacklist" of dozens of politicians (including President [[Emil Constantinescu]]), journalists, and businessmen to be arrested if Tudor's party came to power. However, that allegation only increased Tudor's popularity. In the first round of the Romanian presidential elections on 26 November 2000, Tudor finished second with 28% of the vote. Four years earlier, he had come in fifth. However, nearly all other parties backed [[Ion Iliescu]] in the 11 December runoff, and Tudor only gained five points compared to his first round performance while Iliescu surged from 36% to 67%.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}}

Tudor supported Romania's entry to the [[European Union]] and sustained its presence in [[NATO]]. In 2003, Tudor claimed to have changed his views on Jews and the [[Holocaust]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,329444,00.html|title=Romania: The Continuing Secret Police Cover Up|publisher=[[Der Spiegel]]|date=24 November 2004|access-date=28 December 2012}}</ref> In a letter dated 1 February 2004, he retracted certain earlier statements he had made as inappropriately anti-Semitic. Further, he wrote: "I know that I was wrong to have denied the Holocaust in Romania, which happened between 1941 and 1944 under Antonescu's regime". Many publicly questioned his sincerity and motivations of the change and viewed it simply as a political ploy.<ref>[https://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=412337&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y Vadim sees the light], [[Haaretz]], 7 April 2004.</ref>

Ahead of the [[2000 Romanian general election|2000 presidential election]], Tudor, who finished in second, made the reintroduction of capital punishment a major plank of his campaign.<ref name="diviz">{{in lang|ro}} Cristian Delcea, [http://adevarul.ro/cultura/istorie/pedeapsa-moartea-problema-divizat-romania-1_53d25a8c0d133766a8bb75db/index.html "Pedeapsa cu moartea, o problemă care a divizat România" ("Capital Punishment, a Problem That Has Divided Romania")], ''[[Adevărul]]'', 25 July 2014.</ref>

On 18 October 2012, while he was speaking on the talk show ''Romania la Raport'', Tudor said that "in Romania there was never a Holocaust ... I will deny it till I die because I love my people".<ref>{{cite web|title=Corneliu Vadim Tudor: "În România n-a existat Holocaust"|url=http://www.dcnews.ro/2012/10/corneliu-vadim-tudor-in-romania-n-a-existat-holocaust|publisher=S.C. Press Media Electronic SRL|access-date=27 October 2012|language=ro|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026012412/http://www.dcnews.ro/2012/10/corneliu-vadim-tudor-in-romania-n-a-existat-holocaust/|archive-date=26 October 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>

He fired an advisor, who happened to be Jewish and a member of the [[Romanian Chamber of Deputies]], [[Nati Meir]]. Tudor claimed it was because of allegations of bribery, but Meir claimed it was because of antisemitism. It turned out that the Romanian press discovered that Meir had been convicted in Israel of banking fraud and so was incompatible with the office of member of the Chamber of Deputies.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}} On 15 November 2006, Meir was brought to trial by the Romanian authorities for tax evasion, fraud and swindling and was accused of illegalities concerning work permits for Israel.

Tudor styled himself ''The [[Tribune]]'', a title that originates in [[Ancient Rome]] but has more combative meaning in Romanian history since it stood for certain activists in the self-defence of Romanian communities in [[Transylvania]] against the Revolutionary government in [[Kingdom of Hungary (1526–1867)|Hungary]] (see [[Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas]]).{{citation needed|date=September 2015}}

==Awards==
* Knight of the [[Order of the Star of Romania]] (2004)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Vadim Tudor rămâne cu Steaua României|url=http://www.realitatea.net/vadim-tudor-ramane-cu-steaua-romaniei_72355.html|access-date=21 September 2015|language=ro|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929201324/http://www.realitatea.net/vadim-tudor-ramane-cu-steaua-romaniei_72355.html|archive-date=29 September 2015}}</ref>

* Corresponding member of the [[Roman Academies|Pontificia Accademia Tiberina]] – November 2004<ref>{{Cite web|title=Vremea noua – Liderul presei vasluiene|url=https://www.vremeanoua.ro/alegeri-prezidentiale-2014-biografie-corneliu-vadim-tudor|website=vremeanoua.ro|date=19 October 2014 |access-date=27 September 2015|language=ro}}</ref>
* Member of the [[Academy of Political Science]] in New York;{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}
* Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

==Electoral history==
=== Presidential elections ===

{| class=wikitable width=100%
! rowspan=2|Election
! rowspan=2|Affiliation
! colspan=3|First round
! colspan=3|Second round
|-
!Votes
!Percentage
!Position
!Votes
!Percentage
!Position
|-align=center
! [[1996 Romanian general election|1996]]
| {{no2|'''[[Greater Romania Party|PRM]]'''}} || 597,508 || {{Percentage bar|4.7|c={{party color|Greater Romania Party}}}} || {{color box|Gray|5th}} || bgcolor=lightgrey colspan=3|not qualified
|-align=center
![[2000 Romanian general election|2000]]
| {{no2|'''[[Greater Romania Party|PRM]]'''}} || 3,178,293 || {{Percentage bar|28.34|c={{party color|Greater Romania Party}}}} || {{color box|Silver|2nd}} || 3,324,247 || {{Percentage bar|33.17|c={{party color|Greater Romania Party}}}} || {{color box|Silver|2nd}}
|-align=center
![[2004 Romanian general election|2004]]
| {{no2|'''[[Greater Romania Party|PRM]]'''}} || 1,313,714 || {{Percentage bar|12.6|c={{party color|Greater Romania Party}}}} || {{color box|#CD7F32|3rd}} || bgcolor=lightgrey colspan=3|not qualified
|-align=center
![[2009 Romanian presidential election|2009]]
| {{no2|'''[[Greater Romania Party|PRM]]'''}} || 540,380 || {{Percentage bar|5.56|c={{party color|Greater Romania Party}}}} || {{color box|Gray|4th}} || bgcolor=lightgrey colspan=3|not qualified
|-align=center
![[2014 Romanian presidential election|2014]]
| {{no2|'''[[Greater Romania Party|PRM]]'''}} || 349,416 || {{Percentage bar|3.68|c={{party color|Greater Romania Party}}}} || {{color box|Gray|7th}} || bgcolor=lightgrey colspan=3|not qualified
|-
|}

==References==
{{reflist|33em}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tudor, Corneliu Vadim}}
[[Category:1949 births]]
[[Category:2015 deaths]]
[[Category:Politicians from Bucharest]]
[[Category:Leaders of political parties in Romania]]
[[Category:Greater Romania Party politicians]]
[[Category:Romanian Communist Party politicians]]
[[Category:Romanian nationalists]]
[[Category:Candidates for President of Romania]]
[[Category:Members of the Senate of Romania]]
[[Category:Romanian magazine editors]]
[[Category:Romanian magazine founders]]
[[Category:Romanian newspaper editors]]
[[Category:Romanian newspaper founders]]
[[Category:20th-century Romanian poets]]
[[Category:Romanian male poets]]
[[Category:Saint Sava National College alumni]]
[[Category:Eastern Orthodox Christians from Romania]]
[[Category:Members of the Romanian Orthodox Church]]
[[Category:Knights of the Order of the Star of Romania]]
[[Category:Greater Romania Party MEPs]]
[[Category:MEPs for Romania 2009–2014]]
[[Category:21st-century Romanian poets]]
[[Category:20th-century Romanian male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Romanian male writers]]
[[Category:Far-right politics in Romania]]
[[Category:Romanian conspiracy theorists]]
[[Category:Burials at Ghencea Cemetery]]

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Corneliu Vadim Tudor