Mihail Farcasanu
Encyclopedia
Mihail Fărcăşanu was a Romania
n journalist
, diplomat
and writer
. He was president of the National Liberal Youth from 1940 to 1946. Pursued by the authorities due to his anticommunist actions, he managed to flee the country in 1946, and was later sentenced to death. He was member of the Romanian National Committee
and the League of Free Romanians (Liga Românilor Liberi) where he was elected as president in 1953. He was the first manager of the Europa Liberă radio station, the Romanian language section. His most important work is Frunzele nu mai sunt aceleaşi ("The Leaves Are No Longer the Same"), published in 1946 under the pen name Mihail Villara. The work was given the Editura Cultura Naţională Grand Prize.
, Dolj County
. Popa Stoica was a priest who abandoned the church and fought against the Ottoman Empire
in the army of Michael the Brave, who later named him agă, or supreme commander of the army. In 1595, Aga Fărcaş led an army across the Danube
, conquering the Bulgaria
n citadel
Nikopol
and marching to Vidin
, where he was defeated by the Ottomans, and where he eventually died.
After Aga Fărcaş, the family had a succession of such dignitaries as Radu Fărcăşanu (captain in 1639, treasurer in 1654, stolnic
in 1657 and mare vornic
), Barbu Fărcăşanu (logothete
and treasurer in 1674), Matei Fărcăşanu (great stolnic in 1731), Constantin Fărcăşanu (serdar
) and Enache Fărcăşanu (grand panetier
named ispravnic
of Romanaţi).
, as the son of Gheorghe Fărcăşanu and Mariei Fărcăşanu (née Vasilescu). His father had a bachelor's degree
in law
but he never practiced. Besides Mihail, the parents had another three boys, Gheorghe, Paul (adopted by an uncle, Paul Zotta) and Nicu, and two girls, Margareta (married Bottea) and Mia (married Lahovari). His parents lived in Râmnicu Vâlcea
, where Fărcăşanu attended primary school and then high school at Alexandru Lahovari High School (now "Alexandru Lahovari" National College), graduating in 1927 magna cum laude
. In 1935 he attended the London School of Economics
, where he studied under Harold Laski
; Laski would go on to become president in 1945–1946 of the Labour Party
in the United Kingdom
. Fărcăşanu often said that he was not so thrilled by the English
study system and decided to take his doctorate
exam in Berlin
rather than in the UK.
He completed his legal studies in Germany
at the Friedrich Wilhelm University (since 1948 Humboldt University
) in Berlin. His doctoral dissertation Über die geistesgeschichtliche Entwicklung des Begriffes der Monarchie (On the History of the Development of the Concept of Monarchy) was completed under the guidance of professor Carl Schmitt
. His thesis was later published by the Konrad Tiltsch printing house in Würzburg
. In Romania it was published in 1940 under the title Monarhia socială ("Social Monarchy") by Editura Fundaţiei pentru Literatură şi Artă Regele Carol II.
Upon returning to Romania after his studies, he became a member of the National Liberal Party (Brătianu)
. In 1938 he married Pia Pillat, the daughter of poet Ion Pillat
and painter Maria Pillat Brateş, making him brother-in-law of literary critic Dinu Pillat and writer Cornelia Pillat. His wife was the granddaughter of Dinu Brătianu
, president of the National Liberal Party.
, with whom Fărcăşanu collaborated closely in the Romanian National Committee and the League of Free Romanians. Vice presidents of the society were Zoe Gheţu, George Cretzianu and Fr. Flow, and honorary secretaries were Nicolae Chrissoveloni, Paul Zotta, and Ion Mateescu. The magazine's role was to contribute to the knowledge of cultural values between the two countries and to evidence the spiritual interrelations between the two cultures. The magazine carried articles signed by Romanian personalities such as Nicolae Iorga
, Gheorghe Brătianu, Tudor Arghezi
, Matila Ghyka, K. H. Zambaccian, Al. O. Teodoreanu, Cella Delavrancea, Militza Pătraşcu and foreign personalities such as Derek Patmore
, Henry Baerlein, and journalist Sir Arthur Beverley Baxter
. Fărcăşanu signed an important essay entitled The Sense of the New Political Regime of Romania. The magazine stopped publishing due to the start of World War II
.
In September 1940, he was named president of the National Liberal Youth by Dinu Brătianu
. Although the political parties were suspended by General Ion Antonescu
, the National Liberal Party continued its activities, especially its publishing activities. Between 1940 and 1944, Fărcăşanu was editor-in-chief of the Românul magazine, worked on the publishing committee of Pământul românesc magazine, and wrote articles in the anti-totalitarian newspaper Viaţa Nouă. In 1942 he published the essay Libertate şi existenţă ("Freedom And Existence"). In 1943–1944 he was a war correspondent on the Eastern Front
. He was almost captured by the Soviet Red Army
at the bend of the Don
, but managed to flee at the last moment.
of August 23, 1944, the Viitorul newspaper was reborn and Mihail Fărcăşanu is appointed editor-in-chief. The organ of the Liberal Party had been banned in 1938 by Carol II of Romania
and then by Ion Antonescu. Fărcăşanu and the newspaper fought to save the Romanian cultural institutions threatened by the approach of the Red Army. In September 1944, at the proposal of Gheorghe Brătianu, he was reelected as president of the National Liberal Youth. After the liberation of Northern Transylvania
, Ana Pauker
went to Cluj-Napoca
where, to appeal to and attract the ethnic Hungarian population to the Communist Party, she said that Hungarians are the majority populations in all the major cities in the northern Transylvania
region. On November 19, 1944, Fărcăşanu presided over a reunion of the liberal youth where he criticised Pauker and her speech. This was the first time Pauker was criticised in public and this stirred a massive communist fightback, calling Fărcăşanu an agent of Nazi politician Joseph Goebbels
, an enemy of the people and the working class, an adversary of the agriculture reform and a saboteur of the national industry. When Fărcăşanu published in the newspaper the translation of Ernest Hemingway
's For Whom the Bell Tolls, the communist press called him a fascist.
Amongst the first measures that the communists took in their struggle to reach power was the "cleansing" of the police and safety services. Under pressure of the Soviets in the Ceasefire Commission, Nicolae Penescu (minister of the interior in the Sănătescu
government) and Nicolae Rădescu
had to kick out many loyal agents from the two services, to be replaced by communist agents. These actions were approved by the National Peasants' Party
and the National Liberal Party, thinking that this would ensure a more favourable view of Romania from Moscow
. Mihail Fărcăşanu was a strong adversary of these actions and he claimed that infiltrating communist agents into the state services would be fatal for the latter.
In January 1945 Fărcăşanu organised Conferinţa Pregătitoare a Congresului Tineretului Naţional Liberal (Preparatory Conference of the National Liberal Youth Congress). The conference took place in Sinaia
and commemorated 11 years since the assassination of Ion G. Duca
and the destruction of the commemorative plaque by the Iron Guard
legionnaires. On February 11 General (and Prime Minister) Nicolae Rădescu
, in the great hall of the ARO (Patria) theater, made a speech in which he explained the strategy that his government would apply, including a more radical agricultural reform than the previous communist reform. The communists wanted to stop the meeting, but it eventually took place because the meeting place was changed in the last minute. Relating events in Bucharest, Pravda
published an article about Mihail Fărcăşanu entitled 'Fărcăşanu's gang in which he was accused of supporting General Rădescu.
On February 13, 1945, revolting against Rădescu, the communists yelled: Cerem arestarea lui Ţeţu! ("We want the arrest of Ţeţu!"), Cerem arestarea lui Fărcăşanu! ("We want the arrest of Fărcăşanu!"). In the later period of Rădescu's government. the communists tried to disestablish the historic political parties, attracting several members to the Blocul Partidelor Democrate (BPD, Democratic Bloc of Parties). The liberals, led by Gheorghe Tătărescu
, and the peasants, led by Anton Alexandrescu, abandoned their independence as parties and joined the BPD. Such attempts were made even toward the youth sections of both parties. Fărcăşanu, president of the Liberal Youth, met with Nicolae Ceauşescu
, president of the Union of Communist Youth
(UTC). During this meeting in February 1945, Ceauşescu tried to convince Mihail Fărcăşanu to defect from his organisation and join the UTC, being offered a minister's seat in the next government. The meeting ended in a failure. The discussions about the attitude of the political parties continued even after the establishment of the Petru Groza
government, Romania's first communist-dominated government. Iuliu Maniu
proposed that the party maintain the opposition strategy it had adopted in the past, from the period when he was a deputy in Budapest
after World War I
and even in the time when the parties were legally banned. This point of view was supported by Dinu Brătianu. Fărcăşanu wanted to convince them that this would be an error with grave consequences. Fărcăşanu said that if they thought the actions of the Communist Party would be suppressed by the Western countries, they were wrong. Maniu, Brătianu and many other political leaders paid with their lives for undermining of the Communist Party.
In autumn 1945, Fărcăşanu participated, as a representative of the National Liberal Youth, in organising a great rally in the Piaţa Palatului (now Revolution Square, Bucharest
), on November 8, the king's birthday, a demonstration that was brutally repressed by the communist forces. On the last day of 1945 a delegation of the allied powers
arrived in Bucharest, led by Archibald Clark Kerr, 1st Baron Inverchapel, W. Averell Harriman
and Andrey Januaryevich Vyshinskiy
. After the discussion Emil Haţieganu
from the Peasants' Party and Mihail Romniceanu from the Liberal Party were assigned to the government as ministers without portfolio
. In February 1946 the two parties were authorised to publish their own works. Because the name Viitorul ("The Future") for the party newspaper was owned by Gheorghe Tătărescu, the liberals decided to call their newspaper Liberalul ("The Liberal"), a name that had used in the past for many newspapers, notably one published in Iaşi
under Nicolae Gane and George G. Mârzescu. Being watched by the authorities, Fărcăşanu did not assume the role of editor-in-chief, which was later occupied by Azra Berkowitz. In this period Fărcăşanu organised three conferences that had to be held in the grand hall of the Fundaţiei Carol I theater on May 12, 19 and 26, 1945. Inspired by a quote of Dinu Brătianu Libertăţile se cuceresc uneori fără jertfe. Dar ele nu se pot menţine decât cu jertfe ("Freedom is sometimes gained without sacrifice. But maintaining it calls for sacrifice"), the conferences, where ten associate professors announced their arrival, had the following program:
At the first conference, after the first words spoken by Fărcăşanu, a group of communist activists started a general riot screaming Vi s-au luat moşiile! ("Your estates have been taken away!"). Fărcăşanu tried in vain to talk to the agitators. The conference could not take place in a civilised manner, which was seen as a victory for the communists. This kind of disturbance proved that the leader of the Communist Youth Nicolae Ceauşescu
and editor-in-chief of Scânteia newspaper Silviu Brucan
were not bold enough to confront Fărcăşanu in a public debate to back up their ideology. The Liberal Party's general secretary Dinu Brătianu, who had worked with Teohari Georgescu
during the Rădescu government, convinced Fărcăşanu to reschedule the conferences to avoid disruption by the communists. On May 19 Fărcăşanu managed to organise his first conference, but by the order of the Ministry of the Interior the other two conferences were banned. This was the last time Fărcăşanu appeared in a public action in Romania.
In May 1946, the General Police made a report about the National Liberal Party (Dinu Brătianu), although the police were not authorized to make political analyses. The report claimed that Mihail Romniceanu had given a secret order, which was delivered by his secretary Nicolae Magherescu to all the party organisations. This order allegedly said that the Liberal Party should initiate its own secret police to participate in all elections to ensure their proper organisation. The Liberal police would have been run by Fărcăşanu. A similar organisation would have been initiated by the Peasants' Party under Corneliu Coposu
. These police organisations were never initiated, but because of the General Police report, Fărcăşanu had to leave the country to avoid capture.
In May 1946, the General Police made a report about the National Liberal Party faction of Dinu Brătianu, although the police were not authorized to make political analyses. The report claimed that Mihail Romniceanu had given a secret order, which was delivered by his secretary Nicolae Magherescu to all the party organizations. This order allegedly said that the Liberal Party should initiate its own secret police to participate in all elections related venues. The Liberal police would have been run by Fărcăşanu. A similar organization would have been initiated by the Peasants' Party under Corneliu Coposu
. These police organisations were never initiated, but because of the General Police report, Fărcăşanu had to go into hiding.
reaching Stalingrad where he took part in the bombing of the railway station on October 5, 1942. Matei Ghica-Cantacuzino had left Romania, but had returned with the intention of helping close friends escape.
It was agreed that the escape of the Fărcăşanu family would take place in October 1946 from a small military airport near Caransebeş
. The plan was to use an old bomber which had just been repaired and was scheduled to be flown to its base near Braşov. A government commission had just arrived in Caransebeş a day before the flight to inspect the aircraft and to make sure that there were no clandestine passengers on board and that the aircraft had just enough fuel to fly 300 km, the distance between Caransebeş and Braşov.
In agreement with Matei Ghica-Cantacuzino, the mechanic had tampered with the fuel gauge, which indicated the tank was only partly filled while it actually totally full. Mihail Fărcăşanu with his wife Pia and their friend intilă Brătianu (Vintilică)|Vintilă Brătianu were hiding in some bushed at the far end of the airfield. The plane started rolling towards the end of the runway having only Matei Ghica-Cantacuzino and the mechanic on board. When the plane reached the end of the runway and turned around for take-off, outside the visibility of the control tower, the three stowaways boarded the plane who was racing its engines and then took off immediately.
In the airspace of Yugoslavia, the plane was detected by the Yugoslav airforce and in took all the skills of the pilot to evade the fighters, by flying into the clouds. The plane was however hit several times by the guns of the Yugoslav fighters which took out all the navigation instruments except the altimeter. One of the fuel tanks had also been hit. With a damaged plane, having practically no navigation instruments and very limited fuel, the pilot started crossing the Adriatic Sea. They were able to land at military airport in Bari
, Italy
, with completely empty fuel tanks.
Ivor Porter
who at that time was British SOE
and was working at the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Romania had been informed about the escape attempt. He had sent a cable to the British authorities in Italy requesting them to ensure their protection. He later described the adventure in a book "Operation Autonomous" published in 1989. In his book, he states that without such a cable, it was possible that the escapees would be sent back to Romania.
The escape was also described in a novel written by Pia Pillat, Mihail Fărcăşanu's wife who was also on the plane. The novel having the title "The Flight of Andrei Cosmin" was first published in London in 1972 under the pen name Tina Cosmin, and has been translated into Romanian, being published in Romania in 2002. While it realistically presents the events, she has changed the names of the characters. Thus Mihail Fărcăşanu is called Andrei Cosmin, Matei Ghica-Cantacuzino is Ştefan Criveanu and Ivor Porter is Chris Nelson.
where they soon became some of the most active members of the Romanian emigrants to the United States. Mihail Fărcăşanu immediately started the political organization of Romanian refugees. In 1948 he founded the "Council of Romanian Democratic Parties". The Council had the objective of coordinating the activity of the representatives of Romanian political parties outside the Soviet zone of influence and of establishing a "National Romanian Committee". Mihail Fărcăşanu was one of the representatives of the Romanian National Liberal Party in this Council.
, Jean Monnet
, François Mitterand, Robert Schuman
, Altiero Spinelli
, Konrad Adenauer
, Grigore Gafencu
, Alcide de Gasperi
and Paul Henry Spaak felt the need of an international organism aiming at a unification of the various nations, the respect of human rights and keeping the peace.
On May 7-11, 1948 the mai 1948 Hague Congress
was organized in The Hague
, chaired by Winston Churchill. The date was chosen so as to coincide with the third aniversary of the ceasefire which ended World War II in Europe. Following the resolution of this congress, on October 25, 1948 the European Movement International was founded, a nongovernmental organization formed by political personalities from different European countries who were supporting the principle of a united Europe. Romania was represented by Grigore Gafencu
, Nicolae Caranfil
, Mihail Fărcășanu
and Iancu Zissu, who signed the documents in capacity of founding members.
The Romanian Section of the European Movement was initially headed by Grigore Gafencu, who had remarcable contributions both at the Hague Congress and in the following period. Consequently, for a long time, the section was headed by George Ciorănescu. Mihail Fărcăşanu was also one the few exiled Romanian politicians, precursors of the integration of Romania în the European Union
.
) Church in Cleveland, Ohio
, and to the church's museum. The church was founded on August 15, 1904, as the first Romanian Orthodox
church in the United States
. He spent the last years of life in his house in the Georgetown
district of Washington, D.C.
, being cared for by his sisters Margareta Bottea and Mia Lahovari and by his niece Domnica Bottea. He had a quiet life playing the violin
daily and spending the majority of his time reading. He met frequently with Constantin Vişoianu
, with whom he had collaborated to organise an Romanian resistance in exile. He never tried to write his memoirs or other literary works.
Mihail Fărcăşanu died on July 14, 1987, at the age of 79, not long before the fall of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe
in 1989.
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
. He was president of the National Liberal Youth from 1940 to 1946. Pursued by the authorities due to his anticommunist actions, he managed to flee the country in 1946, and was later sentenced to death. He was member of the Romanian National Committee
Romanian National Committee
Romanian National Committee was an anti-communist organization of Romanian post-World War II exilés in the West. It claimed to represent a government in exile.-History:...
and the League of Free Romanians (Liga Românilor Liberi) where he was elected as president in 1953. He was the first manager of the Europa Liberă radio station, the Romanian language section. His most important work is Frunzele nu mai sunt aceleaşi ("The Leaves Are No Longer the Same"), published in 1946 under the pen name Mihail Villara. The work was given the Editura Cultura Naţională Grand Prize.
Ancestry
Fărcăşanu is a direct descendant of Popa Stoica from FărcaşFarcaş
Farcaş, also Farkas, Farkaş or Farcas, was a cneaz mentioned in a diploma issued by king Béla IV of Hungary on 2 July 1247; the diploma granted territories to the Knights Hospitaller in the Banate of Severin and Cumania. Farcaş held a kenazate which was given to the knights by the king...
, Dolj County
Dolj County
Dolj -Jiu, "lower Jiu", toward Gorj ) is a county of Romania, in Oltenia, with the capital city at Craiova .- Demographics :In 2002, it had a population of 734,231 and a population density of 99/km²....
. Popa Stoica was a priest who abandoned the church and fought against the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
in the army of Michael the Brave, who later named him agă, or supreme commander of the army. In 1595, Aga Fărcaş led an army across the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
, conquering the Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n citadel
Citadel
A citadel is a fortress for protecting a town, sometimes incorporating a castle. The term derives from the same Latin root as the word "city", civis, meaning citizen....
Nikopol
Nikopol, Bulgaria
Nikopol is a town in northern Bulgaria, the administrative center of Nikopol municipality, part of Pleven Province, on the right bank of the Danube river, 4 km downstream from the mouth of the Osam river. It spreads at the foot of steep chalk cliffs along the Danube and up a narrow valley...
and marching to Vidin
Vidin
Vidin is a port town on the southern bank of the Danube in northwestern Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Serbia and Romania, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as of the Metropolitan of Vidin...
, where he was defeated by the Ottomans, and where he eventually died.
After Aga Fărcaş, the family had a succession of such dignitaries as Radu Fărcăşanu (captain in 1639, treasurer in 1654, stolnic
Stolnic
Stolnic was a boier rank and the position at the court in the history of Romania: in Moldavia and Wallachia. The title approximately corresponds to seneschal and is borrowed from the Slavic title stolnik a person in charge of the royal table.The title mare stolnic means "great stolnic", or...
in 1657 and mare vornic
Vornic
Vornic was a historical rank for an official in charge of justice and internal affairs. He was overseeing the Royal Court. It originated in the Slovak nádvorník. In the 16th century in Moldavia were two high vornics: one for "Ţara de Sus" , and other for "Ţara de Jos" ....
), Barbu Fărcăşanu (logothete
Logothete
Logothete was an administrative title originating in the eastern Roman Empire. In the middle and late Byzantine Empire, it rose to become a senior administrative title, equivalent to a minister or secretary of state...
and treasurer in 1674), Matei Fărcăşanu (great stolnic in 1731), Constantin Fărcăşanu (serdar
Serdar (Ottoman rank)
Serdar was a military rank in the Ottoman Empire and Montenegro. It means a head of place/land . Serdars especially served at the borders of Ottoman Empire. They were responsible for security of lands. For example, Yakup Ağa who was the father of Barbaros from Yenice.-Etymology:Serdar is a...
) and Enache Fărcăşanu (grand panetier
Grand Panetier
The Grand Panetier of France was one of the Great Officers of the Crown of France, a member of the Maison du Roi , one of the Great Offices of the Maison du Roi, and functional chief of the " paneterie" or bread department.-French history:Originally the...
named ispravnic
Ispravnic
An ispravnic was, in the Danubian principalities, the title owned by a clerk or a boyar in charge of law enforcement in a certain county. Initially, during the middle ages, ispravnics were people who used to carry out the voivod's commands. Later on, ispravnics became local administrators and were...
of Romanaţi).
Youth and studies
Mihail Fărcăşanu was born on November 10, 1907, in BucharestBucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, as the son of Gheorghe Fărcăşanu and Mariei Fărcăşanu (née Vasilescu). His father had a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
but he never practiced. Besides Mihail, the parents had another three boys, Gheorghe, Paul (adopted by an uncle, Paul Zotta) and Nicu, and two girls, Margareta (married Bottea) and Mia (married Lahovari). His parents lived in Râmnicu Vâlcea
Râmnicu Vâlcea
Râmnicu Vâlcea is the capital city of Vâlcea County, Romania .-Geography and climate:Râmnicu Vâlcea is situated in the central-south area of Romania...
, where Fărcăşanu attended primary school and then high school at Alexandru Lahovari High School (now "Alexandru Lahovari" National College), graduating in 1927 magna cum laude
Latin honors
Latin honors are Latin phrases used to indicate the level of academic distinction with which an academic degree was earned. This system is primarily used in the United States, Canada, and in many countries of continental Europe, though some institutions also use the English translation of these...
. In 1935 he attended the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
, where he studied under Harold Laski
Harold Laski
Harold Joseph Laski was a British Marxist, political theorist, economist, author, and lecturer, who served as the chairman of the Labour Party during 1945-1946, and was a professor at the LSE from 1926 to 1950....
; Laski would go on to become president in 1945–1946 of the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Fărcăşanu often said that he was not so thrilled by the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
study system and decided to take his doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
exam in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
rather than in the UK.
He completed his legal studies in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
at the Friedrich Wilhelm University (since 1948 Humboldt University
Humboldt University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...
) in Berlin. His doctoral dissertation Über die geistesgeschichtliche Entwicklung des Begriffes der Monarchie (On the History of the Development of the Concept of Monarchy) was completed under the guidance of professor Carl Schmitt
Carl Schmitt
Carl Schmitt was a German jurist, philosopher, political theorist, and professor of law.Schmitt published several essays, influential in the 20th century and beyond, on the mentalities that surround the effective wielding of political power...
. His thesis was later published by the Konrad Tiltsch printing house in Würzburg
Würzburg
Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....
. In Romania it was published in 1940 under the title Monarhia socială ("Social Monarchy") by Editura Fundaţiei pentru Literatură şi Artă Regele Carol II.
Upon returning to Romania after his studies, he became a member of the National Liberal Party (Brătianu)
National Liberal Party (Romania)
The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...
. In 1938 he married Pia Pillat, the daughter of poet Ion Pillat
Ion Pillat
Ion Pillat grew up in Bucharest. He was a poet, best known for his volume Pe Argeş în sus and Poeme într-un vers...
and painter Maria Pillat Brateş, making him brother-in-law of literary critic Dinu Pillat and writer Cornelia Pillat. His wife was the granddaughter of Dinu Brătianu
Dinu Bratianu
Dinu Brătianu , born Constantin I. C. Brătianu, was a Romanian politician, who led the National Liberal Party starting with 1934.-Early career:...
, president of the National Liberal Party.
Beginning of his publishing activity
In 1939 he was named editor-in-chief of Rumanian Quarterly magazine owned by the Anglo–Romanian Society. The president of the society was Nicolae CaranfilNicolae Caranfil
Nicolae Caranfil was a Romanian Olympic fencer. He competed in the team foil event at the 1928 Summer Olympics.-References:...
, with whom Fărcăşanu collaborated closely in the Romanian National Committee and the League of Free Romanians. Vice presidents of the society were Zoe Gheţu, George Cretzianu and Fr. Flow, and honorary secretaries were Nicolae Chrissoveloni, Paul Zotta, and Ion Mateescu. The magazine's role was to contribute to the knowledge of cultural values between the two countries and to evidence the spiritual interrelations between the two cultures. The magazine carried articles signed by Romanian personalities such as Nicolae Iorga
Nicolae Iorga
Nicolae Iorga was a Romanian historian, politician, literary critic, memoirist, poet and playwright. Co-founder of the Democratic Nationalist Party , he served as a member of Parliament, President of the Deputies' Assembly and Senate, cabinet minister and briefly as Prime Minister...
, Gheorghe Brătianu, Tudor Arghezi
Tudor Arghezi
Tudor Arghezi was a Romanian writer, best known for his contribution to poetry and children's literature. Born Ion N. Theodorescu in Bucharest , he explained that his pen name was related to Argesis, the Latin name for the Argeş River.-Early life:Along with Mihai Eminescu, Mateiu Caragiale, and...
, Matila Ghyka, K. H. Zambaccian, Al. O. Teodoreanu, Cella Delavrancea, Militza Pătraşcu and foreign personalities such as Derek Patmore
Derek Patmore
Derek Coventry Patmore was a British writer. He was the great grandson of the poet Coventry Patmore.Patmore was educated at Uppingham School...
, Henry Baerlein, and journalist Sir Arthur Beverley Baxter
Beverley Baxter
Sir Arthur Beverley Baxter, FRSL was a Canadian born journalist and politician. He spent most of his career in the United Kingdom working for the Daily Express and as a theatre critic for the Evening Standard, and was a Member of Parliament for the Conservative Party from 1935 until his...
. Fărcăşanu signed an important essay entitled The Sense of the New Political Regime of Romania. The magazine stopped publishing due to the start of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
In September 1940, he was named president of the National Liberal Youth by Dinu Brătianu
Dinu Bratianu
Dinu Brătianu , born Constantin I. C. Brătianu, was a Romanian politician, who led the National Liberal Party starting with 1934.-Early career:...
. Although the political parties were suspended by General Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu
Ion Victor Antonescu was a Romanian soldier, authoritarian politician and convicted war criminal. The Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II, he presided over two successive wartime dictatorships...
, the National Liberal Party continued its activities, especially its publishing activities. Between 1940 and 1944, Fărcăşanu was editor-in-chief of the Românul magazine, worked on the publishing committee of Pământul românesc magazine, and wrote articles in the anti-totalitarian newspaper Viaţa Nouă. In 1942 he published the essay Libertate şi existenţă ("Freedom And Existence"). In 1943–1944 he was a war correspondent on the Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
. He was almost captured by the Soviet Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
at the bend of the Don
Don River (Russia)
The Don River is one of the major rivers of Russia. It rises in the town of Novomoskovsk 60 kilometres southeast from Tula, southeast of Moscow, and flows for a distance of about 1,950 kilometres to the Sea of Azov....
, but managed to flee at the last moment.
After August 23, 1944
Right after the royal coupKing Michael's Coup
King Michael's Coup refers to the coup d'etat led by King Michael of Romania in 1944 against the pro-Nazi Romanian faction of Ion Antonescu, after the Axis front in Northeastern Romania collapsed under the Soviet offensive.-The coup:...
of August 23, 1944, the Viitorul newspaper was reborn and Mihail Fărcăşanu is appointed editor-in-chief. The organ of the Liberal Party had been banned in 1938 by Carol II of Romania
Carol II of Romania
Carol II reigned as King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until 6 September 1940. Eldest son of Ferdinand, King of Romania, and his wife, Queen Marie, a daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second eldest son of Queen Victoria...
and then by Ion Antonescu. Fărcăşanu and the newspaper fought to save the Romanian cultural institutions threatened by the approach of the Red Army. In September 1944, at the proposal of Gheorghe Brătianu, he was reelected as president of the National Liberal Youth. After the liberation of Northern Transylvania
Northern Transylvania
Northern Transylvania is a region of Transylvania, situated within the territory of Romania. The population is largely composed of both ethnic Romanians and Hungarians, and the region has been part of Romania since 1918 . During World War II, as a consequence of the territorial agreement known as...
, Ana Pauker
Ana Pauker
Ana Pauker was a Romanian communist leader and served as the country's foreign minister in the late 1940s and early 1950s...
went to Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca , commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest , Budapest and Belgrade...
where, to appeal to and attract the ethnic Hungarian population to the Communist Party, she said that Hungarians are the majority populations in all the major cities in the northern Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
region. On November 19, 1944, Fărcăşanu presided over a reunion of the liberal youth where he criticised Pauker and her speech. This was the first time Pauker was criticised in public and this stirred a massive communist fightback, calling Fărcăşanu an agent of Nazi politician Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
, an enemy of the people and the working class, an adversary of the agriculture reform and a saboteur of the national industry. When Fărcăşanu published in the newspaper the translation of Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
's For Whom the Bell Tolls, the communist press called him a fascist.
Amongst the first measures that the communists took in their struggle to reach power was the "cleansing" of the police and safety services. Under pressure of the Soviets in the Ceasefire Commission, Nicolae Penescu (minister of the interior in the Sănătescu
Constantin Sanatescu
Constantin Sănătescu was a Romanian statesman who served as the first Prime Minister of Romania after the August 23, 1944 coup, through which Romania left the Axis Powers and joined the Allies....
government) and Nicolae Rădescu
Nicolae Radescu
Nicolae Rădescu was a Romanian army officer and political figure. He was the last pre-communist rule Prime Minister of Romania, serving from December 7, 1944 to March 1, 1945....
had to kick out many loyal agents from the two services, to be replaced by communist agents. These actions were approved by the National Peasants' Party
National Peasants' Party
The National Peasants' Party was a Romanian political party, formed in 1926 through the fusion of the Romanian National Party from Transylvania and the Peasants' Party . It was in power between 1928 and 1933, with brief interruptions...
and the National Liberal Party, thinking that this would ensure a more favourable view of Romania from Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. Mihail Fărcăşanu was a strong adversary of these actions and he claimed that infiltrating communist agents into the state services would be fatal for the latter.
In January 1945 Fărcăşanu organised Conferinţa Pregătitoare a Congresului Tineretului Naţional Liberal (Preparatory Conference of the National Liberal Youth Congress). The conference took place in Sinaia
Sinaia
Sinaia is a town and a mountain resort in Prahova County, Romania. The town was named after Sinaia Monastery, around which it was built; the monastery in turn is named after the Biblical Mount Sinai...
and commemorated 11 years since the assassination of Ion G. Duca
Ion G. Duca
Ion Gheorghe Duca was prime minister of Romania from November 14 to December 30, 1933, when he was assassinated for his efforts to suppress the fascist Iron Guard movement.-Life and political career:...
and the destruction of the commemorative plaque by the Iron Guard
Iron Guard
The Iron Guard is the name most commonly given to a far-right movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II. The Iron Guard was ultra-nationalist, fascist, anti-communist, and promoted the Orthodox Christian faith...
legionnaires. On February 11 General (and Prime Minister) Nicolae Rădescu
Nicolae Radescu
Nicolae Rădescu was a Romanian army officer and political figure. He was the last pre-communist rule Prime Minister of Romania, serving from December 7, 1944 to March 1, 1945....
, in the great hall of the ARO (Patria) theater, made a speech in which he explained the strategy that his government would apply, including a more radical agricultural reform than the previous communist reform. The communists wanted to stop the meeting, but it eventually took place because the meeting place was changed in the last minute. Relating events in Bucharest, Pravda
Pravda
Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....
published an article about Mihail Fărcăşanu entitled 'Fărcăşanu's gang in which he was accused of supporting General Rădescu.
On February 13, 1945, revolting against Rădescu, the communists yelled: Cerem arestarea lui Ţeţu! ("We want the arrest of Ţeţu!"), Cerem arestarea lui Fărcăşanu! ("We want the arrest of Fărcăşanu!"). In the later period of Rădescu's government. the communists tried to disestablish the historic political parties, attracting several members to the Blocul Partidelor Democrate (BPD, Democratic Bloc of Parties). The liberals, led by Gheorghe Tătărescu
Gheorghe Tatarescu
Gheorghe I. Tătărescu was a Romanian politician who served twice as Prime Minister of Romania , three times as Minister of Foreign Affairs , and once as Minister of War...
, and the peasants, led by Anton Alexandrescu, abandoned their independence as parties and joined the BPD. Such attempts were made even toward the youth sections of both parties. Fărcăşanu, president of the Liberal Youth, met with Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
, president of the Union of Communist Youth
Union of Communist Youth
The Union of Communist Youth was the Romanian Communist Party's youth organisation, modelled after the Soviet Komsomol. It aimed to cultivate young cadres into the party, as well as to help create the "new man" envisioned by communist ideologues.-History:Founded in 1922, the UTC went underground...
(UTC). During this meeting in February 1945, Ceauşescu tried to convince Mihail Fărcăşanu to defect from his organisation and join the UTC, being offered a minister's seat in the next government. The meeting ended in a failure. The discussions about the attitude of the political parties continued even after the establishment of the Petru Groza
Petru Groza
Petru Groza was a Romanian politician, best known as the Prime Minister of the first Communist Party-dominated governments under Soviet occupation during the early stages of the Communist regime in Romania....
government, Romania's first communist-dominated government. Iuliu Maniu
Iuliu Maniu
Iuliu Maniu was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian politician. A leader of the National Party of Transylvania and Banat before and after World War I, he served as Prime Minister of Romania for three terms during 1928–1933, and, with Ion Mihalache, co-founded the National Peasants'...
proposed that the party maintain the opposition strategy it had adopted in the past, from the period when he was a deputy in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and even in the time when the parties were legally banned. This point of view was supported by Dinu Brătianu. Fărcăşanu wanted to convince them that this would be an error with grave consequences. Fărcăşanu said that if they thought the actions of the Communist Party would be suppressed by the Western countries, they were wrong. Maniu, Brătianu and many other political leaders paid with their lives for undermining of the Communist Party.
In autumn 1945, Fărcăşanu participated, as a representative of the National Liberal Youth, in organising a great rally in the Piaţa Palatului (now Revolution Square, Bucharest
Revolution Square, Bucharest
Revolution Square is a square in central Bucharest, on Calea Victoriei. Known as Piaţa Palatului until 1989, it was later renamed after the 1989 Romanian Revolution....
), on November 8, the king's birthday, a demonstration that was brutally repressed by the communist forces. On the last day of 1945 a delegation of the allied powers
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
arrived in Bucharest, led by Archibald Clark Kerr, 1st Baron Inverchapel, W. Averell Harriman
W. Averell Harriman
William Averell Harriman was an American Democratic Party politician, businessman, and diplomat. He was the son of railroad baron E. H. Harriman. He served as Secretary of Commerce under President Harry S. Truman and later as the 48th Governor of New York...
and Andrey Januaryevich Vyshinskiy
Andrey Vyshinsky
Andrey Januaryevich Vyshinsky – 22 November 1954) was a Soviet politician, jurist and diplomat.He is known as a state prosecutor of Joseph Stalin's Moscow trials and in the Nuremberg trials. He was the Soviet Foreign Minister from 1949 to 1953, after having served as Deputy Foreign...
. After the discussion Emil Haţieganu
Emil Hatieganu
Emil Haţieganu was a Romanian politician and jurist, a prominent member of the Romanian National Party and of its successor, the National Peasants' Party ; he was physician Iuliu Haţieganu's brother...
from the Peasants' Party and Mihail Romniceanu from the Liberal Party were assigned to the government as ministers without portfolio
Minister without Portfolio
A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister that does not head a particular ministry...
. In February 1946 the two parties were authorised to publish their own works. Because the name Viitorul ("The Future") for the party newspaper was owned by Gheorghe Tătărescu, the liberals decided to call their newspaper Liberalul ("The Liberal"), a name that had used in the past for many newspapers, notably one published in Iaşi
Iasi
Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...
under Nicolae Gane and George G. Mârzescu. Being watched by the authorities, Fărcăşanu did not assume the role of editor-in-chief, which was later occupied by Azra Berkowitz. In this period Fărcăşanu organised three conferences that had to be held in the grand hall of the Fundaţiei Carol I theater on May 12, 19 and 26, 1945. Inspired by a quote of Dinu Brătianu Libertăţile se cuceresc uneori fără jertfe. Dar ele nu se pot menţine decât cu jertfe ("Freedom is sometimes gained without sacrifice. But maintaining it calls for sacrifice"), the conferences, where ten associate professors announced their arrival, had the following program:
- I. Cucerirea libertăţii ("Conquering freedom") – associate professors Mihail Fărcăşanu, Dan Amedeu Lăzărescu, Radu Câmpeanu
- II. Pierderea libertăţii ("Losing freedom") – associate professors George Fotino, Victor Papacostea, C.C. Zamfirescu
- III. Recâştigarea libertăţii ("Regaining freedom") – associate professors Alice Voinescu, Paul DimitriuPaul DimitriuPaul Dimitriu is a French Romanian-born jurist, publicist, politician and writer. Born on May 21, 1920 in Bucharest. He studied at the Saint Sava National College and thereafter the Faculty of Law of the University of Bucharest...
, Paul Zotta, Mihai Popescu
At the first conference, after the first words spoken by Fărcăşanu, a group of communist activists started a general riot screaming Vi s-au luat moşiile! ("Your estates have been taken away!"). Fărcăşanu tried in vain to talk to the agitators. The conference could not take place in a civilised manner, which was seen as a victory for the communists. This kind of disturbance proved that the leader of the Communist Youth Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
and editor-in-chief of Scânteia newspaper Silviu Brucan
Silviu Brucan
Silviu Brucan was a Romanian communist politician. Though he disagreed with Nicolae Ceauşescu's policies, he never gave up his communist beliefs and did not oppose communist ideology...
were not bold enough to confront Fărcăşanu in a public debate to back up their ideology. The Liberal Party's general secretary Dinu Brătianu, who had worked with Teohari Georgescu
Teohari Georgescu
Teohari Georgescu was a high-ranking member of the Romanian Communist Party.-Life:Born in Bacău, he was the third of seven children of Constantin and Aneta Georgescu. Georgescu, whose formal education ended after the fourth grade, began his career as an assistant in his father's store...
during the Rădescu government, convinced Fărcăşanu to reschedule the conferences to avoid disruption by the communists. On May 19 Fărcăşanu managed to organise his first conference, but by the order of the Ministry of the Interior the other two conferences were banned. This was the last time Fărcăşanu appeared in a public action in Romania.
In May 1946, the General Police made a report about the National Liberal Party (Dinu Brătianu), although the police were not authorized to make political analyses. The report claimed that Mihail Romniceanu had given a secret order, which was delivered by his secretary Nicolae Magherescu to all the party organisations. This order allegedly said that the Liberal Party should initiate its own secret police to participate in all elections to ensure their proper organisation. The Liberal police would have been run by Fărcăşanu. A similar organisation would have been initiated by the Peasants' Party under Corneliu Coposu
Corneliu Coposu
-Early life:Coposu was born in Bobota, Sălaj County to the Romanian Greek-Catholic archpriest Valentin Coposu and his wife Aurelia Coposu...
. These police organisations were never initiated, but because of the General Police report, Fărcăşanu had to leave the country to avoid capture.
In May 1946, the General Police made a report about the National Liberal Party faction of Dinu Brătianu, although the police were not authorized to make political analyses. The report claimed that Mihail Romniceanu had given a secret order, which was delivered by his secretary Nicolae Magherescu to all the party organizations. This order allegedly said that the Liberal Party should initiate its own secret police to participate in all elections related venues. The Liberal police would have been run by Fărcăşanu. A similar organization would have been initiated by the Peasants' Party under Corneliu Coposu
Corneliu Coposu
-Early life:Coposu was born in Bobota, Sălaj County to the Romanian Greek-Catholic archpriest Valentin Coposu and his wife Aurelia Coposu...
. These police organisations were never initiated, but because of the General Police report, Fărcăşanu had to go into hiding.
Flight from Romania
Perfectly aware that his life was at risk if he stayed in Romania, Mihai Fărcăşanu made arrangements to escape from Romania. He was helped in this endeavor by a long-time friend Matei Ghica-Cantacuzino, a fighter pilot who had participated in the military operations in the war against the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
reaching Stalingrad where he took part in the bombing of the railway station on October 5, 1942. Matei Ghica-Cantacuzino had left Romania, but had returned with the intention of helping close friends escape.
It was agreed that the escape of the Fărcăşanu family would take place in October 1946 from a small military airport near Caransebeş
Caransebes
Caransebeş is a city in Caraş-Severin County, part of the Banat region in southwestern Romania. It is located at the confluence of the river Timiş with the river Sebeş, the latter coming from the Ţarcu Mountains. To the west, it is in direct contact with the Banat hills...
. The plan was to use an old bomber which had just been repaired and was scheduled to be flown to its base near Braşov. A government commission had just arrived in Caransebeş a day before the flight to inspect the aircraft and to make sure that there were no clandestine passengers on board and that the aircraft had just enough fuel to fly 300 km, the distance between Caransebeş and Braşov.
In agreement with Matei Ghica-Cantacuzino, the mechanic had tampered with the fuel gauge, which indicated the tank was only partly filled while it actually totally full. Mihail Fărcăşanu with his wife Pia and their friend intilă Brătianu (Vintilică)|Vintilă Brătianu were hiding in some bushed at the far end of the airfield. The plane started rolling towards the end of the runway having only Matei Ghica-Cantacuzino and the mechanic on board. When the plane reached the end of the runway and turned around for take-off, outside the visibility of the control tower, the three stowaways boarded the plane who was racing its engines and then took off immediately.
In the airspace of Yugoslavia, the plane was detected by the Yugoslav airforce and in took all the skills of the pilot to evade the fighters, by flying into the clouds. The plane was however hit several times by the guns of the Yugoslav fighters which took out all the navigation instruments except the altimeter. One of the fuel tanks had also been hit. With a damaged plane, having practically no navigation instruments and very limited fuel, the pilot started crossing the Adriatic Sea. They were able to land at military airport in Bari
Bari
Bari is the capital city of the province of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, in Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy after Naples, and is well known as a port and university city, as well as the city of Saint Nicholas...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, with completely empty fuel tanks.
Ivor Porter
Ivor Porter
Ivor F. Porter CMG, OBE is a former British Ambassador and author.-Education:Porter was brought up in the Lake District and educated at Barrow-in-Furness Grammar School and Leeds University.-Special Operations Executive:...
who at that time was British SOE
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
and was working at the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Romania had been informed about the escape attempt. He had sent a cable to the British authorities in Italy requesting them to ensure their protection. He later described the adventure in a book "Operation Autonomous" published in 1989. In his book, he states that without such a cable, it was possible that the escapees would be sent back to Romania.
The escape was also described in a novel written by Pia Pillat, Mihail Fărcăşanu's wife who was also on the plane. The novel having the title "The Flight of Andrei Cosmin" was first published in London in 1972 under the pen name Tina Cosmin, and has been translated into Romanian, being published in Romania in 2002. While it realistically presents the events, she has changed the names of the characters. Thus Mihail Fărcăşanu is called Andrei Cosmin, Matei Ghica-Cantacuzino is Ştefan Criveanu and Ivor Porter is Chris Nelson.
Activity in exile
Mihail Fărcăşanu and his wife Pia settled in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
where they soon became some of the most active members of the Romanian emigrants to the United States. Mihail Fărcăşanu immediately started the political organization of Romanian refugees. In 1948 he founded the "Council of Romanian Democratic Parties". The Council had the objective of coordinating the activity of the representatives of Romanian political parties outside the Soviet zone of influence and of establishing a "National Romanian Committee". Mihail Fărcăşanu was one of the representatives of the Romanian National Liberal Party in this Council.
Participation in the international european movement
After the end of World War II, the great visionaries of a united Europe, among which Winston ChurchillWinston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, Jean Monnet
Jean Monnet
Jean Omer Marie Gabriel Monnet was a French political economist and diplomat. He is regarded by many as a chief architect of European Unity and is regarded as one of its founding fathers...
, François Mitterand, Robert Schuman
Robert Schuman
Robert Schuman was a noted Luxembourgish-born French statesman. Schuman was a Christian Democrat and an independent political thinker and activist...
, Altiero Spinelli
Altiero Spinelli
Altiero Spinelli was an Italian political theorist and a European federalist. Spinelli is referred to as one of the "Founding Fathers of the European Union" due to his co-authorship of the Ventotene Manifesto, his founding role in the European federalist movement, his strong influence on the first...
, Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman. He was the chancellor of the West Germany from 1949 to 1963. He is widely recognised as a person who led his country from the ruins of World War II to a powerful and prosperous nation that had forged close relations with old enemies France,...
, Grigore Gafencu
Grigore Gafencu
Grigore Gafencu was a Romanian politician, diplomat and journalist.-Political career:Gafencu studied law and received his Ph.D. in law from the University of Bucharest. During World War I, he participated as a lieutenant and received the Mihai Viteazul Order for courage in battle...
, Alcide de Gasperi
Alcide De Gasperi
Alcide De Gasperi was an Italian statesman and politician and founder of the Christian Democratic Party. From 1945 to 1953 he was the prime minister of eight successive coalition governments. His eight-year rule remains a landmark of political longevity for a leader in modern Italian politics...
and Paul Henry Spaak felt the need of an international organism aiming at a unification of the various nations, the respect of human rights and keeping the peace.
On May 7-11, 1948 the mai 1948 Hague Congress
Hague Congress (1948)
The Hague Congress was held in the Congress of Europe in Hague from 7–11 May 1948 with 750 delegates participating from around Europe as well as observers from Canada and the United States....
was organized in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
, chaired by Winston Churchill. The date was chosen so as to coincide with the third aniversary of the ceasefire which ended World War II in Europe. Following the resolution of this congress, on October 25, 1948 the European Movement International was founded, a nongovernmental organization formed by political personalities from different European countries who were supporting the principle of a united Europe. Romania was represented by Grigore Gafencu
Grigore Gafencu
Grigore Gafencu was a Romanian politician, diplomat and journalist.-Political career:Gafencu studied law and received his Ph.D. in law from the University of Bucharest. During World War I, he participated as a lieutenant and received the Mihai Viteazul Order for courage in battle...
, Nicolae Caranfil
Nicolae Caranfil
Nicolae Caranfil was a Romanian Olympic fencer. He competed in the team foil event at the 1928 Summer Olympics.-References:...
, Mihail Fărcășanu
Mihail Farcasanu
Mihail Fărcăşanu was a Romanian journalist, diplomat and writer. He was president of the National Liberal Youth from 1940 to 1946. Pursued by the authorities due to his anticommunist actions, he managed to flee the country in 1946, and was later sentenced to death...
and Iancu Zissu, who signed the documents in capacity of founding members.
The Romanian Section of the European Movement was initially headed by Grigore Gafencu, who had remarcable contributions both at the Hague Congress and in the following period. Consequently, for a long time, the section was headed by George Ciorănescu. Mihail Fărcăşanu was also one the few exiled Romanian politicians, precursors of the integration of Romania în the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
.
Last years
After the death of Louisa Hunnewell Gunther Fărcăşanu, Fărcăşanu donated the entire holdings of his Franklin Mott Gunther Foundation to the Adormirea Maicii Domnului (Dormition of the TheotokosDormition of the Theotokos
The Dormition of the Theotokos is a Great Feast of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches which commemorates the "falling asleep" or death of the Theotokos , and her bodily resurrection before being taken up into heaven. It is celebrated on August 15 The Dormition...
) Church in Cleveland, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, and to the church's museum. The church was founded on August 15, 1904, as the first Romanian Orthodox
Romanian Orthodox Church
The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...
church in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He spent the last years of life in his house in the Georgetown
Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
Georgetown is a neighborhood located in northwest Washington, D.C., situated along the Potomac River. Founded in 1751, the port of Georgetown predated the establishment of the federal district and the City of Washington by 40 years...
district of Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, being cared for by his sisters Margareta Bottea and Mia Lahovari and by his niece Domnica Bottea. He had a quiet life playing the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
daily and spending the majority of his time reading. He met frequently with Constantin Vişoianu
Constantin Visoianu
Constantin Vișoianu was a Romanian jurist, diplomat and politician....
, with whom he had collaborated to organise an Romanian resistance in exile. He never tried to write his memoirs or other literary works.
Mihail Fărcăşanu died on July 14, 1987, at the age of 79, not long before the fall of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
in 1989.