Memorialistica carcerală a comunismului românesc și dilemele sale etice
Rezumat
Ethical Dilemmas in Romanian Communist Carceral Memoirs
Abstract: This article explores the ethical questions that arise from memoirs detailing the traumatic experiences within Romanian communist prisons and concentration camps. Upon entry into the communist detention system, individuals found themselves in a realm of extreme brutality, unpredictability, and a complete disregard for human dignity and ethical principles, where survival became the vital concern. This context gives rise to two primary ethical challenges concerning carceral memoirs: firstly, there’s the way narratives are constructed. This includes decisions about what details to include or omit, the tone of the recounting, the way past experiences are influenced by the author’s current circumstances and perspectives, and the risks of altering the truth based on the author’s personal beliefs or ideologies. Secondly, the memoirs often grapple with the ethical implications of behaviors observed within the prisons, such as informing on fellow prisoners, colluding with the torturers, becoming a torturer, or other forms of moral compromise. The focus of this article is on the first challenge, examining how the ethical dilemmas of narrative construction manifest in the memoirs of those who endured the Romanian communist detention system, particularly the risk of distorting facts. At the heart of these carceral memoirs is the depiction of a significant historical disruption and a deeply traumatic experience that carries both individual and collective weight. By exploring these ethical dilemmas, the article aims to underscore the invaluable testimonial contribution of these memoirs. They not only document personal and shared traumas but also contribute to a broader cultural memory that supports humanistic and anti-totalitarian ethical reflections. Therefore, these memoirs transcend mere historical record-keeping. They become a medium for representation and interpretation, where the memoirist’s authenticity and moral integrity as a “moral witness” are crucial for accurately conveying the historical reality.
Keywords: Memoir writing, ethical dilemmas, narrative construction, historical trauma, Romanian communist prisons, cultural memory, anti-totalitarian reflection
Citation suggestion: Tucan, Dumitru. “Memorialistica carcerală a comunismului românesc și dilemele sale etice”. Transilvania, no. 10 (2025): 39-49.
https://doi.org/10.51391/trva.2025.10.05.
Bibliografie
Anghelescu, Mircea. Literatură și biografie [Literature and Biography]. Bucharest: Editura Universal Dalsi, 2005.
Applebaum, Anne. Gulagul. O istorie. [Gulag: A History]. Bucharest: Humanitas, 2011.
Assmann, Aleida. „Patos și patimă. Despre violență, traumă și conceptul de mărturie.” [Pathos and Passion: About Violence, Trauma, and the Concept of Testimony] În Viitorul amintirii și Holocaustul, [The Future of Memory and the Holocaust], editat de Geoffrey Hartman și Aleida Assmann. Iași: Editura Universității „Al. I. Cuza”.
Assmann, Jan. “Communicative and Cultural Memory.” In Media and Cultural Memory, edited by Erll, Astrid, and Ansgar Nünning. Berlin & New York: De Gruyter, 2008.
Assmann, Jan. Memoria culturală [Cultural Memory]. Traducere de Octavian Nicolae. Iași: Editura Universității „Al. I. Cuza”, 2013.
Bacu, Dumitru. Pitești – centru de reeducare studențească. [Pitești – Student Re-education Center]. Madrid: Dacoromania, 1963.
Biliuță, Ionuț. “Legionary Dreams, Visions, and Divine Apparitions in the Communist Prisons: Designing a Fascist Carceral Theophany in Contemporary Romania.” RES 14, no. 2 (2022).
Bode, C. “Literary Value and Evaluation: The Case for Relational Concepts.” In Anglistentag 1988 Göttingen, edited by Heinz-Joachim Müllenbrock. Tubingen: Niemeyer, 1989.
Caruth, Cathy. Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.
Cesereanu, Ruxandra. Călătorie spre centrul infernului. [Journey to the Center of the Inferno]. Pitești: Manuscris, 2018.
Cesianu, Constantin. Salvat din infern. [Saved from the Inferno]. Bucharest: Humanitas, 1992.
Ciobanu, Monica. “Criminals, Martyrs or Saints? Romania’s Prison Saints Debate Revisited.” Culture of History Forum (2018).
Constante, Lena. Evadarea imposibilă. [The Impossible Escape]. Bucharest: Editura Florile Dalbe, 1996.
Constante, Lena. Evadarea tăcută [The Silent Escape]. Bucharest: Humanitas, 1992.
Couser, G. Thomas. Memoir. An Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
Fludernik, Monika. Towards a ‘Natural’ Narratology. London-New York: Routledge, 1996.
Genette, Gerard. Figures III (Discours du récit) [Figures III (Narrative Discourse)]. Paris: Seuil, 1972.
Georgescu, Adriana. La început a fost sfârșitul. Dictatura roșie la București. [In the Beginning Was the End: The Red Dictatorship in Bucharest]. Bucharest: Humanitas, 2019.
Ginzburg, Carlo. The Cheese and the Worms. The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992.
Halbwachs, Maurice. Memoria colectivă. [Collective Memory]. Iași: Institutul European, 2007.
Hulber, Maria. Memorialistica detențiilor Postbelice românești. [Memoirs of the Romanian Post-War Detentions]. Oradea: Ratio et Revelatio, 2015.
Ianolide, Ion. Deținutul profet. [The Prophet Prisoner]. Bucharest: Bonifaciu, 2009.
Ioanid, Ion. Închisoarea noastră cea de toate zilele, I, II, III. [Our Daily Prison]. Bucharest: Humanitas, 2013.
Ionițoiu, Cicerone, Memorii, I. Iași: Polirom, 2011.
Iovănel, Mihai. Ideologiile literaturii în postcomunismul românesc. Bucharest: Editura Muzeul Literaturii Române, 2017.
Iovănel, Mihai. Istoria literaturii române contemporane. Iași: Polirom, 2021.
LaCapra, Dominick. Writing History, Writing Trauma. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014.
Lejeune, Philippe. Le pacte autobiographique. [The Autobiographical Pact]. Paris: Seuil, 1996.
Levi, Giovanni. “On Microhistory.” In New Perspectives on Historical Writing, edited by Peter Burke. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001.
Likhachev, Dmitry S. Reflections on the Russian Soul. A Memoir. Budapest: CEU Press, 1999.
Margalit, Avishai. Ethics of Memory. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002.
Mărculescu, Radu. Mărturii pentru Judecata de Apoi adunate din Gulagul Românesc. [Testimonies for the Judgement Day from the Romanian Gulag]. București: Aldine, 2005.
Mărculescu, Radu. Pătimiri și iluminări din captivitatea sovietică. [Sufferings and Enlightenments from Soviet Captivity]. Bucharest: Humanitas, 2010.
Mărgineanu, Nicolae. Mărturii asupra unui veac zbuciumat. [Testimonies of a Troubled Century]. Bucharest: Editura Fundației Culturale Române, 2002.
Mihadaș, Teohar. Pe muntele Ebal. [On Mount Ebal]. Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, 1990.
Mironescu, Andreea. “Extinderea domeniului literaturii. Integrarea formelor hibride în istoria literară românească” [Expanding the Domain of Literature. The Integration of Hybrid Forms into Romanian Literary History]. Philologica Jassyensia 2, no. 28 (2018).
Mironescu, Doris. “Memoriile unui anarhist: Zamfir C. Arbore și memorialistica secolului al XIX-lea” [The Memoirs of an Anarchist: Zamfir C. Arbore and the Nineteenth Century Memoir Genre]. Transilvania, no. 10 (2023).
Moise, Monahul. Sfântul închisorilor. Mărturii despre Valeriu Gafencu adunate și adnotate de Monahul Moise [The Prisons Saint. Testimonies about Valeriu Gafencu collected and annotated by Monk Moise]. Alba Iulia: Ed. Reîntregirea, 2017.
Nandriș-Cudla, Anița. 20 de ani în Siberia. Destin Bucovinean. [20 Years in Siberia. A Destiny from Bukovina]. Bucharest: Humanitas, 1991.
Negrici, Eugen. Expresivitatea involuntară [Involuntary Expressiveness]. Bucharest: Cartea Românească, 2017.
Pavlovici, Florin Constantin. Tortura pe înțelesul tuturor [Torture for Everyone to Understand]. Bucharest: CLP, 2014.
Ricoeur, Paul. Memoria, istoria, uitarea [Memory, History, Forgetting]. Timișoara: Amarcord, 2001.
Simion, Eugen. Genurile biograficului, I, II [The Genres of the Biographical Writing, I, II]. Bucharest: Tracus Arte, 2018.
Soljenițîn, Alexandr. Arhipelagul Gulag, I [The Gulag Archipelago, Volume I]. Bucharest: Univers, 2008.
Solomon, Michel. Mon calvaire roumain [My Romanian Calvary]. Montreal: Les Editions de l’homme, 1976.
State, Aurel. Drumul crucii. Amintiri de pe front și din gulaguri [The Way of the Cross. Memories from the Front and Gulags]. Bucharest-Pitești: Editura Rost, 2013.
Steinhardt, Nicolae. Jurnalul fericirii [Diary of Happiness]. Cluj-Napoca: Dacia, 1999.
Stelzig, Eugene (ed.). Romantic Autobiography in England. Surrey: Ashgate, 2009.
Ștefănescu, Bogdan. „Traumaarbeit and the Languages of Carceral Trauma: A Discursive Typology of Prison-Time Memoirs in Communist Romania.” Philologica Jassyensia 18, no. 1 (2022): 125–40.
Tucan, Dumitru. “Memoria traumatică și literatura testimonial” [Traumatic Memory and Testimonial Literature]. Quaestiones Romanicae 6 (2018): 279–291.
Tucan, Dumitru. Teoria literaturii. Perspective istorice și analitice asupra textului literar [Literary Theory. Historical and Analytical Perspectives on the Literary Text]. Timișoara: Editura Universității de Vest, 2018.
Valéry-Grossu, Nicole. Binecuvântată fii închisoare [Blessed Be the Prison]. Bucharest: Univers, 2002.
Verdeș, Ovidiu. “Pentru un studiu românesc al autobiografiei” [“Towards a Romanian Study of Autobiography”]. In Memorialistica românească: teorie și istorie literară [Romanian Memoir Literature: Theory and Literary History], editat de Marius-Radu Clim, Ofelia Ichim, Doris Mironescu, Ioana Repciuc. Iași: Editura Universității „Al. I. Cuza”, 2020.
Voicilă, C. Mărturisitorii din Închisorile comuniste. Minuni. Mărturii. Repere. [Witnesses from the Communist Prisons. Miracles. Testimonies. Landmarks]. Ediția a doua, revăzută, adăugită și îngrijită de Ciprian Voicilă. Bucharest: Ed. Areopag, Ed. Meditații, 2011.
White, Haydn. The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Europe. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1973.
Wurmbrand, Richard. Cu Dumnezeu în subterană [In God’s Underground]. Bucharest: Stephanus, 2007.
