The seventh edition of the Sighet Summer School was held during 5 and 13 July 2004.
Having the theme of writing a review of a book of testimonies about the communist repression, the contest launched since January selected around 100 pupils for this edition, that came from Romania or Moldavian Republic, out of the almost 250 of the ones who sent works. The participants, pupils aged from 14 to 18 years, had the chance of attending the courses of renowned historians and talk to emblematic personalities of anti-communist opposition in Romania and Eastern Europe.
The following were among the professors : historians Serban Papacostea, Alexandru Zub, Neagu Djuvara, Marius Oprea, Dorin Dobrincu, Thierry Wolton, Mihai Sturdza (Paris), Dennis Deletant, Mark Percival (London), Helmut Müller-Enbergs and Ulrich Burger (Berlin), Seweryn Blumsztajn (Cracovia). The debate illustrated the different forms of repression and resistance in the time and space of real socialism, between 1945 and 1989.
Interesting conferences were also held by Maria Bratianu, the daughter of the great historian Gheorghe Bratianu, dr. Miron Costin from Los Angeles, with a portrait of President Ronald Reagan. During the workshops, Doina Cornea and Leontin Iuhas analysed the reasons of youngsters living for the Western countries, sociologist Stela Rusu debated with the pupils the issue of freedom as ideal and reality, and the writer Ioana Ieronim asked the participants “how do you wish the world we will be part of to be?” The communication of the linguist Alexandru Niculescu was entitled “Good words, bad words”. In the end, philosopher Gabriel Liiceanu analysed the strategies of cultural surviving during communism and Vitalie Ciobanu exposed the relationships between writers and the power in Soviet Moldavia. Making a foray in her own creation laboratory, Ana Blandiana spoke about “exasperation and resistance in the ’80”. German Ambassador Wilfried Grüber lectured about the conditions that made possible the fall of the Berlin wall.
