Ion Cârja

Ion Cârja(sometimes spelledCârjăorCârje) (March 25, 1922 – May 8, 1977) was aRomanianandAmericanwriter andanti-communistactivist, who was apolitical prisonerinCommunist Romania.

Biography

Cârja was born inWhitman,Logan County,West Virginia,where his parents (Iov and Judifca) had emigrated to fromAustro-Hungarian-ruledTransylvaniaaround 1910. He and his family returned to Romania in February 1927 and settled down inMihai Viteazu,near the city ofCluj,where they bought a farm. While in high school, Cârja started work on a magazine titledGazeta de Turda,and published his first book —Cremene în apa vremii( "A Flintstone in the Water of Life" ).

Beginning in 1942, he studied Law and Philology at theUniversity of Cluj(he also enlisted for Medicine studies, but abandoned them after one year). In 1948 he received hisPhDin Law from the same university. He was elected general secretary of the Transylvanian Writers' Union.

At the same time, Cârja took part in theresistance movementagainst the newly established Communist regime, and was involved in supporting the anti-communist groups in theApuseni Mountains.Because of this and due to the political content of his writings, he spent 15 years in prison between 1949 and 1964 (inCluj,Gherla,Aiud,and building theDanube–Black Sea Canal). He was ultimately released by ageneral amnesty.In parallel, his elder brother, Nicolae Cârja, was captured by theSovietRed Army,and exiled for nine years in theRussian Far East.

Having both American and Romanian citizenship, Ion Cârja made several requests to the Romanian authorities to be allowed to leave for the United States. Pressure by theUnited States Department of Stateultimately brought about his departure in May 1965. He settled down inNew York City,where he worked for the city's Department of Social Welfare. In order to receive more qualifications in this area, he undertook studies atFordham University.Columbia Universitylater recognized his Romanian PhD.

In 1970 he initiated the Romanian National Council, whose journal, calledAcțiunea Românească,was first published in 1971. He was elected secretary general of the council.

Published books

• Cremene în apa vremii
• Întoarcerea din infern(2 vols.), Madrid: Dacia and New-York: Acțiunea Românească, 1969.OCLC2983157
• Canalul morții,Bucharest: Cartea Românească, 1993.ISBN973-23-0400-6