Mihail Sebastian - Journal 1935–1944 - The Fascist Years

CORIN GROSSU, writer.

SOLOMON (CHARLES) GRUBER, lawyer and personal secretary to Wilhelm Filderman.

CAROL GRÜNBERG, friend of Sebastian's.

EMIL GULIAN, poet and Sebastian's friend.

RADU DEMETRESCU GYR, poet and fanatical follower of the Iron Guard.

BOGDAN PETRICEICU HAŞDEU, nineteenth-century writer, strongly anti- Semitic.

POLDY (PIERRE) HECHTER, Sebastian's elder brother, lived in France during the war.

RICHARD (RICCI) HILLARD, journalist, friend of Sebastian's.

EUGEN IONESCU, playwright, Sebastian's friend.

GHIŢĂ IONESCU, political scientist, friend of Sebastian's.

NAE IONESCU, Iron Guard main ideologist, professor of philosophy at the University of Bucharest, early mentor of Sebastian.

JACQUES LASSAIGNE, French art critic.

IONEL LAZARONEANU, lawyer with literary inclinations.

RADU LECCA, commissar for Jewish affairs in the Antonescu government.

ANGELA LEREANU, secretary at Sasa Roman's office.

VASILE V. LONGHIN, judge from Brăila.

EUGEN LOVTNESCU, literary critic.

NINA MAREŞ, wife of Mircea Eliade.

VASILE MARIN, Iron Guard ideologist.

ISTRATE MICESCU, lawyer, minister of justice in the Goga-Cuza government.

ION I. MOŢA, leader of the Iron Guard.

FRANKLIN GUNTHER MOTT, head of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Bucharest.

TEODOR MUSATESCU, playwright.

GHEORGHE NENISOR, diplomat and Sebastian's friend.

MARYSE NENISOR, wife of Gheorghe Nenişor and Sebastian's friend.

CONSTANTIN D. NICOLESCU, general, former minister of national defense.

IACOB NIEMIROWER, chief rabbi of the Federation of Romanian Jewish Communities until 1939.

CONSTANTIN (DINU) NOICA, journalist, philosopher, strong supporter of the Iron Guard.

VICTOR OCNEANU, publisher.

OCTAV ONICESCU, mathematician.

GEORGE OPRESCU, art critic.

ANDREI OŢETEA, historian.

PETRE PANDREA, left-wing journalist.

LUCREŢIU PĂTRĂŞCANU (wartime name ANDREI), Communist leader.

PERPESSICIUS (DIMITRIE S. PANAITESCU), literary critic.

CAMIL PETRESCU, novelist, friend of Sebastian's.

CONSTANTIN PETROVICESCU, general, pro-Iron Guard minister of the interior.

NORA PIACENTINI, actress.

DIONISlE PIPPIDI, historian.

MIHAI POLIHRONIADE, Iron Guard journalist and theorist.

STELIAN POPESCU, lawyer and politician, director and owner of the newspaper Universul.

LILLY POPOVICI, actress and Sebastian's friend.

DRAGOŞ PROTOPOPESCU, right-wing journalist.

GHEORGHE RACOVEANU, Iron Guard journalist.

MIHAI RALEA, minister of labor March 1938-July 1940.

MARIETTA RAREŞ, actress.

LIVRIU REBREANU, novelist, director of the National Theatre under the Antonescu administration.

ZOE RICCI, actress.

ALEXANDRU RIOSANU, head of Siguranta (the secret police) September 1940-June 1941.

NICULAE ROSU, Iron Guard journalist and ideologist.

SAŞA (SACHA) ROMAN, lawyer, in whose office Sebastian worked as a clerk.

ALEXANDRU ROSETTI, director of the Royal Foundations, Sebastian's close friend and benefactor.

MARIETTA SADOVA, actress, fanatical supporter of the Iron Guard, wife of Haig Acterian.

MIHAIL SADOVEANU, writer.

ION SĂN-GIORGIU, extreme right journalist and playwright.

"BENU" ANDREI SEBASTIAN, the writer's younger brother.

CELLA SENI, the writer CELLA SERGHI, wife of Alfio Seni.

W. SIEGFRIED, stage designer.

SOARE Z. SOARE, theatre producer.

ŢOŢA SOIU, actress, wife of Ion Iancovescu.

THEODOR SOLACOLU, translator and poet.

ZAHARIA STANCU, journalist.

MIHAI STELESCU, Iron Guard leader.

LEOPOLD (POLDY) STERN, lawyer and writer, friend of Sebastian's.

VLADIMIR STRELNU, literary critic.

D. I. SUCHIANU, movie critic and journalist.

ALEXANDRU ŞAFRAN, wartime chief rabbi of the Jewish Communities in Romania.

PAMFIL ŞEICARU, journalist, owner of the Curentul newspaper.

MIRCEA ŞEPTILICI, actor.

GHEORGHE TĂTĂRESCU, politician, prime minister January 1934-December 1937, November 1939-July 1940.

AL. CRISTIAN TELL, Iron Guard journalist.

IONEL TEODOREANU, writer and poet.

PĂSTOREL TEODOREANU, poet and writer.

TUDOR TEODORESCU-BRANIŞTE, journalist and writer.

CICERONE THEODORESCU, poet.

DEM. THEODORESCU, writer and journalist.

ALICE THEODORIAN, friend of Sebastian's.

VASILE TIMUŞ, theatre manager.

NICOLAE TITULESCU, minister of foreign affairs October 1932-January 1935.

VIOREL TRIFA, president of the students' organization of the Iron Guard.

SANDU TUDOR, journalist at Credinţa.

PETRE ŢUŢEA, philosopher, ardent follower of the Iron Guard.

AL. VAIDA-VOEVOD, a leader of the National Peasant party, leader of the anti- Semitic Vlad Tepeş League.

CONSTANTIN VISOlANU, diplomat and politician, close friend of Sebastian's.

TUDOR VIANU, literary critic.

VICTOR P. VOJEN, extreme right pro-Nazi journalist.

PAUL ZARIFOPOL, novelist, literary critic.

HERBERT ("BELU") ZILBER, Communist publicist and friend of Sebastian's.

A. L. ZISSU, leader of the Zionist movement in Romania.

EUGEN ZWIEDENEK, under Ion Antonescu head of the government agency in charge of the Aryanization of Jewish properties.

10 p.m.

The radio is tuned to Prague. I have been listening to a concerto by J. S. Bach in G for trumpet, oboe, harpsichord, and orchestra. After the intermission, there will be a concerto of his in G minor for piano and orchestra.

I am immersed in Bach. Yesterday evening, while writing a long letter to Poldy, 1I listened to the Fourth Brandenburg Concerto from Lyons— for the first time with extremely clear reception — and then to a Mozart concerto for piano and orchestra.

I went to see an eye specialist. He recommended glasses and I have started to wear them. It changes me quite a lot and makes me look ugly.

It was funny when I told him my name. He said that his family has much discussed my De două mii de ani [For Two Thousand Years], which he has not read himself. He has heard a lot of people cursing me. I realize that my trial has really been lost. Cum am devenit huligan [How I Became a Hooligan] is not reaching the circles where I am cursed even by “hearsay.” 2

On Sunday at Tîrgovişte, where I had gone for a lecture, Samy Herşcovici told me a story that indicates how the “affair” is seen by the public.

The bookseller who was selling tickets for the lecture offered one to a professor at the teachers’ training college: “Sebastian? Aha! That yid who got himself baptized.”

Yesterday evening, Nae 3was due to speak at the [Royal] Foundation about “National Solidarity.” His lecture was banned by the government. 4The students were herded together on the pavement near the palace, where they booed, shouted, and sang. Then they were driven farther, into Piaţa Ateneului, where Nae, bareheaded and wearing his coat with a wolfskin collar, made a speech while perched on their shoulders.

“Nae was a fine sight,” related Nina. 5

There were scuffles, fistfights, firecrackers going off. Even some shots were said to have been fired in the air.

Not a word in today’s papers.

How disgusting is the issue of Credinţa devoted to Nae. Petru Manoliu, Sandu Tudor, and Zaharia Stancu — about Nae Ionescu! 6I’ve lived to see this too.