---
title: "Sextil Pușcariu"
chunk: 6/9
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sextil_Pușcariu"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:03:14.223615+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

=== FOR and Iron Guard ===
By 1931, Lia Pușcariu had married Grigore Manoilescu, brother of the influential ideologue, Mihail Manoilescu. Encouraged by his Manoilescu in-laws, Pușcariu was briefly a sympathizer of Iorga's Democratic Nationalist Party, and spent some time as director of its regional mouthpiece, Drumul Nou. He is also credited as the newspaper's founder, while schoolteacher Ioan Costea was its editor. The circle he created around him was noted for enthusiastically supporting Romania's authoritarian King, Carol II. Pușcariu also attempted to go into national politics as a university representative in the Senate of Romania. He presented himself in the June 1931 election, but lost to the more popular Nicolae Bănescu; this conflict prolonged itself into a local scandal, with Pușcariu accusing Bănescu of opportunism. Pușcariu had another row with historian Alexandru Lapedatu, whom he challenged to a duel with swords in October 1931. That outcome was eventually averted when they agreed to reconcile. In tandem, Pușcariu was becoming critical of Iorga's behavior—already in 1923, he complained that his former mentor was "dictatorial".
In keeping with his Orthodoxist agenda, Pușcariu also helped Nicolae Ivan set up the Romanian Orthodox Fraternity (FOR), which, as noted by historian Lucian Nastasă, was under the influence of far-right groups. It existed as a counterpart and rival of AGRU, a lay organization for the Transylvanian Greek Catholic Church. Allegedly, in 1934 he gave orders to boycott public ceremonies marking AGRU's anniversary, though he allowed his colleagues to attend those events where Carol II was also present. Pușcariu served as FOR president from March 1933 to 1939, and hosting its celebratory Congress in October 1935. Around that date, the FOR intervened in trilateral negotiations between Romania, Hungary, and the Holy See, asking for the Concordat of 1932 to be annulled, and demanding that Hungary immediately hand over Emanoil Gojdu's estate. At another Congress, in 1937, he repeated the claim that "our Orthodoxy is our only criterion for differentiation, for we are the only Latin people of the Orthodox faith". His anti-Catholic rhetoric was particularly strong, forcing government to apologize for tolerating the display.
Immersing himself in the cultural politics of Transylvania, Pușcariu resumed his links with ASTRA, attending its most notorious congress, held in September 1934 at Târgu Mureș. It was here that he presented his paper on "literary perspectives of the era". While his work again took him away from ASTRA in the 1940s, it was to its Brașov chapter's president that he sent the manuscript of his history of the city in 1947. In March 1933, Pușcariu's work was being assessed by government officials in Fascist Italy. This followed suggestions made by historian Francesco Salata, who wanted Pușcariu to receive an Italian state decoration, and who noted that Bartoli had been similarly honored in Romania. The proposal was dropped when it became clear that Pușcariu was opposing Hungarian revisionism, while Italy condoned it.
During the mid 1930s, Pușcariu became a manifest supporter of Codreanu's semi-legal fascist movement, the Iron Guard (or "Legionary Movement"). Records tend to show that he did not formally register with the Guard itself, although his name appears among the card-carrying members of the Guard's political front, the "Everything for the Country" party. He also signed his name to a list of intellectuals who "believed in Legionary victory". On the occasion, he noted that the Guard had been the surest way of countering a "Jewish movement" at university, but also professed his admiration for Codreanu's "sincere religiosity" and "virtue". Pușcariu was additionally noted for his eulogy upon the deaths of Ion Moța and Vasile Marin, Guardist volunteers among the Spanish Nationalists. He depicted himself as a pious and old supplicant at their grave, and expressed gratitude that a "new spirit sweeps over our country." A contributor to the Guardist magazine, Buna Vestire, he added his voice to the campaign against modernist literature and "Jewish influence" in Romanian letters. The Nazi German consul in Cluj noted that Pușcariu's "decidedly right-wing orientation" may have prevented his obtaining the rectorate or even a post in the academic senate at the latest university elections.
Under the authoritarian regime established by Carol as the "National Renaissance Front", Romania felt the mounting pressure of Hungarian revisionism. During the FOR rally in November 1937, Pușcariu praised the king for building a chain of forts in Bihor County, on Romania's border with Hungary. At the time, he argued that the Diocese of Oradea was similarly serving as bulwark against foreign infiltration. At the next congress, in November 1938, Pușcariu ordered a toning-down of anti-Catholicism. In a resolution adopted by the group, reference was made to "racial cohesion" between the Greek Catholics and the Orthodox, while still calling on the former to embrace Orthodoxy.