1.
Socialist Republic of Romania
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The Socialist Republic of Romania refers to Romania under Marxist-Leninist one-party Communist rule that existed officially from 1947 to 1989. From 1947 to 1965, the state was known as the Romanian Peoples Republic, the country was a Soviet-aligned Eastern Bloc state with a dominant role for the Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its constitutions. As World War II ended, Romania, a former Axis member, was occupied by the Soviet Union, gradually, more members of the Communist Party and communist-aligned parties gained control of the administration and pre-war political leaders were steadily eliminated from political life. In December 1947, King Michael was induced to abdicate and the Peoples Republic of Romania was declared, at first, Romanias scarce post-war resources were drained by the SovRoms, new tax-exempt Soviet-Romanian companies that allowed the Soviet Union to control Romanias major sources of income. Another drain was the war reparations paid to the Soviet Union, in the 1950s, however, Romanias communist government began to assert more independence, inducing, for example, the withdrawal of all Soviet troops from Romania by 1958. In the 1960s and 1970s, Nicolae Ceaușescu became General Secretary of the Communist Party, Chairman of the State Council, Ceaușescus denunciation of the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and a brief relaxation in internal repression helped give him a positive image both at home and in the West. However, rapid growth fueled by foreign credits gradually gave way to an austerity. A large number of people were executed or died in custody during communist Romanias existence, while judicial executions between 1945 and 1964 numbered 137, deaths in custody are estimated in the tens or hundreds of thousands. Many more were imprisoned for political, economical or other reasons and suffered abuse, geographically, it bordered the Black Sea to the east, the Soviet Union to the north and east, Hungary to the north, Yugoslavia to the west and Bulgaria to the south. Romanian forces fought under Soviet command, driving through Northern Transylvania into Hungary proper and this changed in March 1945, when Dr. Petru Groza of the Ploughmens Front, a party closely associated with the Communists, became prime minister. His government was broad-based on paper, including members of most major parties except the Iron Guard. However, the Communists held the key ministries, and most of the ministers nominally representing non-Communist parties were, like Groza himself, despite the Kings disapproval, the first Groza government brought land reform and womens suffrage. However, it brought the beginnings of Soviet domination of Romania. In the elections of 19 November 1946, the Communist-led Bloc of Democratic Parties claimed 84% of the votes, a show trial of their leadership was then arranged, and they were put in jail. Other parties were forced to merge with the Communists, in 1946 and 1947, hundreds of participants in the pro-Axis government were executed as war criminals, primarily for their involvement in the Holocaust and for attacking the Soviet Union. Antonescu himself was executed 1 June 1946, by 1947, Romania remained the only monarchy in the Eastern Bloc. On 30 December that year, Michael was at his palace in Sinaia when Groza and they presented him with a pretyped instrument of abdication and demanded that he sign it. With pro-Communist troops surrounding his palace and his lines cut
2.
Romanian Communist Party
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The Romanian Communist Party was a communist party in Romania. Successor to the wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the interwar period, during the 1930s, most of its activists were imprisoned or took refuge in the Soviet Union, which led to the creation of separate and competing factions until the 1950s. The Communist Party emerged as an actor on the Romanian political scene in August 1944. With support from Soviet occupation forces, the PCR was able to force King Michael I into exile, from then until 1989, it was for all intents and purposes the only legally permitted party in the country. In 1947, the Communist Party absorbed much of the Social Democratic Party, in the early 1950s, the PCRs dominant wing around Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, with support from Joseph Stalin, defeated all the other factions and achieved full control over the party and country. After 1953, the Romanian Communists gradually theorized a national path to Communism, at the same time, however, the party did not join its Warsaw Pact brethren in de-Stalinization. The PCRs nationalist and national communist stance was continued under the leadership of Nicolae Ceaușescu, following an episode of liberalization in the late 1960s, Ceauşescu again adopted a hard line, and imposed the July Theses, consolidating virtually all power in his hands. Over the years, the PCR massively and artificially increased in size, from the 1960s onward, it had a reputation for being somewhat more independent of the Soviet Union than its brethren in the Warsaw Pact. However, at the time it became one of the most hardline parties in the Soviet bloc. It collapsed in 1989 in the wake of the Romanian Revolution, the PCR coordinated several organizations during its existence, including the Union of Communist Youth, and organized training for its cadres at the Ștefan Gheorghiu Academy. In addition to Scînteia, its platform and main newspaper between 1931 and 1989, the Communist Party issued several local and national publications at various points in its history. The party renamed itself the Socialist-Communist Party and, soon after, government crackdown and competition with other socialist groups brought a drastic reduction in its membership—from the ca. The early Communist Party had little influence in Romania, interwar Romania had a minority population of 30%, and it was largely from this section that the party drew its membership—a large percentage of it was Jews, Hungarians and Bulgarians. Actual or perceived ethnic discrimination against these minorities added to the appeal of revolutionary ideas in their midst, Constantin Argetoianu, the Minister of the Interior in the Alexandru Averescu, Take Ionescu, and Ion I. C. Consequently, he stated his belief that communism is over in Romania, the PCdR was thus unable to send representatives to the Comintern, and was virtually replaced abroad by a delegation of various activists who had fled to the Soviet Union at various intervals. In 1925, the question of Romanias borders as posed by the Comintern led to protests by Cristescu and, eventually, through regained Comintern control, the interior wing began organizing itself as a more efficient conspiratorial network. The Communists did, nevertheless, attempt to reach consensus with other groupings on several occasions, in 1934, Petre Constantinescu-Iași and other PCdR supporters created Amicii URSS, a pro-Soviet group reaching out to intellectuals, itself banned later in the same year
3.
Great National Assembly
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The Great National Assembly was the legislature of the Socialist Republic of Romania. After the overthrow of Communism in Romania in December 1989, the National Assembly was replaced by a parliament, made up of the Chamber of Deputies. The Great National Assembly was elected four years and each of its members represented 60,000 citizens. Like all other Communist legislatures, it was vested with great lawmaking powers. The MAN had the power to, among other things, amend the constitution and appoint, the resolutions required a simple majority to be passed through. The Assembly convened twice a year for ordinary sessions and for extraordinary sessions as many times as required by the State Council or by at least one third of the members of the Assembly and it elected its own chairmen and four deputies to preside each session. On paper, it was the highest level of power in Romania. In practice, like all other Communist legislatures, it did more than give legal sanction to decisions already made by the Romanian Communist Party. Formally, the MAN gained in power over time, the 1948 Constitution granted it just eight powers, the 1952 Constitution,10, the 1965 Constitution,24. Since no one could run for office without Front approval, the Front—and through it, when the Assembly was not in session, some of its powers were exercised by the State Council, such as setting guidelines for the law and supervising the local councils. It could also issue governmental regulations in lieu of law, if such regulation was not approved by the MAN at its next session, it was considered revoked. However, under the principles of democratic centralism, such approval was merely a formality, combined with the MANs infrequent sessions, this meant that State Council decisions de facto had the force of law. According to the results of the March 9,1980, election. Of them,98. 52% approved the Front list,1. 48% voted against and just 44 votes were declared invalid,192 seats of the Assembly were occupied by women and 47 seats belonged to national minorities. The numbering continues from the old Assembly of Deputies presidents
4.
Orthodox Church in Communist Romania
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The Orthodox Church in Communist Romania was the period in the history of the Romanian Orthodox Church that spanned between 1947 and 1989, the era in which Romania was a socialist state. Marxism-Leninism argued that religion was an instrument of exploitation and as such, it was to be desired to be discouraged, in Romania, under Patriarch Justinian, the Orthodox Church adjusted itself to support the new Communist governments social justice goals. The Orthodox Church did not protest or even acknowledge the existence of hundreds of thousands of Romanians in prisons and labour camps, despite the compliance with the government, the Church also undergone a purge when the Soviet troops retreated from Romania. During the Ceaușescu era, the priests of the Orthodox Church not only complied with the requests of the government, the church collaborated closely with the Communist authorities in exchange with allowing it to keep its properties and a privileged position among the religious organizations. Furthermore, the Church was vulnerable to blackmail because many Orthodox priests were members of the fascist organization Iron Guard, the Greek-Catholic Church was officially called anti-national and anti-historical in official propaganda, being considered a way of splitting the Romanian nation. The existence of the Greek Catholic church organization was ended on December 1,1948, the Orthodox congregations grew by hundreds of thousands of Greek Catholics who had been denied having their own places of worship. Justinian Marina was the Patriarch of Romania starting with 1948, about the time that the Communist Party consolidated its power in Romania and his collected work was published under the name Apostolat Social, in which he argued that socialism is an integral part of Christianity. The church assisted the government-led Romanian literacy campaign, reformed the monasteries so that the monks and nuns learn a useful trade, none of Justinians pronouncements mentioned the hundreds of thousands that were imprisoned for political reasons. For this reason, together with the collaboration with the government, many believers, particularly Greek Catholics, saw him as Communist stooge. By the 1960s, as Romania began developing contacts beyond the Eastern block, the Orthodox Church had previously supported nationalist positions before WWII, when Orthodoxy was linked to Fascist politics and antisemitism, as many priests join the fascist Iron Guard movement. A popular Orthodox author was theologian Nichifor Crainic advocated in his magazine Gândirea a nationalist, philosopher Nae Ionescu argued that being Romanian means being Orthodox and a similar position was advocated by the most important Romanian theologian of the 20th century, Dumitru Stăniloae. Teoctist Arăpașu became patriarch because of the support of the third patriarch, the communist government did not oppose him, as he was known to be obedient and accept compromises. He became known for his acceptance of Ceaușescus policies, including demolitions of churches in systematized areas and his lack of reaction in the demolitions of 22 churches in Bucharest was widely seen as a sign of collaboration with the regime. Teoctists public interventions included laudatory telegrams and speeches about Ceaușescus achievements, as the riots spread to Bucharest and Ceaușescu fled, Teoctist encouraged the believers to support the National Salvation Front and he called Ceaușescu a Herod of our times. On January 18,1990, Teoctist asked the believers and God to forgive him for lying under duress and he resigned, citing his health and age, the Synod accepting his resignation. Three months later, however, he returned to the Patriarchal Palace, Teoctist claimed that the telegrams were just a ritual that was imposed by the party and they did not reflect his beliefs. While it is known that many priests collaborated with Securitate, the secret police, unlike in other former communist countries, the Romanian government granted only limited access to the secret police files. Some Orthodox priests gave the information obtained from confessions to the political police
5.
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
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Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej was the communist leader of Romania from 1947 until his death in 1965. Gheorghe was the son of a worker from Bârlad, Tănase Gheorghiu. Poverty made him leave school early and start working at the age of 11, due to his age and lack of professional training, he often changed his job, eventually settling to be an electrician. Working at a factory in Comănești, he joined the union and participated in the 1920 Romanian general strike. A year later, he was hired as an electrician at the Galați tramway company and he was later hired by the Romanian Railways workshops in Galați. As the Great Depression began eroding the already low living standards of the workers, Gheorghiu-Dej began to be politically active. He was assigned to organize agitation in the Romanian Railways workshops in Moldavia, on August 15,1931, Gheorghiu was accused of communist agitation and punitively moved to Dej, a town in Transylvania, where he continued the union activity. The union presented a petition in February 1932 to the Romanian Railways, demanding better working conditions and higher wages. As a response, the Romanian Railways closed down the Dej and fired all the workers, including Gheorghiu and it was during this era that Gheorghiu got his Gheorghiu-Dej moniker by the Siguranța, who did it to differentiate him from the other union leaders called Gheorghiu. After his dismissal from the Railways workshop, Gheorghiu was very active in organizing the unions and coordinating the workers of Iași, Pașcani and Galați. On the night of 14/15 July 1932, he was arrested for placing subversive posters on the walls and poles of Giulești Road, being held in the Văcăreşti prison. Defended by lawyer Iosif Schraier, he was freed because the posters were related to the elections and he was freed as the charges were found to be false. In January 1933, the Romanian Government announced some even more stringent austerity measures which included new wage cuts and this led to the radicalization of the workers. Gheorghiu-Dej, together with union president Constantin Doncea, led the Bucharest workers to strike during what became known as the Grivița Strike of 1933, as the negotiations failed, the government feared a general strike, so it declared a state of siege in Bucharest and other cities. Gheorghiu-Dej was arrested during the night of February 14/15,1933, Gheorghiu-Dej was sentenced to prison in the same year by a military court, serving time in Doftana and other facilities. In 1936 he was elected to the partys Central Committee and became leader of the faction of the party. As a known activist, he was detained at Târgu Jiu camp during Ion Antonescus regime and most of World War II, liberated in August 1944. He became general secretary in 1944 after the Soviet occupation but did not consolidate his power until 1952 when he purged Ana Pauker, Pauker had been the unofficial leader of the Party since the end of the war
6.
Reeducation in Communist Romania
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The purpose of the process was the indoctrination of the hostile elements with the Marxist–Leninist ideology, that would lead to the failure of any active or passive resistance movement. Reeducation was either non-violent – e. g. via communist propaganda – or violent, as it was done in the Pitești and Gherla prisons. The theoretical foundation for the communist version of the process was provided by the principles defined by Anton Semioniovici Makarenko. Having as background no more than a teaching course, he serves from 1920 until 1932 as the leader of rogue delinquent children colonies. The principles used in the education of children were later enunciated in his works The Teaching Poem. Makarenkos teachings practically fit the communist ideology and they are based on the collective, as a social group, a central idea of the general soviet pedagogy, and not on the individual person. This goes in contrast with the capitalist pedagogy – the so-called bourgeois teachings – which focuses on the individual, the collective is seen as an organization with common ideological characteristics and leadership, which resembles that of the communist party. Yet the main idea consists in the distinction between education and reeducation. The explosion referenced by Makarenko takes part itself within the collective, the new born product of reeducation – not able to find any way out – seeks salvation by integration in the very same group that cornered him. Soon, there is no individual anymore, just the group and this educational principle will be the foundation of the Pitești reeducation process. Another important factor was the definition of morality itself, as enunciated by Lenin, any action that seeks the well-fair of the party is considered moral, while any action that harms it is immoral. As such, moral itself is a concept, it follows the needs of the group. A certain attitude shall be regarded as moral at a time, while immoral at another moment, in order to decide. In March 1949, the Operational Service is constituted, this being the first designation of the prison Security, on the initiative of Gheorghe Pintilie and its first commander was Iosif Nemeș. The Operational Service was subordinated to the Securitate, and not to the General Penitenciary Directorate, the GPD was handling the administrative responsibilities, under direct watch of the Securitate, while the OS was responsible with gathering intelligence from the political prisoners. The data were analyzed and the summary, together with the files, were handed over to the Securitate. After the installment of the communist regime, the system went through a transition period. Gradually, the Securitate harshened the conditions, as the mechanism has grown to become more solid
7.
Sighet Prison
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The Sighet prison, located in the town of Sighetu Marmaţiei, Maramureş county, Romania, was used by the communist regime to hold political prisoners. It is now the site of the Sighet Memorial Museum, part of the Memorial of the Victims of Communism, the prison in Sighetu Marmaţiei was built in 1897, when the area was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as a prison for criminal offenders. After 1945, at the end of World War II, the repatriation of Romanians who had been prisoners of war, in August 1948, once communist power had been consolidated in Romania, Sighet prison was reserved for political opponents of the regime. At first, it held a group of students, pupils, many of the surviving prisoners are still living in Sighet to this very day. The majority were over 60 years old, many important figures of inter-war Romania died in custody, including the leader of the National Peasants Party and former Prime Minister of Romania, Iuliu Maniu. Between 1950-1955, no death certificates were issued and the families of the deceased were not notified, constantin Argetoianu, former Prime Minister of Romania Ion Bălan, Greek-Catholic bishop of Lugoj Dinu Brătianu, politician and historian, committed suicide in prison in 1951 Gheorghe I
8.
Romanian Revolution
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The Romanian Revolution was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania in December 1989 and part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several countries. It was also the last removal of a Communist government in a Warsaw Pact country during the events of 1989, in response, Romanians sought revolution and a change in government in light of similar recent events in neighboring nations. Social and economic malaise had been present in socialist Romania for quite some time, the austerity measures were designed in part by Ceaușescu to repay foreign debts. Evading capture by hastily departing via helicopter effectively portrayed the couple as both fugitives and also acutely guilty of accused crimes. They were convicted on all charges, sentenced to death, and immediately executed on Christmas Day 1989, becoming the last persons condemned to death, present-day Romania has unfolded in the shadow of the Ceaușescus along with its communist past, and the tumultuous departure from it. The National Salvation Front quickly took power after Ceaușescu was toppled, promising free, since that point Romania has become far more integrated with the West than its former, albeit tepid, relations with Moscow. Romania became a member of NATO and the European Union in 2004 and 2007, democratic reforms have proven to be moderately successful, though issues with corruption remain. Economic reforms continue, with Romania still possessing, for example, in 1981 Ceaușescu began an austerity program designed to enable Romania to liquidate its entire national debt. To achieve this, many basic goods—including gas, heat and food—were rationed, the infant mortality rate also grew to be the highest in Europe. The secret police had become so omnipresent that it made Romania essentially a police state, free speech was limited and opinions that did not favor the Communist Party were forbidden. The large numbers of Securitate informers made organized dissent nearly impossible, the regime deliberately played on this sense that everyone was being watched to make it easier to bend the people to the Partys will. Even by Soviet-bloc standards, the Securitate was exceptionally brutal, Ceaușescu created a cult of personality, with weekly shows in stadiums or on streets in different cities dedicated to him, his wife and the Communist Party. These and similar projects drained the finances and aggravated the already dire economic situation. Thousands of Bucharest residents were evicted from their homes, which were demolished to make room for the huge structures. Conversely, while Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev spoke of reform, Ceaușescu maintained a political line. The austerity program started in 1981 and the widespread poverty it introduced made the Communist regime very unpopular, however, in months following the announcement austerity and a shortage of goods remained the same as before. It initially appeared that Ceaușescu would weather the wave of revolution sweeping across Eastern Europe and he was formally re-elected for another five-year term as General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party on 24 November at the partys XIV Congress. On the same day, Ceaușescus counterpart in Czechoslovakia, Miloš Jakeš, resigned along with the entire Communist leadership and they were released on 22 December 1989 at 14,00
9.
Romania
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Romania is a sovereign state located in Southeastern Europe. It borders the Black Sea, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia and it has an area of 238,391 square kilometres and a temperate-continental climate. With over 19 million inhabitants, the country is the member state of the European Union. Its capital and largest city, Bucharest, is the sixth-largest city in the EU, the River Danube, Europes second-longest river, rises in Germany and flows in a general southeast direction for 2,857 km, coursing through ten countries before emptying into Romanias Danube Delta. The Carpathian Mountains, which cross Romania from the north to the southwest are marked by one of their tallest peaks, Moldoveanu, modern Romania was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The new state, officially named Romania since 1866, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877, at the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the sovereign Kingdom of Romania. Romania lost several territories, of which Northern Transylvania was regained after the war, following the war, Romania became a socialist republic and member of the Warsaw Pact. After the 1989 Revolution, Romania began a transition back towards democracy and it has been a member of NATO since 2004, and part of the European Union since 2007. A strong majority of the population identify themselves as Eastern Orthodox Christians and are speakers of Romanian. The cultural history of Romania is often referred to when dealing with artists, musicians, inventors. For similar reasons, Romania has been the subject of notable tourist attractions, Romania derives from the Latin romanus, meaning citizen of Rome. The first known use of the appellation was attested in the 16th century by Italian humanists travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia, after the abolition of serfdom in 1746, the word rumân gradually fell out of use and the spelling stabilised to the form român. Tudor Vladimirescu, a leader of the early 19th century. The use of the name Romania to refer to the homeland of all Romanians—its modern-day meaning—was first documented in the early 19th century. The name has been officially in use since 11 December 1861, in English, the name of the country was formerly spelt Rumania or Roumania. Romania became the predominant spelling around 1975, Romania is also the official English-language spelling used by the Romanian government. The Neolithic-Age Cucuteni area in northeastern Romania was the region of the earliest European civilization. Evidence from this and other sites indicates that the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture extracted salt from salt-laden spring water through the process of briquetage
