Interview with Prof. Ernest Latham by Dan Dimancescu

Prof. Ernest Latham – Historian and Retired Foreign Service Officer. He served at the U.S. Embassy in Romanian early in the 1980s and developed a strong academic interest in Romanian history and culture. In more recent years he taught at the Babes-Bolyai Univ in Romania. The interview by Dan Dimancescu in Bran, Romania, is divided into seven segments.

Filmed by Nicholas Dimancescu – Copyright © Kogainon Films, Cambridge, MA

Latham argues that ‘Latinity’ and ‘The Quest for Unity’ between Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania are key defining factors of Romanian Identity. He dwells too on the effects the Ottoman, Russian, Austro-Hungarian Empires and how they worked to plunder and subvert Romanian aspirations. A third theme is addressed in Segment 5.

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4: Key historical factors affecting Romanian identity – 4:30 mn