Silviu Craciunas (in Romanian: Crăciunaș; 1914–1998) was a

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

writer, best known for his 1961 book ''The Lost Footsteps''. That is his account of imprisonment, alleged torture and persecution at the hands of the Communists. The book was praised when it came out in the West in 1961, receiving positive reviews in ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...

'' and the ''

Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to '' The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'' among others. However, it has since been alleged that Craciunas was actually a

double agent In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organi ...

in the pay of the Romanian Communist secret police, the

Securitate The Securitate (, Romanian for ''security'') was the popular term for the Departamentul Securității Statului (Department of State Security), the secret police agency of the Socialist Republic of Romania. Previously, before the communist regime ...

, and parts of his book were authored by the secret police for

disinformation Disinformation is false information deliberately spread to deceive people. It is sometimes confused with misinformation, which is false information but is not deliberate. The English word ''disinformation'' comes from the application of the L ...

purposes.

Life

Craciunas was born in Miluan in northwestern Romania, as the son of an

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

priest. He studied medicine and then law at Cluj University, receiving his doctorate in Law and Economics and Political Science in 1940. A former member of the

fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

Iron Guard The Iron Guard ( ro, Garda de Fier) was a Romanian militant revolutionary fascist movement and political party founded in 1927 by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu as the Legion of the Archangel Michael () or the Legionnaire Movement (). It was strongly ...

, after 1945 he supported the

National Peasants' Party The National Peasants' Party (also known as the National Peasant Party or National Farmers' Party; ro, Partidul Național Țărănesc, or ''Partidul Național-Țărănist'', PNȚ) was an agrarian political party in the Kingdom of Romania. It w ...

. He worked in the glass and sugar industries, prior to the communist takeover of the country. The communists nationalized all privately owned factories in 1948, and Craciunas ostensibly became involved in the anti-communist underground movement, helping to smuggle people out of Romania. Craciunas was first arrested in 1938 for having fascist manifestoes on him. In 1948, he was arrested again, this time for having helped people flee Romania, and after reaching an agreement with the Securitate, it seems he was sent abroad posing as a

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

. In Paris, he made contact with the Romanian National Committee, a Romanian anti-Communist exiles' organisation, and with its help, and the help of Western intelligence agencies, in 1949 he secretly returned to Romania, where he submitted to the Securitate his first report on the Romanian exile community. After a few months, he was arrested again by the authorities on suspicion of being a double agent. He spent four years in the Malmaison prison, after which he was transferred to a prison hospital in

Suceava Suceava () is the largest urban settlement and the seat town ( ro, oraș reședință de județ) of Suceava County, situated in the historical region of Bukovina, northeastern Romania, and at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central and Eastern E ...

, from which he managed to "escape". In 1955, he signed a formal agreement with the Securitate to work for them as an informer. In 1957, he returned to the West, where he obtained

political asylum The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another enti ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

in 1959. In 1977, he emigrated to Spain, where he stayed for ten years, before returning to Great Britain. Craciunas died in

Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages. Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...

, in 1998.

Book

*''The Lost Footsteps'', 1961, translated into several languages

Bibliography

*''Urme pierdute, urme regasite- Cazul Silviu Craciunas'', eds. Dinu Zamfirescu, Dumitru Dobre, and Iulia Moldovan, Institutul National pentru Memoria Exilului Romanesc, Editura Militara, 2006

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Craciunas, Silviu 1914 births 1998 deaths Romanian writers Double agents Romanian expatriates in England Romanian expatriates in Spain Members of the Iron_Guard