In July 1944, the month before the Soviet occupation of Romania began, Herescu, together with his wife and daughter, took a plane out of Băneasa Airport; he would never see his homeland again. His first stop, in Nazi Germany, was at the bombed-out Stuttgart Airport, where all his luggage, including manuscripts and money, caught fire. Herescu then reached Lisbon, where he was hosted by Mircea Eliade. Unable to support himself, he intended to return home during the next few months. He repeatedly asked the university authorities and the Education Ministry to prolong his leave of absence, transfer his salary or give him an official duty. However, his name appeared on the first list of those excluded from the university in January 1945, and his letter that August, refuting accusations of pro-German sentiment point by point, was ignored. Meanwhile, its recent president, he had been expelled from the Writers' Society in September 1944. He taught at the University of Lisbon from 1947 to 1948, but his contract was not renewed. Subsequently, moving to Paris, he worked at the Romanian section of French Radio. He continued to publish in his field, but was unable to relaunch a university career. Inside Romania, his work was suppressed by the Communist regime due to his hostile attitude toward it, and only began to see republication after the 1989 Revolution.