Ion Dezideriu Sîrbu

Ion Dezideriu Sîrbu (also spelled Ion Desideriu Sârbu; June 28, 1919 – September 17, 1989) was a Romanian philosopher, novelist, essayist, and dramatist. An academic and theater critic, he was a victim of the communist regime, spending about 14 years as a political prisoner.

Early life, education and war Sîrbu was born in Petrila, Hunedoara County; his father was a coal miner from around Brad, while his mother had come from Bohemia to settle in Banat. After completing elementary school in his native city, he attended gymnasium and high school in Petroșani, although, due to lack of funds, he had to drop out in 1934 for one year and work as an apprentice in a factory before being able to continue his studies. In 1939, he enrolled in the courses of the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy at the University of Cluj, where the philosopher and writer Lucian Blaga became his teacher and mentor. Sîrbu was active in this literary group, alongside Ion Negoițescu, Radu Stanca, Ștefan Augustin Doinaș, , , Ovidiu Cotruș, and others. His stories and satirical plays could not be published, though they circulated in manuscript among the members of the group. He made his journalistic debut in 1940 in the newspaper Țara from Sibiu and his literary debut in 1941 with the story "Dumineca", in the magazine Curțile dorului.

During World War II, he was conscripted and sent to the Eastern Front (1941–1944); he served as an artillery sergeant, reaching Stalingrad, where he was taken prisoner by the Soviets, yet managed to escape. After Romania switched sides to the Allies in August 1944, he was a translator on the western front until the end of the war.

Although released, his nightmare will last all his life, being followed non-stop by the Securitate; his colleagues and friends were forced to denounce him, his house in Craiova was surrounded by microphones, and, "because leper is written on my door," he felt completely marginalized. He served as model for Victor Petrini, the hero of Marin Preda's novel, Cel mai iubit dintre pământeni. In 1989, he finalized his memoirs, Jurnalul unui jurnalist fără jurnal ("Diary of a journalist without a journal"), on which he had been working for five years. Later that year, he died in Craiova of esophageal cancer, at age 70. as well as streets in Craiova and Petrila are named after him. His native town also features the Ion D. Sîrbu Memorial House, while the city of Petroșani is the home of the . In 2009 he was conferred the title of honorary citizen of Petroșani.