Mihai Beniuc
Mihai Beniuc was a Romanian socialist realist poet, dramatist, and novelist.
Biography
He was born in 1907 in Sebiș, Arad County, the son of Athanasie and Vaseline Beniuc. He attended the Moise Nicoară High School in Arad, where he had Al. T. Stamatiad as literature teacher, and where he made his debut in the school's magazine, Laboremus. In 1931, he graduated from the University of Cluj, majoring in psychology, philosophy and sociology. He then enrolled as a masters student at the University of Hamburg, where he studied animal behaviour with Jakob Johann von Uexküll. His training was reflected in his writing, particularly in his novels. He joined the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Cluj, and moved to Sibiu after Northern Transylvania was annexed by Hungary in 1940, in the wake of the Second Vienna Award. During that time, he wrote several poetry volumes, Cântece noi, Orașul pierdut ), the latter one a poetic reverie after the city he had left, Cluj.At the end of World War II, Beniuc went to Moscow as cultural adviser, where he published in 1946 the volume Un om așteaptă răsăritul. After two years he returned to Romania and settled in Bucharest. His 1951 volume, Cântec pentru tovarășul Gheorghiu-Dej, had a great contribution to manufacturing a genuine cult of personality around Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, the leader of the Romanian Workers’ Party. Beniuc was the President of the Writers' Union of Romania and, from 1955, a titular member of the Romanian Academy. After 1965, he became a professor at the University of Bucharest.
He was awarded the Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic, and in 1978, the, 1st class. He died in 1988 in Bucharest, and is buried at the city's Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery.