26 Facts About Ion Ioanid

Ion Ioanid is best known for taking part in the 1953 Cavnic lead mine labor camp escape and for his book "Give us each day our daily prison", a reference to the verse from the Christian Lord's Prayer.

Ion Ioanid is considered a Romanian Solzhenitsyn, as his description of the communist detention regime in Romania is the most detailed one submitted by one of its victims.

Ion Ioanid was born on 28 March 1926 at his father's estate in Ilovat village, Mehedinti County.

Ion Ioanid's godfather was Octavian Goga, a friend of his father, Tilica Ioanid.

Tilica Ioanid was descended from an old and well-known Greek landlord family, a National Liberal Party member, and a secretary in the Romanian government led by Miron Cristea before World War II.

Ion Ioanid attended primary school in Ilovat, then continued his studies in Bucharest, the first six years at Saint Sava High School, and the last two at Spiru Haret High School.

Ion Ioanid received his bachelor's degree in 1944, at the Sisesti village school, where both teachers and students sought shelter from the allied bombardment.

Ion Ioanid was first arrested in 1949, but was released a few days later.

Ion Ioanid spent the next 12 years in several prisons and labor camps, and was released in 1964, following a pardon decree targeting political prisoners.

Ion Ioanid left Romania in 1969 and sought political asylum in West Germany.

Ion Ioanid was arrested for the first time for facilitating the typewriting of two letters.

Ion Ioanid was detained at Malmaison Prison, in Bucharest, where his investigation was held.

In early October 1952, Ion Ioanid was moved from Pitesti to Jilava Prison.

Not being committed to a tight-security prison, Ion Ioanid was determined to take the necessary risks and attempt an escape.

In Bucharest, Ion Ioanid had several acquaintances, either family, school friends of people his father had assisted.

Ion Ioanid was treated as an informer, a snitch, which was one of the worst offenses within the prison walls.

Ion Ioanid was well respected for his professional and ethical integrity.

Ion Ioanid was arrested in Bucharest and his arrest file was initiated there, but later he stood trial in Oradea, where a new file was documented.

Out of the almost 12 continuous years spent incarcerated, Ion Ioanid spent the longest period in Pitesti.

Pavel Constantin, a fellow inmate and friend, who was released while Ioanid was incarcerated in Pitesti, proposed to him a method of receiving information from the outside.

For some time, General Aurel Aldea sought shelter at the Ilovat residence in order to organize the resistance, and although George Boian was his main confidant, Ion Ioanid was aware of the plans made there.

Ion Ioanid met Baicu in Bucharest, and recommending himself as a fugitive Iron Guard member, he met all the necessary qualities to get him trusted.

Finally, before the group was dismantled, Ion Ioanid took part in several shipments of weaponry from Bragadiru, a town near the capital, to Bucharest.

Baicu and Ioanid received the highest punishment of all the group, an additional twenty years of forced labor.

Ion Ioanid spent most of the summer under medical care, doing several errands for the doctors in the medical facility, thus avoiding the harsh work on the island.

Ion Ioanid took residence in Munich, where he worked as a Romanian announcer and journalist for Radio Free Europe from 1970 until he retired in the mid-1990s.