Alexandru Ghica, “a case in which social nobility coincides with moral nobility”

I’m back at Cellular. During the time I was at the station, Aiud was overcrowded. In 1958, a huge wave of arrests swept through Romania. Those arrested then, after a spell in the Securitate and military courts, came to Aiud like an uncontrollable avalanche. There are no longer cells of four, only six or eight. In the large Aiud prison, the ordeal of overcrowding began.

I ended up in a cell on the southern shortcut, on the west side. The first big surprise: in the cell was Prince Alexandru Ghica, arrested since 1941. […]

Knowing Prince Alexandru Ghica, I thought of some theories about the degeneration of the nobility. In the case of Prince Ghica, the opposite phenomenon occurred. Positive selection concentrated and amplified in his person all the qualities of the Ascendants. He is a complete man, both physically and intellectually. As for his moral character, he is noble in the truest sense of the word. He is a case where social nobility coincides with moral nobility. For his attitude during his long imprisonment, he will be nicknamed “The Prince of Legionary Dignity”. Alexandru Ghica prides himself on his descent from a ruling family. He is the descendant of Grigore Ghica-Vodă, the martyr of the integrity of the Romanian borders. He is a reference figure of the legionary movement.

The Prince is worried about the future of the Legionary Movement, especially in a prolonged regime of Bolshevik domination.

– What do you think? he asked me. What could be done, especially for the young?

I paused for a moment. What could I say to such a man on such a subject? But I know that for a man of noble spirit, who has left his warm and luxurious bed to devote himself to a cause for which he has suffered for a quarter of a century, the answer is of great importance. And perhaps it was no coincidence that he put the question to the youngest man in the cell.

(Liviu Brânzaș – Ray from the catacomb)