Romanian Elite Rushes To Confess to Soviet-Era Informing
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
BRUSSELS, Belgium — Romania’s political and journalistic elite are rushing to confess that they informed for the feared Securitate as the nation prepares for the files of the old secret police to be opened.
Several well-known politicians and journalists have confessed to cooperating with the Securitate in recent days — desperate to pre-empt disclosures that would shed light on their role as spies for the former communist regime.
More than 16 years after the fall of Nicolae Ceausescu’s dictatorship, a mountain of more than 1.3 million files has finally been surrendered by Bucharest’s present-day spy agencies to a truth commission, the National Council for the Search of the Securitate Archives (CNSAS).
Some historians believe that 700,000 Romanians collaborated with the secret police. Under intense public pressure, a string of prominent Romanians have already visited the CNSAS offices in central Bucharest to inspect their files. Several emerged to confess that they had cooperated with the Securitate, though some said they had been given little choice.
Mona Musca, a Center-Right member of parliament, former minister, and campaigner for the expulsion of excommunists from high office, has said she signed a pledge to report on foreign students while working at Timisoara University in 1977.
Mrs. Musca, who was expelled from the ruling National Liberal Party this week, said: “Back then, any person in Romania was under the obligation to inform the Securitate about foreigners.”
The country’s president, Traian Basescu, is also battling allegations that he collaborated with the Securitate during his career as a merchant navy captain. A file on him is missing, raising allegations that the powerful are still being shielded.
Mr. Basescu says he wants to clear his name. He said: “Since taking office, I have been asking to see my file in vain. Give me the file, and I will instantly make it public.”
A drive to out ex-informers in the press has claimed several scalps. A file on a former broadcaster with the BBC Romanian service, Carol Sebastian, said he was blackmailed into reporting on a friend while at university. The friend has forgiven him, saying the reports were “neutral,” but Mr. Sebastian has resigned from a national television job, saying his failure to disclose his past was “an indelible stain.”
