Anton et Liza Zigmund-Cerbu, Orientalistes de talent en exil

The present article gives biographical and bibliographical information concerning a couple of young philologists graduated from the University of Bucharest: Anton ZIGMUND-CERBU (1923-1964) and his wife Liza (1924-1965). They had to leave Romania in 1947, when that country was at a turning point in its history: the transition from one terrible régime to another. The two Romanian scholars firstly emigrated to France to pursue their Oriental studies (École pratique des hautes études, École nationale des langues orientales vivantes and Institut catholique). He specialized in Buddhism and Indochinese cultures, whereas his wife, interested in the Near Eastern patrology, translated the last part of a vast Syriac compendium of philosophy and theology, written by BAR HEBRAEUS (1226-1286): The Candelabra of the Sanctuary. Anton ZIGMUND-CERBU was assistant professor of Buddhism and Oriental religions at the Columbia University since 1960. Previously he held a post of research fellow at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (Paris). He published several papers on different aspects of Buddhism and died prematurely leaving behind many unfinished works in manuscript, especially An introduction to the history and sociology of Southeast Asia.