IN SEARCH OF EXEMPLARY PERSONALITIES: THE CASE OF RADU CIOCULESCU (1901–1961)

Abstract

The historical memory of a nation is sustained, to a significant extent, by the symbolic meanings constructed around the exemplary personalities of its identity-shaping past, because of their actions and achievements. By examining both the postwar destinies of a number of figures whose biographies were marked either by the authorship of writings concerning the Great Union or by their direct participation in its realization, and the still insufficiently explored history of Romanian Masonic circles, we have identified the noteworthy case of the well-known musicologist and writer Radu Cioculescu, a member of the “Meșterul Manole” Lodge in Bucharest. In 1950, he was sentenced for his involvement in a clandestine anti-communist group and died in detention in 1961. Until the end he maintained a stance of moral resistance and strived to uphold the morale of his fellow political prisoners. Radu Cioculescu established himself as a figure whose radiant power was maintained, through the power of example and sacrifice, persisted even after his death—an impact that appears to have once again drawn the attention of the Securitate authorities to his legacy.