Ion Pas (born Ioan M. Pascu; October 6, 1895 – May 20, 1974) was a

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n novelist, translator and left-wing politician. He was born in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

in to a family of small craftsman. He attended primary school in the slum where he grew up, but was largely self-taught. He worked as a bricklayer's apprentice, typesetter, bookbinder and mechanic. His literary debut came in 1910, with the sketch "Barbu", published in ''Dumineca'' magazine. His first book was the 1912 ''Din lumea celor obidiți''. From 1913, he was a contributor and editor at

Constantin Costa-Foru Constantin Gheorghe Costa-Foru (26 October 185615 August 1935) was a Romanian journalist, lawyer, and human rights activist. He was born in Bucharest on 26 October 1856, in a wealthy family. His father, Gheorghe Costa-Foru (1820–1876), was a ...

's ''Revista copiilor și a tinerimii''. He was part of the leadership at the Union of Professional Journalists and the General Association of the Press. A longstanding leftist, he was a member of the Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSDR). From March 1946 to 1948, as a

communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...

was being established, he headed the

National Theatre Bucharest The National Theatre Bucharest () is one of the national theatres of Romania, located in the capital city of Bucharest. Founding It was founded as the ''Teatrul cel Mare din București'' ("Grand Theatre of Bucharest") in 1852, its first director ...

. From November 1946 to April 1948, he was Arts Minister. During this period, the communists were increasingly anxious about the continued existence of an independent social-democratic party. One subject of concern was Pas, whom they suspected of having translated the apostate communist writer

Panait Istrati Panait Istrati (; sometimes rendered as ''Panaït Istrati''; (August 10, 1884 – April 16, 1935) was a Romanian working class writer, who wrote in French and Romanian, nicknamed ''The Maxim Gorky of the Balkans''. Istrati appears to be th ...

's ''Confession pour vaincus. Après 16 mois dans l'URSS'' during the 1930s, under the pen name P. Ioanid. In February 1948, Pas took part in the PSDR's "merger" with the

Romanian Communist Party The Romanian Communist Party ( ; PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave an ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that would replace the social system ...

to form the Romanian Workers' Party.Cristian Vasile, "1968 Romania: Intellectuals and the Failure of Reform", in

Vladimir Tismăneanu Vladimir Tismăneanu (; born July 4, 1951) is a Romanian American political scientist, political analyst, sociologist, and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. A specialist in political systems and comparative politics, he is d ...

(ed.), ''Promises of 1968: Crisis, Illusion, and Utopia'', p. 249-51. Budapest: Central European University Press, 2011. He served on the party's central committee from that point until August 1969.Florica Dobre (ed.)
''Membrii C. C. al P. C. R.: 1945-1989''
p. 451. CNSAS. Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedicã, 2004. From July 1955 to 1958, he was deputy

Culture Minister A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organizat ...

, and from 1959 to January 1965, served as president of Romanian Radio's committee. He was president of the Romanian delegation to the

Inter-Parliamentary Union The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU; , UIP) is an international organization of national parliaments. Its primary purpose is to promote democratic governance, accountability, and cooperation among its members; other initiatives include advancing g ...

, president of the Journalists' Syndicate from 1946, vice president of the

Romanian Writers' Union The Writers' Union of Romania (), founded in March 1949, is a professional association of writers in Romania. It also has a subsidiary in Chișinău, Republic of Moldova. The Writers' Union of Romania was created by the communist regime by taking ...

and president of the Romanian Institute for Cultural Relations with the Abroad (1965-1974). Pas published a number of magazines: ''Spre lumină'' (1912), ''Gazeta tinerimii'' (with Alexandru Terziman), ''Omul liber'' (1923-1925), ''Cugetul liber'' (1927-1928, with Eugen Relgis) and ''Șantier'' (1933-1937). His work appeared in ''Socialismul'', ''Lumea nouă'', ''

Adevărul (; meaning "The Truth", formerly spelled ''Adevĕrul'') is a Romanian daily newspaper, based in Bucharest. Founded in Iași, in 1871, and reestablished in 1888, in Bucharest, it was the main left-wing press venue to be published during the Kingd ...

'', '' Dimineața'', ''Universul literar'', ''Veselia'', ''Viața sindicală'', ''Lupta'', ''A.B.C.'', ''

Facla ''Facla'' ("The Torch") was a Romanian political and literary magazine. ''Facla'' was published weekly in Bucharest between 13 March 1910 and 15 June 1913, daily from 5 October 1913 to 5 March 1914, weekly from 1 January to 7 August 1916 and daily ...

'', '' Rampa'', ''Cuvântul liber'', ''Jurnalul'', ''Presa noastră'', ''Libertatea'', ''

Scînteia ''Scînteia'' ( Romanian for "The Spark") was the name of two newspapers edited by Communist groups at different intervals in Romanian history. The title is a homage to the Russian language paper '' Iskra''. It was known as ''Scânteia'' until ...

'', ''

România Liberă Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to the east, and the Black Sea t ...

'' and ''Veac nou''. Described by

Leon Kalustian Leon or Levon Kalustian, also known as Calustian (, ''Levon Kalustyan''; October 17, 1908 – January 24, 1990), was a Romanian journalist, essayist and memoirist. An Armenian on his father's side, he abandoned his studies to work in the interwar ...

as gifted with a "conscientious and hard-working spirit", he wrote prolifically. Pas' output included tales (''Draga noastră păsărică'', 1951; ''Trecut întunecat'', 1957; ''Povestiri vechi și noi'', 1966), sketches and short stories (''Din lumea celor obidiți'', 1912; ''Lumea celor necăjiți'', 1924; ''Taboluri în cărbune'', 1935; ''Simple întâmplări'', 1943; ''Lumea noastră'', 1946), novels (''Povestea unei fete'', 1927; ''Veșnicul învins'', 1931; ''Zilele vieții tale'', I-IV, 1948-1950; ''Lanțuri'', I-IV, 1950-1954) and memoirs (''Oameni și momente'', 1946; ''Galantar. Cărți și oameni'', 1946; ''Așa a fost odată'', 1955; ''Carte despre vremuri multe'', 1963; ''Aducere aminte'', 1972; ''Evocări'', 1973). Authors he translated include

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

Fyodor Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian literature, Russian and world literature, and many of his works are consider ...

Anatole France (; born ; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters.Henry Fielding Henry Fielding (22 April 1707 – 8 October 1754) was an English writer and magistrate known for the use of humour and satire in his works. His 1749 comic novel ''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'' was a seminal work in the genre. Along wi ...

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an aut ...

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

Stendhal Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, , ), was a French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' ('' The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de Parme'' ('' T ...

Upton Sinclair Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968) was an American author, muckraker journalist, and political activist, and the 1934 California gubernatorial election, 1934 Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, ; ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of Naturalism (literature), naturalism, and an important contributor to ...

and

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

. He was married to Sarina Cassvan, herself a writer. After he divorced her he married again with Shelly Eilenberg from about 1934 till his death in 1974. Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. II, pp. 303-04. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004. Pas served as a legislator for nearly a quarter-century: elected to the Assembly of Deputies for

Prahova County Prahova County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in the Historical regions of Romania, historical region Muntenia, with the capital city at Ploiești. Demographics In 2011, it had a population of 762,886 and the population density was 161/k ...

in 1946, he remained in that body until it was dissolved in 1948. In the Great National Assembly that followed, he sat for Prahova County (1948-1952),

Pitești Region Pitești () is a city in Romania, located on the river Argeș (river), Argeș. The capital and largest city of Argeș County, it is an important commercial and industrial center, as well as the home of two universities. Pitești is situated in th ...

(1952-1957) and for three districts in the

Buzău Buzău (; formerly spelled ''Buzeu'' or ''Buzĕu'') is a city in the historical region of Muntenia, Romania, and the county seat of Buzău County. It lies near the right bank of the Buzău River, between the south-eastern curvature of the Carp ...

area (1957-1961, 1961-1965 and 1965-1969). He was awarded the Order of Labor, first class (1955); the

Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic The Order of the Star of the Socialist Republic of Romania (), from 1948 to 1965 the Order of the Star of the Romanian People's Republic (), was the second-highest honor bestowed by the Socialist Republic of Romania (known as the Romanian People's ...

, first class (1964); and the 23 August Order, first class (1965).

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pas, Ion 1895 births 1974 deaths Writers from Bucharest Romanian novelists Romanian male short story writers Romanian short story writers Chairpersons of the National Theatre Bucharest Romanian magazine editors Ministers of culture of Romania Romanian Social Democratic Party (1927–1948) politicians Romanian Communist Party politicians Jewish socialists Jewish Romanian politicians Recipients of the Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania) Members of the Great National Assembly 20th-century Romanian memoirists 20th-century Romanian translators Politicians from Bucharest