November 15, 2024 – January 12, 2025, MNIT headquarters (str. C. Daicoviciu, floor 1, event hall)
Starting on November 15, MNIT is hosting the chronological exhibition "Monica, the Radio and Security". The exhibition, carried out by the Institute for the Investigation of the Crimes of Communism and the Memory of the Romanian Exile (IICCMER), brings to the public's attention the important moments in the life and work of Monica Lovinescu, relating her diary notes to the events that marked her professional path and private life . The focus falls on the years of exile, and the perspective of the Security, presented through the selection of documents developed by the institution starting from 1948 and ending with 1990, is balanced by public and personal photographs, accompanied by reproductions of some artifacts identified in the archives.
The narrative voice of Monica Lovinescu, extracted from the diaries published in Romania after 1990, is the red thread of the exhibition and guides the viewer through the following themes: a chronology, which highlights the main moments in the protagonist's life; her relationship with her family, especially her father and the Sburătorul cenacle; the deep connection with the mother, Ecaterina Bălăcioiu, who became an instrument of blackmail of the Security for both, the mother ending her life in prison; the pursuit of Virgil Ierunca after leaving the country in 1947, through the surveillance of relatives, and the relationship of the parents with the Securitate; the first years of exile and the beginning of her political activism, together with her friend, Adriana Georgescu; the exile activity of Virgil Ierunca; the activity of the Paris sub-editor of Radio Europa Liberă in connection with the group of relatives of Monica Lovinescu – Virgil Ierunca, with the broadcasts made, with the Security perspective on the radio station and their political activism, as well as with the fight for human rights and the people supported by them; editorial activity in exile; the attack on Monica Lovinescu; the compromising campaign in the Romanian press, supported by the Securitate; informants who wrote notes on Monica Lovinescu and Virgil Ierunca and officers who coordinated them; and finally, the moment of decoration in 1999.
