The Franco-Romanian Symposium on History held in Bucharest from 6 to 11 October 1969 is a landmark event in the Romanian historiography of the communism period, thanks to the presence of several prestigious names of the Annales School. Based on the private archives of the main organizers - Alphonse Dupront, for France, Andrei Otetea, for Romania - this essay proposes an analysis of this aspect of the history of historiography. The old relationships between the two historians, their great influence on the scientific community of their countries and their direct involvement in organizing this project assured the success of this event. The importance of this French-Romanian meeting goes beyond the historiographical field. The Symposium was an opportunity for the Romanian researchers to assert themselves in the international scientific life, especially in France, since there was a thaw in relations between the two blocs. Their aspiration was all the more ardent for them because it was met with a certain mismatch with their colleagues of the other Eastern countries, in particular Hungary: the latter were much more active in the dialogue with western historians and more able to promote their interpretations of their controversial national past. The situation seems all the more paradoxical since Romania made a major shift on the international political scene, closing contacts with Western bloc. Two events have profoundly marked this rapprochement: De Gaulle's visit to Romania in 1968 and Nicolae Ceausescu's visit to France in 1970. The symposium of French and Romanian historians is part of this process: this is its consequence and at the same time it contributes to its development. It remains the most prestigious expression of the Franco-Romanian historiographical exchanges. Unfortunately it did not have the expected results in the longer term, because of the new course of the Romanian history dominated more and more by ideological imperatives.
