Mihail Sebastian, a Romanian playwright and novelist whose work isn't well known in America, was born Joseph Hechter in the small town of Braila in 1907. He later moved to Bucharest where he became prominent during the '20s. Considering the career he'd chosen as a purveyor of boulevard comedies, it seemed a good idea to change his giveaway Jewish name; apparently, assimilating came easily to him in those high-flying days.

But things changed for him and everyone else, as detailed in the journals he kept from 1935 to 1944, which were only published in 1998 and translated into English in 2000: "'Go over to Catholicism! Convert as quickly as you can! The Pope will defend you!' For several days,[...]