The Guilt of Cornel Todea

Dear Everybody,

Sometimes it does to stick your neck out, make a scandal and a lot of noise rather than remaining quiet, stalwart and elegant. Cornel Todea is certainly someone who should be surrounded by a great deal of clamour, none of it pleasant. As a seventeen year old, he denounced a group of school mates (all of them aged 16) which lead to two groups of arrests, one in the spring and one in the autumn, and subsequent time in prison. Imagine the terror. They were little more than children. One of them was arrested on her way to the swimming pool, clothed in her summer dress, school satchel on her shoulder. What was their crime? Trumped up charges of a plot to overthrow the communist regime. The most powerful 16 year olds ever known to man, obviously... It is what bestsellers are made of, and yet it really happened. Three girls arrested in the spring lived months in prison, underwent regular interrogation, were unable to wash for the length of their incarceration and had to share one bucket for a toilet with everyone else in their cell. I repeat, they were sixteen years old.

One of the girls, today an adorable, gorgeous grandmother in her early 70's, was able to obtain her file fairly recently. She received the huge dossier astonished by its size and weight, she began to read. Little by little, the fog surrounding her arrest and that of her school friends cleared. How shocked she was, for she had never suspected Todea as the man who had informed on her and caused so much suffering and terror. She didn't even recognise his photograph and she had no recollection of him as a former school mate. She had no idea he had even been part of her group of friends. According to the first article published last week, he didn't have any friends as such. He was a loner. I'm not surprised.

This man, this toad, had informed on people for years. He made quite a career out of it. Officially he made his fortune as a producer, company partner and theatre director resulting in a prestigious career with national acclaim, pots of money and a beautiful house in a sought-after residential area here in central Bucharest. Unofficially, he was a professional squealer, an informer, a grass... There are many words for it, none of them flattering whichever way you look at it. Why had he done it? I asked. 'Because' replied one of his victims of whom I have grown extremely fond, 'it paid well.' Of course, there were high priveleges that went with informing, too. Money wasn't the only attraction seeing as how there was little in the shops to buy...

Her friend, classmate and fellow victim decided that silence could no longer be kept, that the truth should be publically known. Encouraged by another close friend and former classmate of theirs no longer living in Roumania, the two of them contacted Evenimentul and Gândul newspapers. Neither replied, which just makes me wonder what kind of friends the Toad has and what kind of pressure he can still put on people. Gândul, at least, is a pretty cultural paper, well written and politically middle of the road. The friends tried again, this time to Academia Catavencu, a rather satyric paper equivalent to the French 'Canard Enchainé'. They printed the story in the last issue and a follow-up appeared this week, translated (apologies for errors and imprecisons) below.

I'd like to thank Alina Moscalu, the journalist, very much for publicising something that other newspapers clearly didn't want to touch with a barge-pole, for recognising and respecting the suffering of these three women and for humiliating Cornel Todea in print. As a result, Todea withdrew from UNITER (UniuneaTeatrala din Romania) for 'personal reasons'. I'd like to know if the man (a compliment unjustly given to such a coward) has any conscience at all, if he intends to recognise his wrong-doing, if he has any idea of the pain he caused and whether he foresees making any apologies. Two of the three ladies are here in Bucharest within spitting distance of the centre and one is in Paris (funnily enough a neighbour of mine just across the road - small world). More than 50 years have passed. An apology is precious little, but it's better than the much greater insult of nothing at all.

Before he shuffles off this mortal coil and meets his maker, doesn't he feel the need to clear his conscience, make his peace with such a murky past and give something back to these women (amongst others - I imagine he's pretty loathed by N.C. Munteanu, too, but of course I've never met him and thus cannot possibly say how he feels on the subject despite the fact that he denounced him) he robbed of their childhood? There's little he can do to repair such incomparable damage, in fact, but the elegance (and courage) of a recognised apology publically made is, at the very least, a paltry minimum.

Academia Catavencu, Issue 31, 6-12 August 2008, p.12:

Cornel Todea Informed As Much As He Could

http://www.catavencu.ro/la_zi/din_editia_print/cornel_todea_nu_si_a_tradat_obiceiurile_din_copilarie_a_turnat_cit_a_putut_.html

Cornel Todea started his ‘career’ as an informer for the Roumanian Securitate in 1952 at the tender age of seventeen. As a result, his sixteen year old school mates were arrested and imprisoned along with other victims of communism. Today a producer, manager of UNITER and the director of the “Ion Creanga” childrens’ theatre in Bucharest, this episode of Todea’s youth can be found in last week’s issue. http://www.catavencu.ro/la_zi/din_editia_print/cornel_todea_regizeaza_la_teatrul_de_copii_acum_50_de_ani_ii_turna_pe_copii_la_securitate.html

As our newspaper was on its way to print, our puppeteer of innocence hadn’t yet signed his resignation letter. Perhaps it was our own fault for being so accurate regarding his shadey adolescent past - and there is more. We wonder whether  exposing  more of his dealings with the Securitate will lead to Mr. Todea doing the honest thing and standing down. Here’s a little more about agent Cornescu’s denunciation history, ‘Cornescu’ being his code name.

As stage manager at Romanian Television between 1960 and 1987, his telltaling increased dramatically. We were unable to find trace of Mr. Todea in the Securitate files, although we did find Cornescu and his conspiracy base, Gioconda, the house from where Cornescu sent notes and messages squealing on his colleagues.

The following is a note found in Securitate files, 1977, signed Cornescu :

“ I couldn’t find out how he sent the letters abroad. I concluded that he certainly used an occasional intermediary, foreign and unknown.”

This extract was unearthed in the file of N.C. Munteanu, a known dissident of communism, journalist and editor for Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. Cornescu’s, or should we say Cornel Todea’s foolishness is very hard to understand. He truly believed he would never be exposed and that his country would never escape the clutches of communism.

We can’t explain why these notes from Securitate files are hand-written. But we are in no doubt - Cornescu was paid in royalties…

Translation of article written by Alina Moscalu

My thanks to Andra and Nicole for help with the translation

Comments

[sairj]

Let's hope God will forgive him for there are many down here who definitely will not...

[Georgel Calalb]

din 1952,de fapt, intr-un fel, chiar el mi-a spus cand a "iesit"[ca sa ma puna-n garda].Pacat . . . . .Dumnezeu sa-l irtre!

[Nicole]

Dear Lallie,

Two things: not only was he paid well, but mostly, the secu gave him a big push up in hist career.. Just look at all the jobs he had all choicy, prestigious ones.. Such a rat!
Second: I remember that Gioconda was a tall building, close to biserica Sf. Spiridon - (the tucked-in one). I don't know if the bldg still stands, but that was the one called "Gioconda" - maybe because it was mysterious like Gioconda's smile?
Wht a horrible pagein Roumania's history but today's kids don;'t give a damn.
Loveyou,

Nicole