Ilie Niculescu – a man of great finesse and delicacy of soul

One day I was taken out of the section with my luggage and taken to the cell block. I found myself sitting with two men. I had heard of one of them, Ilie Niculescu, a doctor of economics, former commander of the Corps of Raiders, who had been in prison, day after day, for twenty-two years! The other was a friend of his, also an economist, a rather square, exophthalmic fellow with a wry smile. Niculescu, on the other hand, was a man of great subtlety and soulfulness, soft-spoken, with an elegant diction and vocabulary.

He was quick to confess to me, that it was because of him that I had been transferred to the cell block, that I was now on “punishment” regime at his request. Ilie Niculescu was one of the few legionary chiefs who refused to undergo re-education. He had spent too many years in prison to wait for freedom and was too honest in spirit to be opportunistic.

At Collonel Crăciun’s insistence, he always replied that it was not his legionary feelings that kept him in the reserve, but his Christian ones. A fervent and militant believer, he was convinced that the Christian and Legionary ideologies were so intertwined and interdependent that to renounce one was to renounce the other.

Niculescu was incapable of pretence; he sincerely believed what he said. At one point the commander said to him:

In another section, we have a man who is a theologian, not an economist. He claims the opposite and has renounced the Iron Guard to remain a Christian. Have you heard of Father Ananias?

 Niculescu expressed his desire to spend some time together. He asked Christmas to arrange a meeting with me, somewhere, at a speaker’s, for two or three hours. He did not hide his thoughts from Crăciun. He had heard that I was in the TB ward, but did not expect to be taken there, despite his shaky lungs and what appeared to be tuberculosis in his lymph nodes.

Christmas had other plans and brought me to the cell. I received the usual treatment but was given the hydrazide ration. I tried to convince Dr. Niculescu that talking to him in the same cell was not a punishment but a privilege. However, I felt uneasy about being there, especially since the commander had sent me on a ‘mission’.

Niculescu was curious about the relationship between Christianity and the Iron Guard, a subject of controversy in political and ecclesiastical circles. He asked me many questions for days and weeks, eager to learn more. I knew that I had been influencing this man’s beliefs for over thirty years. I did not want to destroy his beliefs, but I also could not speak against my own beliefs, which I had held for two decades. Niculescu’s intellect allowed me to explore these issues in great detail. As he began to understand, he shuddered at the realization that he had been an unbeliever for so long. I reassured and enlightened him by distinguishing between the notions of a ‘good-believer’ and a ‘bad-believer’. We also had long and interesting dialogues on philosophy, literature, and art, which helped us bond and remain friends. I have fond memories of Dr. Ilie Niculescu.

However, my physical condition was worsening, and I was taken back to the TB ward. Ilie Niculescu would also join a few weeks later.

(Memoirs – Valerius Ananias, Polirom Publishing House, Iași, 2008, pp. 329-330).