On November 23, 2023, Rona Hartner passed away. A few months ago, the actress was diagnosed with lung and brain cancer.
Rona Hartner/PHOTO: Archive
1710: Dimitrie Cantemir's second reign in Moldova begins
Dimitrie Cantemir was the lord of Moldavia twice (March – April 1693 and 1710 – 1711) and a great scholar of Romanian humanism. Among his various occupations were encyclopedist, ethnographer, geographer, philosopher, historian, linguist, musicologist and composer.
Dimitrie Cantemir/PHOTO: Archive
He was a member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences.
Upon the death of his father, Constantin Cantemir, in March 1693, he was proclaimed lord after the model of Constantin Brâncoveanu, but the Porta did not confirm him in the reign and imposed Constantin Duca on the throne.
He spent several years in Constantinople as a capuchin, accompanying the Ottoman army in the failed campaign in Hungary. He witnessed the defeats at Petrovaradin and Zenta, experiences that convinced him of the decline of the Ottoman Empire.
In 1710 he was appointed lord of Moldavia to supervise Brâncoveanu, suspected of disloyalty to the Ottomans, but he himself concluded a treaty with Peter the Great's Russia. After the Russo-Moldovan defeat at Stănilești, Cantemir took refuge in Russia, where he spent the rest of his life devoting himself to intellectual activities.
1923: Urmuz, avant-garde Romanian writer, died
Born on March 17, 1883 in Curtea de Argeș, Avram Leiba Esra-Zissu alias Demetru Demetrescu-Buzău or Urmuz was a Romanian writer known for his surrealist works.
Urmuz/PHOTO: Archive
He spent his youth fascinated by science fiction literature. He attended the courses of the Gheorghe Lazăr College in Bucharest. He graduated from the Faculty of Law and became a judge, writes Historia.
In 1913 he became a clerk at the High Court of Cassation and Justice. He began writing with no intention of producing masterpieces, but only to amuse his brothers and sisters.
His texts attracted the attention of Tudor Arghezi, who opened the way for him to become a journalist. The first texts were published under a pseudonym in 1922 in the magazine “Cuvântul românesc”.
On November 23, 1923, without any explanation, Urmuz committed suicide. He had talked about death to those he knew, expressing his desire to die in an original way, without any cause. Also, he is the only Romanian writer who committed suicide, apparently, without any reason.
1940: Marshal Ion Antonescu signed Romania's accession to the Tripartite Pact
The Tripartite Pact, or Axis Pact, was signed in Berlin on September 27, 1940 by Saburo Kurusu (for the Japanese Empire), Adolf Hitler (for Nazi Germany), and Galeazzo Ciano (for Fascist Italy), which laid the foundations of a military-political alliance and was the official founding act of the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis, which opposed the Allies.
Marshal Antonescu (left) at the signing of the Tripartite Pact/PHOTO: Archive
The pact formalized the partnership of the Axis Powers and was seen at the time as a warning to the US to remain neutral in the looming war.
It stipulated that for the next decade they would cooperate with each other primarily for the purpose of establishing an order of things, but also for promoting mutual prosperity and the welfare of their peoples.
Romania signed the Tripartite Pact on November 23, 1940, after the Iron Guard came to power. The signing of the Tripartite Pact by Romania was an act that tried to protect the country in the face of a new aggression by the USSR.
1985: Egyptian commandos raid EgyptAir Flight 648, raid that kills 60 people
On November 23, 1985, Flight 648 took off at 20:00 on the Athens–Cairo route. Ten minutes after takeoff, three Palestinian members of the Abu Nidal organization hijacked the aircraft.
The terrorists, who introduced themselves over the intercom as Egyptian revolutionaries, were well armed with pistols and grenades. Their commander, Salem Chakore, started checking all the passports, while Omar Rezaq went to the cockpit to change the direction of the aircraft.
SU-AYH, the aircraft involved in the hijacking/PHOTO: Wikipedia
At the same time, Chakore seated the European, Australian, Israeli and American passengers in the front of the plane and sent the others, including the Greeks and Egyptians, to the back.
The Egyptian security officer on board tried to stop the hijacking and shot one of the terrorists, triggering a firefight that punctured the fuselage and caused the plane to depressurize. Running low on fuel and with serious damage, the plane was forced to head for Malta.
Although the Maltese authorities initially refused the landing and even turned off the runway lights, the pilots managed to bring the damaged aircraft to the ground. The subsequent raid on the aircraft by Egyptian troops killed 56 of the 86 passengers, two of the three hijackers and two of the six crew members.
2017: Stela Popescu dies
Actress Stela Popescu was born on December 21, 1935, in the village of Orhei in the Republic of Moldova, in a family of teachers. Her father, an intellectual, was deported to Siberia, and her mother fled with her to Romania, to Braşov.
Stela Popescu/PHOTO: Archive
The actress studied for more than a year at the “Maxim Gorki” Faculty of Russian Language, but gave up when she joined the team of the Theater of the Ministry of the Interior.
In 1956, she was admitted to the Institute of Theatrical and Cinematographic Art in Bucharest, she made her debut at the Casandra Studio, when she received her diploma with “It's not always a holiday” by AN Ostrovski, and after finishing her studies, she was assigned to the Theater in Braşov, where she gave even 400 performances a year.
After the Revolution, he returned to the “Constantin Tănase” Theater, where he played in the 60s. Over the years, he was both on the stage of the theater and on the small screen with Ştefan Bănică and, later, with Alexandru Arşinel. Several skits were signed by Mihai Maximilian, her husband, to whom she was married until 1998, when he died.
The actress Stela Popescu died on November 23, 2017, a month before her 82nd birthday.
2023: Artist Rona Hartner passed away
Rona Hartner was born on March 9, 1973, in Bucharest. She is known as a film actress, singer, composer and lyricist, Romanian of German origin, settled in France.
Rona Hartner/PHOTO: Archive
Rona was the daughter of a design engineer and an economist. From 1979 to 1991 he studied at the German school in Bucharest. In 1991, he began studying at the Titu Maiorescu Music School, and from 1992 he began studying at the Academy of Theater and Film in Bucharest.
Four years later, the French director Tony Gatlif gives him the main role in the film Gadjo dilo – Crazy Stranger, which was filmed in Romania. For this performance, Rona received the Golden Leopard (Special Performance Award) at the Locarno International Film Festival, as well as a Cesar Award nomination.
Also in 1996, he performs successfully in the French-Romanian co-production Asfalt-Tango directed by Nae Caranfil.
In 1997 he went to France, where he starred in the thriller Nekro directed by Nicolas Masson. In 1998 he returned to the country to star in Iulian Mihu's Double Ecstasy.
On November 23, 2023, at the age of 50, Rona Hartner passed away. The artist was diagnosed a few months ago with lung and brain cancer.
