De mic întâmpină greutaţi şi cele mai neaşteptate situaţii: persecuţia familiei de către noul regim comunist, despărţirea de mamă în clasele primare (copilul rămânând la internat), deportarea familiei cu domiciliu obligatoriu la Aiud, tocmirea la 14 ani ca ucenic la cooperativa "Oţelul" (autorităţile interzicându-i continuarea studiilor), dar reuşeşte sa termine liceul la fără-frecvenţă.
Tânărul este exmatriculat în anul trei de la Facultatea de Medicină din Cluj din cauza "situaţiei economico-sociale a părinţilor". Se angajeaza ca fochist, muncitor necalificat în Aiud, termină Şcola sanitară din Arad şi asemenea unui Sisif modern, reîncepe studiile la Facultatea de Medicină din Bucureşti din anul întâi.
Când însă promovarea profesională îi este din nou blocată de partid (după absolvirea facultaţii, specializarea si cinci ani ca asistent universitar), hotărăşte să evadeze din acest castel kafkian.
Autorul menţionează în Prefaţă:
"Nu este vorba de o autobiografie completă; am prezentat doar aspectele istorice, economice, sociale şi relaţiile dintre oameni, oglindite prin ochii unui individ, cu "origine nesănătoasă", destul de naiv, care a avut "norocul" sa trăiască 35 de ani sub regimul comunist, în variate medii sociale.
Astazi, nedreptăţile ce mi s-au făcut şi greutăţile prin care am trecut personal, mi se par neînsemnate faţă de anvergura catastrofei naţionale.
Scopul prezentei scrieri este prezentarea evoluţiei în etape (sau faze) istorice a fenomenelor economico-sociale sub regimul comunist din România, în mersul lor spre faliment."
Spiritul acut al observaţiei, desfăşurarea fascinantă a vieţii şi candoarea povestirii contribuie la o lectură captivantă.
Cartea este recomandată celor care au trăit "Epoca de aur", dar şi mai mult, generaţiilor de după '89.
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Hugo Hauptmann comenteaza in Revista presei Aradene:
“Cartea d-lui Gheorghe Rafael-Ştefănescu se citeşte lejer, datorită capacităţii ei de a captiva prin sinceritate, a clarităţii expunerii şi a documentării care completează fluxul amintirilor proprii, apropiind-o de ceeace numim istorie. Pigmentarea cu bancurile vremii aduce un plus de atracţie şi plasticitate.
”Pentru mine lectura a avut şi “sonor”.Când am citit despre întâmplările din vremea războiului, am reauzit explozii de bombe şi zuruitul avioanelor, bubuitul antiaerienelor, pe care nu le-am uitat.
Când a fost vorba de deportări mi-am amintit de cunoştinţele şi rudele duse în Rusia la munca forţată, unde unii şi-au lăsat oasele.
“Muncile agricole” mi-au amintit prima deplasare la cules de porumb de la Baciu-Cluj, când tehnicianul mi-a şoptit: "Dacă nu-l culegeţi d-voastră, aici va putrezi".
Apoi, am revăzut lungul şir de lipsuri, nesfârşitele cozi, am retrăit teama de a vorbi, chiar de a concepe scrisori etc.
Aşadar, am citit cartea pe nerăsuflate.”
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Alte comentarii:
Cine a trait timpurile acelea intelege perfect cartea; se citeste usor; o recomand tuturor celor care au uitat de unde au plecat. Cinci stele!
Renate von Bohn
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Multumesc pentru aceasta carte bine scrisa, evocatoare de evenimente si trairi autentice. Pentru mine, care fac parte din generatia Dv, a fost o delectare sa constat ca felul meu de a gandi si actiona gaseste o confirmare si in cartea Dv. Felicitari !
A. MILLEA (fost profesor universitar)
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Excelenta carte!!!! După citirea primelor câteva articole, realizez ca am descoperit o comoară istorica in această carte! Cu toate ca descrie evenimente incepand cu anii 1944, eu ca cititor născut in anii 80 descoper că mă pot asocia cu multe din povestirile acestea! Oriunde ai fi pe pământ, vei iubi cartea aceasta care descrie intr-un mod direct si simplu viața părinților, bunicilor, si stramosilor noștri. Mulțumesc scriitorului si redacției care a pus aceasta comoară pe iTunes!!!
And please don't forget to post an English version of this amazing book! :) Thank you!!!
Andrei M.
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Carte necesara si sincera trebuie sa fie marturie vesnica pentru cei care cred cu bunavointa ca socialismul sau comunismul ca si structura sociala poate fi o alternativa viabila... Très utile
Varolomei
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Un livre qui parle de la vie sous le communisme en Roumanie. C'est la vie d'un médecin qui a réussi à obtenir son diplome malgré toutes les tracasseries qu'on lui a imposées à lui et à sa famille. Super!
lfhatem
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Emotionant...
Don Franci
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Good book i recommend this to everybody!
O carte interesanta..care imi aminteste de Romania ceausista,am trait si eu anii 80 in Bucuresti si cam asa a fost.
cristian b nj usa
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This book is set apart for several reasons: its author a native of Transylvania, witnessed the harshest period of class-warfare and discrimination, during the early years of Communist grip on Romania. The style is without any frills, in a direct, journalistic manner, without any ambition or pretense of literary value. It is a rather matter-of-fact, bare-bones diary of what life was like under the sordid years of Romanian communism.
In spite of such backdrop, this is not, by any means, a sad account, on the contrary it has its black humour, although the period described is redolent of the darkest years of dictatorship. The author presents a bland, stenographic sequence of the drab, and dour life behind the Iron Curtain, during the post-war experiment with Marxist ideology.
Such account represents a worthwhile reminder of times experienced not such a long time ago, especially that the current Romanian-controlled amnesia tries to airbrush the recent past from the public psyche. Worth reading as a testimony, especially as an antidote to the pre-programmed loss of memory in present-day Romania!
Constantin ROMAN
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Este o lectura usoara, o povestire a unei vieti oarecum dificile intr-o perioada nefericita a istoriei Romaniei, cu un final optimist. O carte usoara, citibila.
Alex Cs
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Cartea are fara indoiala valoare documentara si e bine ca autorul a asternut-o pe hartie.
L.M.H
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Am citit-o dintr-o suflare! Prima mea ebook citita pe Samsung Galaxy Android Tablet! O recomand! De admirat perseverenta acestui om!
I have read breathlessly, with great pleasure! I Highly recommend it!
V.W.
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Citat in alte lucrari:
* Calini Vladimir, Babeş-Bolyai University: Funcţionarea scolii în perioada de tranzitie, 2012
* Elena Dragomir, University of Helsinki: Perceptions of Social Security in Communist Romania, Zeithistorische Forschungen - Studies In Contemporary History, Feb. 2010
* Rita Fóris-Ferencz: Tradition als belastendes Erbe und Produktives „Vorurteil“: Die Situation des Unterrichtswesens und der Pädagogik in Rumänien während der Diktatur Tradition – A Heavy Heritage and a Fertile ‘Prejudice’: The Conditions of Education and Pedagogy in Rumania in the Time of the Past Dictatorship European Journal of Mental Health, December 2008
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Cartea a apărut:
In tipar: bit.ly/autor-amz
e-book: bit.ly/e-carti
iTunes(e-book): bit.ly/V37fFJ
Google (e-book): bit.ly/amintirigoogle
Gratuit pe situl autorului: amintiridinromania.com
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Din condeiul aceluiasi autor: "SAPTE DECENII DE MEDICINA: Amintirile unui medic geriatru" (2016).
bit.ly/autor-amz bit.ly/e-carti
(English version below)
After the end of WWII, his mother was persecuted and humiliated by the new Communist regime that vilified her as a "bourgeois" and she was arrested, jailed and interrogated for several months. The communists gradually confiscated the entire family estate and cancelled her spousal pension. Destitute, without any income, the mother moved in with her sister's family in the nearby city of Arad, planning to become a seamstress.
The boy stayed behind in the village and was enrolled in boarding school, where he excelled, eventually being elected head of the local "Pioneer" youth unit.
In 1952 both mother and son were deported to the city of Aiud (as part of the Communists' class-warfare against perceived "bourgeois") and were not permitted to leave town ("Obligatory Residency" was stamped in their ID cards). The authorities did not allow young Gheorghe to continue his schooling. At 14, he therefore started working illegally as an apprentice in "Oţelul" (The Steel) factory, providing for the family; over the years he was promoted to a position in quality control. As a factory worker however he was able to elude the authorities and enrolled in study-at-home ("open") school, continuing to study in his spare time and graduating successfully from high school.
In 1956 Gheorghe was accepted to the School of Medicine in the nearby city of Cluj. He was expelled however in the third year of his studies due to the "socioeconomic status" of his parents (in another bout of class-warfare against the "bourgeois"). He subsequently worked as a stoker in a local factory before being ordered back to his forced residency town of Aiud, where he labored at a construction site.
The following year he was accepted into the Sanitary School of Arad along with other "second class" citizens (persons without "clean" "working-class" or "peasant" origins). Three years later, he graduated second in his class and was sent as a medical agent at the Constanta airport.
That same year (1962), he was accepted again as a first-year student in Medical School, this time in Bucharest (unbeknownst to anyone, the regime's class warfare was toned down slightly that year and many otherwise stellar students with "unhealthy class origins" were finally accepted). He continued to perform odd-jobs throughout his medical studies in order to earn a living. Towards the end of the studies he married a classmate. Two children, 3 years of residency training and 5 years of work at a university hospital followed.
When the ruling Communist Party did not allow him to sit for an examination for academic promotion however, citing yet again his "unhealthy origins", his wife and him decided to emigrate to the West. As a result, he was transferred to a dead-end job in a Sports Clinic with other "undesirables"; he also worked night shifts on ambulances.
The family's emigration requests were repeatedly refused by the regime. The communist authorities even attempted to deceive the American lawyer who volunteered to help, by claiming that the family never expressed a desire to leave Romania and that no emigration request was ever filed.
Only after copies of five of these denied requests were smuggled to the West (by a well-meaning tourist at great risk), was the family finally allowed to leave socialist Romania.