Meditation on the Burning of Cathedrals

This is another article that has often been quoted from as proof of Eliade’s political culpability. Together with the preceding one it constitutes the most damning evidence thus far available on Eliade’s interwar political position. It reminds us, among other things, that the atrocities of the Holocaust were not known in 1937, and that our contemporary revulsion for Hitler’s National Socialism is informed by hindsight. Originally published as “Meditate asupra arderii catedralelor,” in Vremea , 7 February 1937, 3. Translated by Mac Linscott Ricketts. Published by permission of the translator and the Eliade Literary Estate. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2005 Equinox Publishing.