Radu Gyr

• Name — Radu Gyr • Birth Name — Radu Ștefan Demetrescu • Born — 2 March 1905 • Birthplace — Câmpulung, Kingdom of Romania • Died — 29 April 1975 • Place of death — Bucharest, Socialist Republic of Romania • Resting Place — Petru Vodă Monastery, Poiana Teiului, Neamț County • Education — University of Bucharest • Occupation — Poet, fascist activist • Notable Works — Arise Gheorghe, Arise Ioan! • Political Party — Iron Guard • Spouse — Flora Gyr • Children — 1 • Father — Ștefan Dumitrescu

Born in Câmpulung-Muscel, Gyr was the son of actor Ștefan "Coco" Dumitrescu. When he was 3, his family moved to Craiova, where he did his secondary studies at the Carol I High School. Starting in 1924, he studied at the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy of the University of Bucharest, where he received his Ph.D. in Literature and became a Senior Lecturer. He made his literary debut in 1924 with the well-received volume Liniști de schituri ("Silence of the sketes"), and continued with Cerbul de lumină (1928), Cununi uscate (1938), Poeme de război (1942), and Balade (1943). In 1927 he married Flora, with whom he had a daughter, Simona Luminița.

Gyr was imprisoned for 20 years and he was never completely rehabilitated as a writer. In January 1941, after the Legionnaires' rebellion was put down by the Ion Antonescu regime, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison, for inciting the crowd. His first years as a political prisoner began as soon as the Iron Guard lost their battle with Antonescu. After spending time at Aiud Prison, Gyr was sent to fight on the Eastern Front (a form of punishment which was reserved for former Legionnaires) and was gravely wounded at the battle of Vinogradov. After the 1944 Romanian coup d'état he was re-arrested, and condemned to 12 years of hard labor for "contribution to the country's disaster". Sent back to Aiud, he was later transferred to Brașov Prison. In 1959 he was sentenced to death by the Communist authorities because of his poem, considered subversive by the regime, "Ridică-te Gheorghe, ridică-te Ioane!" ("Arise Gheorghe, Arise Ioan!"). The poem called — in the style of a rally to war — the 'Romanian nation', symbolized by generic Romanian Christian names, to revolt. It had been issued as the last wave of brutal collectivization was taking hold of rural Romania (a process which lasted between 1949 and 1962). An English translation of the poem: Not for a heaped shovel of ruddy hot bread, nor for barns full of grain, nor for fields full of corn, instead for your heavens to be free of dread rise up now Gheorghe, rise up now Ion! For the blood of your folk flowing red through the drains, for your beautiful song which was stifled at morn, for the tears of your sun, left imprisoned in chains, rise up now Gheorghe, rise up now Ion! Not so that your fury sinks teeth into bars, but to sing as you fill, on the crest of the dawn, a heap of horizons and a hatful of stars, rise up now Gheorghe, rise up now Ion! So that freedom you drink, flowing fresh from the pail, and to heavenly whirlpools be mightily drawn, while apricot buds shake on you, merry hail, rise up now Gheorghe, rise up now Ion! And so, as you kindle your kisses on fires, on thresholds, on doors, and on icons forlorn, on all that is free, and to freedom aspires, rise up now Gheorghe, rise up now Ion! Rise up now Gheorghe on chains and on ropes! Rise up now Ion on flesh and on bone! And high, to the storm-light which shines on your hopes, rise up now Gheorghe, rise up now Ion! (From Romanian Poetry from its Origins to the Present, Daniel Ioniță, Australian-Romanian Academy Publishing, Sydney, 2020) Gyr was sent to Jilava Prison to wait for the ultimate penalty. He appealed the sentence, which was commuted to life imprisonment. He served only six years, two of which (at Aiud Prison) with chains at his feet. Although severely ill (hepatitis, tuberculosis, haemophilia, gangrened rectal prolapse), he was refused any medical assistance, was starved and tortured. Altogether he served 16 years in communist prisons (1945–1956; 1958–1964). In 1963–1964 all surviving political prisoners had to be released, upon pressure from the West.

After his release from prison in 1964 he was constantly tailed by the Romanian secret police, the Securitate. Persuaded to use their perceived expertise in ethnocracy, Radu Gyr and Nichifor Crainic wrote propaganda articles for Glasul Patriei ('The Voice of the Fatherland') – later called Tribuna României – a newspaper published by the Securitate targeting exiled Romanians abroad.

• 2019 - Testament - 400 Years of Romanian Poetry / 400 de ani de poezie românească - Minerva Publishing 2019 - Daniel Ioniță (editor and principal translator) assisted by Daniel Reynaud, Adriana Paul, and Eva Foster. • 2020 - Romanian Poetry from its Origins to the Present - bilingual edition - Daniel Ioniță (editor and principal translator) with Daniel Reynaud, Adriana Paul and Eva Foster - Australian-Romanian Academy Publishing - 2020 -; LCCN - 2020907831