Noël Bernard

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Noël Bernard (25 February 1925 - 23 December 1981) was a Romanian journalist, known for being the head of the Romanian-language department of Radio Free Europe (RFE). His mysterious death is believed by some to have been caused by Communist Romania's secret police, the Securitate, which is known to have previously sought his neutralization.

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[edit] Biography

Born to a Jewish family, Noël Bernard left Romania in 1940 together with his parents, settling in British Palestine. He studied at Jerusalem and then London, where he became a journalist at the BBC. Bernard started working as the chief of the West German-based Radio Free Europe in 1954, but he left in 1958, returning eight years later, and serving as its director until his death in 1981.[1] In 1972, he married Ioana Măgură. A former newsreader for the Romanian Radio and Television (1964-1969), she had defected Communist Romania in 1970, and had started working for RFE in Munich.[2]

Under his leadership, the Romanian-language department of Radio Free Europe became the most popular department from all the languages it broadcast.[1] After the 1977 Bucharest earthquake, he obtained the permission from the radio board to transmit around-the-clock information in Romanian language.[3]

The Securitate tried to start disputes within the Romanian-language department of RFE and to create a hostile environment against Bernard, to remove him from the head of the radio station.[4]

[edit] Death

Ion Mihai Pacepa, the Romanian intelligence general who defected to the United States, claimed that the reason which made him decide about the defection was that Communist President Nicolae Ceauşescu ordered him to assassinate Bernard.[1] In his book, Red Horizons, Pacepa claimed that Bernard was his bête noire because of his strong criticism of Ceauşescu's personality cult.[5]

Bernard died of cancer. His wife, Ioana Măgură, moved to California, where she lives with her children and grandchildren.[2] In various statements for the Romanian press, she suggests that her late husband was irradiated by the Securitate, which had previously infiltrated the RFE's structure.[2][4] She also linked Bernard's death to those of RFE journalists such as Cornel Chiriac (who was stabbed to death in mysterious circumstances), Emil Georgescu and Vlad Georgescu (both of whom, like Bernard and others in quick succession, died of cancer).[2][4] This hypothesis appears to be supported by his Securitate file, which has attached an article from a magazine which talks about him undergoing surgery and has a note which argues that the article confirms "the measures undertaken by us are starting to have an effect".[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Nestor Ratesh, "In memoriam: Noel Bernard", Revista 22, 4 March 2005
  2. ^ a b c d "Cine era bun pentru Televiziunea Romană era bun şi pentru Europa Liberă" (interview with Ioana Măgură-Bernard), Adevărul, 12 January 2001
  3. ^ Mircea Iorgulescu, "Război rece, jurnal cald (II)", Revista 22, 6 January 2003
  4. ^ a b c d (Romanian) Ioana Măgură Bernard, "Europa Liberă - dosar incomplet", Revista 22, 28 April 2003
  5. ^ Ion Mihai Pacepa, Red Horizons: Chronicles of a Communist Spy Chief, 1987, Regnery Publishing, p. 412-413. ISBN 0895267462

[edit] Further reading

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