Sergiu Dan became a victim of antisemitic repression during the early stages of World War II, when authoritarian and fascist regimes took over ("see Romania during World War II"). Initially, he was expelled from the Writers' Society. In July 1940, writing for "Universul Literar", fascist author Ladmiss Andreescu proposed a boycott of Dan's work, and an overall ban on Jewish literature. Under the National Legionary State, some authors sympathetic to the ruling Iron Guard celebrated its enforcement of censorship as a revolution against modernist literature. In their magazine "Gândirea", Dan was referred to as an exponent of "Judaic morbidity". Dan escaped the Pogrom of January 1941, hidden and protected by his friend Vinea.