Vasile Conta

Vasile Conta - November 15, 1845 – April 21, 1882) was a Romanian philosopher, poet, and politician.

He was born in Ghindăoani, a village in Bălțătești commune, Neamţ County.

He died in Bucharest.

Antisemitism

He was the true founder of the Romanian ideological antisemitism. His criteria were no longer those of a socioeconomic nature; they were derived from the “nationalities principle,” nationalities as units of race and religion, forming the basis of existence of a state and a homogeneous nation.

The following text about Vasile Conta is taken from Corneliu Codreanu's "For My Legionaries" (chapter "The Great Men of Romania of 1879 - The Veil of Forgetfulness") 

VASILE CONTA

Consider the attitude our great Conta held in the Chamber in 1879.

Fifty years earlier the Romanian philosopher demonstrated with unshakeable scientific arguments, framed in a system of impeccable logic, the soundness of racial truths that must lie at the foundation of the national state; a theory adopted fifty years later by the same Berlin which had imposed on us the granting of civil rights to the Jews in 1879.

From this, one can see the frailty of the arguments of those who attack the, national movement as being inspired by the new German ideology, when in reality, after so many years, it is Berlin that has taken up the line of Vasile Conta, Mihail Emineseu and the others. We, if we will not fight against the Jewish element, will perish as a nation.

It is a recognized fact, even by those attacking us today, that the first condition for a State to exist and prosper, is that the citizens of that State be of the same race, same blood, and this is easy to understand. First, individuals of like race usually marry only among themselves, for only thus can they retain the unity of race; then marriage creates the family feelings which are the strongest and the most lasting ties between individuals; and when we consider that these family ties spread out until they take in all the citizens of the State we see that the latter are attracted to one another by a general feeling of love, by what is called racial sympathy. Moreover, bearing in mind that the same blood flows through the veins of all the members of a people, one understands that all these members will have through heredity, about the same feelings, about the same tendencies, and even about the same ideas; so that in perilous times, on unique occasions, their hearts will beat as one, their minds will adopt one opinion, the action of all will seek the same purpose; in other words the nation made up of a single race will have only one center of gravity; and the State made up of such a nation, that and only that one will be in the best condition of strength, durability and progress. In consequence, just as in the maintenance of a species, the first requisite for the existence of a State is that its people be of like race, Well, this is the truth on which the principle of nationalities is based, on which so much is being said in the civilized world. This principle of nationalities, naturally, refers only to race and not at all to what is called 'the subjects of the State regardless of race for then the principle would have no application whatever.

Well, this principle is today so deeply rooted in the conscience of all people, be they statesmen or simple citizens, that nowadays all States in the civilized world come into being or are reconstituted only on this basis.

Then let the Jewish publicists or the jew-lovers no longer say that the basis of the State is only a common material interest of its citizens, because, on the contrary, we see that it is exactly this, our century, that gave birth to the principle of nationalities; that prevails today more and more... True, this does not prevent foreigners from acquiring the citizenship of a State, provided they assimilate into the dominant nation; namely, to mix totally so that ultimately the State remain of the same single blood. "These are the only scientific principles of naturalization. For naturalization to be useful, rational and conforming to scientific criteria, it must be granted only to those foreigners who assimilate or are inclined to do so by marriage to the indigenous. Otherwise, one can easily comprehend that granting citizenship to individuals who lack, or cannot have, this inclination of assimilation into the blood of the dominant race, would result in a country subject to perpetual struggles between opposite tendencies.

I am not saying it is impossible for various races that would exist in some country to have sometimes a common interest, that the hereditary tendencies of one race be just as favored as those of another by the same circumstances. As long as this state of affairs lasted, both indigenous and naturalized would certainly live peacefully. But circumstances change and with them the interest of the various races could also change; and if not today, then tomorrow; if not tomorrow then day after tomorrow the tendencies of the naturalized will be in conflict with those of the natives, and then the interest of some will beat odds with that of the others, and then the interests of some could not be satisfied without sacrificing those of the others; and then we would have a fight for existence between two races, with fierce battles that could only be ended either by the total abolishment of the State, or when one of the races is totally crushed so that again only one dominant race remain in the State.... Well, our national history and everyday experience have proved to us that from among all foreigners who come to us, the Turks and particularly the Jews are the ones who never intermarry with us, while other foreigners: Russians, Greeks, Italians, Germans intermarry and fuse with us, if not on the first then during the second or third generation, but finally there comes a time when there is no distinction between these foreigners and ourselves, either as regards blood or love of country. But it is not the same with the Jews....

"...No matter how this question would be posed, or how it would be interpreted, we, if we will not fight against the Jewish element, will perish as a nation. "

(From the discourse against the revision of the Art. of the Constitution, delivered in the Chamber of Deputies, Extraordinary Session, held on September 4, 1879 and published in the Official Monitor No. 201 dated Wednesday, September 17, 1879, pp. 5755-6)

[caption id="attachment_5041" align="aligncenter" width="600"] The tomb of Vasile Conta from the Eternity Cemetery in Iasi.[/caption]