Sergiu Dan (; born Isidor Rotman or Rottman; December 29, 1903 – March 13, 1976) was a Romanian novelist, journalist, Holocaust survivor and political prisoner of the communist regime. Dan, the friend and collaborator of Romulus Dianu, was noted during the interwar period as a contributor to Romania's avant-garde and modernist scene, collaborating with poet Ion Vinea on Contimporanul review and Facla newspaper. He was also affiliated with the rival literary club, Sburătorul, and noted for criticizing the communist sympathies of other avant-garde writers. His main works of the 1930s include contributions to the psychological novel, thriller and political novel genres, received with critical acclaim.
Of Jewish Romanian origin, Sergiu Dan was the subject of antisemitic defamation, and during World War II was deported to Transnistria. After his return home, Dan spoke about his experiences in the book Unde începe noaptea ("Where Night Begins"), which endures one of the few Romanian contributions to Holocaust literature, and has for long been censored by dictatorial regimes. The writer's political stance also clashed with the post-1948 communist establishment, and, during the 1950s, he was interned at Aiud prison. Dan was eventually forced to adapt his writing style to the aesthetic requirements of Romanian Socialist realism, and spent the final decades of his life in relative obscurity. His work was rediscovered and reassessed following the 1989 Revolution.
Biography Early decades The future writer was born in the town of Piatra Neamț, in Moldavia region, the son of Simon Rotman. "Sergiu Dan - 'un ironist sentimental' ", in Timpul de Gorj, Nr. 51 (355), December 22–28, 2008 His first steps in cultural journalism happened before 1926, when he was affiliated with the newspaper Cugetul Românesc; his earliest poems were published in cultural magazines such as Chemarea and Flacăra, Boris Marian, , in Realitatea Evreiască, Nr. 262-263 (1062-1063), December 2006, p.19 and a debut novella, Iudita și Holofern ("Judith and Holofernes"), saw print in 1927. , at the ; retrieved February 11, 2011 Sergiu Dan's brother, Mihail Dan, was also a journalist, known for his translations from Soviet author Vladimir Mayakovsky. Paul Cernat, "Subterana politică a avangardei românești", in Observator Cultural, Nr. 417, April 2008
In the late 1920s, Sergiu Dan and his friend Romulus Dianu were in Bucharest. It was there that Dan joined the literary circle of novelist Camil Petrescu, and took part in the regular literary disputes at Casa Capșa and Corso restaurants. Geo Șerban, , in Realitatea Evreiască, Nr. 228 (1028), April 2005, p.6-7 By 1928, he had fallen out with Petrescu: ridiculing the "noocratic" philosophical project outlined by Petrescu, and calling its author "insane" and "poltroonish". Anton I. Adămuț, "Camil Petrescu – istoria unui manuscris (Câte ceva despre eros și despre existențialism)" , in Idei în Dialog, October 2007 (republished by the Romanian Cultural Institute's România Culturală ) He later expressed regret for the incident, noting that he had been especially amused by Petrescu's eccentric decision to store his philosophical manuscript in the Vatican Library.
Dan and Dianu were also co-opted by Ion Vinea on his various journalistic ventures, beginning with the left-wing and modernist literary review Contimporanul, where they published avant-garde prose and poetry with a political subtext.Cernat, p.151, 194-197, 269 His texts were featured in various other venues: Vremea, Revista Fundațiilor Regale, Universul Literar (the literary supplement of Universul daily) and Bilete de Papagal (the satirical newspaper of poet Tudor Arghezi). During the period, Dan underwent formal training in Economics, graduating from the Bucharest Commercial School. With Dianu (who was also making his debut), Dan co-authored a romanticized biography of the 19th century poet-storyteller Anton Pann: Viața minunată a lui Anton Pann ("The Wonderful Life of Anton Pann"; Editura Cultura Națională, 1929)—this collaborative fiction piece was reissued in 1935 as Nastratin și timpul său ("Nasreddin and His Time").Călinescu, p.1021; Crohmălniceanu, p.353, 605, 606 In this context, Dan also joined the Sburătorul club, formed around the eponymous magazine of literary theorist Eugen Lovinescu, as one of the Jewish writers whom Lovinescu welcomed into his movement. Vlaicu Bârna, "Un cuvânt nou în limba română" , in România Literară, Nr. 42/2001 Henri Zalis, "Apropieri de o moștenire diferențiată" , in Convorbiri Literare, August 2004
During his period at Contimporanul, Dan embarked on a conflict with the Surrealist and far leftist group at unu, the magazine of poet Sașa Pană. This controversy reflected the major discrepancies between Contimporanul and other avant-garde venues. By 1930, Sergiu's brother Mihail Dan had left Bilete de Papagal and had become involved with unu, of which he was later editor in chief. However, documents first made public in 2008 show that he was secretly an informant for the Kingdom of Romania's intelligence agency, Siguranța Statului, with a mission to supervise unus ongoing flirtations with communism. He had for long been suspected of this by the literary society at Sburătorul. Also in 1930, shortly after the forceful return of Romanian King Carol II to the throne, Sergiu Dan was working, as political editor, on the staff of Dreptatea, the platform of the National Peasants' Party (PNȚ). According to the later account of communist journalist Petre Pandrea, Dan and Vinea together stole the original draft of an article by PNȚ economist Virgil Madgearu, and forged it in such manner as to make it seem that Madgearu was an anti-Carlist; they then sold a copy to Madgearu's rival, the corporatist theorist Mihail Manoilescu. Manoilescu took a copy of this document to Carol, discrediting himself when the forgery was exposed.Petre Pandrea, "Carol II-Madgearu-Manoilescu", in Magazin Istoric, April 2002, p.27 Pandrea claimed that, between them, Dan and Vinea made off with 150,000 lei from the affair, whereas their victim Manoilescu fell into permanent disfavor.
Sergiu Dan's actual editorial debut came in 1931, when Editura Cugetarea published his novel Dragoste și moarte în provincie ("Love and Death in the Provinces"). In 1932, Dan and dramatist George Mihail Zamfirescu shared the annual prize of the Romanian Writers' Society, of which they both became members. Victor Durnea, "Societatea scriitorilor români" , in Dacia Literară, Nr. 2/2008 (republished by the Romanian Cultural Institute's România Culturală ) In 1932, Sergiu Dan joined the staff of Vinea's gazette Facla, with novelist Ion Călugăru, poet N. Davidescu, writer-director Sandu Eliad, and professional journalists Nicolae Carandino and Henric Streitman. Geo Șerban, "Causeries du lundi" , in România Literară, Nr. 25/2000
Dan resumed his writing career with Arsenic, published by Cultura Națională in 1934, and Surorile Veniamin ("The Veniamin Sisters", Editura Vatra, 1935). The former volume received another cultural prize, granted by literary critics at the Eforie festival of 1934. During 1934, Dan was one of 46 intellectuals who signed an appeal in favor of normalizing relations between Romania and its communist enemy to the east, the Soviet Union—the basis for a cultural and political association, Amicii URSS, which was secretly maneuvered by the outlawed Romanian Communist Party.Adrian Cioroianu, , Editura Curtea Veche, Bucharest, 2005, p.114-118.
Between Transnistria and Aiud Sergiu Dan became a victim of antisemitic repression during the early stages of World War II, when authoritarian and fascist regimes took over (see Romania during World War II). Initially, he was expelled from the Writers' Society. Radu Cosașu, "Ura în toată incultura ei", in Dilema Veche, Nr. 118, April 2006 In July 1940, writing for Universul Literar, fascist author Ladmiss Andreescu proposed a boycott of Dan's work, and an overall ban on Jewish literature. Ladmiss Andreescu, "Iudeii în literatura noastră", in Universul Literar, Nr. 29/1940, p.2 (digitized by the Babeș-Bolyai University Transsylvanica Online Library) Under the National Legionary State, some authors sympathetic to the ruling Iron Guard celebrated its enforcement of censorship as a revolution against modernist literature. In their magazine Gândirea, Dan was referred to as an exponent of "Judaic morbidity". S[eptimiu] B[ucur], "Cronica măruntă. Revista Fundațiilor Regale", in Gândirea, Nr. 7/1940, p.519 (digitized by the Babeș-Bolyai University Transsylvanica Online Library) Dan escaped the Pogrom of January 1941, hidden and protected by his friend Vinea. Marin Pop, Corneliu Coposu, "Corneliu Coposu despre atitudinea lui Iuliu Maniu față de evrei" , in Caiete Silvane, May 2014
Later, the new dictatorial government of Conducător Ion Antonescu listed Dan as one of the Jewish authors specifically banned, on a special inventory with nationwide circulation.Rotman, p.174-175 Dan was also among the Jewish men and women who were deported to concentration camps in Romanian-administered Transnistria (see Holocaust in Romania); he was eventually released and could return to Bucharest, where he was under treatment with the Jewish physician and fellow writer Emil Dorian, before the August 1944 Coup managed to topple Antonescu.Rotman, p.176
Dealing with his Transnistrian deportation, the novel Unde începe noaptea was published by Editura Naționala Mecu in 1945.Crohmălniceanu, p.605 The book, written as a response to early signs of Holocaust denial, was reportedly taken out of circulation for unknown reasons; it was later suggested that it clashed with the Communist Party agenda, at a time when Romania was undergoing fast communization. , in Realitatea Evreiască, Nr. 256-257 (1056-1057), June–July 2006, p.5 Two years later, Naționala Mecu released another one of Dan's war-themed novels, Roza și ceilalți ("Roza and the Others").Călinescu, p.1021
After 1948, Sergiu Dan's political views collided with the agenda set by the Romanian communist regime, and he was eventually arrested. Reportedly, Dan had first attracted political persecution upon himself when, in 1947, he spoke out as a defense witness at the trial of his friend, the PNȚ journalist Nicolae Carandino. Iulia Deleanu, "Epoca interbelică – refolosirea balanței", in Observator Cultural, Nr. 406, January 2008 The Securitate secret police confiscated his works in progress, which reputedly formed part of a special secret archive. Alex. Ștefănescu, "Din 'realizările' regimului comunist - Cărți interzise" , in România Literară, Nr. 50/2004 The conditions of Dan's new detainment were characterized by literary historian Henri Zalis as "savage". He was notably held, with many other public figures of various backgrounds, at Aiud prison. Petre Pandrea, himself imprisoned there after an inner-party purge, later included Dan on his list of writers, humorously titled the "Writers' Union of Aiud"—in contrast to the communist-controlled Writers' Union of Romania. Alex. Ștefănescu, "Petre Pandrea" (II) , in România Literară, Nr. 19/2003; "Scriitori arestați (1944-1964)" , in România Literară, Nr. 23/2005 Dianu, who had worked with Vinea and controversial journalist Pamfil Șeicaru during the war years, was also in custody by 1950, as one of the journalists charged with having tarnished "the world's luminous transformation on the path toward the justest regime in the history of mankind". Emil Manu, "Romulus Dianu - Versuri inedite" , in România Literară, Nr. 50/2001