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.
