Constantin Gane – the historian with a face gilded with immaculate morality
When, in the summer of 1954, I was transferred from the ground floor to the floor of Zarca, to the cell where two illustrious figures of Romanian culture, the poet Radu Gyr and the great historian and writer Constantin Gane, spent their days and nights, I was reminded of the wonderful work of this Moldavian scholar, ”Trecute vieți de doamne și domnițe” which has delighted so many generations, a book that represents and defines him as a personality, as a vocation and as a concern. Perhaps no other book has confused its author as much as this one.
Although he was over 65 at the time, his innate vigour gave him a wealth of freshness, serenity and good humour. During our time together, I never saw him shy away from the sadness inherent in those on the other side of the bars; he was always ready to respond to anyone with sincere kindness. He didn’t like to loaf too much on the mat that served as his bed, but he was always doing stretching exercises, standing by the door. There wasn’t much room, as there were no fewer than seven of us in the cell.
In Bucharest he lived with an aunt who was over ninety, blind and never left the house. She took care of her like a child, feeding her with a spoon, washing her and caring for her with a devotion and spirit of sacrifice rarely seen.
From what he told us, it was clear that he had studied history for many years in Berlin, where the great archaeologist Vasile Pârvan, his contemporary but who died much too early, at the age of 45, in 1927, also lived.
He returned home and was appointed secretary of the journal Convorbiri literare, where he carried out an astonishing and prestigious literary activity alongside the great heroes of Junimism. In 1937-1938, he edited the new spiritual magazine “Sânziana”, where he gave a voice to Romanian spirituality, as the title of the publication suggested.
In the autumn of 1940, he was appointed Romanian ambassador to Greece, a country rich in history, art and ancient literature, a climate favourable to his concerns, a position that this rare and distinguished scholar filled with great satisfaction.
His innate modesty did not allow him to reveal the slightest shadow of human or scholarly ambition or arrogance, or even political ambition. His immaculate inner life was the same in the horizon of his thoughts and in his face, which was gilded with an impeccable morality and as such was worthy of being emulated by all.
Born in 1885 in Botoșani, the old historian and writer was arrested in 1950 at the age of 65 and sentenced to 12 years in prison. He died in Aiud on 12 April 1962, a Thursday, in the 77th year of his life, shortly before his release. The Romanian people will be forever grateful to him.
(George Popescu, Under the Sword of the Knights of the Apocalypse, Majadahonda Publishing House, Bucharest, 1997, pp. 98-99)