A poet watched by the Securitate

Poet and philosopher Lucian Blaga was followed by the Securitate until the day he died. Professor Ion Balu, the author of "The life of Lucian Blaga," published in four volumes, and the daughter of the poet, Dorli Blaga, launched Monday at the Romanian Literature Museum the volume called "Blaga watched by the Securitate," in the "Black Desk" collection of the "Apostrof" Library Publishing House.

"It seems that the poet agreed with the Marxist philosophy and applied it correctly when he wrote a scientific report about the philosophy in the 18th century Transilvania. I remember that he was interested in the international events when he was working at the Institute and he has bourgeois expectancies regarding international political entanglements. He is extremely cultivated and a great writer and translator. Morally, he is a working man and fair with others. I am not aware of any vices he might have. I only know he is quite a womaniser." This is an excerpt from the report of a Securitate informer, code-named "Lucretiu," recruited from the staff of the Philosophy Institute in Cluj.

"I had no idea before 1989 that my father was closely watched by the Securitate. I only found out when I was able to read his file," Dorli Blaga said. The poet was followed beginning with 1946, after he refused to become a member of the Central Committee of the National Popular Party and his first file began with a letter sent to him by an Austrian publishing house that wanted to publish some of his poems in an anthology in German.