Herta Muller: getting Marius Oprea out of the Institute for Investigations Communism Crimes and the Romanian Exile Memory's management means a battle won by the old regime

Literature Nobel prize award winner writer Herta Muller claims in an open letter addresses the naming of Marius Oprea as the head of the Institute for Investigations Communism Crimes and the Romanian Exile Memory (IICCMER).

„I can only consider his getting out of the Institute for Investigations Communism Crimes and the Romanian Exile Memory’s leadership a battle won by the strucrutes of the old regime. That is why I decided to support them publicly so that he could carry on, alongside its team, the action of discovering the crimes of communism. I address this appeal of supporting Marius Oprea to support his public institutional activity, to show what has happened with us, to recall the way we lived during these tragic and sad years, and so to be able to set ourselves free from the fear of the past”, the open letter reads.

„Years ago, I took part with Marius Oprea in a public reading session at the Literature House in Berlin. Each of us managed to attract the German public’s attention towards the plight the Romanian citizens were subjected to by the communist repression.

I know Marius Oprea as a writer, one of the young people of that generation of the 80s, as historian and through his actions against the remains of Romania’s totalitarian regime which, unfortunately, continues to have a great influence, as both he and I claim. The actions of the institution he runs are regarded with respect and even admiration by the German press”, Herta Muller writes.

Marius Oprea was elected in April 2006 the head of the Institute for Investigations Communism Crimes and the Romanian Exile Memory. He has not been reconfirmed in his role by PM Emil Boc, according to the law.