This article explores some notable uses of psychological language in the Securitate archives. We examine Securitate files concerning Constantin Vaman, a suspected legionary subjected to surveillance work by the Securitate. This article seeks to show how Securitate activities, particularly the writing of informer notes and operatives’ reports, are the upshot of strategic use of morally implicative psychological language. Constantin Vaman’s Securitate files are used to explore two categories of psychological language: the language of mental states and the language of disposition and motive. We show that Securitate’s writing of informer notes and operatives’ reports were dependent on the strategic use of morally implicative psychological descriptions. We argue that close attention to the many facets of psychological language used in Securitate documents discussed in this article may enable researchers to understand more fully the complex nature and inner workings of surveillance work.
This short article discusses a series of Securitate documents which contain various inconsistencies, and which were written on or about the Romanian theologian Antonie Plamadeala. Examining these files, I attempt to reconstruct the case Securitate built against Plamadeala in the late 1940s, and point to errors and forgeries, which they may contain. Stated differently, I look at evidence, which may have been fabricated by Securitate in order to prove Plamadeala’s alleged ties to the Legionary Movement. I do this by first laying out the series of accusations the Romanian secret police brought against Plamadeala in 1949 and the way in which it constructed its evidence to support its case against him. I then offer a succinct analysis of ways in which one may derive truth from the plethora of information such files may bring to the attention of the modern investigator, truth which, as this article shows, is often juxtaposed with untruth in Securitate archival records
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