Radio România Internațional

Tag: exile

  • The centenary of Monica Lovinescu’s birth

    The centenary of Monica Lovinescu’s birth


    There is no doubt that Radio Free Europe was the most important source of free information, analysis and synthesis of the political, economic and cultural situation of Romania in the second half of the 20th century. The team of the Romanian service of Radio Free Europe was made up of prominent representatives of Romanian radio journalism, such as Monica Lovinescu, Noel Bernard, Mircea Carp, Vlad Georgescu, Neculai Constantin Munteanu and others.



    Monica Lovinescu, whose birth centenary was marked on November 19, is one of the strongest voices of anti-communist and anti-fascist Romania in exile, between 1945 and 1989. She was born in Bucharest as the daughter of the literary critic Eugen Lovinescu and the French teacher Ecaterina Bălăciou, the latter being killed in detention by the communist regime. A journalist and literary critic herself, Monica Lovinescu became an respected name in the field, just like her father. In 1947, at the age of 24, she emigrated to France where, together with her husband Virgil Ierunca, she created the most attractive cultural-political shows of Radio Free Europe. Her unmistakable voice, moral principles and impeccable professional ethics as well as her very pertinent observations and criticisms made her one of the stars of the radio station.



    Radio Romania’s Oral History Center had the opportunity to interview Monica Lovinescu in 1998. At that time, she spoke about the Paris office of Radio Free Europe, established in the early 1960s, the place where the famous shows that captured the Romanians’ attention were produced.



    Monica Lovinescu: “We were doing from here what other countries did not generally do, we were unique, the Romanian case was unique. We would broadcast my 1-hour show “Theses and Antitheses in Paris”, Virgil Ieruncas 40-minute show “Povestea vorbei” and twice the 20-minute programme “Actualitatea Romaneasca” , an update on culture from the country. So we occupied the studio for a whole day and had a number of broadcast hours that no other nation had.”



    Monica Lovinescu was a passionate radio journalist. The radio studio was equipped with proper technique, but in the Lovinescu – Ierunca home there was a tape recorder on which they recorded the texts and only went to the studio to mix them with music. Monica Lovinescu also spoke about the sources of information about Romania, considering the difficulties that the free press had due to the communist regime in Bucharest. Monica Lovinescu: “We used to document the situation in Romania in two ways. Through the newspapers, on the one hand, as subscribers to the main newspapers, made to Virgil Ierunca’s name and which were sent to a post office box so we wouldnt give out our home address. Also, we used to meet with at least four or five writers a month. We called them “clandestines”, that is, no Romanian writer knew that we were also seeing another writer. They knew we were seeing other writers, but didnt know who exactly. We kept this secret so we wouldnt expose them. So we knew the literary life and the big political problems from the inside.”



    An universal spirit, Monica Lovinescu did not speak, in her shows, only about Romania. Monica Lovinescu: “Theses and Antitheses in Paris was not only about Romanian literature, it was also about what was happening in Paris. Not so much from a French point of view, but rather as a weekly culture update. Paris was a kind of crossroads where everything related to the avant-garde and the most interesting exchange of ideas took place. The show was also about the achievements of some Romanians abroad, such as filmaker Lucian Pintilie, writers Mircea Eliade and Eugen Ionescu. They were all at this microphone and shows were made with them and about them.”



    Such an uncomfortable journalist could not leave the Bucharest regime indifferent, hence the decision to silence Monica Lovinescu. First, the regime began a smear campaign in the media. Then it turned to physical aggression.



    Monica Lovinescu: “In November 1977, the day before Paul Gomas arrival in Paris, on November 18 to be exact, two Palestinians were waiting for me. They asked me to enter the house because they had a message for me. It seemed suspicious to me because they called me “Madam Monica” and here “madam” attached to the first name is something very familiar, it is not used. This is how I realized it was a trap and didnt let them in. So they started hitting me in the head. I fell, I screamed, I fainted, someone came from the street, they ran away. The one who jumped to my aid ran after them, but could not find them. I had a broken nose and a swollen face and arm, but no major injuries.”


    Monica Lovinescu continued, even after 1989, to speak to Romanians about freedom, democracy, principles, history until her death in 2008. (EE)

  • Romanian exile and anti-communist espionage

    Romanian exile and anti-communist espionage





    Meticulously researched and studied, the archives of communism continue to reveal dramatic life stories and surprising information that complete the history of this dictatorship. Recently, historian Lucian Vasile discovered and recreated the adventures of Romanians in exile who, in the early 1950s, undertook espionage actions against the communist regime. These actions were organized, for the most part, by a structure called the Intelligence Service of the Romanian Military in Exile (ISRME) and aimed at attracting collaborators to spy on the communist institutions from within and to collect data that, in the context of the Cold War, could have benefited Western organizations in the event of the destabilization of the Bucharest regime. What plans they had, what they managed to do concretely and how they were caught, in the end, we all learn from the book Spies War. The secret actions of the Romanian exile at the beginning of communism written by Lucian Vasile, who told us about his book:

    Those in exile organized themselves at the proposal of the French secret services, and there was a big argument there, because the French would have wanted the Romanian service to be a pocket structure of theirs, while the Romanians in the diaspora wanted to be independent, to be equal partners to the French. And they succeeded at least from 1950 to 1952. In 1951, the American secret services were already appearing, working with the French to form an information pole that would represent the West, and also collaborating with the Romanian services related to the conventional organization of exile, i.e. by the Romanian National Committee, even going as far as King Mihai, who was aware of this service and had even appointed the official head of the structure, General Dumitru Puiu Petrescu. But there were, of course, other structures, either people acting on their own, or some more organized ones from the Legionary Movement who wanted to get out of political ostracism and legitimize themselves by collaborating with the American services. In fact, they were also the most involved in all these very direct actions of parachuting into Romania, of sending some secret agents who should have done something, although even for them it was not very clear what.







    For their part, the communist authorities – with the help of the USSR – knew how to counter the actions of spies in exile as effectively as possible. Bucharest’s counterintelligence was – and I’m sorry to say it – it was one step, if not two, ahead of every operation carried out from exile. It was really a battle between David and Goliath, says historian Lucian Vasile:







    The spies we know about are actually spies who have been captured. There were certainly some informative wins too, but we don’t know about them. Perhaps only in Western archives can we find information about these achievements. In contrast, those who were captured by the communist counterintelligence did not do much harm. The few people who formed the Romanian military intelligence service in exile tried but failed to send essential information. In other ways, however, they managed to obtain information about the airports and the Soviet military equipment existing in the country, about the troop movements in the East, about the fortifications on the Black Sea. There were some successes. But how useful were they? Hard to say. I would say that rather they would have been useful in case the third World War had broken out, so expected by many Romanians in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

    Within ISRME, the brains of the operations was the aviation commander Mihail (Mișu) Opran, the head of the counterintelligence office and the de facto leader of the secret service. One of the double agents with whom he worked was Mihail Țantu, in his turn an aviation officer, a member of the first paratrooper company of the Romanian army during the Second World War, a political prisoner at the beginning of communism, the hero of an escape from prison too unusual not to be seen as suspicious. He fled the country and ended up working within SIMRE, which, by the way, actually sent him back to Romania. Historian Lucian Vasile tells how some of the actions coordinated by Opran and put into practice by people like Țantu were carried out.









    Some actions were carried out by agents and through parachuting, others were done by recruiting someone who went from Bucharest to Paris and then came back with the informational material by which they were supposed to recruit agents and then send information to the West. The capture was done differently with respect to the paratroopers. In the early 1950s, almost all of them were captured. In 1953, a trial was staged for them, called the trial of the paratroopers. It had been an independent project of the American services, but the Communists staged a big trial, which remained somewhat mentioned in historiography. The mercenaries, at least, were caught by accident. At one point they were surprised by a little girl on the field, one of the teams, and there they had a choice. Should we kill her or not? And they chose not to kill her. It snowballed from there, because the little girl discovered the weapons and alerted the authorities. The authorities figured out that someone had been parachuted in, so it must have been someone from there. Let’s see who’s from this area and missing from home. Little by little they, they managed to capture one of them who confessed everything in the investigations. And from there it was just a hunt, a spy hunt.

    Although without notable successes, the espionage actions organized by the Romanian exile in the early 1950s were marked by a certain effervescence that diminished after the removal of Mihail Opran from the SIMRE leadership. (MI)

  • Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse, présente à la 10e édition du Festival International FILIT, de Iasi

    Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse, présente à la 10e édition du Festival International FILIT, de Iasi

    Auteure franco-rwandaise,
    Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse a été invitée à Iaşi, à la dixième édition du Festival
    international de littérature et de traduction littéraire, FILIT où elle est
    venue parler de son premier roman, Tous
    tes enfants dispersés, traduit du français par Andrei Lazăr chez les
    éditions Casa Cărţii de Ştiinţă. Roman de l’exile, de la mémoire et de la
    transmission, ce titre a valu à son auteure le Prix des cinq continents de la
    Francophonie, en 2020. Je vous invite à l’écouter dans un entretien pour Radio Roumanie
    Internationale, réalisé en pleine effervescence festivalière, comme vous allez
    pouvoir entendre.

  • La romancière canadienne d’origine roumaine, Felicia Mihali

    La romancière canadienne d’origine roumaine, Felicia Mihali

    Romancière, journaliste, professeure et éditrice d’origine
    roumaine, Felicia    Mihali vit au Canada
    depuis 2000 quand elle a quitté la Roumanie, malgré une carrière littéraire
    très prometteuse. Spécialisée en littérature postcoloniale à l’Université de
    Montréal, FeliciaMihali a écrit en tout, trois romans en roumains, trois en
    anglais et neuf en français parmi lesquels Dina, paru en 2008 et que son
    auteure a décidé de traduire en roumain. D’ailleurs, c’est pour le lancement de
    sa traduction que FeliciaMihali est venue sur Bucarest et du coup, elle peut
    être présente à mes côtés, dans les studios de RRI.

  • Un Roumain à Paris

    Un Roumain à Paris

    Déchu de sa nationalité roumaine en 1975, Dumitru Tsepeneag s’installe à
    Paris et commence une sorte de journal dans lequel il parle aussi bien
    de lui, que des autres. Roland Barthes, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Ionesco et
    Cioran figurent parmi les figures sur lesquelles Tsepeneag s’attarde
    dans son récit Un Roumain à Paris dont il sera question aujourd’hui.

  • Ion Ratiu and the Rebirth of Romanian Democracy

    Ion Ratiu and the Rebirth of Romanian Democracy

    Politician Ion Ratiu was one of the role models for Romanian society as it was beginning to rebuild democracy in 1990, after 45 years of communism. He was a descendant of a family that was instrumental in fighting for the national rights of Romanians in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Ion Ratiu had a considerable contribution to the improvement of the Romanian political climate after December 1989. He stood out by his signature bow tie, by his supremely polite way of expressing himself, and the slight English accent he had when speaking Romanian. Ratiu was one of the most important democratic Romanian politicians after 1990, one who had previously militated against both the Fascist and Communist dictatorships. Upon his return to Romania in 1990, he was instrumental in rebuilding the Christian-Democratic National Peasant Party, and got deeply involved in rebuilding a democratic climate.

    Ion Ratiu was born to a family of intellectuals on June 6, 1917, in Turda, in what is now western Romania. He had a degree in law from Cluj, and one in economy from Cambridge. He was active in the youth organization of the National Peasant Party. In 1940 he was appointed as a diplomat with the Foreign Ministry, and was sent to London right away, in February of that year, before the fall of France. After France was occupied, a country which used to be one of Romanias most important allies, Ratiu continued to work at the Romanian legation to the UK until early September 1940, when power in Romania was grabbed by General Antonescu and the Iron Guard. As an anglophile and francophile, Ratiu refused to accept his countrys joining the alliance with Nazi Germany.

    In 1985, in an interview with Radio Free Europe for the Romanian Current Events feature, preserved in the archives of the Center for Oral History by Radio Romania, Ion Ratiu described how he got to remain in the UK:

    “After King Carol II departed, and the Legionnaire state was set up, I resigned, in September 1940. I went to the British Foreign Secretary and asked for political asylum, which they granted me right away. I had the great luck to get a scholarship at Cambridge, and I studied there for three years and got a Master of Arts degree in economic sciences. While I was at Cambridge I made several radio broadcasts on patriotic topics with regard to Transylvania, especially after Northern Transylvania got taken away in 1940, and I was active in student life in the association of Romanian students in Great Britain.”

    Ion Ratiu got involved in the propaganda to get Romania out of the Axis and have it join the Allied side. He deeply wished for CEE, Romania included, to remain under the influence of Western democracies after the end of the war:

    “I worked on the International Student Council, where they made me vice-president during the war, and in the World Youth Executive Committee. Because we were all concerned about the future of Europe after the war, as exiles in England, we set up an organization we called Central East European Students for a New Society. Also, even though I was young, I was co-opted into the movement of free Romanians who opposed Romanias falling in line with Nazi Germany policy, and who said that Romanias place was next to the great democratic powers in the West who had created Greater Romania. During that time I wrote articles, I held conferences, and I spoke on the radio, as I said, at the BBC, of course.”

    As the prosperous businessman he became, Ion Ratiu did not watch passively from afar as Romania was being turned communist. He set up an anti-Communist organization, the World Union of Free Romanians, and printed democratic leaning publications, such as The Free Romanian, one of the most influential publications for Romanian exiles. In 1985, Ion Ratiu was convinced that only the unity of all Romanians could make democracy return. The organization welcomed all who wanted to help in the effort of restoring democracy:

    “In 1980, together with Professor Brutus Coste from America, we launched an appeal telling everyone that it would be the time to do something for this country to be represented in a dignified manner in the West. Until 1975 we had had the Romanian National Committee, which ceased its activities that year. We believed that this struggle needs to continue, and so we launched the appeal and we set up in 1984. We said from the beginning that this cannot be done around parties, we said that all Romanians who want to make an effort for the national cause should join us, irrespective of party, past or present. This did not mean that parties should not function. Quite the opposite, parties have to function, because there is no democracy without parties.”

    On January 3, 1990, the National Salvation Front issued a law decree on the creation and official registration of political parties in Romania. This act meant the renaissance of political parties and political pluralism in Romania, after 45 years of absence. Returning to Romania in 1990, right after the decree was issued, Ion Ratiu continued to display the same firm democratic beliefs, as a true moral compass. He passed away in London on January 17, 2000, and, as per his wishes, was laid to rest in his native Romanian town of Turda.

  • Repatriation of Queen Mother Helen

    Repatriation of Queen Mother Helen

    “The Queen of the four exiles, as Queen Mother Helen has been dubbed, will be brought back to Romania, the adoptive home country that she will never again leave. The Queens remains were disinterred in Switzerland and brought to be reburied in the royal burial site in Curtea de Arges, southern Romania, alongside her son, King Michael I, and the other members of the Royal Family—Carol I, Ferdinand I and Carol II, and queens Elizabeth, Marie and Anne.



    Helens first exile began in 1910, when the entire Greek Royal family, including Princess Helen, born on May 3, 1896, was forced to leave Greece following a coup against her grandfather, King George I. Seven years later, in 1917, Helens family was once again forced into exile.



    In 1921 she married Crown Prince Carol II of Romania and gave birth to her only son, Michael, but 7 years later she divorced Carol following an infidelity scandal. Helen was sent into her 3rd exile by her former husband, King Carol II, so in late 1931 she moved to Germany and then to Italy, where she lived until 1940.



    In January 1948, Queen Mother Helen left Romania for good, together with her son, King Michael I, who had been deposed by the new communist power in Bucharest. Helen spent the last part of her life in Italy and Switzerland, close to her sons family. She passed away on November 28, 1982, and was buried in Bois-de-Vaux cemetery in Lausanne.



    The troubled history of the Greek and Romanian royal houses turned Helens life into a tragic destiny. However, those who knew her say the Queen Mother was a prototype of integrity, dignity, honour and wisdom. She was also a fascinating, discreet and elegant woman, with a refined sense of humour. It was her who taught King Michael and his daughters to have faith, to love their family and to have compassion for those in need.



    In the 1940s, Queen Mother Helen saved many from the Nazi persecution. This is why in 1993 Israel gave her the title of Righteous among the Nations, in recognition for her efforts to prevent the extermination of Romanian Jews. Queen Mother Helen equally opposed the abuses of the Soviet occupation in Romania, and struggled, together with King Michael I, to make Romania a part of the free world again. Unfortunately, she had to witness the Soviets increasingly tight grip on the country.



    It is only now, 30 years after the fall of the communist regime, that Helen returns to her adoptive country.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • 23.07.2017

    23.07.2017

    Affaires intérieures – Il est nécessaire d’avoir une législation très claire dans le domaine des affaires intérieures, couvrir le déficit de policiers et les doter d’équipements d’intervention, a déclaré la ministre roumaine de l’Intérieur, Carmen Dan. Elle a d’ailleurs convoqué lundi les syndicats représentatifs du domaine. Ces déclarations ont été faites à Suceava (nord-est), où la ministre a participé aux funérailles d’un policier tué dans la gare par coups de couteau. A tour le chef de l’Etat, Klaus Iohannis, a signé un décret de décoration post-mortem de l’Ordre National de Mérite en grade de Chevalier du policier en question, en signe de haute appréciation pour son dévouement et son professionnalisme, pour avoir accompli son devoir au prix du sacrifice suprême.


    Ecole d’été – Sinaia, station de montagne du sud de la Roumanie, accueille du 23 au 27 juillet, une école d’été sur l’exile roumain d’après la Seconde Guerre Mondiale. Co-organisé par l’Institut d’investigation des crimes du communisme et de la mémoire de l’exile roumain, le ministère de la Culture et le Musée national Peleş, cet événement s’adresse aux étudiants qui suivent des cours de master ou de doctorat en Roumanie et aux membres de la diaspora roumaine qui déroulent des projets sur le thème de l’exile roumain après la Seconde Guerre Mondiale. Son objectif est de faire mieux connaître et comprendre le phénomène dans les rangs des jeunes roumains du pays et de l’étranger.

    Frontières – Le trafic aux points de frontière de la Roumanie a augmenté au cours des 6 premiers mois de l’année de 7% par rapport à la même période de l’année dernière, atteignant les 26,8 millions de personnes. Selon la police roumaine aux frontières, sur ce total, 22,4 millions étaient des citoyens de l’UE. Par ailleurs, environ 7 millions et demi de moyens de transport ont franchi les frontières roumaines de janvier à juin 2017, soit un trafic similaire à la même période de l’année dernière.

    Militaires – 12 militaires américains qui ont participé vendredi à un parachutage de nuit sur la base aérienne de Câmpia Turzii (centre) dans le cadre de l’exercice Swift Response 17, ont été légèrement blessés. Ils ont été hospitalisés à Cluj Napoca, 11 d’entre eux ayant déjà quitté l’hôpital. Au total 800 militaires américains et 150 militaires roumains ont participé à l’exercice, ainsi que des véhicules blindés amphibie et des systèmes de défense aérienne Gepard. Le scénario visait à entourer, occuper, sécuriser et opérationnaliser une base militaire.

    Tennis – La
    Roumaine Irina Begu (nr 58 WTA) a vaincu dimanche Julia Goerges (Allemagne, 45
    WTA) en finale du tournoi de tennis BRD Bucharest Open. C’est la
    première finale pour la Roumanie, après celle de l’année dernière, à Florianopolis,
    au Brésil, qu’elle a remportée face à la Hongroise Timea Babos. Irina Begu
    compte à son palmarès 4 trophées WTA.

    Canotage – L’équipage masculin de deux de couple de Roumanie, forme de Vasile-Mihaita Tiganescu et Cosmin Pascari, a remporté samedi la médaille d’or du Championnat du monde de canotage jeunesse, déroulé à Plovdiv en Bulgarie. La France et la Serbie se sont clasées en 2e et respectivement en 3e position. Samedi encore, l’équipage féminin de 4 de couple a remporté la médaille d’argent de la même compétition.

    Météo – 15
    départements de l’ouest, du sud, du sud-est du pays, ainsi que la capitale sont
    concernés par une vigilance jaune à la canicule valable jusqu’à lundi. Dans ces
    régions, l’inconfort thermique accentué va dépasser localement le seuil
    critique des 80 unités. Sur le reste du territoire le ciel sera variable,
    couvert sur l’est, où l’on attend de la pluie à verse. Les températures
    maximales iront jusqu’à 37 degrés.