In May 1968, I
graduated from the University of Bucharest and, being
first in my class, I was appointed, as it was customary,
to work for the Romanian Academy of Sciences. And because
my field was Astronomy, I was appointed to work as a
researcher for the Romanian Astronomical Observatory in
Bucharest. Since my appointment would start in September,
I had the entire summer of '68 for pondering how in God's
name I could defect from this giant prison that I was
born into --Romania.
You could not
talk with anyone about this subject since in Romania it
was estimated that every second person was an informant
of some sort working for the Government! I could not have
trusted for one minute my very own sister Rodica
accidentally giving me away, and thus she was never in on
my plans for the contemplated escape. The only persons
that were fully aware of my plans, and having my full
confidence, were my parents and especially my very dear
mother who was my principal confidant. Although terribly
afraid of the consequences that might follow, my mother
in a tacit and subtle way did not discourage me. With no
clues of how to approach my escape, I applied for a
tourist visa for three (3) weeks to Italy stating in
the application that this was a graduation present from
my parents. After waiting the customary two (2)
months for a reply from the Romanian Police, I got the
expected negation. Shortly after that, I applied, in a
similar fashion, for a tourist visa for Austria with
which Romania, at that time, had excellent relations.
After another two (2) months of waiting, I got from
the Romanian Police the same negative response. By that
time, I was already working at the Observatory and, I was
convinced that the tourist visa scheme had no chance for
materialization.
As I was pondering
what my next move would be, in late October our
Observatory was visited by two young astronomers from the
Observatory of Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Since they were my
age with similar professional interests, we quickly
became friends. In their 10-day stay, being their host in
Bucharest, I was able to establish a good rapport with
them. I knew that the only "card" that I had left to play
with was the "card" with Yugoslavia. Because of this, I
did not want to waste this precious "card" on a tourist
visa, as before, nor to use it immediately after my two
recent back-to-back rejections from the Romanian
Police.
I waited for
the year to end and, at the beginning of the new year
1969, I approached the Director of the Observatory, the
late Prof. Dr. Constantin Dramba (who was also my thesis
adviser while a student at the University and who
considered me as his protégé) and informed
him of my interest in the research that was going on in
Yugoslavia at the Belgrade Observatory and of my desire
to spend two weeks there. He, almost apologetically,
advised me of the financial difficulties that the
Romanian Observatory was having and of the difficulties
for the Observatory to pay for such a contemplated trip.
To this, being sympathetic to his concerns, I answered
that this should not be a problem as I was prepared to
pay from my own pocket all of the expenses associated
with the trip and that moreover, I was prepared to take
the trip during my own vacation, thus costing the
Observatory absolutely nothing. To this, the Director, in
absolute dismay asked me:
"Then,
what do you need from me if you are going to
pay for everything?"
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To this, I advised
the Director that the only thing that was needed was that
in the space allocated for "The Reason for the Trip" on
my application visa for Yugoslavia instead of my writing
"Tourist", he would need write that the Astronomical
Observatory of the Romanian Academy of Science wanted me
to go there. Apparently relieved with the minimal
involvement that he would have in all this, the Director,
most gladly, agreed to my request. And sure enough, in a
few days when I brought him my new visa application for
Yugoslavia, the Director completed the necessary "Reason
for the Trip" section as agreed. In fact to add more
clout, the Director with his signature affixed the Great
Seal of the Romanian Academy of Science.
The Director of the
Observatory was so impressed with me that I vividly
remember how he called all the researchers of the
Observatory telling them what a beautiful example I am
making here:
"Look
at him (referring to me), in his vacation he
does not want to go to the beach, he wants to
do research! What a beautiful example for
other researchers to follow!"
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After submitting my
new visa application with the official seal of
endorsement from the Romanian Academy of Sciences, I knew
somehow that this would be my only chance to which I
could cling, and thus, I was determined to do everything
that I could to protect this chance.
About a week later,
being now the end of January 1969, I got terribly sick to
my stomach. My father, a physician, diagnosed my problem
immediately as being a peptic ulcer. My first two weeks,
after the diagnosis, I was confined to bed. During that
time of my convalescence, I received in the mail a
notification from the Army that I would have to go for
service for two (2) years! Well, this peptic ulcer
could not have come at a better time since because of it,
I was able to postpone the Army service for one (1)
year. I remember I had to appear before the medical
examiner of the Army who informed me in these exacts
words:
"We
are sorry that we have to tell you that you
will not have the honor to serve your country
this year."
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With that being
resolved, I went back to work at the Observatory where
everybody knew of my peptic ulcer. Some uneventful months
passed rather quickly until Sunday April 6, 1969 --a day
of high drama and emotions which is revealed in the next
section.
