Translation from Romanian. The Romanian page is the original. Română →

Hofman Fund ยท Canalul-80

After the arrest — the West and the file

The protest outside and the paper inside ran in the same weeks. They are not the same thing. The house paid; Köln shouted; Service D wrote the line to follow.

The state wanted this line heard: the five are not held for their faith, but for breaking Romanian law. We have the order. We do not have, here, the telegram the heads of denominations were to send.

Two worlds, the same weeks

The West

  • Karlsruhe — the Bible depot, before the checkpoint.
  • Köln, 7 Feb. 1981 — ECCLESIA, Wilhelm Reumann, ~500 people across from the embassy.
  • Radio Free Europe — Emil Georgescu, a statement about the searches and the investigations.
  • More than 20 letters of protest to the embassy in the USA. Amnesty. Appeals to Carter, Reagan.
  • Bern, 3 Mar. 1981 — Foreign Ministry telegram, the Calciu case (the same channel; it does not name Father).

The file

  • 25 Nov. 1980 — the trial begins in Suceava. The Rădăuți assembly writes: he was honest.
  • 10 Jan. 1981 — Sentence no. 13. The family: 1 year 6 months. Appeal rejected 31 Jan., file 161/1981. The public study gives 4 years to one of the five, not to Hofman.
  • 29–30 Jan. — U.M. 0544 + Service D: disinformation, heads of denominations, HANGANU in Köln.
  • 3 Feb. 1981 – 5 Dec. 1985 — the BIBLIA action, opened against ECCLESIA.
  • Botoșani — the place of detention. The release paper is still missing here.

The thread after 31 October

17 Nov. 1980Receipt: I.T.T. cassette player + 25 tapes.
25 Nov.The assembly’s reference. The trial begins.
21 Jan. 1981Köln telegram, Reumann / ECCLESIA.
29–30 Jan.The order: not faith, but law. The day before the appeal.
31 Jan.Appeal rejected. File 161/1981.
3 Feb.BIBLIA opens. ECCLESIA = hostile.
7 Feb.The Köln assembly, at the embassy.
11 Sept. 1981After prison: an informer’s note (cover name), a Pentecostal pulpit.
5 Dec. 1985BIBLIA closes: “no longer of operative interest.”
8 Apr. 1987Still “the main author in the Canal 80 case.”
16 June 1988The family still checked for emigration. Favourable opinion.

The house that paid

In Rădăuți

Margareta; the grandparents Victoria and Serghie; the barn; the seven children. Search, statement, arrest. The complete files stay with the family, for now. That is the cost at home. It is not a rally.

Outside

Köln, radio, Amnesty. Used by the file as “anti-Romanian actions.” BIBLIA was opened to counter Canalul-80 along this line, not to record the Bibles.