He had long since broken with the prevailing conception of art, Socialist Realism, and was being called "decadent", as Romanian art critics put it. … He received no more commissions and was subjected to stinging criticism by colleagues and critics. …
Yet there were redeeming circumstances. By the late 1960s the West had begun to be interested in Diet Sayler. Artists and journalists from the US and western Europe paid visits to him privately. For this reason he was subjected to permanent surveillance by neighbours and minions of the State Security. Sayler was invited for "talks" with gentlemen from the Securitate several times a month. …


Jan Andrew Nilsen
from "Statsfiender", Dissident Forlag
Oslo, 1997