Henric Ștefan Streitman (first name also Henric Șt., Enric, Henri or Henry, last name also Streitmann, Streittman, Ștraitman; February 16, 1870 – March 30, 1950) was a Romanian journalist, translator and political figure, who traversed the political spectrum from socialism to the far-right. A physicist, social commentator and publisher, in his early years he was a promoter of natural selection ideas as well as a translator of Marxist and naturalist literature. Respected for both his polemical stances and his erudition, he was also rendered controversial by his inconsistencies and his alleged corruption. Often struggling financially, Streitman set up several short-lived periodicals, and involved himself in the cultural and political debates, from 1889 to the time of his death.
A Romanian Jew, Streitman left Judaism for political reasons. He returned to it following a death in the family, though he continued to publicize his agnosticism in his essays of the 1930s. He also discarded socialism before 1916, moving closer to the National Liberal Party, and working alongside Ion G. Duca and Constantin Banu. He endorsed the Allies during the early stages of World War I, and was consequently detained by the German Army following its occupation of southern Romania. Streitman was sent us a hostage to Bulgaria, but released by the end of 1917; returning to Bucharest, he was recovered by the Germanophile press, endorsing Romania's capitulation. This controversial activity was held against him by political adversaries throughout the interwar period.
When Streitman returned to public life in the 1920s, it was primarily as an anticommunist. He affiliated with the right-wing People's Party, serving two terms in the Senate of Romania, where he represented Bukovina; in that context, he publicly endorsed a Polish–Romanian alliance against the Soviet Union. Also employed as an adviser by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he drew notice for his close collaboration with the titular minister, Nicolae Titulescu, and for his early support of European integration. In a contrasting move, Streitman also associated with figures on the Romanian far-right, including Octavian Goga and Pamfil Șeicaru, and eventually joined the National Agrarian Party in 1932. However, in the late 1930s, the ascent of antisemitism put his political career on hold.
Streitman turned to collaboration with the military-fascist dictatorship of Ion Antonescu during World War II, becoming president of the Central Jewish Office. Though reviled in Antonescian propaganda as a Jewish pillar of the old regime, he was trusted for his earlier connection with Goga, and also vetted by Nazi Germany. This assignment pitted him against non-collaborationists such as A. L. Zissu, who resented his appeals to compliance. His was a largely ceremonial office, with many of its functions supplanted by the executive leader, Nandor Gingold. Ultimately sidelined in December 1942, Streitman survived the war by a few years. Unlike Gingold, he was never brought before the Romanian People's Tribunals. Slowly forgotten by the time of his death in 1950, he was survived by a son, Max-Radu, who had acted as a lawyer for champions of left-wing causes, and was allowed a second career as a classical musician.
Biography
Early years Streitman was a native of Piatra Neamț town, which is located in mountainous Western Moldavia.Podoleanu, p. 311; Streitman, "Legăturile...", p. 462 His exact birthday was given by a writer friend, Tudor Arghezi, as February 16, 1870;Tudor Arghezi, "75 de ani", in Bilete de Papagal, Issue 46, 1945, p. 1 he is known to have had a sister, Ida, who was five years his junior."Capitala în 24 ore. Un nou asasinat comis în str. Filaret", in Timpul, May 24, 1945, p. 2 The Streitmans practiced Judaism, and, like the majority of Romanian Jews living before 1920, were non-emancipated, and not yet eligible for Romanian citizenship;Durnea, "Primii pași...", p. 29 later in life, Henric rejected being labeled with the term "Israelite", which he regarded as a pretentious euphemism.Camil Petrescu, "Conica teatrală. Teatrul Național: Dama cu camelii de Alex Dumas-fiul", in Argus, January 27, 1927, p. 4 According to his own definitions, his father was "one of our town's leading men of culture".Bercovici, p. 44 When he was aged five, his family hosted Velvel Zbarjer, an itinerant singer, whose presence impressed Henric; shortly after this, Zbarjer was expelled from the Principality of Romania for having publicized a poem "critical of the country's injustices."Bercovici, passim Young Streitman was privately tutored, in both German and French, by the Count Jurawski, a Polish refugee. As he recalled decades later, "the all-knowing, all-forgiving" Jurawski was also an amateur scientist who introduced his pupils, and Moldavians in general, to Lamarckism and Darwinism.Streitman, "Legăturile...", p. 462
Enrolled at high school, Streitman also followed politics, and was close to the budding socialist movement of students in the newly-formed Kingdom of Romania. A 1936 note in Rampa magazine dates Steitman's debut to 1888, when the young man was published by Traian Demetrescu's Revista Olteană."G. D. Pencioiu", in Rampa, July 8, 1936, p. 1 In 1889, he began collaborating with Garabet Ibrăileanu's journal Școala Nouă, appearing alongside the young socialists Izabela Andrei, Panait Mușoiu, Raicu Ionescu-Rion. His articles covered a vast category of subjects, introducing the Romanian public to developments in sociology, hard science, and philology.Cioculescu et al., p. 952 The only speaker of German in that group, Streitman is presumed to be the author of articles signed I. Chilieanu (others believe this was Ibrăileanu's own pen name). Both the anonymous article and Streitman's signed pieces discuss the differences between literary naturalism and realism, and the naturalism vs. "pornography" debate of the 1880s.Cioculescu et al., p. 954; Opriș, pp. 33–34 The young author completed his education abroad, and trained in several fields. He studied physics and chemistry at the universities of Göttingen, Zurich, Berlin, and then at the Technical College Stuttgart.Podoleanu, p. 311
In July 1889, the illegal newspaper Sozialdemokrat claimed that Streitman, "a cowardly and totally characterless person", acted as a police informant "in order to save himself from possible expulsion". Allegedly as a result of his reports, the Kingdom of Württemberg prosecuted a Marxist organizer, Eduard Fuchs.Thomas Huonker, Revolution, Moral & Kunst: Eduard Fuchs, Leben und Werk, pp. 25–26. Zürich: Limmat Verlag, 1985. Throughout this interval as an expatriate, Streitman continued to send his articles to Școala Nouă, before it ultimately succumbed in May 1890.Cioculescu et al., p. 952; Opriș, pp. 32, 34 In Germany, Streitman was university colleagues with several prominent Romanian intellectuals of various political hues: Barbu Brănișteanu, Gheorghe Gh. Longinescu, Simion Mehedinți, Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcaș, etc.Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcaș, Memorii. I: 1872–1910, p. 111. Bucharest: Grai și Suflet – Cultura Națională, 1991. He also traveled out of Central Europe, and heard lectures in philosophy at Rome University. Marian Petcu, Evoluții recente în jurnalismul autohton, Contributors.ro, December 9, 2016 According to academic Marian Petcu, it remains unclear whether he ever specialized in any particular field. Other records suggest that Streitman eventually obtained a Sc.D. in physical chemistry, and a license degree in Philosophy. G. Brătescu, "Uniunea Ziariștilor Profesioniști, 1919 – 2009. Compendiu aniversar", in Mesagerul de Bistrița-Năsăud, December 11, 2009
Streitman's earliest contributions to cultural journalism also include a profile of poet Mihai Eminescu, published in June 1891 by a radical-liberal newspaper, Românul.Marin Bucur, "Primele zile ale posterității. Un neașteptat promovator al mitului eminescian: Vintilă C. A. Rosetti", Viața Românească, Vol. LXXXIV, Issue 6, June 1989, p. 65 It stood out for promoting the notion that Eminescu's skeptical conservatism was the result of his being mistreated by society; the theory was reviewed with derision by the Greek Catholic paper Unirea, who introduced Streitman as "a Jew, a German, or God knows what else"."Preumblărĭ în Bucurescĭ", in Unirea, Issue 39/1891, p. 311 Reportedly, the young writer made his full debut in journalism in 1894, when he contributed regularly to the same Românul. However, he was by then affiliated with the Sotir Circle of socialists, Bucharest, and began contributing to the socialist magazine, Munca. Among his colleagues there was a female journalist, Rachel Vermont, who became his wife.Constantin Titel Petrescu, Socialismul în România. 1835 – 6 septembrie 1940, p. 91. Bucharest: Dacia Traiana, [n. y.] Together, they completed and circulated translations of scientific and scientistic literature. In 1894, Henric and Rachel Streitman published the first volume of Max Nordau's Degeneration.Angheluță et al., p. 408Teodora Dumitru, Rețeaua modernităților: Paul de Man – Matei Călinescu – Antoine Compagnon, p. 216. Bucharest: Museum of Romanian Literature, 2016. A boy (named Max-Radu Streitman)Death announcement for "H. St. Streitman, jurnalist-pensionar", in Adevărul, March 31, 1950, p. 2 was born to the couple in September 1895; this was announced in Lupta, which also noted that Henric was at the time a staff journalist at Țara newspaper."Ediția IIa. Ultime informațiuni", in Lupta, September 6, 1895, p. 3
As a traditionalist reviewer, Ilarie Chendi spoke of the Streitmans' work as part of a "Jewish translation" phenomenon which had taken up cultural space in fin de siècle Romania; he also noted similar contributions by Saniel Grossman, Adolphe Stern, and I. Hussar. Chendi identified Nordau as a main reference for Jews active in Romanian literature, "a sort of protective father-figure for the Romanian Jews."Ilarie Chendi, Foiletoane, p. 238. Bucharest: Minerva, 1904 In their introductory study to Degeneration, the Streitmans highlighted the connections between Nordau and socialism, but also introduced footnotes claiming to correct the author for his disagreements with Marxism. A year later, the literary duo returned with a version of August Bebel's Woman.Podoleanu, p. 312
Streitman's work was soon acknowledged in the literary profession, and discussed by Constantin Stamatin-Nazone in his 1894 essay Profilurĭ ("Profiles").Angheluță et al., p. 344 As argued by historian of journalism G. Brătescu, Streitman impressed and influenced the greats of Romanian journalism with his "subtle, malicious, ironic, doubting, often indulgent" writing style. Moreover, Brătescu writes, Streitman was an "erudite" and a competent reader of both secular and religious literature. In 1902, he followed up with the booklet Oamenii zilei. Instantanee ("People of the Day. Snapshots"), signing it with the pen name Almaviva.Angheluță et al., p. 408; Podoleanu, pp. 311, 312
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