Leon Kalustian

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Leon Kalustian
Portrait photograph of Kalustian, ca. 1930
Portrait photograph of Kalustian, ca. 1930
Born(1908-10-17)October 17, 1908
Focșani, Kingdom of Romania
DiedJanuary 24, 1990(1990-01-24) (aged 81)
Focșani, Romania
OccupationJournalist, construction worker
NationalityRomanian
Period1926–1985
GenreBiography, memoir, essay

Leon Kalustian (Armenian: Լևոն Գալուստեան, Levon Kalustyan; October 17, 1908 – January 24, 1990) was a Romanian journalist, essayist and memoirist. An Armenian on his father's side, he abandoned his studies to work in the interwar press, taking editorial positions at Cuvântul, Curentul, and finally . As a left-winger who ultimately joined the Social Democratic Party, he took a side in public controversies, defending the political line espoused by Nicolae Titulescu and attacking Stelian Popescu. Kalustian was allegedly a collaborator of Siguranța secret policemen, and remained close to the disgraced spy chief, Eugen Cristescu. He eventually withdrew from journalism altogether with the advent of a dictatorial regime, under the National Renaissance Front.

Identified as an enemy by the communist regime, which took over in 1948, Kalustian was detained without trial for some four years, and died penal labor as a steel fixer. He was then again arrested, and sentenced, for having kept and sold books banned by state censorship. Ultimately released in 1964, Kalustian was allowed to publish again from 1966, though he was still exposed to acts of persecution and to constant surveillance by the Securitate. From the late 1970s, Flacăra magazine hosted his regular columns, leading both the public and the regime to rediscover him as a progressive author. Despite this take, Kalustian networked with anti-communists such as Nicolae Carandino and Corneliu Coposu, both predicting and working toward the eventual fall of communism. He lived to witness the Romanian Revolution of 1989, dying a month later in his native town of Focșani.

Biography[]

Early life and imprisonment[]

Born in Focșani, his parents were Sarchis Kalustian and Iulia (née Gherghel).[1] The oldest of four children, his father was from Ottoman Armenia, while his mother was an ethnic Romanian from Transylvania. He attended one year of high school in his native town and beyond that was self-taught, settling early in the national capital Bucharest.[2] His first published work appeared in Cuvântul newspaper in 1926; he was an editor for Cuvântul (1926–1927), Curentul (1928–1934), Mișcarea (1931–1932) and România (1938–1940). Other publications to which he contributed include , Adevărul, , Azi, Lumea Românească, Reporter, , România Literară, , and Luceafărul.[1] Pen names he used included Democrit, Elka, Lucullus, Kalunkar, Al. Teodoru, Vladimir, L.K. and Kalvincar, the last formed from his surname and those of his fellow Facla columnists Ion Vinea and Nicolae Carandino.[2] Those years consolidated Kalustian's reputation as a "great erudite" and a leading socialist publicist.[3] In June 1933, he married Iza Dora Aronovici, a Jewish woman from Vaslui nine years his senior. Although Kalustian's charm, which assured his place in high society, caused friction within the marriage, the union endured.[2]

A feared polemicist, Kalustian defended democratic values and launched virulent attacks on newspaperman Stelian Popescu.[2] As an adversary in such polemics, recorded his belief that Kalustian was an agent of the interwar secret service, or Siguranța, who primarily informed his superiors about the goings-on in journalist circles.[4] This was partly confirmed by a Siguranța report of November 1934, which suggests that he continued to work as an informant for Eugen Cristescu after the latter had been ousted from his position as director of that agency. According to that report, Kalustian and diplomat Nicolae Titulescu colluded with the National Peasants' Party to have Cristescu reinstated.[5]

A 1935 interview in Facla includes details on Kalustian's social and political outlook, including his statement that it was impossible not to write about the "social inequities [creating] two worlds, one of the satiated and the other of the famished".[6] In late 1936, with his articles in Dimineața, he took the side of petty clerks driven into poverty by the Great Depression, warning that a revolt was looming.[7] He had by then befriended Titulescu, who took him on conference tours to promote European peace. During 1937, he published pieces defending his patron after the latter had been sidelined by an informal coalition of his various enemies (whom Kalustian called "dunces").[8]

Writer Aurel Baranga worked with Kalustian at Lumea Românească in 1936–1937, describing him as a man of "sparkling, lively, unrelenting intelligence".[6] In 1938, when the National Renaissance Front regime was set up, Kalustian quit journalism, which he did not resume for forty years.[2] During March 1940, just before the fall of France, he met the gravely ill Titulescu one final time, at the Paris Ritz.[9] After the August 1944 coup and during the latter stages of World War II, Kalustian returned to public life as a moderate left-wing journalist, rejecting collaboration with the Romanian Communist Party. He joined the Romanian Social Democratic Party, whereupon he sided with the anti-communist inner-faction, formed around Constantin Titel Petrescu.[10]

Arrested in May 1951 under the early communist regime, Kalustian was held without trial for four years at Jilava, Gherla and prisons.[2][11] In 1953, he also did time in the comparatively liberal camp of Onești, where he and aristocrat Mihail Dim. Sturdza worked as steel fixers. Sturdza reports that Kalustian was able to coax a prison guard into letting them communicate with the outside world by means of "little notes".[12] Between 1956 and 1960, having no other means of subsistence, Kalustian sold books clandestinely,[2][11] an activity closely monitored by the Securitate secret police. His case officer, Idel Cohn, opened a file on Kalustian as a "clandestine antiquarian".[13] In December 1960, a search of his home resulted in the seizure of hundreds of books, rare editions, manuscripts, documents, magazines, important works of Romanian and world literature. These had been acquired over time and came from his personal library; additionally, personal observations, notes and letters addressed to his family were impounded.[2] Arrested the following day, Kalustian was tried and sentenced in September 1961. The court sentenced him to eight years' imprisonment and confiscation of his entire property, the crime being distribution of banned publications.[2][11] Among these were În preajma revoluției by Constantin Stere, Queen Marie's Povestea vieții mele, Mustul care fierbe by Octavian Goga and the Memoirs of King Carol I, all considered dangerous for the socialist order.[2]

Return[]

Following a mass amnesty, Kalustian was released from Gherla prison in April 1964.[2] In 1966–1967, commissioned him to write a series commemorating Titulescu in the provincial magazine .[14] In October 1967, police descended on his home (located on Maria Rosetti Street)[15] as part of an intimidation campaign against former political prisoners. Searching for books considered subversive, they sealed his large collection.[2] Pandrea, himself newly released from prison, argues in his journal that some were avoiding Kalustian, whom they perceived as a Securitate informant. Pandrea did not dismiss this claim, but rather viewed it as irrelevant, since "those of us who are not natural-born conspirators will have no fear of agents."[16]

Kalustian's first book, the 1975 Facsimile, appeared late;[1] it was followed by Conspirații sub cer deschis (1976), a selection of his anti-fascist, pro-democracy articles from 1936–1938.[2][6][17][18] Both editions were curated by literary scholar , under contract with .[19] Conspirații... was positively reviewed by Ioan Enache in the Communist Party daily, Scînteia. According to Enache, Kalustian "provides today's reader with the reliable image of a tormented epoch, riddled with contradictions, as rendered from within and in lockstep with the events themselves. This book eloquently demonstrates the militant calling of our progressive press."[17] In April 1977, the same newspaper also hosted Baranga's musings about Kalustian, signalling him as one who had stood on the "barricade against fascism", with "remarkable civic courage". Baranga also argued that the work was useful in an era of neo-fascism "across the continents"—referring to groups such as Ordine Nero.[6]

During the early 1970s, Kalustian resumed his friendship with Carandino, who had also survived communist imprisonment; their other friend was another former inmate, the Jewish folklorist Harry Brauner. They attended a clandestine coffee shop on Hristo Botev Street, becoming known as the Three Musketeers.[20] The group was able to connect with other journalists and Securitate men, and obtained regular access to foreign magazines, which were secretly taken out of packages received by a Securitate general, and circulated widely before being returned and resent.[21] When Kalustian returned to journalism in 1978, publishing a column in Adrian Păunescu's Flacăra, he continued to be monitored by the Securitate.[2] This recovery was reportedly arranged by a younger Armenian journalist, , who also aired an interview with Kalustian for state television.[22]

Kalustian was additionally featured as a raconteur in a Titulescu issue put out in early 1982 by Revista Română, which was published in four languages and circulated abroad.[23] He ultimately collected his columns in five volumes, which appeared to generally positive reviews between 1980 and 1985 as Simple note.[1][2][24] Commenting on their literary classification, critic Al. Dobrescu found Kalustian the essayist to be midway between Nicolae Iorga and Lazăr Șăineanu, "but without the former's stylistic vigor or the latter's meticulousness."[25] Also according to Dobrescu, much of the information they communicated was already public knowledge—with notable exceptions whenever Kalustian discussed the lesser-known writers, from Constantin Beldie and to Nicolae P. Leonăchescu. The critic was upset that Kalustian never seemed interested in recounting his personal meetings with N. D. Cocea and George Mihail Zamfirescu, with the articles on them veering into a "deluge of musings, either restrained or pathetic, about the human condition, the cruelties of life, and other such things."[25]

Like Carandino's book of memoirs, these works drew attention from other literati and political figures, leading them to establish an "Artists' Club" at the coffee shop on Sfinților Street. The owner, Gheorghe Florescu, recalls that they were joined there by Corneliu Coposu, once a regional National Peasantist leader, and by film actor Cornel Coman. They would often discuss politics from an anti-communist perspective, though they had to interrupt themselves when a Securitate colonel stopped in for coffee.[26] According to Florescu, during one such encounter in May 1980 (shortly after Coman's death) Kalustian made several accurate predictions about the outcome of the US presidential election, the eventual breakup of Yugoslavia, and the global fall of communism.[27]

Florescu also reports that, in early 1983, Kalustian and Carandino, together with lawyer Mircea Traian Biju, were engaged in a conspiracy to foment revolt against communist leader Nicolae Ceaușescu. Though noting that the Securitate was probably unaware of this activity, Florescu proposes that the Mossad was both aware and involved.[28] In June of that year, thanks to the efforts of Păunescu and Dumitru Radu Popescu,[29] the Romanian Writers' Union granted Kalustian an unofficial pension; his name later disappeared from the membership list.[2] His wife died the following month, plunging him into grief; his apathy deepened after his brother died in 1985, and his desire to write steadily faded.[2]

At that stage, Florescu had come under surveillance for his participation in the black market; as he reports, the Securitate, which handled his interrogation, asked about his contacts with Kalustian and Carandino, whom it branded "enemies of the people". As a result, Florescu decided to end the "Artists' Club", and would only meet with his friends in Kalustian's apartment.[30] During the 1984–1985 winter, the rooms were left unheated due to the Ceaușescu's austerity policies; unlike his friend and neighbor Alexandru Rosetti, Kalustian did not qualify for state assistance.[31] In December, as Florescu faced arrest, Kalustian advised him to seek being beaten up in custody as the better alternative to a prison term.[32]

In October 1989, his health increasingly deteriorating, Kalustian returned to Focșani, where his two sisters cared for him until his death the following January. He was buried in the local Armenian cemetery, the service officiated by Zareh Baronian,[2] who had reportedly assisted Kalustian during his final days.[33] One month before his death, the communism was toppled in Romania. Under the subsequent return to political pluralism, Kalustian's Facsimile was republished, in 2000, by Editura Ararat.[34] His memory was invoked by his former friends and colleagues. His centennial in October 2008 was celebrated by Focșani officials, including , and the Union of Armenians of Romania, with the participation of Arachelian, Baronian, and ; Ionuț Ladea completed a bust of Kalustian, but not in time to be unveiled for that ceremony.[35] In 2013, made Kalustian, Carandino and Coposu characters in his novel, Cei morți înainte de moarte ("Those Who Died before Death Itself").[36]

Notes[]

  1. ^ a b c d Aurel Sasu (ed.), Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române, vol. I, p. 821. Pitești: , 2004. ISBN 973-697-758-7
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r (in Romanian) Repere biografice at leonkalustian.ro, a project of the Duiliu Zamfirescu Vrancea County Library
  3. ^ Florescu, pp. 120–121
  4. ^ Pandrea, pp. 306, 355–356, 397
  5. ^ Petre Țurlea, "România sub stăpânirea Camarilei Regale (1930–1940) (II)", in Analele Universității Creștine Dimitrie Cantemir. Seria Istorie, Vol. 1, Issue 3, 2010, pp. 152–153
  6. ^ a b c d Aurel Baranga, "Pagini de ziaristică antifascistă", in Scînteia, April 14, 1977, p. 4
  7. ^ Iacoș, p. 459. See also Stepan-Cazazian, p. 6
  8. ^ Potra, pp. 299–301
  9. ^ Potra, pp. 301–306
  10. ^ Florescu, pp. 121, 309
  11. ^ a b c Ion, p. 335
  12. ^ Ion, pp. 334–335
  13. ^ Liviu Pleșa, "Epurarea din Securitate a cadrelor de origine evreiască (1960–1961)", in Caietele CNSAS, Vol. XI, Issue 2, 2018, p. 236
  14. ^ Potra, pp. 302, 316, 324, 326
  15. ^ Florescu, pp. 273, 303, 307, 309
  16. ^ Pandrea, p. 306
  17. ^ a b Ioan Enache, "Note de lectură. L. Kalustian, Conspirații sub cer deschis", in Scînteia, May 12, 1976, p. 4
  18. ^ Iacoș, p. 467
  19. ^ Stepan-Cazazian, p. 6
  20. ^ Florescu, pp. 121, 123, 141, 216, 226
  21. ^ Florescu, p. 214
  22. ^ Stepan-Cazazian, p. 6
  23. ^ , "Breviar. Omagiu lui N. Titulescu", in Luceafărul, Vol. XXV, Issue 14, April 1982, p. 2
  24. ^ Florescu, p. 225
  25. ^ a b Al. Dobrescu, "Cronica. Simple note", in Convorbiri Literare, Vol. XCI, Issue 1192, December 1985, p. 10
  26. ^ Florescu, pp. 226, 259, 262–263, 266–267, 276–278, 291
  27. ^ Florescu, pp. 262, 266–267, 276–278
  28. ^ Florescu, p. 291
  29. ^ Stepan-Cazazian, p. 6
  30. ^ Florescu, pp. 302–303, 307
  31. ^ Florescu, p. 309
  32. ^ Florescu, p. 313
  33. ^ Stepan-Cazazian, p. 1
  34. ^ Stepan-Cazazian, p. 6
  35. ^ Stepan-Cazazian, passim
  36. ^ , "Un roman cinematografic", in Viața Românească, Issues 1–2/2014, p. 146

References[]

  • Gheorghe Florescu, Confesiunile unui cafegiu. Bucharest: Humanitas, 2008. ISBN 978-973-50-2208-2
  • Ion Iacoș, "Ideea de unitate muncitorească în activitatea organizațiilor funcționarilor publici (1935–1937)", in Revista de Istorie, Vol. 39, Issue 5, May 1986, pp. 454–468.
  • Narcis Dorin Ion, "Istorie și genealogie. Convorbiri cu domnul Mihai Dim. Sturdza", in Cercetări Istorice, Vol. XXXIV, 2015, pp. 267–370.
  • , Memoriile mandarinului valah. Jurnal I: 1954–1956. Bucharest: , 2011. ISBN 978-973-645-440-0
  • George Potra, Pro și contra Titulescu, Vol. II. Bucharest: Fundația Europeană Titulescu, 2012. ISBN 978-606-8091-16-7
  • Mihai Stepan-Cazazian, "Leon Kalustian a fost omagiat la Focșani", in Ararat, Issue 20/2008, pp. 1, 6.
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