The National Library of Romania organised a multidimensional cultural event in honour of Jewish-Romanian writer Mihail Sebastian, whose 80 years commemoration took place at the end of May 2025. As political extremism and antisemitism still cast a long shadow over the Romanian society, the opening event included a debate on the ways interwar Romania still resonates nowadays and how these connections are revealed through Mihail Sebastian’s work and life.
The “Mihail Sebastian. Interwar Echoes” exhibit is a multimedia installation (documentary comic strip, animation, Romanian interwar songs and classical music) set in an interwar décor depicting Mihail Sebastian’s apartment in Bucharest. The exhibit concept is based on his 1935-1944 diary and it was firstly developed by three Romanian illustrators as a web comic named “Mihail Sebastian and the Young People with Lily Souls”. The current exhibition will also host a screen projection of ‘The Star with No Name’ play written by Sebastian and youth workshops focused on Holocaust remembrance.
“Mihail Sebastian. Interwar Echoes” cultural project was organised in partnership with the “Goldstein Goren” Center for Jewish Studies of the Faculty of Letters – University of Bucharest, the “Wilhelm Filderman” Center for the Study of Jewish History in Romania, the State Jewish Theatre in Romania and “Diaspora Civica Berlin” Association. The exhibit is open to the public until 20 June 2025 in the Euphoria hall of the National Library of Romania.
