Abstracts 2019-2001

 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute of the Study of Totalitarianism 

Volume XXVII, Number 104-105, 3-4/2019



EDITORIAL


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, LII. Looking back in anger……………………………………5

The following text is a protest sent to the Board of the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives regarding the public discussion that emerged after the declarations of two researchers of CNSAS questioning the responsibility of the penitentiary administration, and respectively the Communist authorities, in the horrid process of reeducation through torture. Radu Ciuceanu is an Honorable Member of the Romanian Academy, director of the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, former political prisoner, and a survivor of the reeducation process that took place during 1949-1952 in several Communist prisons in Romania.

Keywords: Romania, communism, penitentiary, reeducation, Radu Ciuceanu.



STUDIES


FLORIN ABRAHAM, The Trianon Treaty and revisionist political mythology. Traditional and recent approaches………………………………………………………………………………………………….9

The study aims to analyze the phenomenon of the Trianon Treaty (1920) from the perspective of its use as a subject of political mythology. The research is chronologically structured, the epistemic object being the identification of functions and the dynamics of the political myth. The main hypothesis of the author is that the revisionist mythology created around the Trianon Treaty had the essential function of preserving the social status quo in inter-war Hungary, respectively to offer an ideological legitimacy to an authoritarian government after 2010. In order to prove this hypothesis, the author first analyzes whether the conduct of the Paris Peace Conference justifies the accusation of "diktat", which is the basis of the political myth. Subsequently, the research presents the main elements of revisionist political mythology and how they were used by the Miklos Horthy regime. In the last part of the study, are presented the dynamics of revisionist mythology from the Cold War period to the time of the government of Viktor Orban. The conclusion of the research is that revisionist mythology has endangered peace and stability in Central Europe, has produced countless tragedies, so relationships based on realities, not ghosts are needed.

Keywords: Treaty of Trianon, revisionism, Romania, Hungary, historiography, ethnic minorities.


A.S. STEPANOV, The reaction of Soviet citizens to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the “Liberation campaign in Western Belarus and Ukraine” of 1939 according to the documents of the NKVD of the USSR……………………………………………………………………………………………………….40

Considered and analyzed the negative statements of the Soviet population of the second half of September 1939 to enter the Soviet troops in Eastern Poland on the materials of the Soviet special services. Such statements are one of the important documentary evidence reflecting the mood in Soviet society at the beginning of World War II.

Keywords: Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Western Belarus, Western Ukraine, Poland, NKVD, Liberation campaign, war, anti-Soviet, repression.


FLORI BĂLĂNESCU, The opponent Paul Goma – from the childhood traumas to the resentments of the young man, 1944-1956………………………………………………………………………………..53

Born in 1935 in Bessarabia, a province in the Kingdom of Romania situated on the left bank of the Prut river, Paul Goma faced the tragical historical experiences from his early years, during the Second World War. When he was 9 years old, he took refuge together with his parents in Romania. Being a true nonconformist, he was harassed by the Securitate since high school years. He was arrested during the Hungarian Uprising in 1956, when he was a student within the University of Bucharest. He went on trial and sentenced to 2 years in prison for „public agitation”. In 1958, he was released and placed under house arrest in Lătești village, in the Bărăgan Plain also known as „Romanian Siberia”.

Keywords: Bessarabian, anti-revolutionary, detention, opponent, refugee.


CONSTANTIN BUCHET, Justinian, the patriarch of Romanian Orthodox Church, and politics in Romania, 1945–1950. Ecclesiastical diplomacy and religious geopolitics................................................69

This study emphasizes the personality of Justinian Marina, the third patriarch of Romanian Orthodox Church, serving between 1948-1977, his relations with well-known democratic politicians, with representatives of political parties, and the dialogue between the Christian Churches during the first years of communist regime, when the atheist forces were stronger and the priests have seen their influence in society diminished.

Keywords: Romanian Orthodox Church, Patriarch, ecclesiastical diplomacy, Justinian Marina; communist regime.


GÁBOR CSIKÓS, Experiences of Communist Emancipation Projects in Two Hungarian Villages, 1945-1970…………………………………………………………………………………………………..77

Communist propaganda spread the image that the visibility of women in public marked a positive change. Sources show that some groups in Hungarian society experienced it differently. This study focuses on the smallholder women’s experiences and those issues that made the process of emancipation not so warmly accepted. The first was the traumatic encounter with the horrors of war that they associated with Russians and of course, Communism. Second, the land reform endangered their owner status and made them oppose to defend their family interests. Some years later the totalitarian state started to threaten their caregiver status within the family, too. Another disastrous event was the decade-long collectivization campaign that ended with the dissolution of traditional peasantry. Soon, traditional female roles were burdened by the expectations of the state while they were working in underpaid jobs in the agricultural sector. Many improvements of the socialist system – including maternal support, health care system or growing female presence in politics – are visible, but they are also dubious due to the aforementioned contradictions.

Keywords: History of Hungary, Collectivization, Microhistory, Modern History, Communism.


VASILE BUGA, The politics of pragmatism. Romania and CMEA during Ceauşescu’s regime, 1965-1989, I………………………………………………………………………………………………………92

During the ’60s the Romanian leadership opposed firmly to any forms of enhancing the collaboration within CMEA through economic integration and specialisation in production as it saw as a danger to national sovereignty. This position changed with the growing economic potential of the country. Especially in the ’80’s the growing need of raw materials and fuel to sustain an oversized industry determined the Romanian leadership to participate in a series of multilateral collaboration programmes within CMEA, the agreement to build joint ventures, and the establishment of direct links between the enterprises from CMEA countries. In the last years, Romanian leadership reviewed its position toward the restructuration of CMEA.

Keywords: Romania, CMEA, the Soviet Union, Ceaușescu, Brezhnev, Gorbachev, integration, cooperation, specialisation.


ARTYOM A. ULUNYAN, The “Romanian maverick” through the Dutch intelligence eyes (mid ’60s – early ’80s)………………………………………………………………………………………………….110

The author dwells on assessments and visions of Romania’s position within the Eastern Bloc made the Dutch intelligence organizations, mainly of the Domestic Security Service (BVD) and to a lesser extent of the Foreign Intelligence Service or the Intelligence Service for Abroad. The Netherlands as a consistent member of the Western Bloc played an important role in decision making process in the NATO and EEC structures. On the basis of the documents recently became available to researchers the article reveals a peculiar, not similar to other NATO intelligence organizations, approach of the Dutch services to Ceauşescu’s foreign policy when from the very beginning they considered his demonstrative opposition to the USSR and the Eastern Bloc as a desire to strengthen his personal position on the international scene without any attempts to break off relations with allies and to divorce with Communism.

Keywords: Cold War, Communist Bloc, Dutch intelligence, Domestic Security Service (Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst - BVD); Domestic Security Service (Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst - BVD); Intelligence Service for Abroad (Inlichtingendienst Buitenland - IDB), the Netherlands, Romania, USSR.


DANIEL FILIP, General’ Jaruzelski visit in Romania, 1982. Significance and outcomes....................127

The political crisis in Poland from 1980 to 1981 ended up with the introduction of martial law and Jaruzelski’s new regime. This political change in Warsaw put both countries closer and seemed to be leading them to a similarly political vision towards the Soviet bloc development, after a period of decline in their bilateral relations. Even though the general’s visit to Romania from June 1982 was researched by Adam Burakowski, our paper continues his work and investigates the Romanian archives to see its perspective about this event. That implies to analyze how the Romanian leadership perceived the visit and its outcome and then to compare with the Polish archives to create a thorough understanding of this subject. For doing that, I will use the Romanian diplomatic correspondence from Warsaw as well as the Romanian Communist Party archives and its official newspaper, The Sparkle – Scînteia.

Keywords: Cold War, Soviet bloc, Jaruzelski, Ceauşescu, martial law, economic crisis.


ELENA NEGRU, GHEORGHE NEGRU, Mikhail Gorbachev, Perestroika, and the Bessarabian Question, 1986-1989.................................................................................................................................................................................142

The present paper reveals the way in wich USSR propaganda campaigns, initiated in 1965, oriented against the ,,special cours” of Romania and the historiography, the ,,nationalist” intellectuals and the Moldavian SSR population, became, during M. Gorbachev’s  restructuration, a ,,life and death struggle” with the MSSR movement for democratisation and national emancipation. Realizing that the regime that gave it life was endangered, the CC of the CP of Moldavia tightened its rows in order to defend the soviet status quo, accepting only cosmetic, inessential modifications in the linguistic and cultural policy, in the relation with Romania. The representatives of the CC of the CPUS, delegated in 1988  and 1989 to Chişinău by the imperial center, even if they were more tolerant with the general political requests, had the same position as the leaders of CC of the PCM regarding the recognition of the identity of the language spoken in the MSSR and the Romania and the return to Romanian cultural values. In this sense, the loss of the ideological control over the masses and their rejection of the anti-Romanian moldavianism and of the Russian and Soviet imperial miths meant the irrevocable loss Bessarabia – what Moscow never wanted to accept.

Keywords: the Bessarabian Question, Moldavian SSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, Perestroika, Soviet-Romanian relation, Nicolae Ceauşescu.


NICOLETA ŞERBAN, A model of European mobilization: "Opération Villages Roumains" and Nicolae Ceauşescu's project of rural systematization (1988-1989)..........................................................162

Ceauşescu's project to demolish the Romanian villages provoked a massive movement of protest in the Western world, that started in Belgium. The westerners understood that behind the idea of "modernization" promoted by the regime, it was the attempt to create the new man without traditions and without memory. The objective was to adopt as many Romanian villages as possible. 

The results were amazing: the Belgian movement later expanded to the rest of Europe, so in December 1989, 2.000 western communes had adopted Romanian villages, which meant a population of 30 million Europeans involved. The movement remains unique in Europe, through the spontaneity with which it was launched, but also as a way of implementation and evolution. 

Keywords: Opération Villages Roumains, Belgium, Europe, Romania, villages, demolition, systematisation, protest.


ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, Some Questions on Romanian-Soviet Relations on the Eve of the Revolution of December 1989.....................................................................................................................181

Romania’s foreign policy in the last years of the Communist regime was characterized by improvisation, lack of vision and an unnecessary effort to safeguard the personal position of its leader, influenced by the international isolation in which it plunged. The Romanian-Soviet relation was rather not difficult, but it was dominated by disagreements between Nicolae Ceauşescu and Mikhail Gorbachev. The Romanian president showed signs of obvious lack of realism, while the Soviet leader publicly despise his counterpart’s methods.

Keywords: Cold War, Socialist camp, Romanian Revolution of December 1989, Nicolae Ceauşescu, Mikhail Gorbachev, Perestroika.


SILVIU MILOIU, „The Singing Revolution”: The formation of the counter-elites during the process of Estonia's separation from the USSR..........................................................................................................188

The formation and manifestation of counter-elites in totalitarian regimes emerged as a topic of scientific interest especially after the Second World War. Yet, the specificities of the formation of counter-elites in totalitarian states in conjunction with the decolonization processes, as they have manifested in the Baltic states or in the Republic of Moldova, have attracted comparatively less attention. This article aims to analyze the process of genesis of counter-elites and the transformations incurred within the elites in Soviet Estonia in the process of regaining the independence. The article relate to the Soviet elites with reformist views who designed „Economically Autonomous Estonia” and the counter-elites animated by the desire of national rebirth and total split from the Soviet past gathered around the Estonian Heritage Society, which represented two – of course, among the most important - of the numerous circles, groups, organizations that emerged in Estonia as a result of the new ideological thaw started by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Despite the differences between them, none of them adopted extreme political discourse and both maintained important dialogic availability.

Keywords: Estonia, USSR, counter-elites, elites, Singing Revolution, independence.


ADRIAN POP, The impact of the legitimacy crisis and the “Gorbachev  factor” upon the breakdown of the Soviet empire and the end of the Cold War…………………………………………………………..207

First, the article unpacks the components which, together, support the right to rule of the powers that be. It argues that political legitimacy comprises basically three elements: the self-legitimacy; the popular legitimacy; and the external legitimacy. Moreover, in the particular case of the Soviet Union, one can delineate two types of external legitimacy: and intra-systemic one, in relation to Socialist countries; and an extra-systemic one, in relation to Western countries. Second, the article discusses the impact of the successive phases of the Soviet regime from Lenin to Gorbachev and of major East European crises upon the crisis of the above-mentioned types of political legitimacy. Third, the article reviews Gorbachev’s major contributions to the geopolitical, socio-political and ideological changes which took place on the European continent throughout 1989-1991, including his metamorphosis from a reformer of the Soviet system into a systemic transformer of it, his abandonment of the “Brezhnev doctrine” accompanied by his non-intervention policy in East European political changes, his dual strategy of keeping momentum for the reformist forces while blocking the capacity to react of conservative forces, his unilateral disarmament measures, his connections and empathy with key Western European leaders and – last but not least – his rapprochement policy vis-à-vis the U.S., which reached its pinnacle at the Malta summit in early December 1989 and put to an end the Cold War.

Keywords: political legitimacy, legitimacy crisis, Gorbachev, East European revolutions, breakdown of the USSR, end of the Cold War.


DRAGOŞ PETRESCU, Romania, Thirty Years After: The Bloody Revolution of 1989 and the Refusal of the Populist Consensus..........................................................................................................................229

This paper has presented a general model to explain the political developments in ECE over the period 1989–2019, which focuses on path dependence, agency and contingency and explores the aggregation of structural, nation-specific and conjunctural factors. Such a model helps one explain the 1989 regime changes, the democratization processes during the first post-1989 decade and the gradual authoritarian backslidings which emerged after 2010 in Central Europe and influenced to different degrees all the countries in the region. The present paper has focused on the legacies of the 1989 regime changes in ECE, with a special emphasis on the Romanian case. The argument set forth has been that Romania did not experience authoritarian backsliding on the Central European model, as one could witness in Hungary and Poland in the post-2010 period and whose main feature has been identity politics.

Keywords: Romania, Revolution of 1989, communist legacy, populist consensus, East-Central Europe.


CRISTINA PETRESCU, The Totalitarian Origin of an Anti-Totalitarian Narrative. Past and Present Accounts on Communism in Romania.....................................................................................................252

This paper traces the origin of the post-communist historical accounts tackling the 1945–1968 period, which almost unanimously interpret this past as a clash between those in power and those who considered this power illegitimate. According to it, in communist Romania, there were only a handful of perpetrators from the secret police and a large majority of innocent victims, who tried to resist their reign of terror and repression. This paper argues that this mainstream interpretation emerged – paradoxically enough – from the post-1968 official accounts of the 1945–1968 period. It was Nicolae Ceaușescu’s belated de-Stalinization and his public condemnation of the crimes committed by the Securitate that generated an enduring discourse, which essentialized the role of the secret police in submitting the Romanian society to the communist rule, while by default absolving anyone else of responsibility. Ceaușescu’s indictment of the secret police, however, was built upon previous inquiries upon abuses committed against political prisoners, which – interestingly enough—his predecessor, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, ordered after Stalin’s death but never made public. These inquiries came out of the archives of the former secret police only after 1989 and their opening constituted a “revelation” for a new generation of professionals who lacked the personal experience of 1968, and turned such communist-produced documents into uncritically used sources for accounting terror and repression. The irony is that secret police documents suggest the communist regime maintained its power rather by attracting the collaboration of individuals who tried to integrate themselves into the new society. Such accounts that read differently the secret police documents and illustrate the multiplicity of responses to the communist dictatorship, which ranged from compliance to defiance, are yet very rare in the Romanian post-1989 historiography. 

Keywords: totalitarianism, terror, secret police, historiography, memory.


DOCUMENTS


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, The end of Pătrăşcanu’s case. Between domestic interests and Moscow’s „advice”, 1952-1954………………………………………………………………………………………………….272

This article presents the endeavours of the Romanian Workers’ Party leadership to get Moscow approval for closing down the Pătrăşcanu case. As early as November-December 1952 the first information about the imminence of concluding the investigation and the beginning of the trial had been sent to the Soviet representatives. The endeavours had been resumed in July 1953 a few months after Stalin’s death. The new Soviet leadership postponed to answer and asked for further details. In the end, on March 31, 1954, the Soviets agreed to proceed with the trial but left the sentencing to the Romanian leadership. However, the lack of Soviet implication was only apparent. The Soviets shared the conviction that Pătrăşcanu was guilty and knew he was to be sentenced to death. Under Moscow’s influence, Gheorghiu-Dej renounced to his initial intention to organize a wide publicized open trial. In the end, he agreed to a closed trial, following the model of Beria’s trial, in which the main defendants were executed immediately after it.

Keywords: Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu, Stalinist investigations, repression, Stalinist trials, Romanian-Soviet relations.


ANA-MARIA CĂTĂNUŞ, The Story of the recruitment by the C.I.A. of a Romanian diplomat in Washington: Mircea Răceanu, 1974-1975.................................................................................................296

On January 31, 1989, Mircea Răceanu deputy director a.i. of the America, Canada, Central and Latin America Section in the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was arrested by the Romanian Counterintelligence while he was heading to the American Embassy in Bucharest. In his possession, a secret document that was to be passed on to the CIA liaison officer was found. 

The criminal investigation revealed that Răceanu had been recruited by the CIA in 1974 while he worked for the Romanian embassy in Washington and from that moment on to his arrest he transmitted secret information to the American espionage service. 

In this study we are publishing the handwritten confessions of Mircea Răceanu given in the first days of the criminal investigation in which the Romanian diplomat presents a a chronological and thorough description of the process of his recruitment by the CIA. Moreover, Răceanu describes how he was instructed to pass on secret information during his mission in Washington and Bucharest, after he became deputy director a.i. of America, Canada, Central and Latin America Section in the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Keywords: Mircea Răceanu, CIA, Romania, the United States of America, espionage, diplomacy.


TESTIMONIES


PUICA BUHOCI, Pieces of the reeducation process: Testimonies and confessions…………………..325

The article consists of a series of testimonies that highlights the atrocities of the reeducation process that took place in Romanian Communist prisons and the role played by prisoners Radu Ciuceanu and Vintila Vais in making the Communist leaders acknowledge and stop the tortures. Puica Puhoci was a researcher at the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism during 2006-2009. She died on 22 June 2019 as a result of an incurable disease. The publishing of this set of testimonies stands as a tribute to her strains to bring to light the tragedy of reeducation. 

Keywords: Romania, Communist prisons, reeducation, torture, Radu Ciuceanu, Vintila Vais, testimonies.  



BIOGRAPHIES


COSMIN BUDEANCĂ, Iosif Capotă (1912-1958)……………………………………………………..338

This article is a short presentation of Iosif Capotă’s biography. He was born in January 24, 1912, in Mărgău (Cluj County). During the Interwar period he was an active member of the Romanian National Peasant Party. Once the Communist regime took over in Romania the authorities started to pursue him. He went into hiding between 1947 and 1957. Together with Doctor Alexandru Dejeu, he produced anticommunist manifestos that encouraged the population to resist the abuses provoked by the new regime. He was arrested in December 7, 1957, investigated, trialed and condemned to death. The sentence was carried out in Gherla Penitentiary, in September 2, 1958. Even if the group Capotă-Dejeu had a discreet, less provocative attitude, compared to other anticommunist groups active in that period, their actions were important as they kept the hope of change alive among the population.

Keywords: Iosif Capotă, Romanian anticommunist movement, repression, National Peasant Party.


MIHAI BURCEA, Mugur Călinescu (1965-1985)..................................................................................341

The article evokes the political actions against the Ceaușescu’s regim made by a teenager from a town from North Romania. In 1981, after hearing some radio station brodcasts of „Europa Liberă” radio, the young opposer (Mugur Călinescu) wrote anticomunist posts and slogans on the walls and fences of Botoșani, for a few months until he was captured by the officers from the local Securites. After he was arrested, Mugur Călinescu was investigated and then humiliated by the theachers of his high school and party representatives, in the front of his colegues. 

Keywords: Mugur Călinescu, Romania, anticommunist opposition, Securitate, repression.


OCTAVIANA JIANU, Constantin Noica (1909-1987)............................................................................344

This article proposes the brief reconstruction of the philosopher Constantin Noicaʼs biography. During the communist regime, his life was marked by two political events: establishment of compulsory residence in the provincial town Câmpulung-Muscel in 1949 and his arrest in december 1958. Actually, at the end of 1950s the communist judicial authorities consider the writers Constantin Noica and Constantin Pillat responsible for the subversive activities practiced by a group of 23 intellectuals, who remained in the history of communism in Romania under the name of the „Noica-Pillat batch”.

Keywords: Constantin Noica, Noica-Pillat batch, clandestine texts, the writings of Eliade and Cioran in Romania in the 1950s, persecution against intellectuals.


© Institutul Naţional pentru Studiul Totalitarismului, 2019.

 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute of the Study of Totalitarianism 

Volume XXVII, Number 102-103, 1-2/2019



EDITORIAL


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, LI. Browsing through history after 100 years…………………5

The article brings forward the portraits of two Romanians from the Austro-Hungarian Empire who fought for the unification of Transylvania with Romania. The first was a Romanian ethnic of the nobility, Ioan Mezei Câmpeanu, a judge at the High Court of Cassation and Justice in Budapest, an advocate of the Romanian cause and of all Romanians in the capital of Hungary. The second was Alexandru Vaida Voevod, a member of the Romanian National Party and a deputy in the Budapest Parliament where he red the the Romanians in Hungary and Transylvania’s declaration of independence on 18 October 1918.

Keywords: Ioan Mezei Câmpeanu, Alexandru Vaida Voevod, Transylvania, Romanian Nation, Austro-Hungarian Empire.


STUDIES


GHEORGHE COJOCARU, The SSR Bessarabia’ train government: a failed attempt to export the Bolshevik revolution, May 1919…………………………………………………………………………..10

The union of Bessarabia with Romania on March 1918 had not been acknowledged by the new Soviet power in Russia. At the beginning of 1919, the Bolshevik leadership started to plan the spreading of the revolution in Bessarabia and the inclusion, once again, of this territory within Russia. Following this plan, a shadow government of Bessarabia that travelled on an armoured train was to exert control of the province after the occupation of the Red Army. The projects failed in May-June 1919 at the backdrop of the defeat of the bolshevik army on the fronts of the civil war in Ukraine.

Keywords: Romania, Bessarabia, the Bolshevik revolution, Soviet Russia, Soviet Ukraine, Christian Rakovsky.


CONSTANTIN CORNEANU, Political and Diplomatic Efforts for the Defending of Greater Romania, 1918-1940, II...............................................................................................................................22

The system of the Versailles peace treaties and the international order set up by it provided Romania with the possibility of acknowledgment of the document of December 1, 1918 by the Chancelleries of the great power centres of the world, which made it impossible to abandon the system. However, there was a sum of secret information and political-economic analyses at the time that allowed the Romanian political and state people to consider a reversal of traditional alliances. Situated in a sensitive geopolitical area, Romania would face various dangers, ranging from Hungarian revisionism to the expansion of communism, as well as the southern neighbour's lusts. The politicians and military leaders in Bucharest remained tributaries to the obsolete principles in understanding the new movements in the international relations arena. Our geopolitical and geostrategic attitudes had implicitly involved us in the march of the great games and geopolitical changes of the mid-20th century and were, unfortunately, fatal in our becoming as a nation and in our desire of progress and modernity.

Keywords: Romania, Versailles Treaty, Adolf Hitler, Vyacheslav Molotov, Ion Antonescu, communism, revisionism.


FLORIAN TĂNĂSESCU, NICOLAE TĂNĂSESCU, Comintern - the spearhead of Soviet policy against Greater Romania, 1919-1943..........................................................................................................38

Since 1919, with the establishment of the Communist International based in Moscow, the relations between Romania and Russia, traditionally marked by territorial conflicts, know new and serious tensions. Both before the Great Union of the Romanians from 1918, and after its completion, “the problem  of Bessarabia” strained the relations between the two neighboring and non-neighboring states, with the difference that “before” the Romanian territory between Prut and Dniester was part of the Tzarist Empire from 1812, and" after "it was part of the Romanian unitary national state.

The Comintern and its structures, immediately after its establishment, are associated with the aggressive policy of the Bolshevik government of Soviet Russia against the Royal Romania, which is perpetuated until the self-dissolution of the Communist International in 1943. They knew different forms, intensities and effects, being influenced also by the context of the evolution of international relations. All these give the image of the dramatic situation of the Romanians threatened to be crushed by the new Russian empire, during a period under the recapture of the Europeans after the disaster produced by the first World War.

Keywords: The Comintern, Romanian Communist Party, Soviet Union, Greater Romania.


LUIZA REVYAKINA, The Comintern and Bulgaria, 1919-1943............................................................57

The article deals with the Comintern history and the activity of the Communist Party in Bulgaria, one of the most active communist parties within the Communist International. The article presents the activity of the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP) and the role of their leaders, V. Kolarov and G. Dimitrov within the Comintern. Moreover, the article presents the main moments of the cooperation between BCP and the Comintern during the 1920’, when the idea of the „global revolution” was still „vivid”. Recovering from the political blow received in 1923-1925, BCP gets involved in the fulfilling of the new tactics of the Comintern with the setting up of the Popular Front during the end 1920s and 1930s. Besides, the BCP had to adjust to the sudden changes in the Soviet foreign policy at the end of the 1930s and the beginning of the 1940s. After the German-Soviet war broke off, the BCP involved in the organization of the armed resistance in Bulgaria and the setting up of the Patriotic Front. The article examines also issues regarding the Bulgarian emigration within SSSR, including the repression against it during the Great Terror.

Keyword: Comintern, Bulgarian Communist Party, Bulgaria, the Soviet Union, G. Dimitrov, V. Kolarov.


ALEKSANDR SHUBIN, The turn of the Comintern to the strategy of the Popular Front in 1933-1935...............................................................................................................................................................75

The article analyzes the reasons and mechanism of the transition of the Communist international from the sectarian policy of the "third period" to the policy of the broad left coalition known as the "Popular front". After the VI Congress, the Comintern prescribed to the Communist parties the position of the extreme left opposition, which even to the neighbors on the political spectrum - Social-democrats are treated as accomplices of fascism. This policy allowed to accumulate the most radical masses, irreconcilable to the bourgeois system. However, after the victory of Nazism in Germany and the success of fascism and right-wing radicalism in other countries, this policy has become an anachronism. It was in conflict with the foreign policy of the USSR aimed at "collective security" and rapprochement with France against Germany. However, the policy of the broad left coalition carried with it the risks and costs that were discussed by the leadership of the Comintern in 1934, especially in connection with the events in France, where the FPC was entitled to a coalition experiment. Only in December 1934, in connection with the internal political situation in the USSR, it was decided to change the course of the Comintern, which in 1935 was fixed by its Congress.

Keywords: the Comintern, Stalin, Popular Front, Dimitrov, Thorez, the French Communist Party.


FLORIN-RĂZVAN MIHAI, The Ukrainian integral nationalism in Romania: ideology, organization and methods of propaganda, 1934-1938………………………………………………………………….90

Over the past decade, ultranationalist and far-right groups have proliferated and gained more and more followers in Ukraine, entering for the first time, in 2012, in the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian unicameral parliament, and in the government, in 2014. This phenomenon is no coincidence, given the internal troubles in the recent history of the neighbouring state and the well-known conflict with Russia, but the roots of Ukrainian nationalism are somewhat older and have a connection with Romania as well. We have thus chosen to study the past of the most important ultranationalist group of the period before the independence of Ukraine in 1991, namely the activity, organization, ideology and propaganda methods of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), set up in Poland in 1929, and its branch in Bukovina, Bessarabia and Maramureș.

Keywords: ultranationalist movement, far-right organization, Bukovina, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, Dontsovism, integral nationalism.


GHEORGHE ONIŞORU, Preludes to 23rd of August, 1944. The King, Iuliu Maniu, and the Communist Party.......................................................................................................................................111

Entering into World War II in an alliance with Hitler, Romania led by Marshall Ion Antonescu sought, at the end of 1943 and the beginning of 1944, the best ways to break free from the Third Reich. Our study follows the manner in which the coalition of the Opposition around Iuliu Maniu succeeded, the role played by the Communists and the decisive involvement of the King in the August 23rd coup, analyzing the political preliminaries of this major act of the contemporary history of Romania.

Keywords: WWII, Iuliu Maniu, Marshall Ion Antonescu, King Michael of Romania, armistice, political coup.


FLORIN ŞANDRU, Soldiers’ Testimonies about their participation in the coup of 23rd of August, 1944.............................................................................................................................................................131

At the end of 1950’s, in Communist Romania the signal was given for a historical reevaluation of the events of August 23rd, 1944, by pointing out the importance of the internal factor. In this context, in February 1960 written declarations were taken from army officers who had participated in the preparation and realisation of the act: Emilian Ionescu, Gheorghe Teodorescu, Dumitru Bâlă, Dumitru Rusu, and Dinu Cojocaru. Besides the subjectivism of the memorialists and some chronological discrepancies among their statements, we can also notice the use of the concept of coup d’etat for that moment, as well as the recognision of the role played by the King and by some superior officers in the evolution of events, alongside with the over-evaluation of the participation of the Romanian Communists.

Keywords: WWII, Romania, Marshall Ion Antonescu, King Michael of Romania, armistice, political coup.


ALEKSANDR STYKALIN, The Intervention of 5 countries – members of the Warsaw Treaty Organization in Czechoslovakia in August 1968 and the crisis in Soviet-Romanian relations..............139

The Ceauşescu regime in Romania, which sought to weaken Soviet influence in the country and deviated significantly in its foreign policy from the general line of the Soviet bloc, from the very beginning did not support Moscow's power pressure on the Czechoslovak reformers who initiated the Prague Spring. Ceauşescu and his team, who had no thought of making the «human face» of the Czechoslovakian or any other socialism, watched the events through the prism of their own national-communist doctrine. Thereby they viewed the Prague Spring only as a movement for the expansion of national sovereignty, and in Czechoslovak reform communists saw their potential allies in the struggle for Romania's full independence in the international arena, its liberation from the dominant Soviet influence. Sharply denouncing the intervention of August 21, 1968 in Czechoslovakia, the communist leadership of Romania did not exclude the military threat against its own country, adopting a whole range of defensive measures. Later, realizing that neither Tito's Yugoslavia, nor China, nor Western countries, will render Romania effective military assistance in case of an attack from outside, the Romanian leaders made efforts to renew a broad dialogue with the USSR.

Keywords: Prague Spring of 1968, intervention of 1968 in Czechoslovakia, Soviet bloc, Warsaw Pact, Soviet-Romanian relations.


SLAVOMÍR MICHÁLEK, August 68. The Invasion of Czechoslovakia and the United Nations Reaction…………………………………………………………………………………………………156

The story of Czechoslovakia in August 1968 can be seen from multiple perspectives, eventually from different points of view. There are quite a lot of other divisions and subgroups according to the primary division of this issue into the external and internal level. In this paper I am going to focus on the position and attitude of the United Nations towards the invasion of armed forces of five Warsaw Pact countries into Czechoslovakia. 

For almost twenty years Czechoslovakia had represented the model of exemplary satellite of the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, the reviving process in the society the primary goal of which was an effort to initiate new, more independent and more autonomous conditions in the society, faced the opposition from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Subsequently, this opposition led to the brutal armed attack at night from August 20 to 21, 1968.

Keywords: Czechoslovakia, August 1968, the Soviet Union, invasion, the United Nations.


DARIUSZ MAGIER, Training of local communist cadres in Poland in 1975-1990. An analysis based on the archives of the Bialskopodlaski province………………………………………………………..170

Participation in the ideological and political training of the communist party was one of the fundamental duties for its members and individual organizations. Its primary goal was to maintain the proper ideological level of members, create a scheme for promotion in the party’s hierarchy and indirectly, to gradually increase the party’s influence on society. A training system was permanent, applicable to everyone and perpetual in order to shape and consolidate a uniform communist mentality, along with faithfulness and dedication to the organization. It was not only a way to improve the qualifications necessary for party and bureaucratic work, but above all to maintain party activists in constant ideological readiness. The forms of communist training, which were conducted in voivodeship party structures in Poland in 1975-1990, such as candidates’s training, mass training, activists’ training along with the Evening Univeristy of Marxism-Leninism, circle training, lecturers’ training, prove that the communist party attached great significance to this aspect at that time.

Keywords: communism, cadres, education, party, Poland, propaganda, Polish United Workers’ Party, training.


DOCUMENTS


ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, A Succesful Business Model: The Romanian Communist Party as Capitalist Shareholder, March 1948.....................................................................................................181

Financing the Communist movement has always been a secretive operation. In countries where the Communist parties were legal, they gathered money from personal contributions of members, donations, commercial operation, and secret Komintern funds. In countries with no democracy or limited one, the underground Communist actions were financed through foreign conspirations and agents. This study presents an archival document, dated from March, 1948, describing the Romanian case of transition from a non-Communist regime to a full Communist one, in the late 1940s. Although the Romanian Communist Party already controlled the government, the party-state was not in place, so they could not use the public funding, as they did later. Instead, the Party gained access to managerial decision-making in private companies, factories, and bank, from which they extracted all profits.

Keywords: Romanian Communist Party, transition economy, socialization of property, political party finance, banking system.


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, The Pătrăşcanu Case and the late Stalinism's inquiries. A November 1952 key-document....................................................................................................................................................190

In autumn 1952, the inquiry in Pătrăşcanu case resumed at an accelerated pace. On November 7, 1952, the new chief investigator, Ioan Şoltuţiu, a lt.-col. from the Securitate, sent to the Minister of the Internal Affairs, Alexandru Drăgici, and to the RWP' leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej a report which extensively developed the theory of numerous connections that supported the treacherous activity of Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu: "the right deviators" (Ana Pauker, Teohari Georgescu), the chiefs of the former Intelligence Special Service (former Soviet agents!), departments' heads within the Securitate, agents of American and English intelligence services.

The author argues that the report was written under the direct coordination of Soviet main counsellor Aleksandr M. Sakharovski. He was inspired by the "Abakumov Affair" that took place in Moscow in the summer of 1951, the purges that followed within the Ministry of State Security of the Soviet Union, and other inquiries in Moscow during the time, especially the one that became known as the "doctors' plot".

Keywords: Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu, Romanian Communist Party, Stalinist inquiries, espionage, V.S. Abakumov, A.M. Sakharovski.


MIRCEA-DOREL SUCIU, "The French Connection" and the Beginnings of the Commercial Agency of the Romanian People's Republic in Frankfurt on Main.......................................................................221

Based on archive information (edited and partially unpublished), as well as oral testimonies obtained by the author from two of the former Romanian officials of the Romanian People's Republic Commercial Trade Agency (CTA - RPR), the study argues that CTA-RPR in Frankurt on Main began operating for years before the Romanian – West German intergovernmental Protocol (October 17,1963) on the establishment and operation of the Trade Agencies of each party on the basis of reciprocity in Romania and West Germany, respectively. In this context, the involvement of the „Sorice” Commercial Company - controlled by the Financial Department of the French Communist Party - is brought to attention in the establishment of the CTA - RPR in Frankfurt on Main.

Keywords: Romania, West Germany, Romanian-West-German economic relations in the 50's, Romanian Commercial Agency, Frankfurt on Main, "Sorice" Company.


LUCICA IORGA, „Our friendship is timeless and unbreakable”. The Soviet transcript of the talks between Emil Bodnăraș and Soviet leaders in Moscow on 10 May 1965.................................................239

Between 7th and 10th of May 1965, a Romanian delegation led by E. Bodnaras visited URSS. In Moscow, the Romanian delegation took part in the celebration of Victory Day in the Second World War. This visit has had a positive impact in softening the political tensions of the Romanian-Soviet relations. Relations between Romania and the USSR have steadily strained in previous years, so a new approach was needed. Discussion from 10th of May 1965 between M.A. Suslov, I.V. Andropov and E. Bodnăraş created the necessary conditions for resolution of the causes of past divergences. 

Keywords: Romanian-Soviet relations, Victory Day, Emil Bodnăraş, Mikhail Suslov, Iuri Andropov, political-economic issues, Sino-Soviet conflict.



BIOGRAPHIES


Florin Abraham, Ioana Berindei (1922-2008)………………………………………………………….255

The biography focuses on the repression of Ioana Berindei, along with his family. She was arrested in 1950, imprisoned in the Jilava, Mislea, Văcărești prisons. Ioana Berindei personal drama is special because she gave birth in prison. After release from detention, Ioana Berindei has found with difficulty a job, and surveillance of his family by the Securitate continued for many years.

Keywords: political prisoner; penitentiary system; intellectual elites; Jilava; Mislea; Văcărești.


Ciprian Bălăban, Eugen Bodor (1902-1983)…………………………………………………………….257

Eugen Bodor Pentecostal pastor was sentenced in 1961 to five years in prison after having been charged with mysticism and considered a social danger because he typed in 10 copies his composition called Bible Study on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Apart from the criminal charges and investigation, the Securitate accepts that in his writing Eugen Bodor fully respects the profession of faith of the Pentecostal church, which was officially recognized by the communist state. Among the reasons which weighed heavily in the conviction sentence was actually a lengthy conflict with Pastor George Bradin, which at that time was president of Pentecostal Church, few anticommunist articles written between the wars and the reputation of “exploiter” that he won after some timber business and various chemicals.

Keywords: Pentecostal church, mysticism, persecution, faith.


Andrea Dobeş, Ilie Lazăr (1895-1976)......................................................................................................260

Leader of  P.N.Ţ (National Peasant Party), president of Maramures county organization, Ilie Lazăr (1895-1976) was three times deputy of Maramureş. Considered, along with Iuliu Maniu and Ion Mihalache, one of the most charismatic and beloved leaders of P.N.Ţ, enjoying a great popularity in the village world, especially in Transilvania, he was identified by the communists as one of the main enemies who, like his party, had to be removed as soon as possible from the political life. Arrested in July 1947, sentenced to 12 years in prison, after the conviction has expired he has not been released, being administratively retained because it was considered that his release would jeopardize ,,the state security”. His attitude and behavior have determined Securitatea to begin his informative pursuit since he was in detention, action which continued even after its release, in May 1964. Until his death on November 1976, Ilie Lazăr has remained faithful to a political belief in whose name he faced the Stalinist dictatorship and for which he had to endure the torments of the communist prisons. Characterized by great optimism and a strong faith in God, Ilie Lazăr died peacefully because, as his daughter confessed, he was convinced that ,,the truth can not be defeated, anyway”.

Keywords: Ilie Lazăr, P.N.Ţ., communist detention, consistency, informative pursuit.


Abstract: Cristina Roman, Lothar Rădăceanu (1899-1955)..................................................................264

Born on May 19, 1899, Lothar Rădăceanu was a former activist of the socialist movement in Bucovina, of German origin. He has manifested himself in political life, both as a social-democratic leader and as a communist politician. It played an important role in provoking the split of the Social-Democratic Party on March 10, 1946, having a significant contribution to the creation of the Romanian Labor Party (PMR) following the unification realized on February 21-23, 1948 between the Social-Democratic Party and the Communist Party. In 1944-1952 he held several positions at the top of the Social-Democratic Party, and from 1948 he was part of the leadership of the Romanian Labor Party. After falling into disrepute in 1952, he lost all governmental functions and those at the PMR's leadership, continuing to maintain the status of member of the PMR and that of a deputy in the Grand National Assembly.

Keywords: Lothar Rădăceanu, a left-wing politician, socialism, the Social-Democratic Party, the Communist Party, the Single Labor Front, the Romanian Labor Party.


© Institutul Naţional pentru Studiul Totalitarismului, 2019.



 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute of the Study of Totalitarianism 

Volume XXVI, Number 100-101, 3-4/2018


EDITORIAL



RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, L. A Happy Ending: December 1, 1918....................................6

The article tackles the political and military context Romania was during the late years of World War I, which led to the unifying of all Romanian provinces. The second part of the article comprises of several portraits of Romanian politicians who made possible the founding of Greater Romania.

Keywords: World War I, 1918, Greater Romania, Bessarabia, Bukovina, Transylvania, Ionel Brătianu, Ioan Pelivan, Take Ionescu.



STUDIES


ANCA IRINA IONESCU, The Contribution of Tomáš G. Masaryk to the Founding of the Czechoslovak Republic, 1914-1918......................................................................................................................................12

The paper shows T.G. Masaryk's contribution to two major activities for the birth of the independent Czechoslovak Republic after WWI: setting up the Czechoslovak Legions in France (Nazdar), Italy and mainly Russia (Družina) and establishing diplomatic contacts at the highest level with the great power of the Entente, as well as with the US President Woodrow Wilson. A. Briand the French Prime Minister, Sir R. Cecil of Great Britain, the journalists Wickham Steed and Seton-Watson, the businessman Charles R. Crane are mentioned among Masaryk's contacts. 

Keywords: Tomáš G. Masaryk, Czechoslovak Legions, Bolsheviks, self-determination, awareness campaign, nation state, 1918.


CONSTANTIN BUCHET, Romanian Volunteers in the Great War: „The First Alba-Iulia”..............29

During 1914-1918, Transylvania, Banat and Bucovina had belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. From these provinces, nearly 500 000 soldiers were recruited by the Austro-Hungarian Army to fight mainly in Russia (Galicia) and Northern Italy against the blocus of Antanta. After post-neutrality of Romania (august 1916), many of the former Prisoners of War were enlisted as national volunteers on the side of Antanta’s coalition. The basic political act of the volunteers is the so-called Proclamation of Darnița (a former Russian champ of concentration in Ukraine), where the Romanian soldiers and officers emphasised their unionist feelings. For these reasons, Darnița was called the First Alba Iulia according to the spirit of Great National Assembly Declaration, on December 1, 1918.

Keywords: Romania, national unity, volunteers, the spirit of the trenches, unionist proclamation, 1918.


OLGA ZASLAVSKAYA, 1918 in the Fate of Eastern Europe’s “Lost Generation”: Austro-Hungarian Prisoners of War in Siberia and the Far East……………………………………………………………36

The article focuses on the events of 1918 in relation to release, repatriation and partial reintegration of the Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war through their involvement in the military and paramilitary activities during Civil War in Siberia and the Far East. Among them, there were representatives of the East European “lost generation” who had spent their young years in enduring battles of the First World War and misery of captivity.

Keywords: the First World War, Austro-Hungarian prisoners, captivity, Siberia, Russian Civil War.


MARCELA SĂLĂGEAN, From Greater Romania to Unified Romania. The Integration Process: Territories, Population, Infrastructure, Economy………………………………………………………..62

It is already known that, until the signing of the Peace Treaty, Greater Romania had become a physical reality, and one of the priorities faced by the authorities was the integration of the new territories. And the complexity of the problems to be solved was evident to all those involved in the process of integrating the united provinces. In that context, beginning with 1918, an intense legislative activity began, with reforms promulgated by the governments in Bucharest being extended automatically throughout Greater Romania, although the local realities of the united provinces had to be taken into account. Programs have been adopted which stipulated the need of a new constitution, administrative and legislative unification, economic stability, fundamental rights and freedoms for the citizens. The internal succes had to be defended also externally and the preservation of the state borders representing a priority of the entire Romanian political class.  

Keywords: Greater Romania, 1918, union, integration, reforms, modernization, legislation.


CONSTANTIN CORNEANU, Political and Diplomatic Efforts for the Defending of Greater Romania, 1918-1940, I..........................................................................................................................78

The system of the Versailles peace treaties and the international order set up by it provided Romania with the possibility of acknowledgment of the document of December 1, 1918 by the Chancelleries of the great power centres of the world, which made it impossible to abandon the system. However, there was a sum of secret information and political-economic analyses at the time that allowed the Romanian political and state people to consider a reversal of traditional alliances. Situated in a sensitive geopolitical area, Romania would face various dangers, ranging from Hungarian revisionism to the expansion of communism, as well as the southern neighbour's lusts. The politicians and military leaders in Bucharest remained tributaries to the obsolete principles in understanding the new movements in the international relations arena. Our geopolitical and geostrategic attitudes had implicitly involved us in the march of the great games and geopolitical changes of the mid-20th century and were, unfortunately, fatal in our becoming as a nation and in our desire of progress and modernity.

Keywords: Romania, Versailles Treaty, Adolf Hitler, Vyacheslav Molotov, communism, revisionism.


CONSTANTIN GEAMBAŞU, The Polish-Soviet War and Its Meanings in the Evolution of Interwar Poland............................................................................................................................................................90

The Polish-Bolshevik War of 1920 represents an important event in the context of establishing Poland’s borders after regaining independence at the end of the First World War. The article contains information on the causes that led to the outbreak of this war (the defense of the reborn Polish state against the Bolshevik Revolution as well as the establishment of the Eastern border), and on its consequences and meanings. The confrontation between Marshal J. Pilsudski’s socialist group and the nationalist group, represented by R. Dmowski, attests to the internal and international difficulties Poland faced after 1918. The re-establishment of the borders and the internal institutional system entailed the regulation of the relationship between the Polish and the national minorities on the territory of the former Polish Republic (Belarusians, Ukrainians, Jews, Lithuanians, Germans, etc.). The Polish-Bolshevik war brought to light once again the spirit of sacrifice, heroism and honor, the essential features of the Polish soul as manifested throughout history.

Keywords: Soviet-Polish War, Second Polish Republic, J. Pilsudski, minorities, Polish-Ucrainian Relations.

ELENA CAZACU, The evacuation of Bukovina in spring 1944: Operation 1111 B………………….98

The German offensive outbreak on the Eastern front in the summer of 1941 meant for Romania not only regaining the lost provinces on July 26, but also the end of its neutrality period. Thus, Marshal Antonescu’s decision to continue with the military campaigns beyond the Nistru river, along Germany’s side, led to major material and human loses for the country. Defeated at Stalingrad by the Soviets, Germany’s invincibility myth was demolished and for the first time the war was getting closer to the Romanian borders. As a result, Marshal Antonescu ordered the evacuation of Transnistria in July 1943. The further development of the war determined Antonescu, in November 1943, to include in the evacuation plan Bessarabia, Bukovina and northern Moldova. Coded under the name “Operation 1111” (1111 B for Bukovina), col. V. Mosiu was appointed with organising, coordinating and overseeing the preparations and execution of the evacuation plans. Given the decision to organise an evacuation for the targeted Romanian provinces, the present study aims to present the context that led to this order, different measures and instructions taken for operation 1111 B by “Mosiu’s group”.

Keywords: Operation 1111 B, evacuation plan of Bukovina, Romanian administration, instructions for evacuation.


KRZYSZTOF GAJEWSKI, A New Tradition. Construction of Cultural Identity of Farmers in „Regained Territories” of Poland after the World War II in the Light of Their Letters to Authorities………………………………………………………………………………………………..108

After the Second World War Poland became a scene of huge immigration movement. One of the biggest waves flooded so called “Regained Territories” consisting of Western and Northern part of current Poland. The point of interest of the paper is the construction of the cultural identity of population settling in villages. The source for the research conducted was provided by national archives and has the form of letters sent by rural settles to the state authorities. Therefore a bottom-up perspective has been applied. After the textual analysis of the sample of 16 letters ten dimensions of cultural identity had been discovered, such as nationality, language, institutional affiliation, geographical origins, confession, political engagement, financial status, professional skills, physical shape, and gender. Some of these dimensions mingle creating types of cultural identity such as Pole-catholic, Mother-Pole, or Polish soldiers. Their opponents, described with derogatory terms, are Hitlerites, Banderites, German mistress, or looters. The research shows a precious historical and scientific value of peasants’ letters, allowing to access to the information about a cultural self-identification of their authors.  

Keywords: cultural identity, immigration, multiculturalism, communism, Poland, Regained Territories.

CSIKÓS GÁBOR, Rumors for interpreting and foreseeing. Case study on a Hungarian micro region: Jászság, 1948-1955………………………………………………………………………………………123

The following study focuses rumors spreading in a Hungarian micro region, Jászság in the decade when dictatorship of the proletariat was built up.  It attempts to reveal both directions of rumors: the official that targeted people and the informal that served to interpret events like elections, centralization of the education, possible war scenarios and collectivization.  

Keywords: Hungary, Jászság, Local History, History of Communism, Social History, Mentalities, Rumors.


ROMINA SURUGIU, ADRIANA ŞTEFĂNEL, MĂDĂLINA BĂLĂŞESCU, ALEXANDRU MATEI, VYARA ANGELOVA, Cultural Core in Television Programming in Romania and Bulgaria, 1963-1983..............................................................................................................................................................134

The article aims to analyze the cultural presence of Western countries, especially the United States, France and the United Kingdom, in the television programs in Romania between 1963 and 1983, and to compare the results with those obtained from the similar analysis on television in Bulgaria. The research is conducted within the cultural history framework of 20th century, and uses as starting point the relation core – semiperiphery – periphery, outlined by the American sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein.

Keywords: television history, TV programs, world system analysis, Romania, Bulgaria.


FLORIAN TĂNĂSESCU, From social-democracy to communism. New accounts on Ștefan Voitec’s biography (1900-1984), I............................................................................................................................148

In the Romanian public space, after 1989, a lot of information and portraits of the former social-democratic leaders, made of the Soviet occupants and communists, members of the Communist Party, were circulated. Ştefan Voitec is one of those, whose study shows his biography, political and journalistic approaches in a different perspective. The author's storyline enters into the necessary and expected effort to rehabilitate this important political figure from the contemporary period of Romania's history.

Keywords: Romania, communism, journalism, social-democracy, sovietisation, Ștefan Voitec.


CRISTINA PETRESCU, DRAGOŞ PETRESCU, Nation, Nationalism and Nation-Building in Romania: The Union of 1918, National Identity and Legitimizing Discourses under Communism, 1945–1989………………………………………………………………………………………………………166

This study argues that the Union of Transylvania with the Kingdom of Romania in 1918 did not represent the final stage in the process of creating the Romanian nation. These authors contend that the Union of 1918 only accelerated a process of nation-building that entered its final stage under communist rule in the early 1980s. At the same time, the present study demonstrates that despite the fact that nation-building in Romania took longer than many scholars and laypeople are willing to accept, the process of creating the Romanian nation entered its final and irreversible stage in late communism. The national consciousness of Romanians and their emotional attachment to the present-day national territory were put to an extreme test immediately after 1989 when the “unrealized” Czechoslovak and Yugoslav nations split among ethnic lines, which was not the case of the Romanian nation.   

Keywords: post-1918 Romania, nation, nationalism, nation-building, national communism, organized solidarity, imagined community.


FLORIN ABRAHAM, The "Greater Romania" Project after 1989: nostalgia, realities, perspectives.................................................................................................................................................187

The study explores the issue of Romania's neighbourhood policy after the end of the Cold War, from the perspective of border security and state reunification projects. The study is structured in two parts. The first sub-theme of the first part is the relations between Romania and Hungary, being evaluated both the moments of collaboration and the tense ones. The second subchapter analyses the issue of the restoration of the Great Romania by uniting with the Republic of Moldova, highlighting the key elements in the bilateral relations. Finally, the third subchapter of the first part of the study makes a brief presentation of the relations between Romania and Ukraine in relation to the subject of Northern Bukovina and the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact. In the second part of the research is analysed the issue of the restoration of Great Romania from the perspective of the public opinion and of the political parties in Romania and the Republic of Moldova. At the end of the study are included some observations on the prospects for the restoration of Great Romania in the foreseeable future.

Keywords: Romania, Republic of Moldova, Hungary, Russian Federation, Treaty of Trianon, borders.



DOCUMENTS


VASILE BUGA, Did Romania have the initiative of establishing Comecon? An unpublished letter from December 1948...........................................................................................................................................210

This document recently uncovered in the archive of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party brings supplementary clarifications regarding Romania’s role in the establishment of the Comecon in January 1949. According to this document, Romania submitted the Soviet Union, on December 4 1948, the proposal of creating a permanent institution to coordinate the economic relations between the Soviet Union and the people’s democracies.

Keywords: Comecon, Romania, Soviet Union, people’s democracies, I.V. Stalin.


MIHAI BURCEA, Excerpts from the biography of a penitentiary commander: Nicolae Maromete, 1949-1955..................................................................................................................................................214

The article brings a document in the foreground signed by one of the cruel prison commanders in the 1950s. It's a memoir signed by Major Nicolae Maromete in which he exhibits disappointance with the „unjust” treatment he was subjected to by the military justice and control bodies of Ministry of Interior. The document we publish has a special importance since it presents for the first time the perspective of a commander of a political prisoners penitentiary.

Keywords: Romania, communism, repression, political prisoners, penitentiary.



TESTIMONIES


RADU CIUCEANU, Recourse to memory. How a political party was buried?......................................232

The article is a fragment from the forthcoming Memoirs of Radu Ciuceanu, a former political prisoner and vice-president of the National Liberal Party at the beginning of the 1990s. The author revisits the moment in 1992 when the National Liberal Party proposed King Michael I as their candidate in the presidential elections. The decision resulted into an electoral catastrophe for the National Liberal Party.

Keywords: Romania, National Liberal Party, King Michael I, presidential elections, 1992.



POINTS OF VIEW


PUICA BUHOCI, Fragmentary from the laboratories of the reeducation.............................................242

This paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the complex phenomenon of the reeducation in Communist prisons. The author gives several examples of political prisoners that underwent reeducation to prove that despite its magnitude reeducation was not irreversible.

Keywords: Romania, communism, repression, reeducation, Gheorghe Calciu-Dumitreasa.



BIOGRAPHIES


OCTAVIANA JIANU, Al.O. Teodoreanu (1894-1964)............................................................................246

This article shows the short biography of Al.O. Teodoreanu (Păstorel), an important writer of satirical epigrams, gastronome and enologist în the interwar period. After a collaboration of nearly three years with several propagandistic publications, Alexandru Teodoreanu was arrested in the autumn of 1959 within the Noica-Pillat batch, his main charge was the writing of anticommunist epigrams.

Keywords: Noica-Pillat batch, anticommunist epigrams, intellectuals in Communist Romania.


CORNELIU BELDIMAN, Vasile Zorzor (1890-1952)…………………………………………………250

General Vasile Zorzor remains in our memory as an outstanding figure of a Romanian career officer in the first half of the 20th century, being one of the interwar founders of Gendarmerie and a brilliant professor. He had been one of the war heroes and creators of the Greater Romania in 1918, on the battlefield. In May 1948, he was sued in the “Group of Witnesses” within the process of the National Peasant Party leaders at the Bucharest Military Tribunal and sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment for “conspiracy for rebellion”. He passed away in August 1952, in Făgăraş Penitentiary.

Keywords: Communist repression, Military education, Military Professional Section of the National Peasant Party, Romanian Gendarmerie, Vasile Zorzor, war heroes generals.


PUICA BUHOCI, Vintilă Vais (1921-1974).............................................................................................253

A sympathizer of the illegally RCP, Vintilă Vais was appointed a police inspector under the new political regime established in 1945. In 1948, he was removed from this position by the Securitate following different charges. In 1951 he was sentenced at 10 years in prison. He witnessed the horrors the political prisoners at Gherla penitentiary were subjected during the reeducation. After having long discussions with Radu Ciuceanu, a political prisoner at that time, he managed to send the superior party leadership a private message regarding the reeducation practices. That contributed decisively to the stopping of the reeducation.

Keywords: Romania, communism, repression, reeducation, political prisoners, Vintilă Vais.


© Institutul Naţional pentru Studiul Totalitarismului, 2018.


 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute of the Study of Totalitarianism 

Volume XXVI, Number 98-99, 1-2/2018



EDITORIAL


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XLIX. So we will remember... The Great Union of All Romanians!...................................................................................................................................................5

The article is dedicated to two anniversary moments that happily coincide in 2018. The first has to do with the anniversary of the centenary of the Great Union in 1918, when all  Romanian provinces – the Old Kingdom of Romania, Bessarabia, Bukovina, Transilvania – united into a one, national unitary state, Romania.

The second moment has to do with the anniversary of a quarter of a century of scientific activity of the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism of the Romanian Academy. During its existence, NIST has become a landmark in the area of scientific research on totalitarianism in Romania and abroad.

Keywords: World War I, 1918, Greater Romania, Bessarabia, Bukovina, Transylvania, National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism.


STUDIES


ACAD. FLORIN CONSTANTINIU, Christian Rakovski and the Theory of Bureaucratic Degeneration of Socialism in the USSR……………………………………………………………………………………9

The article consists of a conference delivered by Academician Florin Constantiniu on February 24, 2009, at the Center of Russian and Soviet Studies within the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism of the Romanian Academy. The main theme of the conference was the theory of bureaucratic degeneration of Socialism in the Soviet Union on which Rakovsky wrote in a letter addressed to another leader of the Trotskyist opposition, G.B. Valentinov. On this occasion, Florin Constantiniu discussed the origins of Rakosky’s theory, its main principles, the context in which it had been formulated and its validity not only for the Soviet Union but for the East European countries.

The article comprises also the lecturer’s answers to the questions from the audience at the end of the conference.

The text represents a genuine lesson on totalitarianism history as well as the author’s view on the developments in post-communist society.

Keywords: Christian Rakovsky, the Soviet Union, Trotsky, Stalin, Socialism bureaucratization, Romania.


ION CONSTANTIN, The Diplomatic Fight for the International Recognition of Greater Romania. The Problem of Bessarabia, 1918-1920……….…………………………………………………………..24

The creation of the unitary nation-state in 1918, by the union of Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transylvania with Romania, widened the perspectives for our country to engage in the international life as an independent and sovereign state. After a long and complicated procrastination, Bessarabia`s union with the Mother Country Romania was recognized de jure through the Treaty signed in Paris, on October 28, 1920, by Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan, on one side, and Romania, on the other. Recognizing Romania`s sovereignty over Bessarabia, the parties of the Treaty assumed the obligation to „assist Romania” in case Russians would attempt to reannex Bessarabia. Although the Treaty does not bear the signature of the U.S.A., this country accepted de facto and de jure the historic right of Romania upon Bessarabia, on July 1, 1933. Moscow stubbornly refused to accept the union, although the right of the Romanian people upon Bessarabian territory and the integrity of the frontiers was implicitly acknowledged by the Soviet Union through the recurrent juridical and diplomatic acts. 

Keywords: diplomatic fight, international recognition, Greater Romania, Bessarabia, the historic right of the Romanian people.


IOAN SCURTU, The First “Totalitarian One-Party” in Romania’s History - The Party of the Nation, 1940…………………………………………………………………………………………..……………47

On February 10, 1938, King Charles II staged a coup d’etat that ended the democratic regime in Romania. In March, all political parties had been suppressed and in December 1938 the Front of National Renaissance was established as the one and only political organization in the state. Against the backdrop of Nazi Germany’s international expansion that culminated with the occupation of France, King Charles II tried to adjust Romania’s domestic and foreign policy to the new realities by aligning it to Berlin and the adoption of totalitarian type political organization. Consequently, the Front of National Renaissance was transformed into a totalitarian one-party under the name of the Party of the Nation that was to be led directly by the king.

Keywords: Romania, King Charles II, Front of National Renaissance, Party of the Nation, totalitarianism.


LILIA CRUDU, The fate of Bessarabian Statesmen after 1940……………..…………………………54

In this paper, the author presents the fates of the Bessarabian politicians that were arrested in Bessarabia after June 28, 1940. At the same time, the article shows that the arrests of the remarkable statesmen from Bessarabia continued after August 23, 1944, at this time in Romania. Together with the outstanding representatives of the Romanian political elite, high officials of the interwar period from Bessarabia were reckoned among the „class enemy” and arrested. They were all blamed for the „betrayal of the Soviet motherland” and for the „voting for unification with Romania”. Many of the arrested were of old age and had health problems. Consequently,  some of them died on their way to prison or during the imprisonment. Those who survived prison remained under the strict surveillance of the secret police up to their final days.

Keywords: Bessarabian statesmen, NKVD, refugees, political repression, the secret police.


MIHAI BURCEA, Romanian Antifascists in the French Resistance, 1939-1944, II..............................76

After the end of the Spanish Civil War and Germany’s invasion of the USSR, some of the Romanian volunteers in the International Brigades located in France joined the French Resistance and pursued its main goal: liberating the country from Nazi occupation. This study proposes an analysis of the biographical trajectories of Romanian ex-Spain fighters and the violent and non-violent action paths they finally took and followed.

Keywords: French Resistance, International Brigades, Romanian partisans, communism, German occupation of France, aggression.


GHEORGHE ONIŞORU, A controversial decision: Constantin Argetoianu’s return to Romania, November 1946……………………………………………………………………………………………100

Constantin Argetoianu was one of the most famous political man in Romania, perhaps the best to illustrating the term political opportunism. With a special experience, he also became president of the Council of Ministers, being a close friend of King Carol II. After leaving the country in May 1944, he would surprise everyone in November 1946, at a time when the political horizon was closing down to experience the latest political formula, the National Union: Work and Reconstruction. This study aims to identify the mobile of this action, for which he paid with his own life.

Keywords: authoritarian regime, Romania, Constantin Argetoianu, National Union: Work and Reconstruction, people’s democracy.


LEONID GHIBIANSKI, “… The meeting is convened at the request of the governments of the USSR and Romania”. How the COMECON was created..................................................................................109

In this essay, a history of the COMECON establishment is traced on the basis of a considerable range of documents of the Soviet and Easteuropean communist regimes, including those from their former archives. The author is studying an organization machinery of the COMECON making, with an analysis of the USSR and the so-called People’s Democracies interaction and role of each of them in this process. The much attention is given to clearing up and comparison of real and declarative the COMECON nature and purposes.

Keywords: COMECON, Romania, Soviet Union, I.V. Stalin, Eastern Europe.


DARIUSZ JAROSZ, Old Age and the Evolution of the Social Security System in Rural Poland in the 20th Century………………………………………………………………………………………………133

The evolution of the “survival strategy” of old people in rural Poland in XXth century ran from life care contracts guaranteed by the family, to retirement pensions guaranteed by the state, with small participation of social organisations. The end of World War II and the assumption of power by Polish Communists did not in itself signify a telling transformation in providing old age social security in rural Poland. One of the most important changes which was made in the social security system in the 1960s and 1970s. The Acts of 1962 and 1968 created conditions for receiving pension-superannuation benefits in exchange for signing over land to the state. The Act of 1977 which also brought in the possibility of passing farms on to their heirs – it increased the number of those availing themselves of these possibilities. Letters addressed to the Letters’ Office of Polish Radio and Television testify to the fact that the basic problem in complaints of old people remained the lack of their own means of subsistence. However, insofar as earlier the anti-hero in most of the letters from the countryside were ungrateful, even evil, children, then at the end of the 1970s it was the incompetent and sluggish state office.

Keywords: Communist regimes, old age, social security, retirement pensions, life care contracts.


ADRIAN CONSTANTIN ROTAR, The Suppression of the Rural Social Elite. Dekulakization of the Villages in the Suceava Region, 1949-1962……………………………………………………………147

The communist regime had two main objectives in the rural area: the creation of new collectivist structures and „inciting class struggle”. The two objectives were deeply connected because the establishing of collectivist structures depended upon intense ideological propaganda. According to the communists, class struggle was permanent and the conflict would eventually end with the victory of the exploited over the exploiters. A similar process was implemented in the case of Romanian villages. Wealthy peasants, designated in Communist propaganda as chiaburi (the kulaks) - represented the main obstacle in creating socialism. This study analyzes the methods and means used by the communist authorities to eliminate the most important landowners.

Keywords: Collectivization, kulaks, exploitation, class struggle, deportations.


ALEKSANDR STYKALIN, The Trial of Imre Nagy in the context of the relations between the Soviet Union, Hungary and Yugoslavia, 1958......................................................................................................161

János Kádár did not take the opportunity to hold trial of Imre Nagy in early 1958 without making death sentences, but chose to postpone this trial for another term, waiting for a new anti-Yugoslav campaign in Moscow's politics. Having shown extreme rigidity in the case of Imre Nagy (in general, not peculiar to this pragmatic politician), Kádár finally disarmed his critics on the left, supporters of the complete restoration of that system, which was decisively rejected by the Hungarian people in October 1956. Nevertheless Imre Nagy Trial created new problems for Hungarian-Yugoslav relations, which, however, were successfully overcome in the following years.

Keywords: János Kádár, Imre Nagy Trial, Hungary, Yugoslavia, the Soviet-Yugoslavian relations.


ARTYOM A. ULUNYAN, Secret but Obvious. Soviet-Romanian and Romanian-CMEA relations in the CIA economic intelligence analysis,  the early 60s – mid-70s…………………………………………..177

The article analyses the evolution of the CIA economic intelligence assessments on Romania’s relation with the USSR and the CMEA since the early 60s till mid-70s. As the newly revealed CIA documents state the process has passed through three main stage. Until the late 60s the intelligence analysts have had some hopes about Romania’s progress in achieving more independence from the USSR and the CMEA in her economic development. At the very end of the 60s and early 70s, they already noted Ceausescu’s inability to succumb directly to the Soviet and the CMEA plans due to economic difficulties. In the early 70s the CIA analysts came to the conclusion that Bucharest doomed to manoeuvre in economic and political field in order to get benefits both from the East and the West. 

Keywords: Ceauşescu, CIA, CMEA, Cold War, Comecon, economic intelligence, Romania, USA, USSR.


KARINA PAULINA MARCZUK, A Century of Cooperation: Polish-Romanian bilateral relations, 1918-2018...................................................................................................................................................196

Overall, relations between Poland and Romania can be divided into three main stages: the interwar period between the end of World War I and the outbreak of World War II; from the end of World War II to the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the bipolar world order; and from that point to the present. This paper comprises three parts, each devoted to one of the phases listed above. I argue that Polish-Romanian cooperation has been primarily restricted to the economic sphere, with cultural and political relations following. It is significant that during the period analysed the two states have concluded numerous bilateral agreements, treaties and conventions, of which many are still in force. Examining them reveals what areas of bilateral relations have been predominant, and it is on such primary sources that the research presented here is based.

Keywords: anniversary, cooperation, Poland, Romania, treaty.



DOCUMENTS


CRISTINA DIAC, Romanian Communists in the Comintern Archive: Elena Filipovici, the Death of a professional revolutionary, 1934-1937, II………………………………………………………………199

Starting from Elena Filipovici’s case, this article explores the history of the Communist Party of Romania in the 30’s, emphasising especially the period between 1934 and 1937. It refers to how the popular front strategy influenced the C.P.o.R.’s leadership and the Romanian political colony in Moscow. It also tries to explain how the political networks functioned during the Great Terror, and how the personal and professional interfered.

Elena Filipovici, a Romanian professional revolutionary, was subject to an inquiry which leaded to the activist’s death in December 1937. This article concentrates on Filipovici’s reactions prior to her arrest and imprisonment.

Keywords: Great Purges, Moscow Show Trials, rehabilitation, Romanian political emigration, Elena Filipovici.


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, The Death of Stalin, the release of Ana Pauker and an enigmatic talk on 8 April 1953..............................................................................................................................................................225

Ana Pauker was arrested on 18 February 1950, at a time when the antizionist campaign was at its climax in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Soon after the death of Stalin she was released and moved to a conspirative house of the Communist Party. The circumstances of her release still remain unclear. The author of this article argues that Ana Pauker was released, but under strict surveillance, on 15 March 1953 and examines the possible reasons that led to this decision.

The article also reproduces a transcript of Ana Pauker’s conversation with two leaders of the Communist Party, on 8 April 1953, that was recorded by the Securitate. During this conversation, Ana Pauker makes important revelations on the accusations she faced during her arrest and explains why she believed Emil Bodnăraş was the real traitor within Romanian Workers Party’s leadership.

Keywords: Ana Pauker, I.V. Stalin, Romanian Workers Party, anti-Sionism, Emil Bodnăraş, stalinist investigation.


VASILE BUGA, Between ideology and reality. A Soviet Embassy in Bucharest assessment on the situation in Romania, June 1989……………………………………….………………………………..244

This article brings to attention a document drafted by two diplomats of the Soviet Embassy in Bucharest, which contains a synthetic analysis on how Romania reacted on the middle of 1989 to the reevaluation by Gorbachev of the core concepts of Socialism. The specificities of the Romanian domestic policy and how this differentiated her from its Communist allies are emphasized. The authors of the document conclude that a profound reform in Romania would not be possible unless Ceauşescu’s removal from power.

Keywords: Communism, Romania, Nicolae Ceauşescu, Mikhail Gorbachev, perestroika.



BIOGRAPHIES


FLORI BĂLĂNESCU, Neculai (Nicolae) Popa (n. 21 iunie 1931)…………………………………..256

Neculai Popa show thought for anticommunist movement since he was a teenager when he embarked to reach the West. Staying in Viena, he arrives at the American training centre in Salzburg. In March 1951, after a brief training, he returns in Romania on purpose to obtain information that will seek to destabilize the Communist regime in Bucharest. He was arrested on a train when crossing the Romanian border. He was 19 years old. After a rough inquiry, he was convicted of high treason and sentenced to 25 years of prison and hard labour. He was released in 1964, following a pardon decree targeting political prisoners. After constant harassment by the Securitate, in 1979, in order to protect his family, Neculai Popa had decided to leave the country and settle in the USA.

Keywords: anticommunism, detention, exile, Securitate.


CORNELIU BELDIMAN, Gabriel Negrei (1872 – 1951)……………………………………………..259

With solid studies graduated in Romania and abroad (France), and a brilliant military career the Brigadier General Gabriel Negrei was one of the elite members of the Royal Romanian Army whose ranks he achieved from second lieutenant to general and former President in charge of Military Professional Section of the National Peasant Party. In May 1948, he was sued in the “Group of Witnesses” within the process of the National Peasant Party leaders at the Bucharest Military Tribunal and sentenced to seven years of rigorous detention for “conspiracy for rebellion”. He died at the Aiud Penitentiary. 

Keywords: anti-aircraft artillery, Communist repression, Gabriel Negrei, Military Professional Section of the National Peasant Party, Romanian Royal Army, war heroes generals.


MIHAI BURCEA, Josefina Nicolschi (1910-1992)…………………………………………………….261

The article discusses the presence of female officers in the Ministry of Internal Affairs during the 50s and the 60s, with a focus on the former Militia Lieutenant-Colonel Josefina Nicolschi’s biography and career. She was one of the very few women who had been active in the superior officers’ corps of the institution; moreover, she had held several top positions within the General Directorate of the Militia. In those days, the schools for military officers did not ensure programs for the military and professional training of female recruits, which led to a slim representation of women at the top of the ministry. This article is both a reassessment of gender-biased communist policies and a biographical monograph.    

Keywords: Repression, Cadres, Militia, Officers, Communism, Josefina Nicolschi.


OCTAVIANA JIANU, Marietta Sadova (1897-1981)…………………………………………………..265 

This article presents the biography of Marietta Sadova, a notable figure in Romanian theatrical scene and an important cultural personality of the interwar period. In this work, we look at the special relationship established between this artist and the communist regime in the 1950s. In 1956, the Romanian authorities sent Marietta Sadova to Paris with a particular mission: to win the sympathy of some valuable Romanian writers settled there for the Romanian democratic-popular regime. On her return, Sadova brought some writings of these authors, forbidden in the country, which she distributed in her entourage. Three years later, the artist got arrested for spreading clandestine texts and she was included by the communist authorities in the Noica-Pillat batch, judged and sentenced in 1960. 

Keywords: Noica-Pillat batch, prohibited literature, intellectuals, Romanian democratic-popular regime, communism.


© Institutul Naţional pentru Studiul Totalitarismului, 2018.




 





Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute of the Study of Totalitarianism 

Volume XXV, Number 96-97, 3-4/2017


EDITORIAL



RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XLVIII. Justinian Marina, a Romanian Thomas Becket...........5

This article is a eulogy of Justinian Marina, the first patriarch of the Communist Romania. Owing to his close relationship with the Romanian Workers’ Party leader, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, Justinian Marina was appointed Patriarch and proved to be a relentless defender of the Romanian Orthodox Church during the hardest communist years. For his conduct, historian Radu Ciuceanu compares him to England’s Thomas Becket.

Keywords: Romania, communism, Patriarch Justinian, Romanian Orthodox Church, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej.



STUDIES



MIHAI BURCEA, Former International Brigades fighters in the French Resistance: The Romanian Contingent, 1939-1944, I..............................................................................................................................12

After the end of the Spanish Civil War and Germany’s invasion of the USSR, some of the Romanian volunteers in the International Brigades located in France joined the French Resistance and pursued its main goal: liberating the country from Nazi occupation. This study proposes an analysis of the biographical trajectories of Romanian ex-Spain fighters and the violent and non-violent action paths they finally took and followed. 

Keywords: French Resistance, International Brigades, Romanian partisans, communism, German occupation, aggression.



IULIAN WARTER, LIVIU WARTER, Uncovering the socio-economic issues beyond the Anti-Jewish Legislation in Romania: In the shadow of the swastika, 1933-1944.........................................................48


There is an extensive academic literature on the origins, reasons, nature, and impact of the Holocaust. A large part of this work focuses on issues such as how societies, and individuals that lived through it have dealt with this sad experience or what lessons have been drawn from the Holocaust. The socio-economic issues are discussed in the Holocaust literature in few works referring to aspects of Anti-Jewish Legislation. 

The aim of this paper is to assess what the Holocaust and the loss of Jews meant for a country with a previous rich Jewish economic and cultural life, from a socio-economic point of view. This paper examines the effects caused by the expropriation of Jewish assets, and dismissal or deportation of many skilled workers in Romania.

Keywords: Anti-Jewish Legislation, Romania, Nazi Germany, economy, World War II.



DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, The Case of Vasile Luca, the Samoilov Espionage Network and the State of Romanian Communists in SSSR, II: 1945-1954.........................................................................................................57

The second part of this study follows the events during 1945-1954. As it was argued by the Securitate, the subversive relation between Vasile Luca and the Soviet colonel Samuil Samoilov carried on after the end of the war and proved beneficial for the World Zionist Organization. The Securitate accusations talked about the support Luca and Samoilov gave to Jew emigration to Palestine and, their connections to persons or Zionist organizations. Furthermore, Samoilov, Luca’s wife, Betty, and other members of the group were Jews.

Although the Securitate dropped the espionage charges against Luca in 1954, following Stalin’s death, this article argues the Vasile Luca was indeed involved in espionage activity but not against the Soviet Union, instead of its behalf.

Keywords: Vasile Luca, Samuil I. Samoilov, Communist Party of Romania, espionage, Soviet Union, World War II, anti-Zionism.



ALBINA F. NOSKOVA, Political Power and the Roman Catholic Church in Poland, 1944-1956, II....................................................................................................................................................................69

This article is based on documents of Russian archives and considers the history of relationship between the Soviet type regime and the Roman Catholic Church in Poland during the 1940’s and 1950’s. The article explores particular actions of authorities that were aimed at excluding of the Church from political and educational spheres of life; temporary retreat of the Episcopate for the sake of maintenance the connections between Church and believing people. Special attention is given to the influence of Church on evolution and development of sociopolitical crisis and the victory of reformers in 1956. 

Keywords: Poland, Political Power, Communism, Roman Catholic Church, Stalinism, Crisis of 1956.



ANNA GLADYSHEVA, Khruschev’s economic reforms in the aftermath of the CPSU XXth Congress, 1956-1964......................................................................................................................................................93

Following Joseph Stalin’s, the new Soviet leadership came to the conclusion that there is a need to relax the regime. The changes concerned, among others, the internal economic system and the external economic policy of the Soviet Union. Their depth was highly influenced by the XX-th Congress of the CPSU. Khrushchev’s reforms brought new momentum to the strengthening of Soviet Union’s relations with COMECON countries, but because they were not sufficiently well prepared, they caused conflicts inside COMECON. As a result, the hasty reforms became one of the reasons for Khrushchev to be dismissed.    

Keywords: Soviet Union, economic reforms, XX-th Congress, CPSU, Romania, COMECON.



ALINA ILINCA, LIVIU MARIUS BEJENARU, Exiles, Dissidents, Defectors. The Securitate Repressive Regime’s actions in external Romania, 1957-1989…………………………………………106

State terrorism is one of the oldest methods of governance. It has been used by authoritarian and totalitarian states, as a means and purpose to discipline and subdue its own citizens. Our study aims to present using terrorist means by the Securitate against the Romanian exile (criminal attempts on Paul Goma, Virgil Tănase, Emil Georgescu, etc.) and to analyze other actions which doubts persist about the implication of communist regime.

Keywords: communism, Securitate, terrorist state, exile, Radio Free Europe.



CRISTINA PETRESCU, The Goma Movement, Forty Years After: Controversies, Amnesia and (Mis)Canonization.....................................................................................................................................130

The communist period in Romania suffers from an endemic shortage of respectable heroes. Consequently, most historical reconstructions take the so-called Goma Movement of 1977 not only for a surrogate which fills this vacancy, but also for a human-rights-oriented protest which rallied a wide popular support against Ceaușescu’s dictatorship. The very name under which this collective protest is canonized, however, hints at the intrinsic connection with the personality of its most known proponent, writer Paul Goma. Unlike the movement he initiated under communism, Goma has turned in post-communism from a hero into a controversial character. Based on secret police files, this study dissociates dissident Goma from the Goma Movement and revisits both considering Romania’s current societal priorities in the process of democratic consolidation. As far as Paul Goma is concerned, the study illustrates that he was one of Romania’s longest-active cultural and political opponents of the communist regime. Taking into account that Romania still needs to distance itself from the legacies of its non-democratic past, his systematic endeavours at preserving the independence of thinking and action, while the dictatorship was heavily curtailing it and most individuals complied with these severe limitations, are definitely worth remembering. On the contrary, the Goma Movement in which he was a prime mover, this study argues, contrary to common knowledge, was hardly a human-rights oriented protest, which deserves to be canonized as one of the most significant anti-communist revolts with wide popular support. Most of its proponents did not seek the improvement of human rights observance in Romania, but the opportunity to leave this country for good. In other words, this collective protest illustrates that the Romanians’ disagreement with the communist regime manifested itself primarily not by civic engagement, but by emigration, and thus it barely represents a usable past in the process of democratic consolidation. 

Keywords: communist regimes, human rights, dissent, emigration, secret police, memory.



STEFANO BOTTONI, Between External Constraint and Internal Crackdown: Romania’s Non-Reaction to Soviet Perestroika.................................................................................................................152

This article analyzes the reaction of Nicolae Ceaușescu’s regime to the Soviet claim for an internal reform of the communist system. On the basis on a wide range of new archival evidence, I argue that it was firstly the debt crise arisen in the early 1980s to push the Romanian communist regime toward self-isolation, after its vaunted independence from Moscow had been jeopardized by the Western-imposed fiscal consolidation. In the meanwhile, Western countries began to show greater interest for the poor human rights record of the Ceaușescu regime. This multiple legitimacy crisis helps explain why the Ceaușescu regime reacted negatively after 1985 to the Mikhail Gorbachev’s plans to reframe existing socialism. As I am in going to analyze in the second part of the chapter, the Romanian leader looked with suspicion to what he perceived as an entangled (Western and Eastern) threat to his rule. It was not an ideologic committment, but rather the fear of being overthrown by a Soviet-led conspiracy to make him so vocally unreceptive of perestroika. 

Keywords: Romania, Ceauşescu, IMF, perestroika, intelligence, Gorbachev.



FLORIN ABRAHAM, Justice system in communist Romania: between political control and autonomy, II................................................................................................................................................................172

The study aims to explore the complex issue of justice in communist Romania. The research provides detailed information on the organization of the institutions that are part of the justice system. The issue of financing the justice system and its staff is being analyzed. In the last part of the research the author analyzes the power relations within the justice system (judges – prosecutors – Securitate officers - lawyers). The main conclusion of the study is that the justice system was organized and functioned as a totalitarian bureaucracy. It has functioned as a structure to support the political regime, being the main instrument for giving a seeming legitimacy and legality to a dictatorial system.

Keywords: the justice system, judges, prosecutors, lawyers, the Securitate.



EWELINA DRZEWIECKA, The Bulgarian Utopia: About Saints Cyril and Methodius during the Communist Period………………………………………………………………………………………197

The paper raises the question of the functionalization of the figures of Slavic Saints Cyril and Methodius in the terms of the Communist regime in Bulgaria (1944-1989). The special focus is given to the Bulgarian scientific jubilee publications, particularly representative for the period. The aim is to reconstruct the official discourse on the Slavic Enlighteners in connection to the vision of the future (communist) society in the context of the history of ideas. The paper traces both historical and semantic actualizations of their sacred mission. The thesis is that this narrative is the Bulgarian utopia as such, both functionally and structurally, as it shows the Bulgarian way towards the Modernity through the ideas of (the Bulgarian) Revolution, Education and Culture. Utopia seems to be not only a hermeneutical category which helps in rethinking the communist functionalization, but also an unique narrative which becomes the Bulgarian project itself.

Keywords: utopia, Bulgaria, jubilee collections, Cyrillo-Methodian tradition, Communism, basic concepts, Reinhart Koselleck.



PAWEŁ UKIELSKI, Settling Accounts with the Communist Past in Poland…………………..……207

The paper describes Polish experience with overcoming the communist past and its legacy. It deals with legal and social aspects of the lustration and decommunisation as well as attempts to punish communist perpetrators. Collective memory and remembrance as well as changes in symbolic sphere in the public space are also discussed. Finally, the abovementioned problems are placed in the international context, specifically in the Central European arena.

Keywords: communist legacy, remembrance, lustration, decommunisation, communist crimes, policy of remembrance, post-communist Poland.



CRISTINA DIAC, Romanian Communists in the Comintern Archive: Elena Filipovici, the Death of a professional revolutionary, 1934-1937…………………………………………………………………219

Starting from Elena Filipovici’s case, this article explores the history of the Communist Party of Romania in the 30’s, emphasising especially the period between 1934 and 1938. It refers to how the popular front strategy influenced the C.P.o.R.’s leadership and the Romanian political colony in Moscow. It also tries to explain how the political networks functioned during the Great Terror, and how the personal and professional interfered.

Elena Filipovici, a Romanian professional revolutionary, was subject to an inquiry which leaded to the activist’s death in December 1937. This article concentrates on how this person reacted prior to her arrest and imprisonment.

Keywords: Great Purges, Moscow Show Trials, „social-fascism“, Marcel Pauker, Al. Daneliuk-Ștefanski, Grivița strike from 1933.



ANA-MARIA CĂTĂNUŞ, Nicolae Ceauşescu and Futures Studies in Romania, II: Alvin Toffler in Bucharest, 1976......................................................................................................................................240

In the first half of the 1970’s Romania was still interesting to the scholars and authors in future studies. Romania’s opening toward the West and the privileged relationship with the United States brought to Bucharest important personalities, such as Alvin Toffler. His bestseller Future Shock was translated into Romanian in 1974 and enjoyed a large audience. Toffler visited Romania during 17-21 May 1976, as part of an Eastern European tour which also included Poland and the Soviet Union. During his stay, delivered several conferences, visited a factory and met the Romanian Communist leader. We publish the minutes of the discussion between the American futurologist and Nicolae Ceauşescu. During the meeting that lasted two and a half hours, the two discussed problems related to industrial development, the impact of new technologies and the challenges of future society.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, future studies, forecasting, Alvin Toffler, Nicolae Ceauşescu, „Future Shock”.



VASILE BUGA, Romania seen from Moscow: Soviet documents drafted in March 1989...................253


The document we publish was drafted by the researchers of the Institute of Socialist Economy of the USSR’ Academy of Sciences and contains a critic analysis of the political and economic crisis in Romania and of the Romanian-Soviet relations in spring 1989. The document addressed to the highest political Soviet leaders was thoroughly documented and revealed the state of profound crisis in Romania, the errors in Ceauşescu’s economic policy and the dramatic drop in living standards of the population. Several possible scenarios of Romania’s evolution in the first part of the 1990’s and the development of political and economic bilateral relations were envisaged. In the draft of the Russian researchers, there were several unusual recommendations, such as the appeal to isolate the Romanian leader, which proved that Ceauşescu had lost the support of Moscow.

Keywords: N. Ceauşescu, Soviet-Romanian Relations, perestroika, foreign debt, personality cult, 1989.



TESTIMONIES



FLORIN-RĂZVAN MIHAI, The Nuclear Programme. The Unfulfilled Dream of Nicolae Ceauşescu..................................................................................................................................................266

During Ceausescu regime, Romania intensified its efforts in the nuclear research field. The first part of this article presents some important moments from the development of Romanian nuclear program: the establishment of the State’s Committee for Nuclear Energy, the Romanian-Canadian and Romanian-American negotiations for buying the nuclear technology and devices. The last part presents the memoirs of Cornel Mihulecea, the president of State’s Committee for Nuclear Energy (1976-1990), related to his activity.

Keywords: nuclear research, the State’s Committee for Nuclear Energy, CANDU nuclear reactor, Romanian-Canadian negotiations.



BIOGRAPHIES



FLORI BĂLĂNESCU, Emil Căpraru (b. 1923)......................................................................................279

The Romanian pediatrician Emil Căpraru had been sentenced by the communist regime to 20 years of forced labor and 8 years loss of civil rights on the grounds of „machination against the social order”. In fact, as a medical student, and then as a lecturer and doctor, he helped many students and doctors persecuted by the Securitate. He spent 6 years in prison (1958-1964), being released under the terms of Decree 411 of June 24, 1964.

Keywords: fighting (for normality), re-education, resistance (to communisation).



OCTAVIANA JIANU, Vladimir Streinu (1902-1970)..............................................................................284

This paper is dedicated to the figure of the literary critic Vladimir Streinu. The article aims to describe some general aspects regarding the condition of the writers’s elite in communist Romania. Vladimir Streinu, a famous journalist and aesthetician of the 1930’s and 1940’s, began to be marginalized from 1947 due to his past and his democratic views. In the autumn of 1959, this critic was arrested and imprisoned in the Jilava Penitentiary, together with Noica-Pillat batch, because he had listened to imperialist radio stations, read banned texts and commented hostilely, together with his accomplices, the “achievements of the Romanian popular-democratic regime”. He was recruited by the Secutitate durind his detention, being asked to cooperate with this repressive institution after his release. 

Keywords: political prisoners, political police, leterature prohibited, elite writers, political processes of  the intellectuals in the 1950s.


ANTOANETA OLTEANU, V.M. Molotov - a First Rank Bolshevik...................................................288

The paper aims to present the personality of an important icon of Soviet Union, V.M. Molotov, Old Bolshevik, Leading figure of Soviet Government and, of course, the Soviet negociator with Hitler. The interviews Molotov gave to Feliks Chuev show a different perspective not only on that important figure, but also on political environment during the Soviet Era, on Stalin and Party Nomenclature. Molotov presents himself as a determined person, devoted to his beloved cause, devoted to Lenin and Stalin policy and way they showed to the Soviet people. From the very beginning he shows himself a trusted party member, with strong beliefs and convictions, with no regrets about the severe decisions they made during the Soviet reign.

Keywords: Molotov, Old Bolshevik, Soviet Leader, the Ribbentropp-Molotov pact.


© Institutul Naţional pentru Studiul Totalitarismului, 2017.


 





Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute of the Study of Totalitarianism 

Volume XXV, Number 94-95, 1-2/2017


EDITORIAL


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XLVII. The victors’ train. The Bucharest Northern Railway Station. Thalassa!....................................................................................................................………………5


The article presents the story of the returning from prison of former zek Radu Ciuceanu in September 1963. Having been released from Gherla penitentiary after 15 years in prison Radu Ciuceanu recounts the adventures of the road back home and the shock of re-entering social life.

Keywords: Radu Ciuceanu, political prisoner, Romania, communism.



STUDIES


GHEORGHE COJOCARU, A Comintern Ideologic and Identity Diversion: the invention of „the Moldovan language”, 1924-1925..................................................................................................................11


In 1924, on the left bank of the Dniester the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was established as part of Soviet Ukraine.  Soon after, the problem of national and linguistic identity of the new state was raised. In April 1925, the Executive Committee of the Comintern sanctioned the Ukrainian and Russian communists views regarding the existence of a Moldovan language different from Romanian and of a Moldovan people different from Romanians. Further on, territorial claims could have been raised to the Romanian state, with the intent of annexation of Bessarabia and even all of Moldova to the Soviet Union.

Keywords: Bessarabia, Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Comintern, Moldovan language.



FLORIN-RĂZVAN MIHAI, Communists and Socialists in the General Elections of Interwar Romania (1926-1933). A Comparative Analysis, II.....................................................................................................20


This study analyzes the electoral competition between the Romanian Left political movements – the social-democrats and the communists – during the interwar period. Using a large amount of statistical data, collected for the general elections which took place from 1926 until 1933, the author presents the influence of these two parties in different provinces, their electoral strategies, the electoral dynamics of candidacies, the socio-professional profile of candidates. 

Keywords: Romanian Political Left, social-democracy, communist movement, The Workers-Peasants Bloc, general elections, Parliament, politicians, candidacy, electoral dynamics.



DIEGO GASPAR CELAYA, JULIÁN CASANOVA RUIZ, Exclusion and repression. Franco and the Spanish Dictatorship as Outcomes of the Civil War……………………………………………………..30


This article explores the main outcomes of the Spanish Civil War, emphasizing the repression policies unleashed by the nationalist faction at the end of the war. The authors analyse the dynamic of repression, and how the international events, esspecialy the Second World War, influenced it. The legal system established at the end of the Civil War, the architecture of the Spanish repressive system, the mechanism of the legal denounciations are in depth analysed. The article also refferes to the victors and vanquished as social groups, how these groups emerged, how they behaved in the aftermath of the war, who benefited from Franco’s victory and who lost the most from it.

Keywords: Spanish Civil War, Francisco Franco, Fascism, Francoism, repression, repressive legislation, Spanish republican exile, French internment camps.



DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, The Case of Vasile Luca, the Samoilov Espionage Network and the State of Romanian Communists in USSR, I: 1940-1944.....................................................................................49


A prominent leader of the Romanian Workers’ Party, Vasile Luca was arrested on 14 August 1952 as being a part of the “right deviation”. Starting 1953, the Securitate investigation aimed at exposing Luca and other Romanian Communists’ alleged espionage activity on the Soviet soil during the Second World War.

A creation of the Romanian SSI, the espionage network was allegedly run by the Soviet Colonel Samuil I. Samoilov, a jew born in Bessarabia and a former member of the Communist Party in Romania.

The declarations Vasile Luca gave while under investigation are valuable historical sources on the subversive activities of the Romanian Communists stationed in the Soviet Union during the Second World War, their relations to the NKVD, the Red Army and Comintern.

Keywords: Vasile Luca, Samuil I. Samoilov, Communist Party of Romania, espionage, Soviet Union, World War II, anti-Zionism.



NICOLAE FUŞTEI, The situation of the Orthodox Church from the Moldavian SSR in 1940-1941....67


In the present study, based on the archival documents, it is reflected the status of the Orthodox Church in Moldavian SSR during 1940-1941. After the occupation of Bessarabia by the USSR in June 1940, here it is organized a fierce anti-religious struggle by different ways: ideological, administrative, economic, insulting the religious feeling of believers, and the systematic terror. To achieve struggle with religion, the crucial decisions were taken by the top party organs including decision of the Bureau of Central Committee of the Communist Party of MSSR from March 7, 1941. As a result of the anti-religious policy the number of the ministering priests decreased from 1042 to 376, the number of the churches decreased from 943 to 340 only over a year.

Keywords: The Orthodox Church, antireligious terror, Soviet occupation, Moldavian SSR.



ALBINA F. NOSKOVA, Political Power and the Roman Catholic Church in Poland, 1944-1956, I.....74


This article is based on documents of Russian archives and considers the history of relationship between the Soviet type regime and the Roman Catholic Church in Poland during the 1940’s and 1950’s. The article explores particular actions of authorities that were aimed at excluding of the Church from political and educational spheres of life; temporary retreat of the Episcopate for the sake of maintenance the connections between Church and believing people. Special attention is given to the influence of Church on evolution and development of sociopolitical crisis and the victory of reformers in 1956. 

Keywords: Poland, Political Power, Communism, Roman Catholic Church, Stalinism, Crisis of 1956.



BRÎNDUŞA COSTACHE, Post-War World II Monetary Reforms in Romania in the Context of Romanian-Soviet Relations, 1947-1952……………………………………………………………………86


This study aims to provide details of the two monetary reforms which took place in 1947 and 1952 as part of the changes in the Romanian economy in the aftermath of World War II, given the context of Romanian-Soviet relations.

The two monetary reforms are described as stages in the process of replacing the checks and balances that ensured monetary equilibrium in the capitalist economy with similar tools serving the purposes of the Soviet-type centrally-planned economy. We focus on the role played by the team of Soviet advisors led by I.D. Zlobin in the preparation of the two monetary reforms, as well as on the position adopted by the senior officials of the National Bank of Romania, the NBR Governor Mr Aurel Vijoli in particular, towards the enforcement of Soviet principles with regard to monetary circulation in Romania.

The conclusion of our study is that the period between 1947 and 1952 witnessed the demise of the existing financial elite, the enforcement of checks and balances specific to monetary circulation in the Soviet-type centrally-planned economy, and the removal of those National Bank of Romania and Ministry of Finance officials who, given their intellectual background or political ideals, could have proposed adjustments to the imposed Soviet model.

Keywords: Romania, monetary reform, centrally-planned economy, Stalinist model, Soviet advisers.



CÉCILE VAISSIÉ, The Only Stalin Price of Literature in the Western World: André Stil, an « engineer of the souls » in France…………………………………………………………………………………104


The French writer André Stil (1921-2004) is now almost forgotten, but he was the first and only Westerner to receive, in March 1952, a Stalin prize of literature. He was then the editor of the main communist newspaper in France, L'Humanité, and a candidate member in the Central Committee of the French Communist Party. This was the first time that a Stalin prize was awarded to some non-Soviet writers, and the last time that it was awarded under this appellation. A question arises: why was this prize, extremely prestigious in the communist world, attributed to André Stil, and not to Louis Aragon or Paul Eluard, communist writers of incontestable literary talent? Articles and speeches of that time give an unequivocal answer: because André Stil represented then, better than anyone else in France, the literature and the writer, as conceived by Soviet ideologues. Therefore, analyzing the reasons, the context and the consequences of this specific Stalin Price means exploring the attempt to transfer and promote in France the model of writers, advocated by Andrei Zhdanov.

Keywords: André Stil, Stalin Price, literature, zhdanovism, Ridgway.


RALUCA-NICOLETA SPIRIDON, LIVIU-MARIUS BEJENARU, Repression and information control in the period August 30th 1948 – March 14th 1956, II..................................................................126


The information surveillance, the organization and reorganization of the information network, divided into certain informants, and especially the objective these one aimed at, made possible the major change of the political, economic, and social paradigms produced in Romania after 1948. During the period our study reffers to, 1948-1956, survaillance methods and repression carried aut by Securitate shadowed  the political, economic, and social transformation enabled by the communist regime. The second part of our study scopes the evolution of the information network from the beginning of 50’s until February 1956. 

Keywords: information control, informative network, Securitate, qualified informants, operative work.



AURELIA VASILE, The instigation to vigilance and to denunciation. Implementation of the central directives in the organization of the Soviet film festival in 1950, I…………………………………………..142

The enlargement of the Romanian communist party between 1945 and 1948 by recruiting members without political activity or communist conviction creates a climate of general suspicion regarding potential enemies infiltrating the party. Besides the campaign of “verification” of the members launched by the Control Commission, the soviet film festival organized in many Romanian cities from August to December 1950 aimed to encourage the vigilance of the faithful members and the denunciation of “bad elements”.

This article focused on the organization of the film festival, the purposes, the guidelines, the resources (technical and human) set up by the central authorities (director of the Committee for Cinema, director of Sovromfilm) and the way the local authorities (directors of cinema theaters, work unions, presidents of the local structures of the party, etc) respond to the directives which come from above.

Keywords: Soviet Films, Festival, Committee for Cinema, Sovromfilm, Romanian Communist Party.


TATIANA VOLOKITINA, Destalinization „à la Bulgarian”. Tchervenkov-Zhivkov: the Struggle for Power,  1953-1956, II..................................................................................................................................157


Based on unedited Russian and Bulgarian documents, the article analyses the struggle for power in the Bulgarian Communist Party after Stalin’s death. The article is important for the information on the relations at the highest level of the BCP, as well as Moscow’s interference. Moreover, the Bulgarian pattern of the struggle for power in 1953-1956 is similar to the other Eastern European Communist parties.

Keywords: Bulgarian Communist Party, Destalinization, Tchervenkov, Zhivkov, Communist Party of the Soviet Union.


KARINA PAULINA MARCZUK, The Origins of the Polish-German Reconciliation, 1965-1966….171


The topic of the article concerns the origins of the process of establishing and then developing bilateral relations between Germany and Poland at the turn of 1965 and 1966. The main argument is that advancing reconciliation in bilateral Polish-German relations was possible owing to the considerable input of the Polish Catholic Church, including the memorable letter of the Polish bishops to their German counterparts (“We forgive and ask for forgiveness”). These two years are significant for the mutual relations of Poland and Germany. First, in 1965 the Polish Catholic bishops submitted to their German counterparts the letter that opened the path to an improvement in relations between the nations. Afterwards, “reconciliation” was introduced into the public discourse. Second, in 1966 the Polish Catholic Church celebrated the 1000th anniversary of the Christianisation of Poland, which became both a challenge and a chance for developing the dialogue with Germans. Therefore, the main research questions concern, first, the determinants of the tensions between Poland and both German states after World War II as well as the impact of the 1965 bishops’ letter on the development of bilateral relations.

Keywords: Catholic bishops’ letter of 1965, Ostdenkschrift, EKD, Germany, Poland, reconciliation.


ARTYOM A. ULUNYAN, Before and After R. Nixon’s Visit to Romania. Flashpoints of the Romanian “Specific Course” as seen through American and Soviet Eyes................................................................181


The developments on the eve of the U.S. President R. Nixon’s 1969 visit to Romania and the event itself called attention of the Soviet and American side. Both of them had their own understanding of the situation and possible unfolding of the events either in the nearest or in distanced future. The author of the article, based on the archival and published documents, explores several aspects of this theme.

Keywords: Nicolae Ceausescu, Richard Nixon, CIA, Cold War, Czechoslovakia, Comecon, GRU, KGB, NATO, Romania, USA, USSR, WTO.


LUMINIŢA BANU, FLORIAN BANU, The causes  of the emigration of ethnic Germans from Romania reflected on the Security’s documents, III: 1977-1989……………………………………….200


German emigration from Romania was a process conducted over a half of century. As a result, the causes of this process were many and they knew its own dynamics. From the desire to integrate into the "great German nation", specific of the early years of the Second World War, to the desire to accede to a higher standard of living, area motivations of individual experienced a lot of variations. In our opinion, based on the study of archival and oral testimonies, mostly applications for emigration were motivated by a desire to family reunification, in first decade after the Second World War, and by the economic difficulties from Romania, for the 80’s.

Keywords: Germans, emigration, Securitate, family reunification, communism, Romania, minorities.


CONSTANTIN HLIHOR, The Geopolitical Shock: the Soviet-American Relations and the Fall of Communism................................................................................................................................................214


The unexpected collapse of the Soviet Union following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, was such that many scholars cast their gazes backwards in an attempt to understand the roots of the collapse. Interpretations of how it ended thus remain crucial to an accurate understanding of global events and foreign policy. The reasons for the Cold War’s conclusion, and the timing of its ending, are disputed to this day. In this paper we suggest as tool for Soviet-American relations assessment during the Cold War the geopolitical shocks theory to illuminate the key cataclysmic events of the 1980s and early 1990s from a range of perspectives. The effects of this shock are still being felt today. Indeed, given its unprecedented scope, speed and far reaching consequences, the impact of the collapse of the Soviet state system must be included in any discussion of shocks that have reshaped the international system. Accordingly, this study explores the trends that marked the Cold War period, the events that characterized the shock itself, and finally the social, economic, and military impact on Soviet empire. Through this process of examination, it will be evident that the collapse of Soviet Communism marked nothing less than the complete transformation of the geopolitical system.

Keywords: Cold War, geopolitical shock theory, international relations assessment, Cold War non classical weapons.



DOCUMENTS


CRISTINA DIAC, Romanian Communists in the Comintern Archive: Vanda Nicolski and the Romanian emigration in U.S.S.R. during the Great Terror, 1936-1938, III............................................235


In order to better introduce the document I’ve chosen to publish, I largely explained the broader context which encompass the moment when it was written. Vanda Nicolski, a major leader of the Communist Party of Romania, a member of the Central Committee and of the Political Bureau during the ‘30s, wrote a large report in August 1938, when she was in Moscow. Clearly, her confession, written during the Great Terror, wasn’t an innocent piece of evidence scrutinizing the history of the C.P.o.R. per se, but it was meant to incriminate as many professional revolutionaries as possible. I tried to explain what stood behind of her statement. The contents exposed by Vanda Nicolski refers mostly to the complex and fluid relationships established into the inner circle of Party’s leaders and details what steps the C.P.o.R. took in order to meet the Comintern’s expectations during Popular Front era. 

Keywords: Great Purges, Moscow Show Trials, Popular Front, Marcel Pauker, Boris Ștefanov.


ANA-MARIA CĂTĂNUŞ, Nicolae Ceauşescu and Futures Studies in Romania, I: Johan Galtung in Bucharest, 1974..........................................................................................................................................250


At end of the 1960’s, while already a specific research field in the United States and Western Europe, future studies developed also in Romania. That happened under the direct benediction of Nicolae Ceauşescu who saw in forecasting a useful tool to step up the way towards the socialist multilaterally developed society. Following that goal, interdisciplinary groups of researchers were set up to develop methodologies and in 1971 the Forecasting Central Commission led by Ceauşescu himself was established to prepare long-term forecasts. In 1972, Bucharest became the first Eastern European country to host the Third World Futures Research Conference. The documents published in this article reveals the acknowledgement of the importance of Romanian future studies in the 1970’s. As president of the WFSF Johan Galtung mentioned in his meeting with Nicolae Ceauşescu in May 1974, Romania had become a centre of gravity in social sciences. During the meeting, the two discussed also the establishment of an International Center of Methodology for Futures and Development Studies in Bucharest.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, future studies, forecasting, Johan Galtung, Nicolae Ceauşescu, WFSF.


BIOGRAPHIES


CRISTINA ROMAN, Silviu Brucan (1916-2006)....................................................................................263


Born on 18 January 1916 in Bucharest in a family of Jewish merchants, Silviu Brucan was one of the leading Communist Party activists. He had a privileged relationship with the Gheorghiu-Dej regime, holding a number of important political and public positions (Ambassador of Romania to United States of America, representative of Romania to United Nations, Vice-President of the Radio-Television Council). After Nicolae Ceausescu became the leader of the Romania, Brucan did not hold any political position. His relationship with the regime has gradually worsened in the 1980’s. He launched himself as an opponent of the regime after the revolt of the workers of Brașov on 15 November 1987. The events of 22 December 1989 have made him return to the political scene, participating in the creation of the National Salvation Front.

Keywords: Romanian Communist Party, Silviu Brucan, Stalinism, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, Ceaușescu regime, "the letter of the six", the National Salvation Front.


DĂNUŢ DOBOŞ, Ion Parțac (1927-1996)................................................................................................269


Father Ion Parțac (1927-1996) was one of those Romanian Catholic priests who, during the terrible persecution that characterized the totalitarian regimes of Gheorghiu-Dej and Ceaușescu, chose to join the anti-communist resistance through faith, rejecting all collaboration with atheist regime. He preferred the status of an outcast, besides that of a political inmate. He lived in an age when being a Catholic was a criminal act punishable by imprisonment.

Keywords: Communism, Catholicism, resistance, priesthood.


POINTS OF VIEW


ALEXANDRU BUDIŞTEANU, The Eastern Border of Moldova – an Aria of Trouble and Conflict…………………………………………………………………………………………………….287


The paper aims to contributing to a better understanding of the complex political situation in the central part of Europe where two major forces are now opposed. One is the Russian Federation and the other consists of European countries, such as Romania a member of the EU. The situation had been generated in 1792 when Russia got a common border on Dniester river with the Romanian medieval state of Moldova. In 1812 after a war with Turkey it occupied half of Moldova and called it Bessarabia. This is presently the Republic of Moldova. Now a part of it proclaimed itself an independent state called the Moldavian Dniester Republic (Transnistria). It is recognized by no other country but Russia considering it a component part of the Russian Federation. Moreover, its army of Russian soldiers crossed illegally the Dniester into the Republic of Moldova occupying more territory and thus creating a dangerous  precedent.

Keywords: Russian Federation, European Union, Romania, Republic of Moldova, Bessarabia, Dniester, 1792, 1812, Transnistria.




© Institutul Naţional pentru Studiul Totalitarismului, 2017.



 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute of the Study of Totalitarianism 

Volume XXIV, Number 92-93, 3-4/2016


EDITORIAL


RADU CIUCEANU, History as a Ballast, XLVI. The Last Liberal of the Founders………………5


This article is dedicated to the memory of Radu Câmpeanu. Member of the leadership National Liberal Party youth organization, Radu Câmpeanu was one of the main organizers of the anticommunist and antisoviet demonstration in November 8, 1945 in Bucharest. Later, he was imprisoned for nine years by the communists. After his release from prison, he went into exile. In 1990 he was elected president of the National Liberal Party. Radu Câmpeanu was also a member in the Scientific Council of N.I.S.T.

Keywords: Radu Câmpeanu, National Liberal Party, anticommunism.



STUDIES


ALEXANDRU-CRISTIAN VOICU, The first communist under surveillance by the Siguranţa: Christian Rakovsky in the First World War (1914-1918)............................................................................8


Christian Rakovsky still remains one of the most important leaders of the Romanian socialism and also of the global communism established as a consequence of the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917. The goal of this paper is to add new information to his biography and actions as a socialist militant and to see how and why he took further steps from socialism to communism. This research is based mostly on primary sources, the most important being a special file on him made by the Romanian Directorate of Police and General Security (Siguranţa) which contains unpublished archival documents from the Romanian National Archives, regarding his actions in Romania and towards the Romanian Government in the before and aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution. Although a Romanian citizen, after the start of World War I, Rakovsky becomes a fierce adversary of his adoptive country, partly due to the actions performed against him by the Romanian Government before and during the war. This project highlights how he managed, through his actions, to gain the trust and sympathy of the Russian Bolsheviks which saw him as an important actor in their battle against the imperialist Romania who claimed Bessarabia.

Keywords: Christian Rakovsky, Communism, WWI, Bessarabia, Trotskysm.


FLORIN-RĂZVAN MIHAI, Communists and Socialists in the General Elections of Interwar Romania (1926-1933). A Comparative Analysis, I.....................................................................................................28


This study analyzes the electoral competition between the Romanian Left political movements – the social-democrats and the communists – during the interwar period. Using a large amount of statistical data, collected for the general elections which took place from 1926 until 1933, the author presents the influence of these two parties in different provinces, their electoral strategies, the electoral dynamics of candidacies, the socio-professional profile of candidates. 

Keywords: Romanian Political Left, social-democracy, communist movement, The Workers-Peasants Bloc, Parliament.


IOANA ELENA SECU, Russian Idea in the Soviet Foreign Policy, 1939-1941, II..........................................42


Since the takeover of the Soviet power in 1925, by adopting an ideology tributary to the Tsarist roots, Stalin succeeded – the signing of the Moscow Pact (August 23, 1939) – to impose his own ‘russocentric’ policy. Through the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the Soviet-German partnership that followed (1939-1941), Stalin managed to create a replica of the Russian Empire at the western borders of the USSR. The extension of Soviet influence in the territories of eastern Poland, the Baltic States, Finland and Southeastern Europe (Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina) meant ensuring a restricted security sphere at the boundaries of the west of the Soviet Union. We believe that, for Stalin, the security of the Soviet state could be fulfilled only through the international political supremacy, an ideal followed by every russian vojdi (leader). In our study we observe whether and to what extent the role of the Russian idea – manifested by the need for supremacy – was decisive in designing and implementing foreign policy directions by Stalin during the Soviet-German alliance (1939-1941).

Keywords: Russian Idea, Stalin, Soviet Foreign Policy, Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.


ŞTEFAN BOSOMITU,  The Romanian Communist Party Central Committee’s Control Commission, 1945-1947......................................................................................................................................................57


My text is considering an analysis of the Romanian Communist Party (RCP) Central Committee’s Control Commission between 1945-1947, and tries to explain how the internal control apparatus of the RCP was institutionalized. In order to suggest a coherent description of the process, I will consider three major issues. Firstly, I am interested in understanding how and why the Control Commission was instituted. Beyond the official explanations, it would be interesting to see whether the establishment of the Commission was a simple act of institutional mimicry, or a real necessity of the Communist Party. The second issue on which I would turn my attention is the institutional dimension of the Commission and its staff. Regarding this issue – I'm interested in both the political and militant background / identity of each of the commission members (those who participated in decision-making), but also the various attempts to institutionalize the Commission. Finally, the last point on which I will turn my attention refers to the common / current activity of the Commission. Namely, I am interested in trying to understand how the Control Commission actually functioned – through the analysis of different cases, and beyond the information supplied by the activity reports.

Keywords: Romanian Communist Party, Central Committee’s Control Commission, party control, purges, statutory penalties.


LUMINIŢA BANU, FLORIAN BANU, The causes  of the emigration of ethnic Germans from Romania reflected on the Security’s documents, 1948-1989, II………………………………………….82


German emigration from Romania was a process conducted over a half of century. As a result, the causes of this process were many and they knew its own dynamics. From the desire to integrate into the "great German nation", specific of the early years of the Second World War, to the desire to accede to a higher standard of living, area motivations of individual experienced a lot of variations. In our opinion, based on the study of archival and oral testimonies, mostly applications for emigration were motivated by a desire to family reunification, in first decade after the Second World War, and by the economic difficulties from Romania, for the 80’s.

Keywords: Germans, emigration, Securitate, family reunification, communism, Romania, minorities.


RALUCA-NICOLETA SPIRIDON, LIVIU-MARIUS BEJENARU, Repression and information control in the period August 30th 1948 – March 14th 1956, I....................................................................99

The information surveillance, the organization and reorganization of the information network, divided into certain informants, and especially the objective these one aimed at, made possible the major change of the political, economic and social paradigm produced after 1948. During the period our study reffers to, 1948-1956, survaillance methods and repression carried out by Securitate shadowed the political, economic and social transformations enabled by the communist regime. This first part of our study presents the theoretical frame according to which information was collected in the first two years of the communist regime. 

Keywords: information control, informative network, Securitate, qualified informants, operative work.


TATIANA VOLOKITINA, Destalinization „à la Bulgarian”. Tchervenkov-Zhivkov: the Struggle for Power, 1953-1956, I...................................................................................................................................108


Based on unedited Russian and Bulgarian documents, the article analyses the struggle for power in the Bulgarian Communist Party after Stalin’s death. The article is important for the information on the relations at the highest level of the BCP, as well as Moscow’s interference. Moreover, the Bulgarian pattern of the struggle for power in 1953-1956 is similar to the other Eastern European Communist parties.

Keywords: Bulgarian Communist Party, Destalinization, Tchervenkov, Zhivkov, Communist Party of the Soviet Union.


DRAGOŞ PETRESCU, Sixty Years After: Reassessing the Hungarian Revolution of 1956...............126


The present study examines the causes, unfolding and outcome of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 from a cultural-structural perspective and argues that this revolution can be explained on the basis of a theoretical model which focuses on structural, conjunctural and nation-specific factors. This study concludes that, although an incipient “snowballing effect” did occur in 1956, the aggregation of the factors mentioned above did not lead to a regime change in Hungary, but to a communist counter-revolution conducted by Moscow. The long-term effects of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 were undeniable: in 1989, the countries which opened the sequence of collapse of the communist regimes in ECE were Poland and Hungary, that is, those countries that had already experienced a revolutionary situation in 1980–81 and, respectively, in 1956.

Keywords: 1956, Hungarian Revolution, cultural-structural analysis, snowballing effect.


CEZAR STANCIU, A New Piece of Evidence Regarding the Antihegemonical State of the Romanian Foreign Policy during the communist regime. Romania and the Cypriot crisis from 1974..................  141 


In 1974, a coup inspired by the military dictatorship in Greece overthrew Cyprus’s president, archbishop Makarios, event which led to a Turkish military intervention in the island. This article analyzes Romania’s position vis-à-vis the Cypriot crisis in the context of its earlier proposals for Balkan cooperation. While the Soviet Union and the other Warsaw Pact members saw in the coup an Imperialist attempt to turn non-aligned Cyprus into a N.A.T.O. base by its forceful unification with Greece, Romania on the other hand had a different vision. For the Romanian diplomacy, the Cypriot crisis involved a double risk: not only of Cyprus becoming a N.A.T.O. base, but also of Soviet-American direct involvement in the region. A military conflict in the Eastern Mediterranean had the potential to increase the American and Soviet presence in the region therefore limiting the capacity of the small and middle-sized states to affirm their own interests independently. It was for this reason in particular that Romania insisted on a peaceful solution to the crisis, a solution that would only involve the Greeks and the Turks and not permit the interference of the two superpowers.

Keywords: Cyprus, coup, Romania, Soviet Union, United States, security, hegemony, imperialism, foreign policy. 


ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, Deepening Crisis. The Central Committee of Romanian Communist Party’s Plenum of 29th-30th of June, 1983…………………………………………………155


As economic crises deepens, Romania was confronted with a serious drought in 1982-1983, while productivity was low and the beginning of the five-year plan of 1981-1985 was highly unsatisfactory. Nicolae Ceauşescu insited instead on strengthening control over production, working forces, economic management and offers as solution more drastic cuts in general consumption.

Keywords: Nicolae Ceauşescu, Socialist economy, five-year plan, Communist Party control, nuclear disarmament.


ANETA MIHAYLOVA, Reluctant Reformers: Zhivkov, Ceauşescu and the Moscow Wind of Change……………………………………………………………………………………………………161


The article traces and analyzes the reactions of the Bulgarian leader Todor Zhivkov and the Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu to the processes taking place in the USSR in the second half of the 1980s and their effect on the relations between Bulgaria and Romania. After Mikhail Gorbachev launched his policy of glasnost and perestroika, both of them felt threatened for their power position and made hard efforts to defend it. The Soviet factor got directly involved in Bulgarian-Romanian relations in the late 1980s and proved to be of far greater significance for the fate of both countries, ultimately bringing to the collapse of the socialist system in them.

Keywords: Zhivkov, Ceauşescu, Gorbachev reforms, Soviet perestroika, Bulgarian-Romanian relations. 


FLORIN ABRAHAM, Justice system in communist Romania: between political control and autonomy, I...................................................................................................................................................................181

The study aims to explore the complex issue of justice in communist Romania. The research clarifies the main conceptual differences between the Soviet and the justice of liberal democracies. Are included details of the main stages of the dynamics of the justice system. The first part of the study focused on the main features of the justice system: the constitutional definition, civil and military justice, prosecutors, lawyers, Securitatea, Miliţia, notaries e.o. In the next part of the research the author analyzes the power relations within the justice system (judges – prosecutors – Securitate officers - lawyers). 

Keywords: the justice system, judges, prosecutors, lawyers, the Securitate.



DOCUMENTS



CRISTINA DIAC, Romanian Communists in the Comintern Archive: Vanda Nicolski and the Romanian emigration in U.S.S.R. during the Great Terror, 1936-1938, II.............................................202


In order to better introduce the document I’ve chosen to publish, I largely explained the broader context which encompass the moment when it was written. Vanda Nicolski, a major leader of the Communist Party of Romania, a member of the Central Committee and of the Political Bureau during the ‘30s, wrote a large report in August 1938, when she was in Moscow. Clearly, her confession, written during the Great Terror, wasn’t an innocent piece of evidence scrutinizing the history of the C.P.o.R. per se, but it was meant to incriminate as many professional revolutionaries as possible. I tried to explain what stood behind of her statement. The contents exposed by Vanda Nicolski refers mostly to the complex and fluid relationships established into the inner circle of Party’s leaders and details what steps the C.P.o.R. took in order to meet the Comintern’s expectations during Popular Front era. 

Keywords: Great Purges, Moscow Show Trials, Popular Front, Vanda Nicolski, Marcel Pauker, Boris Ștefanov. 


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, Closing Up the Case Teohari Georgescu, 1955-1956.................................................221


At the beginning of 1950’s, Teohari Georgescu was one of the most powerful leaders of the Communist regime in Romania. In Mai 1952, he was accused of „right deviation” and  he was removed from all the party and state positions. In February 1953 he was arrested. During the questioning, Teohari Georgescu was charged with serious offences: betrayal of the Communist movement during the period of illegality, acting as an informer of the bourgeois police, the „Siguranţa” (up to 23 August 1944), several decisions he took as the Minister of Internal Affairs during 1945-1952, such as the conclusion of a nonagression pact with former members of the Legionary Mouvement, the delay of a decision in the the inquiry of Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu, getting involved in the „right deviation” affair, support for the Jewish emigration in Romania and the Sionist activity, forming of an „fractionist” and „anti-party” group togehter with Ana Pauker şi Vasile Luca etc.  

At 8 February 1956 Teohari Georgescu was proposed for a trial. However, only one month hand half later the prosecutors proposed him for release. This article reprints the prosecutors’ report of 19 March 1956 regarding the proposal for Teohari Georgescu release.

Keywords: Teohari Georgescu, Romanian Workers Party, the „right deviation”, antisionism, Ana Pauker, political process.


IULIAN TOADER, “Mystery revealed?”: The Mănescu-Rusk conversation of 4 October 1963 and the beginning of the Romanian-American “special relationship”................................................................237


Since the former American official Raymond L. Garthoff disclosed the content of a secret conversation between the Romanian Foreign Minister Corneliu Mănescu and Secretary of State Dean Rusk, one of the most important episodes in Romania’s history has been shrouded in mystery. This article presents the American version of the conversation and asserts its significance for the evolution of the Romanian-American relations in the Cold War. There are still some aspects of the episode which are unclear and which may never be elucidated. However, the American version of the meeting of 4 October 1963 completes the overall picture of a year of profound changes for the history of the Cold War.

Keyword: Cold War, Corneliu Mănescu, Dean Rusk, Raymond L. Garthoff, U.S.-Romanian relations.


ANA-MARIA CĂTĂNUŞ, Dissident Mihai Botez on US-Romanian Relations Between 1968-1984, II.................................................................................................................................................................254


In this article, the author publishes the last three parts of Mihai Botez’ survey that approached the analysis of the impact of the human rights issue on US foreign policy (during the Carter administration), the US-Romanian relations since 1980 to 1985, and how American foreign policy influenced the evolution of the Romanian Communist regime and the perception of the general public toward America. Even if Botez’ study was not well received in the American circles, the text remains an original approach of American-Romanian relations during Ceauşescu’s regime.

Keywords: US-Romanian Relations, MFN trade status, Mihai Botez, Nicolae Ceauşescu, human rights.


CONSTANTIN MORARU, Romanian – West-German Relations after Helsinki. The minutes of the Ceauşescu – Genscher meeting, 5 December 1975...................................................................................278

 

The official visite in Romania of Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Federal Foreign Minister, was a good opportunity for the Romanian authorities to continue the policy of independence from Moscow. Bilateral relations, the issue of ethnic German immigration, aspects of international life were discussed by Nicolae Ceauşescu and Hans-Dietrich Genscher.

Keywords: Romanian – West-German Relations, Helsinki, 1975, Nicolae Ceauşescu, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, immigration of ethnic German population.


VASILE BUGA, The Russian Documents Reveals: On 4 December 1989 Nicolae Ceauşescu did not abandon his 1968 Stance.............................................................................................................................295


On 4 December 1989, at Moscow took place the last meeting of the WTO members. Several issues concerning the situation in the socialist countries were discussed. Among them, adopting a Declaration by the five states that invaded Czechoslovakia in August 1968 and which were willing to publicly admit that the intervention had been a mistake. In this article, the author analyses the historigraphical controversy related to Nicolae Ceauşescu’s refusal to sign the Declaration. Using recently declassified Russian documents, the author proves that the Romanian leader did not recant his 1968 position. 

Keywords: Nicolae Ceauşescu, Czechoslovakia 1968, Mikhail Gorbachev, Warsaw Treaty Organization, 1989.



BIOGRAPHIIES


DELIA BĂLĂICAN, G.A. Dabija (1872-1957).......................................................................................304


G.A. Dabija (born in Iaşi, on September 20-th 1872 and passed away in Bucharest in 1957) was a hostile element of the communist regime. He was a military attaché to Bulgaria and Serbia (1910-1913).  He fought for his country in the battle of Mărăşti (1917) and on the Tisa front (1919) and, as reconition of his contribution in the battle of Mărăşti, he was awarded the rank of General in 1917. G.A. Dabija became known as a military writer, which led to his detention in the communist prisons at Jilava and Văcăreşti (1952-1955). His monumental work in 4 volumes entitled The Romanian Army in The First World War (1916-1918) was published between 1928 and 1937. He was director general of the Society of Mărăşti, that the obiective was buidig Mărăşti dedicated to the heroes who sacrificed their lives to the accomplisment of the national unity ideal. 

Keywords: General G.A. Dabija; The First World War; the battle of Mărăşti; Romanian military writer; political prisoner at Jilava and Văcăreşti, Mărăşti Mausoleum.


IONUŢ MIRCEA MARCU, Alexandru Moghioroș (1911-1969)……………………………………...308


This text describes and shortly analyse Alexandru Moghioroș’s biography, one of the most significant communist leaders, as it appears from archival sources recently released by the National Archives of Romania, sources confronted with the secondary literature where Moghioroș’s activity is mentioned. Moghioroș was a militant who devoted himself to the communist credo in his early youth. In interwar, he was prominent within the Youth Communist League-Romanian branch, quality in which he attended some important international events organized by Comintern and K.I.M. (The Communist Youth International). Arrested in 1935 and involved in Ana Pauker’s trial, he was sentenced and served a ten years sentence in different Romanian jails until 1944. 

During the communist regime, he held some influential position within the Party apparatus. For instance, until his death, he was an almost-permanent member of the Central Committee of the Romanian Workers Party/Romanian Communist Party, and of the Political Bureau. He was also one of the Party’s secretaries, and appointed to preside some important commissions, in charge with internal inquires. 

Keywords: Alexandru Moghioroș, Comintern,  Youth Communist League-Romanian branch, Romanian Communist Party.


THEODORA ENACHE, Leonte Răutu (1910-1933)………………………………………………….312


Leonte Răutu had one of the longest and most influential career within the Romanian communist establishment, prolonged for more than fifty years. He started his political activity in Bessarabia, his native province, at the beginning of the 30s, and finished it in the early 80s. he survived to all purges deployed within the Romanian Communist Party, displaying an amazing adaptation capacity. 

In interwar, Răutu worked for the communist movement in Bessarabia, and in Bucharest, when he was a student at the Bucharest University. In 1940, when his native province was occupied by the Soviet Union, he came back there. He spent the Second World War in the Soviet Union. His activity within Radio Moscow-Romanian sector, was his most notorious assignment, which helped him after the war, due to the precious relations achieved during the job. 

He came back to Romania in 1945 and held the most important positions within the Romanian Communist Party – member the Central Committee for many years (1948-1958, 1960-1984), member of the Party’s Secretariat (1965-1969), member of the Executive Committee/ Political Executive Committee (1965-1981). He is best known as the formal and informal head of the propaganda sector. 

Keywords: Leonte Răutu, communism, propaganda, culture, ideology.



© Institutul Naţional pentru Studiul Totalitarismului, 2016.

 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute of the Study of Totalitarianism 

Volume XXIV, Number 90-91, 1-2/2016


EDITORIAL


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XLV. A lesser known plan! (1895-1914)...................................5


The article tackles the plans of Pan-Germanism supporters at the end of the XIX century and the beginning of the XX century, including on the eve of World War I (1914-1915) regarding the territorial reorganization of Europe under the hegemonic power of the German Empire and Austro-Hungarian Empire. The author discusses Romania’s place within these plans, considering the close relations between Emperor Wilhelm II and king Charles I of Romania.

Keywords: the German Empire, Pan-Germanism, World War I, Kingdom of Romania.



STUDIES


ANTOANETA OLTEANU, Lenin and his Myths......................................................................................8


After the fall of soviet regime (all) the prohibites archives were open to historians and Lenin as man and politician was one of the main topics both for  historians and readers. There are still al lot of books describing Lenin from a personal, emotional, traditional Soviet point of view, but there is also a lot of unconventional approaches unveiling several episodes in the life of the great lider, so different, unexpected in comparison with the perspective of the official mythology. The paper aims to discuss some of these new aspects revealed both by Russian and western historians.

Keywords: Lenin, biography, official mythology, new approach.


IOANA ELENA SECU, Russian Idea in the Soviet Foreign Policy, 1939-1941, I..............................................24


Since the takeover of the Soviet power in 1925, by adopting an ideology tributary to the Tsarist roots, Stalin succeeded – the signing of the Moscow Pact (August 23, 1939) – to impose his own ‘russocentric’ policy. Through the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the Soviet-German partnership that followed (1939-1941), Stalin managed to create a replica of the Russian Empire at the western borders of the USSR. The extension of Soviet influence in the territories of eastern Poland, the Baltic States, Finland and Southeastern Europe (Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina) meant ensuring a restricted security sphere at the boundaries of the west of the Soviet Union. We believe that, for Stalin, the security of the Soviet state could be fulfilled only through the international political supremacy, an ideal followed by every russian vojdi (leader). In our study we observe whether and to what extent the role of the Russian idea – manifested by the need for supremacy – was decisive in designing and implementing foreign policy directions by Stalin during the Soviet-German alliance (1939-1941).

Keywords: Russian Idea, Stalin, Soviet Foreign Policy, Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.


ION CONSTANTIN, The Polish Communists during the Second World War. An overview................44

 

Dissolved by a resolution passed by the Executive Committee of the Communist International in 1938, carefully supervised by Stalin himself, the Polish Communist Party was re-created in 1941 but this time, the official name of the party – The Polish Workers’ Party –, deliberately ignored the „communist“ denomination, in order to underline the alleged Party’s independence. During the Second World War, Moscow was constantly handling the P.W.P. as an instrument good to be used against the Polish liberation movement curdled around the Home Army, and leaded by the Polish government-in-exile. As in the other Eastern European countries, in spite of its obvious weakness and lack of popularity, the P.W.R. came in power at the end of the war. Gomułka’s attempt to accommodate communism to Poland’s specific didn’t meet Stalin’s expectations, so the latter decided that the Soviet Union must be in full control regarding Polish affairs. In August 1948, Bolesław Bierut was brought to power by Moscow, as P.W.P’s General Secretary. The P.W.P. completely absorbed the Socialist party, and the Polish United Workers’ Party (P.U.W.P.) emerged at the end of the process. The P.U.W.P. ruled over Poland until 1989, being credited with the country’s sovietisation. 

Keywords: The Polish Workers’ Party, the Polish United Workers’ Party, Second World War, Home Army, Wanda Wasilewska. 


ADAM BURAKOWSKI, People’s Tribunal in Bulgaria, 1944-1945…………………………………65


Although the activity of Bulgaria in World War II was limited, serious war crimes were committed, especially in territories occupied by Bulgarian forces. Simultaneously communist clandestine partisan movement was more and more active. When the communist-led Fatherland Front came to power in September 1944, the issue of moral and legal responsibility for war crimes emerged. New government created so-called People’s Tribunal to judge the pre-communist elite. The genocide accusations were in many cases just a pretext to political purges. The article, based mainly on archival sources, deals with the activity of People’s Tribunal.

Keywords: Bulgaria, World War II, Stalinism, war crimes, communism.


MARIUS TĂRÎŢĂ, Abstract: Preliminary notes on the issue of the Romanian language in Moldavian SSR during the first postwar years, 1944-1948………………………………………………………….87


In this paper the author deals with the issue of the Romanian language in the Moldavian SSR during the first postwar years. CC of the CP(B) from Moldavian SSR tried several times to determine the loyal researchers from the Institute of Scientific Research to organize teams for writing textbooks of Romanian (named by them Moldavian) language and literature. Also existed the intention to organize courses for Party staff the main part of whom came from abroad and didn’t know the Romanian language. All these attempts failes as it shows the report of V. Efimenko who came from Moscow to evaluate the situation of the national staff in the republic in 1947. Even if Moldavian were 68% of inhabitants, in Universities only 25% of students had Moldavian origin. The question of the language was discussed also by writers, but they hadn’t the initiative on this topic and waited for suggestions from above. For the majority of the inhabitants the main problem concerning the enseignment was the lack of the textbooks of Romanian Language and Literature, and that’s why several times the newspaper were used as source of working texts. This first stage of avatars of the Romanian language in Moldavian SSR ends in 1948 when the Ministery of Education organized a control at the Pedagogical Institute from Chisinau, to establish the way the language and literature were taught. The conclusion was that at the Institute had no textbboks on several courses and the Council of Ministers from Moldavian SSR had to impose the Institute of History, Language and Literature to elaborate the programs for teaching Moldavian language and literature in Universities.

Keywords: Moldavian SSR, CC of the CP(B) from Moldavian SSR, Romanian language, Pedagogical Institute, education.


PETRE OPRIŞ, A short biography of the Soviet Spy Piotr Gonciaruk....................................................98


The short biography of Piotr Gonciaruk (Petre Petrescu) shows that the Soviet authorities managed to impose in Bucharest a person who can send to Moscow essential data about the Romanian espionage and counterespionage system. The same person was able to actively participate in the adoption of decisions about the control and guidance from outside of the Romanian intelligence services and the Communist authorities from Bucharest had known since 1944 about Piotr Gonciaruk’s contacts with the GRU officers who arrived in Romania.

Keywords: communism, Romania, intelligence, Piotr Gonciaruk, USSR.


LUMINIŢA BANU, FLORIAN BANU, The causes  of the emigration of ethnic Germans from Romania reflected on the Security’s documents, 1948-1989, I………………………………………….107


German emigration from Romania was a process conducted over a half of century. As a result, the causes of this process were many and they knew its own dynamics. From the desire to integrate into the "great German nation", specific of the early years of the Second World War, to the desire to accede to a higher standard of living, area motivations of individual experienced a lot of variations. In our opinion, based on the study of archival and oral testimonies, mostly applications for emigration were motivated by a desire to family reunification, in first decade after the Second World War, and by the economic difficulties from Romania, for the 80’s.

Keywords: Germans, emigration, Securitate, family reunification, communism, Romania, minorities.


ADRIAN CONSTANTIN ROTAR, The beginning of collectivization in Northern Moldavia and Bukovina. The peasant rebellions and communist repression, 1949.......................................................122


After the switch in allegiance, and the step by step instauration of the communist regime in Romania, the rural population was gripped by a sense of unease regarding the future. This feeling was caused by the threat of a possible Soviet style collectivization. Things have become increasingly apparent with the implementation of certain measures, which had as end result the forcing of farmers to abandon land: imposing mandatory quotas, area threshing etc. All these measures, coupled with a collectivization campaign since March 1949, led to individual and collective peasant riots. These measures eventually led to direct confrontations between peasants and repressive forces (Militia and State Security) which resulted in casualties (Calafindești, Bălăceana, Frătăuții Noi etc.). The families of those shot during the direct clashes were deported to Dobrogea. They were joined by the families of wealthy peasants (“kulaks”) who were opposing the collectivization. The collectivization process was finalized in the North-Eastern area of Romania, but the atrocities which happened here and in other areas, led, in to a certain extent, to the bankruptcy of the communist regime

Keywords : Collectivization, Romania, Peasant revolts, Repression, Deportations.


ALEKSANDR STYKALIN, The Soviet-Yugoslavian closeness during 1955-1956 and the dissolution of Cominform................................................................................................................................................141


Set up in 1947, The Cominform was the centralizing instrument of the international Communist movement and played the main role in the anti-Yugoslavian campaign initiated by Stalin in 1948. However,  the campaign was unsuccessful and Stalin lost the interest in the structure. After Stalin’s death, his successors did not attempt to revitalize the  Cominform. Nevertheless N. Khruschev usually nervously reacted to the comments of the Western analysts concerning future dissolution of the organization which now pretended to be no more than the form of the experience exchange in the Communist movement. In February 1956, the Soviet leadership decided the dissolution of the Cominform which was realized in April 1956. The author stresses the vital role of the Yugoslavian factor in the dissolution of the Cominform – it was first of all the gesture aimed at the convergence with the titoist Yugoslavia and the returning of this country into the Soviet sphere of influence which was one of the priorities in the Soviet foreign policy in the first years  after Stalin             

Keyword: The Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Tito, the Cominform, Stalin, Khruschev, XX-th CPSU Congress.


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, Romanian Efforts for the Withdrawal of Soviet Troops from Romania, 1955-1956..............................................................................................................................................................155


During 1955-1956, using the two international „windows of opportunity” – the conclusion of the Peace Treaty with Austria, in August 1955, and the crisis in the Soviet bloc provoked by the Hungarian Revolution, in 1956 – the Romanian Communist leadership tried to force a Soviet decision regarding the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Romania. This article recreates the circumstances of this crucial decision: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej’ strategy, Nikita Khruschev’s reactions, and the divergent opinions within the RWP. Using new sources, the author revises previous interpretations and clarifies aspects remained unsolved until now.

Keywords: Romania, withdrawal of Soviet troops, 1955-1956, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. Nikita Kruschev, Emil Bodnăraş.


ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, A “Great Leap Forward”. The Central Committee of the Romanian Workers’ Party Plenum of 26th-28th November, 1958……………………………………………………….173


The main purpose of the Central Committee Plenum of November 1958 was the discussion and adoption of the national economic development plan of 1959 and the ’60s. The plan was conceived and by the State Planning Committee with adnotations from Central Committee sections, Government etc. Given the economic data that was supposed to be realized in the future, the discussions and documents have not been made public at the time. The massive investment project decided at that plenum laid down the modernization of socialist industry and the development of the national infrastructure in the next decades.

Keywords: Communism in Romania, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, economic development, modernization of industry and infrastructure, economic history of Socialist regimes.


IONUŢ-MARIAN FILIPESCU, Between propaganda and academic interest: The fifteenth International Congress of Historical Sciences (Bucharest, 10-17 August 1980)....................................182


With this study we want to point out how was held the XV International Congress of Historical Sciences and the way in which the regime organized and presented to the whole world this scientific manifestation then and after the meetings were over, this one being an event within both propaganda and academic interest interwoven.

Keywords: the XV International Congress of Historical Sciences, propaganda, Nicolae Ceauşescu, Romanian Communist Party.


MIOARA ANTON, „Working with letters“. Propagandistic fictions and everyday realities, II: 1980-1989..............................................................................................................................................................192


The archives of the communist party have kept letters to the power, representative of the way in which  ordinary people related to a political regime that controlled their existence to the smallest degree: from private life to the norms of behaviour in a socialist society. At the end of 80s, the relationship between the leader of the communist party and Romanian society reached a critical point. There was the hope that after the repayment of the foreign debt, the internal situation was going to improve thanks to the abandonment of the programme of austerity and rationalisation. But this did not happen, the population being subjected continually to food shortages and excessive surveillance by the Securitate apparatus. Also influenced by the series of changes in the rest of the communist bloc, there emerged in Romanian society a state of expectation of the imminent collapse of the regime. 

Keywords: Ceauşescu’s regime, everyday life, letters to the power, food shortages, Romanian society.




DOCUMENTS



CRISTINA DIAC, Romanian Communists in the Comintern Archive: Vanda Nicolski and the Romanian emigration in U.S.S.R. during the Great Terror, 1936-1938, I..............................................207


In order to better introduce the published documents, I largely explained the broader context which encompass the moment when its were written. Vanda Nicolski, a major leader of the Communist Party of Romania, a member of the Central Committee and of the Political Bureau during the ‘30s, wrote two large reports in June  and August 1938, when she was in Moscow. Clearly, her confessions, written during the Great Terror, weren’t innocent pieces of evidence scrutinizing the history of the C.P.o.R. per se, but its were meant to incriminate as many professional revolutionaries as possible. I tried to explain what stood behind her statement. 

The contents exposed by Vanda Nicolski refers mostly to the complex and fluid relationships established into the Party inner circle during Al. Daneliuk-Ștefansky’s mandate as general secretary of the C.P.o.R., which overlaps mostly the Great Depression. The author also provides a lot of details regarding the policies putted in place by the communist establishment, from Moscow, but from Romania too, in order to borrow the main features requested by Comintern in its so called „third period“. For instance, details from the inner party circle regarding  the the Grivița strike from 1933 could be very usefull for any future discussion about one of the most important upheavals in Romania’s XXth century history.

Keywords: Vanda Nicolski, Communist Party of Romania, Great Purges, Moscow Show Trials, „social-fascism“, Marcel Pauker, Al. Daneliuk-Ștefanski. 


MIHAI BURCEA, Olga Bancic and the last thoughts of a French Resistance member, 9 May 1944............................................................................................................................................................244


The letter Olga Bancic had sent to her daughter a day before the execution represents a symbolically powerful document for both the French Communist Party and the communist international movement. The PCF's support for the French Resistance was essential during World War II while the main battles against the Nazi occupant had been fought by communists of a broader European extraction (Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, Italy, a.s.o).   

Keywords: communism, French Resistance, Olga Bancic, Nazism.


GHEORGHE ONIŞORU, The last statement of Vasile Luca during the Securitate investigation, 25 September 1954............................................................................................................................................247


The document presented here is a file from the power struggle at the top Romanian Workers Party in 1952 - 1954. It is about removing the Ana Pauker, Vasile Luca and Georgescu Teohari group from party leadership in 1952. Arrested and interrogated, Vasile Luca had the most tragic fate passing away in prison. We present the latest statement made by Luca in front of investigators in September 1954.

Keywords: Romanian Workers Party, Vasile Luca, Ana Pauker, the „right deviation”, political trial, 1954.


ANA-MARIA CĂTĂNUŞ, Dissident Mihai Botez on US-Romanian Relations Between 1968-1984, I…………………………………..………………………………………………………………………..262


Concluded in 1985, Mihai Botez’ analysis proposed an insight on how American-Romanian relations were seen and interpreted from Bucharest by a Romanian dissident. The survey contains five parts. The first four parts concentrate on the opening toward Romania initiated by the Nixon administration in 1968-1972, the development of US-Romanian relations in 1972-1976, the analysis of the impact of the human rights issue on US foreign policy (during the Carter administration), and the US-Romanian relations since 1980 to 1985. The last part contains Botez’ views on how American foreign policy influenced the evolution of the Romanian Communist regime and the perception of the general public toward America. Even if Botez’ study was not well received in the American circles, the text remains an original approach of American-Romanian relations during Ceauşescu’s regime.

Keywords: US-Romanian Relations, MFN trade status, Mihai Botez, Nicolae Ceauşescu.



VASILE BUGA, Did Ceausescu Ask for the Invasion of Poland? A Report of the Soviet Ambassador Tiajelnikov, 19 August 1989......................................................................................................................276


It has been argued that Nicolae Ceauşescu asked for a joint military intervention of the WTO against Poland in August 1989. The request would have been motivated by the need of saving Polish socialism, after Solidarity’s victory in parliamentary election. However, the author of this article thinks the theory ungrounded, as he publishes an excerpt of Soviet Ambassador E.M. Tiajelnikov’s diary, mentioning the discussion with Nicolae Ceauşescu, in 19 August 1989. Ceauşescu’s message to Gorbachev contains no reference to a potential military intervention in Poland. The author’s assessment is founded also on the similar reactions of other members of WTO.

Keywords: Romania, Nicolae Ceauşescu, Poland, Solidarity, Mikhail Gorbachev, 1989.



BIOGRAPHIIES


ALINA ILINCA, LIVIU MARIUS BEJENARU, Aurel Ardeleanu (1913-1986).................................288


Aurel Ardeleanu joined in the Communist party in 1945 and he was appointed to higher and higher position in the armed forces. In 1954 he participated as a prosecutor in the Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu and Vasile Luca’s trials. After Stalin’s death he became a follower of the Yugoslav leader Iosip Broz Tito and a supporter of de-Stalinization initiated in the Soviet Union. Being sentenced to 25 years in prison for „the crime of conspiracy against social order through agitation”, Aurel Ardeleanu was forced to go through a terrible ordeal. We have to mention that during the Second World War he has been interned in the prison camps on the Soviet Union.

Keywords: communism, political trials, repression, De-Stalinisation, Titoism.


ANDREEA-FLORENTINA MÂNICEANU, Iosif Rangheț (1904-1952)..............................................294


Iosif Rangheț (Rangecz József) was a Romanian communist activist, born into an ethnic Hungarian family. He was a native of Olari, Arad County.  Iosif Rangheț  became a member of the banned Romanian Communist Party (PCR) in 1930. Rangheț was secretary of the Oradea regional committee from 1932 to 1933. He held a similar post for Cluj from 1933 to 1934; that year, he became head of the Banat and Jiu Valley regional committees. From 1943 until his death, he was a member of the party's central committee. From 1945 to 1948, Iosif Rangheț headed the PCR's cadres section; from 1949 to 1950, he presided over the state combustibles committee. He was married to Sanda Rangheț, who survived him. Iosif Rangheț dies in 1952.

Keywords: Iosif Rangheț, Communist regime, Romanian communist leaders, biography, International Lenin School. 


FLORIN ŞANDRU, Nicolae Turcu (1891-1955).....................................................................................298


Among the socio-professional categories hunted by the communists after taking over the power in Romania, an important place was taken by the former employees of the police and state security. The above study presents the case of a police superior officer Nicolae Turcu, former prefect of the Police of the capital city, who was under higher and higher pressure, starting in the spring of 1945. Arrested several times, without proof that could incriminate him directly or clearly, he died in 15.10. 1955 at the age of 64 in the penitenciary hospital of Vacaresti. His case is not the only one of this kind. 

Keywords: Romania, Nicolae Turcu, Siguranţa, superior police officer, Communist Party of Romania, informant.




© Institutul Naţional pentru Studiul Totalitarismului, 2016.

 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute of the Study of Totalitarianism 

Volume XXIII, Number 88-89, 3-4/2015


EDITORIAL


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XLIV. Russia once again….........................................................5


In the recent years, the aggravation of relations between the United States and the Russian Federation endangers the fate of millions of people. This article, written by a historian who has outlived the drama of World War II and the convulsions of the Cold War, is an appeal for peace and mutual respect between the world’s great powers. 

Keywords: Russia, United States, imperial ambitions, World War II, Cold War.



STUDIES


IRINA LYUBOMIROVA OGNYANOVA, External and Local Influences on the Ustasha Ideological System in the 1930s and the First Half of the 1940s……………………………………………………….7


The roots of the Ustasha ideology can be found in the traditional pure Croatian nationalism (so-called “pravashestvo”) of the 19th century. But it contained some new elements, which made it eclectic. At the same time, the Ustashas borrowed from the traditional Croatian nationalism, National-Socialism, and fascism. The main idea in the Ustasha ideology in the interwar and war period was the idea of the creation and preservation of an independent Croatian state. Another one was its etnic purification and homogenization. The last idea appeared because of the multi-national and multi-religious character of the Croatian territories. The Ustashas wanted to create an independent and strong state, but their ISC was one puppet state, just a satellite to Nazi Germany. The Ustasha power was entirely supported by the German military forces. This led to the collapse of the Ustasha regime at the end of war simultaneously with the German capitulation. Croats lost their brief state independence and were compelled to enter the new Communist Yugoslavia as a federated republic.

Keywords: Ustashas, Crotian nationalism, terrorism, anti-Serbian movement, homogeneous national state.


MIKHAIL NAKONECHNIY, Mortality rates of GULAG timber camps during 1937-1938 crisis in comparative international context……………………………………………………………………….24

This paper is an analytic attempt to examine mortality of prisoners in the Gulag timber camps on micro-level during Great Terror of 1937-1938. The author uses comparative methodology for his analysis. For comparison, he employs statistical data of the U.S.A. prison system, metropolitan prisons of the Third French Republic, concentration camps of Nazi Germany, as well as death-rates of comparable gender and age cohorts of  the USSR’s civil population. Detailed monthly absolute and relative mortality rates for all newly created timber camps are introduced in this paper for the first time in historiography, including relative death rates of Lokchimlag, Tomasinlag, Ivdellag, Ust-Vymlag camps and several others ITLs during the global crisis of 1937- 1938.

Keywords: GULAG, prisoner mortality, timber camps, Nazi concentration camps.


MIHAI BURCEA, The career of a former NKVD agent during the years of "people's power" in Romania: Simion Babenco, II......................................................................................................................45


In the 1920s and 1930s, the USSR dispatched hundreds of agents and couriers to Romania to take pulse of the society, the armed forces, the political Russian emigration to this country, as well as information about the leaders of the main parliamentary political parties. This study examines the case of such a spy (Simion Babenco) who was entrusted by the Soviet secret services to establish an informative residence in Moldova. Babenco was supposed to gather information, via recruited Romanian citizens, about the Romanian units quartered in the garrisons of Buzău and Focşani. Unfortunately for him, Babenco was arrested by the Siguranţă in the summer of 1939, just few weeks after crossing the border illegally. He was tried by a military tribunal and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for attempted espionage. During detention, he meets the future leader of the Romanian Workers' Party, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, as well as other Soviet spies captured on Romanian ground, most of whom had been around Dej during detention and after communists seized power. The political fate of Babenco after August 23, 1944 was deeply influenced by the proximity to Dej and his entourage.       

Keywords: network, espionage, informer, communism, nomenclature.


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, Emil Bodnăraş and the struggle for power within the Romanian Communist Party, April 1944 – May 1952, II…………………………………………………………………………………59


Emil Bodnăraş was one of the most mysterious characters of the Romanian communist regime. This mystery was kept alive by Emil Bodnăraş’ undisclosed relations with the Soviet intelligence and his own personal features. That often brought Bodnăraş in the midst of events central for the Romanian Communist Party and Romania, such as the overthrow of Antonescu’s regime, on 23 August 1944. This article follows the role played by Emil Bodnăraş during the RCP internal struggle for power, from the banishment of Ştefan Foriş, the secretary general of the party, on 4 April 1944, to the casting out of the „right deviationists” (Ana Pauker, Vasile Luca, Teohari Georgescu), in May 1952.

Keywords: Emil Bodnăraş, Romanian Communist Party, Soviet secret services, Gheorghiu-Dej, Ana Pauker, right deviation.


FLORIAN BANU, From cooperation to isolation. The Securitate relations with similar Secret Services in WTO countries, 1955-1989, II................................................................................................................73


Our study aims to be an analysis of the evolution of relations between the Security and counterparts from other socialist States Member of the Warsaw Pact. Based on the information provided by the Securitate’s archive documents, but also those from similar archives, available on-line or in volumes of documents, we track these relationships since the 50's through to the collapse of communism in Europe in 1989.

The analysis conducted led us to the conclusion that these relations were quite sinuous, ranging from diversified forms of cooperation, in the first two decades of the interval, moving through a “cooling” institutional relations, to enter in the 80’s, a phase marked by a barely disguised hostility.

Keywords: Securitate, Romania, secret services, communism, Warsaw Pact, intelligence.


MIOARA ANTON, „Working with letters“. Propagandistic fictions and everyday realities, 1965-1980..............................................................................................................................................................91


In the first years of his rule, Ceausescu managed to build a social solidarity around the party through political rehabilitations, public condemnation of the invasion of Czechoslovakia and direct involvement of the party in solving the problems of the common people (welfare, houses, and stable jobs). Encouraged to write by press campaigns as well as official declarations, the ordinary citizen of the seventies and eighties felt safe under the protection of the state/leader/party. Some of them use the elogious terms spread by the propaganda apparatus and voluntarily associate themselves with support for the activities of the party and the general secretary. People identify unconditionally with the leader’s actions, supported and approved of them, and are full of gratitude for living in, or preparing to live in, a golden age. The psychology of adherence can be explained by the social changes and the effects of modernisation (urbanisation, industrialisation, electrification) which Romanian society benefited from. The deliberate hiding of daily realties and of generalised shortages are part of respecting the existing social contract between society and regime. These letters are the result of personal initiatives, they express voluntary servitude and illustrate the accommodation of the ordinary citizen with the rules imposed by the party.

Keywords: Ceauşescu’s regime; everyday life; communist party; complicity; conformism.


CEZAR STANCIU, Romania and the projects for Balkan cooperation, 1969-1975.............................105


This article explores Romania’s proposal for Balkan cooperation, formulated in the early 1970s and met with terrible opposition at the time by its partners in the Warsaw Pact. The proposals aimed to increase political dialogue at high-level among Balkan countries members of both NATO and WTO with the aim to improve security in the region across the Iron Curtain boundaries. The countries which manifested the strongest opposition to such plans were the Soviet Union and Bulgaria. While Moscow feared a Chinese penetration of the region and was reticent of the Romanian plan to fight off Soviet influence in the Balkans, Bulgaria too was suspicious of the Romanian intentions and feared isolation. Although the Romanian initiatives were not a materialization of Chinese influence, they did however pursued an anti-hegemonic agenda, trying to limit the superpowers’ influence in the peninsula and assert and independent role for the Balkans in Europe. 

Keywords: Romania, Balkans, Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, cold war, cooperation.


ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, Launching a National Development Project: Romanian Communist Party’s Conference of 19-21 July 1972................................................................................121


The National Conference of the Romanian Communist Party of July 1972 represented the peak of Communist Romania’s development project proposed by Nicolae Ceauşescu. It was the main economic scheme for Romania for the next nearly three decades. It did not refer solely to the economy but also the society, demographics etc. It was an attempt to finalize the national project started a century earlier through multilateral develpment.

Keywords: Romanian Communist Party, Communist Party conference, Central Committee, Nicolae Ceauşescu, modernization.


CRISTINA PETRESCU, Aktionsgruppe Banat Reconstructs Its Past, II: Secret Police Archives and Transitional Justice………………………………………………………………………………………131


This study represents the second part of an analysis focusing on Aktionsgruppe Banat and its members’ endeavors to reconstruct their pre-1989 common past. Based on documents from the archives of the former Securitate, this study addresses the concerted efforts of the Aktionsgruppe members to unmask all individuals who supplied the communist secret police with information about their activities in order to delimit themselves as a group from such wrongdoers. While their case was at the time interesting enough to be turned into teaching material for the secret police staff, their current endeavors to revisit their pre-1989 past with the help of documents from the Securitate files illustrates that Aktionsgruppe was a collective victim of this infamous institution, which proved unable to turn any of the group members into its collaborators.

Keywords: memory, Securitate archives, ethno-cultural identity, communism, transitional justice.


ADAM BURAKOWSKI, A less-known moment of Polish-Romanian relations. The visit of Wojciech Jaruzelski in Romania in June 1982.....................................................................................................145

People’s Republic of Poland and communist Romania never had close diplomatic relations. Both domestic and foreign policy led by Warsaw and Bucharest had little common points, economical ties were also not very developed. As members of Warsaw Pact and COMECON both countries maintained relations of „friendship”, but nothing more. After introducing martial law in Poland in December 1981 Jaruzelski visited all countries of Soviet Bloc. Romania was the last one, but the visit inaugurated the short period of warmer relations. This however quickly faded away. The article is based on diplomatic documents from both countries.

Keywords: Wojciech Jaruzelski, Nicolae Ceauşescu, international relations, communism, Warsaw Pact, COMECON.


АNNA S. GLADYSHEVA, The Soviet Media on the Romanian Revolution of December 1989………157


This article is the first attempt made in history of the December Revolution of 1989 in Romania to present one of the most dramatic events in the world history in the late twentieth century based on the Soviet press. The author highlights questions, which are still disputable.

Keywords: Romania, Nicolae Ceauşescu, perestroika, Eastern Europe, Romanian Revolution of December 1989.


CONSTANTIN CORNEANU, December 1989. The Failure of the Romanian Elite...........................169


Ceausescu’s regime did not allow the existence of a “political opposition” in the Socialist Republic of Romania. The absence of a reforming political opposition was regarded by the Kremlin’s analysts as a key factor for keeping Nicolae Ceausescu in power. Col. (r) Filip Teodorescu, the former Chief assistant of DSS’ Third Direction, mentioned in his memories that unlike other socialist states, in Romania there wasn’t an organized dissident movement. Therefore the aim of the Ceausescu’s regime adversaries was exactly the one to create an opposing group meant to surface at the right moment with the purpose of promoting the overturning of power. The statements of Chief assistant of The III-rd Direction, Counter - intelligence of DSS rises a lot of questions with regards to so called „team of tomorrow” and to the lack of a real opposition inside R.C.P. blocked silently by DSS officers. The existing connections between some prominent members of the power groups could not sustain the idea of an organized plot, a coup d’état, be it classical or not. In December 1989, political, military and intelligence elite of the Socialist Republic of Romania not only failed to reform the system but it failed at creating even the premises for such a reformation. 

Keywords: Romania, Nicolae Ceauşescu, Mihai Gorbaciov, Soviet Union, Securitate, Soviet-Romanian Relations.


CIPRIAN BĂLĂBAN, Political Propaganda among the Religion in Romania, before and after 1989. The Case of Penticostal Denomination.....................................................................................................191


The present article is an analysis of how political propaganda was disseminated within the religious area from Romania during the communist period. This usually was done by inserting prasing articles to the "achievements" of the communist regime in publications of various religious denominations. Such articles were published regularly in religious journals of the time. To better understand the details of this politicization process of religious publications a depth analysis from this perspective is done on the Pentecostal Church Bulletin. Towards the end the article contains a brief analysis of political discourse in the religious met in Romania after the 1989 revolution and churches attitude towards the religious mix with politics.

Keywords: religion, political propaganda, communism, religious journals.


ANTOANETA OLTEANU, Russian Anti-Totalitarian Literature..........................................................201


The paper presents a general survey of Russian literature from the point of view of its antitotalitarian approach. The dissidence and protest in Russian literature is not for sure a event of 70s of 80s, but a sort of tradition from Imperial age. The paper aims to present esepecially the newest works published nowadays, which mark a sort of continuity of this process.

Keywords: Russian literature, antitotalitarian literature, contemporary prose, brief synopsis.


ADRIAN SOLOMON, Repression, Resistance, and Solidarity in Orwell’s Oceania and Communist Romania: A Situationist Perspective…………………………………………………………………..220


The powerful situational forces that crushed the resistance of the first generation under communism were no longer necessary against subsequent generations: they had activated self-protective needs that eventually led to conformity and weak forms of dissidence, such as “resistance through culture”. The absence of solidarity, one of the new situational forces, hampered dissent. Similar forces are at work in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, the world of Ingsoc-ruled Oceania and its heroes: Winston Smith, Julia, O’Brien, Big Brother. 

Keywords: systemic and situational forces, non-violent resistance under communism, absence of solidarity, George Orwell.



DOCUMENTS


IOAN CHIPER, MAGDALENA TIŢĂ, Gheorghi Dimitrov – Ana Pauker – Emil Bodnăraş: Inedited documents concerning internal situation of Romania and Romanian communist relations with Sofia and Moscow during spring 1945......................................................................................................................238


The present scientific approach is dedicated publishing two inedited documents detected within the funds of the Central State Archives-Sofija. First document is a letter of Ana Pauker (an outstanding leader of the Communist Party in Romania, that was in Moscow during the World War II) addressed to Gheorghi Dimitrov, chief of the International Information Department (OMI) (that continued disguisedly Comintern activity) besides the Central Commitee of the C.P.S.U.(b). The second documents is a relatively ample report concerning Situation in Romania, elaborated by Emil Bodnăraş on behalf of Communist Party in Romania leadership, in order to compare notes with Bulgarian communist leaders, in June 1945, about activity of the two parties in the existing political evolutions context in Romania and Bulgaria. In the preamble that anticipates the publishing of the documents the editors especially advert to importance of the organism leaded by notoriuos Bulgarian communist, Gheorghi Dimitrov (still in Moscow at that date) inside of the relations with Romanian communists. Regarding the second published document editors consider that it is noticeably because the realism and criticism of the analysis and for the novel informations and considerations being one of the most important document for knowing Romania's internal situation from a communist perspective during spring 1945.

Keywords: Gheorghi Dimitrov, Ana Pauker, Emil Bodnăraş, Communist Party in Romania, Soviet-Romanian Relations, Bulgarian-Romanian Relations.


SEBASTIAN MITRACHE, Romania and the Soviet Intervention against the Prague Spring. A NATO Assessment……………………………………………………………………………………………….255


The Soviet intervention, supported by four other Moscow’s allies, against the Prague Spring, occurred at a bad moment for the Western nascent policy of detente towards USSR. In NATO, this policy was encapsulated in the Harmel Report, adopted in 1967, that provided for both enhancing collective defence and promoting detente. Besides the messages of condemnation of the invasion, the NATO allies were cautious not to risk the chances for advancing detente towards Russia and the Warsaw Pact. The position taken by Romania following the intervention in Czechoslovakia was reflected in the NATO assessments and in the discussions, including at Ministerial level, on the crisis. The risks of a Soviet military action against Romania were also considered, but a key element in these assessments was that the Romanian leadership promoted a careful internal policy to avoid such a risk. At the same time, the allies had different opinions on the security implications for the Alliance of a Soviet military action against Romania. This study is based on documents from NATO Archives regarding the 1968 crisis, that reflect the approaches on Romania, including in a comparative manner with other countries under the risk to be targeted by Soviet military actions. 

Keywords: NATO, North-Atlantic Council, Political Committee, Warsaw Pact, Romania, Prague Spring, invasion, detente. 


BIOGRAPHIIES

IONUŢ-MARIAN FILIPESCU, Petre Borilă (1906-1973)....................................................................279


Based on archival sources recently released and on the second literature also, this article briefly underlines the most relevant points of Petre Borilă’s biography. A member of the inner circle of the communist power after 1945, Borilă had been a member of the illegal communist movement in interwar Romania. A Bulgarian from Cadrilater, a little province gained by Romania after the second Balkan War, in 1913, unsatisfied by the Romanian rule, he joined the Communist Party of Romania when he was 18 years old. Among many others party duties accomplished as a young professional revolutionary, he fought in the Spanish Civil War; he spent the Second World War in the Soviet Union, but after 1945, despite his common past with Ana Pauker and Vasile Luca, Borilă became one of the Gheorghiu Dej’s followers, political switch that allowed him to remain in power for a very long time. 

Keywords: Petre Borilă, Cadrilater, Spanish Civil War, „Tudor Vladimirescu Divizion“, Central Committee of the RCP.


CRISTIAN-ADELIN DUMITRU, Valter Roman (1913-1983)...............................................................281

Valter Roman (1913-1983)

Born in a Hungarian jewish family from Nagyvarad/Oradea Mare, in 1913, Valter Roman was a typical professional revolutionary. He joined the banned communist movement from interwar Romania in 1928, first as a follower. In 1931, when he was studying at Brno Polytechnic University, he became also a party member. After his return to Romania, he was imprisoned in 1934 for his political activity. When the Military Court sentenced him to 8 years, Valter Roman had already left Romania, for France. He fought in Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939. He spent the Second World War in the Soviet Union, where he worked mostly for the Third International. He returned in Romania in 1945, joined the Romanian Communist Party and held some middle-level positions within Party and State hierarchy. Until his pass-away, in 1983, he stood up for the communist idea, being a so-called „truly believer“.  

Keywords: International Brigades, Spanish Civil War, Comintern, „Horia, Cloşca şi Crişan“ Division, Hungarian Revolution of 1956.



POINTS OF VIEW


ALEXANDRU BADEA, Ion Mihalache (1882 - 1963). A Sketch of a Portrait......................................295


This paper contains a short description of the context and main influencing factors (events, people and situations) that have helped shaping some of the more prominent character traits of Ion Mihalache. His personality was the driving force that influenced Ion Michalache's whole public activity and political actions for the wellbeing of the Romanian people and his country, over a timeframe of five decades, until his death in the communist prisons.

Keywords: Ion Mihalache, political personalities, peasant movement, politics and morality.



© Institutul Naţional pentru Studiul Totalitarismului, 2015.


 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute of the Study of Totalitarianism 

Volume XXIII, Number 86-87, 1-2/2015


EDITORIAL


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XLIII. Mişu Benvenisti and his fellows…...........................................................................................................................................................5


This is a fragment of Radu Ciuceanu’s forthcoming memories book entitled La taină cu diavolul (Whispering to the Devil). It presents the moment of the arrival of the young political prisoner Radu Ciuceanu at the Văcăreşti hospital penitentiary, in 1956, and his meeting with important characters such as Mişu Benvenisti, an important leader of the Zionist movement in Romania. He holds a particular place in Radu Ciuceanu’s recollections.

Keywords: Romania, communism, Zionist movement, Văcăreşti hospital penitentiary.


STUDIES


ION CONSTANTIN, In Moscow’s Shadows. The Communist Party of Poland during interwar period, 1918-1937 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………16


This article aims to briefly encompass the history of communism in interwar Poland, since the foundation of the Communist Party of Poland, in 1918 until its disintegration during The Great Purges from 1936-1938. Based mostly on Polish literature on communism in interwar Poland, the paper overviews the most important moments of the Polish communist movement history, such as the communists during the Polish-Russian war from 1920, “the May 1926 mistake”, when the Party stood for marshal Józef Piłsudski’s coup d’etat etc. 

Keywords: The Communist Party of Poland, the Polish-Russian war from 1920, the Popular Front, the Great Purges, Adolf Warski, Julian Leński.


ANTOANETA OLTEANU, Common Luxury of Soviet Russia in the 1930’s.........................................28

The paper presents some characteristics of Soviet civilization. It also discuss about the life of udarniki and nomenklatura, but also of common people, on new products designed by the Stalin and his ideological team in their race against the Occidental way of life.

Keywords: Soviet civilization, Stalin’s reforms, common products vs. luxury products, Golden Age of Soviet life.

FLORIN GRECU, The Single-Party State under Charles the II. A Case Study: The Ministry of National Renaissance Front, 1938-1940...................................................................................................................38


The Organizational National Renaissance Front Ministry was created with purpose to control and manage the activity of the unique political organization and to administrate the state. The rivalry, under the New Regime was translated by the surveillance of the party and its members. All decisions were transmitted to the Ministry by a hierarchical scale, and the memos of the unique party superstructures were transmitted hierarchically. The political police of the unique party was realized through the Service of Information and Statistics. The set-ins in the NRF were approved by the Ministry, and those in leading positions by the political office of the regime, namely The Superior Commission, which was also politically appointed, its members were obliged to have the approval of King Charles the II, who was proclaimed the chief of the state unique political organization.

Keywords: Single Party, surveillance, political control, Organization Ministry of National Renaissance Front, C.C. Giurescu.


TATIANA V. VOLOKITINA, The Antifascist Coalition and Romania: The Preparation and the Signing of the September 1944 Armistice Agreement.................................................................................58


Following the military victories of the antifascist alliance, in 1943 Romania using diplomatic channels such as Cairo and Stockholm  started to inquire about the terms of its withdrawal from the war. The Great Britan and the United States were seen by the Bucharest leadership as the main guarantors for attaining the most favorable conditions until the advance of the Soviet troops on Romanian soil. However, the Western allies acknowledged the priority of Soviet interests in Romania and agreed on the preliminary conditions set by Moscow. These would represent the fundaments of the Agreement Armistice signed by Romania on 12 September 1944.

Keywords: World War II, Antifascist coalition, Soviet Union, Romania, 12 September 1944 Armistice Agreement.


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, Emil Bodnăraş and the struggle for power within the Romanian Communist Party, April 1944 – May 1952, I…………………………………………………………………………………..80


Emil Bodnăraş was one of the most mysterious characters of the Romanian communist regime. This mystery was kept alive by Emil Bodnăraş’ undisclosed relations with the Soviet intelligence and his own personal features. That often brought Bodnăraş in the midst of events central for the Romanian Communist Party and Romania, such as the overthrow of Antonescu’s regime, on 23 August 1944. This article follows the role played by Emil Bodnăraş during the RCP internal struggle for power, from the banishment of Ştefan Foriş, the secretary general of the party, on 4 April 1944, to the casting out of the „right deviationists” (Ana Pauker, Vasile Luca, Teohari Georgescu), in May 1952.

Keywords: Emil Bodnăraş, Romanian Communist Party, Soviet secret services, Gheorghiu-Dej, Ana Pauker, right deviation.


GHEORGHE ONIŞORU, Preliminaries to the Establishment of the Petru Groza Government, 

on March 6, 1945........................................................................................................................................94

The establishment of the Petru Groza Government, on March 6, 1945, opens a new stage in the contemporary history of Romania. Our study aims to underscore the manner in which ways the internal element played in the course of events after august 23, 1944 – despite the preponderence of th external factor. We've focused attention, justifiably, on the role played by the Communist Party which has evolved from a marginal political force on the Romanian political life, to the recognition by the democratic opposition during the preliminaries of the august 23, 1944. Of course I point out the fact that the whole political developments in Romania between august 23, 1944 and March 6, 1945 was under the Armistice of September 12, 1944, of the country's occupation by Soviet troops and, finally, the direct intervention of Stalin through its arm called Vyshinsky.

Keywords: communization, Romania, Petru Groza Government, Allied Control Commission, power seizing process.


MIHAI BURCEA, The career of a former NKVD agent during the years of "people's power" in Romania: Simion Babenco, I.....................................................................................................................113


In the 1920s and 1930s, the USSR dispatched hundreds of agents and couriers to Romania to take pulse of the society, the armed forces, the political Russian emigration to this country, as well as information about the leaders of the main parliamentary political parties. This study examines the case of such a spy (Simion Babenco) who was entrusted by the Soviet secret services to establish an informative residence in Moldova. Babenco was supposed to gather information, via recruited Romanian citizens, about the Romanian units quartered in the garrisons of Buzău and Focşani. Unfortunately for him, Babenco was arrested by the Siguranţă in the summer of 1939, just few weeks after crossing the border illegally. He was tried by a military tribunal and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for attempted espionage. During detention, he meets the future leader of the Romanian Workers' Party, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, as well as other Soviet spies captured on Romanian ground, most of whom had been around Dej during detention and after communists seized power. The political fate of Babenco after August 23, 1944 was deeply influenced by the proximity to Dej and his entourage.       

Keywords: network, espionage, informer, communism, nomenclature.


FLORIAN BANU, From cooperation to isolation. The Securitate relations with similar Secret Services in WTO countries, 1955-1989, I................................................................................................................125


Our study aims to be an analysis of the evolution of relations between the Security and counterparts from other socialist States Member of the Warsaw Pact. Based on the information provided by the Securitate’s archive documents, but also those from similar archives, available on-line or in volumes of documents, we track these relationships since the 50's through to the collapse of communism in Europe in 1989.

The analysis conducted led us to the conclusion that these relations were quite sinuous, ranging from diversified forms of cooperation, in the first two decades of the interval, moving through a “cooling” institutional relations, to enter in the 80’s, a phase marked by a barely disguised hostility.

Keywords: Securitate, Romania, secret services, communism, Warsaw Pact, intelligence.


ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, The Romanian Communist Party at Its 9th Congress, July 1965: Modernization or Bureaucratism..............................................................................................................146


Between 19 and 24 July 1965, in Bucharest took place the 9th Congress of the Romanian Communist Party. The first party congress of Nicolae Ceauşescu as national leader was held only months after Gheorghiu-Dej’s death. The new Central Committee elected in 1965 gathered both old guard Communists and newcomers from economical and technical milieu, showing for the first time the ongoing industrialization of Romania decided in Gheorghiu-Dejs’ final years.

Keywords: Romanian Communist Party, Party congress, Central Committee, Nicolae Ceauşescu, modernization.


ELENA NEGRU, Soviet-Romanian Historiographical Confrontations in 1960’s – 1980’s................159


The Soviet-Romanian historiographical confrontation was the basic element of the propagandistic war initiated by the USSR in 1965 against the “special course” of the RSR leadership. The CC of the CPSU and the CC of the CPM approved a series of “strictly classified” decisions that, on one side, disavowed the works of Romanian historians and sociologists, and on the other, foresaw the writing and publishing by Soviet researchers of multiple works that had to reflect “correctly” the “problem of Bessarabia”, Russian- and Soviet-Romanian relations. The documents were sketching wide counter-propagandistic actions, in order to indoctrinate ideologically the Romanians from the MSSR and RSR. During the first stage of this confrontation (1965-1975), RSR historians’ approach was considered similar to the “bourgeois” one and labeled as “revisionist”, “nationalist” and “anti-Soviet”. During the second stage (1976-1981), the apogee of the confrontation, they were labeled as “territorial claims towards USSR”. During the third stage (1982-1985), another peak moment, the Soviet historiography was enlisted to counteract the “new historical conception” of the RSR.

Keywords: propagandistic war, historiographical confrontation, Soviet-Romanian relations, Romania.


CRISTINA PETRESCU, Aktionsgruppe Banat Reconstructs Its Past, I: Personal Memories and Collective Identity………………………………………………………………………………………..180


This study represents the first part of an analysis focusing on Aktionsgruppe Banat and its members’ endeavors to reconstruct their pre-1989 common past. Based on memory sources, this first part illustrates that the members of this non-conformist group have not recently recalled their experience under Romanian communism in order to turn themselves retrospectively into dissidents. Instead, they have jointly conveyed the memory of a “collective author” with a unique identity in Ceauşescu’s Romania. As the present study argues, this uniqueness derives not only from the different ethno-cultural origin of the group members, but also from their specific literary program and indeed atypical political convictions.  

Keywords: Aktionsgruppe Banat, memory, ethno-cultural identity, censorship, reform communism, dissent.


ALEKSANDR S. STYKALIN, The New Soviet Approach of the 1956 Hungarian Crisis in the context of the reevaluation of the „Brezhnev Doctrine” at the end of the 80’s and the beginning of the 1990’s..........................................................................................................................................................194


The author focuses on the evolution of the Soviet official view on the 1956 Hungarian events during Gorbachev’s “perestroika” and in connection with the breakdown of Communism in Central-Eastern Europe.

The military intervention of five Warsaw Treaty-states against the „Prague Spring” in august 1968 was theoretically fundamented through the so-called „Brezhnev Doctrine”.

That was gradually abandoned by the Soviet leadership during the 1980’s and mostly during Gorbachev’s perestroika. Simultaneously a reevaluation of the Soviet official position towards the 1956 Hungarian Revolution occurred. The process reached its climax  at the end of the 1980’s in the context of the breakdown of the Socialist bloc.

Keywords: Hungary, Hungarian events of 1956, Gorbachev, Eastern-Central Europe of 1989.


MIHAELA ŞIMONCA, Norman Manea – Personal History as a Premise for Fiction. The Holocaust, Communism, Exile as Collective Drama Sublimated through Writing.................................................214


When Norman Manea left Romania for Germany in 1986, he was already an established Romanian writer. Two years later he immigrated to the United States of America and ever since he has published ten more volumes. He is currently living in New York, teaching literature at Bard College.

Manea’s fiction and non-fiction books published in the United States relate closely to the concepts of history, memory and totalitarianism. The year 1986 was a turning point in his writing. Whereas America gave him the chance to reach a new fiction level, his biography became a crucial source of inspiration for his work.

His whole literary trajectory during his exile represents a process of memory incitement, of self-discovery at different ages; by narrating himself, the author bears witness to the violence and destruction caused by both forms of totalitarianism – Nazism and Communism. Using language as an ally to anamnesis, Norman Manea descends into his own past and rediscovers his identity. His memories represent the raw material for a literature that brings together stories of three fundamental experiences: Nazism (with its dehumanizing corollary, the Holocaust), communism (with the White Clown’s perverse pleasure in “order and discipline”) and exile, with language displacement.

Keywords: Norman Manea, The Hooligan’s Return, identity, history, memory, exile, communism, totalitarianism, anamnesis.



DOCUMENTS


CRISTINA DIAC, The Communists from Romania in the Comintern Archives: Béla Breiner and the members of the Communist Party of Romania during the Great Terror, 1936-1938………………….237


Béla Breiner was one of the leaders of the Communist Party of Romania during interwar. A volunteer in the Hungarian Red Army during 1918-1919, Béla Breiner was active in Romania, where he became a member of the CPR in September 1923. Following his activity in the communist movement,  Breiner was imprisoned for eight years  (1926-1931, 1932-1935). In December 1931, at the V-th Congress of the Communist Party of Romania, he was elected member of the Central Committee. From 1937 to his death, in 1940, Béla Breiner was the leader of the Secretariat of the Central Committee, an operative structure of the Communist Party of Romania that acted as a section of the abroad Politburo.

This article publishes for the first time several documents from the Comintern Archives in Moscow. The documents were drafted by Béla Breiner during 1935-1938 and they bring a significant contribution to the understanding of the functioning of the Communist Party of Romania during interwar, of its relations to the Comintern, as well as the relations between the members of CPR in the late 1930’s.

Keywords: Comintern, Communist Party of Romania, Béla Breiner, Great Terror.


VASILE BUGA, A holiday meeting. The minutes of the Crimean Talks between Ceauşescu and Brejnev,  3 August 1976...........................................................................................................................260


In the summer of 1976, Nicolae Ceauşescu spent several days of his holiday in Yalta, Crimeea. On 3 August he had a short meeting with Soviet secretary general Leonid Brejnev, who was the host. The talks were held in a relaxed atmosphere which was made possible by the recent public declarations of the Romanian Communist leader who acknowledged there were no territorial issues between the two countries. The meeting showed the two leaders were eager to improve the relations between their countries and parties although disagreements persisted, such as the collaboration of the Balkan countries, the sino-soviet dispute, and some issues of their common history.

Keywords: Nicolae Ceauşescu, Leonid Brejnev, Soviet-Romanian relations, Yalta, Crimeea.



BIOGRAPHIES


MIHAI BURCEA, Ion Anton Vidraşcu (1905-1978)..............................................................................279


Below we present a former Soviet spy captured in Romania in the 1930s, and his political transmogrification within the structures of the popular democratic regime. It is the case of Ukrainian born Ion Anton Vidraşcu, an unqualified worker with a poor education who deserted the Romanian Army in the USSR after a quarrel with an officer (1929). "In the motherland of workers and peasants", Vidraşcu will be recruited by the secret services and sent to Romania on some spying missions. He was caught by the Siguranţa few years later, trialed and sentenced to 10 years of prison for espionage. During detention he meets with the future communist leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, a biographical episode that will bring a major change to his political and professional career after August 23, 1944.

Keywords: spy, penitentiary, camp, escape, communism.


© Institutul Naţional pentru Studiul Totalitarismului, 2015.

 






Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute of the Study of Totalitarianism 

Volume XXII, Number 84-85, 3-4/2014


EDITORIAL


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XLII: A 100 Years from the Crucial Romanian Crown Council.............................................................................................................................................................5



The article consists in the reflections of the author regarding the events that led to World War I. That was a war that ended a civilisation and marked the beginning of a turmoil in which the entire world was thrown into. Also, the author discusses the meanings of two crucial events: the visit of the Russian imperial family in Romania, on June 1, 1914, and the talks held in the Romanian Crown Council regarding the choosing of the political alliance – Antanta or the Central Powers. 

Keywords: World War I, Romania, Russia, Austro-Hungary, Germany.



STUDIES


Cosmin Popa, Soviet Technological “Revolution” and the Development of Military Industrial Complex, 1945-1953.......................................................................................................................................................15


Immediately after the end of the Second World War, under the strong influence of the atomic bombing of Japan, the Soviet Union implemented a complex program with the purpose of upgrading the technology of the Red Army. The atomic bomb, the construction of reactive armament and the anti-missile shield were among the pillars of the program for remilitarization of an important part of the soviet post-war economy. 

Being sure that the Soviet Union can only keep its war conquests by reaching the same level of military potential as the USA, Stalin began from 1945 an arming race, while subordinating the economic reconstruction of the country to its military objectives. The immediate result was the reaching of a superior level of technology in the construction of military gear, but also the foundation of a grand military industrial complex, which would substantially slow down the economic development of the civic society. In this way, the cohesion of a society which barely made it through the war and which was waiting for a set of reforms to relax the limits of the system was greatly damaged. Since the first years of the post-war era, while being sustained by an unbalanced economy and an exhausted society, the soviet military industrial complex has proved to be a much too heavier burden for the system as a whole.

While gaining the Superpower status, exclusively because of the force of its army, Stalin would condemn the soviet communism and not only to a longstanding economic and social downfall, which would only be toned down by the ignorance of the West and the chance of the international economic cycles, but which would never stop entirely. 

Keywords: USSR, USA, Beria, Malenkov, Saburov, Stalin, weapons, atomic project, missiles, investments, intelligence, Nazism, military industrial complex, Soviet society, science.



ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, The Central Committee of the Romanian Workers Party Plenum of 10-11 June 1948........................................................................................................................................35


The first plenum of the newly reorganized Romanian Workers Party, after the annexation of the former Social-Democratic Party by the Romanian Communists. The gathering had one major topic on the agenda: massive nationalization of industry, banks, transportation etc., as the last step in the consolidation of the Communist regime. The next day, the Government legalized the confiscation of economic assets, so the meeting was kept secret.

Keywords: Romanian Communist Party, nationalization, Sovietization of Romania, Central Committee, party apparatus.


MARIUS TĂRÎŢĂ, The preliminaries to the activity of Leonid I. Brezhnev at Chişinău in July 1950-September 1952..............................................................................................................................................38


This paper deals with the cadre replacement inside the C.C. of the C.(b)P. from Moldova from July 1950 till September 1952, when L.I. Brezhnev (who replaced the local N.G. Koval) held the position of the first secretary. Among the problems the Party faced during that years were: the protectionism in several institutions, the fail of the personnel policy, the corruption, the technical problems in Agriculture and Party’s education (e.g. in Orhey and Synzherey) in the province. The changes of the Party’s most active members were significant – e.g. 34 of 71 members of CC of C(b)P from Moldova elected in February 1949 weren’t reelected at the Party’s Congress on the 1st of April 1951.

Keywords: Moldavian SSR, C.(b)P. from Moldova, Leonid I. Brezhnev, purge, cadre replacement, political section.


ANASTASIA KONOHOVA, Socialist thrust of the dissident movement in the Soviet Union

during the 1950s - 1960s................................................................................................................................56


The article is devoted to the beginning of dissident movement in the USSR in the second part of 1950s. The author tells about response of soviet youth to the XX conference of CPSS and destalinization. The author concentrates attention on clandestine dissident groups, which appeared after the moment when society realized that soviet leaders didn’t going to reform the state. Analyzing dissidents’ programs and worldview, the author makes conclusion, that the biggest part of dissidents in 1950s – 1960s were influenced by soviet propaganda and ideas of communism. The article is based on documents of the Party and Komsomol from St.Petersburg state archives, interviews with former dissidents, memories.

Keywords: dissident movement, inakomislie, the “Thaw”, soviet students, XX conference of CPSS.



GHEORGHE COJOCARU, Nikita Khruschev’s policy of “thaw” and the Bessarabian Question…………………………………………………………………………………………………….67


After the Secret Report, read by the Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev at the 20th Communist Congress in 1956, an illusion of liberalism appear in the Soviet Union. Among others, cultural ties between Romanian People’s Republic and the Soviet Moldova started. After few years, these actions were seen as nationalistic propaganda. However, it was a new start for the old Bessarabian question to be raised in the billateral discussions between Romania and the USSR.

Keywords: Nikita Khruschev, Soviet détente, Soviet Moldova, socialist culture, Karl Marx.


DUMITRU LĂCĂTUŞU, The Biography of a Securitate Leader: Colonel Gheorghe Enoiu..............................................................................................................................................................79


This article examines the biography of Gheorghe Enoiu, director of the Penal Investigation Department of the Securitate, between 1963 and 1967, and one of the most notorious torturers from  the Romanian Communist Regime. His celebrity is a consequence of the many penal investigations he conducted in his career. This study is structured in five parts (Gheorghe Enoiu – biographical aspects, The Portrait of Gheorghe Enoiu into the documents, The Penal Investigations of Gheorghe Enoiu, Justifying the crimes, and the End of a career). These sections present and analyse the most important biographical data regarding Gheorghe Enoiu, his biographical and professional trajectory, the way he was portrayed in documents by those who knew him, his main penal inquiries. In the „Justifying the crimes” section, Gheorghe Enoiu’s motives for his crimes were analysed and the last part depicts the closure of his career as a member of the Securitate.

Keywords: political biography, torturer, Gheorghe Enoiu, penal investigations, Securitate, communist repression.



CSONGOR JÁNOSI, The Extraordinary Life of An Ordinary Man. Árpád Mózes Szabó, 1927-1987, II…………………………………………………………………..………………………………………...91

This paper sets out to offer insight into the tragic destiny of a man who was always in search of a life with better perspectives, dissatisfied with what fate had in store for him, refusing the conventional ways and means to accommodate to the society of the time. The false interpretation of the possibilities of gaining recognition, the illegal ways chosen to reach his goals, left their mark on the subsequent life of the young man who at the age of 30 was awaiting the execution of death sentence and already had multiple experiences related to the prisons of the regimes behind the Iron Curtain. These antecedents, corroborated with the obvious repulsion toward the Communist regime have diminished his possibilities of existence, leaving him no other choice after his imprisonment than to struggle for survival within the system network. The almost two decades of cooperation with the Romanian secret police – although it brought him employment, place of residence, a more decent family life, travels abroad, personal success –, eventually became unbearable and he finally chose to emigrate. 

In the interpretation of events we have leaned mainly on the personal informative files, network files and investigation files kept at the Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security and at the National Council for Research of Securitate Archives, on information obtained with the help of the oral history method, and last, but not least, on the documents kept by family members.

Keywords: microhistory, communist regime, secret police agencies, illegal border cross, counterrevolutionary activities, life of informant, emigration.



CRISTIAN TRONCOTĂ, December 1989. Sibiu’ Massacre...............................................................108


In the period between 21st and 31st of December 1989 in the martyr city of Sibiu there were registered more than 102 victims, among which 25 were officers and noncommissioned officers of the Militia, two employees of the Securitate, 4 military representatives from the Ministry of National Defense (three of them have shot one another) and almost 300 wounded persons, a lot of material and cultural loses which could not be evaluated and an undetermined number  of people traumatized for the rest of their lives. Numerous buildings in the city have been destroyed, some of them being attacked with heavy military equipment under the accusation that they were hiding terrorists. It is not hard to imagine how a city were the army has used shootings looked like. In ten days not less than two million sleeves and missiles of all kinds have been used in this context. The events that took place in December 1989 in Sibiu demonstrate in the most convincing way that the repression against the population, the diversions, the massacres and acts of terrorism were not done by the Securitate officers. 

Keywords: Romania, 1989 Revolution, Repression, Securitate.


CRISTINA PREUTU, Personnel Files of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party, 1945-1989....................................................................................................................................................121


Cadres has been one of the main Sections of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party. In order to highlight the importance of this Section in the political structures, the study aims to analyze its organizational development in the Romanian communist regime. I also analyzed its main duties, in order to reveal the contribution of this political structure in imposing the control and order over the society.   

Keywords: Communist Regime, Control, Cadres, Repression, Romanian Communist Party.


DRAGOŞ PETRESCU, State against the Citizens and Citizens against the State: Repression and Insurgent Violence in Communist Romania, 1945–1989..........................................................................125

The present study addresses two interrelated issues concerning political violence, namely, state repression or state against the citizens, and insurgent violence or citizens against the state, for the case of communist Romania. In general, insurgent violence represented an answer to state repression. Over the entire communist period, that is, March 1945–December 1989, the patterns of state repression and insurgent violence resulted from attitudinal and behavioral patterns that characterized the functioning of a triangular relational nexus, namely, regime–society–Soviet Union. These attitudinal and behavioral patterns emerged as a result of the successive transformations of the Stalinist model imposed on the Romanian society from “abroad and above” in the aftermath of World War II.

Keywords: State repression, insurgent violence, bloody revolution, communism, Romania.


FLORIN ABRAHAM, To Collaborate and to Punish. Democracy and transitional justice in Romania…………………………………………………………………………………………………...142


In all ex-communist states the issue of citizens collaborating with secret services proved to be very sensitive, as it discusses the moral identity of individuals and, step by step, that of larger communities. The resolution of the collaborators’ issue followed in countries such as the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania the German model of „Gauck Office” (BStU). In Romania, it witnessed significant transformations following decisions of the Constitutional Court, which altered the role of CNSAS (2008, 2012).  The study is focused in two main topics. The first refers to the institutional analysis of CNSAS, aiming at several sub-topics: i) institutional transformations from the 1999-2013 period, from the perspective of democratization through transitional justice; ii) defining types of “collaboration” with the Securitate, according to actors categories, following legislative changes; iii) the impact of the Constitutional Court decisions upon CNSAS accomplishment of evidences concerning the statute of Securitate “collaborator”. The second topic refers to the effects of collaborating with the Securitate in the public opinion. To this end, some cases will be analyzed, in order to emphasize the plural and contradictory character of public perception concerning collaboration with the Securitate.  

Keywords: CNSAS, democratization, Romania, transitional justice, Securitate.


DOCUMENTS


CRISTINA DIAC, Communist Party of Romania’s Leaders in the Archive of Comintern: Al. Daneliuk-Ştefanski…………………………………………………………………………………………………..165


This paper tries to fill in at least a few of the many gaps in the biography of Al. Daneliuk-Ştefanski, the fourth general secretary of the Communist Party of Romania (C.P.R.). Romanian-language sources devote little space to that communist leader. The document above-published is an autobiography from Daneliuk-Ştefanski’s personal file existing in the archival fund related to R.C.P. from the Archive of the Comintern. In order to introduce the document, I presented the state of the art in Romanian historiography about Daneliuk-Ştefanski and I described the major parts of the document placing it into the historical context. Resuming, the document focuses mainly on the early years of his political carrier, when he lived in the pre-revolutionary and revolutionary Russia. 

Keywords: Al. Daneliuk-Ştefanski, Autobiography, Communist Party of Romania, Communist Party of Poland, Comintern, Great Purge.


OCTAVIAN ROSKE, Memories of Collectivization in Romania............................................................179


In 1992 The Commission for the Investigation of Abuses and Petitions, Chamber of Deputies, started to collect information about the collectization campaign in Romania (1949-1962). The investigation looked for abuses committed during the campaign by representatives of local authority, party members, Militia and Securitate officers. The documents contain the answers of a victim of repression. 

Keywords: Collectivization, repression, resistance.


ŞTEFN BOSOMITU, Another failed de-stalinization. A Memorandum of the Independent Communist Party, 15 May 1958......................................................................................................................................189


The historiography of the Soviet type communist regimes granted special attention to the repressive dimension of these regimes, which was often associated to the totalitarian terror, whose purpose was the destruction of the old society and all forms of opposition adjacent to it, with the aim to establish a new order. But the dynamics of Stalinist terror did not only targeted the opponents or the class enemies. Just as frequently, the attention of those who were monitoring the perils that could affect the party, focused also onto their own cadres. Communist parties developed organizational structures the purpose of which was the internal surveillance of everything it could turn into a deviation from the rules imposed by Party line, thus becoming a threat. These institutions evolved as tools of control of the sociopolitical body of the Party, often endowed with discretionary powers, as to decide the exclusion from the Party ranks (purges), and even violent later repercussions (repression).

The present paper canvasses an important chapter of the Romanian Workers Party’s purge history, by bringing into discussion an yet unknown document – a memorandum of a what seems to be an underground party structure, which entitles itself as the “Central Committee of the Communist Independent Party”. 

Keywords: Romanian Workers Party, Independent Communist Party, illegalists, purges, repression, memorandum.


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, At the crossroads. Romanian-Soviet Relations after the invasion of Czechoslovakia, August-September 1968..............................................................................................................................202


The condemning by the Romanian authorities of the military intervention in Czechoslovakia, on 21 august 1968, led to an escalation of tension in Romanian-Soviet relations. For the first time after the Communist regime was set up in Romania, Bucharest leaders considered a military confrontation with Eastern big brother. The document we publish is a monitoring of Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding Romanian-Soviet Relations between 21 August-13 September 1968, a climax of tension between the two countries.

Keywords: communism, 1968, Czechoslovakian crisis, Romanian-Soviet relations, military intervention, diplomacy.


VASILE BUGA, A new Romanian-Soviet high level clash. The minutes of talks in Moscow, 19 May 1970, II ........................................................................................................................................................211


The article presents the minutes of Romanian-Soviet Talks in Moscow, in May 1970. The meeting was organized at Romanian initiative and aimed at discussing sensitive issues in economic bilateral cooperation, and divergences between the two parts in foreign relations and with the international communist movement. The Soviet part used the opportunity to rise past Romanian political stands such as the establishing of diplomatic relations with the Federal Republic of Germany, in 1967, Romanian apart stand in the Middle East crisis in 1967, the Czechoslovakian crisis in August 1968, the Sino-Soviet conflict, the visit of president Richard Nixon in Bucharest, in August 1989, and the Romanian opening to the West. The two parts came to an agreement and they decided on the signing of a new Treaty of friendship, collaboration and mutual assistance in July 1970.

Keywords: Romanian-Soviet relations, Nicolae Ceauşescu, Leonid Brejnev, Warsaw Treaty, COMECON, international communist movement.


CONSTANTIN MORARU, Romania and the Jewish emigration. Washington discussions between Nicolae Ceauşescu and American Jewish Organizations, 11 June 1975.................................................242


Within Romanian-American political agenda, the topic of Jewish emigration was granted special attention. The matter was discussed with Jewish organizations in the USA, especially in 1970’s and it was motivated by the Romanian interest in obtaining Most Favoured Nation clause. 

The document we published is the minutes of 11 June 1975 meeting in Washington between Nicolae Ceauşescu and representatives of American Jewish Organizations, given their known influence both within Administration and Congress.

Keywords: Romania, Jewish emigration, American Jewish Organizations, MFN clause, Nicolae Ceauşescu.


ANA-MARIA CĂTĂNUŞ, C.I.A., Radio Free Europe and Romania. An 1981 „Securitate” Analysis........................................................................................................................................................252


The document we publish is an analysis drafted by U.M. 0544 (Foreign Intelligence of the Securitate). It reflects the objectives of Ronald Reagan administration towards the Soviet Union and its allies. Drafted in September 1981, the analysis indicates the C.I.A. as the primary intelligence service to influence the development of dissent in Romania. According to the document, C.I.A. objectives were to be implemented through the broadcastings of Radio Free Europe and undercover agents. 

Keywords: C.I.A., Romania, Securitate, Radio Free Europe, psychological war.




© Institutul Naţional pentru Studiul Totalitarismului, 2014.



 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute of the Study of Totalitarianism 

Volume XXII, Number 82-83, 1-2/2014


EDITORIAL


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XLI: Ştefan Neniţescu..................................................................5


This is a fragment from Radu Ciuceanu’s Memories, volume V, forthcoming at N.I.S.T. Ştefan Neniţescu was a Romanian briliant poet, art critic, diplomat, and an economist during interwar. In 1949, he was arrested by the Communists and sentenced to forced life labor. Young Radu Ciuceanu met him in 1956, at Văcăreşti hospital penitentiary (in Bucharest). The author was highly influenced by the worldwide culture of Ştefan Neniţescu.

Keywords: communism, Romania, repression, Ştefan Neniţescu, Văcăreşti.



STUDIES


SVETLANA SUVEICĂ, A Russian Diplomat in Bucharest: S.A. Poklevski-Koziell and the ‘Bessarabian Cause’, 1919-1920…………………………………………………………………………...10


The article sheds light on the activity of the Russian ambassador to Bucharest, Stanislav A. Poklevski-Koziell, in the immediate period after World War I. The diplomat considered that the Bolshevik danger was a priority which should motivate the former war allies Romania and Russia to support each other, despite the dispute over Bessarabia. Poklevski believed in the return of the region back to Russia and, in the period when at the Paris peace conference the fate of the former Russia’s Western borderlands was decided, supported with materials  the Russian political émigrés and diplomats as well the Bessarabians who propagated for the “Bessarabian cause”. At the same time, Poklevski opted for a more pragmatic behaviour of the Kolchak government in Romania. He believed that Denikin’s declaration on abstaining from any act of hostility toward Romania and compliance with the future decision of the Peace conference in regard to Bessarabia will ensure the support of Romania in the fight against the Bolsheviks.

Keywords: Borderland, Bessarabia, Russian Whites, Romania, S.A. Poklevski-Koziell.



CSONGOR JÁNOSI, The Extraordinary Life of An Ordinary Man. Árpád Mózes Szabó, 1927-1987, I……………………………………………………………………..………………………………………...31

This paper sets out to offer insight into the tragic destiny of a man who was always in search of a life with better perspectives, dissatisfied with what fate had in store for him, refusing the conventional ways and means to accommodate to the society of the time. The false interpretation of the possibilities of gaining recognition, the illegal ways chosen to reach his goals, left their mark on the subsequent life of the young man who at the age of 30 was awaiting the execution of death sentence and already had multiple experiences related to the prisons of the regimes behind the Iron Curtain. These antecedents, corroborated with the obvious repulsion toward the Communist regime have diminished his possibilities of existence, leaving him no other choice after his imprisonment than to struggle for survival within the system network. The almost two decades of cooperation with the Romanian secret police – although it brought him employment, place of residence, a more decent family life, travels abroad, personal success –, eventually became unbearable and he finally chose to emigrate. 

In the interpretation of events we have leaned mainly on the personal informative files, network files and investigation files kept at the Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security and at the National Council for Research of Securitate Archives, on information obtained with the help of the oral history method, and last, but not least, on the documents kept by family members.

Keywords: microhistory, communist regime, secret police agencies, illegal border cross, counterrevolutionary activities, life of informant, emigration.


MIHAELA MUSTĂŢEA, Italy and the Failure of the European Defence Community, 1950-1954.......52

The European Defence Community (E.D.C.) was a French initiative in the first years of the 1950s. Based on the plan of the French Prime Minister, René Pleven, the Pleven Plan proposed the creation of a European army, with the involvement of German units, to be placed under a single military and political European authority. This proposal sparked  a little enthusiasm in Italy, and even more it was regarded as a French strategy to delay the German militarization. Italy’s role in the negotiations was minor. The failure to ratify the new European Community by the French Parliament in 1954 left this project of defence integration stillborn, but paved the way for another solution for the rearmament of Germany: the creation of Western European Union (WEU), as a subgroup of NATO, including Germany and Italy. Also, after the failure of EDC it began a diplomatic process which led to the settling of Trieste issue.

Keywords: The European Defence Community, Italy, rearmament of Germany, the Pleven Plan, Trieste.


LIU YONG, Romania and Sino-Soviet Relations Moving Towards Split, 1960-1965...............................65

To research on the splitting process of Sino-Soviet relations, Romania and Sino-Romanian relations in the same period cannot be ignored. Romania mainly played the following roles in splitting of Sino-Soviet relations: in the early stages of Sino-Soviet relations’ deterioration, Romania basically followed the Soviet Union to criticize and siege China so as to slight Sino-Romanian relations. With the growing tension between Romania and the Soviet, Romania actively closed with China and tried to take advantage of Sino-Soviet contradictions to contend with the Soviet, which made Sino-Soviet relations into the triangular relations among the three countries, and, to some extent, slowed the momentum of Sino-Soviet relations’ rapid deteriorating. In early 1964, Romania tried to mediate in Sino-Soviet polemics and turned out to be in vain. Nevertheless, it formed a close relationship between China and Romania. Later the Romanian Workers' Party (RWP) published "Declaration of Independence", forming its own independent foreign policy, and observed neutrality in Sino-Soviet conflicts more strictly.

Keywords: Romania; Sino-Romanian Relations; Sino-Soviet Polemics; Sino-Soviet Relations.


PETRE OPRIŞ, Tests of the Regime from Bucharest on Acquisition of „Boeing” Airliners, 1964-1974………………………………………………………………………………………………………....81

In 1964, some representants of the Romanian „Tarom” company were interested by the technique performances of „Boeing-727” American airliner and „Caravelle 10 R” French aircraft. Ten years later, the Romanian authorities purchased six „Boeing-707” airliners from the United States. Two of these were made in VIP version and used by the Romanian President, Nicolae Ceauşescu.

Keywords: airliner, Boeing, Ceauşescu, Communism, William Crawford, Richard Nixon, Romania, USA.


OVIDIU BOZGAN, Romania’s relations with Imperial Iran, 1965-1968, III……………...……………93

Iran became in the years 1965-1978 one of Romania’s most important economic partners, and their politico-diplomatic relationships have been remarkably intense. In order to explain, in an argumentative manner, the Romanian-Iranian politics, this study aims to present these countries’ bilateral relations in a wider context, taking into account both Iran’s domestic and foreign policy. 

Although an autocratic, dictatorial regime, according to many Western voices, Iran, at the shah’s initiative, has known since 1963 – the year of the referendum that approved the ’White Revolution’ – a series of reforms meant to foster social and economic modernization. The eradication of obsolete economic and social structures, the campaign for alphabetization, the investments in education, the establishment of a modern industry, but also the formal maintenance of its parliamentary regime and multi-party system, have turned Iran into a respectable partner, compatible, in some respects, with the politics embraced by the Romanian communist regime in a recent past, aspects of which are still continued. 

The investigation of Iran’s foreign policy plays a major role in deciding the position adopted by the Romanian authorities. A crucial aspect, bearing directly on Romania’s options for foreign policy, is represented by Iran’s relations with the USSR, systematically followed by the Romanian diplomacy. The improvement of the Soviet-Iranian relations after 1962 represents the elimination of any risk for Bucharest in undertaking political relations with Iran. Of course, by comparison, Romanian diplomacy is also interested in the relations Iran has developed with countries from the Soviet bloc. 

Undoubtedly, the amelioration of its relations with the USSR and the Eastern Europe, provided Iran with an instrument for increasing the autonomy of its own foreign policy, granting it room for maneuver in its relations with the West and especially the USA, which had to respond more promptly to Teheran’s requests. Despite some fluctuations, Iran remains and wants to be recognized by the USA as its main ally in the Gulf region. 

It is in this context, diligently analyzed by the Romanian diplomacy, that the intensification of Romania’s relations with Iran can be placed. Generally, both states were interested in developing bilateral relations, their motivations being primarily economic. Romania was interested in the Iranian oil, in order to avoid relying too much on Soviet hydro carbonates, as the other states in the Soviet Bloc did, under otherwise advantageous conditions, and Iran could benefit from economic and technological cooperation, on several levels, and to which Romania was willing to commit. 

The series of visits they paid each other – the 1965 visit of the Romanian Prime Minister that resulted in the signing of a framework agreement for future economic, technological, and scientific cooperation, which Iran fulfilled through oil delivery, the shah’s visit in 1966, the visits between the two governments, in particular the visits of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, the establishment of a joint ministerial commission in 1966 for the systematization and promotion of economic relations – all demonstrate the amplitude of the Romanian-Iranian politics. The scope of the study is limited to the year 1968, when the first Iranian oil deliveries arrive in Romania. In any case, the 1965-1968 period comprises all the elements – including the instruments for bilateral cooperation – that explain the fast evolution of the Romanian-Iranian relations in the decade that follows. 

Keywords:  cooperation, industrialization, Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Aryamehr, oil, Romania, USA, USSR.


ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, National Conference of the Romanian Communist Party, 17-21 October 1945……………………………………………………………………………………………....117

Between 17 and 21 October 1945, in Bucharest took place the conference of Romanian Communist Party. It was the first non-underground conference of the RCP, since 1924 when the Communist Party has been outlawed by the Government. In the fall of 1945, heavily dependent on Soviet Army support, the Party ran the Government and prepared itself for assuming full control of the State. The National Conference established a new Central Committee, adopted a new internal regulation and express its views on issues as: land confiscation, nationalization of industry, participation in the next elections etc.

Keywords: Romanian Communist Party, communization of Romania, Party congress, Central Committee, Soviet Army.


ALEXANDRA TOADER, Mass Political Agitation……………………………………………………..121


The main purpose of this study is to highlight the particularities of political agitation during the Romanian communist regime. More specifically, it analyzes the manner in which the propagandistic discourse defined the term, and the forms in which it has been applied from top to bottom. In other words, the article underlines the content and purpose of the political agitation and points out the propagandistic veil build around the importance of this mobilizing action.

Keywords: political agitation, propaganda, agitators, Sector of Propaganda and Agitation, communist regime.



DOCUMENTS


CRISTINA DIAC, Comunists from Romania in the Archive of the Comintern: Boris Ştefanov’s Case………………………………………………………………………………………………………..125


This paper aims to bring into the light Boris Ştefanov’s biography. Born in 1883, at Kotel-Bulgaria, Ştefanov was the fifth Communist Party of Romania’s Secretary, leading the Party from 1934 to 1940. His political engagement had started in “Narrow Socialists” Party when the Cadrilater, the native Ştefanov’s land, was ceded to Romania, in 1913. After that, he joined the Romanian Socialist Party, on whose list he was elected in 1920 as a member of the Romanian Parliament. In the early 20thies, he lived and worked in Romania, but in Bulgaria, Austria and Soviet Union also. Arrested in 1926, he was sentenced to eight years in prison. He left Romania in 1933 and had never came back. 

Some parts of Ştefanov’s biography can be known from Romanian archives, especially those related to his carrier in the Communist Party of Romania. His Bulgarian background, and also his political carrier as a functionary in the apparatus of Comintern are hard to be known just appealing to Romanian sources. 

This paper had two parts. The first one creates a short portrait of Boris Ştefanov, based on both archival and secondary sources. The second one is an autobiography written by Ştefanov in 1936, when he was in Prague, holding the highest dignity among Romanian communists. The document published above is important in the information that provide. It is also an evaluation of a professional revolutionary’s life, as it was seen by himself. 

Keywords: Boris Ştefanov, “red autobiographies”, Comintern, Communist Party of Romania, Bulgaria, communism.



DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, The Case of Ana Pauker. An 1954 Account…………………………………………150


Member of the group accused in 1952 of „right deviation” (together with Vasile Luca and Teohari Georgescu), Ana Pauker was treated differently from his fellows after Stalin’s death. She bennefited from the interest of her behalf by the soviet leadership, especially by Vyaceslav Molotov. This article presents the minutes of the Romanian Worker’s Party Political Bureau’s meeting on 11 May 1954. The talks show the willingness of the RWP leadership to grant Ana Pauker a special treatment: even though she was expelled from the party, it was decided not to prosecute her.

Keywords: Romanian Worker’s Party, Ana Pauker, „right deviation”, political trial, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, Vyaceslav Molotov.


ALEKSANDR STYKALIN, Khruschev and Tito: A Long Discussion on Romania (Leningrad, June 1964)………………………………………………………………………………………………………165


The  worsening relations between the USSR and Romania was the main subject of the talks between Nikita Khruschev and Marshal Tito during their last meeting, which took place in Leningrad in June 1964. It was Khruschev who initiated the meeting and his aim was to ask the Yugoslavian leader to influence the Romanians not to deviate too far from the course of the Soviet bloc and especially to keep distance from China. As far as the Yugoslavians were the main goal of  the Chinese attacks as “revisionists”, Tito was not interested in the further Romanian-Chinese rapprochement, so he promised the Soviets to influence the Romanians. According to the documents, it was considered in Belgrade that Bucharest went too far in his Fronde as concerned the Soviet policy. 

Keywords: 1960-es, Khruschev, Tito, Gheorghiu-Dej, Soviet-Romanian relations, Yugoslavian-Romanian relations, China.


FLORI BĂLĂNESCU, Bessarabia, Bucovina, Hertza Region, Chilia Channel and the Snake Island: An 1965 study on their political and diplomatic situation………………………………………………195


This text is an uncensored study carried out in August 1965 and filed in the Central National History Archives, more specifically in the database of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party (the Administration Section). This study was most probably carried out by the historians working for the Documentation and Research Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the purpose of informing the Romanian delegation that was to go on an official visit to Moscow between September 3 and September 11, 1965. The document is titled "Bessarabia, Bucovina, Hertza Region, Chilia Channel and the Snake Island” and does not take into account the taboos of the official history of that time. Given the tense situation between Bucharest and Moscow, the problem of territory theft committed by the Soviet Union in 1940 (Bessarabia, North Bucovina, Hertza Region and 5 islands in the Danube Delta) and on February 4, 1948, was not even suggested, even if it was a breach of the Paris Peace Treaty in 1947 by annexing the Snake Island.

Keywords: Bessarabia, Chilia Channel, June 1940, North Bucovina, Snake Island, Moscow, territory theft, Hertza Region. 


VASILE BUGA, A new Romanian-Soviet high level clash. The minutes of talks in Moscow, 19 May 1970, I……………………………………………………………………………………………………216


The article presents the minutes of Romanian-Soviet Talks in Moscow, in May 1970. The meeting was organized at Romanian initiative and aimed at discussing sensitive issues in economic bilateral cooperation, and divergences between the two parts in foreign relations and with the international communist movement. The Soviet part used the opportunity to rise past Romanian political stands such as the establishing of diplomatic relations with the Federal Republic of Germany, in 1967, Romanian apart stand in the Middle East crisis in 1967, the Czechoslovakian crisis in August 1968, the Sino-Soviet conflict, the visit of president Richard Nixon in Bucharest, in August 1989, and the Romanian opening to the West. The two parts came to an agreement and they decided on the signing of a new Treaty of friendship, collaboration and mutual assistance in July 1970.

Keywords: Romanian-Soviet relations, Nicolae Ceausescu, Leonid Brejnev, Warsaw Treaty, COMECON, international communist movement.



POINTS OF VIEW


ALEXANDRU BUDIŞTEANU, Rehabilitating USSR and Stalin at all costs?.....................................248


The “Totalitarianism archives” quarterly published in its nr. 1-2/2013 issue a paper written by Mr. V. L. Musatov – a historian and former Russian Ambassador – with the title: “Stalin’s role and the falsification of the history of the Great War for the Fatherland Defence”. Mr. Musatov means to deal with extremely important issues that are still essential for the proper understanding and evaluation of the European and world history. The importance of Stalin’s concepts and actions evidently cannot be ignored. Their predominantly negative appraisal is generally accepted considering him and Hitler the major negative political factors of the XX-th century. A general analysis of Stalin’s personality and implicitly of the USSR – the State he organized and ruled – still continues. Mr. Musatov decided to be on Stalin’s side stressing his predominantly positive contribution to the existence of an also positive USSR, in opposition to  Hitler’s „fascist” Germany, thus playing a positive role in Europe’ history (such as the liberation of the Eastern European countries etc). Mr. Musatov is also very critical of those who are not accepting the decisive role played by Stalin in achieving the victory in war and of those who contributed to the demise of the USSR such as Hrushchev. Moreover, Mr. Musatov explains that Russia actually permanently plays the same positive historical role as it did along all its history. Of course anyone has the right to evaluate the history of his country but with the proviso not to hurt the facts concerning the correct history of other countries. Especially, when they are direct neighbours of Russia, such as the case of Romania. Mr. Musatov extends the subject of his published paper to the multi secular history of the relations between Russia and Romania. He formulates  the conclusion that all the conflicts between the two countries were and are due to the permanent greed of Romania, trying to occupy territories belonging historically to Russia. This obviously is fundamentally wrong. Historical facts are either ignored or misinterpreted by Mr. Musatov. His assumption is  unacceptable from the Romanian point of view. In our present world it is rather preferable for us to endeavour to improve the Romanian-Russian relationship accepting the true facts of history.

Keywords: Stalin, Soviet Union, Bessarabia, World War II, Soviet-Romanian Relations.


BIOGRAPHIES


FLORIN ŞANDRU, Ion Taflaru (1910-1973)..........................................................................................257


Ion Taflaru (1910-1973), a former political detainee imprisoned at Făgăraş and Gherla, held the position of chief commissioner with the Siguranţă (State Security) and police chief with the General Directorate of Police. He worked for the “Body of Detectives” within the Siguranţă (State Security), leading, for a long period of time, the anti-Communist brigade of this institution. He closely watched the Communist movement, which was part of his duties, and this led initially to his imprisonment by the Communist regime. He was sentenced to heavy life imprisonment, then 20 years for “intense activity against the working class”. In 1964, he was released from Gherla, according to Decree 411. After release, he was put under surveillance in order to see if he had the same “antidemocratic” behaviour towards the Communist regime, as he had had in prison. He died in suspicious circumstances in Bucharest on 2nd September 1973.

Keywords: communism, political detainee, chief commissioner, Romanian Communist Party.



©  The National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, 2014.



 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute of the Study of Totalitarianism 

Volume XXI, Number 80-81, 3-4/2013


EDITORIAL


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XXXIX. Twenty Years after..........................................................5

This is the speech delivered by prof. Radu Ciuceanu in the Romanian Academy Aula Magna with the occasion of the XX-th anniversary of the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism.

Keywords: National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, Romanian Academy, XX-th anniversary.



STUDIES


RADU CIUCEANU, Hidden Histories, III...................................................................................................7

Using new biographical sources, the article explores the Soviet Union attack against Finland, emphasizing the heroic resistance of the Finnish army, as well as the aggression of Nazi Germany against Czechoslovakia, Poland and France. A major emphasis is put on the information provided by the intelligence regarding Hitler's intentions. 

Keywords: World War II, Finland, Nazi Germany, Soviet Union, intelligence.


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, Midnight in Kremlin. Gheorghiu-Dej’s Meetings with Stalin, 1944-1952, II..............18

During 1944-1952, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, secretary general of Romanian Communist Party, had several meetings with Stalin, in Moscow. The discussions held with these occasions as well as Stalin’s indications to Dej played a significant role in the evolution of the RCP and the Romanian society. In spite of their importance, these visits are still to be fully uncovered. A reason might be related to the fact that historical sources are rare and contradicting. This study intends to clarify several key issues of Gheorghiu-Dej meetings with Stalin, such as the exact chronology, the subjects discussed, and the participants. In the context of time, these visits are relevant for the political leaders behaviour and for Romanian deeply dependence of Moscow.

Keywords: Communism, Romanian Communist Party, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, I.V. Stalin, Soviet-Romanian Relations.


IRINA GRIDAN, The Purges of Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Diplomatic Personnel, 1945-1947.......................................................................................................................................................33

After the signature of an armistice with the Allied Powers in September 1944, Romania simultaneously enters the era of the “fictitious coalition” and a process of political Sovietization, with the formation of  Groza government in March 1945. The purpose of this research is to examine the effectiveness of the “democratization” within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The study sheds light on the obstacles which prevent the communist regime from installing its fideles in this institution. The career and civil servants jobs require specific skills and specific know-how: the new diplomats yet differ from the proletarian standards. 

Keywords: Romania, Sovietization, communization, foreign policy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, diplomats, political purges.


MARIUS TĂRÎŢĂ, The Moldovan Literary Life during Late Stalinism, 1948-1951…………………...48

This study refers to the activity of the Union of the Soviet Writers from Moldova between November 1948 and June 1951. During this period were organized several reunions at which where discussed the question of Cosmopolitanism (April 1949), the XIIIth reunion of the plenum of the Union of Soviet Writers of USSR (March 1950), the problems of the young writers (October 1950), the critics towards the Moldavian writers in Union’s and republican press, the question of the criticism and the mistakes of the review “Octombrie” (January 1951) and finally the restructuration of the Union, the problems of the criticism, language and classical writers (in June 1951).

Keywords: Cosmopolitanism, Criticism, language question, Soviet writers, Marxism.


ALINA PAVELESCU, New Politics of Elites' Selection at the University of Bucharest, 1948-1955, II.....................................................................................................................................................................57

The sovietisation of the Romanian high education system started in 1948 as part of the main process of sovietising the whole Romanian society. The main goal of this study is to underline the political criteria which reshaped the adjustment of the social profile of students and teachers according to the new criteria of elites’ selection as well as the structural and qualitative changes resulted from the introduction of an ideological control on the curricula in the domain of social sciences. The study focuses on the University of Bucharest and its Faculty of Philosophy. Meanwhile, the more general   context created by the new Education Law  and the homogeneity of the new ideological criteria applied in the elites’ selections allows a set of conclusions at a national level.

Keywords: academic education, University of Bucharest, social sciences, philosophy, sovietization.


IULIU CRĂCANĂ, The Enforcement Of the Law by the Popular Judge in the Regime of People’s Democracy, 1948-1960..................................................................................................................................76


During 1948-1960, Justice had been used for the establishment and strengthening of the people's democracy regime. In the absence of any constitutional and legal guarantees to protect them against external pressures, and under threat of removal from the judicial system, but also willing to enjoy career opportunities offered by the regime, judges and prosecutors acted obediently toward political power. In our study this way of interpreting the law was defined as teleocratic interpretation (interpretation of the law in the interests of power). To achieve such interpretation, the Judge must always give a solution that will satisfy the political power. As a consequence, he has trained himself to guess the desire and interests of communist authorities. This „judicial conduct” led to the using of Justice as a punishement tool against all types of opponents, members of the political leadership, Communist party members or common people. 

Keywords: Communism, Justice, magistrate, teleocratic interpretation, political repression.


OVIDIU BOZGAN, Romania’s Relations with Imperial Iran, 1965-1968, II..........................................87

Iran became in the years 1965-1978 one of Romania’s most important economic partners, and their politico-diplomatic relationships have been remarkably intense. In order to explain, in an argumentative manner, the Romanian-Iranian politics, this study aims to present these countries’ bilateral relations in a wider context, taking into account both Iran’s domestic and foreign policy. Although an autocratic, dictatorial regime, according to many Western voices, Iran, at the shah’s initiative, has known since 1963 – the year of the referendum that approved the ’White Revolution’ – a series of reforms meant to foster social and economic modernization. The eradication of obsolete economic and social structures, the campaign for alphabetization, the investments in education, the establishment of a modern industry, but also the formal maintenance of its parliamentary regime and multi-party system, have turned Iran into a respectable partner, compatible, in some respects, with the politics embraced by the Romanian communist regime in a recent past, aspects of which are still continued. The investigation of Iran’s foreign policy plays a major role in deciding the position adopted by the Romanian authorities. A crucial aspect, bearing directly on Romania’s options for foreign policy, is represented by Iran’s relations with the USSR, systematically followed by the Romanian diplomacy. The improvement of the Soviet-Iranian relations after 1962 represents the elimination of any risk for Bucharest in undertaking political relations with Iran. Of course, by comparison, Romanian diplomacy is also interested in the relations Iran has developed with countries from the Soviet bloc.  Undoubtedly, the amelioration of its relations with the USSR and the Eastern Europe, provided Iran with an instrument for increasing the autonomy of its own foreign policy, granting it room for maneuver in its relations with the West and especially the USA, which had to respond more promptly to Teheran’s requests. Despite some fluctuations, Iran remains and wants to be recognized by the USA as its main ally in the Gulf region. It is in this context, diligently analyzed by the Romanian diplomacy, that the intensification of Romania’s relations with Iran can be placed. Generally, both states were interested in developing bilateral relations, their motivations being primarily economic. Romania was interested in the Iranian oil, in order to avoid relying too much on Soviet hydro carbonates, as the other states in the Soviet Bloc did, under otherwise advantageous conditions, and Iran could benefit from economic and technological cooperation, on several levels, and to which Romania was willing to commit. The series of visits they paid each other—the 1965 visit of the Romanian Prime Minister that resulted in the signing of a framework agreement for future economic, technological, and scientific cooperation, which Iran fulfilled through oil delivery, the shah’s visit in 1966, the visits between the two governments, in particular the visits of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, the establishment of a joint ministerial commission in 1966 for the systematization and promotion of economic relations—all demonstrate the amplitude of the Romanian-Iranian politics. The scope of the study is limited to the year 1968, when the first Iranian oil deliveries arrive in Romania. In any case, the 1965-1968 period comprises all the elements—including the instruments for bilateral cooperation—that explain the fast evolution of the Romanian-Iranian relations in the decade that follows. 

Keywords:  cooperation, industrialization, Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Aryamehr, oil, Romania, USA, USSR.


PETRE OPRIŞ, Some Points of View Regarding the French-Romanian Economic Relations in 1965-1970..............................................................................................................................................................105

In the early ’60s, the French authorities had agreed to develop economic relations with Romania and the Romanian market gradually received products of well-known French companies, as „Renault” or „Thomson”. Later on, „Sud Aviation” and „Dassault” French companies offered different types of helicopter and aircraft to be built under license in Romania.

Keywords: Communism, Nicolae Ceauşescu, France, Romania, Renault, Thomson, USSR.



ANDREI FLORIN SORA, The Local Political Life and its Actors during Communism: the First Secretaries of the County Committees of the RCP, 1968-1989..................................................................115

The accessing in the past couple of years of the archives of the Romanian Communist Party (RCP), including the personnel dossiers, oral testimonies, but also recent research can provide answers and leads new approaches on the formation and the evolution of the local political elites in Communist Romania. This article analyzes the political role established at local level of the the First Secretaries of the County Committees of the RCP, their career strategies; the symbolic mechanisms for professional accession, promotion or loss of this position; the dynamics between Centre (Bucharest) and Periphery (the provinces) and last but not least, the political destiny of these elites after 1989. Starting with 1968, the  First Secretary of the County Committee of the RCP also gained the position of President of the Executive Committee of the County Popular Council, becoming apparently the absolute chief of the local administration. We are aiming to identify if there is a pattern or more in the appointment and the retention in the County First Secretary position, and especially, to discover what is the importance leverage of the local factor. On the other hand, the holders of these functions were always dependent on the Centre - Bucharest, especially on Nicolae Ceauşescu.

Keywords: communist nomenklatura, the First Secretary of the County Committee of the Romanian Communist Party (RCP); local government, personnel dossiers.


OLGA ZASLAVSKAIA, Testimonies of Cold War. Samizdat Archives……………………………….130

In the last decades, the traditional approach to the samizdat in the context of the Cold War heroic narrative has been called into question, suggesting analyses of this phenomenon through the concepts and the ideas of post-structuralism, the theory of social mobilization and social practices, and with the help of recent archievemnets in the field of media studies, sociology of culture, and the theory of network analysis. The process of crossing boundaries by uncensored texts in the late socialism and creating of samizdat-tamizdat system can be contextualized and researched in terms of creating symbolic capital and transnational communication. The suggested analyses of samizdat and tamizdat as a social and cultural phenomenon is based on the concept of "communication circuit" developed by Robert Darnton for research of print culture. The article focuses on the role and specificity of such actors in the network as samizdat archives which are considered not as a passive collection of documents of a bygone era, but as a specific cultural practices, which still actualizes the story of the informal culture of the Soviet era.

Keywords: samizdat, tamizdat, „communication circuit”, archives, crossing boundaries, transnational.


ALEKSANDR ZHITENEV, Victor Krivulin as a Theorist of «Unofficial» Culture from USSR, 1976-1984....................................................................................................................................................................150

The distinctive sign of the late soviet era is rapid development of «unofficial» culture. And one of the most important representative of the epoch is V. Krivulin, a literature and art critic, poet, the creator of «37» journal. A special merit of V. Krivulin is consideration of samizdat phenomenon, underground consciousness typology research. According to his interpretation «different culture» is «integral phenomenon that has specific features of “great style”». In its core there are «compression of historical experience into personal word», close connection of expression and personality, the possibility of «multi-layered» reading of each text. The samizdat author’s purpose is to bring into correlation «the eternal language of poetry» and «the barking language of shared apartment», his role is a role of a «victim». Poverty, both material and spiritual, is considered as liberation that gives opportunity to see more than meets the eye. Poetics, which is close to underground culture, is «ascetic» poetics that destroys all conventions and offers sequential refusal of «beauty». 

At the same time, V. Krivulin assumes, «unofficial culture», despite the fact that is highly self-consciousness, could define itself only through denial of the Soviet aesthetic system. The positive meaning of the new art experience slipped away from definition since the epoch of self-publishing could not associate itself with any of the existing art traditions. «Stop in the Desert» created cultural marginalization, and the self-reflection generated «negative dialectics». Connecting modernistic and post-modernistic eras of Russian literature, V. Krivulin always paid attention to history metaphysics; this fact, as well as specific interpretation of subject role, singles him out against the background of «unofficial» culture.

Keywords: «unofficial» culture, samizdat, russian literature, Victor Krivulin.


COSMIN BUDEANCĂ, „The Church Doesn’t Emigrate”. The Bishop Albert Klein and the Emigration of the Evangelical Lutheran Priests from Romania in the 1970’s and the 1980’s, II..............................165

Albert Klein was the Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church CA in Romania between 1969-1990, period when the emigration of ethnic Germans (the Saxons implicitly) was to the highest level. Because the influence of priests in communities was very important, and their departure would have to influence the emigration, Bishop has made great efforts to limit immigration of evangelical priests. The study shows those efforts, his relations with the communist authorities in Romania, the Federal Republic of Germany or associations of Saxons who emigrated.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, Emigration, Saxons, Evangelical Lutheran Church.


MARGARITA CHABANNA, The Methods of Shaping Social Consciousness in Totalitarian State: the Role of Psychological Manipulation..........................................................................................................179

The establishment of totalitarian regimes in 20th century in Europe has been significantly caused by socio-economic development of the European countries. Then the relevant changes of social consciousness have made it possible to control by totalitarian parties all social spheres, not only military, economic and political ones, but also the sphere of interpersonal relations in society. One of the most important opportunities for totalitarian parties is the opportunity to make an influence on mass psychology in order to get the support for totalitarian movements, and to cultivate its features in order to legitimate totalitarian regimes. The methods of ideological influence, mass propaganda, and party organization aimed at manipulation of public consciousness, played the key role in the legitimating of totalitarian governing.

Keywords: totalitarian regime, psychological manipulation, mass society, mass propaganda, totalitarian organization.



DOCUMENTS


CRISTINA DIAC, Ştefan Foriş, a Typicall Professional Party Worker………………………………..196

In 1940, when he was invited at Comintern for giving explanations about the situation of Communist Party of Romania from the last two years, Ştefan Foriş wrote on that occasion and a sizable autobiography. This document provides us interesting information about life story of the person above mentioned, but also introduces us in the CPoR’s history between two world wars. Ştefan Foriş leaded the communist movement from 1941 until 1944, as a general secretary. Before that, he has always been close to party leadership, both as a middle-line leader and as a head of mass organizations, created and guided by communists, for their own interest. Therefore, he has had first hand information about his comrades and party’s secrets. 

Keywords: Communist Party of Romania, Ştefan Foriş, Komintern, autobiography.


OCTAVIAN ROSKE, The Collectivization of Agriculture in Romania. Repressive Actions at the Beginning of the 1950s................................................................................................................................217

In 1992 The Commission for the Investigation of Abuses and Petitions, Chamber of Deputies, started to collect information about the collectization campaign in Romania (1949-1962). The investigation looked for abuses committed during the campaign by representatives of local authority, party members, Militia and Securitate officers. The documents contain the answers of a victim of repression. 

Keywords: Collectivization, repression, resistance.


VASILE BUGA, Thaw in Romanian-Soviet Relations. Minutes of Moscow Meeting in May 1969, II...................................................................................................................................................................225

On 16 May 1969, a delegation of the RCP headed by Nicolae Ceauşescu went to Moscow, where a Romanian-Soviet summit took place. The minutes of the meeting emphasizes the interest of the Romanian part in normalizing the Romanian-Soviet relations frozen as consequence to the Romanian critical stand towards WTO intervention in Czechoslovakia. On this occasion there had been discussed aspects of bilateral relations, especially economic relations, including the identification of methods to renew them, as well as aspects of international politics such as European security, the situation in the Middle East, the Vietnam war. The talks singled out the interest both sides had in the unfreezing of the bilateral relations, as well as the maintain of divergent views regarding the preparation of the 1969 Communist parties international conference, the causes and consequences of the Czechoslovakian crisis, the approach towards the Chinese Communist Party. 

Keywords: Communism, Romanian-Soviet relations, Nicolae Ceauşescu, Czechoslovakian crisis, International Communist Movement.


CONSTANTIN MORARU, Romania and Polish crises from 1981........................................................249

Ion Cozma, Romanian ambassador at Warsaw, who  attended a socialist ambasadors’ meeting, informed the Central Comittee of RCP about the Polish political crisis in June 1981. The document we publish presents the measures undertaken by Polish Communist Party against Solidarnosc. 

Keywords: Communism crises, Poland, Solidarnosc, Martial Law, Ion Cozma.



BIOGRAPHIES


FLORIN RĂZVAN MIHAI, Barbu Zaharescu (1906-2000)...................................................................254

Bercu Zuckerman (1906-2000), known as Barbu Zaharescu, was a member of Romanian communist movement since 1923. For his political convictions, he was imprisoned in 1924, 1925-1931 and 1940-1944. After the second World War he was at the head of instutions such as: Institute of Political and Administrative Studies (1947), PMR Publishing House, „Lupta de clasă” review (1950-1954), „Maxim Gorki” Institute (1950-1952), Institute of party’s History (1955). In 1955 he was elected correspondent member of Academy. Between 1955 and 1961, he had diplomatic missions in Argentina, Turkey, China, Birmania, Vietnam. Member of the Central Committee (1955-1974).

Keywords: revolutionary, propaganda, jewish communist, illegal communist party,  political prisoner.


FLORIN ŞANDRU, Ion Prunescu (1915-?).............................................................................................258

After 23 August 1944, the former policemen that fought against the communists until the interwar period and under Antonescu’s regime were identified, prosecuted and sent to the harshest penitentiaries and underwent the toughest repressive methods inflicted upon them by the Romanian communist repressive bodies. An important figure among these former policemen is Ion Prunescu. Starting with 1939, Prunescu was working for the anti-communist Brigade II, achieving, within this department, the function of commissioner and chief of the surveillance division. From this position, he ordered the surveillance, identification and annihilation of communist networks, by arresting their members, prosecuting and even convicting them or extending their conviction.  Among those under surveillance, chased, investigated or with extended sentences given with his contribution were such communist leaders as: Teohari Georgescu, Iosif Roitman (Chişinevschi), Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej or Chivu Stoica.

In 1946, Prunescu Ion was caught, tried and sentenced to life hard labour and wealth confiscation for “activity against the working class”; then, through a sentence of the Military Court, his punishment was commuted to 25 years of hard labour and, under the 1964 Pardon Decree, Ion Prunescu was released on 7 August after 18 years of imprisonment. After his release, he was chased by the Securitate, forced, through blackmail, to collaborate with this institution, being used as an agent to provide informative notes on his former colleagues from the police.

Keywords: commissioner, Romanian Communist Party, political regime, surveillance, detention. 



©  The National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, 2013.

 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute of the Study of Totalitarianism 

Volume XXI, Number 78-79, 1-2/2013


EDITORIAL


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XXXIX. Hidden Histories, II.......................................................5

Using new biographical sources, the article explores the preliminaries of World War II, the successive withdrawals and the complicity of the Great Powers towards Nazi Germany’ growing tendency to revise the 1919 Versailles Peace Treaty. The article insists upon the consequences of the Spain Civil War, German invasion of Poland, statements of Great Powers leaders in the aftermath of the World War II.

Keywords: Versailles Peace Treaty; World War II, Edouard Daladier, Francisco Franco, Adolf Hitler.



STUDIES


ION CONSTANTIN, The Terms of Bessarabia’s Union to Romania, 1918.............................................17

On 27 March/9 April 1918, Sfatul Ţării (Provisional Parliament) decided the Union of Bessarabia with Romania under certain conditions, which concerned mainly the agrarian reform and the universal suffrage, rights already gained by Chişinău under the Russian Revolution of 1917. Considering that civic freedom was generalised in Romania through the Act of Alba Iulia, on December 1, 1918, its last session of 27 November/December 10, 1918, Sfatul Ţării decided to cancel the conditions contained in its resolution of 27 March/9 April 1918 and to proclaim the unconditional Union of Bessarabia with the fatherland.

Keywords: Self-determination, Greater Romania, Bessarabia, civil rights, politics in 1918.


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, Midnight in Kremlin. Gheorghiu-Dej’s Meetings with Stalin, 1944-1952, I...............29

During 1944-1952, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, secretary general of Romanian Communist Party, had several meetings with Stalin, in Moscow. The discussions held with these occasions as well as Stalin’s indications to Dej played a significant role in the evolution of the RCP and the Romanian society. In spite of their importance, these visits are still to be fully uncovered. A reason might be related to the fact that historical sources are rare and contradicting. This study intends to clarify several key issues of Gheorghiu-Dej meetings with Stalin, such as the exact chronology, the subjects discussed, and the participants. In the context of time, these visits are relevant for the political leaders behaviour and for Romanian deeply dependence of Moscow.

Keywords: Communism, Romanian Communist Party, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, I.V. Stalin, Soviet-Romanian Relations.


SORIN RADU, Mihail Ghelmegeanu and his Conception about the Distinct Way of Ploughmen’s Front towards Romanian Communist Party, 1944-1947.......................................................................................48

Our study is an analisis on the opinions of Mihail Ghelmegeanu about the role which the Ploughmen’s Front had to play in the political life of Romania after the coup d'etat in 23rd of August, 1944. Our opinion is that the political vision of Ghelmegeanu about ploughmen’s organization opposed to the intentions and plans of the communists and, the same time, it was dependant to the peasant ideas which were held before by the former national-peasant ideologist. Ghelmegeanu together with other leaders of the Ploughmen’s Front, namely the so-called “Deva group”, did not accept the political and ideological subordination of the ploughmen’s organization to the Communist Party, existing some moments of resistance, attempts of “autonomy” of them, open conflicts, different political visions, also about the nature and the political purpose of the ploughmen’s organization, and the ways of political fight and strategy.

Keywords: communism, Mihail Ghelmegeanu, the Ploughmen’s Front, the Romanian Communist Party, “Fellow travellers”.


ADRIAN VIŢALARU, Methods and Practices of Imposing Communist Control over the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1944 -1948)………………………………………………………………….61

The process of imposing the communist control upon the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs took place between 1944 and 1948, and it was founded on a legislative basis designated to give the appearance of legality to the abuses committed by the communists.  Actually, the "legal leverage" served both to justify the purging of the old diplomatic elite, and to open the doors of the ministry to those who were accepted by the government of Petru Groza. The purging and compression policy was doubled by the entry of new legal frameworks in the diplomatic and consular corps, as well as in the leading structures of the ministry – especially after 1946. These frameworks corresponded ideologically to all the rigors of the new regime established in Bucharest in March 1945. Thus, the founding of a trade union within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the infiltration of intelligence, the Law for the ministry organization from March 1946, and the repeated purging of the diplomatic and administrative staff have served as a means to impose communist control over one of the few ministries that haven’t been governed by a communist leader between August 1944 and November 1947. This phase ended after Ana Pauker took over the portfolio of the Foreign Affairs and launched a harsh campaign to change the social origins of the staff, which emphasised how adrift the Romanian diplomacy, subservient to the directives sent from Moscow, was.

Keywords: Communism, Romania, diplomat, purging, communists, Foreign Affairs Ministry.


IOAN SCURTU, From Sighet Prison to the Academy of the Romanian Socialist Republic. Case Study: Constantin C. Giurescu................................................................................................................................83

Based on the terms settled by Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin, Romania – as well as other countries in Central and Southeastern Europe – was transferred to the Soviet sphere of influence.  Thus, a Bolshevik-type regime was established, which promoted a policy of destruction of political and intellectual elites. Constantin C. Giurescu found himself among those arrested in 1950. He was held in Sighet prison for five years and two months. After Stalin’s death, given the political détente on both domestic and international levels, Giurescu was released, being gradually reintegrated in the scientific and university activities. In 1974, Constantin C. Giurescu became a full member of the Academy of the Romanian Socialist Republic.

Giurescu’s case was not a singular one, and this fact requires a tinted approach to the political regime of the time, giving up clichés and preconceptions.

Keywords: Romania, occupation, elites, Sighet, reintegration, Academy of the Romanian Socialist Republic, political regime.


ALINA PAVELESCU, New Politics of Elites' Selection at the University of Bucharest, 1948-1955, I…..................................................................................................................................................................93

The sovietisation of the Romanian high education system started in 1948 as part of the main process of sovietising the whole Romanian society. The main goal of this study is to underline the political criteria which reshaped the adjustment of the social profile of students and teachers according to the new criteria of elites’ selection as well as the structural and qualitative changes resulted from the introduction of an ideological control on the curricula in the domain of social sciences. The study focuses on the University of Bucharest and its Faculty of Philosophy. Meanwhile, the more general   context created by the new Education Law  and the homogeneity of the new ideological criteria applied in the elites’ selections allows a set of conclusions at a national level.

Keywords: academic education, University of Bucharest, social sciences, philosophy, sovietization.


ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, Romanian People’s Republic and the Beginning of European Integration, 1957........................................................................................................................................110

Despite nowadays general opinion that “Europeanism” dominated a united Europe at least from World War II until now, an analysis based upon Communist media of the ‘50s emphasizes the perfect contrary. Official declarations dismissed any potential collaboration with a united Europe issued from the Rome Treaty on 1957. The Romanian Communist government copied the Soviet reactions and the state propaganda identified some special topics: imperialism against Socialism and against Western countries seen as friendly ones, rise of exploitation and poverty all over the world, social discrimination in the Capitalist camp.

Keywords: Communist Romania, European integration, the Rome Treaty of 1957, détente, press and propaganda.


OVIDIU BOZGAN, Romania’s Relations with Imperial Iran, 1965-1968, I..........................................119

Iran became in the years 1965-1978 one of Romania’s most important economic partners, and their politico-diplomatic relationships have been remarkably intense. In order to explain, in an argumentative manner, the Romanian-Iranian politics, this study aims to present these countries’ bilateral relations in a wider context, taking into account both Iran’s domestic and foreign policy. Although an autocratic, dictatorial regime, according to many Western voices, Iran, at the shah’s initiative, has known since 1963 – the year of the referendum that approved the ’White Revolution’ – a series of reforms meant to foster social and economic modernization. The eradication of obsolete economic and social structures, the campaign for alphabetization, the investments in education, the establishment of a modern industry, but also the formal maintenance of its parliamentary regime and multi-party system, have turned Iran into a respectable partner, compatible, in some respects, with the politics embraced by the Romanian communist regime in a recent past, aspects of which are still continued. The investigation of Iran’s foreign policy plays a major role in deciding the position adopted by the Romanian authorities. A crucial aspect, bearing directly on Romania’s options for foreign policy, is represented by Iran’s relations with the USSR, systematically followed by the Romanian diplomacy. The improvement of the Soviet-Iranian relations after 1962 represents the elimination of any risk for Bucharest in undertaking political relations with Iran. Of course, by comparison, Romanian diplomacy is also interested in the relations Iran has developed with countries from the Soviet bloc.  Undoubtedly, the amelioration of its relations with the USSR and the Eastern Europe, provided Iran with an instrument for increasing the autonomy of its own foreign policy, granting it room for maneuver in its relations with the West and especially the USA, which had to respond more promptly to Teheran’s requests. Despite some fluctuations, Iran remains and wants to be recognized by the USA as its main ally in the Gulf region. It is in this context, diligently analyzed by the Romanian diplomacy, that the intensification of Romania’s relations with Iran can be placed. Generally, both states were interested in developing bilateral relations, their motivations being primarily economic. Romania was interested in the Iranian oil, in order to avoid relying too much on Soviet hydro carbonates, as the other states in the Soviet Bloc did, under otherwise advantageous conditions, and Iran could benefit from economic and technological cooperation, on several levels, and to which Romania was willing to commit. The series of visits they paid each other—the 1965 visit of the Romanian Prime Minister that resulted in the signing of a framework agreement for future economic, technological, and scientific cooperation, which Iran fulfilled through oil delivery, the shah’s visit in 1966, the visits between the two governments, in particular the visits of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, the establishment of a joint ministerial commission in 1966 for the systematization and promotion of economic relations—all demonstrate the amplitude of the Romanian-Iranian politics. The scope of the study is limited to the year 1968, when the first Iranian oil deliveries arrive in Romania. In any case, the 1965-1968 period comprises all the elements—including the instruments for bilateral cooperation—that explain the fast evolution of the Romanian-Iranian relations in the decade that follows. 

Keywords:  cooperation, industrialization, Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Aryamehr, oil, Romania, USA, USSR.


CEZAR STANCIU, The Comintern’s Legacy. The Romanian Communists and the Unity of World Communist Movement, 1967-1969, III.......................................................................................................134

After the military intervention in Czechoslovakia, in August 1968, Ceauşescu’s position in front of Moscow was much weaker. In the summer of 1969, in Moscow, after long preparations, a worldwide conference of Communist parties had been convoked. Brezhnev cared so much for it, expecting it to confirm Moscow’s leading role in the World Communist Movement. Once again, Ceauşescu was in a position to resist, reaffirming his principles of foreign policy and, more than anything, to prevent a public condemnation of China, which would have ruined the balance of his policy. The fact that the conference ended without a denunciation of the Chinese was a success especially for Ceauşescu, more so as it was obtained immediately after another major event: the Sino-Soviet armed clashes at border. Using Khrushchevist arguments, the Romanian delegation opposed the condemnation of a party that was not present. 

Keywords: Romania, Soviet Union, China, ideology, conference, Ceauşescu, Brezhnev.  


ELENA NEGRU, Reactions of the Communist Party of Soviet Moldova towards Romania’s Attitude during the Soviet-Czechoslovak Crisis of 1968………………………………………………………….148

The article highlights the reactions of the Communist Party of Moldova to Romania’s attitude in the Soviet-Czechoslovak crisis of 1968. Concerned with the political evolutions in Czechoslovakia but also with the impact of the ‘special course’ of the leadership of the Socialist Romanian Republic (SRR), with the eventual spreading of ‘nationalist’ and anti-Soviet ideas in the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic (MSSR), the leadership of the USSR and MSSR unleashed a real propagandistic war against Bucharest. This was one of the climaxes of broad anti-Romanian propagandistic campaigns, started in 1965, in response to the distancing from Moscow by the Romanian leadership. Such campaigns aimed at counteracting the internal and external political courses of the Romanian Communist Party, interpretations by Romanian scientists regarding the history of Bessarabia and of the Russian-Romanian and Soviet-Romanian relations, import and subscribing of literature from SRR to MSSR, reception and watching of radio and TV stations from SRR in MSSR, natural and ascending development of the cultural and human relations between SRR and MSSR, finally, of the myths of the Russian and Soviet Empires, and Russifying and Sovietizing of the Romanians both from the SRR and MSSR. 

Keywords: Communism, Soviet-Romanian relations, propagandistic war, “special course”, anti-Romanian campaign.


COSMIN BUDEANCĂ, „The Church Doesn’t Emigrate”. The Bishop Albert Klein and the Emigration of the Evangelical Lutheran Priests from Romania in the 1970’s and the 1980’s, I...............................166

Albert Klein was the Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church CA in Romania between 1969-1990, period when the emigration of ethnic Germans (the Saxons implicitly) was to the highest level. Because the influence of priests in communities was very important, and their departure would have to influence the emigration, Bishop has made great efforts to limit immigration of evangelical priests. The study shows those efforts, his relations with the communist authorities in Romania, the Federal Republic of Germany or associations of Saxons who emigrated.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, Emigration, Saxons, Evangelical Lutheran Church.


FELICIAN VELIMIROVICI, Nationalism, Romanticism and Socialism as Reflected in the Review “The Fight of the Entire People”, 1984-1989..................................................................................................180

The aim of the present paper is to identify, describe and review the most significant themes engaged by the official historiography during the final years of Communist dictatorship in Romania. It is focused, as a case-study, upon the history review entitled “Lupta întregului popor” (“The Fight of the Entire People”) published in Bucharest between 1985 and 1989 and it argues that these themes had been un-marxist (or even anti-marxist) in their nature.

Keywords: nationalism, Communism, historical discourse, Romanian Communist Party.



DOCUMENTS


OCTAVIAN ROSKE, Enforcing the Quota System in Romanian Villages. Application  of Decree 183/1949......................................................................................................................................................188

The first attempt of P. Groza government to put transportation, sale and consumption of agricultural products under control was made in July 1945. By instituting Decree - Law 565/1945, government was entitled to buy agricultural products at fixed prices, leaving owners minimal quantities at subsistence level. While Decision of the Presidency of Council of Ministers 2339/1945 set up quotas for wheat, barley, two-row barley, and oats, Ministerial Decision 2470/1945 limited the consumption of gromwell, beans and lentil, the owners being allowed to retain the necessary quantities for sowing and “normal household consumption”. The offenses against the quota system were punished according to Law 351/1945, Decree 121/1948 and Decree 183/1949. For instance, for loss or hiding agricultural products under the quota system, sentences ranged from 5 to 15 years hard labour and fines from Lei 50,000 to 200,000. The documents illustrate how the courts applied Decree 183/1949 in two cases.  

Keywords: Collectivisation, Repression, Sabotage.


ALEKSANDR STYKALIN, Soviet-Polish Summit after N.S. Khruschev’Dismissal, October 1964. New Evidences from Soviet Archives…………………………………………………………………………..199

The members of the Soviet state and party leadership preparing the dismissal of Nikita Khruschev informed of their plans the leaders of the Eastern-European socialist countries. In contrast to a protégée of Khruschev the Hungarian leader János Kádár who expressed his discontent with the pushing aside Khrouschev, the Polish leader Wladyslaw Gomułka did not object the putsch against Khruschev whom he considered a very unpredictable politician both in his domestic and foreign policy. 

Keywords: Soviet Union, N.S. Khruschev, W. Gomulka, Soviet-Polish Relations.


VASILE BUGA, Thaw in Romanian-Soviet Relations. Minutes of Moscow Meeting in May 1969, I...218

On 16 May 1969, a delegation of the RCP headed by Nicolae Ceauşescu went to Moscow, where a Romanian-Soviet summit took place. The minutes of the meeting emphasizes the interest of the Romanian part in normalizing the Romanian-Soviet relations frozen as consequence to the Romanian critical stand towards WTO intervention in Czechoslovakia. On this occasion there had been discussed aspects of bilateral relations, especially economic relations, including the identification of methods to renew them, as well as aspects of international politics such as European security, the situation in the Middle East, the Vietnam war. The talks singled out the interest both sides had in the unfreezing of the bilateral relations, as well as the maintain of divergent views regarding the preparation of the 1969 Communist parties international conference, the causes and consequences of the Czechoslovakian crisis, the approach towards the Chinese Communist Party. 

Keywords: Communism, Romanian-Soviet relations, Nicolae Ceauşescu, Czechoslovakian crisis, International Communist Movement.



POINTS OF VIEW


ALEXANDRU BUDIŞTEANU, The Romanian Military Cemetery from Bălţi – Thoughts about Fallen Soldiers........................................................................................................................................................242

From 1944 on, the Russian Soviet authorities pursued in the Republic of Moldova – aka the  Romanian  province  of  Bessarabia – a  merciless  policy  of  erasing  all  Romanian  military cemeteries,  in total disregard of the internationally accepted principles. Such is the case of the military cemetery in the town of Bălţi where Romanian soldiers fallen during WWI were buried. Thus the hatred against any Romanian historical presence was extended even to those soldiers who fought the Germans on the same side with the Russian soldiers. As a general rule politics should respect all the fallen soldiers who did their duty fighting for their country. Meanwhile all those political and military leaders who did carry out criminal activities of conquest and terror should not be glorified.

Keywords: Republic of Moldova, Bessarabia, city of Bălţi, Russian Soviet authorities, military cemeteries, discrimination.


V.L. MUSATOV, Stalin’s Role in the WWII Soviet Victory……………………………………………246

The author of the article analyzes the attempts to falsify the history of the Second World War, first of all the tendency to lay equal responsibility for its origin on Hitler’s Germany and the Soviet Union, as well as to consider Socialism as Nazism. The author disagrees with the opinions of those who misinterpret the liberation mission of the Red Army in the countries of the Eastern Europe and aim at presenting it as occupation. The steps taken to rehabilitate and praise war criminals, Nazi’s allies and traitors are criticized.   In connection with the 70th anniversary of defeat of the Romanian, Hungarian and Italian forces in the Stalingrad battle, the author points out  historical responsibility of several politicians, such as I. Antonescu and M. Horthy, who for the sake of territorial acquisitions condemned their countries to participate on Hitler’s side  in the anti-Soviet war that caused millions of casualties.

Keywords: Falsification of history, D-Day, USSR, Germany, Miklos Horthy, Ion Antonescu.


©  The National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, 2013.


 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute of the Study of Totalitarianism 

Volume XX, Number 76-77, 3-4/2012


Editorial


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XXXVIII. Hidden Histories, I……………………….....................5

Using new biographical sources, the article explores the preliminaries of World War Two, the successive withdrawals and the complicity of the Great Powers towards Nazi Germany’ growing tendency to revise the 1919 Versailles Peace Treaty. The article insists upon the dramatic situations that marked the destiny of Austria and Czechoslovakia.

Keywords: Versailles; Locarno; Anschluss; München.


Studies


MARIUS TĂRÎŢĂ, Ideology and Literature in Soviet Moldova, 1945-1948 ……………………………..17

In this study is presented the literary life from Moldavian SSR in 1945-1948, especially the interaction with the Party’s decisions and the fight against “nationalism”, “formalism”, “Bourgeois remnants” and the implementation of the CC-s recommendations. 

Key words: writers, ideology, formalism, nationalism, Bourgeois.


ÉVA CSESZKA, Economic Type Trials in the Rákosi Regime in Hungary 1947-1953…………………....30

The so-called economic type trials fit into the row of the “big” conceptual trials of the Rákosi era both chronologically and because of their nature. The sabotage trials were in close connection with the building of the Stalinist state, their aim was to liquidate private ownership completely, build state monopoly in strategic sectors of the economy and make “political economy” regular. Moreover they also became political trials of determinant importance in the given political situation. 

Keywords: economic type trials, Rákosi regime, conceptual trials, nationalization.


MARIAN-ALIN DUDOI, A Political Trial in Romania: the Oilman Alexander W. Evans Case, 1948……………………………………………………………………………………………………………46

In 1948, the Romanian Communist Government, under the direct guidance of the Soviet Union, nationalized the Western oil companies. For propaganda means, the Government imposed the arrest and the conviction of those companies’ former managers. Regarding Evans, former manager of the British-French owned company “Steaua Română” (“The Romanian Star”), the British Government and the British Legation in Bucharest protested against the severe custody, the illegal procedure during the inquiry and the lawsuit and tried to persuade the Groza Government to release the oilman. Finally, British Legation paid the bail and the Romanian authorities allowed Evans to leave Romania.

Keywords: Press Agency, Great Britain, Communism, Economy, Propaganda.


ALINA ILINCA, LIVIU MARIUS BEJENARU, The Securitate’s Disinformation and Propaganda Actions against the West, 1948-1989, III……………………………………………………………………53

The totalitarian nature of the conflicts of the 20th century and the extension of the concepts of national defense overpasses the traditional boundary between civil and military areas.

Psychological war, which manifested either through a threat to use means of political, economical or military constraint, or through the effective use of these means, proved to be an important feature in the state-to-state relations. Psychological actions were in the core of the 20th century war. Various methods were used in order to ruin the moral of the enemy and to get support from the people.

This paper presents the actions of disinformation and propaganda develops by the Securitate, the secret service of Romanian’s communist regime, in the Western’s countries. In the acceptation of the communist regimes, disinformation did not mean replacing the truth with a lie, but substitution the true information with the ideology.

Keywords: psychological war, Cold War, disinformation, propaganda, communist party, secret services.


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, Political and Ideological Deviations in R.C.P.: the Conciliatory Attitude…………….68

Finding its roots in Lenin and Stalin’s ideology, the accusation of conciliatory attitude was raised against the members who were suspected of minimizing errors and covering up those who acted against party politics. The Romanian Communist leadership used this accusation especially in the 1950’s in the context provided by the “unmasking” of the right deviation (1952) and of the campaign to “discipline” the former Communist members acting in illegality (1958). By raising the accusation of conciliatory attitude, the party leaders wanted to intimidate potential opponents, to block any support to the members labeled as “deviators” or “factionists”, and to stimulate intransigent attitudes towards “class enemies”.

Keywords: Conciliatory attitude, factionalism, right deviation, Romanian Communist Party.


DUMITRU LĂCĂTUŞU, Tudor Sepeanu – The Rise and Fall of a Securitate officer ……………………74

The Head of the Capital’s “Securitate” between 1948 and 1950 was the officer known by the name of Tudor Sepeanu. He was also Head of the Inspection Service within the General Directorate of Penitentiaries between 1950 and 1951. This service had an essential role in organizing the violent “reeducation” of political convicts from Pitesti Penitentiary and other detention places from the communist Gulag in Romania. 

The current study proposes an overview of Tudor Sepeanu’s biography in a 4 sections structure that contains the most relevant information about the latter’s professional activity before and after August 23rd 1944. You will find information about the times when Tudor Sepeanu was a student next to his professional trajectory/path between the two World Wars in the first section, followed by information indicating/(referring to) Sepeanu as a war criminal during the second world war, analyzed in the second section. The third section describes Sepeanu’s rise after August 23rd 1944, while the last one is an image of his activity within the Inspection Service and analyzes the “Pitesti-type” reeducation and his role in the violent action led by political convicts/prisoners from Pitesti penitentiary and other places of political detention from Communist Romania. 

The current study represents a critical perspective over Tudor Sepeanu’s own information given during his criminal law investigation led between 1953 and 1957. 

Possible “explanations” for Tudor Sepeanu’s complete change from an apparently normal person, (no different from any other of his contemporaries) into a tortionary, according to the main theories studying these types of metamorphoses may be found in our conclusions. The sources used for the current study/article are archive documents, mainly those regarding Sepeanu’s criminal law investigation between 1953 and 1957 and also documents created by the former Securitate regarding his role in the Pitesti-type reeducation. 

We also took into consideration some relevant pieces of information found in the already published studies/articles about the former Security officer.

Keywords: Tudor Sepeanu, biography, Security officer, torturer, penal investigator, criminal law investigation, reeducation.


TUDOR VLĂDESCU, The Literature of Resentment in the Romanian Socialist Propaganda Novel. An Introduction to a Study of Fear in Fiction ………………………………………………………………..91

The destiny of propaganda literature belongs, universally, to the dustbin of literary history. Written under pressure from an institutionalized authority - be it religious, political or both -, or just coming out of an untangled web of opportunism and despair, the texts that forwarded ideological content under the cloak of fiction have rarely survived in the collective memory of more than one generation and - even worse - have rarely been popular for more than a decade after their publication. 

This paper will work on the general context of the Russian Socialist Realism and sketch a few steps taken towards the attempted creation of a Romanian Socialist Realism in the early 1950s and its peak in the 1960s. Although there are hundreds of fragments of instances worth citing here, the only example of a socialist propaganda novel that speaks of the communist abuse and brutality chosen belongs to Dumitru Radu Popescu's F, one of the most important novels dedicated to cooperativization. 

Keywords: novel, Socialist Realism, propaganda, cooperativization, industrialization.


CEZAR STANCIU, The Comintern's Legacy. The Romanian Communists and the unity of World Communist Movement, 1967-1969, II  ……………………………………………………………………102

The autonomy of Romania’s foreign policy depended in a large measure on maintaining a balance between China and the Soviet Union. This policy was born in the troubled context of the Sino-Soviet split, relying on a equidistance between the two super-powers of the Communist world. This balance was threatened by Brezhnev’s demands to rally the World Communist Movement around Moscow through an international conference of all Communist parties. In order to safeguard Romania’s autonomous position, Nicolae Ceauşescu had to do everything possible to compromise this undertaking. Initially, Romania refused to participate in the preparatory meeting which took place in 1967, but, trying to avoid isolation similar to that of Albania, it accepted to participate in the Budapest meeting of 1968. In Budapest though, Ceauşescu did everything possible to undermine the Soviet plans of rallying the World Communist Movement against China. 

Keywords: Romania, Soviet Union, China, ideology, conference, Ceauşescu, Brezhnev.


ANA-MARIA CĂTĂNUŞ, Dorin Tudoran and the Condition of the Romanian Intellectual under Communism ………………………………………………………………………………………………..117

The article tackles Dorin Tudoran’s dissent in the first part of the 1980’s. A poet and publicist, Tudoran joined in the 1970’s the group of the Romanian writers criticizing, within the guild, the cultural policies of the communist regime. Soon after, in the beginning of the 1980’s, Tudoran took a step further and engaged into dissent. His essay Frost or fear ?on the condition of Romanian intellectual under communist, that reached the West in 1984, remains his most important contribution to the Romanian dissent thinking.

Using unedited and edited documents from the archive of the former Securitate and the archive of Radio Free Europe, as well as memoirs and interviews books, this article aims to analyze Tudoran’s road to dissent and its concrete manifestations, such as the drafting of documents or taking public stands.

Also, the article discusses the methods used and the measures taken by the former secret police – the Securitate – to put an end to Tudoran’s dissent.

Keywords: Communism, Dorin Tudoran, Dissent, Human Rights, Romania, Writers.


VASILE BUGA, Romanian-Soviet Controversies on the Extension of Warsaw Treaty’ validity, 1984-1985 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..133

This article deals with the controversies between Bucharest and Moscow, in 1984-1985, regarding the extension of Warsaw Treaty validity. During the meetings, Romania surprisingly used the opportunity to tackle a series of economic conditionalities. Relying on investigations in the Russian State Archive of Contemporary History, the author discovered that Romania, affected by a profound economic crisis, linked the extension of Warsaw Treaty validity to the increase in Soviet oil delivery for the next five years.

Keywords: Communism, Warsaw Treaty, Romanian-Soviet relations, Nicolae Ceauşescu’regime.


PETRE OPRIŞ, A Military Plot against the President of Romania, october 1984………………………144

The Romanian armed forces had been the only plausible threat to Ceauşescu's rule since the late 1960s. He had frequently rotated cadres within the Ministry of National Defense and the top military command positions to prevent the emergence of strong, politically independent military leaders.

Rumors of anti-Ceausescu conspiracies or attempted revolts within the military circulated freely in Romania in the 1980s. According to a former high-ranking Romanian military officer, General Nicolae Militaru, the plot to oust Ceauşescu was modeled in 1983-1984. Ion Iliescu claims that he began discussions of a possible coup with the military nucleus, which included Militaru, General Ion Ioniţă and General Ştefan Kostyal, as far back as 1983.

Key words: Nicolae Ceauşescu, communism, generals, plot, Romania, USSR.


CORNELIU PINTILESCU, A Comparative Analysis of Totalitarianism. Post 1989 Anglo-Saxon and German Perspectives………………………………………………………………………………………159

This study aims at chronicling the debates developed around the concept of totalitarianism by Anglo-Saxon and German scholars after the fall of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe. The paper focuses on a few key issues as: the comparison between Nazism and Stalinism, the monolithic character of the political power within the states labeled as totalitarian, the political repression, the connections between law as an instrument of totalitarian power and the concept of totalitarianism. The concept of totalitarianism has passed through a revival during 1990s due to several factors. These favoring factors included the affirmation of the anti-communism political opposition in Eastern Europe, to the “historians’ dispute” in Federal Republic of Germany, but also due to the better access to the archives of former communist states. Subsequently, during 2000s, the evolution of the concept increasingly lost its supporters. Thus, the concept faced criticism, some of the critics arguing that the concept contradicts some of the new data available about the regimes labeled as totalitarian. Others suggested that it makes more difficult the understanding these regimes then it helps us to understand how that these functioned. The study concludes that although these critics have strong arguments against the concept of totalitarianism they didn`t provide an alternative terminology to be comparable in complexity with the existing one, a terminology which could help us understand the specificity of Nazism and Stalinism.

Keywords: Totalitarianism, communism, repression, historians’ dispute, totalitarian law.


FLORIN ABRAHAM, Epistemological Challenges of the Totalitarianism Theory, II…………………173

The study analyzes the epistemological implications of the classic theory concerning totalitarianism. Two books represent the latter: Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism and Carl J. Friedrich, Zbigniew K. Brzezinski, Totalitarian Dictatorship and Autocracy. The research is trying to give an answer to the issue of totalitarian theory validity for analysis of communism. The main controversy points generated by totalitarian theory are evaluated, as follows: the relation between the state-party and society; the role of terror and propaganda; their static and closed character; the role of leaders during systemic changes; implications of the fascism-communism comparisons etc. The main conclusion of the study is that totalitarian theory has, at present, a marginal utility for the study of communist regimes.

Keywords: Totalitarianism, communism, methodology, Soviet Union, Eastern Europe.


Documents

ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, European Federalism under surveillance by the State Siguranţa, 1926, II..........................................................................................................................................................188

Despite nowadays common academic conviction that the history of the European idea in Romania has a glorious past, we try to offer some different opinion , showing that not only the fathers of the European integration were not at all known to the state bureacracy, but also that the secret police considered the Paneuropean Movement of Count Richard-Nikolaus von Coudenhove-Kalergi was suspect and his followers were either Communists, or Hungarian irredentist. The documents which are published come from the National Archives in Bucahrest, the Directorate of the Police Fund, and are dated 1926.

Keywords: Paneurope, Count Richard-Nikolaus von Coudenhove-Kalergi, history of European idea, interbellum Romania, Nationalism.


CRISTINA DIAC, Griviţa Strike from 1933, Seen by the Main Actors. A Vasile Bâgu’s Statement. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..201

Vasile Bâgu, worker at Griviţa Railway Factory from Bucharest, was arrested on 21th of February 1933, for attending to a railwaymen’s strike. Facing with the police’s officers, Bâgu gave a long and full lenght statement, presenting the inside information about  history of the strike and about organisers, nominating 21 of them in clear. 

Keywords: Griviţa strike from 1933, Action Comitee, railwaymen, Vasile Bâgu.


OCTAVIAN ROSKE, The Collectivization of Agriculture. Total Repression, 1957-1962, XXXII………………………………………………………………………………………………………….217

The documents continue the series of historical accounts of the final stage of collectivization of agriculture between 1957 and 1962. The testimonies selected in this issue illustrate the diverse means of repression the communist authorities used in order to step up the collectivization process in Romania.

Keywords: Romania, collectivization, repression.


GHEORGHE E. COJOCARU, Fightings on the Ideological Front in Soviet Moldova, III………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..224

The document presented in the journal’s pages contains just an episode from the great anti-romanian offensive organized by Communist Party of the Soviet Union/Communist Party of Moldova on the Moldavian S.S.R. ideologic front.

In the context of worsening contradictions between the USSR and Soviet Socialist Republic, that was based both on the differrent positions and divergences in a series of international political concerns, and also on the contradictory opinions regarding the historical heritage in the field of Soviet- Romanian bilateral relations („the Bessarabian issue”), at 20 november 1970 Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova gathered the party’s assets, in front of which Prime-secretary I. I. Bodiul presented the report „About the measures regarding intensifying the ideologic activity between the labour people from the republic”. On the year of Lenin’s one hundred anniversary, the empowered branch from Chisinau noticed a series of pro-romanian and anti-sovietic „nationalist diversions”. On the 20th of November, the ideologic front’s troups received necessary instructions for fighting the „romanian danger”, to protect the population of the MSSR of foreign „poisonous” influences. 

Keywords: CPSU, USSR, Soviet block, Socialist Romania, Soviet-Romanian relations, Bessarabia, Moldavian SSR, Communist Party of Moldova, nationalism, party activists, ideology.


CRISTINA ROMAN, History and Politics. The 60 Years Celebration of 1918 “Great Union”……………………………………………………………………………………………………..230

The document we choose to publish presents the debates which took place on October 24th, 1978 within the ideological commission of Central Committee of Romanian Communist Party to prepare the sixty years celebration of 1918 “Great Union”. According to the directives of the general secretary of Romanian Communist Party, Nicolae Ceauşescu, the celebration had to be placed in the context of the “socialist construction” of the era. As a consequence, historical events lost their importance as the emphasis was put on the glorification of “achievements” of the communist regime in the 70s and 80s.

Keywords: The Great Union of 1918, national unity, co inhabiting nationalities, national problem, socialist construction.

Points of view


FLORIAN BANU, Contemporary historical discourse - Between science of history and a history-indictment …………………………………………………………………………………………………242

Our study attempts to bring into focus some of the dangers of so-called "political correctness", reflected the anti-communism at any cost, it is for the science of history. Starting from a critical self biased text, I sought to highlight the techniques and methods used by "historians-propagandists" of our time, emphasizing the mortal danger that it is their professional historical research.

Keywords: Historiography, post-communism, Romania, historian profession, censor, anti-communism, right of reply.



Biographical Dictionary

RALUCA NICOLETA SPIRIDON, Şerban Cioculescu (1902-1988) ………………………………….255

Şerban Cioculescu was one of the most important Romanian literary critics who belonged to the third generation of literary critics, together with George Călinescu, Vladimir Streinu, Pompiliu, Perpessicius. Following the Communist’s politics of professional purges on political grounds, Cioculescu was expelled from the Romanian Writers’ Society (1946), from the academic education system, on October 4, 1947, and from the Professional Journalist Union on October 22, 1947. In 1949, he was detained for a short period, being accused of taking part in subversive activity, but he was released for lack of evidence. In 1952, Cioculescu was in danger of being sent in a working colony for his membership in the National Pesants’ Party and only several years later Cioculescu was removed from his position in the Institute of Linguistics. In the context of political liberalization started in 1962-1964, Cioculescu was rehabilitated and he was allowed to resume his teaching activities. He became a correspondent member of the Romanian Academy, in 1966, and a full member in 1974.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, literary critic, repression, Şerban Cioculescu.


FLORIN ŞANDRU, Neculae Trâmbaciu (1902-1955) …………………………………………………262

Neculae Trâmbaciu was a „jandarm”, a type of police officer. Most of the time, Trâmbaciu worked in his native region, Bessarabia. During 1938-1941 Trâmbaciu worked within the Bucharest Romanian Railways Legion of police officers (Legiunea de Jandarmi). Among other activities, Trâmbaciu investigated the cases of several persons suspected of Communist activity and espionage in favor of the Soviet Union. In November 1951, he was arrested under the charge of war crimes and crimes against the humanity. He was detained without a trial until 1955, when he died.

Keywords: Bessarabia, Communism, repression, Romania, World War II.


ION CONSTANTIN, Onisifor Ghibu (1883-1972) ………………………………………………………264

Onisifor Ghibu was one of the first victims of Stalinist purges in the universities. On March 22, 1945, he was arrested and imprisoned for 222 days without a trial at Caracal political prisoners’ camp. In 1956, O. Ghibu was arrested and sentenced by the Military Court in Sibiu for a memoir he had sent to Nikita Khruschev and Nikolai Bulganin asking for the return of Bessarabia and Bukovina to Romania. O. Ghibu, an exponent of the intellectual resistance, fought the Communist ideology to his final days.

Keywords: Onisifor Ghibu, nationalist, resistance, Stalinist purges.


©  The National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, 2012.



 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute of the Study of Totalitarianism 

Volume XX, Number 74-75, 1-2/2012


Editorial


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XXXVII. … …………………………………................................5



Studies


LILIANA COROBCA, An Incursion into the Soviet Censorship (Glavlit), 1922-1991 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..8

Glavlit, „General Department for Press and Literature” was established in 1922 and has been called from 1933 „Main Administration for Safeguarding State Secrets in the Press” of the Council of Ministers in Soviet Union. Unlike the censorship from other times and other countries, Glavlit combined the control and punishment in a single institution, that was aimed at creating or training the „new man” and developing self-censorship among artists. The censorship was not exercised only by Glavlit. There were “editorial censorships”, effectuated by employees of magazines, publishing houses, radios and televisions etc.; the “repressive censorship” executed by the political department (political control) of the security organizations; ideological censorship, effectuated by party leadership, which had the first and last word in why and how it should appear or be banned (The party gave indications to Glavlit); the “inside censorship” which caused authors to guess the ideological, aesthetic, political regulations of his work over numerous stages of the control. But the main institution of censorship exercised the largest operations of censorship and control. An army of censors was actually in charge of the whole process of banning, discovering the authors, information, „anti-Soviet” and harmful works. This paper aims to present the most important stages and attributions of Glavlit. 

Keywords: Glavlit, censorship, communism, USSR, state secret, purge of books.


RADU FLORIAN BRUJA, The National-Christian Defence League in Bukovina, 1926-1928. An organisation between building and splitting ………………………………………………………………21

The National-Christian Defence League reached its peak between 1926-1927, without becoming a major decisive political force for the country’s destiny. Four Bucovina representatives have managed to get in the Romanian Parliament. But the lack of experience took its tole on them, making them unable to build-up a coherent political message. Moreover, the dissidences and conflicts between 1927-1928 led to the League entering (into) a shadow cone. The Statutory N.C.D.L. (the National-Christian Defence League) Organisation  attracted big personalities of the time, such as Ion Zelea Codreanu or Traian Brăileanu. Even so, the statutory organization had an ephemeral existence, not having been able to obtain new electoral success. Not even the local leaders, such as Nichifor Robu, Gheorghe Cârlan or Ioan Iliuţ, who stood by A.C. Cuza, were able to win the electorate. The 1927’s electoral failure, led to the N.C.D.L.’s restructuring . The unity’s remake, in 1928, was unsolid, many of the old activists having already lost their trust. The “Cuza” anti-Semitism found votaries, but situated the League only on a position of chasing/tracing the big Romanian political parties. The existence of many ethnic communities, especially those of Jewish in the country’s northern region province, allowed anti-Semitism to spread itself. Still, the realities of the Romanian society in the past century’s third decade were much more complex and have not found their solution in the anti-Semitism. In this context, only some spectacular events or a new movement could have brought the Romanian Right towards electorate conquest.

Keywords: Romanian Parliament, electoral campaign, faction, reorganization, extremism, right-wing, anti-semitism.


KARI ALENIUS, The Successes and Failures of German War Propaganda in Estonia, 1941-1944................................................................................................................................................................41

During the German occupation of Estonia (1941-44) the dissemination of war propaganda was one of the essential means in the German efforts of strengthening their position in the country. By the use of propagandistic means, the German holders of power tried to overcome the opposition of the Estonians and make them both loyal to German rule and willing to promote German war endeavors. On the basis of surviving historical documents it is evident that German propaganda efforts were successful to a certain degree, but in many cases they met distrust and rejection by the local people.

Keywords: Propaganda, Germany, Estonia, Second World War.


RADU PETRESCU, The Annihilation of the Red Mountain “Bandits” Led by Colonel Gheorghe Arsenescu. The Role Played by Traian Marinescu-Geagu and Alexandru Alexandrescu………………….59

Colonel Arsenescu, a former Soviet partisan hunter in the Second World War, became the prey. He set up the „Muscelul Outlaws” insurgency in January 1948, training its members in guerilla warfare. In October, he ordered them to leave the mountains and stay low. Disaster struck when two key members were arrested on March 19 and 25, 1949. Information was extracted by torture, 26 people being nabbed by April 1 (75% of those condemned on May 11, 1950). Traian Marinescu-Geagu was executed without trial on February 4, 1950. Alexandru Alexandrescu broke the silence in 2011. 

Keywords: Romania, „The Muscel Outlaws” insurgency, Gheorghe Arsenescu, Traian Marinescu-Geagu, Alexandru Alexandrescu, Gheorghe Cotenescu.


ALINA ILINCA, LIVIU MARIUS BEJENARU, The Securitate’s Disinformation and Propaganda Actions against the West, 1948-1989………………………………………………………………………..75

The totalitarian nature of the conflicts of the 20th century and the extension of the concepts of national defense overpasses the traditional boundary between civil and military areas.

Psychological war, which manifested either through a threat to use means of political, economical or military constraint, or through the effective use of these means, proved to be an important feature in the state-to-state relations. Psychological actions were in the core of the 20th century war. Various methods were used in order to ruin the moral of the enemy and to get support from the people.

This paper presents the actions of disinformation and propaganda develops by the Securitate, the secret service of Romanian’s communist regime, in the Western’s countries. In the acceptation of the communist regimes, disinformation did not mean replacing the truth with a lie, but substitution the true information with the ideology.

Keywords: psychological war, Cold War, disinformation, propaganda, communist party, secret services.


PETRE OPRIŞ, Indian-Soviet-Chinese Relations in Bucharest’s Perspective, 1955-1964, II……………86

Unpublished Romanian documents from the Cold War period revealed the major interests of the Romanian authorities for the maintaining a balance in their relations with India, China and USSR.

In 1956, the Indian vice-president Sarvappalli Radhakrishnan visited Romania. On the same year, a cultural delegation from India visited Romania. The respective delegation was led by the Indian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. A delegation led by Emil Bodnăraş visited the People’s Republic of China, on the 10th anniversary of existence of that state. The results of the discussions with the Chinese authorities were presented by Emil Bodnăraş on the meeting of the Political Bureau of CC of RWP (October 9, 1959).

One month after the crisis of the Soviet missiles deployed in Cuba and after the visit of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej in Indonesia, India and Burma, the Romanian Prime-Minister Ion Gheorghe Maurer approved a plan referring to developing the Romania’s economic relations with those three Asian states.

Keywords: China, Communism, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, India, Romania, USSR.


SCHLETT ANDRÁS, Success and Failure of the Hungarian Agrarian Model, 1960-1990.………………………………………………………………………………………………………...96

In the centre of the analysis stands the agricultural reconstruction of the sixties and seventies, moreover the eighties when the crisis of the Hungarian agrarian model emerged, and demands for economic and also political reforms could be felt. The aim of the essay is to demonstrate the characteristics of industrial like productive systems gaining ground in the Hungarian agriculture from the beginning of the sixties. In course of this the article concentrates upon the emphasis and analysis of those factors which determined the offset and development of the new production organising form in a special way. It presents what role industrialising played in the evolution, successes and failures of the given development models, and what agent role it played in the enterprise system established in the sixties and seventies and in the organization of different integration forms. In the end the history of industry like agriculture, –- as an outbreak attempt – can partly give an answer to the deeper correspondences of the operational problems of the socialist economic system. 

Keywords: Rural Development, Socialist Agriculture, Green rRevolution, nInnovation, Professional Agriculture, Production Systems, Taylorism.


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, The Illusion of Normalcy: the Romanian Academy at the Beginning of Nicolae Ceauşescu’s Regime. ………………………………………………………………………………………...109

In 1948, Romanian Academy became a state institution and it changed its name into the Academy of Romanian People’s Republic. Subjected to the control of the new power, the Academy of RPR suffered the consequences of the Stalinist period and of the years to follow: purges, the loosing of its properties, ideological subordination, the breaking off of the traditional liaisons with the West. It was only in the beginning of the ’60, when, under the influence of Gheorghiu-Dej’ liberalization politics, the scientific and cultural life revived. During his meetings with the leadership of the Academy, Dej’ successor, Nicolae Ceauşescu expressed his intention to continue the liberalization politics and to support the activity of the Academy. In addition, Ceauşescu used this opportunity to present his ideas on the future of the Academy, which were to become a reality after 1970: the guidance of the scientific research by the party leadership, removing the scientific institutes from the structure of the Academy. 

Keywords: Romanian Academy, Nicolae Ceauşescu, liberalization, ideological control.


CEZAR STANCIU, The Comintern's Legacy. The Romanian Communists and the unity of World Communist Movement, 1967-1969, I ……………………………………………………………………..122

During the 1960s and 1970s, Romania’s foreign policy demonstrated a high degree of “autonomy and ideological non-conformism”, in Ghiţă Ionescu’s terms. Nicolae Ceauşescu’s spectacular initiatives and the courage of his opposition to the Soviet Union had, for many years, occupied the front page of foreign newspapers. The fundamental question to which this article answers is if, beyond economical and political rationalities, Romania’s dissidence in the Communist bloc also had an ideological component. This article proves that Romania’s autonomy in foreign policy was justified and explained to Moscow through ideological arguments, inspired by the Yugoslav (Titoist) critique of the USSR, taking advantage of the Sino-Soviet split. The Romanian Communist Party relied on Khrushchev’s rhetoric, aimed at reforming Moscow’s relations with the satellite parties, in order to support equality among Communist parties and a national way towards Socialism. The nature of this argumentation consisted in using a Titoist approach built on Khrushchev’s arguments. 

Keywords: Romania, Soviet Union, ideology, foreign policy, Communist movement, equality.


ANA-MARIA CĂTĂNUŞ, The Path to Freedom. Doina Cornea and Romanian Dissent in the 1980’………………………………………………………………………………………………………138

Doina Cornea remains one of the leading figures of Romanian dissent in the 1980’s. Encompassing a variety of actions, from writing mobilizing open letters for spiritual revival, to protesting against concrete actions of the regime such as the villages’ systematization, the political abuses, the situation of the Greek-Catholic Church, Doina Cornea’s dissent became well known abroad and benefited from Western support. Using a wide range of sources – archival documents, the texts drafted by Doina Cornea in the 1980’s, memoirs, interviews, as well as scientific studies dedicated to the topic –, this article aims at analyzing Doinea Cornea’s dissent from different perspectives: her becoming a dissident, the evolution of dissident discourse,  her struggling with the repressive organs.

Keywords: communism, Doina Cornea, dissent, human rights, repression.


MIHAELA VERZEA, Theorizing the Concept of Party-State: Historiographical Landmarks, III

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..157


FLORIN ABRAHAM, Epistemological Challenges of the Totalitarianism Theory, I……………………………………………………………………………………………………………168

The aim of this article is to present the political régime of the State Party from the point of view of the hallmark political structures. This theoretical study exploits sources of foreign authors, concerned in presenting the institutional frame specific to the left totalitarian governments, starting first of all from the analysis of the marxist-leninist ideology and of the inspiration model, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Keywords: State-Party, marxism-leninism, Communist Party of Soviet Union, political structures.


Documents


ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, European Federalism under Surveillance by the State Siguranţa, 1926, I ………………………………………………………………………………………………………184

Despite nowadays common academic conviction that the history of the European idea in Romania has a glorious past, we try to offer some different opinion , showing that not only the fathers of the European integration were not at all known to the state bureacracy, but also that the secret police considered the Paneuropean Movement of Count Richard-Nikolaus von Coudenhove-Kalergi was suspect and his followers were either Communists, or Hungarian irredentist. The documents which are published come from the National Archives in Bucahrest, the Directorate of the Police Fund, and are dated 1926.

Keywords: Paneurope, Count Richard-Nikolaus von Coudenhove-Kalergi, history of European idea, interbellum Romania, Nationalism.


OCTAVIAN ROSKE, The Collectivization of Agriculture. Total Repression, 1957-1962, XXXI.............................................................................................................................................................199

The documents continue the series of historical accounts of the final stage of collectivization of agriculture between 1957 and 1962. The testimonies selected in this issue illustrate the diverse means of repression the communist authorities used in order to step up the collectivization process in Romania after 1957.

Keywords: Romania, collectivization, repression.


CLAUDIU DEGERATU, Nicolae Ceauşescu and “the New Illegal Members” of the Romanian Communist Party, 1965-1968 ……………………………………………………………………………….208

In the context of the 70s political relaxation, Nicolae Ceauşescu decided to gain more support within the Romanian Communist Party by officially recognizing the contributions of more pre-1945 communist activists, the so-called ”ilegalişti”. The document, from the National Archives, shows the results of the internal official review process, the group structure, statistics and its profile. The report includes new political criteria used for enlarging the size of the illegal activists group involved before 1945 in communist activities and the follow-up administrative proposals to include the new group within the nomenclature structure. 

Keywords: Nicolae Ceauşescu, illegal activists, Romanian Communist Party, nomenklatura, archives.


GHEORGHE E. COJOCARU, Fightings on the Ideological Front in Soviet Moldova, II……………..216

The document presented in the journal’s pages contains just an episode from the great anti-romanian offensive organized by Communist Party of the Soviet Union/Communist Party of Moldova on the Moldavian S.S.R. ideologic front.

In the context of worsening contradictions between the USSR and Soviet Socialist Republic, that was based both on the differrent positions and divergences in a series of international political concerns, and also on the contradictory opinions regarding the historical heritage in the field of Soviet- Romanian bilateral relations („the Bessarabian issue”), at 20 november 1970 Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova gathered the party’s assets, in front of which Prime-secretary I. I. Bodiul presented the report „About the measures regarding intensifying the ideologic activity between the labour people from the republic”. On the year of Lenin’s one hundred anniversary, the empowered branch from Chisinau noticed a series of pro-romanian and anti-sovietic „nationalist diversions”. On the 20th of November, the ideologic front’s troups received necessary instructions for fighting the „romanian danger”, to protect the population of the MSSR of foreign „poisonous” influences. 

Keywords: CPSU, USSR, Soviet block, Socialist Romania, Soviet-Romanian relations, Bessarabia, Moldavian SSR, Communist Party of Moldova, nationalism, party activists, ideology.


Testimonies

FLORIN-RĂZVAN MIHAI, CRISTINA DIAC, German Ethnics Deportation from Romania to U.S.S.R.., 1945-1949 ………………………………………………………………………………………234

At the end of the Second World War, over 60 000 Germans from Romania were deportated to Soviet Union, for hard labour. In a synthetic manner the study emphasizes the political context of that period, the mechanisms of the decision, and the attitude of the Romanian authorities, how the measure was implemented. The authors present the testimonies of two German women, Ecaterina Coman şi Matilda Jica, born in Banat, deportated to USSR, between 1945 and 1949. 

Keywords: German ethnics, deportation, forced labour, Soviet Union, death rate, internment camps, labour camps.

Biographical Dictionary

RADU PETRESCU, Gheorghe I. Cotenescu (1886-1965)…………………………………………….249

This biography gives a detailed account of how theologian, lecturer, composer and choir conductor, lecturer, journalist, politician and former military chaplain Gheorghe Cotenescu’s life crossed at certain moments the path of outstanding personalities such as the scholar Nicolae Iorga, general “a la suite” Gheorghe Rasoviceanu and chief of staff colonel Gheorghe Arsenescu, founder and leader of “The Muscel Outlaws”, a major anticommunist resistance group.

 Keywords: Stoenesti-Muscel, priest-professor Gheorghe Cotenescu, Nicolae Iorga, colonel Gheorghe Arsenescu, “The Muscel Outlaws”.


ALIN SPÂNU, Alexandru Ghyka (1903-1982)………………………………………………………….252

A descendent of the family of Grigore Alexandru Ghica, former Moldavian ruler, Alexandru Ghyka graduated from Law Faculty in Iassy in 1930. Soon after, he began working as a magistrate in the courts of Tutova and Bujorul-Covurlui, and afterwards he became a lawyer. In 1937, Alexandru Ghyka joined the Legionary Movement, and a year later he was main lawyer in the political trial of Corneliu Zelea-Codreanu, the leader of the Legionary Movement. After the establishment of the national-legionary government, Alexandru Ghyka was appointed general director of the Police (16 September 1940 – 21 January 1941). Following the legionary rebellion, A. Ghyka was arrested, subjected to a trial and convicted to 15 years of hard labor for rebellion and high treason. He was imprisoned at the penitentiaries of Aiud,  Braşov,  Alba-Iulia, and Suceava.

Ghyka was released from prison on 29 June 1954 and he was set a mandatory domicile in the region of Galaţi. Only four months later, he was arrested once again, and sentenced to life in prison, in 1957. 

In July 1964, Ghyka was granted a pardon and he was released from prison. He lived in Galaţi, where in order to earn his living he worked at the Enterprise of Public Transportation. After two years he began working as a legal adviser until he retired, in 1970.

Keywords: Romania, Legionary Movement, repression, political prisoners.


FLORI BĂLĂNESCU, Vasile Paraschiv (1928-2011)………………………………………………….255

Vasile Paraschiv was a simple man, a workman, and when he realized the communist regime acts against the benefits of the Romanian people, and against the workmen’s interest especially, he quit the communist party. He wrote a lot of letters and memoirs to the officials, he tried to shine a light over these irregularities, abuses and illegalities committed by the communist nomenclature or by the repressive institutions (e.g. Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecution Office). He was abused, politically harassed, beaten up, and locked up in psychiatric wards based on political reasons. In 1977 he joined the Movement for Human Rights created by writer Paul Goma, and in 1979 he was co-founder of the first Free Romanian Workmen’s Syndicate. This syndicate was annihilated with brutality by the authorities.

Keywords: Romania, dissent, human rights, Workers’ Free Trade Union in Romania.


FLORIN-RĂZVAN MIHAI, Gheorghe (Gogu) Rădulescu (1914-1991)……………………………….261

Gogu Rădulescu was born in 5th of September, in 1914, in Bucharest. He was member of Communist Youth Union from Romania since 1933. Between 1935 and 1937, he was the president of the Democratic Students Front. During the Second World War, he was imprisoned by the Soviet Army. After communists took the power, he held significant positions in Romanian state. He was excluded from the Romanian Workers Party in 1952, but rehabilitated a few years after. In the 70’s-80’s, he reached the peak of his political career as a member of the Executive Political Comittee of the Romanian Communist Party and as a viceprime-minister. Being sick, he was not included among the nomenklaturists sentenced to prison, after the fall of communist regime, in 1990. The next year he died.

Keywords: nomenklatura, technocrat, foreign trade, Communist Party, biography, Government, underground militant.


©  The National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, 2012.

 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute of the Study of Totalitarianism 

Volume XIX, Number 72-73, 3-4/2011




RADU CIUCEANU, Extending the Field of Research in Romania: 

The National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism................................................................................. 4

History and the totalitarianism are two distinct entities, and if any totalitarian system subsides as a hidden evil in society, or in the individual, its activity and manifestation forms are exposed and confirmed by its evolution’s course of events. The reconstruction of the present society cannot be done on the same foundation, as two generations have been built and taken down in a half century’s reality, and their chronicle is still the Romanian people’s history, one and indivisible, whether it is brighter or, on the contrary, submerged in darkness and oppression.

Keywords: The National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, Totalitarianism, Stalinism, the Romanian armed Resistance, Memory of communism.


LAURENŢIU CONSTANTINIU, The Soviet State’s Political Police: From Leninist Revolutionarism to Stalinist Pragmatism..................................................................................................................................11

At the beginning of World War II, the proletarian solidarity trumpeted ad nauseam by the Second International simply faded away. The social democratic parties in the belligerent countries had replaced internationalism, the doctrine underlying the Second International, with nationalism and chauvinism, clamoring that “the homeland is in danger”; joining sides with the national bourgeoisies, they also proclaimed the need for “social peace”. Lenin’s favoring of the interests of the new regime over the idea of world revolution provided the matrix for the entire foreign policy of Soviet Russia/USSR. At all the major moments that followed, the Soviet diplomacy was never guided by ideological or doctrine considerations, but by practical aspects related to maintaining the Soviet regime.

Keywords: Russian Revolution, the First World War, the Third International, Soviet Power.


ALEXANDRU-MURAD  MIRONOV, And Quiet Flows the Dniester. Life and Death on the Romanian-Soviet Border, 1918-1940……………………………………………………………………….…………32

This a study on the day-to-day reality of the people living or having contact with the Romanian-Soviet border, which stood on the Dniester between 1918 and 1940.

We divided those who came into contact with the border into two main categories: deserters – we have avoided terms that would have involved any kind of tourism - and locals. The first, in turn, were of several types - deserters, refugees and agents. While making a distinction between each of those mentioned, we have proved that deserters were those who fled from Romania to the Soviet Union for political reasons, out of idealism, to escape infringement consequences, sometimes for economic reasons, often to avoid military service in the Romanian army . Refugees came to Romania mainly for economic reasons, the largest wave of illegal border crossings occurring in the early '30s, when social and political conditions had suddenly deteriorated in the USSR when Stalin triggered the forced collectivization of agriculture. River crossings degenerated into violent incidents, resulting in hundreds of dead and wounded people, authorities on both sides making use of weapons, even if the Soviets had also used machine guns. Finally, we described how the locals viewed the tense border situation. Opinions converge in considering the Soviet bank as a kind of "beyond" world.

Keywords: Border, interwar Romania, Communism, refugees, local identity.


FLORIN-RĂZVAN MIHAI, Candidates and Candidacies During General Elections in Romania, 1926-1928............................................................................................................................................................59

This study represents a synopsis of the research conducted during the ”Parliamentary Elites and the Electoral Dynamic (1918-1937)” grant funded by C.N.C.S.I.S., from 2008 to 2009, under the supervision of professor Florin Müller. In the present study, we suggest a fresh approach to the Romanian interwar political elite, an analysis of selection strategies of candidates for obtaining membership in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate. All candidates in the general elections that took place between 1922 and 1928, for the Chamber of Deputies and for the Senate, were introduced in a database containing information about the politician’s name, the district for which he stood for election, the political party to which he belonged at the moment of the elections, the political party/bloc/group on whose list he appeared, his position on the list, his profession, nationality, age. The data came to light by comparing results inside the same election, and during consecutive elections, and, finally, reuniting the three analyzed elections. We have extended the research to all parties from the political spectrum (centre, centre-left, left, far-right and far-left), including the non-parliamentary ones. In conclusion, the results have shown that between 1926-1928, 3655 candidates were registered in the electoral race for the Chamber of Deputies and 1214 candidates for the upper Body. For both Houses of Parliament, 7496 candidates were registered. 

Keywords: Political elite, electoral dynamic, electoral candidates, general elections, political parties, leaders.


CRISTIAN TRONCOTĂ, Personalities of the Secret Front in Romania: Gheorghe Cristescu.......................................................................................................................................................80

Gheorghe (Gicu) Cristescu was one of the best Romanian secret service specialists in the interwar period and during World War II. Although between November 15, 1940 and August 23, 1944 he was subordinated to his brother, Eugen Cristescu, head of the Special Intelligence Service, their relations were strictly professional. In June 1948 he was sentenced in absentia to forced labor for life, for his alleged involvement in the June 26-31, 1941 massacre of the Jews in Iasi. Apprehended in 1953 in Transylvania, he was successively imprisoned at Deva, Bucharest (Uranus), Făgăraş, Gherla, Râmnicu Sărat and Aiud until his release in July 1964. He then worked as an unskilled laborer and died in anonymity in 1975.

Keywords: Interwar period, Romanian intelligence, World War II, communism.

CRISTINA DIAC, The Chronicle of a Political Collapse. The Communist Party in Romania and the End of Greater Romania.......................................................................................................................................90

In the first day of September 1940, the public opinion was informed that the Government acquiesced in the surrender to Hungary of a part of Transylvania. The population received the news with vivid outrage. In the larger cities of Transylvania, crowds filled the streets to protest against the decision. In those days, the Transylvanians had been hoping that Iuliu Maniu would oppose, and that he would take up the role of leader of the struggle for territorial integrity. The latter avoided public appearances, but he had declared himself absolutely against the surrender in his discussions with King Charles II and in the messages he sent to the “arbitrators”, Hitler and Mussolini. The National Peasants’ Party scheduled a large protest in Alba Iulia for September 15th. 

Keywords: Romanian Communist Party, interwar period, Comintern, Communism.

MIOARA ANTON, On Russians and Russophobia in Romania during the 1940’s……………………..…………………………………………………………………………….111

A constant attitude in the interwar Romanian society, anti-Russianism and anti-Sovietism came to a peak in the early 1940’s. June 1941 was recorded in the collective memory not only as a singular episode of revenge for national humiliation but also as a singular moment of revolt against a destructive neighbour. Russophobia reached a high point in the 1940’s. Two distinct periods can be identified in this respect: the war and the years after August 1944, actually up to King Mihai’s abdication in December 1947, when Romanian society faced two closely interconnected realities: the Soviet military presence, which worsened even more the negative image, given the violence and the abuses, and the attempt to impose a communist regime.

Keywords: The Second World War, Romanian Society, Soviet propaganda, Romanian Communist Party, Red Army.

ION CONSTANTIN, Katyń Massacres:  The Way to the Truth………………………………………120

The Katyn massacres were one of the 20th century’s most tragic experiences, the result of which was that a large part of the Polish elite was destroyed as dictated by the March 5, 1940 decision of the USSR leadership, at head with Stalin. The road to truth about Katyn was extremely difficult, as the Soviet authorities, the secret services and the institutions they controlled did their best to wipe away all traces of the crimes and preclude the identification of those who had ordered and performed the assassinations. They concealed, destroyed and faked evidence, denying any clues and facts. Because for a long time, it was not possible in that country to further try to establish the truth, the Polish exiles took over the task. Only after the collapse of the USSR could the archives of the former Soviet Union be actually accessed and the first investigations be made into the crimes of Katyn.  Eighteen years after the fall of Communism, many aspects related to the destinies of the Poles killed in the spring of 1940 are still obscure leaders of the “historical parties,” considered “reactionary”.

Keywords: Katyn massacres, Soviet Union, World War II, Soviet-German Relations.

VASILE BUGA, The Repatriation of the Romanian Prisoners from The Soviet Union,

1945-1952 .........................140

After the end of the Second World War and the re-establishing of diplomatic relations between Romania and the Soviet Union one of the most important problems was that of the repatriation of the Romanian soldiers taken prisoners in the Soviet Union, during the Eastern campaign, and between August 24 and September 12, 1944. Some of the prisoners came back to Romania as members of the „Tudor Vladimirescu” volunteer division, established in October 1943 in the Soviet Union. These soldiers fought for the liberation of the Romanian territory as well as Hungary and Czechoslovakia. In April 15, 1948, after countless discussions, the Soviet government communicated the decision to free all Romanian prisoners. 

Keywords: World War II, Soviet Union, Romanian war prisoners, repatriation.

VESA VARES, The Western Powers and Finland during the Cold War:

What was “Finlandization”? ......................147

The article deals with the image of Finland among the Western Powers, especially the image of President Urho Kekkonen’s foreign policy and his Soviet and Western relations from the mid-1950s until mid-1970s. The United States and Britain, on which the focus in the article is laid, did not have very ambitious goals in Finland, since they knew that if the Soviets wanted to make Finland a Communist state, there was very little the West could do to prevent this; Finland, although not a Warsaw bloc country and although it had remained a multi-party and free-press democracy, was in the Soviet sphere of influence, and the Western Powers did not have any hope to compete with the Soviet Union. Mainly they hoped that the situation would not get worse and Finland would not gradually slip to the grip of Communism – the so-called “Finlandization”, gradual loss of independence. On the other hand, they relied on the fact that although there was a relatively strong Communist Party in Finland (about 20 % of the votes) and although Finland had a military pact with the Soviet Union since 1948, the Finnish society and the Finnish army were staunchly anti-Communist. In fact, the Communists were kept out of Government altogether between 1948 and 1966. The strategy was to give “silent” (in order not to provoke the Soviets) diplomatic and economic aid to Finland in order to stabilize Finnish domestic policy and diminish the influence of Communists and the Soviet Union. President Kekkonen (1956–1982) caused the Western Powers worries because he was regarded too timid and subservient towards the Soviets; not because he would have been an unpatriotic man, let alone an agent, but because he seemed to have made a wrong conclusion of the outcome of the Cold War – that the Soviet Union would win it. The Americans and the British knew that they could not prevent Kekkonen from being constantly re-elected since he had the backing of two big parties (the Agrarians and the Communists), the support of the Soviet Union and only a disunited opposition against him. Moreover, he was considered to be a far more skillful politician than his rivals. Therefore the policy was to try to influence him and convince him of the Western power, and in the late 1960s his image had greatly improved in the West: now he seemed to guarantee the stability in Finland and be the only man who had the authority to oppose Moscow – but what would happen when he would retire?

Keywords: Finnish-Soviet relations, Finlandization, President Kekkonen, Cold War, Communist influence on Finland.

PETRE OPRIŞ, Indian-Soviet-Chinese Relations in Bucharest’s Perspective, 1955-1964. I…………………………………………………………………………………………..………………164

Unpublished Romanian documents from the Cold War period revealed the major interests of the Romanian authorities for maintaing a balance in theire relations with India, China and USSR.

In 1956, the Indian vice-president Sarvappalli Radhakrishnan visited Romania. On the same year, a cultural delegation from India visited Romania. The respective delegation was led by the Indian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

A delegation led by Emil Bodnăraş visited the People’s Republic of China, on the 10th anniversary of existence of that state. The results of the discussions with the Chinese authorities were presented by Emil Bodnăraş on the meeting of the Political Bureau of CC of RWP (October 9, 1959).

One mounth after the crisis of the Soviet missiles deployed in Cuba and after the visit of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej in Indonesia, India and Burma, the Romanian Prime-Minister Ion Gheorghe Maurer approved a plan referring to developing the Romania’s economic relations with those three Asian states.

Keywords: China, Communism, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, India, Romania, USSR.


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, Romania – Another Czechoslovakia? The Prospect of a Soviet Invasion and the Question of Foreign Support, 1968.............................................................................................................173

On August 21, 1968 Romanian leadership publicly condemned the invasion of Czechoslovakia by WTO troops. In the meanwhile, Bucharest leaders tried to determine on what kind of support they could count on in case of Romania’s invasion. As the answers were disappointing in the next days Romania was forced to lower down the tone of anti-Soviet declaration. As a consequence, political relations between Bucharest and Moscow calmed down.

Keywords: Romania, Soviet Union, WTO, invasion of Czechoslovakia, political relations.

ANA-MARIA CĂTĂNUŞ, A Case of Dissent in Romania in the 1970’s: Paul Goma and the Movement for Human Rights.....................................................................................................................................185

In Romania, in the last two decades of Communism, there had been few cases of dissidence. One of the dissidents was the writer Paul Goma. He was arrested in 1956, in the context of the Hungarian revolution and sent to prison for two years. In January 1977, he addressed a letter of solidarity to the signatories of Czechoslovakian Charter 77. The movement for defending human rights in Romania, which Paul Goma initiated at the end of the ’70’s, had gathered approximately 200 people. In April 1977, Paul Goma was arrested and after he was released, he was forced into exile.

Keywords: Romania, human rights, dissent, Goma movement.

OCTAVIAN ROSKE, The Biographical Dictionary of Repression: Methodology, Pattern, Sources……………………………………………………………………………………………………210

The biographical dictionary is an essential instrument for the analysis of the dinamics and the forms of the repressive system. Along with the collections of documents, studies and the legislative corpus, the biographical dictionary appeared as a need to establish the identity of the victims as well as the coordinators of the repression. It also represents a useful source for the research of the history of the repressive mechanisms of the Romanian Communist regime. The biographical dictionary has five main characteristics: it stands on a number of edited or oral sources; it has a pattern which establishes a predictable character; it has a regional or professional determination; it is circumscribed to a certain period of time and has a specific stylistic mark.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, repression, historiography, biographical dictionary.

FLORIN ABRAHAM, The Influence of Anticommunism over Recent Romanian Historiography………...............................................................................................................................228

The aim of the study is to uncover the relation between political anticommunism, as a dominant meta-ideology in the Romanian intellectual environment, and the studying directions, language and typology of conclusions presented by historiography. The object of this study is made up of research works that can be assimilated to the 1990-2004 historiography focusing on Romanian communism. The analysis grid proposed for understanding how communism influenced Romanian historiography has four pillars: methodological options derived from major historiography currents; frequent study theme; stylistics of the historical discourse; the issue of responsibility/guilt. The predominant ideology which can be identified in the texture of Romanian historiography concerning the 1945-1989 period is anticommunism. The main problem generated by a historiography contaminated by anticommunist ideology is that history contributes to legitimizing a sui generis populism, nourishing the anti-modern discourse of a part of Romanian intelligentsia and political actors that use the anticommunist legitimacy in the public space.

Keywords: Anticommunism, Legitimacy, Methodology, Recent Romanian historiography, Political actors.


ANA-MARIA RĂDULESCU, The Adventist Church...............................................................................249

Deemed untrustworthy by the Romanian state, because of their foreign allegiance, after a short period of thriving (1945-1947), the Romanian Adventists, even though officially recognized by the state as one of the 14 legal cults in Romania, were repressed by the communist regime, which aimed at diminishing their activity and at entirely subordinating their leadership. The main point of discord with the authorities was the very essence of Adventist religious teaching and practice: maintaining Saturdays as days of rest and worship. 

Keywords: the Adventist Church, communism, restrictive measures, pastors, subordination, rounding-off, unmasking, resistance, compromise.


CLAUDIU DEGERATU, The Romanian Academy..................................................................................258

The post WWII history of the Romanian Academy is very illustrative of the evolution of the totalitarian regime in Romania. The analysis covers the major stages of the political control imposed by the Communist Party in Romania over the academic elites and the transformations from a free institution toward a controlled one.

The survival of the academic life was encompassed by major compromises made by Romanian Academy’s members in order to maintain a decent level of their status in a totalitarian regime. 

Keywords: Romania, totalitarian regime, communism, academia.

ANA-MARIA RĂDULESCU, The Romanian Orthodox Church.............................................................264

The communist authorities tried to subdue the Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC) by applying different measures in order to obtain control over its hierarchy and by imprisoning thousands of clergymen, during the waves of arrests, from 1945 until 1964. After the short period of liberalization (1964-1971), Nicolae Ceauşescu’s regime’s attitude towards the ROC grew harsher. However, the regime did not operate mass political arrests anymore. Because of the communist regime’s religious policies towards the ROC, in 1989, at the dismantlement of communism, its role in the Romanian society was very weak, its activity being strictly limited to the celebration of religious services within the churches.

Keywords: the Romanian Orthodox Church, communism, monachism, priests, atheist propaganda, church demolition.


FLORI BĂLĂNESCU, On Romanian Political Prison Poetry.................................................................270

Prison poetry was one of the ways to resist the destructive pressure of the Romanian prison system. It offered thousands of political prisoners the opportunity to survive through artistic expression of a moral and spiritual predicament. The chief feature of prison poetry is its oral character: composed and then memorized by the author’s fellow inmates, it crossed the prison walls in Morse code.  

Keywords: Repression, Artistic expression, Prison poetry, Communism.


CARMEN RĂDULESCU, The Union of Architects in the Romanian People’s Republic and in the Socialist Republic of Romania...................................................................................................................278

The Union of Architects in R.P.R./R.S.R was the architects’ mass organization that guided its members’ activity during the Communist regime. Set up in November 1952 after the Soviet model of creation unions, the Union of Architects in R.P.R./R.S.R  functioned in the same framework until April 1990 when it was reorganized according the Law 127/24 April 1990. During the ’50’s, the evolution of architecture was dramatically influenced by the ideological and political factors, while the only tolerated architectural style was the Soviet inspired-one, called socialist realist, which was applied in all cultural domaines. Therefore, art became state art, serving the interests of state and politcs. 

Keywords: Romania, Communism, Arhitecture, Socialist Realism, Unions of creation.

©  The National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, 2011.


 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute of the Study of Totalitarianism 

Volume XIX, Number 70-71, 1-2/2011



RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XXXVI. Seventy years after… …………………………………5

The article analyses the relationship between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union before the German attack against Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. Hoping to regain Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina lost in the summer of 1940, Romania under the effective leadership of general Ion Antonescu joined the troops of the Axis powers.

Keywords: Romania, World War II, Nazi Germany, Bessarabia.


RADU FLORIAN BRUJA, The Founding of Right-Wing movement in interwar Bucovina: the case of the National-Christian Defense League.......................................................................................................................8

The interwar period represented for Bukovina the connection to the Romanian national state from an administrative, economic and political point of view. After the Union, the electoral and agrarian reforms were felt. The political life focused on two main ideas: the rapid integration within the Romanian state structures, respectively the preservation of a large local autonomy. Thus, the first conflicts with minorities appeared in Bucovina, of which the most resounding were the ones with the Jewish. The anti-Semitism in Bucovina was not a trend specific only for the interwar period. It also existed during the Austrian period, but it manifested in a latent and much less violent way to take strident forms. The enemies of centralism and of the minorities’ role in the economic and political life of the province grouped around Ion Zelea Codreanu, deputy of the Democrat Nationalist Party. In 1923, in Campulung Moldovenesc, it took place the congress for the incorporation of the organization Liga Apararii Nationale Crestine din Bucovina L.A.N.C. (National-Christian Defense League of Bucovina) and the Codreanu’s group, the organizations of the Bucovina Archers, the members of the Romanian National Fascia, the local anti-Semites, the former fighters in the Autro-Hungarian army and others adhered to. Nevertheless, between 1923 and 1925 no organization action of L.A.N.C. in the region took place, the activity of the new group being limited to the media propaganda. Only after the second congress of Campulung in 1925 and the appearance of the “Gazeta Poporului” newspaper, it began the organization of the first political structures, first in Campulung and Suceava counties.

Keywords: Extremism, nationalism, anti-semitism, regionalism, inter-war Romania.


FELICIAN VELIMIROVICI, The Origins of Soviet Historiography.......................................................23

The article describes the main developments which occurred in the culture-politics relationship in the USSR during the Stalin period, analyzing as a case study the field of soviet historical science and the impact the Short Course of History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union had upon it. It emphasizes the party’s progressive drive for total control over culture and historiography, and Stalin’s personal drive for absolute power inside the party.

Keywords: Stalinism, Soviet historiography, M.N. Pokrovsky, Mihail Roller, marxism.


TATIANA V. VOLOKITINA, The Image of Romania in the War-time Soviet Propaganda.................................................................................................................................................31

This article focuses on the Soviet Propaganda in Romania during World War II. Topics concerning the Soviet military occupation since 1944 and the perceptions of both Romanians and Soviets on each other are emphasized using contemporary sources and new documents from the Central Archives of the Russian Federal Ministry of Defence.

Keywords: WWII, Soviet occupation of Romania, propaganda, war crimes, mentalities.


FELICIAN DUICĂ, The Political Migration with the Romanians, 1919-1947, II.....................................45

Starting with August 1944, as the Communists became first actors of the Romanian political scenes, many members of the National Peasant Party and the Liberal Party, betrayed their cause. In what concerned the social-democrats, they worked with and, in the mean time, competed with the Communists in attracting new members especially from the historical parties. 

At the beginning of 1945 a faction of the National Peasant Party led by Anton changed sides and joined the National Democratic Front (FDN). The same did the liberal faction led by Gheorghe Tătărescu, who motivated its decision by the country’s need for reconstruction and for the good of the people. Regardless of their choice for joining the Communists, the members of these factions would not be spared of populating the jails of the new regime where they met their former colleagues, who remained loyal to their party’s principles. 

Keywords: Political migration, Liberal Party (Gheorghe Tătărescu), the National Peasant Party (Anton Alexandrescu), false coalition.


ALINA ILINCA, LIVIU MARIUS BEJENARU, The Securitate’s Disinformation and Propaganda Actions against the West, 1948-1989, I.........................................................................................................61

The totalitarian nature of the conflicts of the 20th century and the extension of the concepts of national defense overpasses the traditional boundary between civil and military areas.

Psychological war, which manifested either through a threat to use means of political, economical or military constraint, or through the effective use of these means, proved to be an important feature in the state-to-state relations. Psychological actions were in the core of the 20th century war. Various methods were used in order to ruin the moral of the enemy and to get support from the people.

This paper presents the actions of disinformation and propaganda develops by the Securitate, the secret service of Romanian’s communist regime, in the Western’s countries. In the acceptation of the communist regimes, disinformation did not mean replacing the truth with a lie, but substitution the true information with the ideology.

Keywords: Cold War, disinformation, propaganda, communist party, secret services.


ELENA DRAGOMIR, Reactions of the Romanian population in the context of the Hungarian revolution, 1956, II........................................................................................................................................................73

The scientific literature focusing on the subject of Romanian reactions in the context of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution has emphasized the lack of any significant anticommunist manifestations, with the exception of the student riots. Accepting this conclusion, the article makes the analytical distinctions between anti-government and anti-communist reactions, showing that the anti-government manifestations were largely outspread in October-November 1956 in Romania, while the anti-communist manifestations were indeed few. Using the instruments of the critical discourse analysis, this study advances new perspectives and hypotheses in the research of the 1956 Romanian communism. Concluding that the antigovernment reactions spread in October-November through the whole Romania, the article also advances a series of explanations as to why these reactions did not evolved in anticommunist mass movements. 

Keywords: Romania, riots, Hungarian revolution, anti-government/anti-communist manifestations, R.C.P.


PIERRE BOUILLON, Romania and Hungary within the French Foreign Policy in the Eastern Europe: Parallelism or Convergency? (1969-1974)…………………………………………………………………93

There were several stages in the relationship between France and Romania under President Georges Pompidou. At first excellent, it lost partly of its importance. A parallel and then convergent evolution can be traced as for what concerns the relationship between France and Hungary. Primarily limited, they improved gradually. Hungary and Romania were neither equivalent partners for France nor a priority compared to the USSR, but they became two Eastern States with their own interest for the French policy of Détente.

Keywords: France, Romania, Hungary, Charles de Gaulle, Georges Pompidou, Nicolae Ceauşescu, János Kádár, Cold War, Détente.


PETRE OPRIŞ, Programmes for making romanian tanks and missiles………………………………105

Being aware of the fact that allocating new economic and financial resources for endowing the Romanian Army would endanger Romania’s objectives for industrial development, Nicolae Ceauşescu opposed to Moscow’s requests for maintaining the rhythm of modernizing the armament and combat technique belonging to the Romanian military unit’s endowment, as well as for Romanian troops to participate at the joint military training programs, that took places in different states members of the Warsaw Pact.

On the same time, Nicolae Ceauşescu expressed his opinion and acted for copying all types of weapons, ammunitions and industrial technique in order to develop the Romanian military industry.

Keywords: Nicolae Ceauşescu, communism, missiles, Romania, tanks, USSR.


ANA-MARIA CĂTĂNUŞ, A media fabrication? Similarities between Mihai Botez şi Andrei Sakharov dissidence..................................................................................................................................................117

During the last two decades of Communist regimes the Western media often compared Romanian dissidents with their more famous colleagues in Soviet Union or Central Europe. Therefore, Paul Goma was called „a Romanian Solzhenitsyn”, while mathematician Mihai Botez was often compared with Andrei Sakharov or Vaclav Havel. More than often these comparisons occurred out of mediatic reasons and of the need to direct public attention towards the few Romanian dissidents. 

The article we publish tries to prove that in what concerned Mihai Botez, his comparing with Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov had real ground. However, even if similarities are to be found in the Sakharov and Mihai Botez dissidence, each of them was an exceptional individual bearing the mark of the national environment they had developed in.

Keywords: Romania, Soviet Union, communism, dissidence, human rights.


ION CONSTANTIN, Romanians and Polish „Solidarity”, 1981-1989...................................................125

The establishment of the ‘Solidarity’ union, in Poland, in august 1980, was received with reluctance and even hostility by the Communist government in Romania. In exchange, Romanians in the country as those from exile, saw the establishment of the first Free Union as an event likely to resuscitate the hopes of regaining the freedom for the peoples in Eastern Europe. Iulius Filip, a Romanian military chief from Cluj Napoca, found the courage to send a support letter to the Polish Free Union. The letter was read in the first Solidarity Congress plenum, in Gdansk, on September 27th 1981. The event created by Iulius Filip’s letter was positively commented at ‘Europa Liberă‘ radio station and in the prestigious Parisian  newspaper ‘Le Monde’. While becoming famous in the West for his courage, Iulius Filip was subjected to enormous pressures in Romania.

Keywords:  Poland, Romania, Solidarity, Iulius Filip, Radio Free Europe.


MIHAELA VERZEA, Theorizing the concept of Party-State: historiographical landmarks, II..............133

The aim of this article is to present the political régime of the State Party from the point of view of the hallmark political structures. This theoretical study exploits sources of foreign authors, concerned in presenting the institutional frame specific to the left totalitarian governments, starting first of all from the analysis of the marxist-leninist ideology and of the inspiration model, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Keywords: State-Party, marxism-leninism, Communist Party of Soviet Union, political structures.


PUICA BUHOCI, History and fraud. New evidences about the National Resistance Movement in Oltenia, II.................................................................................................................................................................143

The publication of documents from the archives of former Securitate (CNSAS) concerning the National Resistance Movement in Oltenia has been a constant focus of the research programmes of NIST. The article we publish is a case study of how history can be manipulated by the mysterious disappearance from the archives of a document that has been previously published in the book The National Resistance Movement in Oltenia, volume V, edited by Radu Ciuceanu and Puica Buhoci in 2007. The author publishes not only the authenticated copy of the missing document but also new sources that prove beyond doubt the veridical character of document’s content.

Keywords: Romania, anti-communism, the National Resistance Movement, Securitate.


FLORIN ŞANDRU, The Comintern and the Romanian Communists as Seen by the Police Department of the Capital City, 1941, III..........................................................................................................................158

This article reprints the last part of  the book The Unmasking of Communism in Romania compiled in 1941 by the police commissioner Nicolae Turcu. Short after the Communists had taken over Turcu was arrested and detained without a Court sentence. He died in detention, in October 1955. Subjected to a terror regime the former commissioner was used in order to provide information on those who betrayed the Communist years during illegal year or to declare against former leaders of RCP that had fallen into disgrace after the Communist seized the power.

Keywords: Comintern, Romanian Communist Party, political police - „Siguranţă”, repression.


OCTAVIAN ROSKE, The Collectivization of Agriculture. Total Repression, 1957-1962, XXX............................................................................................................................................................175

The documents continue the series of historical accounts of the final stage of collectivization of agriculture between 1957 and 1962. The testimonies selected in this issue illustrate the diverse means of repression the communist authorities used in order to step up the collectivization process in Romania after 1957.

Keywords: Romania, collectivization, repression.


GHEORGHE E. COJOCARU, Fightings on the Ideological Front in Soviet Moldova..........................185

The document presented in the journal’s pages contains just an episode from the great anti-romanian offensive organized by Communist Party of the Soviet Union/Communist Party of Moldova on the Moldavian S.S.R. ideologic front.

In the context of worsening contradictions between the USSR and Soviet Socialist Republic, that was based both on the differrent positions and divergences in a series of international political concerns, and also on the contradictory opinions regarding the historical heritage in the field of Soviet- Romanian bilateral relations („the Bessarabian issue”), at 20 november 1970 Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova gathered the party’s assets, in front of which Prime-secretary I. I. Bodiul presented the report „About the measures regarding intensifying the ideologic activity between the labour people from the republic”. On the year of Lenin’s one hundred anniversary, the empowered branch from Chisinau noticed a series of pro-romanian and anti-sovietic „nationalist diversions”. On the 20th of November, the ideologic front’s troups received necessary instructions for fighting the „romanian danger”, to protect the population of the MSSR of foreign „poisonous” influences. 

Keywords: CPSU, USSR, Soviet block, Socialist Romania, Soviet-Romanian relation, Bessarabia, Moldovan SSR, Communist Party of Moldova, nationalism, party activists, ideology.


CRISTINA ROMAN, Political Guidance for Romanian Participants at the 15th International History Congres, from Bucharest, 1980................................................................................................................203

The speech made by Nicolae Ceausescu, General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party (R.C.P.) during the working group held at the Central Committee with the representatives of the academic historians in order to prepare the 15th Congress of the historical sciences scheduled for August 1980, at Bucharest, is an emblematic document for how the national history was written and how the `historiographical debates` were organized at that time. 

Keywords: Historiography, national-communism, political guidance.


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, Institutional evolutions under Nicolae Ceauşescu’regime: The strenghtening of economic centralism and the temptation of absolute power, 1987.............................................................215

On June 23 and 24, 1987 the Romanian Party and State leadership organized a joint plenum of National Council of the Working People and the Supreme Council of Economic and Social Development. The decisions of the joint plenum went in the direction of transforming the Supreme Council of Economic and Social Development in a „supreme command” for the Romanian economy and, on the other side, to strengthen the position of the Ceauşescu’family within the leadership of this institution. An assessment of this measures was broadcasted by the Radio Free Europe on June 25, 1987. In December 1987 the decisions of the June joint plenum were incorporated in a new law of the Supreme Council of Economic and Social Development.

Keywords: Nicolae Ceauşescu, the Supreme Council of Economic and Social Development, economic centralism, personal regime.


CARMEN RĂDULESCU, Romanian Institute for the Cultural Relations Abroad..................................223

Romanian Institute for the Cultural Relations Abroad was created in 1948 by the Communist Party as an instrument to increase its legitimity abroad, and also to provide the means for a cultural diplomacy which stated the superiority of country social and cultural development. During the ’50s the evolution of this Institute was dramatically influenced by the ideological and polical factors as being under the control of two important structures of Communist regime, the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Central Comittee of Communist Party. Later, a new orientation was assured, which consisted in a cultural diplomacy opened toward Western culture, with cultural agreements with countries to which Romania had a long tradition of collaboration.

Keywords: Cultural propaganda, Foreign Affairs, Cultural Diplomacy, Communist ideology.


ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, Union of Composers and Musicologists of Romanian People’s Republic/Socialist Republic of Romania....................................................................................................229

Professional association of composers and musicologists in Socialist Romania, the Union of Composers has been a real Ministry of Music between 1949 and 1989. Copying a soviet model, this specific organization of the Communist regime managed not only the needs of musicians, but also helped in strenghtening the party control over the arts. Without the coercitive force of the State, the Union of Composers distributed all the benefits: houses, trips, access to special stores, resorts (including castles once owned by aristocracy) and reserved restaurants. Further more, the institution was the only legal collectors of copyrights, on behalf of creators. These financial assets lagely rewarded all those who ideologically served the regime.

Keywords: Communism, ideology, music, propaganda, Soviet model.


FLORIN-RĂZVAN MIHAI, Emil Bobu (b. 1927).................................................................................234

Appointed member of Central Comittee of Romanian Communist Party în 1965, Emil Bobu (born 1927)  was one of the most devoted communist activists to Nicolae Ceauşescu. He occupied important positions in the state and party apparatus, such as: Interior minister (1973-1975), vicepresident of State Council (1975-1979), president of UGSR’s Central Comittee (1979). After the fall of communist regime, he was arrested and sentenced to 10 years of prison. 

Keywords: Romania, R.C.P., politics, politician, minister, communist elite.


ANA-MARIA RĂDULESCU, Dumitru Cinciu (1904-1982)....................................................................239

Dumitru Cinciu (1904-1982) was a well-known Orthodox priest from Craiova, Dolj County. Although a member of the Iron Guard in the 1930s, he protected the local Jews during the government of Marshal Antonescu and earning their respect. During the WWII, he served as military chaplain on the Eastern Front. He was arrested in November 1944 as “Fascist”, but released in 1945. Arrested again in 1952 and 1959, he was finally freed in 1964 together with all anti-Communist prisoners. The Communist authorities forced him to retire from the „Adormirea Maicii Domnului” – Mântuleasa parish in 1978.

Keywords: Romanian Orthodox Church, WWII, Iron Guard, communism, political repression.


RALUCA NICOLETA SPIRIDON, Petru Dumitriu (1924-2002)...........................................................243

Petre Dumitriu was one of the expectations of the young writers generation promoted by the communist regim. Inspired by the great novels of the Russian and French Realism, the work which brought him whole success is, undorebtedly for the Romanian public – Family Chronicale. He asked for political asylum to the Federal German Government in 1960 „choosing the liberty”. His gesture did not have political reasons. Further more it standed for the broking of envy gerated by such a fulminant ascent. Treying to integrate himself to the stream and the efforts of emphasizing the working mechanisms of the totalitarism regimes, he would have published „Meeting at the doomsday” (1961) and „Incognito” (1962), the last novel being included in „Lexicon der Weltliteratur”. There are key-moments in the destiny and work of this writer who will be evaluated much were by the literatury histories than historians can do.

Keywords: Romania, writer, communism, Romanian exile, socialist realism.


BRÂNDUŞA COSTACHE, Aurel Vijoli (1902-1981)............................................................................252

Aurel Vijoli (12 February 1902 – 1 July 1981) was governor of the National Bank  of Romania between 18 November 1947 – 5 March 1952 and made an important contribution to the reorganization of the banking system according to the ideology of RWP. In the political context of „right deviation” Vijoli and some other high officials in the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank were arrested in March 1952 under the accusation sabotaging the monetary reform from 27 January 1952 and undermining the Romanian popular democratic regime. He was released after two years in detention without having been convicted. In 1956 he was partially rehabilitated. Between 1957- 1968 he was minister of Finance. After the Party plenary in April 1968 he was fully rehabilitated

Keywords: The National Bank of Romania, Communism, right deviation, rehabilitation.


©  The National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, 2011.



 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism 


Volume XVIII              Number 66-67         1-2/2010




Editorial


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XXXIV 5

Radu Ciuceanu, director of the N.I.S.T., president of the N.I.S.T. Scientific Council; Ph.D. in history, former political prisoner. Also coordinates the research theme The Encyclopedia of the Communist Regime in Romania, 1945-1989. The Anticommunist Resistance. Recent book: The Katyn Massacres, N.I.S.T., 2008 (co-author).

Keywords: World War II, Soviet-American-British negotiations 1942.


Studies


ION ILIESCU,  1989 and the Importance of the Romanian Revolution 17

In a speech on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Revolution of December 1989, held at the Romanian Academy in October 2009, the former President of Romania (1990-1996 and 2000-2004) focuses mainly on the idea of a spontaneous popular revolt which occurred in Romania in December 1989, in the international context of the end of Eastern European communist regimes. The President emphasized that the revolutionary image was overshadowed by the political disputes that followed, which revoked the revolutionary individuality of December 1989 and accused the newly elected government of 1990 of involvement in a political coup d’etat against the Communist leadership, a coup disguised as revolution. Mr. Iliescu noted that the main opponents of the idea of Revolution in December 1989 are precisely those who did not participate in the revolts against Nicolae Ceauşescu’s government.

Ion Iliescu – Chairman of the Council of the National Salvation Front (22 December 1989), chairman of the Provisional Council of National Unity (January-May 1990); president of Romania (1990-1992, 1992-1996, 2000-2004).

Keywords: 1989 Romanian Revolution, the end of Eastern European Communist regimes.


EMIL CONSTANTINESCU, The 1989 Revolutions as History or Myth 24

In a speech on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the December 1989 Revolution, held at the Romanian Academy in October 2009, the former President of Romania (1996-2000) pointed out the gap between those accepting the idea of a true revolution in December 1989 and those suggesting a coup d’etat perpetrated by second-row communists. In this aspect, the President discerned two phases in the political changes of 1989-1990: the genuine popular revolt of December 1989 and the taking over of power by a new elite, after January 1990.

Emil Constantinescu – President of Romania (1996-2000).

Keywords: the 1989 Romanian Revolution, true revolution, coup d’etat, political elites.


ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, Introductory Remarks on the History of the French Right-Wing: The Action Française 29

Founded in 1898 as a reaction to what it seemed at the time to be the decay of France under the Third Republic political regime, the Action Française was a profoundly conservative, reactionary, antidemocratic and antiparliamentary movement. Based on a public inquiry conducted by such prominent French intellectuals as Charles Maurras and Léon Daudet, the future-to-be political party expressed deep royalist feelings, confessing loyalty toward the Duc d’Orléans, sole Pretender to the Crown of France. Their taste for action, anti-Semitism, cult for Fatherland and repudiation of the heritage of the French Revolution combined into the ideology of the Action Française: the nationalisme integral. The violent attacks against public order (carried out by the Camelots du Roi, Action Française’s paramilitary organization, especially in February 1934), the opposition to the Left in power under the Popular Front, and the collaboration with the Vichy Government compromised its political influence.

Alexandru-Murad Mironov – Ph.D. in History; research scholar with NIST. Assistant professor at the University of Bucharest, Faculty of History. Recent volume: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communist Archives, Nemira, 2006 (in collaboration).

Keywords: ideology of the Action Française, French intellectuals, the Vichy Government


ION CONSTANTIN, The Soviet-Polish War (February 1919 – March 1921): The “Miracle on the Vistula” 38

The Soviet-Polish war of February 1919 – March 1921 determined the setting of the borders between Soviet Russia and the second Polish Republic, after the end of World War I. In the heroic fought in the summer of 1920 against the Bolshevik forces, the Poles won one of the most brilliant victories ever, known as the “miracle on the Vistula.” It played a decisive role in curbing the advance of Communism towards Europe and virtually saved the continent’s countries from the “red peril.” For the humiliating defeat inflicted on the Red Army in the 1920 war, Soviet dictator I.V. Stalin would take revenge against the Poles in the spring of 1940, when at Katyn and in other spots the NKVD executed a large part of the Polish military and civilian elite.

Ion Constantin is Ph.D. in History, research scholar with NIST; former Romanian diplomat. Recent book: The Katyn Massacres, NIST, 2008 (co-author).

Keywords: the Soviet-Polish war 1919 – 1921, Communism, Polish military and civilian elite.


FELICIAN DUICĂ, The Political Migration with the Romanians 1919-1947, I 55

In the context of the latest moves at the level of the Romanian political parties, in particular the marked mobility of Opposition MPs towards the ruling majority, the author approaches this political migration in a historical perspective, resorting to archive documents and relevant articles from the time’s press to support his approach. With several illustrative examples of treason or desertion motivated by the temptation of power, the author notes that party switching existed also in the interwar period and in the wake of World War II. Political migration stood and stands, in fact, for a way of cheating and altering the election returns, the result often being an illegitimate majority issued from a distortion of the democratic mechanisms.

Felician Duică has a Ph.D. in history; he was a research assistant with the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism (2004-2006), and since 2006 he has been a parliamentary adviser  with the Chamber of Deputies Secretariat for parliamentary blocs (the National Liberal Party bloc). Volume published: Solidarnosc: the Polish Revenge, NIST, 2007 (coordinator).

Keywords: political migration, interwar period, World War II.


CRISTINA DIAC, A Controversial Issue: The Communist Party and the Legionary Rebellion of January 1941 67

According to certain interpretations, the communists were involved in the unrest of January 21-23, backing the Legionaries against Ion Antonescu. The fact is proved with documents from the time’s authorities, the Police, the secret services, the intelligence services. Just as in the case of other marginal groups, the group of career revolutionaries was attributed the force and coherence the communists were dreaming of, although they never had it. Striking in this situation is the fact that the documents issued at the time by the communist party almost ignored the events, few specific details being provided about the days of the Rebellion. The political guidelines Stefan Foris conveyed to the communists in Romania clearly indicate that the party had never intended to participate in any unrest, no matter what kind. In the documents drafted right after the rebellion, the Communist leadership admitted that the cadre shortage and the insufficient followers of the party did not allow it to get involved in the events.

Cristina Diac is Ph.D. student, University of Bucharest; assistant researcher with NIST. MA in History, University of Bucharest.

Keywords: January 1941 Legionary Rebellion, Romanian Communist Party.


ION BĂLAN, The “Socialist Transformation of Agriculture” in Mihailesti District, 1950-1956 82

Ion Balan’s article surveys the way the collectivization was implemented locally, using the Mihailesti district of Bucharest region as an example. The author insists on how difficult it was to set up collective farms and then on the problems the new farms came across, especially as the peasants tacitly refused to support the collectivization.

Ion Bălan has a Ph.D. in history and works for the Contemporary Archives Division of the Directorate of the Central National Historical Archives. Recent volume:  A Monograph of Gogosari Commune, Pelican Publishers, 2008 (co-author).

Keywords: collectivization, collective farms, peasants opposition to collectivization.


ELENA DRAGOMIR, Reactions of the Romanian Population in the Context of the Hungarian Revolution, 1956 96

The scientific literature focusing on the subject of Romanian reactions in the context of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution has emphasized the lack of any significant anticommunist manifestations, except the student riots. Accepting this conclusion, the article draws the analytical distinctions between antigovernment and anticommunist reactions, showing that the antigovernment manifestations were widespread in October-November 1956 in Romania, while the anticommunist manifestations were indeed few. Using the instruments of the critical discourse analysis, this study advances new perspectives and hypotheses in the research of the 1956 Romanian communism. The article also advances several explanations as to why these reactions did not evolve into anticommunist mass movements.        

Elena Dragomir – Ph.D. student at the University of Helsinki, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Social Science History; associate research scholar with The Finnish Graduate School for Russian and East European Studies, Aleksanteri Institute, Helsinki University. 

Keywords: 1956 Hungarian Revolution, Communism, studen riots in Romania.


CRISTIAN RĂDUŢ, Regarding the Withdrawal from Romania of the Soviet Occupation Troops in the Summer of 1958 111

The article briefly reveals some of the main actions that established the Soviet military occupation in Romania from World War II until the summer of 1958 and also surveys the steps that made it possible for this event to take place successfully, which would undoubtedly foster a new direction in Romanian politics. Except subsequently Albania, the Romanian People's Republic was the only member country of the Warsaw Treaty from which the Soviet Union withdrew its troops. Also on this issue there are different views: was it the result of the subtlety of the Romanian Workers' Party leadership, especially Gheorghiu-Dej, as evidenced in memoirs, or higher was the economic and military purpose of the Soviet Union, especially Nikita Khrushchev, as researchers considered in terms of studying the Romanian and Soviet archival sources?

Cristian Răduţ is a graduate from the University of Craiova, Faculty of History and a Ph.D. candidate.

Keywords: 1958 Soviet troops withdrawal, Romanian Worker’s Party, Romanian politics.


A.K. SOKOLOV, New Approaches in Russian Contemporary History 122

The study analyses the evolution of Russian historiography after 1990, focusing on the subjects that were approached by scholars and made the object of many studies: political history. He shows that political history, although a tradition among Russian academia, slowly is losing interest. A new generation of historians is involved in new approaches, mainly influenced by social history and its methods. Despite the continuing publication of documents related to political history, the public shows growing interest to the history(-ies) of women, youth, childhood e.g., in pre-Revolutionary Russia or during Soviet times.

A. K. Sokolov has a Ph.D. in history; research scholar with the Russia History Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Keywords: Russian historiography, political history, social history.


Documents


FLORIN ŞANDRU, The Comintern and the Romanian Communists as Seen by the Police Department of the Capital City, 1941, I 129

The article reproduces the first part of a work compiled in 1941 by police commissioner Nicolae Turcu in connection with the origin, aim and action methods of the Comintern and the latter’s relationship with the Communist Party in Romania. Comprising information about the communist movement Nicolae Turcu had collected throughout his career, the work is important no so much for its the disclosures but because it reveals the capacity of the Romanian political police to understand the overall communist phenomenon.

Florin Şandru – Research assistant with NIST; Ph.D. student, the University of Craiova.

Keywords: Comintern, Romanian Communist Party, political police.


RADU CIUCEANU, Regiment I Heavy Artillery in its finest hour .147

The documents we publish are parts of Regiment I Heavy Artillery’s journal of military operations on the Eastern front in the spring of 1944. The journal reflects the capability of Romanian troops to carry successful military operations as well as the good cooperation established with the German army, respectively with the armored group commanded by general Mieth.

Keywords:World War II, Eastern front 1944, Regiment I Heavy Artillery, cooperation with the German army.


OCTAVIAN ROSKE, The Collectivization of Agriculture. Total Repression, 1957-1962 166

The documents continue the series of historical accounts of the final stage of collectivization of agriculture between 1957 and 1962. The testimonies selected in this issue illustrate the diverse means of repression the communist authorities used in order to step up the collectivization process in Romania after 1957.

Octavian Roske – Ph.D., research scholar with NIST; professor, head of the English language chair at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Bucharest Univerity. Scientific secretary of NIST. Recent volume: Repression Mechanisms in Romania. A Biographical Dictionary,  vol. VIII: S-Ş, I.N.S.T., 2009 (ed.)

Keywords: collectivization of agriculture, repression.


VASILE BUGA,  A Hot Summer in Romanian-Soviet Relations. The Moscow Talks, July 1964, II 179

The adoption of the R.C.P. Declaration in April 1964 generated a profound crisis in the Romanian-Soviet relations. In order to ease the tensions between the two sides, an R.C.P. delegation headed by Ion Gheorghe Maurer went to Moscow where several rounds of meetings with the Soviet counterpart took place. The thorny aspects approached on the occasion included the continued activity in Romania of the Soviet agents. 

Vasile Buga – PhD in History; research scholar with NIST, coordinator of the Centre for Russian and Soviet Studies, vice-president of the Joint Romanian-Russian History Commission. Recent volume: The Twilight of an Empire. The USSR in the Gorbachev Era, 1985-1991, NIST, 2007.

Keywords: 1964 April Declaration, Romanian-Soviet relations, Soviet agents.



Testimonies 


FLORIN-RĂZVAN MIHAI, Memories about the Last International Meeting of the Communist and Worker Parties (5-17 June 1969) 196

Between 5-17 June 1969, as the Soviet hegemony in the Communist world was endangered by China, Moscow hosted the international meeting of communist and worker parties. Attending the proceedings for the Romanian Communist Party was a delegation led by Nicolae Ceausescu, secretary general of the Central Committee of the RCP; the delegation was made up of members of the party leadership, activists in the field of the press and propaganda, journalists and translators. The article has three parts: an introductory study about the Sino-Soviet tensions and the holding of the above-mentioned conference, and the memoirs, related to this theme,  of Ion Bucheru (editor-in-chief of daily Informaţia Bucureştiului) and Romulus Căplescu (editor with the Agerpres news agency), who attended the event on behalf of the Romanian press. 

Florin-Răzvan Mihai is research assistant with NIST. MA in International Relations, Faculty of History, University of Bucharest.

Keywords: Soviet hegemony, International Meeting of Communist and Worker Parties  1969, Sino-Soviet tensions.



Dictionary of Institutions


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ,  The State Committee on Collection of Agricultural Produce 212

The State Committee on Collection of Agricultural Produce was the main body through which the communist regime organized the collection of the mandatory quotas from peasants. In June 1948 a State Commission on Collection of Grain was set up, and on  February 18, 1950 it was replaced  by the State Committee on Collection of Agricultural Produce, based on a Soviet model. It was officially dismantled on  February 1, 1957, when a State Committee for the Capitalization of Agricultural Produce was set up. 

Dan Cătănuş, has a Ph.D. in history, is senior researcher with N.I.S.T.; Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communism Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).

Keywords: collection of agricultural produce, Communist institutions.


CARMEN RĂDULESCU,  The Plastic Artists Union 217

The Plastic Artists Union represented Romanian fine arts from 1949 until 1989. In 1949 the Plastic Arts Fund was set up and in December 1950 the Plastic Artists Union was created after the former Trade Union of Fine Arts (set up in 1921) had been dissolved. The new institution was organized after the Soviet model of artists associations. Its new leadership was headed by Boris Caragea, who was president of the UPA until 1957. The Union operated in this Soviet-inspired formula until 1989.  

Carmen Rădulescu is assistant researcher with NIST. M.A. in International Relations.

Keywords: Communist institutions, Romanian Plastic Artists Union.


FLORI BĂLĂNESCU, Prison Poetry 221

Prison poetry was one of the ways to resist the destructive pressure of the Romanian prison system. It offered thousands of political prisoners the opportunity to survive through artistic expression of a moral and spiritual predicament. The chief feature of prison poetry is its oral character: composed and then memorized by the author’s fellow inmates, it crossed the prison walls in Morse code.  

Flori Bălănescu – Researcher with NIST. Recent volume: Flori Stanescu – Paul Goma, Dialogue, Vremea Publishing House, 2008.

Keywords: repression, artistic expression, prison poetry. 


Biographical Dictionary


CRISTINA DIAC, Constantin Dăscălescu (1923-2003) 228

Constantin Dăscălescu, communist Romania’s last prime minister, rose from the ranks of party activists. He had neither the intellectual breadth of the likes of Ion Gheorghe Maurer and Manea Manescu, nor the statesmanship of Ilie Verdet – the three that preceded him at the helm of the government. Having studied in Moscow, he worked in the local party apparat, where Elena Ceausescu noticed him. Details about Constantin Dăscălescu’s family, education and career can be found in his file for the Cadre Division of the Central Committee. Memorialists Dumitru Popescu and Silviu Curticeanu described his personality profile, character, qualities and especially shortcomings.  

Keywords: Romanian Communist government, political elites.



ANA-MARIA RĂDULESCU, Emanoil Păsculescu-Orlea (1901-1967) 231

A greatly culture man boasting a vast journalistic and literary activity, Father Emanoil Păsculescu-Orlea was close to the Royal Palace, and also a seminary colleague and friend of future Patriarch Justinian. He served as parish priest of the Mihai Voda Church and chaplain of the Michael the Brave Order. Accused of „counterrevolutionary activity” because of his liberal and monarchist political options and of his courage in speaking up against communism, he was arrested on January 31, 1952 and administratively confined in the prison at Sighetul Marmaţiei, being the only Orthodox priest imprisoned there. Released on July 20, 1955, he was taken back as assistant priest at the Mihai Voda Church, his financial situation being very severe.  He died on September 19, 1967. 

Ana-Maria Rădulescu – B.A. and M.A. at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Bucharest; librarian at NIST. Recent volume: Orthodox clerics in Communist prisons. Olt County, Editura Aius, 2006.

Keywords: repression, Orthodox priests.


ALIN SPÂNU, Alexandru Rioşanu  (1892 – 1941) 237

On September 7, 1940 Gen. Ion Antonescu appointed Alexandru Rioşanu minister undersecretary of state at the Ministry of the Interior, in charge of the Police and the Security Police. He played an important role in saving several politicians in the night of November 26/27, 1940, during repression by the members of the Legionary Movement. After the liberation of Northern Bukovina, Rioşanu briefly held the position of governor of that region (1941). 

Alin Spânu has a PhD in history. Recent volume: The history of intelligence and counterintelligence Romanian services between 1919 – 1945, Editura Demiurg, 2010.

Keywords: Ion Antonescu, Legionary Movement, Northern Bukovina.


Book Reviews


VASILE BUGA, The Problem of Transylvania and Soviet geopolitical interests 239 

This is a review of T.M. Islamov and Tatiana Pokivailova’ book Eastern Europe in the force fields of the big powers. The question of Transylvania, 1940-1946, Indrik Publishing House, Moscow, 2008.


ANA-MARIA CĂTĂNUŞ, Dissidence as a pledge for the truth 244

This is a review of Doina Cornea’s book Diary – the last copybooks – followed by a discussion between Doina Cornea, Ariadna Combes and Leontin Iuhas, hosted and reported by Georgeta Pop, Civic Academy Foundation, International Center for Studies on Communism, 2009.

Ana-Maria Cătănuş is Ph.D. candidate and a researcher with NIST. Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communist Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).


VASILE BUGA, Second Lieutenant Alexandru Ţăţulescu – Victim of Political Repression in SSSR 247

This is a review of the book The memorial book of the victims of political repression, Gornaia Kniga Publishing House, Moscow, 2009.


RADU FLORIAN BRUJA, Electors and Elected in Interwar Romania 248

This is a review of Radu Bruja’s book Parliamentary elites and election dynamics in Romania 1919-1937, ed. Florin Müller, Bucharest University Press, 2009; 

Radu Florian Bruja is Ph.D in History. Lecturer at the University of Suceava.



DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, From the History of Transylviania Hungarians during

 Communism 251

This a review of the book The Hungarian minority under communism, edited by Olti Ágoston, Gidó Attila, Publishing House of the Institute for the Study of National Minority Problems, Cluj, 2009.


FLORIN ŞANDRU, War Prisoner in Soviet Camps 253

 This is a review of Eniţă Pânzaru’s book One step to the left, one step to the right and  ... Miciurinsk, Oranki-Monastyrka, Bucharest University Press, 2008.


N.I.S.T. LIBRARY


ANA-MARIA RĂDULESCU, Books and Periodicals included in the N.I.S.T. Collections 257


The NIST Agenda 260


The N.I.S.T. agenda describes the activity of the institute’s researchers during the first half of this year. This is a short review of participation in symposiums, round tables, book releases, openings of document exhibitions, where the participants discussed issues related to the access to documents from the communist period and the debunking of certain huge historical mystifications. 


Authors 276


Contents. Summary. Contributors 280


© The National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, 2010.

 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism 


Volume XVIII              Number 64-65         3-4/2009



Editorial


ACAD. DAN BERINDEI, The Breakdown of the Communism – Miracle or Inexorable Phenomenon 5

After 70 years of existence the „Soviet empire” collapsed. What led to the disappearence of the Soviet system was not a military defeat but its incapacity to keep the pace with the economical advance of the Western world. 

The breakdown of the Communism was seen as a miracle by millions of people whose lives changed profoundly. Besides this perception, the change in system was also an inexorable phenomenon imposed by the laws of history. According to these laws oppression makes people fight for their freedom and a coercitive system can function only as long as it is economically and socially viable. Once the collapse began, it could not be stopped. That was the way the Communist system broke down and all Eastern European nations won back their freedom.

Dan Berindei - Historian, vice president of the Romanian Academy. Member of the Scientific Board of NIST.

Keywords: Eastern Europe, Soviet Union, Communism, 1989 revolutions. 


Studies

CATALIN-VALENTIN RAIU, The Principle and the Practice of Subsidiarity in Romanian Orthodoxy. I. The Interwar Period  8

Ortodoxy and subsidiarity are two visions that focus on the human person. Orthodox Churches should support the subsidiarity principle, as a framework for the dignity of human person, as Andrei Saguna’s statute provided. The option for a too 

hierarchical Church in the post-communist period overlooks all debates on subsidiarity, although the Romanian context keeps the memory of subsidiarity stored in the interbelic trunck.   

Catalin-Valentin Raiu, graduated from the Faculty of Theology, University of Bucharest; Ph.D candidate at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Bucharest with the thesis „The Monography of the Bishop of Râmnic Noului Severin, Vartolomeiu Stănescu (1875-1954)”.

Keywords: Romania, Orthodox Church.


ROMINA SURUGIU, Revisions and Addenda: Constantin Radulescu-Motru on Romanian Culture in the Post-War Period 27

The personal notebooks („Revisions and addenda”, 1943-1952) of the Romanian philosopher Constantin Radulescu-Motru, represent a rich research material for studying the Romanian culture after the Second World War. The thinker, who lived the last decade of his life during the Communist regime, felt the need to explain, revise and re-analyze his philosophical and political ideas and attitudes. His notebooks, first published only 40 years after his death, contain valuable and interesting information, relevant for a proper understanding of the Romanian culture, society and their destiny after the events on August, 23, 1944.

Romina Surugiu, PhD in Philosophy, she is a university lecturer within the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences, University of Bucharest.

Keywords: Romania, culture, postwar society.


ACAD. PĂUN ION OTIMAN, The Collectivization of Romanian Agriculture 36

Collectivization of Agriculture in Romania

This paper is an overview of the main political, legal, and institutional frameworks in which the Communist regime, seating in Romania from 1945, imposed the collectivization of agriculture to the Romanian peasantry. The author points out also on human sufferings of that Soviet-inspired policies. Mentioning the countless number of victims, the collectivization destroyed the normal development of the Romanian agriculture with difficult consequences to this day.

Păun Ioan Otiman – secretary-general of the Romanian Academy.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, Collectivization.


DAN CATANUS, The Agrarian Component of „the Right Deviation” inside the R.C.P., 1951-1952 56

During a meeting with a R.C.P. delegation, in March 1951, Stalin made accusations that in Romania there was an „unmarxist peasant policy”. Next year, Gheorghiu-Dej would use this accusation, related to the advantageous fiscal protection for peasant, which didn’t apply to workers, to generate „the matter of right deviation” and to eliminate his main opponents: Ana Pauker, Vasile Luca and Teohari Georgescu. Although lacking serious grounds, the theory of „enriched peasants” would have as results a harsher tax regime on peasants and the intensification of agricultural collectivization.

Dan Cătănuş, PhD in History, is senior researcher with N.I.S.T.; Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communism Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).

Keywords: Romania, Communism, the Right Deviation.


Ö. KOVÁCS JÓZSEF, The Social History of Collectivization in Hungary, 1958-1961 68

In 1958-1961 a second wave of collectivization hit the Hungarian peasant household. In order to achieve their goals the Communist authorities used propagandistic tools as well as physical and psychologically violence against peasant who refused to join the agricultural cooperatives. The article presents the methods used by the Communist regime in Budapest in order to achieve collectivization and the consequences this phenomenon had on the economical and social situation of the peasants as well on their state of mind.

Ö. Kovács József is lecturer within the Faculty of History, Miskolc University. Presently he studies the history of political dictatorship and the rural societies in Hungary. Recent volumes: Introduction in social history (co-author and coordinator, 2003 and 2006), The paths of German social history in Modern Age (co-author and coordinator, 2004), The spreading of political dictatorship in social area (co-author, 2009).

Keywords: Eastern Europe, Hungary, collectivization, social history.


IRINA GRIDAN, Parallelisms and Convergences. I.Gh. Maurer in Paris in the Summer of 1964: Realpolitik and the Offensive of the Smile (III) 36

This article is a first installment of a series devoted to the French-Romanian relations in the 60’s. The author pursues to throw light on the mechanisms set in motion after the diplomatic negotiations, leading to rapprochement between Bucharest and Paris by the middle of the decade. This year 1964 was a crucial moment for the Romanian-French rapprochement. The article focuses on the visit of the Romanian Prime-Minister, Ion Gh. Maurer, in France, in the summer of 1964 and its immediate results. One of the most important moment of the visit was the meeting between Maurer and the President of the French Republic, General De Gaulle. 

Irina Gridan is an alumna of the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. Assistant professor at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. PhD candidate with a theme devoted to Romanian-Soviet relations between 1950 and 1960, under the guidance of Marie-Pierre Rey.

Keywords: France, Romania, political relations.


DRAGOS ZAMFIRESCU, “Perestroika” and „glasnost” in the Soviet Union or the Preliminaries of the Breakdown of the Communist Regimes in Eastern Europe 123

Perestroika and glasnost, initiated in the Soviet Union by the new leader Michail Gorbachev in mid ’80’s created the premises for democratic reforms in East-Central Europe countries and also led to the 1989 antitotalitarian revolutions. Although most of the Communist countries adopted perestroika, that was not the case for Romania where  Ceausescu tried very hard to resist to what the Romanian leadership called to be „the fatal influences of Gorbachev’s reforms”.

Dragos Zamfirescu, PhD in History; he is specialized in Romanian right extremism in the interwar period and totalitarian models in the postwar period.

Keywords: Eastern Europe, Soviet Union, Communism breakdown, perestroika. 


PETRE OPRIS, Nicolae Ceausescu and his Political Illusion: the Simultaneous Abolishment of NATO and the Warsaw Treaty 138

Ceausescu’s political image in the West had been seriously affected by the Romanian economical crisis and the austerity measures that the Romanians had to deal with. Ceausescu’s idea of simultaneous abolishment of NATO and the Warsaw Treaty, his ambition to reimburse the entire Romania’s external debt and his refusal to contract new external credit contracts affected the way Western political and military leaders perceived Romania.

Petre Opris is PhD in History, lieutenant colonel (r). Recent book Romania in the Organization  of Warsaw Treaty (1955-1991), Military Publishing House, 2008.

Keywords: Romania, NATO, Warsaw Treaty, military alliances.


FLORIN ABRAHAM, The Collectivization of Agriculture in Romania – a Process of Societal Transformation 151

The author analyses the process of collectivization from a broader period perspective, by emphasizing the consequences of land reforms of 1864, 1921 and 1945. The study achieves a structural analysis of collectivization (duration, intensity, dynamics, methods) as well as its consequences at psycho-cultural and demographic level. The last part of the study is dedicated to a concise presentation of the situation in agriculture after 1989, emphasizing the failure of the rural space modernization project and of structuring an agricultural field that would overcome the logic of a subsistence economy.  

Florin Abraham is Ph.D in History; senior researcher with the NIST. Recent book: Romania’s Transformation: 1989-2006. The Foreign Factors Role, 2006.

Keywords: Romania, agriculture, collectivization.


ION CONSTANTIN, Parallel Destinies: Romania and Poland Facing the Totalitarianisms of the XX century 165

In 1918, both Poland and Romania shared a similar destiny: they became victims of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Non Aggression Treaty and were invaded by the Soviet Union at the beginning of the War World II. After the war ended both countries were economically and military integrated into organizations created by the Soviets: the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (1949) and the Warsaw Treaty (1955). Unlike Poland, in Romania there wasn’t a real process of destalinization. The rise of Polish Solidarnosc, in August 1980, generated reactions throughout the world. In spite of the Romanian Communist  regime repressiveness, Iulius Filip, a military master in Cluj-Napoca, sent a letter of solidarity to the Polish Sindicate.

Ion Constantin is Ph.D. in History, research scholar with NIST; former Romanian diplomat. Recent book: The Katyn Massacres, N.I.S.T., 2008 (co-author).

Keywords: Romania, Poland, totalitarianism, XX century.


Documents

OCTAVIAN ROSKE, The Collectivization of Agriculture. Total Repression, 1957-1962, XXVII 173

The documents continue the series of historical accounts of the final stage of collectivisation of agriculture between 1958 and 1962. In that case, the abuses are objectively reflected by documents from Moldavia. 

Octavian Roske, Ph.D., is senior researcher, Scientific Secretary of the NIST and associate professor with the Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Bucharest. Recent books: Repressive Mechanisms in Romania, 1945-1989. Biographical Dictionary, vol. VIII: S-Ş, 2009 (coordinator).

Keywords: Romania, collectivization, repression.


CRISTINA DIAC, The Last Victim of the Collectivization of Agriculture: The Case of Ilie Tugui, 1963-1964 180

In 1963, Ilie Tugui, who was at that time officer at a miltary unit in Targu Mures, sent two anonymous letters to the Television and to „Scanteia”, R.C.P. main journal. Using a poetical and literary language, Tugui criticized the policy of the Great Powers, including the Soviet Union toward the small countries and also talked about the effects of  „the socialist transformation of agriculture”. The author was sentenced to seven years in prison, was incancerated in Targu Mures penitentiary and died on April 1, 1964, the official cause of death was suicide by hanging. The documents that were available to historians in order to retrace Tugui’s case were mainly produced by the prosecution. This situation have turned Tugui’s case into one illustrative of the limits of recent history sources.  

Cristina Diac is PhD candidate, University of Bucharest; assistant researcher with N.I.S.T.

Keywords: Romania, collectivization, repression.


VASILE BUGA, A hot summer in Romanian-Soviet Relations. The Moscow talks, July 1964,I 195

The adoption of the R.C.P. Declaration in April 1964 generated a profound crisis at the level of Romanian-Soviet relations. In order to ease the tensions between the two parts, a R.C.P. delegation headed by Ion Gheorghe Maurer went to Moscow where several rounds of meetings with the Soviet counterpart took place.  Both the Sovroms and Bessarabia were listed on the issues most vividly discussed.

Vasile Buga is Ph.D, senior researcher with N.I.S.T., coordinator of the Russian and Soviet Studies Center. Recent book: The Fall of the Empire. The Soviet Union in Gorbachev Era, 1985-1989, N.I.S.T., 2007.

Keywords: Romania, Soviet Union, Bessarabia, political relations.


ANA-MARIA CATANUS, Mihai Botez on Intellectuals and the European Cultural Space 223

Mihai Botez was a mathematician, a researcher in future studies and also one of the most important Romanian dissidents. The document we publish is an essay that Botez wrote in 1985 for a conference organized in Madrid on the topic of European cultural space. His text, entitled  Intellectual, intellectuals and spaces without frontiers – an Eastern approach, discusses the problem of barriers blocking the free circulation of people and ideas. In his paper, Mihai Botez emphasizes also the fact that the Western world had a distorted imagine of the Communist countries and in order to promote an Europe united through ideas, intellectuals had to become autonomous. Botez also talks about the need for activation in Eastern Europe of the largest part of intellectuals, those situated between the „aligned” intellectuals and the dissidents.

Ana-Maria Catanus is PhD candidate and a researcher with N.I.S.T. Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communist Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).

Keywords: Romania, dissidents, intellectuals


Testimonies 

ION ILIESCU, 1971 – The Year of Ideological Changes in Romania II 234

On June 9, 2009, the former president Ion Iliescu presented in N.I.S.T. a lecture regarding the causes and consequences of the ideological change that Nicolae Ceausescu initiated in the summer of  1971. The article presents the second part of the conference dedicated to discussions.

Ion Iliescu – president of Romania (1990-1992, 1992-1996, 2000-2004).

Keywords: Romania, Communism, ideology.


FLOREA DUMITRESCU, The Economic and Social Evolution in the Romanian Society in the ’60’s –’80’s, XX century 250

In this article, Florea Dumitrescu, former Minister of Finance and Governer of the National Bank during the Communist regime discusses a series of elements that founded Romania’s developemnt policy  in the ’60’s –’80’s, XX century.

If initially the credits from the I.M.F. and the World Bank had an important role in Romanian economical development, afterwards the decision of the Romanian leadership to reimburse in advance the external debt created a lot of tensions in the realm of the national economy. The restrictive measures taken by the government in 1980-1989 led to an excessive depreciation of industrial equipment, decreasing the production quality and the diminishing of workers’ revenues.

Florea Dumitrescu – Minister of Finance, 1969-1978; he conducted the negociations with the I.M.F. and the World Bank; Governor of the National Bank, 1984 - March 1989; ambassador in China.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, society, economics.


ION BAURCEANU, Remembrances from Aiud 264

Ion Baurceanu was born in 1931 in Comanesti-Covurlui – Galati. He was arrested in 1951, subjected to a trial for anticommunist activity and sentenced to 15 years of forced labor, 5 years of civic degradation by the Bucharest Military Court.  He was improsoned at Jilava, the lead mines from Baia Sprie and Cavnic, Aiud-Zarca, Gherla-Zarca, Periprava, Galati. He was pardoned in 1964, while he was imprisoned at Jilava. The article we publish respresent a short rememberance of his passing through the penitentiary of extermination from Aiud.

Ion Baurceanu is a former political prisoner.

Keywords:Romania, Communism, repression, prison.


Dictionary of Institutions

ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, State Committee for Nuclear Energy 268

This material is a part of a research project entitled The Communist Regime Encyclopedia in Romania: The Institutions.

From 1955 and until 1990, the State Committee for Nuclear Energy was the Romanian official organization granted with full powers over coordinating, budgeting and controlling the development of atomic research and production on national scale. The Communist regime strongly encouraged this industry, first as a tool of economical modernization, then – during Nicolae Ceauşescu’s leadership – as a part of the envisaged autarchy. However, the centralization of the political decision in the area proved to be highly efficient, allowing a remarkable development of atomic and nuclear domain in Romania.

Alexandru-Murad Mironov is an assistant professor within History Department of the University of Bucharest; a Ph.D. student; senior researcher with the NIST. Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communist Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).

Keywords: Romania, Communism, State Committee for Nuclear Energy


FLORIN-RAZVAN MIHAI, The Commission of State Control 271

In 1949-1961, in Romania functioned the Commission of State Control (C.S.C.), which controlled the activity of the ministeries, the state institutions, economical organizations, executive organs of local state power, as well as mass organizations and military units.The Commission was subordinated to the Council of Ministers and was conducted by a chairman.

Florin-Razvan Mihai is research assistant with NIST. MA in International Relations, Faculty of History, University of Bucharest.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, institutions, The Commission of State Control


Biographical Dictionary

FLORI BALANESCU, Adriana Georgescu (1920-2005) 273

A law graduate, Adriana Georgescu was also a movie critic at „Universul literar” and nurse in a military hospital. In 1943 the Gestapo hunted her because of the chronicles she wrote of the German movies presented in the theaters from Bucharest. After 23 August 1944 she became a political reporter for the journal „Viitorul” and soon  she worked with the Prime Minister Nicolae Radescu as his secretary.  Adriana Georgescu was arrested on 29 July 1945. She was brutally tortured (her head hit by the walls, whipped with a sleeve filled with sand), drugged and raped in order to transform her in a traitor used for condemning the liberal figures. Adriana Georgescu was sentenced, set free and then arrested again A. Georgescu succeeded in fleeing to West with the help of some friends. She died on 29 October 2005, in Stevenage, England.

Flori Balanescu – Researcher with NIST. Recent volume: Flori Stanescu – Paul Goma, Dialogue, Vremea Publishing House, 2008.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, repression.


CRISTINA DIAC, Manea Mănescu (1916-2009) 277

After the 1989 revolution, Manea Mănescu was portrayed as an example of total obedience of Ceausescu couple. Neither his former colleagues remembered him differently, as seen in their memories. This is why certain biographical details extracted  from Manea Mănescu’s R.C.P. cadre file may come as a surprise. 

Keywords: Romania, Communism, political elites


Book Reviews

ANA-MARIA CATANUS, On liberty 284

This is a review of two books Seghei Dovlatov’s book The Compromise, Humanitas Publishing House, Bucharest, 2009 and Venedikt Erofeev’s book  Moscova-Petuşki, Cartier Publishing House, 2004.

CRISTINA DIAC, Dinu C. Giurescu, spectator of his own destiny: From Sovrom Constructions 6 to Romanian Academy 287

This is a review of Dinu C. Giurescu’s book From Sovrom Constructions 6 to Romanian Academy. Memories. Testimonies, Bucharest, Meronia, Publishing House 2008.


N.I.S.T. LIBRARY

ANA-MARIA RADULESCU, Books and Periodicals included in the N.I.S.T. Collections 291


The NIST Agenda 293

The N.I.S.T. agenda describes the activity of the institute’s researchers during the first half of this year. This is a short review of participation in symposiums, round tables, book releases, openings of document exhibitions, where the participants discussed issues related to the access to documents from the communist period and the debunking of certain huge historical mystifications. 


Authors 311

Contents. Summary. Contributors 315


© The National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, 2009.


 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism 


Volume XVII              Number 62-63         1-2/2009



Editorial


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XXXIII 5

Radu Ciuceanu, director of the N.I.S.T., president of the N.I.S.T. Scientific Council; Ph.D. in history, also coordinates the research theme The Encyclopedia of the Communist Regime in Romania, 1945-1989. The Anticommunist Resistance. Memoirs: The Seal of the Devil, 2002. Recent book: The Katyn Massacres, N.I.S.T., 2008 (co-author).

Keywords: Europe, World War II.


Studies

CRISTIAN TRONCOTA, Personalities of the Secret Front in Romania: Gheorghe Cristescu 13

Gheorghe (Gicu) Cristescu was one of the best Romanian secret service specialists in the interwar period and during World War II. Although between November 15, 1940 and August 23, 1944 he was subordinated to his brother, Eugen Cristescu, head of the Special Intelligence Service, their relations were strictly professional. In June 1948 he was sentenced in absentia to forced labor for life, for his alleged involvement in the June 26-31, 1941 massacre of the Jews in Iasi. Apprehended in 1953 in Transylvania, he was successively imprisoned at Deva, Bucharest (Uranus), Fagaras, Gherla, Ramnicu Sarat and Aiud until his release in July 1964. He then worked as an unskilled laborer and died in anonymity in 1975.

Cristian Troncota – Professor, PhD, Faculty of Intelligence, National Intelligence Academy, and Faculty of International Relations, Political Sciences and Security Studies at Lucian Blaga University in Sibiu; research scholar with NIST.

Keywords: Romania, intelligence, interwar period, World War II.


MIHAI SERBAN, Purging of the Special Intelligence Service Cadre, 1944-1945 22

On April 18, 1945, the Special Intelligence Service was transferred from the Ministry of War to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, and its personnel made the object of massive purges. This move targeted mainly those who had acted against the communist movement and Soviet espionage, but the purge was made to appear as defending “democratic” values. Also purged were SIS workers born in Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina.

Mihai Serban – PhD in history at Bucharest University. Currently pursuing a PhD in military science and intelligence at Carol I National Defense University, focusing on Geopolitics.

Keywords: Romania, postwar years, intellingence.


ION CONSTANTIN, Punished for Patriotism: the Case of Onisifor Ghibu                  in the ‘50s 30

One of the personalities of Romanian culture that suffered after the communist takeover in Romania was academician Onisifor Ghibu, who had risen to prominence, among other things, by his struggle for Transylvania’s union to Romania on December 1, 1918.  Until his death, he was marginalized, and his works were censored and removed from the academic circuit. On October 31, 1956 Onisifor Ghibu sent Nikita S. Khrushchev a memorandum demanding the right to self-determination for Romanians in Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina and withdrawal of the Soviet troops from Romania. He was arrested and imprisoned until January 1, 1958. Then he was under house arrest in Sibiu.

Ion Constantin – Ph.D. in history, research scholar with NIST; former Romanian diplomat. Recent book: The History of Poland and the Romanian-Polish Relations, 2005.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, elite purges.


IRINA GRIDAN, Parallelism and Convergence. I.Gh. Maurer in the Paris antichamber: discussions for an official meeting (1964) , II 36

This article is a first installment of a series devoted to the French-Romanian relations in the 60’s. The author pursues to throw light on the mechanisms set in motion after the diplomatic negotiations, leading to rapprochement between Bucharest and Paris by the middle of the decade. The year 1964 was a crucial moment for the Romanian-French rapprochement. The article focuses on the discussions that took place before the Romanian Prime Minister I. Gh. Maurer’s visit to Paris in July-August 1964. This visit will influence positively the dynamics of the relations between these two countries.

Irina Gridan is an alumna of the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. Assistant professor at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. PhD candidate with a theme devoted to Romanian-Soviet relations between 1950 and 1960, under the guidance of Marie-Pierre Rey.

Keywords: France, Romania, political relations.


ACAD. MIRCEA MALITA, 1968 Prague Seen from Bucharest 50

The Soviet armed intervention in Czechoslovakia in the night of August 20 to 21 upset international politics. Mircea Malita, at the time deputy minister of Foreign Affairs, remembers how the evolution of the Czechoslovak problem was perceived in Bucharest during the 10-day crisis, both from Romania’s point of view and from the angle of the relations between the world’s two superpowers.

Mircea Malita – Mathematician, politician; deputy minister of Foreign Affairs (1962-1970); secretary-general of ADIRI (Association for International Law and International Relations), 1966-1970; member of the Romanian Academy.

Keywords: Czechoslovakia,  Romania, 1968 invasion.


GHEORGHE STROE, The Evolution of the Romanian Economy over 1970-1980: The Foreign Debt Crisis 64

Due to errors pertaining to internal economic strategy and to adverse external circumstances, in the late 70s and early 80s Romania grappled with a severe foreign debt crisis that could only be surmounted by signing a 3-year standby agreement with the IMF in 1981. The external balance was restored in 1983 but the Ceausescu regime decided to pursue a policy of total repayment of the foreign debt. This decision was underlain by the bitter experience of 1981 and by fear that going on with a big foreign debt would have exerted external pressure hard to cope with. The all-out drive to repay the whole of the foreign debt deeply harmed the economy and, moreover, sacrificed the basic living conditions of the population, through shortages of food, heating and lighting and through restrictions that diminished their income by the year, while also deteriorating health care and education.

Gheorghe Stroe – Economist; director, Monetary Policies Directorate (1959-1963) and Foreign Relations Department (1963-1965) at the National Bank of Romania; economic expert with the Economic Planning Department of the CC of the RCP (1966-1967); deputy chairman of the State Planning Committee (1968-1977); first vice-president, counselor, National Bank of Romania (1990-1991).

Keywords: Romania, Communism, IMF, economy, debt crisis.


FLORIAN BANU, A critical approach of the sources regarding the victims of the Communist regime 77

After the collapse of Communism the public opinion was revealed the terrible crimes of an regime which called itself profoundly humanitarian. The first years after 1989 were characterized by an affluence of publications – many former political prisoners wrote their memoires -, documentary movies, recordings of oral history. This study critically analizes the different numbers of the victims of the Communist regime that all these sources give for real. Although good intentioned, trying to establish a number of the casualties was proved to be very difficult especially when approaches of different authours led to exagerations that threatened to make less credible the real number of the casualties.

Florian Banu is Ph.D. in history, expert at the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives. Recent volume: Securitatea. Structuri/cadre, obiective şi metode [The Securitate. Structures/Staff, Objectives and Methodes], vol.I: 1948-1967, 2006 (co-edithor).

Keywords: Romania, Communism, repression, victims, memory.


TATIANA VOLOKITINA, Russian Historiography and Eastern Europe’s Postwar History – A New Approach 101

The study analyses the evolution of Russian historiography after 1990, focusing on two subjects that were approached differently and made the object of many studies: the Cold War and Stalinism. The article insists on the perpetuation at present of certain characteristics Russian historiography had displayed in the early ‘90s: a fragmented character of the sources – related in many respects to the declassification of archive collections being slowed down, to the prevalence of empirical studies and a low interest in generalizations, theoretical ones included. The author also approaches the fact that a certain disproportion of the chronological dimension has not been overcome yet, which is visible in the much more intense scrutiny of the 1960s and particularly the 1970s and 1980s. 

Tatiana Volokitina holds a PhD in History and is a research scholar with the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Keywords: Russia, postwar history, historiography.


Documents

ALEXANDRU V. DIŢĂ, Demetrescu Radu Gyr: An Essential Autobiographical Contribution, IV 113

Although the name Radu Gyr became a symbol for all the political prisoners, no matter the type of the dictatorship,  his biography is still insufficiently known. In this article we present a document, an autobiography written by Radu Gyr while he was imprisoned, being sentenced to death. 

Alexandru V. Diţă is Ph.D. in History, editor. Scientific researcher with the N.I.S.T.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, political repression.


MIOARA ANTON, „Capitalist diversions“: right-wing deviations or                        anti-Semitism? 121

At the beginning of the 50s, hostility to capitalism became an obsession in the ‘people’s democracies’. The political context of the end of 1952 was dominated by anti-Semitic hysteria. The situation of the Jewish minorities from Eastern Europe was dramatic. All these four documents from the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs represent part of a picture of a time dominated by the obsession of fighting against ‚decadent capitalism’. Ana Pauker’s removal as Foreign Minister launched a new process of removal from the diplomatic apparatus of all those who were considered to be inadequate or class enemies (the cases of George Macovescu, Egon Balas, Emil Lustig and Aurel Farchi). The tone used by Cornel Bogdan, at the beginning of his diplomatic carrier, exemplifies a vindictive rhetoric caused by an external and internal political context which was extremely ambiguous and fluctuating.

Mioara Anton, Ph.D. in History, senior researcher within “Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History and N.I.S.T. Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communism Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).

Keywords: Eastern Europe, Communism, Jewish emigration, anti-semitism.

 

CEZAR STANCIU, The Romanian-Polish Relations Two Years after                            the 1956 Events 138

The liberal atmosphere and the tendency to break away from Moscow’s influence that accompanied the establishment of the Gomulka regime in Poland in autumn 1956 meant colder relations with Romania, a country still fully subordinated to the hegemonic power in the socialist camp. Only in 1958, when Gomulka came to Bucharest, was that chilling reversed. 

Cezar Stanciu – PhD in History from Valahia University in Targoviste; member of the Grigore Gafencu Center for the Research of International Relations History in Targoviste.

Keywords: Romania, Poland, Communism, political relations.




OCTAVIAN ROSKE, The Collectivization of Agriculture. Total Repression, 1957-1962, XXVI 156

The documents continue the series of historical accounts of the final stage of collectivisation of agriculture between 1958 and 1962. In that case, the abuses are objectively reflected by documents from Moldavia. 

Octavian Roske, Ph.D., is senior researcher, Scientific Secretary of the NIST and associate professor with the Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Bucharest. Recent books: Repressive Mechanisms in Romania, 1945-1989. Biographical Dictionary, vol. VII: Q-R, 2008 (coordinator).

Keywords: Romania, agriculture, collectivization.


CONSTANTIN MORARU, Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry on Mănescu – Rusk Meeting in New York, October 4, 1963 166

The author presents the aide-memoire of the meeting between Corneliu Mănescu, Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Dean Rusk, US Secretary of State, that took place on 4th of October, 1963, NYC. The Romanian high official pointed out the issue of Romania's neutrality in case of nuclear conflict between the two super-powers.

Constantin Moraru, PhD in History; expert at the Romanian National Archives. Recent book: Romania’s Foreign Policy (1958-1964), Enciclopedica Publishing House, 2008.

Keywords: Romania, United States of America, diplomacy.


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, Seeking the Sensational: Eugen Barbu and Alexandru Andritoiu in China, 1965 181

Over May 30 – June 31, 1965 writers Eugen Barbu and Alexandru Andritoiu visited China, where their less orthodox behavior caused discontent both among the hosts and at the Romanian diplomatic office in Beijing.

They asked, for instance, to travel to such forbidden areas as the Tibet, they refused to visit 

the Library of the Academia Sinica and they left a performance of the play “Pilot Women” – a play with a contemporary revolutionary theme – soon after it had begun.

Dan Cătănuş, PhD in History, is senior researcher with N.I.S.T.; Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communism Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).

Keywords: Romania, China, Communism, Romanian writers.


VASILE BUGA, History Repeats Itself: Problems of the Romanian Language and Literature in Chisinau, 1965 194

Some two months after the Moscow visit of a delegation headed by Nicolae Ceausescu  (September 1965), the leaders of Chisinau reported to Moscow they had difficulties on the ideological front because of the Romanian propagandistic drive. The article reproduces a letter Ivan Bodiul, first secretary of the CC of the CP of Moldova had sent to the CC of the CPSU, signaling “a number of negative situations,” “nationalistic” in nature, that had arisen among part of the intelligentsia in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, notably the writers.

Vasile Buga is Ph.D., senior researcher with N.I.S.T., coordinator of the Russian and Soviet Studies Center. Recent work: The Fall of the Empire. The Soviet Union in Gorbachev Era, 1985-1989, N.I.S.T., 2007.

Keywords: Romania, Soviet Union, ideology, intelligentsia.



Testimonies 

ACAD. RAZVAN THEODORESCU, March-April 1959 at the Faculty of History of Bucharest University. Recollections 201

On March 12 1959, in the main hall of Student House 303 in Cotroceni district, professors Dionisie Pippidi, Mihai Berza and Ion Nestor from the Faculty of History were exposed before a specially convened meeting, starting from their refusal to sign a message in favor of the Greek communist Manolis Glezos. As he sided with his professors, student Razvan Theodorescu was in his turn exposed three weeks later, being accused of conciliatoriness, anti-Sovietism, membership in a spiritualist group, elitism and so on. On April 18, 1959 he was ousted from the Youth Union (UTM) and expelled from the Faculty of History for “inimical political attitude.”

Razvan Theodorescu – Historian, member of the Romanian Academy. Member of the Scientific Board of NIST.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, repression, student purges.


ION ILIESCU, 1971 – The Year of Ideological Changes in Romania 204

In February 1971, Ion Iliescu was promoted to the position of secretary of the CC of the RCP in charge of party propaganda. At the plenum of the party’s ideological cadre in July 1971, Nicolae Ceausescu outlined an ideological program designed to reinvigorate ideological and educational action in the party and in society, to make up for the lack of militancy and for the influence of certain petty bourgeois, decadent mentalities. Those criticized at the time included Ion Iliescu, accused of intellectualist tendencies. In November the Executive Committee dismissed him from the position of secretary of the CC of the RCP and assigned him to humbler jobs in Timisoara and then in Iasi. Ion Iliescu establishes a connection between the 1971 ideological veering and Nicolae Ceausescu’s recent visit to countries in Asia, including China and North Korea.

Ion Iliescu – president of Romania (1990-1992, 1992-1996, 2000-2004).

Keywords: Romania, Communism, ideology, propaganda, purges.


Dictionary of Institutions

ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, Workers’ Committee 221

This material is a part of a research project entitled The Communist Regime Encyclopedia in Romania: The Institutions.

As it was intended the workers’ committees were the main instrument of control over the whole social-economical activity. As the representatives of the working masses, these gatherings of employees (industrial, agricultural and commercial workers, engineers, desk clerks, teachers etc.) shared the decision-power with hierarchical appointed managers and directors. After 1969 political decision of accelerating Socialist Romania’s economical and social development, the workers’ committee shared also the responsibility in implementing the five-year plans. Although they lacked real power, the workers’ committee soon became another communist mean of control over ordinary people, by disposing of the distribution over assets and services (houses, holidays, cars).

Alexandru-Murad Mironov is an assistant professor within History Department of the University of Bucharest; a Ph.D. student; senior researcher with the NIST. Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communist Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).

Keywords: Romania, Communism, institutions, Workers’ Committee




FLORIN-RAZVAN MIHAI, National Council of Women in Romania 227

The National Council of Women in the RPR/SRR was the leading body of the women’s mass movement in Romania under the communist regime. The single mass organization of women in Romania was set up in 1948 as the Union in Democratic Women in Romania (UFDR). In 1953 UFDR was reorganized as the Committee of Democratic Women in the RPR (1953-1958) and then as the National Council of Women (1958-1989).

Florin-Razvan Mihai – Research assistant with NIST. Graduated from the Faculty of History at Bucharest University. MA in International Relations, Faculty of History, Bucharest University.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, institutions, National Council of Women in Romania


Biographical Dictionary

FLORI BALANESCU, M. Buracu (1930-)…………………………………………...236

Mihai Buracu, Mihail Manoilescu’s godson, was arrested in the night of June 7, 1949; at the time he was a student at the Traian Doda High School in Caransebes. He was put on trial and the Military Court in Timisoara sentenced him, on December 6, 1949, to two years in reformative prison, but he was imprisoned for 5 years at Aiud, Jilava and Targsor. In the autumn of 1950, Mihai Buracu arrived at Peninsula-Valea Neagra. From there he was soon sent to be “re-educated” at Pitesti, for discipline-related reasons, together with a batch of 22 students. He spent two months in room 4 of the prison sickbay where, at age 21, his hair turned completely white. An inmate at the Bicaz prison camp for two years, after a short stay at Onesti, he was moved to the Borzesti prison camp in the autumn of 1953 wherefrom he was released on May 21, 1954. He was then under house arrest at Caransebes. He managed to pass his school-leaving examination and to be admitted at the Philology Faculty in Iasi, open learning, graduating in 1960. He was a teacher for 30 years. In January 1990 he became a member of the National Peasant Party (PNT-CD), president of the Mehedinti branch of the party, president of the Democratic Convention of Romania – Mehedinti branch, and a member of Parliament for PNT-CD. 

Flori Balanescu – Researcher with NIST. Recent volume: Flori Stanescu – Paul Goma, Dialogue, Vremea Publishing House, 2008.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, elites, repression, political prisoners. 


ANA-MARIA CATANUS, Gheorghe Calciu-Dumitreasa (1925-2006) 239

Gheorghe Calciu (1925-2006). Father Gheorghe Calciu was born on November 23, 1925 to a peasant family at Mahmudia in the Danube Delta. While a high school student, he enrolled in the youth organization of the Legionary Movement. As an undergraduate studying medicine, Calciu was arrested and charged, along with other young legionaries, of “activity against national security” on May 21, 1948. He was sentenced to eight years of hard prison. In 1949 he was already at Pitesti when the “re-education” experiment started.  Involved in the second “re-education” trial, Calciu was sentenced to 15 years in prison, that term being cumulated with the initial term in prison. Gheorghe Calciu spent the following years at Casimca Jilavei and Aiud. After his release, he graduated from the Faculty of Theology and was hired at the Theological Seminary in Bucharest. On March 8, 1978, Father Calciu inaugurated the series of sermons “Seven Words to Young People,” delivered as part of the evening meditation during Lent. As a result on June 15 his employment contract was severed. Involved in the creation of SLOMR (the Free Trade Union of Working People in Romania), Gheorghe Calciu was arrested on March 10, 1979. Charged of “treason by transmitting secrets,” Father Calciu was sentenced, under judgment no. 35/May 4, 1979 of the Bucharest Military Court to 10 years in prison, being jailed at Jilava and Aiud. After being released on August 20, 1984, Father Calciu and his family left for the United States.

Ana-Maria Catanus is a researcher with NIST; PhD student. Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communist Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).

Keywords: Romania, Communism, Orthodox Church, dissidents.


CRISTINA DIAC, Paul Niculescu Mizil (1923-2008) 243

Coming from a family of old Socialist and Communist militants, Paul Niculescu-Mizil was promoted by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej in the higher party and state ranks. His „finest hour” was in the sixties when he played an important role in Romania’s internal and external distancing from Moscow. After the IX-th R.C.P. Congress Mizil got promoted in the highest party position but soon he became undesirable due to his lack of obediency. After 1989 he was very active by writing many article and memory books.

Cristina Diac is PhD student, University of Bucharest; assistant researcher with N.I.S.T. MA in History, University of Bucharest.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, political elites.


Book Reviews

ALEXANDRU MURAD MIRONOV, “Interstitio. East European Review of Historical Anthropology” 249

This is a review of “Interstitio. East European Review of Historical Anthropology”, December 2007, Volume I, Number 2”, Rethinking History Center, Chişinău.

MIHAI FLORIN, King Carol II’s Party 252

This is a review of Petre Turlea’s book A King’s Party. The National Revival Front, Enciclopedica Publishing House, Bucharest, 2006.

DAN CATANUS, Taking distance from Moscow 253

This is a review of Constantin Moraru’s book The Foreign Policy of Romania, 1958-1964, Enciclopedica Publishing House, Bucharest, 2008.


N.I.S.T. LIBRARY

ANA-MARIA RADULESCU, Books and Periodicals included in the N.I.S.T. Collections 255

The NIST Agenda 259

The N.I.S.T. agenda describes the activity of the institute’s researchers during the first half of this year. This is a short review of participation in symposiums, round tables, book releases, openings of document exhibitions, where the participants discussed issues related to the access to documents from the communist period and the debunking of certain huge historical mystifications. 


Authors 275


Contents. Summary. Contributors 280

© The National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, 2009.


 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism 


Volume XVI              Number 60-61          3-4/2008



Editorial


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XXXII 5

Radu Ciuceanu, president of the N.I.S.T. Scientific Council; Ph.D. in history, also coordinates the research theme Comparative studies on the formation and activity of the anti-Bolshevik resistance organizations in Romania and Bessarabia, 1940-1989. Memoirs: The Seal of the Devil, 2002. Recent book: A Quiet Man’s Diary. Conspirative Name:The Artist, volume I, 1963-1970, N.I.S.T., 2005

Keywords: Europe, World War II. 


Studies


RADU H. DINU, The Legionary Movement between “Political Religion” and “Collective Effervescence” 16

When talking about Romania’s native fascist movement, scholars typically refer to it as “one of the rare modern European political movements with a religious structure” willingly inserting “strong elements of Orthodox Christianity in their political doctrine”. However, these preliminary statements remain somehow general when it comes to ascertain the explicit relationship of politics and religion in Romanian fascism. One more specific approach to this issue could at first sight be to clarify the complex personal links between the Romanian clergy and the Legionary Movement. The other certainly more rewarding way to illuminate this reciprocal affinity between politics and religion is rather to ascertain, to what extent Romanian fascism as a whole developed (pseudo-) religious claims and if these claims entered into a conflict with the Orthodox Church. The author starts by discussing the capacity and limits of current political religion theories. In its second part, the article tries to demonstrate how the sacralization of politics can be alternatively reconstructed from a perspective of collective experience employing Émile Durkheim’s concept of “collective effervescence”.

Radu H. Dinu is PhD candidate at the Max-Weber-Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, Erfurt University. Doctoral thesis: “Fascism, Religion and Violence in South-Eastern Europe. A Comparative Study of the Ustasa and the Iron Guard.”

Keywords: Romania, Legionary movement, Orthodox church.

 

ION CONSTANTIN, The Road to Truth about Katyn 26

The Katyn massacres were one of the 20th century’s most tragic experiences, the result of which was that a large part of the Polish elite was destroyed as dictated by the March 5, 1940 decision of the USSR leadership, at head with Stalin. The road to truth about Katyn was extremely difficult, as the Soviet authorities, the secret services and the institutions they controlled did their best to wipe away all traces of the crimes and preclude the identification of those who had ordered and performed the assassinations. They concealed, destroyed and faked evidence, denying any clues and facts. Because for a long time, it was not possible in that country to further try to establish the truth, the Polish exiles took over the task. Only after the collapse of the USSR could the archives of the former Soviet Union be actually accessed and the first investigations be made into the crimes of Katyn.  Eighteen years after the fall of Communism, many aspects related to the destinies of the Poles killed in the spring of 1940 are still obscure.e leaders of the “historical parties,” considered “reactionary”.

Ion Constantin is Ph.D. in history, reasercher within the NIST; former Romanian diplomat. Recent book: The History of Poland and the Romanian-Polish Relations, 2005

Keywords: Soviet Union, World War II, Polish elite, Katyn massacres, 


TIBERIU TĂNASE, The Relations between the Legionary Movement and the RCP, 1945-1948 45

The Iron-Guardist/Legionary Movement (LM) represented a strong and troublesome opponent for the Communist Party in its fighting for power before the setting up of the Communist regime. 

For the Iron-Guardist Movement, the Communist – Legionary Pact was a desperate attempt of the legionary group led from inside by Nicoale Petrascu and orchestrated from exile by Horia Sima, an attempt to continue the fight for power under the cover of the Romanian Communist Party. 

For the Romanian Communist Party and its representatives, who had already taken the power on March 6th, 1945 through the Petru Groza Government, it was an opportunity to have some agents infiltrated in order to find and arrest the legionnaires. After March 9th, 1945, the repression against LM reached its most violent form of manifestation. For example, members of LM who had been released from prison in 1945, as a consequence of the Communist – Legionary Pact, were arrested again in the night of May 14th/15th, 1948.

Tiberiu Tănase is lecturer at the National Intelligence Academy. PhD candidate at the Faculty of History, Bucharest University. Recent volume: Security and defence in the European Union, 2008 (co-author).

Keywords: Romania, Legionary movement, Romanian Communist Party. 


DUMITRU ŞANDRU, The Waves of Arrests in 1947 54

The successive arrests ordered in 1947 by the leaders of the new political regime were meant to instill fear in those who opposed Communism, to weaken the resistance of the historical parties, the National Peasant Party (Maniu) and the National Liberal Party (Bratianu), against the anti-capitalist offensive of the Communist Party. Besides, they paved the way for the banning of the political opposition. Although the regime’s repression had a considerable impact on many people in Romania, on the other hand it determined a surge in the armed resistance of the anticommunist organizations set up in various regions and particularly in the mountains.

Dumitru Şandru – PhD in History, is an associate professor with the “Ştefan cel Mare” University in Suceava.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, repression, opposition.


MIHAIL LANCUZOV, The Dissolution of the National Peasant Party – a New Stage in the Plan on Sovietizing Romania, II 71

The establishment of Petru Groza’s government on March 6, 1945 was the beginning of a significant change for the Romanian kingdom, from a democratic state to a communist-like totalitarian state. After the outrageous rigging of the November 19, 1946 elections, the next step was to annihilate the opposition by dissolving the democratic parties. The first target was the National Peasant Party. On July 14, 1947 the party was dealt a death blow when the political police agents framed up an attempt to flee the country to a group of Peasant leaders. In a few days, the government outlawed the key opposition party, closed its headquarters, neutralized the press and arrested its leaders. 

Mihail Lancuzov – historian, National Museum of History, Bucharest.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, National Peasant Party, sovietization. 


DRAGOŞ ZAMFIRESCU, The Meanings of Signing the Romanian-Soviet Treaty from February 4, 1948 87

The treaty Romania signed with the Soviet Union in February 4, 1948 was concluded at Soviet intiative, without preliminary consulatations, and it marked the official political-military subordination of Romania towards USSR.

Also, the treaty stipulated the giving up of the Island of Snakes to the Soviet Union. The Romanian delegation, led by the Prime Minister Petru Groza and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ana Pauker, didn’t raise any objections, complying to all Soviet demands.

Dragoş Zamfirescu – PhD, is specialized in the study of right-wing extremism in Romania (the interwar years) and of the totalitarian models that emerged after WW2, when the so-called socialist camp came into being.

Keywords: Romania, Soviet Union, 1948 treaty, sovietization.


IRINA GRIDAN, Parallelism and Convergence. Underpinnings of the French-Romanian Rapprochement, 1956-1963, I 97

This article is a first installment of a series devoted to the French-Romanian relations in the 60’s. The author pursues to throw light on the mechanisms set in motion after the diplomatic negotiations, leading to rapprochement between Bucharest and Paris by the middle of the decade. That outcome was obvious notably during Gen. de Gaulle’s visit to Bucharest in 1968. Beginning in 1964, western observers highlighted the convergent foreign policy outlooks of the two countries, which was also a leitmotif of the Romanian leaders and diplomats. However, for a better understanding of the so conspicuous rapprochement of the mid-60’s, it is necessary to pinpoint the mechanisms that made it possible, at the beginning of the decade, to resume a dialogue that had severely declined since the onset of the communist power in Romania.

Irina Gridan is an alumna of the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. Assistant professor at the University of Paris I, Pantheon-Sorbonne. PhD candidate with a theme devoted to Romanian-Soviet relations between 1950 and 1960, under the guidance of Marie-Pierre Rey.

Keywords: France, Romania, political relations, diplomacy.


FLORIN ABRAHAM, The Influence of Anticommunism over Recent Romanian Historiography 123

The aim of the study is to uncover the relation between political anticommunism, as a dominant meta-ideology in the Romanian intellectual environment, and the studying directions, language and typology of conclusions presented by historiography. The object of this study is made up of research works that can be assimilated to the 1990-2004 historiography focusing on Romanian communism. The analysis grid proposed for understanding how communism influenced Romanian historiography has four pillars: methodological options derived from major historiography currents; frequent study theme; stylistics of the historical discourse; the issue of responsibility/guilt. The predominant ideology which can be identified in the texture of Romanian historiography concerning the 1945-1989 period is anti-communism. The main problem generated by a historiography contaminated by anticommunist ideology is that history contributes to legitimizing a sui generis populism, nourishing the anti-modern discourse of a part of Romanian intelligentsia and political actors that use the anticommunist legitimacy in the public space.

Florin Abraham is Ph.D in History; senior researcher with the NIST. Recent book: Romania’s Transformation: 1989-2006. The Foreign Factors Role, 2006.

Keywords: Romania, anticommunism, historiography.


Documents


ALEXANDRU V. DIŢĂ, Demetrescu Radu Gyr: An Essential Autobiographical Contribution, III 145

Although the name Radu Gyr became a symbol for all the political prisoners, no matter the type of the dictatorship,  his biography is still insufficiently known. In this article we present a document, an autobiography written by Radu Gyr while he was imprisoned, being sentenced to death. 

Alexandru V. Diţă is Ph.D. in History, editor. Scientific researcher with the N.I.S.T.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, intellectuals, political repression.


LAURENŢIU CONSTANTINIU, The Churchill-Stalin Percentages Agreement in Soviet Documents 157

A major event marking the relations within the Great Alliance and especially the Soviet-British ones, the Percentages Agreement – under which Central and Eastern Europe were assigned to the Soviet sphere of influence – was strongly negated by Soviet historiography, being only acknowledged in 1989. The “art of disposing of others,” as André Fontaine called it in a chapter of his History of the Cold War, appears in the Soviet shorthand account of the conversation during the Churchill-Stalin meeting on October 9, 1944. The article makes available to Romanian specialists, for the first time as far as we know, the full text of the Soviet shorthand minutes of the two meetings on October 9 and 10, 1944, when the Soviet and British delegations debated the Percentages Agreement and its implementation in Central and Southeastern Europe.

Laurenţiu Constantiniu, PhD in History, is lecturer with the University of Bucharest, Department of History.

Keywords: World War II, great alliance, percentages agreement.


OCTAVIAN ROSKE, The Collectivization of Agriculture. Total Repression, 1957-1962, XXV 173

The documents continue the series of historical accounts of the final stage of collectivisation of agriculture between 1958 and 1962. In that case, the abuses are objectively reflected by documents from Moldavia. 

Octavian Roske, Ph.D., is Scientific Secretary of the NIST and associate professor with the Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Bucharest. Recent books: Repressive Mechanisms in Romania, 1945-1989. Biographical Dictionary, P, 2007 (coordinator).

Keywords: Romania, Communism, agriculture, collectivization.


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, Differently about the Romanian-Soviet Relations: The Small Tourist Traffic 181

Beyond the ups and downs the Romanian-Soviet relations experienced under communism at the level of leaders, contacts between ordinary people continued in a prevailingly positive manner. An example: Romanians used to travel to the USSR, which occasioned small tourist traffic, with advantages to either side. The friendship between the people of the two countries was thus consolidated not through propaganda, but based on the pecuniary interest stimulated by black market exchanges.

Dan Cătănuş, PhD in History, is senior researcher with N.I.S.T.; Ph.D. student. Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communism Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).

Keywords: Romania, Soviet Union, bilateral relations.


MIOARA ANTON, After invasion: Romania in the Shadow of the “Brezhnev Doctrine”. September-October 1968 189

In August 1968, as a consequence of its having condemned the sending of Warsaw Pact troops into Czechoslovakia, Romania was very close to being subject to Soviet military intervention. The enunciation of the “limited sovereignty doctrine“ forced a reevaluation of Romanian foreign policy. The Czechoslovakian lesson obliged the Romanian leadership to be more careful and seek a form of reconciliation with Moscow. Shortly after August 1968, for Romanian diplomats it was obvious that the Soviet foreign policy hadn’t changed its strategies and that its opening to the West meant in fact the strenghtening of control over the communist bloc. Romanian diplomats understood that Bucharest’s foreign policy would be dependent on Soviet goals and that Romania could not ignore the agreement which might arise between the Soviet Union and the United States.

Mioara Anton, Ph.D. in History, senior researcher within “Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History and N.I.S.T. Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communism Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).

Keywords: Romania, Soviet Union, Communist leadership, Brezhnev Doctrine.


VASILE BUGA, Behind-the-Scenes of Nicolae Ceauşescu’s Rise to the Top 203

Unraveling the mechanisms whereby Nicolae Ceausescu acceded to the top party position after Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej’s death in March 1965 is still a topical concern of the scientific milieus in Romania, giving rise to speculations. Accounts in the memoirs published after 1990 revealed details known only to a few insiders of the Romanian party and state leadership. In this connection, currently it is unanimously believed that it was Ion Gheorghe Maurer who played the key role in Nicolae Ceausescu’s ascent. The document published here, i.e. the letter Gh. Apostol wrote on July 30, 1970, sent to Nicolae Ceausescu on November 9, 1970, casts fresh light on the circumstances in which Ceausescu was elected to head the party.

Vasile Buga is Ph.D., senior researcher with N.I.S.T., coordinator of the Russian and Soviet Studies Center. Recent work: The Fall of the Empire. The Soviet Union in Gorbachev Era, 1985-1989, N.I.S.T., 2007.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, political leadership.


SIMION GHEORGHIU, The Agony of the Communist Regime in Romania: the Ceauşescu-Gorbachev Exchange of Messages, Nov. 1989 228

Moscow’s signaling of an opening when Mikhail Gorbachev took the helm of the USSR was given different interpretations in the Soviet bloc. Some of the satellite countries (Hungary, Poland) adopted an even more reformist stand than that proposed by the Soviet leader, whereas others (Romania, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic) categorically rejected the perestroika-inspired reforms. The leaders of the latter, fearing the Gorbachev-like initiatives would endanger their political power, used ideological arguments to defend their position.  Such was the case of Bucharest leader N. Ceausescu who, alarmed by the changes in Europe in general and by the talk about German unification in particular, requested the USSR to step up the political-ideological struggle and make no concessions to Western Germany. Nicolae Ceausescu’s insistent defense of the GDR is explained by the fear that abandoning a communist member state of the Warsaw Treaty would create a dangerous precedent for the other member states. The text here presents the exchange of messages – unpublished before – between Nicolae Ceausescu and Mikhail Gorbachev, which highlights the deep crisis in the Romanian-Soviet relations in 1989 and the many-sided divergences between Bucharest and Moscow.

Simion Gheorghiu is research assistant with the Nicolae Iorga History Institute. MA, University of Bucharest, PhD candidate.

Keywords: Romania, Soviet Union, Communism, perestroika.


Biographical Dictionary


ANA MARIA CĂTĂNUŞ, Vlad Georgescu 242

Vlad Georgescu was born on Octomber 29, 1937, in Bucharest. He graduated from the Faculty of History (1959) and after that he was hired at the Romanian-Russian Museum in Bucharest. In 1963 he became a researcher at the Institute of East-European Studies. After an exceptional career in the field of history, Vlad Georgescu became a dissident. On March 1977, he transmitted three hostile materials regarding the Romanian regime to the United States ambassador, in order to be disseminated abroad. One day later, he was arrested and accused of treason. He was released on May 25, 1977. After leaving the country, in 1979, Vlad Georgescu worked for Radio Free Europe as director of the Romanian Section (1983-1988). Vlad Georgescu was also a person who made some compromises, one of them being that, while he was in Romania, he was an informer for the Securitate. He died on November 13, 1988 of  brain cancer.

Ana-Maria Cătănuş is researcher with the NIST; Ph.D. student. Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communist Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).

Keywords: Romania, Communism, intellectuals, dissidence.


CRISTINA DIAC, Corneliu Mănescu 247

Corneliu Manescu was born on February 6, 1906 in Ploiesti. In the 30’s he came to the capital city to study at the Law School of Bucharest University. He got closer to the leftist movement through poet Miron Radu Paraschivescu, who introduced him to the Democratic Student Front, a structure close to the Communist Party.  Manescu became a member of the RCP in 1936 but was ousted from the party in 1952. In March 1961, Ion Gheorghe Maurer became prime minister and Corneliu Manescu – foreign minister. Manescu’s term as head of the Romanian diplomacy coincided with what would later be called the “golden decade of the Romanian foreign policy.” In 1972, Corneliu Manescu was removed from his position as chief diplomatist. Between 1977 and 1982 he was Romania’s ambassador in Paris and permanent representative to UNESCO. In 1982 he retired from public life. In 1989 he was one of the six dignitaries to speak out against Ceausescu, so he was expelled from the party, he had to leave his home in Kiseleff  Blvd. and move to the rural settlement of Chitila, being subjected to daily investigation until December 1989.

Cristina Diac is PhD student, University of Bucharest; assistant researcher with N.I.S.T. MA in History, University of Bucharest.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, political leaders.


Book Reviews


DUMITRU ŞANDRU, How Others’ Work Is Stolen and History Falsified, a review of the book Agriculture and Petty Politics. One Century of Agrarian Policy in Romania, 1907-2007. 251

CARMEN RĂDULESCU, The Architecture of a Political Intrusion 258

This is a review of Ion Mircea Stănescu’s book Architect under Communism, Paideia Publishing House, Bucharest, 2006.

Carmen Rădulescu is graduated in History, “Dimitrie Cantemir”Christian University; assistant researcher within NIST.

ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, On Bessarabia, without Passion 259

This is a presentation of the Italian researcher Alberto Basciani’s book La difficile unione. La Bessarbia e la Grande Romania. 1918-1940 (The Difficult Union. Bessarabia and Greater Romania, 1918-1940), Aracne Publishing House, Rome, 2007.

Alexandru-Murad Mironov is an assistant professor within History Department of the University of Bucharest; a Ph.D. student; senior researcher with the NIST. Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communist Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).


The NIST Agenda 263


The N.I.S.T. agenda describes the activity of the institute’s researchers during the first half of this year. This is a short review of participation in symposiums, round tables, book releases, openings of document exhibitions, where the participants discussed issues related to the access to documents from the communist period and the debunking of certain huge historical mystifications. 


Authors 277


Contents. Summary. Contributors 281

© The National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, 2008.


 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism 


Volume XVI              Number 58-59         1-2/2008




Editorial

RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XXXI 5

Radu Ciuceanu, president of the N.I.S.T. Scientific Council; Ph.D. in history, also coordinates the research theme Comparative studies on the formation and activity of the anti-Bolshevik resistance organizations in Romania and Bessarabia, 1940-1989. Memoirs: The Seal of the Devil, 2002. Recent book: A Quiet Man’s Diary. Conspirative Name:The Artist, volume I, 1963-1970, N.I.S.T., 2005

Keywords: Europe, World War II.


Studies

MARIANA ŢĂRANU, 1922 – The Deportation of the Russian Intelligentsia 15

The PhD thesis describes the policy promoted by the Bolshevik authorities towards the intellectuals in Russia during the first  years of the Soviet power. The reasons why a certain group of intellectuals had to leave the country legally or illegally are explained. There is also a special analysis of the inhuman procedure of deportation of the democratically-minded intellectuals as one of the Bolshevik policy aspects. Mariana Ţăranu, Ph.D., teaches at the Free International University in Chişinău, Republic of Moldova; recent volume: Lenin fără machiaj: teroarea intelectualităţii sovietice (1917-1922) [The Real Lenin: The Terror of the Soviet Intelligentsia] 2007.

Keywords:Soviet Union, Russian intelligentsia, deportation.


DRAGOS ZAMFIRESCU, Romanian-Soviet Relations in the First Postwar Years – The Work of Romania’s Diplomatic Mission to Moscow, 1945-1946 26

Romanian-Soviet diplomatic relations were resumed on August 6, 1945 as a result of the Russians applying a strategy to exert total intelligence control on Romanian developments. In this context, the “mission” of the Romanian Embassy in Moscow, headed by Iorgu Iordan, had a “decorative” role par excellence. Most of the work the Romanian diplomats performed was geared at informing Russian officials about the communist takeover and the anti-communist strategies of the leaders of the “historical parties,” considered “reactionary”. Dragoş Zamfirescu, PhD, is specialized in the study of right-wing extremism in Romania (the interwar years) and of the totalitarian models that emerged after WW2, when the so-called socialist camp came into being.

Keywords: Romania, Soviet Union, political relations, diplomacy.

 

PAVEL MORARU, The History of the Moldavian S.S.R. Political Police Apparatus 39

Already on the Bessarabian territory, after its annexation to the U.R.S.S. (June 28, 2008), the Soviet political police bodies contributed decisively to setting up and consolidating the Soviet regime in that territory. Their basic task, in order to secure the loyalty of the population and implementation of the “Soviet reforms”, was to annihilate the “anti-Soviet elements” and also any activity hostile to the regime. They therefore resorted to intimidation, provocation, misleading, murder, deportation, expulsions, etc. Pavel Moraru is Ph.D. in history. Senior researcher with the N.I.S.T. Recent work: Informaţii militare pe frontul de est [Military Intelligence on the Eastern Front], 2005.

Keywords: Moldavian SSR, political police.


MIHAIL LANCUZOV, The Dissolution of the National Peasant Party – a New Stage in the Plan on Sovietizing Romania, I 51

The establishment of Petru Groza’s government on March 6, 1945 was the beginning of a significant change for the Romanian kingdom, from a democratic state to a communist-like totalitarian state. After the outrageous rigging of the November 19, 1946 elections, the next step was to annihilate the opposition by dissolving the democratic parties. The first target was the National Peasant Party. On July 14, 1947 the party was dealt a death blow when the political police agents framed up an attempt to flee the country to a group of Peasant leaders. In a few days, the government outlawed the key opposition party, closed its headquarters, neutralized the press and arrested its leaders. Mihail Lancuzov – historian, National Museum of History, Buharest 

Keywords: Romania, Communism, National Peasant Party.


STELUŢA CHEFANI-PĂTRAŞCU, “Our Luggage is Always Ready” – Requisition of Landowners’ Mansions in 1948 61

On instructions from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in 1948 the landowners’ mansions were requisitioned partially or totally. Landowners represented the real authority in the world of Romanian villages. Through requisition, the communist authorities impoverished the landlords and limited their authority. The state planned to use the mansions to shelter institutions like municipalities, schools, banks, post offices, etc. or simply the staff of these institutions. There were cases when the owners were driven out of their properties and forced to rent another house.  

Steluţa Chefani-Pătraşcu is PhD candidate at the University of Bucharest. Museologist at Teleorman County Museum – History Section.  

Keywords: Romania, Communism, requisition, landowners.


ANDREA DOBEŞ, The Communist Repression in Romania. Penitentiaries and Forced Labour Colonies in Maramureş, II 71

In the beginning of the ’50 the concentration camp in Maramureş become a place for the extermination of the Communist regime opponents. In this regard Sighet penitentiary was a place for the extermination of the Romanian political and intellectual elites. Also, the forced labour colonies created around the lead mines had a double purpose: on the one hand, to produce non-ferrous ores at a lower cost and on the other hand to exterminate some of the political opponents. 

Andrea Dobeş is Ph.D. student at the Institute of History “George Bariţ” from Cluj Napoca. Recent book: Ilie Lazăr. The Consistency of a Political Ideal, Argonaut, 2005. 

Keywords: Romania, Communism, repression, labor camps, penitentiaries.


ALEKSANDR STYKALIN, The Moscow Meetings of Communist and Worker Parties, November 1957 86

When the Cominform was dissolved in April 1956, the CPSU began looking for new and more efficient ways of collaboration between the communist parties. The idea of holding a general meeting of these parties came up in November 1954, right after the defeat of the Hungarian revolution, but began materializing in February 1957, when the Chinese Communist Party was approached and asked to become involved in organizing such a meeting. The actual meeting, held in Moscow in November 1957, and the compromise the Soviets and the Chinese achieved showed that the international communist movement had, at the moment, overcome the difficulties generated by the CPSU’s 20th Congress. Aleksandr Stykalin is PhD in History. Senior researcher with the Institute of Slavistics of the Russian Academy of Science.

Keywords:Soviet Union, Communism, Cominform, Communist Parties collaboration.


ASHBY CROWDER, Romanian Interpretations of the Prague Spring: Cadres, Diplomats and the 1968 Crisis, II 108

The Czechoslovak crisis of 1968 had a lasting effect on Romanian politics and society. As Mary Fischer said, the Prague Spring was a “galvanizing event” for the Romanian Communist Party and for Nicolae Ceauşescu personally. It offered the chance to the Romanian dictator to appear to the whole world as a strong anti-Soviet leader, despite his Communist regime. Taking advantage from the profound anti-Soviet/Russian feelings of the Romanian people, it also offered the unique possibility to the R.C.P. to try a reconcilation with the Nation. Ashby Crowder - M.A. in European history at Ohio University, United States. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, the South East European Studies Association, and the Society for Romanian Studies.

Keywords: Czechoslovakia, Romania, Prague Spring, Romanian Communist Party. 


FLORIAN BANU, Main Tendencies in the Historiography of the Communist Regime in Romania. Test Case: the Researchers Studying the Archives of the Former Political Police 124

In this paper, the author tries to identify the principal directions of historians’ and others specialists’ interests in recent Romanian history, based on the titles of their works, before proceeding on to the real investigation of the archives. These titles, correlated with information from the Historical Bibliography of Romania, indicate, without doubt, that the old frustrations from the totalitarian regime are still present in the mind of many researchers, even in the young generation. Florian Banu is Ph.D. in history, expert at the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives. Recent volume: Securitatea. Structuri/cadre, obiective şi metode [The Securitate. Structures/Staff, Objectives and Methodes], vol.I: 1948-1967, 2006 (co-edithor).

Keywords: Romania, Communism, historiography. 


Documents

ALEXANDRU V. DIŢĂ, Demetrescu Radu Gyr: An Essential Autobiographical Contribution, II 133

Although the name Radu Gyr became a symbol for all the political prisoners, no matter the type of the dictatorship,  his biography is still insufficiently known. In this article we present a document, an autobiography written by Radu Gyr while he was imprisoned, being sentenced to death. Alexandru V. Diţă is Ph.D. in History, editor. Scientific researcher with the N.I.S.T.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, intellectuls, political repression.


VASILE BUGA, Ana Pauker: Advice on Demoralizing the Romanian Army, March 1944 145

The report the Romanian leader released on June 9, 1944, found in the Russian State Archives of Social and Political History (RGASPI) in Moscow, recommends that the Soviet bodies undertake actions to demoralize the Romanian troops opposing the offensive of the Red Army in the Romanian territory. The author highlights the moral and political aspects of the people’s mood in the “liberated” territory of Romania; also indicated are methods for the management of Soviet-controlled zones and of the goods left behind there. 

Vasile Buga is Ph.D., senior researcher with N.I.S.T., coordinator of the Russian and Soviet Studies Center. Recent work: The Fall of the Empire. The Soviet Union in Gorbachev Era, 1985-1989,N.I.S.T., 2007.

Keywords:Romania, Soviet Union, World War II, Red Army.


OCTAVIAN ROSKE, The Collectivization of Agriculture. Total Repression, 1957-1962, XXIV 156

The documents continue the series of historical accounts of the final stage of collectivisation of agriculture between 1958 and 1962. In that case, the abuses are objectively reflected by documents from Moldavia. Octavian Roske, Ph.D., is Scientific Secretary of the NIST and associate professor with the Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Bucharest. Recent books: The Collectivisation of Agriculture in Romania. The Political Dimension, 1949-1953, 2000 (co-author); Repressive Mechanisms in Romania, 1945-1989. Biographical Dictionary, A-C, 2001 (coordinator).

Keywords:Romania, Communism, agriculture, collectivization, repression.


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, Secret Dialogues: New Information on the Manescu-Rusk Meeting of October 4, 1963 161

The things US diplomat Raymond L. Garthoff disclosed about the October 4, 1963 meeting of Corneliu Manescu and Dean Rusk have not been confirmed directly so far by other American or Romanian sources. This article resumes the discussion on this topic and presents some new information found in Romanian archives, which supports, albeit indirectly, Garthoff’s statements regarding both the date when the two foreign ministers met and the special content of the talks. Dan Cătănuş is PhD in History; senior researcher with N.I.S.T.; Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communist Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).

Keywords: Romania, United States of America, political relations, diplomacy.


MIOARA ANTON, A controversial episode. The establishment of Romanian-West-German diplomatic relations. January 31, 1967 171

At the end of the sixties, Communist Romania began to emphasize a foreign policy different from that of the Communist bloc. The economic dimension played an important role in her strategy to detach from the Soviet bloc. One of the most important objectives for economic development was the industrialisation program which aimed to bring in Western investment and technology. In this context, West Germany became a pattern of economic development very attractive to Romanian Communist leaders. In January 1967, Romania managed to surprise her allies (especially East Germany) with her decision to establish diplomatic relations with West Germany. Mioara Anton is Ph.D. in History; senior researcher within “Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History; researcher within N.I.S.T. Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communism Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).

Keywords:West Germany, Romania, diplomatic relations.


ION CONSTANTIN, The RCP and the Issue of Bessarabia: the meeting between Pan. Halippa and Ion Popescu-Puţuri, February 1967 184

In the mid-60’s, as a new course of relative independence was being promoted in Romania’s foreign policy, Pantelimon Halippa, as well as other Bessarabian representatives, pinned their hopes on a change in the Romanian authorities’ perception of the Bessarabian issue. He even suggested finding a unification solution for the two Romanian states inside the socialist system. It is in this context that one must consider the meeting Pantelimon Halippa, together with lawyer Adrian Brudariu, had on February 13, 1967 with Ion Popescu-Puţuri, director of the Institute of Historical and Social-Political Studies attached to the Central Committee of Romanian Communist Party.Ion Constantin is Ph.D. in history, reasercher within the NIST; former Romanian diplomat. Recent book: The History of Poland and the Romanian-Polish Relations, 2005

Keywords: Romania, Bessarabia, Romanian Communist Party.

 

ANA-MARIA CĂTĂNUŞ, The 1971 Cultural Revolution: Preliminary Assessement……………………………………………………………………………………..193

The campaign to reinforce ideology launched by Nicolae Ceauşescu in the summer of 1971 ended the liberalization period which began in the second half of the 60’s. The ideological campaign began July 6, 1971. In this day N. Ceauşescu presented to the Executive Committee (former Politburo) the 17 measure proposals in order to improve the political-ideological activity. This was in fact a program intended to introduce policy in all areas of activity. Aiming to strengthen the discipline in all domains, the ideological campaign had another consequence: the change of ideological leadership. Ana-Maria Cătănuş is researcher with the NIST; Ph.D. student. Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communist Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author)

Keywords: Romania, Communismt, ideology.

 

FLORIN-RĂZVAN MIHAI, French-Romanian Top-Level Meetings, 1978-1980 208

The French and Romanian presidents, Valery Giscard d’Estaing and Nicolae Ceauşescu, met in 1979, in Bucharest, and 1980, in Paris. The talks confirm the good relations between the two countries, as attested by the two  documents presented in the article. The former refers to the meeting between Romania’s President Nicolae Ceauşescu and Jean Francois-Poncet, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs. The latter document presents the official talks between the presidents of Romania and France, during Ceauşescu’s visit to Paris in July 1980. At that moment, the two leaders discussed European and international security, disarmament, military conflicts in Afghanistan and the Middle East. Florin-Răzvan Mihai is graduated in History, University of Bucharest; M.A. in International Relations, University of Bucharest; assistant researcher with N.I.S.T

Keywords: France, Romania,  political relations, diplomacy.


Testimonies

VALERII MUSATOV, János Kádár Seen by a Contemporary 222

The author of the article, a connoisseur of Central and Eastern Europe and especially of Hungary, objectively pictures the Hungarian communist leader J. Kadar, whom his contemporaries considered a reformer. Valerii Musatov, who met Kadar at various moments in his activity, enlarges upon the role Kadar played during the events in Hungary in autumn 1956, as well as on the nature of his relations with the successive leaders of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union: N.S. Khrushchev, L. I. Brezhnev, I.V. Andropov and M.S. Gorbachev.Valerii Leonidovich Musatov is PhD in History and is a research scholar with the Economics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Former diplomat. Russian Federation’s ambassador to Hungary, May 2000-January 2006. Author of over 70 works on the history of the Soviet Union’s relations with the East European countries and on Soviet foreign policy

Keywords: Hungary, Communism, János Kádár, Hungarian revolution.


Biographical Dictionary

FLORIN I. ŞANDRU, Gheorghe Alexianu (1897- 1946) 232

Gheorghe Alexianu,  law professor at the University of Cernăuţi (then in Romania), was General Governor of Transnistria appointed by Marshall Ion Antonescu's military Government after the conquest of  the region in August 1941 by Romania. After a 3-year regime he was arrested as criminal of war for the crimes perpetrated during his war administration against the local population, the Jews and the Soviet Union. Florin I. Şandru is graduated in History, University of Piteşti, County of Argeş.

Keywords:Romania, Transnistria, repression. 


CRISTINA DIAC, Nicolae Ceauşescu 234

The last leader of communist Romania had a long career in the communist party, which began when he was an adolescent and ended with his death in December 1989. In the years of the party’s underground activity, he was imprisoned several times. After August 23, 1944 he held several positions both in the party apparat and in the state structures. From 1954 until the death of Gheorghiu-Dej, Nicolae Ceausescu’s career developed mostly in the party apparat. In 1965, when Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej died, he was appointed first secretary of the CC of the Romanian Workers Party. Cristina Diac is PhD student, University of Bucharest; assistant researcher with N.I.S.T. MA in History, University of Bucharest.

Keywords:Romania, Communism, political leaders, Nicolae Ceauşescu.


FLORIN-RĂZVAN MIHAI, Octavian Goga (1881-1938) 239

Octavian Goga was one of the Transylvanian intellectuals who fought for the Romanian national cause. In 1910, because of his political and cultural activity, he was arrested for eight days by the Hungarian authorities. After the end of the First World War, he was appointed minister in different Romanian governments, between 1920 and 1921. Meanwhile, he became a member of Romanian Academy (1921). His political sympathy for the extreme right movement grew in the 30’s. He was elected vice-president of the anti-Semitic National Christian Party and prime minister of Romania (1938). After a few months, on May 5, 1938, he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died.

Keywords: Romania, interwar period, intellectuals.


ADRIAN BRIŞCĂ, Alexandru Herlea (1907-?) 242

Alexandru Herlea was born on June 24, 1907 at Vinerea – Orastie, Alba County. Herlea began his teaching career at the Academy of High Agronomic Studies in Cluj. Besides, he conducted an intense journalistic activity motivated by the country’s major political, social and economic problems (1925-1947). Professor Herlea was arrested several times in August 1949, sentenced to 5 years in prison, and then in 1958. Released in 1963, professor Herlea managed as late as 1966 to be accepted as a research scholar at the Nicolae Iorga History Institute.Adrian Brişcă took part in the anticommunist resistance. Since 1989 he has dedicated to the study of the partisan movement in Romania. Recent work: Enarmed Resistance in Banat, tom I, 1945-1949, NIST, 2004.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, repression, anticommunism.


Book Reviews

MIOARA ANTON, The Cold War as seen from Kremlin 247

This is a review of Alexandr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali’s book, Khrushchev’s Cold War. The Inside Story of an American Adversary, New York, 2006, 670 p.

GHEORGHE BARBĂ, The Hour of Sacrifice 249

This is a review of Ion Druţă’s book, Ora jertfirii. Proză, publicistică, scrisori (The Hour of Sacrifice. Fiction, Journalism, Letters), Cartea Moldovei Publishing House, Chişinău, 1998, 392 p.

Gheorghe Barbă, Ph.D., a philologist and Slavic specialist focusing on Russian literature and culture, teaches at the University of Bucharest. Co-author of several volumes such as: Contemporary Soviet Prose; Pushkin in the Romanian Cultural Context; The Song of Igor’s Campaign.

VASILE BUGA, A Quarter of a Century in the service for Nicolae Ceauşescu 252

This is a review of Silviu Curticeanu’s book, Meditaţii necenzurate (Uncensored Thoughts), Historia Publishing House, Bucharest, 2007, 584 p.

CRISTINA DIAC, New Information about the Securitates’ Sources 253

This is a review of Mihai Albu’s book Informatorul. Studiu de caz asupra colaborării cu Securitatea, (The Source. A Case-study on Collaboration with the Securitate), Polirom Publishing House, 2008, 226 p.

ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, “Crossroads Digest” 256

This is a presentation of “Crossroads Digest. The Journal for the Studies of Eastern European Borderland”, issue 1/2006, printed in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Alexandru-Murad Mironov is an assistant professor within History Department of the University of Bucharest; a Ph.D. student; senior researcher with the NIST. Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communist Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).


The NIST Library

DANIELA DAMIAN, Books  and Periodicals.Included in the NIST Collections 259


The NIST Agenda 261

The N.I.S.T. agenda describes the activity of the institute’s researchers during the first half of this year. This is a short review of participation in symposiums, round tables, book releases, openings of document exhibitions, where the participants discussed issues related to the access to documents from the communist period and the debunking of certain huge historical mystifications. 


Authors 277

Contents. Summary. Contributors 281


© The National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, 2008.

 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism 


Volume XV              Number 56-57         3-4/2007




Editorial


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XXX 5

Radu Ciuceanu, president of the N.I.S.T. Scientific Council; Ph.D. in history, also coordinates the research theme Comparative studies on the formation and activity of the anti-Bolshevik resistance organizations in Romania and Bessarabia, 1940-1989. Memoirs: The Seal of the Devil, 2002. Recent book: A Quiet Man’s Diary. Conspirative Name:The Artist, volume I, 1963-1970, N.I.S.T., 2005.

Keywords: Europe, Great Britan, World War II


Studies

VASILE BUGA, The 1946 November Parliamentary Elections in the context of Soviet-Romanian Relations 10

The decision taken at the Moscow Conference by the foreign ministers of Soviet Union, United States and Great Britain (December 16-26, 1945) regarding the reorganizing of Petru Groza’s government and the organizing of free elections led to the ending of the constitutional crisis in Romania due to the fact that the United States and Great Britain did not recognize the Romanian government.The official results led to the victory of the Democratic Popular Bloc with 79,86%. The fake November 1946 elections, which gave legitimacy to Petru Groza’s government, was a new step in consolidating the Romanian Communist regime and marked the entrance of Romania in the Soviet sphere of influence.

Vasile Buga is Ph.D., senior researcher with N.I.S.T., coordinator of the Russian and Soviet Studies Center. Recent work: The Fall of the Empire. The Soviet Union in Gorbachev Era, 1985-1989,N.I.S.T., 2007.

Keywords:Romania, 1946 elections, Romanian Communist Party.


MIROSLAV LONDÁK, ELENA LONDÁKOVÁ, The Economic, Social and Cultural Evolution of Slovakia after the World War II 31

The authors try to offer a comprehensive picture of the economic, political, social and cultural evolution of  Slovakia in the context of the post World War II period. The article is also emphasising the lights and shadows in the history of Slovakia under the Communist rule.

Elena Londáková is Ph.D. in History, researcher with the Institute of History of the Slovakian Academy of Science. She published several studies dedicated to the historical connection of the Slovakian culture during 1945 and late 1970’s. Recent book: The Early Spring. The Political, Economic and Cultural Evolution in Slovakia, 1960-1967, Bratislava, Veda 2002, (co-author).

Miroslav Londák is Ph.D. in History, researcher with the Institute of History of the Slovakian Academy of Science. He studies the economical history of Slovakia after the World War II. Recent book: The Early Spring. The Political, Economic and Cultural Evolution in Slovakia, 1960-1967, Bratislava, Veda 2002, (co-author).

Keywords: Europe, Slovakia, post World  War II, economy, society, cultural life.


VLAD-LUCIAN POPESCU, The Cultural Position of the Communist Party of USA after the End of World War II 49

Following the end of World War II the Communist Party of the United States of America (C.P.U.S.A.) was caught in the cultural cold war between Soviet Union and USA. CPUSA, an obedient follower of the C.P.S.U., adopted the tactics and language of Andrei Zhdanov, the chief soviet ideologue of the period. Greatly exaggerating the peril of the American communists, institutions like the F.B.I. and C.I.A., managed to impose for a while their own form of cultural dogmatism onto the American society, indirectly helped by the activities of Senator Joseph McCarthy and his House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC).

Vlad-Lucian Popescu – M.A. in International Relations. Ph.D. student at the University of Bucharest.

Keywords:USA, Communist Party, culture, American society


ANDREA DOBEŞ, The Communist Repression in Romania. Penitentiaries and Forced Labour Colonies in Maramureş I 61

 In the beginning of the ’50 the concentration camp in Maramureş become a place for the extermination of the Communist regime opponents. In this regard Sighet penitentiary was a place for the extermination of the Romanian political and intellectual elites. Also, the forced labour colonies created around the lead mines had a double purpose: on the one hand, to produce non-ferrous ores at a lower cost and on the other hand to exterminate some of the political opponents.

Andreea Dobeş is Ph.D. student at the Institute of History “George Bariţ” from Cluj Napoca. Recent book: Ilie Lazăr. The Consistency of a Political Ideal, Argonaut, 2005. 

Keywords:Romania, Communism, repression, forced labour, penitentiaries



DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, The Soviet-Chinese Relations after the 20th Congress

of the CPSU, II 69

In the early 60's, during the open polemic between the leaderships in Beijing and Moscow, the Chinese indicated the year 1956 and the 20th Congress of the CPSU as the starting points of the rift between the two countries and parties. Nevertheless, the stands and actions of the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party in 1956 did in no way hint at the breakage they would invoke later.

Dan Cătănuş is an alumnus of the In-Depth Studies Programme by the History Department of the University of Bucharest; senior researcher with N.I.S.T.; Ph.D. student. Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communist Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).

Keywords:Soviet Uniom, China, ideology, political relations.


ALINA ILINCA, LIVIU BEJENARIU, The Control of Information in Socialist Romania, 1965-1989, II 85

During 1948-1965 the state secret was one of the instruments used for controlling the society. Although he promoted a sort of relaxation in internal policy, Nicolae Ceauşescu transformed the keeping of state secret into a strong instrument of pressure on the Romanian society.

Alina Ilinca is graduate of the History Department of the University of Bucharest;  Ph.D. student. Expert at the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives. Recent work: Membrii C.C. al P.C.R. 1945-1989. Dicţionar [Members of the C.C. of the R.C.P., 1945-1989. Dictionary], 2004 (co-author).

Liviu Marius Bejenaru is graduate of the Faculty of History, University „Al. I. Cuza” of Iaşi. Ph.D. student. Expert at the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives. Recent work: Membrii C.C. al P.C.R. 1945-1989. Dicţionar [Members of the C.C. of the R.C.P., 1945-1989. Dictionary], 2004 (co-author).

Keywords:Romania, Communism, state secret, internal policy, Romanian society.


ASHBY CROWDER, Romanian Interpretations of the Prague Spring: Cadres, Diplomats and the 1968 Crisis, I 99

The Czechoslovak crisis of 1968 had a lasting effect on Romanian politics and society. As Mary Fischer said, the Prague Spring was a “galvanizing event” for the Romanian Communist Party and for Nicolae Ceauşescu personally. It offered the chance to the Romanian dictator to appear to the whole world as a strong anti-Soviet leader, despite his Communist regime. Taking advantage from the profound anti-Soviet/Russian feelings of the Romanian people, it also offered the unique possibility to the R.C.P. to try a reconcilation with the Nation.

Ashby Crowder - M.A. in European history at Ohio University, United States. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, the South East European Studies Association, and the Society for Romanian Studies.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, Prague Spring, diplomacy


VASILE PALII,  Romania and the Czechoslovak Crisis. Mechanisms of Decision Making, August 1968 117

The Bucharest officials were well informed about the events which took place in Czechoslovakia in the beginning of the 1986. Measures for monitoring the events in the communist camp were set, but in practice little was done. The information gathered allowed Romania to plan a certain behavior in the international relations. However, according to this study, one should distinguish between the short-term strategic evaluation and the way the crisis was managed in the morning of August 21st, 1968. After analyzing the decisional process undertaken in Bucharest, we can consider Ceausescu’s condemnation of the invasion as the result of the misinterpretation of the information related to the political and diplomatic actions of the Warsaw Treaty, according to which the invasion of Romania was afoot. 

Vasile Palii – B.A. in History. Ph.D. student, author of several studies published in Dilema, Privirea, Magazin istoric  and Dosarele istoriei.

Keywords: Romania, Czechoslovakia, Prague Spring, decision making.


OCTAVIAN ROSKE, The Biographical Dictionary of the Repression: Methods, Pattern, Sources 133

The biographical dictionary is an essential instrument for the analysis of the dinamics and the forms of the repressive system. Along with the collections of documents, studies and the legislative corpus, the biographical dictionary appeared as a need to establish the identity of the victims as well as the coordinators of the repression. It also represents a useful source for the research of the history of the repressive mechanisms of the Romanian Communist regime. The biographical dictionary has five main characteristics: stands on a number of edited or oral sources; it has a pattern format which establish a predictable character; it has a regional or professional determination;  it is circumscribed to a certain period of time and has a specific stylistic mark.

Octavian Roske, Ph.D., is Scientific Secretary of the NIST and associate professor with the Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Bucharest. Recent book: Repressive Mechanisms in Romania, 1945-1989. Biographical Dictionary, P, 2007 (co-ordinator).

Keywords: Romania, Communism, repression, historiography, biographical dictionary


Documents

ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, Soviet Airplanes above Bucharest: International Air Show, October 1935 150

In the year after the recognition of the USSR by Romania and the establishment of diplomatic relations, there were no cultural, economic etc. exchanges between the two countries.

The author presents a secret police document from the Romanian inter-war period, the Siguranţa, containing the informative report of the Soviet delegations’ activities, who took part in the International Air Show, held in Bucharest, October, 1935. The agents followed step by step the Soviet pilots in order to prevent any subversive activities of them. In fact, the Romanian authorities did precisely the same thing as the police-state did in the USSR to foreign visitors.

Alexandru-Murad Mironov is an assistant professor within History Department of the University of Bucharest; a Ph.D. student; senior researcher with the NIST. Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communist Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).

Keywords: Romania, USSR,  interwar period, diplomacy. 


CARMEN RĂDULESCU, Art under the Communist regime: The Trade Union of Artists, 1950-1953, II 162

The article deals with the status of the members of Trade Union of Plastic Artists in the Communist regime and the relations between the Communist Party, in its effort to gain the support of the artists in building a new world with a “new man” and artists which embraced or dissapproved the new wave coming from Moscow leaders of social realism. 

Carmen Rădulescu is a graduated in History, “Dimitrie Cantemir” Christian University, Bucharest; assistant researcher with the NIST.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, art, Trade Union of Plastic Artists, “new man”.


ALEXANDRU V. DIŢĂ, Demetrescu Radu Gyr: An Essential Autobiographical Contribution, I 176

Although the name Radu Gyr became a symbol for all the political prisoners, no matter the type of the dictatorship,  his biography is still insufficiently known. In this article we present a document, an autobiography written by Radu Gyr while he was imprisoned, being sentenced to death.

Alexandru V. Diţă is Ph.D. in History, editor. Scientific researcher with the N.I.S.T.

Keywords:Romania, Communism, repression, intellectuals.


MIOARA ANTON, A visit with Many Questions Marks. Khruschev’s Presence in Bucharest, June 1962 187

In the beginning of the ’60s, Romania began to develop a new policy towards the Soviet Union. At the origin of the Romanian-Soviet dispute was the refusal of the economic integration plans launched by COMECON. The Romanian opposition was the main reason for Khruschev’s visit to Bucharest in June 1962. During his visit the Soviet leader did not make any attempt to mask his unhappiness with Romanian economic progress, in both industrial and agricultural fields. From this perspective, for the Romanian leaders, Khruschev’s criticism was an unacceptable way to sort out the differences between the fraternal countries.

Mioara Anton is Ph.D. in History; senior researcher within “Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History; researcher within N.I.S.T. Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communism Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author); Propaganda and War. The East Campaign, 1941-1944, Tritonic, 2007.

Keywords: Romania, USSR, Communism, political relations, COMECON.


PETRE OPRIŞ, Comsumption’s Rationalisation Policies in Romanian Economy, 1974-1989 203

The World Energy Crisis at the end of 1973 took by surprise the Romanian economy, which was in that moment in a process of sustained economic growth. Worried of the consequences of the crisis, Nicolae Ceauşescu convoked on January 28, 1974 a meeting of the Permanent Presidium of R.C.P. to analyse the situation of the Romanian oil imports. In a later meeting, on April 26, 1974, Nicolae Ceauşescu criticized all his subordinates for not complying with his indications regarding the cutting down of public lighting.  

Petre Opriş is Ph.D. student. Recent book: The Romanian Industry of Defence. Documents, 1950-1989, Ploieşti University Publishing House, 2007.

Keywords: Romania, Communism,  economy, World  Energy Crisis, rationalisation 


ANA-MARIA CĂTĂNUŞ, Unseen Faces. The Repression

against Goma Movement 225

In spring 1977, several hundred people endorsed Paul Goma’s fight for the respect of human rights in Romania. Although it began as an individual action, the Goma movement grew after the Open Letter addressed to the Helsinki Conference was broadcasted by Radio Free Europe in February 1977. In just a few months the number of those who adhered to Goma movement amounted at 350. The signatories came from all the regions of the country and had different motivations which determined their support to Goma’s actions. For some of the adherents, signing the Open Letter was a way to denounce the abusive behaviuor of the Communist regime, but for others it was an opportunity to be granted the emigration. Althought this was not a happy choice, it represented a right that every citizen should have benefited from.

Ana-Maria Cătănuş is researcher with the NIST; Ph.D. student. Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communist Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).

Keywords: Romania, Communism, dissidents, Goma movement.


Testimonies

ION COMAN: “In 1989 Nicolae Ceauşescu’s destiny was already decided” … 240

Beginning with this issue NIST opens a new series of debates dedicated to the Communist regime. Thus, former Communist leaders are invited to speak about the Communist regime in Romania but also of its relations with the socialist countries and democratic states. 

Ion Coman, former Minister of National Defence in 1976-1980 was our first guest on the May 17th, 2007, to present his testimony about the period in which he was active in political and military areas. His lecture offered information on the Timişoara events and the relationship within Romanian Communist Party.  

Keywords: Romania, Communism, internal policy, foreign relations.


MIRCEA MALIŢA, “The Cold War was a Tremendous Agreement” 246

The former Romanian diplomat Mircea Malita, counsellor of Romania’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations (1956-1962), was invited by the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism to participate in a conference. The event took place on June 27, 2007 and Mircea Malita presented a new perspective on the Cold War, international relations and the place of Romania within the international diplomacy.   

Keywords: Romania, Cold War, diplomacy.


Biographical Dictionary

CRISTINA DIAC, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (1901-1965) 252

Gheorghe Gheorghiu’s ascent to the highest levels of the Romanian state and of the Romanian Communist Party took place in a context of historical fracture. Dej was a child with a precarious education, then an apprentice in different towns, more or less industrialised, and later a union leader fascinated by the Communist ideas. He was senteced ten years in prison for his political beliefs. The first leader of the Communist Romania, the “Olimpus”of the Communist power, Dej was characterized as „a great statesman” in his times of glory. 

Cristina Diac is graduated in History, University of Bucharest; assistent researcher with N.I.S.T.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, political leadership, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej.


ADRIAN BRIŞCĂ, Anton Golimbiovschi (1911-?) 257

Anton Golimbiovschi was nothing but un ordinary man. He was a peasant from historical Bucovina, who went, on a compulsory basis, to fight in WWII with the Romanian Army. He was injured and sent again in battle field. In 1944, Golimbiovschi was granted a leave of absence to visit his family. Unfortunately, his wife and two daughters have been deported by the Soviet occupation troops. Immediately, the soldier joined anti-Soviet/Communist local resistence, lead by Vladimir Macoveiciuc and Ion Vatamaniuc. Few months later, he was captured and sent to forced labour camps in USSR. In 1955, he was released and returned home.

Adrian Brişcă took part in the anticommunist resistance. Since 1989 he has dedicated to the study of the partisan movement in Romania. Recent work: Enarmed Resistance in Banat, tom I, 1945-1949, NIST, 2004.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, anti-Soviet/Communist resistence.

Book Reviews


ION CONSTANTIN, New Publications on the Polish Secret Police 259

This is a review of Henryk Głębocki’s book Poliţia secretă la lucru. Din istoria statului poliţienesc în R.P. Polonă, (Secret Police at Work. Some Facts from the History of the Police State in Polish P.R.) ARCANA Publishing House, Cracovia, 2005, and Sławomir Cenckiewicz’ book Cu ochii securităţii. Schiţe şi materiale din istoria aparatului de securitate al R.P. Polone (With the Eyes of the Secret Police. Sketches and Drafts of the History of the Polish Secret Police), ARCANA Publishing House, 2006. 

Ion Constantin is Ph.D. in history. Scientific researcher with the N.I.S.T. Recent book: Poland in the “Solidarity” Era, 1980-1989, NIST, 2007.


PETRE OPRIŞ, Behind the Scenes of Warsaw Treaty Organization 262

This is a review of the Vojtech Mastny and Malcolm Byrne’s book A Cardboard Castle? An Inside History of the Warsaw Pact, 1955-1991, Central European University Press, Budapest and New York, 2005.


ALEXANDRU MURAD-MIRONOV, The Memories of a

Romanian Kings’Ccourtier 264

This is a review of Eugeniu Arthur Buhman memories Patru decenii în serviciul Casei Regale a României. Memorii, 1898-1940 (Four decades in the service of the Romanian Royal House. Memoires, 1898-1940), edited by Cristian Scarlat, Sigma Publishing House, 2006.


The NIST Library


MIHAI-VLADIMIR ILIESCU, Books  and Periodicals.

Included in the NIST Collections 268

The NIST Agenda 270


The N.I.S.T. agenda describes the activity of the institute’s researchers during the first half of this year. This is a short review of participation in symposiums, round tables, book releases, openings of document exhibitions, where the participants discussed issues related to the access to documents from the communist period and the debunking of certain huge historical mystifications. 


Authors 276

Contents. Summary. Contributors 281


© The National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, 2007.

 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism 



Volume XV              Number 54-55          1-2/2007



Editorial


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XXIX 5

Radu Ciuceanu, president of the N.I.S.T. Scientific Council; Ph.D. in history, also coordinates the research theme Comparative studies on the formation and activity of the anti-Bolshevik resistance organizations in Romania and Bessarabia, 1940-1989. Memoirs: The Seal of the Devil, 2002. Recent book: A Quiet Man’s Diary. Conspirative Name: the Artist, volume I, 1963-1970, N.I.S.T., 2005.

Keywords: Europe, Wold War II, postwar, great powers. 


Studies

ALEXANDRU BARNEA, The Soviet Massacres of Winnitsa, 1937-1939 10

This paper was presented at the International Conference on The Massacres of Katyn and Their Part in Building a Democratic Remembrance, organized by the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, October 2006. The author focused on an article published by the official review of the Romanian Orthodox Church, concerning the findings at Winnitsa, Western Ukraine. In 1943, the German administration of occupied Ukraine found thousands of bodies, probably executed by the Soviet secret police in the late 30's. 

Alexandru Barnea, Ph.D., is a professor with the Faculty of History, University of Bucharest.

Keywords:Europe, Soviet Union, Winnitsa, Ukraine, German administration, interwar, massacres.


ALIAKSANDER DALHOUSKI, The Mass Executions at Kurapati, 1937-1941 15

Kurapati, where the victims of Stalinist reprisals over 1937-1941 were executed and buried, was the first such place in Belarus discovered and studied in the late 80s. According to calculations made by archeologists from the History Institute of the Academy of Sciences in Belarus, more than 100,000 civilians were executed at this location. The executions spread over five years. 

Aliaksander Dalhouski is accredited teacher (State Teaching College, University of Minsk, Belarus) / PhD candidate, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochshule Aachen.

Keywords: Europe, Soviet Union, Belarus, Stalinist repression, massacres.


PETRE ŢURLEA, The Parliamentary Elections of 1946. A New Perspective 22

This paper has been presented at the Conference The Parliamentary Elections of November 19, 1946 – 60 Years after, organized by the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, November 2006. The author draws a comparison between the results of the parties backing the pro-Soviet Government of Dr. Petru Groza and those of the opposition, lead by Iuliu Maniu's National-Peasant Party. 

Petre Ţurlea, Ph.D., is a professor with the Faculty of History, Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University, Bucharest.

Keywords:Europe, Romania, Communism, 1946 elections.


CEZAR STANCIU, The Romanian-German Relations in the Stalinist Period 27

After World War II, Romania established constructive relations with Eastern Germany, particularly because both countries followed the same political evolution. Each partner needed the other due to their different economic structure. Romania was in a position to export agricultural produce and raw materials, and Germany provided technology and industrial equipment to Romania, during the times of the Stalinist industrialization, when technology was extremely necessary but Romania didn’t have the foreign currency to pay for it. 

Cezar Stanciu is Ph.D candidate at the Valahia University of  Târgovişte; member of the “Grigore Gafencu” Center for Research in History of International Relations.

Keywords: Romania, Eastern Germany, Stalinist years, political relations.


CRISTINA DIAC, Themes of the Romanian Drama in the 50's 44

In the first decade of the communist regime, special attention was paid to drama, reviews of theatrical performances holding, in daily Scanteia, even more space than book reviews. Drama performances, with their orality character, conveyed more easily the message the political authorities wanted the audiences to get. The dramatists who produced plays in the 50's continued choosing themes drawing either on the remote past or on the more recent one, in the latter case the chief idea of the plays being related to "the struggle of the party in the years of underground activity." The challenge however was to write plays inspired by the present. 

Cristina Diac is graduated in History, University of Bucharest; assistent researcher with N.I.S.T.

Keywords: Romania, Communist period, Scânteia, art, drama.




DAN CATANUS, The Soviet-Chinese Relations after the 20th Congress of the CPSU, I .. 56

In the early 60's, during the open polemic between the leaderships in Beijing and Moscow, the Chinese indicated the year 1956 and the 20th Congress of the CPSU as starting points of the rift between the two countries and parties. Nevertheless, the stands and actions the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party took in 1956 did in no way hint at the breakage they would invoke later.

Dan Cătănuş is an alumnus of the In-Depth Studies Programme by the History Department of the University of Bucharest; senior researcher with N.I.S.T.; Ph.D. student. Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communism Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).

Keywords: Soviet Union, China, CPSU,  Congress XX, political relations.


ALINA TUDOR-PAVELESCU, La Nation socialiste – un hybride idéologique et ses enjeux politiques 70

This article deals with the concept of “socialist nation” as it was defined by the RCP’s ideology. After analyzing the gap between theory and practice in the Ceauşescu regime’s national politics, the author concludes that the concept of a socialist Nation never went beyond the status of a utopian desideratum. The roots of the communist nationalism of the Ceauşescu era are to be found rather in the pre-war Romanian nationalist thinking than in the Marxist-Leninist ideology. Recent book: The Staff Policy of the Romanian Working Party, 1948-1955, 2006. 

Alina Tudor-Pavelescu is historian with the Romanian National Archives; Ph.D. student.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, ideology, political concepts, „socialist nation”.


ION CONSTANTIN, Poland under Communism, II. "La Belle Epoque" or the Time of the So-Called Pragmatic Communists (1971-1980) 85

As the protest movement became increasingly radical at the end of 1970, the new team steering the Polish People's Republic, headed by Edward Gierek, launched several spectacular actions intended to mark a change in government style, with more emphasis on the country's social and national interests. However, the liberalism of the new team was just a façade; the tactic of propagating the values of "socialist democracy" did not mean the repressive practices of totalitarian communism were dropped. 

Ion Constantin is Ph.D. in history. Romanian diplomat. Recent book: The History of Poland and the Romanian-Polish Relations, 2005.

Keywords: Poland, Communism, pragmatic Communists, repression.


ACAD. DAN BERINDEI, The Decline of the Academy of the Socialist Republic of Romania, 1971-1989 99

Beginning in 1970, the life of the Romanian Academy was seriously impaired. Deprived of the institutes that had managed to gain recognition, most of which were headed by members of the great forum, forced to cope with restrictions that affected normalcy and the existence of its members and of the institution itself, the Academy was to make proof of a heroic vitality in the increasingly grim conditions of the ensuing period. During the last two decades of communism, academic life followed its course, despite numerous difficulties. 

Dan Berindei is Vice-president of the Romanian Academy.

Keywords: Romania, Comunism, Academy of Socialist Republic of Romania, academic life.


FLORIN ABRAHAM, A Historiography Process of the “Process of Communism”………………………………………………………………………….115

In this study, the author analyses the genesis, the content and the reactions raised by the Tismăneanu Report. The study presents the main conceptual-methodological errors, deficiencies in using sources as well as the contradictions from the Report of the Presidential Commission for the Analysis of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania. The author also analyses the meanings of the presidential declarations regarding condemnation of the communist regime, by taking into account political conflicts in 2006 Romania. 

Florin Abraham is Ph.D in History; senior researcher with the NIST. Recent book: Romania’s Transformation: 1989-2006. The Foreign Factors Role, 2006.

Keywords:Romania, Communism, historiography, Tismăneanu Report. 


ALEXANDRU V. DIŢĂ, Nicolae Iorga and “Neamul românesc”: Preliminaries of the 1907 Peasants Riots………..135

Nicolae Iorga, the well-known historian, saw Romania at the beginning of the XX-th century as a world he thought he could lead to progress and modernization. In achieving this goal, Iorga used two instruments, the National Democratic Party and the newspaper “Neamul românesc”. 

Alexandru V. Diţă is Ph.D. in History, editor.

Keywords:Romania, Nicolae Iorga, National Democratic Party, newspaper “Neamul românesc”.


Documents

ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, The Journey of Prince Pavel Dolgorukov into the USSR, 1926 144

The author presents a document from the Romanian intelligence services, actually a sort of diary and travel notes of the Russian Prince Pavel Dolgorukov. Born into a noble family in 1866, Moscow, Dolgorukov was among the founders of the Constitutional-Democratic Party, the so called Cadet Party. Politically belonging to the famous Russian liberal intelligentsia, Pavel Dolgorukov fought in the Revolution of October 1917 and in the Civil War that followed against the Reds. Forced to flee into exile, he became a prominent figure of the White Russian diaspora. In 1926, the former Prince made a second attempt to penetrate the Soviet border, this time on the Dniester bank. He succeeded and spent no less than 40 days traveling to Odessa and Kharkov, in the Soviet Ukraine, before being arrested by CEKA. He was considered to be a spy and executed in 1927. 

Alexandru-Murad Mironov is a assistant professor within History Department of the University of Bucharest; a Ph.D. student; senior researcher with the NIST. Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communism Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).

Keywords: USSR, interwar period, Cadet Party, CEKA.


CARMEN RĂDULESCU The Union of Plastic Artists. 

A Political Project 1950-1953, I…………………………………………..………….174

For the communist regime, the beginning of the year 1948 was the perfect moment for taking hold of the country. The first public exhibition of the plastic artists, intended to forecast the new orientation in the arts, was Flacăra Exposition, that took place at the Dalles Gallery, over April 11-25, 1948. The exhibition was organized under the patronage of Marcel Breslaşu, but other artists of indisputable leftist orientation were also part of the organization committee. 

Carmen Rădulescu is graduated in History, „Dimitrie Cantemir” Christian University of Bucharest; assistant researcher with the NIST.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, art, the Union of Plastic Artists.


FLORIN-RĂZVAN MIHAI, The Jewish Democratic Committee, II. Anti-Zionist Propaganda, 1952-1953 185

The documents published in this issue refer to the work of the Jewish Democratic Committee in its last two years, 1952 and 1953. The first two documents highlight the steady efforts JDC activists were making to fight the anti-Zionist propaganda. Given the modest results and especially the intensified Stalinist anti-Semitism, the Romanian Workers Party leaders decided in 1953 to dissolve the JDC.  On March 20, 1953, at a meeting of their Central Committee, the JDC leaders decided unanimously on "self-dissolution." In connection with that aspect, the current issue also contains a report on the self-dissolution and the cessation of the activity of the JDC's central committee, regional and local committees.

Florin-Răzvan Mihai is graduated in History, University of Bucharest; M.A. in International Relations, University of Bucharest; assistant researcher with N.I.S.T.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, Romanian Workers Party, anti-Zionist propaganda, Jewish Democratic Committee, postwar period.


OCTAVIAN ROSKE, The Collectivization of Agriculture. Total Repression. 1957-1962, XXIII 200

Proceeding from the case of farmer Ion Chioreanu, the documents present the way agriculture was collectivized in the village of Garbova de Sus, Alba County, providing significant evidence as to how the communist authorities ruined the village world, as well as to the various aspects of resistance to collectivization. Pressured by the local authorities, Chioreanu applied to join the Garbova de Sus cooperative farm without oxen, carts or farm hands, and reserving at the same time the right to use the harvest of 1961 for his own needs. Although the application, including the conditions, was approved, Ion Chioreanu was subsequently arrested.

Octavian Roske, Ph.D., is Scientific Secretary of the NIST and associate professor with the Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Bucharest. Recent book: Repressive Mechanisms in Romania, 1945-1989. Biographical Dictionary, N-O, 2006 (co-ordinator).

Keywords: Romania, Communism, agriculture, collectivization, repression.


MIOARA ANTON, The Spheres of Influence and the Nonintervention Sources in Eastern Europe: American – Soviet Relations in 1968…………………………………..209

At mid 60’s, the Soviet political goals were to maintain a status-quo in East-West relations and to pursue a more flexible approach toward the Western bloc in order to benefit economically and military. The crisis within the Soviet bloc determined the American diplomacy to understand that the Soviets will not give up to their influence zone established at the end of War World II and that they will resort to any means in order to protect it. 

Mioara Anton is Ph.D. in History; senior researcher within “Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History; researcher within N.I.S.T. Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communism Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).

Keywords: Eastern Europe, American-Soviet relations, Soviet bloc, spheres of influence.


RALUCA SPIRIDON, Vlad Georgescu and the Beginning

 of Romanian Dissidence.. 221

Vlad Georgescu's act of dissidence in the spring of 1977 was structured after the model of dissident initiatives in the other communist countries where dissidents' struggle for human and civil rights played on the provisions of the Helsinki Final Act and other similar documents the communist states had signed and ratified.

Initiated almost at the same time as the Goma Movement, Vlad Georgescu's attempt at dissidence was soon stifled, notably as a consequence of how Nicolae Ceausescu reacted, angered by the support and media coverage Paul Goma had enjoyed and by the fact that Vlad Georgescu had managed to submit to the US Embassy three texts hostile to the regime.

Raluca Spiridon is counselor with the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives. Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communism Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).

Keywords: Romania, Communism, Helsinki Final Act, critical intelectuals dissidents.


ANA-MARIA CATANUS, The "War for the Word": Father Gh. Calciu-Dumitreasa and Religious Resistance in Romania in the 70's and 80's.. 242

In the 70's more and more voices in Romania challenged the State's policy versus religion, inviting attention to the abuse religious people were subjected to. The year 1977 marked the beginning of Father Calciu's protests. On March 8, 1978, Father Calciu inaugurated his set of sermons "Seven Words for the Young Ones", delivered at the Radu-Voda church.

Ana-Maria Cătănuş is researcher with the NIST; Ph.D. student. Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communism Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).

Keywords: Romania, Communism, anti-communism, religious resistance, dissidents.


Biographical Dictionary

PAVEL MORARU, Dr. Alexandru Birkle (1896-1986) 261

This article is dedicated to the well-known Romanian forensic doctor Alexandru Birkle (1896-1986), who took part in investigating the case of the Soviet massacres at Katyn, Winnitsa and Tatarka. In all these three cases conjoint graves were found with people who were murdered because they disturbed the communist system in the URSS. 

Pavel Moraru is Ph.D. in history. Senior researcher with the Institute of History, State and Law, Academy of Science of Moldova. Recent work: Informaţii militare pe frontul de est [Military Intelligence on the Eastern Front], 2005.

Keywords: Soviet massacres, Katyn, Winnitsa, Tatarka.




MIOARA ANTON, George Macovescu (1913-2002) 263

In the group picture of communist dignitaries, one of the foreign ministers of the Ceausescu regime's heyday, George Macovescu (October 23, 1972-March 28, 1978), was strangely blurred, his name being oddly kept under wraps. The reasons are to be found both in the nature of the regime, increasingly personalized in the latter half of the 70's, and in George Macovescu's status in the time's Establishment.

Keywords: Romania, Communism, Communist dignitaries.


CRISTINA DIAC, Constantin Parvulescu (1895-1992) 267

A member of the Communist Party in Romania since it was founded in May 1921, a "professional revolutionary," member of the leadership structures in the years of underground activity, secretary-general for a few months in 1944, later co-opted into the decision-making bodies and, in the twilight of his life, an opponent of Nicolae Ceausescu, Constantin Parvulescu was one of the leaders whose existence was closely tied to the evolution of the party. 

Cristina Diac is graduated in History, University of Bucharest; assistent researcher with N.I.S.T.

Keywords:Romania, Communism, leaders.


Book Reviews

ION CONSTANTIN, Several Volumes on the Recent History of Poland

This is a review of the 3-volume work Poland's Recent History by Polish historian Wojciech Roszkowski, focusing on the period 1918-2002.

VASILE BUGA, The Question of Totalitarianism. A Controversial Interpretation

This is a review of Vladimir Kozlov's work The Unknown USSR. The People's Opposition against the Power (1953-1985).

Vasile Buga is Ph.D., senior researcher with N.I.S.T., coordinator of the Russian and Soviet Studies Center. Recent work: Power and Society. The Soviet Bloc under the Impact of De-Stalinization, 1956, I.N.S.T., 2006 (coordinator with Dan Cătănuş).


The NIST Library

MIHAI-VLADIMIR ILIESCU, Books  and Periodicals.

Included in the NIST Collections 283

The NIST Agenda 285

The N.I.S.T. agenda describes the activity of the institute’s researchers during the first half of this year. This is a short review of participation in symposiums, round tables, book releases, openings of document exhibitions, where the participants discussed issues related to the access to documents from the communist period and the debunking of certain huge historical mystifications. The exchange of ideas was the great advantage of these encounters and the published works show the true value both of the organizational effort and of this serious scientific approach.

Authors 294

Contents. Summary. Contributors 306



© The National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, 2007.

 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism 



Volume XIV              Number 52-53             3-4/2006



Editorial


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XXVIII 5

Radu Ciuceanu, president of the N.I.S.T. Scientific Council; Ph.D. in history, also coordinates the research theme Comparative studies on the formation and activity of the anti-Bolshevik resistance organizations in Romania and Bessarabia, 1940-1989. Memoirs: The Seal of the Devil, 2002. Recent book: A Quiet Man’s Diary. Conspirative Name: the Artist, volume I, 1963-1970, N.I.S.T., 2005.


Studies


BERND RILL, The Tragedy of Katyn: The German Perspective 8

On 13 April, 1943, the German Radio news edition made clear to the world that in a small village near Smolensk, in the former Soviet territory, the German authorities discovered a mass grave, contained what it seemed to be Polish officers, captured by the Soviets during the September 1939 offensive. The author presents the German point of view of the time over this much debated affair. It was obvious that they were right in putting the blame on the Soviets also for this abominable crime, but the Nazis lack the necessary credibility. In the end, despite some efforts to establish the truth and to indicate the real guilt, the Allies refused to go to the end, fearing that the Soviet Union will leave the Nuremberg Trial.

Bernd Rill is historian, scientific referent in Hanns Seidel Foundation, München.

WOJCIECH MATERSKI, The Crime of Katyn: The Guilt Problem 17


The author emphasizes various degrees of guilt of the Soviet and Russian authorities in committing and hiding the crime of Katyn. Among those, we can count the Stalinist leadership in Kremlin, which ordered the massacre, the NKVD officers and employees who executed the order, the so-called Soviet inquiry commission on Katyn, which carefully dismissed all evidence about Soviet involvement, and the Soviet and later Russian judicial system who refused to take any action against the Katyn crime perpetrators. The same guilt is extended over all the Kremlin leaderships during the second half of the XXth century for not revealing the evidences in the Moscow archives.

Wojciech Materski is Prof.dr. hab., director of the Politics Study Institute, Academy of Science, Poland.


ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, Prelude to Soviet Repression. Mass Deportations and Rumours at the former Polish Border with Romania, 1939-1940 27


After the Soviet aggression of Poland in September 1939, many former Polish citizens seek refuge in Romania. Among them there were people belonging to all social strata and ethnic origins: Polish, Ukrainians, Jews. The Romanian population saw the moment of the deportation as a prelude to the Soviet conquest of Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia. They were also frightened by the news brought by the refugees concerning the bad treatment applied by the Soviet authorities on churches, priests, property, social and national dissatisfaction.

Alexandru-Murad Mironov is a assistant professor within History Department of the University of Bucharest; a Ph.D. student; senior researcher with the NIST.


PAVEL MORARU, Romanian Documents on Bolshevik Atrocities in the Prut’s Left River Bank 39


This study examines, through the romanian epochal documents, the assassinates made by soviet union in Bessarabia and Transnistria. There are presented some revealed cases, investigated and documented by Romanian bodies came back to Bessarabia in summer of 1941. A special case, totally unknown, presented by the author, is that from Tatarca, region Odessa, where was discovered many common tombs with almost 3.500-5.000 dies – victims of soviet regime. Due to bigness of assassinates, execution’ methods, discovering year (1943) and to those who investigated (dr. Alexander Birkle), the Tatarca Case can be considered like “Katyn” or “Winnitza” cases from Transnistria. 

Pavel Moraru is Ph.D. in history. Senior researcher with the Institute of History, State and Law, Academy of Science of Moldova. Recent work: Informaţii militare pe frontul de est [Military Intelligence on the Eastern Front], 2005.


VASILE BUGA, The Repatriation of the Romanian Prisoners of War from the Soviet Union, 1945-1952 48


After the end of the Second World War and the re-establishing of diplomatic relations between Romania and the Soviet Union one of the most important problem was that of repatriation of the Romanian soldiers taken prisoners in the Soviet Union, during the Eastern campaign, and between August 24 and September 12, 1944. Some of the prisoners came back to Romania as members of „Tudor Vladimirescu” volunteer division, established in October 1943 in Soviet Union. These soldiers fought for the liberation of the Romanian territory as well as Hungary and Czechoslovakia. In April 15, 1948, after countless discussions, the Soviet government communicated the decision to free all Romanian prisoners. 

Vasile Buga is Ph.D., senior researcher with N.I.S.T., coordinator of the Russian and Soviet Studies Center. Recent work: Power and Society. The Soviet Bloc under the Impact of De-Stalinization, 1956, I.N.S.T., 2006 (coordinator with Dan Cătănuş).


SILVIU MOLDOVAN, Mihail Fărcăşanu and the National Resistance Movement 54


The National Resistance Movement (NRM) was destroyed by the Communist authorities in two trials: the first one in 1946, and the second one in 1948 known as the NRM trial. Also the destruction of NRM was completed in supplementary trials organized in short while. Mihail Fărcăşanu, the leader of the National Liberal Youth, was sentenced the first time in 1946 trial. In 1948, he was judged and sentenced in absence. Mihail Fărcăşanu deserves a special interest because of his long patriotically activity, as well for his activity during his political exile.

Silviu Moldovan is Ph.D., expert at the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives. Recent volume: Nicu Steinhardt în arhivele Securităţii [Nicu Steinhardt in the Securitate Files], 2005 (coautor).


OCTAVIAN ROSKE, The Collectivization of Agriculture in Romania:

the Collecting System, III 66

The system of collecting agricultural products had eased the way for Communists towards the implementation of Socialist agricultural structures. Offering a full exemption from this duty to G.A.C. (kolkhoz) members, the collecting system represented a pressure on peasants who refused to join G.A.C. Besides economical advantages, the collecting system increased the political control over the rural population.

Octavian Roske, Ph.D., is Scientific Secretary of the NIST and associate professor with the Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Bucharest. Recent book: Repressive Mechanisms in Romania, 1945-1989. Biographical Dictionary, N-O, 2006 (co-ordinator).


DAN BERINDEI, The RPR Academy – Revival and New Decline, 1955 – 1970 82


Although the successes of the Soviet science continued to be popularized in Romania, slow by slow there was a slight opening to the West. In this way the results of Romanian science became internationally known. The years 1968 and 1969 represented moments of glory in the history of the Academy. But, from the end of 1969 and the beginning of 1970 the Academy took a second place. In the same time, the Academy was put again under the Communist Party control.

Dan Berindei is Vice-president of the Romanian Academy.


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, The April 1964 Declaration: Historical Context

and International Echo 110


The RCP leadership used the Sino-Soviet conflict for the affirmation of national sovereignty and an independent foreign policy. The April 1964 Declaration, an authentic Charta of Romanian foreign policy, emphasized Romanian’s decision to avoid aligning to the position of a leading centre (USSR) and to affirm his national interests.

Dan Cătănuş is an alumnus of the In-Depth Studies Programme by the History Department of the University of Bucharest; senior researcher with N.I.S.T.; Ph.D. student. Recent book: Recent work: Power and Society. The Soviet Bloc under the Impact of De-Stalinization, 1956, I.N.S.T., 2006 (coordinator with Vasile Buga).


FLORIAN BANU, The Securitate Files: On the „Traps” of Interpretation 131


The collapse of the Romanian Communist regime made necessary a scientific research of the Communist regime’s history. The archives had opened their doors for researchers and secret documents became available for study. In post-Communist Romania historians were very interested in studying documents from the Diplomatic Archives, the Military Archives or the former Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party. This study focuses on a special kind of historical sources - the documents of former secret police, the Securitate - and the problems that arise from studying these documents. 

Florian Banu is Ph.D. in history, expert at the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives. Recent volume: Securitatea. Structuri/cadre, obiective şi metode [The Securitate. Structures/Staff, Objectives and Methodes], vol.I: 1948-1967, 2006 (co-edithor).


ALINA ILINCA, LIVIU BEJENARIU, The Control of Information in Socialist Romania, 1965-1989 146


During 1948-1965 the state secret was one of the instruments used for controlling the society. Although he promoted a sort of relaxation in internal policy, Nicolae Ceauşescu transformed the keeping of state secret into a strong instrument of pressure on the Romanian society.

Alina Ilinca is graduate of the History Department of the University of Bucharest;  Ph.D. student. Expert at the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives. Recent work: Membrii C.C. al P.C.R. 1945-1989. Dicţionar [Members of the C.C. of the R.C.P., 1945-1989. Dictionary], 2004 (co-author).

Liviu Marius Bejenaru is graduate of the Faculty of History, University „Al. I. Cuza” of Iaşi. Ph.D. student. Expert at the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives. Recent work: Membrii C.C. al P.C.R. 1945-1989. Dicţionar [Members of the C.C. of the R.C.P., 1945-1989. Dictionary], 2004 (co-author).


ADAM BURAKOWSKI, The 1979 Tourist Crisis – a Blow

to Romanian Economy....... 158

The author presents the evolution and the consequences of an irresponsible decision took by the Romanian Government in July 1979 of cuting down the gasoline consumption. At the time, this decision hit not only the Romanian consumers, but also the foreign tourists traveling to Romania, forcing them to pay for gasoline only in Western currencies, which was very difficult for those coming from Socialist countries. The article uses original documents from the Polish Diplomatic Archives and offers an interesting overview on the economic situation of Romania at the end of the ’70s and the heavy energy crisis to which it was confronted to.

Adam Burakowski is MA in History (2001) and East-European Studies (2004), both at Warsaw University. In 2003 intern in the Cold War International History Project, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington DC. From 2004 he works as an assistant in the Institute of Political Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences. Now he is preparing Ph.D. thesis on Nicolae Ceauşescu's regime under the guidance of professor Andrzej Paczkowski.


PETRE OPRIŞ, Polish Crisis’ Effects in Romania in the Early 1980’s 164


In Nicolae Ceauşescu’s opinion, the incompetence and lack of discipline of the popular masses and state institutions provoked the economic crisis in Romania at the beginning of the ’80. Instead, the Romanian Communist Party, and especially its leader, was exempted from responsibility. Blaming the popular masses and the state bodies for the obvious failure of the supreme leader of RCP in the economic policy promoted in the ’70s was actually a political manoeuvre aiming at avoiding a crisis similar to the one in Poland, where workers were openly and strongly contesting the leading role of the PUWP – the leaders of this party being considered the main culprits for the economic disaster that had seized Poland at that time.

Petre Opriş is Ph.D. student.


FLORIN ABRAHAM, Research’ Directions on the Communist Repression

in Romania after 1989 177


The author proposes a radiography of the research concerning the history of the communist regime in Romania. In order to attain the proposed objective, the author analyses, for the beginning, the ideological and political context in which initiatives regarding a “process of communism” were proposed. The study comprises an analysis of the Romanian institutions that were created for the study of the totalitarian system. Then, there is a presentation of the main features of literature on the repression. Finally, the author pleads for building more places of recollection in which both the radical left and right currents to be stigmatized.  

Florin Abraham is Ph.D in History; senior researcher with the NIST. Recent book: Romania’s Transformation: 1989-2006. The Foreign Factors Role, 2006.


Documents


FLORIN-RĂZVAN MIHAI, Mass Organizations in the Service of the

Romanian Communist Party 205

In 1945, at the end of the second world war, some representative members of the Jewish community decided to create an organization - the Jewish Democratic Committee (1945-1953) - that had to solve the problems of Romanian Jewry. The documents refer to the beginning of the J.D.C.: the first document is in fact the record of the committee’s first session, from 7 June 1945, and the second one the programme of J.D.C. (unfortunately without date, but certainly written in the same year).

Florin-Răzvan Mihai is graduated in History, University of Bucharest; M.A. in International Relations, University of Bucharest; assistant researcher with N.I.S.T.


MIOARA ANTON, The Challenge of East-West Détente. Richard Nixon in Europe 216


The eight days Richard Nixon’s European journey, at the beginning of 1969, had a double objective. On the one hand he evaluated the position of Western European governments toward the United States’ initiatives in international politics. On the other hand the United States wished for a normalisation of its rapports with the Soviet Union. At mid ‘60s, NATO believed that the “Eastern threat” was lowering and new plans for cooperation between the two military blocs could be drafted. The Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia and the Brezhnev doctrine changes NATO’s attitude toward the Soviet Union. 

Mioara Anton is Ph.D. in history; senior researcher within “Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History; researcher within N.I.S.T. Recent book: The Beginning of Ceauşescu Regime. Continuity and Breakdown in Romanian- Soviet Relations, 2003 (co-author).


ANA-MARIA CĂTĂNUŞ, On the Eve of the Collapse. 

Ceauşescu’s Regime between Internal Dissent and International Isolation, 1987 229


In the ’80’s , Romania experienced a deterioration of the internal situation, which led to a growing opposition of Romanian society toward Nicolae Ceauşescu’s regime. There were many sources of discontent, which could be identified in the progressive economical deterioration, visible in the people’s lowering living standard to the limit of subsistence, but also in the authorities disrespect for human and civil rights (the right to free speech, free conscience, the right to emigrate). Using the secret police, the Securitate, the Communist regime kept people under strict surveillance, and the ones who dared to have a different opinion or to disapprove   openly with the official point of view, were harshly punished. These things had a major contribution in maintaining a state of terror over the entire society.

Ana-Maria Cătănuş is researcher with the NIST; Ph.D. student. Recent work: The End of Ceauşescu’s Regime Liberalisation: The 1971 Cultural Revolution, NIST, 2005.

Biographical Dictionary


CRISTINA DIAC, Ion Gheorghe Maurer, 1902-2000 242


Ion Gheorghe Maurer was the leader with the longest political careers during the Communist regime. His complex personality made the others perceive him in many different ways. The intellectual and the last bourgeois from the Communist movement, Maurer was the lawyer of the Communists from illegal period, “the right hand” of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. Also, he was the man who promoted Nicolae Ceausescu to the top of the Communist Party.

Cristina Diac is graduated in History, University of Bucharest; assistent researcher with N.I.S.T.


Book Reviews


ION CONSTANTIN, Testimonies of Katyn Massacres

This is a review of three documents volumes Katyń. Dokumenty zbrodni Katyń. [The Katyń’s Crime Documents], „Trio“ Publishing House, Warsaw, 1995-2001.


FLORIN-RĂZVAN MIHAI, „I request the death penalty!”

This is a review of Pierre Drieu de la Rochelle’s book Jurnal, 1939-1945, [Journal, 1939-1945], Runa Publishing House, Bucharest, 2006.


VASILE BUGA, The Last Years of the Soviet Power

This is a review of Nikolai Zenkovici’ book Şto eto bîlo? 1985-1991 [How it was, 1985-1991], Olma Press Publishing House, Moscow, 2005.


CARMEN RĂDULESCU, The Backstage of a Life Dedicated to Kremlin

 This is a review of Ion Calfeteanu’s book Scrisori către Tovarăşa Ana (Letters to comrade Ana), Univers Enciclopedic Publishing House, Bucharest, 2005, 393 pages.

Carmen Rădulescu is graduated in History, „Dimitrie Cantemir” Christian University of Bucharest; assistant researcher with the NIST.


MIOARA ANTON, From Containment to Coexistence

This is a review of Raymond L. Garthoff book’s A Journey through the Cold War. A Memoir of Containment and Coexistence, Brookings Institution Press, Washington D.C., 2001.


The NIST Library


MIHAI-VLADIMIR ILIESCU, Books  and Periodicals.

Included in the NIST Collections 263




The NIST Agenda 265


The N.I.S.T. agenda describes the activity of the institute’s researchers during the first half of this year. This is a short review of participation in symposiums, round tables, book releases, openings of document exhibitions, where the participants discussed issues related to the access to documents from the communist period and the debunking of certain huge historical mystifications. The exchange of ideas was the great advantage of these encounters and the published works show the true value both of the organizational effort and of this serious scientific approach.


Authors 277


Contents. Summary. Contributors 281


© The National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, 2006.


 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism 



Volume XIV              Number 50-51             1-2/2006




Editorial



RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XXVI 5

Radu Ciuceanu, president of the N.I.S.T. Scientific Council; Ph.D. in history, also coordinates the research theme Comparative studies on the formation and activity of the anti-Bolshevik resistance organizations in Romania and Bessarabia, 1940-1989. Memoirs: The Seal of the Devil, 2002. Recent book: A Quiet Man’s Diary. Conspirative Name: the Artist, volume I, 1963-1970, N.I.S.T., 2005.



Studies


ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, A Problem for the Romanian Intelligence: Letters and Telegrams from and to USSR in the 1930s 7

The study focuses on the issue of sending and receiving mail from USSR to Romania and from Romania to USSR during the fourth decade of the 20th century. While the Soviets were currently violated the postal correspondence, the Romanian Intelligence Services – State’s Siguranţa – employed the same customs regarding all relations with the big neighbour, due to the fear of possible communist conspiracies. There were few types of letters coming from USSR, usually from relatives: the appologetic mail, strongly influenced by the Soviet propaganda and the letters criticizing the Communist regime. They all have in common a desperate demand of help and often the request of repatriation to Romania. 

Alexandru-Murad Mironov is a assistant professor within History Department of the University of Bucharest; a Ph.D. student; senior researcher with the NIST.



MIOARA ANTON, On Russians and Russophobia in Romania in the 1940s 19

A constant attitude in the interwar Romanian society, anti-Russianism and anti-Sovietism came to a peak in the early fifth decade. June 1941 was recorded in the collective memory not only as a singular episode of revenge for national humiliation but also as a singular moment of revolt against destructive vicinity. Russophobia reached a high in the fifth decade. Two distinct periods can be identified in this respect: the war and the years after August 1944, actually up to King Mihai’s abdication in December 1947, when Romanian society faced two closely interconnected realities: the Soviet military presence, which worsened even more the negative image, given the violence and the abuse, and the attempt to impose a communist regime. The Romanian-Soviet “brotherhood” and the subsequent “friendship” did not pass the test of time. The way the autochthonous communist leadership acted in the early and mid-60s proved how frail the circumstantial pro-Soviet attitudes were.

Mioara Anton is Ph.D. in history; senior researcher within “Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History; researcher within N.I.S.T. Recent book: The beginning of Ceausescu regime. Continuity and breakdown in Romanian- Soviet relations, 2003 (co-author).



DANIEL HRENCIUC, The Polish People from the Historical Bucovina during the Communist Period (1944 – 1989) 27

This study analyses synthetically the Polish community from the South of historical Bucovina during the communist period being supported by archive sources, studies, books and oral testimonies collected from the old persons belonging to the Polish community. Between 1939–1944, the Poles from Bucovina involved directly in helping the British and Romanian spy services accomplishing services of reconnaisance and of courier collaborating with the Romanian authorities in the field – one of the well-known cases being that of Maria Lesiecka. The end of the second world war caused significant mutations in the space of Central-Eastern Europe founded on the grounds of the Churchill – Stalin fatal agreement from October 13, 1944, determining after that the setting up of the Iron Curtain and the whole suite of measures associated with a totalitarian political system of a communist essence.

Daniel Hrenciuc, Ph.D. in history, researcher within at Center of History and Civilisation Iaşi.



DUMITRU ŞANDRU, The 1945-1947 Drought in Romania and Its Impact on the Peasantry…………………………….. 39

At the end of 1944, when a large number of Soviet troops were stationed in the territory of Romania and the Romanian army was fighting to liberate the Northwestern part of Transylvania, a domestic farming crisis broke out, becoming even more acute in the following years. Worst hit were the inhabitants in Northern Moldavia, where in the winter of 1944-1945 hunger, the bitter cold and typhoid killed about 80,000 people. Of course, the political regime that had just taken over the power cannot be blamed for the natural disaster that hit Romania, but the regime was responsible for the chaos created in agriculture by the manner the 1945 land reform was implemented. It was also to blame for the spoliation of the wealthy farmers and of other population segments through the system of mandatory quotas, and for neglecting the poor peasantry, which it did not lend the necessary support, the result being a heavy tribute of human loss.

Dumitru Şandru, Ph.D., historian, is a Professor with the “Ştefan cel Mare” University in Suceava. Recent work: The 1945 Agrarian Reform in Romania, 2000.



DAN BERINDEI, The Totalitarian Communist Regime’s Takeover of the Romanian Academy 59

On June 9, 1948, a presidential decree ruled that the “highest scientific and cultural forum” was to become the Academy of the Romanian People’s Republic and, at the same time, a “state institution.” The obligation was thus laid out for the Academy to “conduct its activity in keeping with the requirements of strengthening and developing the RPR.” It was to promote science and culture “in all fields” and that was to be done “with a view to raising the material and cultural level of the people.” The new regime established on December 30, 1947 thus came to control the Romanian Academy. Its independence, observed for more than eight decades, was a thing of the past. The Academy became one of the state institutions, the decree disregarding the decisions of its latest general session. Subsequently, Stalin’s death brought a certain relaxation, the effects of which would also mark the activity of the Academy of the People’s Republic of Romania.

Dan Berindei is Vice-president of Romanian Academy.



OCTAVIAN ROSKE, The Collectivization of Agriculture in Romania: the Collecting System, II 82

The system of collecting agricultural products had eased the way for Communists towards the implementation of Socialist agricultural structures. Offering a full exemption from this duty to G.A.C. (kolkhoz) members, the collecting system represented a pressure on peasants who refused to join G.A.C. Besides economical advantages, the collecting system increased the political control over the rural population.

Octavian Roske, Ph.D., is Scientific Secretary of the NIST and associate professor with the Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Bucharest. Recent book: Repressive Mechanisms in Romania, 1945-1989. Biographical Dictionary, M, 2005 (co-ordinator).


CRISTINA DIAC, The Censorship Institution in Romania during the “Obsessive Decade”, 1949-1958 96

The censorship of the 1950s represented a broad and complex  phenomenon. Altering the initial manuscripts proposed by authors was just one of the multiple tasks of the General Directorate for the Press and Printed Matter. Under the law, the censorship had control powers and not ideological guidance competence, the latter being set aside for the party. Another characteristic of the institution proper resided in the fact that it did not work directly with the authors. The editorial offices of the press and of publishing houses acted as interface between the author and the censorship. Moreover, according to the internal rules of the institution, its employees could disclose their tasks not even to family members. Consequently, most writers did not know who exactly “suggested” the changes they had to operate.

Cristina Diac is graduated in History, University of Bucharest; assistent researcher with N.I.S.T.


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, Romanian-Soviet Disputes within COMECON and Their Impact on Romania’s Foreign Policy (III) 115

After 1956, the authorities in Bucharest took measures to restructure the national economy so as to ensure the regime’s internal stability and a solid economic basis to withstand Moscow’s pressure.  Beginning in the late 1950s, these goals of Romania ran counter to the economic specialization within the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) that the most developed countries of the communist camp – Czechoslovakia and the German Democratic Republic – were pushing for. The latent conflict flared up in June 1962, when Nikita Khrushchev embraced the idea of specialization in the broader context of the economic integration of all the COMECON countries. Pressure from Moscow and the other COMECON partners would determine a veering in the foreign policy of Romania, with a political reorientation to China and an economic one to the West.

Dan Cătănuş is an alumnus of the In-Depth Studies Programme by the History Department of the University of Bucharest; senior researcher with N.I.S.T.; Ph.D. student. Recent book: Between Beijing and Moscow. Romania and the Sino-Soviet Conflict, 2004; Romania and “the Prague Spring”, 2005.



ALEKSANDR S. STYKALIN, A New Testimony about the Soviet Factor in the 1968 Czechoslovakia Events: The Memoirs of General A.M. Maiorov 131

Thirty years after the Prague Spring, the comprehensive bibliography devoted to that event was rounded off with a large number of  works in different languages. Accounts by  the participants hold a quite important place in the literature on the events in Czechoslovakia. Unlike the memoirs of the active Prague Spring players – Zdenek Mlinar and Otta Sik – Gen. A.M. Maiorov’s book is written by a man who in those days played an altogether different role, contradictory in many respects. As head of the 38th Army in August 1968, he was one of the main performers of the military invasion of Czechoslovakia, and in October the same year he was appointed first commander of the newly-created Central Army Group which had to be sent repeatedly to that Central European country.

Aleksandr Stykalin is Ph.D in history; senior researcher at the Institute of Slavistic Studies, Russian Academy of Science.




ION CONSTANTIN, Communist Poland, II. The Edward Gierek Epoch,

1971-1980 145

The major social unrest that shattered Poland in late 1970 determined the replacement of Wladislaw Gomulka, the first-secretary of the CC of the PUWP, with Edward Gierek. However, the change did not bring along a resolution of the economic problems Poland was facing, these problems growing worse in the ‘70s. Against such a background, clashes occurred between the communist authorities and representatives of the society, which created the prerequisites for the coalescing of opposition groups. The solidarity between workers and intellectuals, materialized in a first stage in the emergence of KOR (the Workers’ Defense Committee), would then lead to the setting up of Solidarity, the free trade union.

Ion Constantin is Ph.D. in history. Romanian diplomat. Recent book: The History of Poland and the Romanian-Polish Relations, 2005.



SUSANA BOCŞARU, The Reagan Administration

and the End of the Cold War (II) 159

On November 4, 1980 Reagan won a sweeping victory, carrying 489 electoral college votes to Carter’s 49, a decisive ten to one margin, and 51% of the popular votes to 41% for Carter. Reagan ran on a platform that called for a decisive foreign policy, “peace through strength”, a clear break with Carter’s “vacillating” policy of “chaos, confusion and failure”. This concept aimed at reversing the decline of the U.S. power relative to the Soviet Union’s, establishing the U.S. as the leader of the “free world” in the fight against communism, because “the President’s failure to shoulder the burden of leadership in the Western alliance has placed America in danger without parallel since December 7, 1941”. But most importantly it aimed at restoring “to our great nation its self-respect, its self-confidence, and its national pride”. It was basically a policy of confrontation.

Susana Bocşaru is graduate of Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Bucharest, 2005.



ADRIAN BRIŞCĂ, Armed Resistance – The Real Opposition to Romania’s Communization 178

Anticommunist resistance manifested in various forms. There was passive resistance and active resistance; individual resistance, either covert  (economic sabotage) or open (public agitation); unarmed but organized subversive resistance and many paramilitary organizations waiting for the right moment to act, as well as a strong armed resistance. The latter type spearheaded the resistance movement against the communization of Romania. Men and women alike espoused a dignified and courageous attitude, choosing to take to the mountains and the woods, to fight and die fighting rather than die in the communist jails. The anticommunist resistance movement had a Christian and monarchist character. Its spread over the entire territory and its heterogeneous social and political composition lent it also a national character. Members and supporters of the Peasant Party and army men fought side by side with Legionnaires, students and peasants against the common enemy. There were then those who supplied food, equipment, intelligence and sometimes even housing, those who practiced economic sabotage individually and, in a way, the majority of the Romanians, who trusted the Americans would come to liberate them.

Adrian Brişcă took part in the anticommunist resistance. Since 1989 he has dedicated to the study of the partisan movement in Romania. Recent work: Enarmed Resistance in Banat, tom I, 1945-1949, NIST, 2004.



FLORIN ABRAHAM, Civil society in Romania from Totalitarianism to

Democracy (II) 184

In this study the author sets to analyze the forms in which civil society of Romania has rebuilt itself after the fall of the communist regime. In the first part of the paper the author defines civil society as forms of free association situated between the state and the family. The second part of this study comprises an analysis of the relation between the civic organizations and the political system, with a special emphasis on the Group for Social Dialogue, Civic Alliance and the politically active NGOs from the second generation.

Florin Abraham is Ph.D in History, Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca; senior researcher with the NIST. Recent book: Romania from Communism to Capitalism, 2006.



Documents


ELIS NEAGOE-PLEŞA, Criticizing the personality cult: recomendations for a decent press, July 2, 1952 199

On 2 July 1952, Gh. Gheorghiu-Dej called a meeting with the editors of local and central media in order to draw atention on exaggerations used by Romanian newspapers in order to reflect the personality cult of the Communist Party leaders, including himself. The criticism formulated by the secretary general, due mainly to the signals received from the paper “For lasting peace, for people democracy,” was limited to some outer aspects of the personality cult, whithout discussing fundamental issues.

Elis Neagoe-Pleşa is graduate in History, University of Bucharest; Ph.D. student. Expert at the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives. Recent work: The File of Ana Pauker (co-author), 2006.



PETRE OPRIŞ, The Budget of the Party

and the Privileges of the RCP Nomenklatura 212

The author publishes six documents from the archives of the former Romanian Communist Party that attest to expenditure exclusively for the benefit of the party and the nomenklatura, all covered from the public budget. The privileges included: very high salaries in terms of the work done, housing built from party funds, trips abroad for personal purposes with foreign currency provided by the Party Administration Section of the CC of the WPR, vacations at closed-circuit hotels and villas the party owned in the mountains, on the sea coast and near Bucharest, home help paid by the party etc. The WPR/RCP thus appears as a parasite that swallowed about 30.75 million dollars (in 1965 alone) from the state’s resources so the top brass of the party and their henchmen should not have to relinquish the power and the communist line should be maintained in this country.

Petre Opriş is Ph.D. student.



ANA MARIA CĂTĂNUŞ, Romanian-Soviet Tensions

in the Year of the Prague Spring 227

The 1965 change of leadership in Bucharest did not lessen the tensions that had shown in the Romanian-Soviet relations in the last part of the Dej epoch. The decision of the new leader, Nicolae Ceauşescu, to continue his predecessor’s policy caused the divergences between the two parties to grow deeper. The tension reached a high in the summer of 1968, when the troops of the Warsaw Treaty invaded Czechoslovakia and Romania openly lashed against the invasion. The documents presented in this article provide an inventory of the hostile actions the USSR undertook in relation to Romania against the background of the events in Czechoslovakia: statements by the Soviet officials, articles in the Soviet press, meetings of the CPSU party cells to debate Romania’s position.

Ana-Maria Cătănuş is researcher with the NIST; Ph.D. student. Recent work: The End of Ceausescu’s Regime Liberalisation: The 1971 Cultural Revolution, INST, 2005.



ADAM BURAKOWSKI, A Little Known Event: The Bucharest Student Demonstration of December 24, 1968 238

In 1968 on Christmas Eve, an unauthorized student manifestation took place in Bucharest, almost one thousand people taking part in it. According to various sources that provided information about the event, the demonstrators demanded “freedoms for the students,” but they also chanted against the invasion of Czechoslovakia and shouted “Down with Ceauşescu!” and “We need Tito!.” The demonstration ended early in the morning of December 25, without the intervention of the communist police and the Securitate, as the action of party activists was sufficient for sending the students back to campus. In the eyes of the communist leaders, the main cause of the event was the lacking ideological education of the students, of young people in general. The measures taken were aimed mostly at improving the activity in that respect.

Adam Burakowski is MA in History (2001) and East-European Studies (2004), both at Warsaw University. In 2003 intern in the Cold War International History Project, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington DC. From 2004 he works as an assistant in the Institute of Political Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences. Now he is preparing Ph.D. thesis on Nicolae Ceauşescu's regime under the guidance of professor Andrzej Paczkowski.


Biographical Dictionary


ALIN SPÂNU, Victor Siminel, 1897-1980 248

General Victor Siminel was born on July 27, 1897 at Fundu Galben, Lapusna County. A career officer, he participated in the two world wars, on the East front, too, after 1941. Over August 28 – September 19, 1944 he headed the Special Intelligence Service (SSI); in September 1946 he was appointed chief of the Romanian Military Delegation in the Liaison Committee with the Allied Control Commission for the Enforcement of the Armistice. Although he even became a member of ARLUS, Victor Siminel was arrested on July 20, 1951 under charges of “intense activity against the working class,” kept in custody without trial and subjected to a criminal or administrative sentence running until July 25, 1956.

Alin Spânu graduated in-depth studies in International Relations, at the History Department of Bucharest University. Volume to be published: S.S.I. pe frontul de Est, 1941 – 1944 (The Romanian Intelligence Service on the Eastern front), I.N.S.T., 2004.


Book Reviews


ION CONSTANTIN, A New Book on the Polish Communism. 252

This is a review of Włodzimierz Bernacki, Henryk Głębocki, Maciej Korkuć, Filip Musiał, Jarosław Szarek, Zdzisław Zblewski book Komunizm w Polsce. Zdrada. Zbrodnia, Zakłamanie, Zniewolenie (Communism in Poland. Betrail, murder, crime, lack of liberty), Kluszczyński Publishing House, Cracovia, 2005, 416 p.


FLORIN-RĂZVAN MIHAI, The Totalitarianism Problem. A Controversary Point of View. 255

This is a review of Ernst Nolte’s book Războiul civil european 1917-1945. Naţionalism şi bolşevism (The European Civil War 1917-1945. Nationalism and bolshevism), Runa Publishing House, Bucharest, 2005, 520 p.

Florin-Răzvan Mihai is graduated in graduated in History, University of Bucharest; M.A. in International Relations, University of Bucharest; assistant researcher with N.I.S.T.

CRISTINA DIAC, The Writers and the Party. 259

This is a review of Lucia Demetrius book Memorii (Memoires), Albatros Publishing House, Bucharest, 2005, 538 p.


CARMEN RĂDULESCU, A Securitate File and Something More. 263

This is a review of Bujor Nedelcovici’s book Un tigru de hârtie. Eu, Nica şi Securitatea (A Tiger Made of Paper. Me, Nica and Securitate), Allfa Publishing House, Bucharest, 2004, 318 pages.

Carmen Rădulescu is graduated in History, „Dimitrie Cantemir” Christian University of Bucharest; assistant researcher with the NIST.


The NIST Library


MIHAI-VLADIMIR ILIESCU, Books  and Periodicals.

Included in the NIST Collections 266



The NIST Agenda 268

The N.I.S.T. agenda describes the activity of the institute’s researchers during the first half of this year. This is a short review of participation in symposiums, round tables, book releases, openings of document exhibitions, where the participants discussed issues related to the access to documents from the communist period and the debunking of certain huge historical mystifications. The exchange of ideas was the great advantage of these encounters and the published works show the true value both of the organizational effort and of this serious scientific approach.



Authors 275



Contents. Summary. Contributors 279



© The National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, 2006.


 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism 


Volume XIII              Number 48-49             3-4/2005



Editorial


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XXVI 5

Radu Ciuceanu, president of the N.I.S.T. Scientific Council; Ph.D. in history, also coordinates the research theme Comparative studies on the formation and activity of the anti-Bolshevik resistance organizations in Romania and Bessarabia, 1940-1989. Memoirs: The Seal of the Devil, 2002. Recent book: A Quiet Man’s Diary. Conspirative Name: the Artist, volume I, 1963-1970, N.I.S.T., 2005.


Studies


DANA HONCIUC, Acts of Independence in the Axis: Swiss-Romanian Relations, 1940-1944 7

Playing the neutral camp Switzerland never broke the diplomatic relation with Romania, during the World War II, keeping a constant economic partnership. This was because the two countries’ economies were complementary:  Switzerland needed primary goods as oil and foods, while Romania needed chemicals and technology, especially ammunitions. 

Dana Honciuc is Ph.D. in history; senior researcher with the N.I.S.T.


VASILE BUGA, The Communist Party of Romania’s Policy towards the Soviets at the End of World War II 12

The relations between the Communist Party of Romania and the Kremlin were reestablished after August 1944 as an initiative of Romanian Communists. In his September 1944 meeting with A.I. Vâşinski, Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu has made the first attempt to do this but he was rejected. Moscow fully distrusted the Romanian Communists and the Soviets decided taking control over the construction of the power structures. 

Vasile Buga, Ph.D. in history, is an expert at the Romanian-Russian Joint History Commission.


OCTAVIAN ROSKE, The Collectivization of Agriculture in Romania: the Collecting System, I 24

The system of collecting agricultural products had eased the way for Communists towards the implementation of Socialist agricultural structures. Offering a full exemption from this duty to G.A.C. (kolkhoz) members, the collecting system represented a pressure on peasants who refused to join G.A.C.

Besides economical advantages, the collecting system increased the political control over the rural population.

Octavian Roske, Ph.D., is Scientific Secretary of the NIST and associate professor with the Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Bucharest. Recent book: Repressive Mechanisms in Romania, 1945-1989. Biographical Dictionary, H-L, 2004 (co-ordinator).


CEZAR STANCIU, Aspects Regarding the Economic Relations 

of Stalinist Romania 36

As a member of the “socialist camp”, Romania was forced to denounce its traditional relations with the western allies and look for possibilities of foreign trade within the camp. A close cooperation among the “popular democracies” had also the important role of increasing the dependence of these countries to each other and to the Soviet Union. Starting with the 50s, Romania tried to improve its relations with the former partners from the west, in order to obtain the technology necessary for the industrialization process, in which case Romania had to find a solution to satisfy these states` conditions deriving from their losses caused by the Nationalization Act of 1949.

Cezar Stanciu is Ph.D candidate at the Valahia University of  Târgovişte; member of the “Grigore Gafencu” Center for Research in History of International Relations.


ALEKSANDR STYKALIN, The Soviet-Yugoslav Relations and

the Imre Nagy Affair 50

Despite the controversial character of events in Hungary in the autumn of 1956, the violent approach to resolving the problem adopted by the Soviet leadership was in a sharp contradiction to international law and clearly demostrated to the world the limits of Khrushchev’s XXth Congress rhetoric about rejecting Stalinist political practice and accepting a variety of paths to socialism. The USSR’s action in Hungary also had a negative impact on its international prestige, showing the inability of Soviet leaders to break completely with their Stalinist legacy in foreign policy. Imre Nagy had been detained in Romania after his fall.

Aleksandr Stykalin is Ph.D in history; senior researcher at the Institute of Slavistic Studies, Russian Academy of Science.


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, Romanian-Soviet Disputes within COMECON and Their Impact on Romania’s Foreign Policy (II) 77

After 1956, the authorities in Bucharest took measures to restructure the national economy so as to ensure the regime’s internal stability and a solid economic basis to withstand Moscow’s pressure.  Beginning in the late 1950s, these goals of Romania ran counter to the economic specialization within the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) that the most developed countries of the communist camp – Czechoslovakia and the German Democratic Republic – were pushing for. The latent conflict flared up in June 1962, when Nikita Khrushchev embraced the idea of specialization in the broader context of the economic integration of all the COMECON countries. Pressure from Moscow and the other COMECON partners would determine a veering in the foreign policy of Romania, with a political reorientation to China and an economic one to the West.

Dan Cătănuş is an alumnus of the In-Depth Studies Programme by the History Department of the University of Bucharest; senior researcher with N.I.S.T.; Ph.D. student. Recent book: Between Beijing and Moscow. Romania and the Sino-Soviet Conflict, 2004; Romania and “the Prague Spring”, 2005.


ANA-MARIA CĂTĂNUŞ, Forms of Dissidence in Romania in the ’70: Paul Goma and the Movement for Defending Human Rights 99

In Romania, in the last two decades of Communism, there had been few cases of dissidence. One of the dissidents was the writer Paul Goma. He was arrested in 1956, in the context of the Hungarian revolution and sent to prison for two years. In January 1977, he addressed a letter of solidarity to the of Czechoslovakian Charter 77 signatories. The movement for defending human rights in Romania that Paul Goma initiated at the end of the ’70 had been sustained by approximately 200 people, who were demanding the respect of their constitutional rights. In April 1977, Paul Goma was arrested and after he was released, he was forced into exile.

Ana-Maria Cătănuş is assistant researcher with the NIST; Ph.D. student.


ION CONSTANTIN, Several Aspects Concerning Romanian-Polish Relations  in the Early 1980s 123

As the system crisis in Poland worsened in the early 1980s, a new chill occurred in the Bucharest-Warsaw relationship, which became even more serious after 1985, when Mikhail Gorbachev launched the glasnost and perestroika policy. A fierce opponent of the idea of revision of existing structures, Bucharest’s Nicolae Ceauşescu viewed the change in Poland as a potential danger to the values of Communism. Although official Warsaw, just as the Polish opposition and public opinion hailed the victory of the Romanian revolution, at first Poland took a wait-and-see attitude. There were several reasons for this, such as the change of regime in Romania, the events of March 1990 in Târgu Mureş, and the miners’ riots on June 13-15, 1990. The fascination exerted by the West was one of the reasons why closer cooperation, which would serve both sides, was delayed, relations with the formerly Communist neighbours being relegated to the background. After the Romanian revolution of December 1989, the bilateral relations developed gradually, based on contacts, visits and meetings at all echelons, top-level included, which produced agreements in various areas.

Ion Constantin is Ph.D. in history. Romanian diplomat. Recent book: The History of Poland and the Romanian-Polish Relations, 2005.


JERZY HOLZER, The Polish “Solidarity” and the Great European Change at the End of XXth Century 129

The summer 1980 strike wave that gave birth to the Solidarity movement was an event many historians and political scientists regard as the beginning of the agony of the system of „real socialism” in Central-Eastern Europe. Jerzy Holzer presents a brief analysis on the Solidarity phenomenon.

Jerzy Holzer is Ph.D in history; member of Solidarity during the Communist regime; former director of the Institute of Political Studies, Polish Academy of Science.


SUSANA BOCŞARU, The Reagan Administration and the End of the Cold War, I 144

On November 4, 1980 Reagan won a sweeping victory, carrying 489 electoral college votes to Carter’s 49, a decisive ten to one margin, and 51% of the popular votes to 41% for Carter. Reagan ran on a platform that called for a decisive foreign policy, “peace through strength”, a clear break with Carter’s “vacillating” policy of “chaos, confusion and failure”. This concept aimed at reversing the decline of the U.S. power relative to the Soviet Union’s, establishing the U.S. as the leader of the “free world” in the fight against communism, because “the President’s failure to shoulder the burden of leadership in the Western alliance has placed America in danger without parallel since December 7, 1941”. But most importantly it aimed at restoring “to our great nation its self-respect, its self-confidence, and its national pride”. It was basically a policy of confrontation.

Susana Bocşaru is graduate of Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Bucharest, 2005.


FLORIN ABRAHAM, Civil society in Romania from

 Ttotalitarianism to Democracy, I 176

In this study the author sets to analyze the forms in which civil society of Romania has rebuilt itself after the fall of the communist regime. In the first part of the paper the author defines civil society as forms of free association situated between the state and the family. The second part of this study comprises an analysis of the relation between the civic organizations and the political system, with a special emphasis on the Group for Social Dialogue, Civic Alliance and the politically active NGOs from the second generation.

Florin Abraham is Ph.D candidate; scientific researcher with the NIST.


Documents


ALIN SPÂNU, Espionnage and Counter-espionnage at the Eastern Border of Romania, 1920 185

The author presents a document from the Romanian Military Archives initially issued by the specialized services of counter-information in 1920.

The above-mentioned material contains information about the the sepionnage activity led by Soviet military service at a moment when the Soviet power was strugling to survive and impose its authority over the whole teritory of the former Russia. The Civil War and the war with Poland increased the danger, to Soviet eyes, that Romania could join other countries in their intervention against the Moscow government.

This and the endless dispute over Bessarabia transformed the Eastern border of Romania in an area where spies were everywhere.

Alin Spânu graduated in-depth studies in International Relations, at the History Department of Bucharest University. Volume to be published: S.S.I. pe frontul de Est, 1941 – 1944 (The Romanian Intelligence Service on the Eastern front), I.N.S.T., 2004.


ALINA ILINCA, LIVIU MARIUS BEJENARU, World University Winter Games in Poiana Stalin, 1951 192

The documents presented show the reality of Communist Romania in the context of World University Winter Games in Poiana Braşov (at the time called Stalin). The official propaganda presented the games as a display of the growing force of “democrat” students within the peace movement. Due to the severe limitations imposed by the International Students Association, a quasi-Communist organization, the atmosphere was very tense and glacial.

Alina Ilinca is an graduate of the History Department of the University of Bucharest;  Ph.D. student. Expert at the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives.

Liviu Marius Bejenaru is an graduate of the Faculty of History , University „Al. I. Cuza” of Iaşi. Ph.D. student. Expert at the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives.


ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, Regaining the Control. National Party Conference, December 1967 204

This article belongs with the set of documents originating in the archives of Radio Free Europe and currently in the custody of the Open Society Archives in Budapest.

The National Party Conference held on December 6-8 set the stage for an unprecedented concentration of power resulting in a fusion of Party and government (or state) positions at various levels – and for a considerable consolidation of Nicolae Ceauşescu’s political authority.

The “collective leadership”, established after the death of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, slowly became an illusion, as Ceauşescu’s policy of incresing the control over the main institutions and offices advance, as the “old guard” is pushed away.

Alexandru-Murad Mironov is a assistant professor within History Department of the University of Bucharest; a Ph.D. student; researcher with the NIST.


FLORIAN BANU, The Justice and the Securitate in the County of Olt, during the ’70s and ’80s 213

The author is editing and commenting two documents issued by the Securitate Service from the county of Olt, one from 1974 and another from 1986.

These are informative reports and analysis of the situation inside the Communist Justice system in Romania and the political problems which could appear, putting in danger the regime. The Securitate set a number of measures to be taking to prevent it.

The documents belong to the archives of the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives.

Florian Banu is alumnus of the “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi. Ph.D. in history. Expert at the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives. Recent volume: The “Spring” of Bucharest. How Romania’s “Declaration of Independence” was Adopted, 2004 (co-author).


MIOARA ANTON, The climax of détente. Leonid Brejnev

 in Washington, July 1973 222

Only one year after his visit to Moscow and in a delicate moment to his political career, President Nixon invited the leader from Kremlin to the White House. Althought this represented the  climax of détente, the American Administration has been mislead by the Soviet policy. While USSR’s targets were the recognition of its power and the maintaining of the European statu-quo, the American agenda was to get the Soviets out from the Midlle East and finding appropriate solutions at the German problem in exchange of SALT  and economical cooperation. 

Mioara Anton is Ph.D. student; researcher within “Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History; researcher within N.I.S.T. Recent book: The beginning of Ceausescu regime. Continuity and breakdown in Romanian- Soviet relations, 2003 (co-author).


TESTIMONIES


MIHAI MARCU, „Democratic” Elections thirty years ago in Todireni 220

Elections in the Communist regime were always a fake. Organized in detail, it created the illusion of democratic involvement in decision-making. All sort of collective councils and committees, purely powerless, gathered „representatives of the working class”. This is testimony of a former Communist Mayor who has been involved in organizing such fake elections. 

Mihai Marcu is former Communist Mayor of Todireni, Botoşani, 1976-1980. Volum recent: Cincinalul unui primar comunist (The memories of a Communist Mayor), I.N.S.T., 2005.


Biographical Dictionary


ADRIAN BRIŞCĂ, Constantin (Dinu) I.C. Brătianu, 1866 – 1950 244

He was born on January 13, 1866 at  Florica as the second son of Ion C. Brătianu (1821-1891), prime-minister of Romania between 1876-1888. Dinu Brătianu had a technical formation, but he worked a long time in financial institutions.In 1930  Constantin (Dinu) I.C. Brătianu opposed to the return of King Carol II on the Romanian throne. He was President of the National Liberal Party, 1934-1947.In 1947 Bratianu’s liberals suspended their activity. In 1950 Dinu Brătianu was arrested and sent to prison to Sighet. He died incarcerated in March 13, 1950 at the age of 84.Adrian Brişcă took part in the anticommunist resistance. Since 1989 he has dedicated to the study of the partisan movement in Romania. Recent work: Enarmed Resistance in Banat, tom I, 1945-1949, NIST, 2004.


ALIN SPÂNU,  Alexandru Proca, 1900 – 1945 247

Alexandru Proca was October 15, 1900 in Brasov. He was intelligence officer in the Romanian Secret Service and during World War II he took part in German-Romanian joint commisions, as translater for Marshall Ion Antonescu. On March 27, 1945 he was arrested by the Communist autorities and incarcerated at Malmaison. He commited suicide two days later. 




CAMELIA IVAN DUICĂ, Ioan Popşa, 1922-1952 250

Ioan Popsa was born on November 1, 1922, a former member of the National Peasants Party. In 1948 he created with his brother, Vasile Popsa, and other two students an anticommunist organisation. After his brother was killed by the Securitate, Ioan Popsa founded a new organization. He was arrested in June 1949, condamne dat 20 years of hard labour. He died three years after his incarceration.

Camelia Ivan Duică is Ph.D candidate at University of Craiova; expert with CNSAS. Recent volume: Rezistenţa anticomunistă din Maramureş. Gruparea Popşa (1948-1949) (Anticommunist Resistence in Maramureş. The Popşa group, 1948-1949), I.N.S.T., 2005.


Book Reviews


LAURENŢIU CONSTANTINIU, Policy of Soviet Union and United Kingdom in Documents 252

This a review of O.A. Rjeschevsky’s book Stalin i Thchertchili. Vstretchi. Besedy. Diskussi. Dokumenty, komentarii, 1941-1945 (Stalin and Churchill. Meetings. Talks. Discussions. Documents, comments, 1941-1945), Nauka, Moscow, 2004, 564 pages.

Laurenţiu Constantiniu is assistant professor within History Department of the University of Bucharest; Ph.D. student.


FELICIAN DUICĂ, Steinhardt in the Files of  Securitate 256

This is a review of Silviu B. Moldovan and Clara Cosmineanu’s book Nicu Steinhardt în dosarele Securităţii, 1959-1989 (Nicu Steinhardt in Securitate files, 1959-1989), Nemira Publishing House, 2005, 399 pages.

Felician Duică is assistant researcher with the NIST; Ph.D. student.


The NIST Library


MIHAI-VLADIMIR ILIESCU, Books  and Periodicals. Included in the NIST Collections 262


The NIST Agenda 266

The N.I.S.T. agenda describes the activity of the institute’s researchers during the first half of this year. This is a short review of participation in symposiums, round tables, book releases, openings of document exhibitions, where the participants discussed issues related to the access to documents from the communist period and the debunking of certain huge historical mystifications. The exchange of ideas was the great advantage of these encounters and the published works show the true value both of the organizational effort and of this serious scientific approach.



Authors 272


Contents. Summary. Contributors 281



© The National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, 2005.


 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism 


Volume XIII              Number 46-47             1-2/2005



Editorial


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XXV 5

Radu Ciuceanu, president of the N.I.S.T. Scientific Council; Ph.D. in history, also coordinates the research theme Comparative studies on the formation and activity of the anti-Bolshevik resistance organizations in Romania and Bessarabia, 1940-1989. Memoirs: The Seal of the Devil, 2002. Recent book: A Quiet Man’s Diary. Conspirative Name: the Artist, volume I, 1963-1970, N.I.S.T., 2005.


Studies


LAURENŢIU CONSTANTINIU, The Soviet State’s Political Police, from Leninist Revolutionarism to Stalinist Pragmatism 9

At the beginning of World War II, the proletarian solidarity trumpeted ad nauseam by the Second International simply faded away. The social democratic parties in the belligerent countries had replaced internationalism, the doctrine underlying the Second International, with nationalism and chauvinism, clamoring that “the homeland is in danger;” joining sides with the national bourgeoisies, they also proclaimed the need for “social peace”. Lenin’s favoring of the interests of the new regime over the idea of world revolution provided the matrix for the entire foreign policy of Soviet Russia/USSR. At all the major moments that followed, the Soviet diplomacy was never guided by ideological or doctrine considerations, but by practical aspects related to maintaining the Soviet regime.

Laurenţiu Constantiniu is assistant professor within History Department of the University of Bucharest; Ph.D. student.


DANA HONCIUC, The Legionary National State. The Legal Framework 29

Against the background of a gradual deterioration of the democratic system in Romania, the ceding of Northern Transylvania marked the point when social, political and national discontent favored the success of Gen. Ion Antonescu’s coup, backed by the Legionary Movement through public actions.

The stage of the takeover by Gen. Ion Antonescu outlined the legislative framework of the new regime, based on Law Decrees 3052-3057 that functioned as constitutional acts whereby Antonescu became the real head of state while the king was deprived of most of his traditional prerogatives.

The establishment of a bipolar regime, with one pole being revolutionary and the other conservative-military in nature, contributed to defining the character of the new political regime and also marked the beginning of its collapse.

Dana Honciuc is Ph.D. in history; senior researcher with the N.I.S.T. 


CRISTIAN VASILE, Orthodox Hierarchy’s Resistance to Political Pressure 1946-1948, II 41

After 1946 one of the goals of the procommunist government’s religious policy was the removal of the „recalcitrant” prelates from the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Thus the Groza government could replace them with its favourite clergy perceived as obedient executioners of the political orders. 

Some of the radical Communist circles wanted even the overthrow of the Romanian patriarch Nicodim Munteanu, but the governmental authorities focussed only on the preparation of a successor. At the same time the Communist officials and the Police launched a mean campaign of disparage against Irineu Mihălcescu, the metropolitan of Moldavia. 

Cristian Vasile is Ph.D. in history; researcher with the “Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History.


ION CONSTANTIN, Communist Poland, from Bierut to Gomulka, 1948-1970 55

The generation of Polish communists trained in Moscow and imposed by Stalin to lead Poland after 1948, began losing ground to the “national” communists when destalinization started in the spring of 1956. Despite the conservative trend at the top echelons of the Polish United Workers Party and with all the opposition of Khrushchev, Wladislaw Gomulka was appointed first secretary of the party in October 1956. Keeping Poland on the communist track, Gomulka managed to prevent Soviet armed intervention while also conducting a much more liberal policy compared to other communist states. However, he gradually lost his reform-geared élan as well as grassroots support and was forced to give up the power following the popular revolts of December 1970.

Ion Constantin is Ph.D. in history. Romanian diplomat. Recent book: The History of Poland and the Romanian-Polish relations, 2005.


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, Romanian-Soviet Disputes within COMECON and Their Impact on Romania’s Foreign Policy (I) 68

After 1956, the authorities in Bucharest took measures to restructure the national economy so as to ensure the regime’s internal stability and a solid economic basis to withstand Moscow’s pressure.  Beginning in the late 1950s, these goals of Romania ran counter to the economic specialization within the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) that the most developed countries of the communist camp – Czechoslovakia and the German Democratic Republic – were pushing for. The latent conflict flared up in June 1962, when Nikita Khrushchev embraced the idea of specialization in the broader context of the economic integration of all the COMECON countries. Pressure from Moscow and the other COMECON partners would determine a veering in the foreign policy of Romania, with a political reorientation to China and an economic one to the West.

Dan Cătănuş is an alumnus of the In-Depth Studies Programme by the History Department of the University of Bucharest; senior researcher with N.I.S.T.; Ph.D. student. Recent book: Between Beijing and Moscow. Romania and the Sino-Soviet Conflict, 2004; Romania and “the Prague Spring”, 2005.


PETRE OPRIŞ, The Cooperation Military Exercise developed by the Warsaw Treaty Organisation. October, 26th –November, 3rd  1966 81

Gheorghiu-Dej wanted in fact increased autonomy within the Soviet bloc, along with maintaining the Communist system in Romania and saw Moscow only as the agent ensuring the political, economical and military protection of all the states in Central and South-Eastern Europe that were under its influence. In such circumstances, the relationship between the Romanian and the Soviet military rapidly deteriorated. One example is the cooperation application of the Soviet, Romanian and Bulgarian military signal forces developed in the Black Sea in the period 8-11 March 1965 (only days before the death of the Romanian Workers' Party leader, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej). The Romanian Marine Forces participating in the operations questioned at that time the decision of the commander of the application, vice-admiral Cernobai, chief of the General Staff of the Black Sea Fleet of USSR, to consider that the maritime fleet of Romania was part of a “joint fleet” of the Warsaw Treaty Organization. 

“The friendship among people” had to be in the foreground again for the public from Romania and the Soviet Union. The political directions had to be closely followed even though, behind the group picture, the tensions between Moscow and Bucharest were more and more visible.

Petre Opriş is Ph.D. student.


DIMITAR GRIGOROV, „For Fatherland and Leader!”. Letters Expressing Popular Support in Romania under the Russian Threat, 1968 88

This short paper is based on the documentary material from state archives in Romania. It presents some letters sent to the party and state leadership but mainly to the leader Nicolae Ceauşescu as an expression of the support of the policy conducted during the Warsaw treaty’s intervention in Czechoslovakia. Without drawing some general conclusions the article is aiming to show a new source which could be useful for the study of the public attitudes towards the leader, the enemies from within and outside and the self perception of the Romanian people in the crucial  for Eastern Europe as a whole and Romania in particular 1968.

Dimitar Grigorov is a junior lecturer at University of Sofia “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Department for History. His scientific field is Contemporary Balkan History and he is investigating some of the problems which the historical interpretations of the events in the socialist systems on the Balkans are confronted with. Dimitar Grigorov was a fellow of the New Europe College (October 2004 – February 2005) and at present is taking part in CLIOHRES.net project. As a doctoral student at the University of Sofia he is preparing a Ph. D. thesis on the state and party leaders in Yugoslavia and Romania.


RALUCA PETRE, The Region of Dobrogea and its Ethnic Groups in the Nineteenth Century. A Case of „Proto-cosmopolitanism” 98

In this paper the author plan to explore the ethnic phenomenon in the region of Dobrogea in a diachronic perspective. Dobrogea is considered to be an interesting example of „protocosmopolitanism”, with many ethnic groups living together side by side and finding means of accommodating each other.

The sociological context in which this work is set ist hat of new ethnicities, revived identities. Raluca Petre relied on the theory of Barth to „read” the ethnic dynamics in a historical perspective, specific identity lines and borders developed.

Raluca Petre is junior assistant professor within the Department of Literature (Media Studies), „Ovidius” University of Constanţa. MA in Sociology at Central European University, Budapest. Ph.D. student at Graduate School for Social Research, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Science.


Documents


ALEXANDER VEZENKOV, Decisions of crucial importance: defining the domains of competence of the CC secretaries 111

Focusing on the Romanian case, the present publication examines how the Secretariat of the CC of the communist parties functioned in the post-Stalinist period. The party leader attributed specific tasks to the CC secretaries, while the Secretariat hardly acted as a collegial body. Insightful in this regard are the decisions defining the domains of competence of the CC secretaries. The texts of the decisions of April 1954, January 1956, March 1961, July 1965 and December 1967 are published.

Alexander Vezenkov: Studies in history in the University of Sofia (MA, 1995), in CEU – Budapest (MA, 1998) and in EHESS – Paris (DEA, 2000). Ph.D. in history from the University of Sofia in 2001, dissertation: “Urbanization process and demographic changes in Bulgaria, 1944-1989.” Freelance scholar, currently fellow at the Center of Advanced Study, Sofia. Articles on XIX-XX c. urban history and institutional history of the communist regimes.


OCTAVIAN ROSKE, The Collectivization of Agriculture.

Total Repression, 1957-1962, XXII 120

The documents continue the series of historical accounts of the final stage of collectivisation of agriculture between 1958 and 1962. The abuses are objectively reflected by documents from all the regions: Moldavia, Oltenia and Transylvania. In 1956, the search and sequestration policy was extended throughout the country.

Octavian Roske, Ph.D., is Scientific Secretary of the NIST and associate professor with the Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Bucharest. Recent books: Repressive Mechanisms in Romania, 1945-1989. Biographical Dictionary, H-L, 2004 (co-ordinator).


OVIDIU BOZGAN, DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, Romania in 1964. A Report of the Ambassador of France to Bucharest 127

The report for 1964 of the French ambassador to Bucharest speaks of how Romania emerged from anonymity on the international stage, mostly owing to the spectacular developments in this country’s foreign policy. According to Jean Louis Pons, the basic element in this policy was Romania’s effort to reject the Soviet hegemony, with the ensuing tendency to draw closer to the West and the consolidation of the Gheorghiu-Dej regime at home, all this making it both possible and necessary to have a slight liberalization.The no. 1 conclusion of the French ambassador’s report is that 1964 was to be the year of Romania’s definitive breakaway from the situation of a satellite of the Soviet Union, which it had been since the end of World War II.

Ovidiu Bozgan is Ph.D. in history, lecturer with the University of Bucharest, Faculty of History. He is the head of the Center of Church History, University of Bucharest. Recent book: A History of the University from Bucharest, 2004.


ANA-MARIA CĂTĂNUŞ, Romanian Writers and the Limits of 

Liberalization, 1965-1971 154

The liberalization that occurred in the early stages of the Ceauşescu regime marked all areas, the cultural one included. The developments of 1965-1971 decisively contributed to cultural progress in Romania and to this country’s opening on the world. Romanian writers published more books and more translations from world literature were issued. International contacts also multiplied. Yet the liberalization had its limits, the most obvious being the censorship and the surveillance of the intelligentsia by the political police, these being instruments the totalitarian state could not give up without endangering its own existence. The close watch kept over the Romanian authors during the most liberal period in the history of communism in Romania was an indication that the repressive nature of the regime hadn’t really mellowed. 

Ana-Maria Cătănuş is assistant researcher with the NIST; Ph.D. student.


ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, Power and Policy in Ceauşescu’s Romania 169

This article belongs with the set of documents originating in the archives of Radio Free Europe and currently in the custody of the Open Society Archives in Budapest.

To Nicolae Ceauşescu August 1968 represented the top of his political path and a justification to his foreign policy in the years to come. The analysts of the Free Europe Radio station succeed in discovering and emphasizing a possible link between the events following the death of Gheorghiu-Dej and the so-called policy of independence toward Moscow practiced by the last Communist leader of Romania. The documents are focusing mainly on the Central Committee Plenum of April 1968 and the political rehabilitation of that moment. These acts – the revival of Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu, Ştefan Pătrăşcanu etc. – were considerably link to the removal of those involved in the purges.

Alexandru-Murad Mironov is a assistant professor within History Department of the University of Bucharest; a Ph.D. student; researcher with the NIST.


ALINA PAVELESCU, May 1968 – Charles de Gaulle and the “Big Ambitions” of the Romanian Communists 191

Gen. Charles de Gaulle, President of the French Republic, visited Romanian over May 14-18, 1968, the visit being reflected in the Romanian media – and later in the historiography of the Ceauşescu regime – as one of the events that sanctioned President Nicolae Ceauşescu’s international prestige while also enhancing his popularity at home. As the first visit to Romania by a French head of state and also the first visit by the leader of the major Western power after 1944, its symbolism was more evident than any practical effects it generated.

Charles de Gaulle’s visit to Romania, the end of which was hastened by the outbreak of the student protests in Paris, brought Nicolae Ceauşescu the first invitation to pay an official visit to a big Western state. That visit took place in July 1970, when Georges Pompidou was President of France.

Alina Pavelescu historian within the Romanian National Archives; Ph.D. student. Recent book: The Romanian Communist Party during the years of World War II, 1939-1944, 2004.


MIOARA ANTON, From Confrontation to Détente.

Richard Nixon in Moscow, May 1972 209

The “structure of peace” imagined by the Nixon Administration confronted the diplomacy of the 70s with a real challenge: harmonizing strategic and economic interests with the ideological barriers, very inflexible in the Soviet case and even more so in the case of China. The plans of the Nixon administration pursued mainly to restore the position of the USA as the prime mediator in the international arena.

The SALT I agreement signed on May 26, 1972 certainly was one of the American president’s major diplomatic successes in Moscow. The two big powers seemed to find solutions also to the other issues on their agenda, except Vietnam. Thus the USSR obtained the most favored nation status. The agreements concluded in Moscow in May 1972 ushered in a new stage in international relations: coexistence prevailing over expansion. 

Mioara Anton is Ph.D. student; researcher within “Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History; researcher within N.I.S.T. Recent book: The beginning of Ceausescu regime. Continuity and breakdown in Romanian- Soviet relations, 2003 (co-author).


TESTIMONIES


Acad. RADU P. VOINEA, Pages from the History of the Romanian

Academy, 1948-1989 220

The article represents a brief review, in a memoir-like manner, of several moments in the history of the Romanian Academy under the communist regime, with special focus on the events directly experienced by the author, i.e. those after March 1963, when he was elected a corresponding member of this high scientific forum.

As general secretary between 1967-1974 and then president of the Romanian Academy over 1984-1989, Radu P. Voinea witnessed the continuous deterioration of the Romanian academic environment, due to the shortage of financial resources, to infrequent contacts with foreign countries and, finally, to the growing ideologization of scientific life.

Radu Voinea was general secretary of the Romanian Academy (1967-1974); president of the Romanian Academy (1984-1989).


STELIAN TITU PAULIAN, Students Expelled from University in December 1962 227

Early in 1962, the regime in Bucharest announced that, following the completion of collectivization in agriculture, all candidates would be allowed to take the examination for admission to university, irrespective of social origin. Later, as they realized there were too many young people who had passed the exam but whose parents were political detainees, they decided to expel them and enroll them again gradually, after repeated checks and reassessments.

Stelian Titu Paulian graduated from the Academy of Economical Studies, 1968, and also from Law Faculty, the University of Bucharest.


PAUL NICULESCU-MIZIL, About the “Ideological Plenum”, July-November 1971 229

The text presents the testimony of a high official of the communist regime about the events of July-November 1971, which led to an ideological clampdown in Romania. The author, an active participant in those events, describes extensively the debates on ideological issues that took place between the moment the “theses of July 1971” were enunciated and the ideological plenum of November 1971, the international developments in the same interval, and the way they influenced the situation in Romania.

Paul Niculescu-Mizil was secretary of the Romanian Communist Party’ Central Committee (1965-1972), member of Executive Political Committee (1965-1989).


Biographical Dictionary


ADRIAN BRIŞCĂ, Victor-Ion (Vichi) Kreissl (1931-1988) 248

Victor Ion Kreissl was born on January 10, 1931 in Cernauti and attended the first grades at the Ion Heliade Radulescu High School. Beginning in June 1940, the Kreissls were forced to seek refuge at Câmpina. After the occupier had changed, in the autumn of 1944, they were harassed because of the father’s German origin. The young Victor Ion Kreissl enrolled in sixth grade at the Ion Maiorescu High School, wherefrom he graduated in 1949. On September 2, 1949 he was arrested, questioned at the headquarters of the political police in Giurgiu and then transferred to the Uranus military prison in Bucharest. By the ruling no. 1354 of December 21, 1949, the Bucharest Military Court sentenced Victor Ion Kreissl to six years in prison for sedition. He spent his prison term at the jails of Jilava, Targsor, Peninsula and Aiud. He was released on August 31, 1955.

Adrian Brişcă took part in the anticommunist resistance. Since 1989 he has dedicated to the study of the partisan movement in Romania. Recent work: Enarmed Resistance in Banat, tom I, 1945-1949, NIST, 2004.


PETRE OPRIŞ, Leonte Tismăneanu (1913-1981) 252

Leonte Tismăneanu (Leonid Tisminetski by his real name) was born in 1913 at Soroca. He joined the Communist Party in 1933. In 1935, Leonte Tismăneanu was expelled from university because of his communist activism and sent to prison together with Grigore Preoteasa, who would later be foreign minister of Romania (October 4, 1955 – July 16, 1957). When his term in prison ended, Leonte Tismăneanu participated in the war in Spain and later sought refuge with his wife in the USSR, becoming an editor with Radio Moscow in 1941. Returning to Romania in March 1948, he was appointed editor-in-chief of the Publishing House for Political Literature (set up in October 1944) and head of the Marxism chair. Toward the end of the ‘50s, he fell out with Gheorghiu-Dej and was expelled from the Romanian Workers Party in 1960, only to be readmitted on February 18, 1964.


Book Reviews


VASILE BUGA, Knowledge of our History . 257

This is a review of the Romanian Institute of Recent History Yearbook Politică externă şi exil anticomunist (Communist Foreign Policy and Anti-Communist Exile), vol. II/2003, Polirom Publishin House, Iaşi, 2004.

Vasile Buga, Ph.D. in history, is a collaborator of the Romanian-Russian Joint History Commission.


FELICIAN DUICĂ, The Eves of the Romanian Communist Rule 259

This is a review of Dinu C. Giurescu’s book Uzurpatorii. România 6 martie 1945-7 ianuarie 1946, (The Usurpers. Romania March, 6 1945-January, 7 1946) Vremea XXI Publishing House, 2004.

Felician Duică is assistant researcher with the NIST; Ph.D. student.


The NIST Library


MIHAI-VLADIMIR ILIESCU, Books  and Periodicals. Included in the NIST Collections 264


The NIST Agenda 266

The N.I.S.T. agenda describes the activity of the institute’s researchers during the first half of this year. This is a short review of participation in symposiums, round tables, book releases, openings of document exhibitions, where the participants discussed issues related to the access to documents from the communist period and the debunking of certain huge historical mystifications. The exchange of ideas was the great advantage of these encounters and the published works show the true value both of the organizational effort and of this serious scientific approach.



Authors 276


Contents. Summary. Contributors 280



© The National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, 2005.


 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism 


Volume XII               Number 44-45    3-4/2004



Editorial


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XXIV 5

Radu Ciuceanu, president of the N.I.S.T. Scientific Council; Ph.D. in history, also coordinates the research theme Comparative studies on the formation and activity of the anti-Bolshevik resistance organizations in Romania and Bessarabia, 1940-1989. Memoirs: The Seal of the Devil, 2002. Recent book: The National Resistance Movement from Oltenia, vol. II, 1949-1952, 2003.



Studies


ION CONSTANTIN, Poland in the Early Years of Communism, 1944-1948 8

By geographical location and size, Poland was one of the linchpins in ensuring Moscow’s dominant strategic and political position in Central and Eastern Europe. Establishing a communist regime in Poland was a major goal of the Soviet leadership at the end of World War II. In the rigged elections of January 19, 1947, the parties of the communist bloc got 80% of the vote while the Polish Peasant Party headed by Stanislaw Mikolajczyk emerged with only a meager 10%. The election returns sanctioned the defeat of the Polish political opposition, whose representatives were ousted from the government. Mikolajczyk and a few of his associates had to go into exile (October 1947) to avoid the fate of the leaders of similar political groupings, such as those in Romania or Bulgaria.

Ion Constantin is Ph.D. in history. Romanian diplomat.


CRISTIAN VASILE, Orthodox Hierarchy’s Resistance to Political Pressure 1946-1948 18

After 1946 one of the goals of the procommunist government’s religious policy was the removal of the „recalcitrant” prelates from the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Thus the Groza government could replace them with its favourite clergy perceived as obedient executioners of the political orders. 

Some of the radical Communist circles wanted even the overthrow of the Romanian patriarch Nicodim Munteanu, but the governmental authorities focussed only on the preparation of a successor. At the same time the Communist officials and the Police launched a mean campaign of disparage against Irineu Mihălcescu, the metropolitan of Moldavia. 

Cristian Vasile is a Ph.D. in history; assistant researcher with the “Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History.


ALEXANDRU-ALIN SPANU, Turkey – A Target of Section Two Intelligence and Counterintelligence, 1946-1947 28

At the end of World War II, Romanian-Turkish relations seemed to be reverting to their generally good pre-war status, but Romania was encompassed in Moscow’s sphere of interest and so that prospect was delayed by several decades. In such a context, Section Two Intelligence and Counterintelligence of the General Staff was assigned the task of keeping an eye on Turkey, a country receiving American support and therefore considered ideologically hostile. When King Mihai abdicated on December 30, 1947 and Romania was proclaimed a people’s republic, a new chill occurred in the relations between Bucharest and Ankara, especially after 1952, when Turkey and Greece joined NATO.

Alexandru-Alin Spanu graduated in-depth studies in International Relations, at the History Department of Bucharest University. Volume to be published: The Romanian Gendarmerie, September 1940-August 1944.


FLORIAN BANU, The Myth of the Americans’ Coming Reflected in Securitate Documents 34

Having entered the Soviet sphere of influence even before the end of the great war, the Romanians concocted a myth to help them cope with the brutal changes they were forced to live through: the myth of the Americans’ coming.

The author of this study attempts to explain how this myth came into being, insisting on how it was reflected in the documents drawn up after 1948 by the Securitate (the political police) and the role it played in the resistance against communism.

Florian Banu is alumnus of the “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi. Ph.D. in history. Expert at the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives. Recent volume: The “Spring” of Bucharest. How Romania’s “Declaration of Independence” was Adopted, 2004 (co-author).


VASILE BUGA, The Romanian-Soviet Political Relations, 1953-1958, II 46

Between 1953 and 1958 Romania did not really break away from the Soviet sphere of influence, timid steps in that directions being all that happened. That was so because the Romanian leaders feared they might jeopardize their position and were concerned not to strain the relations with Moscow, especially after the events in Hungary. Only after the withdrawal of the Soviet troops did Romania gradually leave Moscow’s fold, yet only in point of foreign policy. Unfortunately, on the domestic front the Soviet model was further followed in building a totalitarian society.

Vasile Buga, Ph.D. in history, is a collaborator of the Romanian-Russian Joint History Commission.


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, Romanian-Yugoslav Relations Resumed. Tito’s Visit to Bucharest, June 23-26, 1956 72

In 1956, en route for Moscow, Tito and his retinue stopped in Bucharest for a brief meeting with the Romanian leadership. This first meeting on May 31, 1956 was followed by Tito’s official visit to Romania over June 23-26, an occasion for opinions to be exchanged on problems of the past for exploring cooperation opportunities for the future.

After the visit, Romanian-Yugoslav relations no longer reflected the meandering Soviet policy versus Tito. Even if between 1958 and 1960 a certain chill would occur, once resumed, the relations between the two countries were pragmatic, with stress particularly on economic cooperation and not on ideological differences.

Dan Cătănuş is an alumnus of the In-Depth Studies Programme by the History Department of the University of Bucharest; researcher with N.I.S.T.; Ph.D. student. Recent book: The Collectivization of Agriculture in Romania. The Repression, tom I, 1949-1953, 2004 (co-author); Between Beijing and Moscow. Romania and the Sino-Soviet Conflict, 2004.


CRISTINA PĂIUŞAN, The Yom Kippur War and Romania’s Involvement. Diplomatic Perceptions 87

Romania’s involvement in Middle East issues, its pertinent position during the Six-Day War, then the efforts to establish a Romanian channel for negotiations during the war of attrition, 1969-1971, and the stand taken in the wake of the Yom Kippur War represented attempts to break free from the suffocating Soviet guardianship, to conduct a foreign policy of its own, taking advantage of changes in the international political arena. The moves of the Romanian state led to its recognition as a partner to the countries in the Middle East.

Cristina Păiuşan is an graduate of the History Department of the University of Bucharest;  Ph.D. student; Deputy Director with the European Fundation “Nicolae Titulescu”. Recent books: The Romanian Orthodox Church under the Communist Regime, tom I, 1945-1958, NIST, 2003 (co-author).


FLORIN ABRAHAM, The Role of International Relations in the Changes of the Communist Camp in the ’80s 98

The end of the Cold Ward should not be considered as unavoidable although we tend to believe so. International relations follewed a certain course after 1983 and history should have been different without Gorbachev, Reagan, Bush or Kohl. This study analizes the role of internal and external factors in the collapse of Communism.

Florin Abraham, assistant-researcher with NIST; graduate of the In-Depth Study Program of the Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj; Ph.D. student.


LAURA VIŞAN, Seeing Romania with American Eyes. Cultural Stereotypes Between Endorsement and Rejection 110

This paper deals with the cultural shock of the American writers, journalists or researchers who visited Romania both before and after the 1989 Revolution. It provides the reaction of the American traveler when confronted to a plethora of Romanian realities, the feedback he gets from the people here, as well as their insight upon inland realities. This insight ranges from an idealized vision upon our destiny in the world, doubled by a sense of helplessness in front of the international conspiracy against Romania, to defeatist approaches that point at this country as doomed, unless the international powers will urgently intervene.

Laura Vişan is alumnus of the Department of Letters at Bucharest University (class of 2000). Master of Arts in American Studies at the Department of Foreign Languages at Bucharest University (2003). Articles published in Dilema (2000, 2001). She has been working in public relations and advertising since graduation from university.


OVIDIU BOZGAN, The Intelligentsia and Communism. The Case of Physicist Alexandru Sanielevici 136

Alexandru Sanielevici belonged to a distinguished family of Jewish intellectuals. Anti-Semitic persecutions and the exclusion enforced by Antonescu’s government exacerbated his antifascism and anti-Nazi feeling and formally propelled him into the ranks of the communist party. He was able to pursue a remarkable career after 1944 because in fact he never became an opponent of the Establishment. A review of nuclear physicist Alexandru Sanielevici’s case provides arguments for historians to focus on the groups of intellectuals that gravitated around the communist party. 

Ovidiu Bozgan is Ph.D. in history, lecturer with the University of Bucharest, Faculty of History. He is the head of the Center of Church History, University of Bucharest. Recent work: A History of the University from Bucarest, 2004.


CĂLIN MORAR-VULCU, Newspeak and the Historical Research 149

The paper deals with the issue of the utility of the framework generically named “Newspeak” („Limba de lemn”). The first part refuted some fundamental propositions of the “Newspeak” theory as a theory of communication in the totalitarian states: “Newspeak” distorts reality and promotes the lie, “Newspeak” is a language which communicates nothing and it is through “Newspeak” that those in power consciously manipulate „the masses”. Following Patrick Seriot, the term of discourse is proposed instead that of “Newspeak”. 

The second part of the paper deals with the relationship between the “Newspeak” theory and the traditional theories of historical research (especially the Positivist tradition), underlining some reasons for which the “Newspeak” theory is widely accepted by the historians of totalitarianism and refuting these reasons along the same lines as those used in the first part. At the same time, the paper emphasizes the potential benefits of the „new” historical research (post-Linguistic Turn) for the research of totalitarian/authoritarian systems. 

Calin Morar-Vulcu is alumnus of the Babes-Bolyai University, Department of History and Philosophy, History section; graduated a program of in-depth studies; doctoral candidate at the Babes-Bolyai University, with the theme “Building of political identities and the official rhetoric in Romania, 1948-1965.”



Documents


LIVIU ŢĂRANU, The “New Trend” in Communist Romania’s Economic Policy. August 1953, II 167

After Stalin’s death in March 1953, major changes occurred in the economic policy of the countries in the Communist bloc. Romania was no exception. One can find the reasons why the authorities in Bucharest espoused the “new trend” in the summer of 1953 in two documents from the archives of the former Central Committee of the RCP (the enhanced report of the committee led by Miron Constantinescu and the shorthand report of the Politburo meeting when the report was amended) which are considered significant for the changes in the economic strategy of the Gheorghiu-Dej governance.

Liviu Ţăranu is alumnus of the History Department of the Al. I. Cuza University of Iaşi. Senior adviser to the National Council for the Study of the Former Political Police Archives; Ph.D. in history. Recent volume: The “Spring” of Bucharest. How Romania’s “Declaration of Independence” was Adopted, 2004 (co-author).


PETRE NIŢU, The First Batches of Political Detainees to Be Freed. Sighet 189

The changes having occurred in Moscow after Stalin’s death prompted the communist leaders in Bucharest to take a number of measures much like those in the Soviet Union. Relaxing the repression, the Dej regime stopped the work on the Danube-Black Sea Canal and a first batch of political prisoners were set free based on a March 11, 1954 decision of the Council of Ministers. The document reproduced here comprises three annexes to Decision no. 1199 of June 25, 1955 issued by the Council of Ministers to pardon the first major batch of political detainees, dignitaries of the former regime who were to be released from the Sighet Penitentiary.

Petre Niţu is alumnus of the Department of History at Bucharest University. Expert at the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives. 


OCTAVIAN ROSKE, The Collectivization of Agriculture. Total Repression, 1957-1962, XXI 202

The documents continue the series of historical accounts of the final stage of collectivisation of agriculture between 1958 and 1962. The abuses are objectively reflected by documents from all the regions: Moldavia, Oltenia and Transylvania. In 1956, the search and sequestration policy was extended throughout the country.

Octavian Roske, Ph.D., is Scientific Secretary of the NIST and associate professor with the Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Bucharest. Recent books: The Collectivization of Agriculture in Romania. The Repression, vol. I, 1949-1953, 2004 (co-author); Repressive Mechanisms in Romania, 1945-1989. Biographical Dictionary, D-G, 2003 (co-ordinator).


MIOARA ANTON, Diversity in Unity. American Perceptions of the Communist Bloc, 1962 211

Late in 1962, the US Administration revised its plans for the East-European countries. Going from reserve to stagnation, they envisaged “much more normal and active relations with the governments of East-European countries.” With all the impediments arising from the nature of the political regimes, coordination of the cooperation plans was not impossible. The two documents reveal that the Americans were interested in the states in the Soviet sphere of influence. Even if at first there was no hint a change of political regime would be encouraged, such a turn was not out of the question. However, the events of 1961-1962 convinced the US that such an approach of the relations with the socialist states could only be counterproductive.

Mioara Anton is a Ph.D. student; researcher within “Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History; researcher within N.I.S.T.


ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, “Communism’s Rising Stars”. Possible Political Successors in Eastern Europe, 1965 224

This article belongs with the set of documents originating in the archives of Radio Free Europe and currently in the custody of the Open Society Archives in Budapest.

This time the documentalists from the Munich-based radio station focus exclusively on the possible successors in the leadership in Eastern Europe. Brief biographies of second-rank leaders from the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Eastern Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia are available. 

Alexandru-Murad Mironov is a assistant professor within History Department of the University of Bucharest; a Ph.D. student; assistant researcher with the NIST.


ANA-MARIA CĂTĂNUŞ, Dorin Tudoran or the Tribulations of a Romanian Intellectual in Conflict with the Communist Regime 232

In the early 1980s, Dorin Tudoran joined the few voices that publicly contested the regime. Tudoran spoke out about problems related to culture and literature, but also about proven plagiarism cases involving well-known figures of the literary world. His daring attitude was not without consequences. Harassed by the communist authorities, Tudoran applied in the spring of 1984 for permission to emigrate. On July 25, 1985, after years of persecution, Tudoran managed to leave the country.

Ana-Maria Cătănuş is assistent researcher with the NIST; Ph.D. student of the „Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History.


Biographical Dictionary


ANA-MARIA RĂDULESCU, Aurelian Barbici (1894-1959) 244

The Rev. Aurelian Barbici (who lived in Targu Jiu as of 1928) served as confessor for people arrested and in custody and then as priest at the St. Nicholas Church, until June 1, 1948 when he was suspended because of his activity as a member of the National Liberal Party. A political police file was put together for him in November 1947. He was arrested several times: March 1948 (when he was held for one month at the Targu Jiu Penitentiary), on March 25, 1949 and the third time on August 15/16, 1952. He was sent to prison in Pitesti; when he was released he was sent to live in Targu Jiu.

Ana-Maria Radulescu is alumnus of the Political Science Department, Bucharest University; doctoral candidate at the same university. Recent volume: The Conservatives in Dolj County between 1899 and 1913. 2004.


ANA-MARIA CĂTĂNUŞ, Mihai Botez (1940-1995) 248

Mathematician, Mihai Botez has been an important figure of Romanian scientific community. As academic Mihai Botez was well known for his professional value. In 1976 he was awarded the Woodrow Wilson prise by the American Smithsonian Institute. As dissident, Mihai Botez challenged the Communist regime to respect human rights. Although he was persecuted, Mihai Botez refused to emigrate until 1987.


ADRIAN BRIŞCĂ, Alexandru Cartojan (1901-1965) 252

Professor Alexandru Cartojan conducted a considerable political activity as an outstanding member of the National Peasant Party. He was arrested in 1950 and in 1953 his punishment was increased by another three years. On December 16, 1954 a new warrant was issued, Cartojan being accused of “intense activity against the working class.” On January 24, 1962, he was arrested yet again, and a new trial was staged against him, the outcome being a sentence of seven years in prison for sedition.

Adrian Brişcă took part in the anticommunist resistance. Since 1989 he has dedicated to the study of the partisan movement in Romania. Recent work: Rezistenţa armată din Banat (Enarmed Resistance in Banat), tom I, 1945-1949, NIST, 2004.


Book Reviews


OANA ŞOLICĂ, Ana Pauker – Politican, Woman, Communist, Jew… ...…………259

This is a review of Gheorghe Brătescu’s book Ce-a fost să fie. Notaţii autobiografice (What Was Fated to Be. Autobiographical Notes), Humanitas, Bucharest, 2003.

Oana Şolică is student of the Department of  Sociology-Psychology of the “Spiru Haret” University.


CRISTIAN GOJINESCU, Destinies Lost in the Soviet Gulag 263

Review of Prizonierii de razboi in URSS. 1939-1956 (POWs in the USSR. 1939-1956), ed. M. M. Zagoruliko, Moscow, Лoгoc, 2000, 1120 p.

Cristian Gojinescu is assistant researcher with the NIST. Ph.D. student of the University „Al. I. Cuza”, Iaşi


The NIST Library


MIHAI-VLADIMIR ILIESCU, Books  and Periodicals. Included in the NIST Collections 267



The NIST Agenda 269

The N.I.S.T. agenda describes the activity of the institute’s researchers during the first half of this year. This is a short review of participation in symposiums, round tables, book releases, openings of document exhibitions, where the participants discussed issues related to the access to documents from the communist period and the debunking of certain huge historical mystifications. The exchange of ideas was the great advantage of these encounters and the published works show the true value both of the organizational effort and of this serious scientific approach.



Authors 277


Contents. Summary. Contributors 281



© The National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, 2004.

 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism 


Volume XII          Number 42-43     1-2/2004



Editorial


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XXIII 5

Radu Ciuceanu, president of the N.I.S.T. Scientific Council, also coordinates the research theme Comparative studies on the formation and activity of the anti-Bolshevik resistance organizations in Romania and Bessarabia, 1940-1989. Memoirs: The Seal of the Devil, 2002. Recent book: The National Resistance Movement from Oltenia, vol. II, 1949-1952, 2003.



Studies


GEORGE ENACHE, Political Interference in Electing the Leaders of the Romanian Orthodox Church 7

One of the aspects of church life in which political influence was most manifest was the election or removal of prelates from the church hierarchy. Under a totalitarian regime, the individual is not rewarded or punished for his real merits or mistakes, but according to how this serves or not the power. The Orthodox prelates, with a few exceptions, were not arrested because the communists had methods that suited their goals better: forcible retirement, withdrawal, and the dissolution of dioceses. Any arrest would have seriously affected the myth of perfect cooperation between the Communist state and the Orthodox Church. Therefore prelates dismissed from their position were the victims of Communist terror against the church.

George Enache is a junior assistant professor within the History Department of the “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi; a Ph.D. student.


MIOARA ANTON, The Communist Party and the Intelligentsia in Romania, 1945-1955 33

The results of the Communist party’s cultural policy in the early 1950s could be defined as an unfortunate combination of what the pro-Moscow and the national groupings wanted. From the pro-Moscow grouping this policy took over the suspicion about what the Romanian thinking could produce and the anti-Western attitude, while from the national grouping it took over a suspicious attitude versus the intelligentsia. The Zhdanov model was transposed mechanically, a strict, humiliating discipline being enforced. Soviet values were seen as the only source of inspiration, and the national thinking school was annihilated. Nothing could be published without permission from the Communist party.

The imprisonment and elimination of certain outstanding figures can be considered a failure of the party in its quest for legitimacy. Subsequent development strategies were based on this simple scenario: either everyone complied or the protesters were eliminated.

Mioara Anton is a Ph.D. student; researcher within “Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History; researcher within N.I.S.T.


PETRE OPRIŞ, The Scope of European Security between 1945 and 1950 46

A scrutiny of the events that took place in Europe between 1945 and 1948 will evidence the conclusion that Sovietization was begun and conducted without unitary planning. What the Truman doctrine and Zhdanov’s theses had anticipated materialized in the partitioning of Germany, which in 1949 was acknowledged by all states. As of that moment, the Gordian knot in the East-West clash in Europe was German reunification.

Petre Opriş holds a Ph.D. in history.


MARIAN COJOC, Perceptions of the Cold War: Dobruja in the First Post-War Decade 57

This study focuses on the perception of the Cold War from the angle of its propaganda. The analysis is based on archive documents of the regional committees of the Communist party or of other local administration bodies in Dobruja. The press in Dobruja focuses on the major events both within the Communist bloc and at the international level, as the party directives dictated. The East-West rift, the Yugoslav schism, and the Middle East events – such were the subjects the press in Dobruja approached in the first post-war decade.

Marian Cojoc holds Ph.D. in history; Dean of the History Department of the “Ovidius” University of Constanţa. Recent books: Rezistenţa armată în Dobrogea (Enarmed Resistance in Dobrudja), 1945-1960, NIST, 2004.


IOAN SCURTU, The Impact of the Cold War on Romanian Historiography 68

During the Cold War, history was used in the propaganda against Western states and to glorify the Soviet Union and its leaders. Many historians were involved in this propaganda, providing mystified accounts of the past and writing history as the political interests of the moment dictated. Upright historians like Constantin Daicoviciu also took part in this campaign but most of those involved were impostors who had no qualms about distorting the past.

When the Soviet troops were withdrawn from Romania in 1968 and relations with the Western world (France and Italy in the first place) were resumed, ideological pressure relaxed somewhat, but real freedom was still impossible under a totalitarian regime.

Ioan Scurtu holds a Ph.D. in history and he is professor within “Spiru Haret” University, Bucharest, currently teaching recent history of Romania. He is director general of “Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History in Bucharest. Recent work: Formaţiuni şi ideologie de dreapta în România, vol.: 1934-1938, NIST, 2003 (co-ordinator).


FLORIAN BANU, The Communist Police in the Romanian People’s Republic and the “Dictatorship of the Proletariat.” 1949-1956 77

As soon as it was created, the Communist police (Miliţia) began being used as an instrument of institutionalized terror. The Communist police officers were recruited from among opportunists and the lower, frustrated walks of life. Indoctrinated by the Political Directorate and well paid, they formed a body of loyal supporters of the regime, ready to commit any abuses under the pretext of defending the law. Like the personnel of the political police (Securitate), the employees of the regular police considered they were intangible and above ordinary people, therefore behaving arbitrarily.

The police (Miliţia) also conducted political police actions, this force acting throughout that period as a faithful ally to the Securitate.

Florian Banu is alumnus of the “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi. Ph.D. in history. Expert at the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives. Recent work: „Primăvara” de la Bucureşti. Cum s-a adoptat „Declaraţia de independenţă” a României?, 2004 (co-author).


VASILE BUGA, Romanian-Soviet Relations, 1953-1958 95

Between 1953 and 1958, Romanian-Soviet relations were marked by the failure of the Romanian leadership to take a firm stand and break away from the Soviet sphere of influence. The leaders of the Romanian Workers Party did their best to observe the recommendations and instructions they received from Moscow and to apply mechanically the same measures the Soviet Union applied. Significantly, despite a certain liberalization initiated by the new Kremlin leaders after Stalin’s death, the Romanian leaders still stuck to the Soviet model.

Vasile Buga, Ph.D. in history, is a collaborator of the Romanian-Russian Joint History Commission.


ALINA TUDOR-PAVELESCU, Gheorghiu-Dej’s Successor: Power Transfer Techniques, 1965-1969 117

The means and techniques of the power transfer operated between 1965 and 1969 to be benefit of Nicolae Ceausescu had a major role in outlining the future profile of the regime the latter headed until 1989. The new power mechanisms actuated on the occasion functioned the same way also while Ceausescu exerted absolute control over the party and state bodies. Most of the developments with respect to political rhetoric and the management of the political and state machinery after 1969 actually represented cosmetic changes. Consequently, the period 1965-1969 can be considered, despite the public perception that it was a time when political control over the Romanian society relaxed, the basic moment in the building of the neo-Stalinist model the Ceausescu regime represented.

Alina Tudor-Pavelescu is Ph.D. student at University of Bucharest. Researcher at the National Archives of Romania; recent books: The Romanian Communist Party during the Second World War, National Archives of Romania, Bucharest, 2003.


CONSTANTIN MORARU, Romania and European Security, 1966-1975 129

In 1975, at Helsinki, it was agreed that certain general principles should be observed in the relations between Western and Eastern Europe: good neighborliness, a peaceful climate, economic and cultural ties, human rights and so on.

Romania signed the Declaration on the principles of mutual relations between the states participating in the All-European Conference, considering the Helsinki Final Act could provide the framework for all states to make a greater contribution to the settlement of the Continent’s problems, based on active cooperation.

Constantin Moraru is Ph.D. student at University of Bucharest. Researcher at the National Archives of Romania.


IOAN DAN, The Trial of the Politburo in a Historical Perspective 138

This text is made up of memories jotted down by the former military prosecutor, an inspector having the rank of colonel with the Directorate of the Military Prosecutor within the General Prosecutor’s Office. Light is cast on what went on behind the scenes while preparing the trial of the former Communist leaders. In the author’s view, it was the orders given to the troops to use real ammunition against the demonstrators in Timişoara and Bucharest that triggered the tragic events of December 1989.

Former Military Prosecutor during Communist regime.



Documents


LIVIU ŢĂRANU, The “New Trend” in Communist Romania’s Economic Policy. August 1953 143

After Stalin’s death in March 1953, major changes occurred in the economic policy of the countries in the Communist bloc. Romania was no exception. One can find the reasons why the authorities in Bucharest espoused the “new trend” in the summer of 1953 in two documents from the archives of the former Central Committee of the RCP (the enhanced report of the committee led by Miron Constantinescu and the shorthand report of the Politburo meeting when the report was amended) which are considered significant for the changes in the economic strategy of the Gheorghiu-Dej governance.

Liviu Ţăranu is an graduate of the Faculty of History , University „Al. I. Cuza” of Iaşi. Ph.D. student. Expert at the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives.


OVIDIU BOZGAN, DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, French Diplomacy and 1956 Romania 168

1956 was a milestone in the evolution of Communist states. Present-day historians find it interesting to see how a foreign observer perceived the Bucharest regime at that time. The article contains the synthesis-report of France’s minister to Bucharest, Pierre Francfort, on the situation in 1956 Romania. The French diplomat notes the “discreet way” the Gheorghiu-Dej regime conducted the destalinization process. The document comes from the Archives of France’s Foreign Ministry.

Ovidiu Bozgan is Ph.D. in history, Lecturer with the University of Bucharest, Faculty of History. He is the head of the Center of Church History, University of Bucharest. Recent work: Romania vs. Vatican, 2000.

Dan Cătănuş is an alumnus of the In-Depth Studies Programme by the History Department of the University of Bucharest; researcher with N.I.S.T.; Ph.D. student. Recent book: The Collectivization of Agriculture in Romania. The Repression, tom I, 1949-1953, 2004 (co-author).


OCTAVIAN ROSKE, The Collectivization of Agriculture. Total Repression, 1957-1962, XX 193

The documents continue the series of historical accounts of the final stage of collectivisation of agriculture between 1958 and 1962. The abuses are objectively reflected by documents from all the regions: Moldavia, Oltenia and Transylvania. In 1956, the search and sequestration policy was extended throughout the country.

Octavian Roske, Ph.D., is Scientific Secretary of the NIST and associate professor with the Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Bucharest. Recent books: The Collectivization of Agriculture in Romania. The Repression, vol. I, 1949-1953, 2004 (co-author); Repressive Mechanisms in Romania, 1945-1989. Biographical Dictionary, D-G, 2003 (co-ordinator).


ANA-MARIA CĂTĂNUŞ, Culture and Art at the Beginning of the Ceauşescu   Regime 202

On May 19, 1965 Nicolae Ceausescu, recently appointed First secretary of the party, was meeting with representatives of the literary and arts world, to tell them how he anticipated the development of art and culture. Without making any direct reference to the Dej epoch, Ceausescu hinted that he would maintain the liberal trend that had prevailed in the field of culture until he had come to power. Moreover, he proved willing to broaden the limits imposed in this sector. The concessions he announced could create the impression the regime was condoning a freedom of speech no one had hoped for before, yet the Communist leader made a point of what the party meant and how it expected the new line to be applied.

The party’s offer – limited freedom of artistic creation – was sanctioned into an official directive on the occasion of the 4th Congress of the RWP (9th of the RCP).

Ana-Maria Cătănuş is an assistant researcher with the N.I.S.T., alumnus of History Department of the University of Bucharest; Ph.D. student.


ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, Gheorghiu-Dej’s political heirs. An interpretation of Radio “Free Europe, 1965” 224

This article belongs with the set of documents addressing the first years of the regime headed by Nicolae Ceausescu, originating in the archives of Radio Free Europe and currently in the custody of the Open Society Archives in Budapest. 

This time the documentalists from the Munich-based radio station focus exclusively on the evolution of relations between Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej’s successors in the party and state leadership.

The text contains brief biographies of those who were identified as the chief communist leaders of Romania, as well as a membership list of the first Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party elected in July 1965, after the death of Gheorghiu-Dej. 

Alexandru-Murad Mironov is a assistant professor within History Department of the University of Bucharest; a Ph.D. student; assistant researcher with the NIST.



Biographical Dictionary


ADRIAN BRIŞCĂ, Marcel Băltărescu (1914-1991) 236

Former lawyer and war veteran Marcel Băltărescu was arrested in 1947, “because of his past and his anti-communist beliefs,” being imprisoned at Gherla until May 1, 1948.

On August 10, 1952 he was arrested gain, dealt an administrative sentence and sent to the Danube-Black Sea Canal, first at the labor camp of Gales and then at Peninsula. He was released on May 27, 1954 but he was not admitted to the Bar so he worked for a long time as a day laborer in constructions.

Adrian Brişcă took part in the anticommunist resistance. Since 1989 he has dedicated to the study of the partisan movement in Romania. Recent work: Rezistenţa armată din Banat (Enarmed Resistance in Banat), tom I, 1945-1949, NIST, 2004.


ALINA ILINCA, LIVIU MARIUS BEJENARU, Ion Eremia (1913-2004) 238

Gen. Ion Eremia joined the Communist party in 1942, when it was still an underground party. After the war he was appointed to higher and higher positions in the armed forces, but after 1953 his career faded and he gradually turned away from the party’s official policy.  Because of a memorandum sent to Gheorghiu-Dej after debating the matter with other former underground activists (Victor Dusa, Dumitru Petrescu, C. Agiu, etc.), he was ousted from the party in 1956, for “factional activity.” He was arrested in October 1956, for having tried to send to France for publication the novel Gulliver in the Land of Lies, in which he lashed at the Bucharest regime. Freed in 1964, rehabilitated in 1979, he was not taken back into the ranks of the party.

Alina Ilinca is an graduate of the History Department of the University of Bucharest;  Ph.D. student. Expert at the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives.

Liviu Marius Bejenaru is an graduate of the Faculty of History , University „Al. I. Cuza” of Iaşi. Ph.D. student. Expert at the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives.


Book Reviews


CRISTINA PĂIUŞAN, The greek-catholics under the communist rule. Introspection and historical controversial point… ...…………245

This is a review of Cristian Vasile’s book Between Vatican and Kremlin. The greek-catholics under the communist rule, Curtea Veche, Bucharest, 2003.

Cristina Păiuşan is an graduate of the History Department of the University of Bucharest;  Ph.D. student; Deputy Director with the European Fundation “Nicolae Titulescu”. Recent books: The Romanian Orthodox Church under the Communist Regime, tom I, 1945-1958, NIST, 2003 (co-author).


GHEORGHE NEACŞU, The year 1940 presented in historical documents 248

A review of Florica Dobre, Vasilica Manea and Lenuţa Nicolescu’s book The Romanian army from ultimatum to dictate. The year 1940. Documents, The Foundation of general Ştefan Guşă, Europa Nova, Bucharest, 2000.

Gheorghe Neacşu is a historian; recent books: 23 August 1944 in the Communist Archives, 200; Communist Ideology and Structures in Romania, 1920-1921, vol. III, 2001 (co-author).


CRISTINA ROMAN, Myths and realities in Southern Europe……………………..250

A review of Walter Kolarz’s book Myths and realities in Southern Europe, Polirom, Iaşi, 2003.

Cristina Roman is an graduate of the History Department of the University of Bucharest. Museum Curator with The Village Museum in Bucharest.


The NIST Library


MIHAI-VLADIMIR ILIESCU, Books  and Periodicals. Included in the NIST Collections 252



The NIST Agenda 254

The N.I.S.T. agenda describes the activity of the institute’s researchers during the first half of this year. This is a short review of participation in symposiums, round tables, book releases, openings of document exhibitions, where the participants discussed issues related to the access to documents from the communist period and the debunking of certain huge historical mystifications. The exchange of ideas was the great advantage of these encounters and the published works show the true value both of the organizational effort and of this serious scientific approach.



Authors 271


Contents. Summary. Contributors 281



© The National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, 2004.

 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism 


Volume XI          Number 40-41       3-4/2003



Editorial


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XXII 5

Radu Ciuceanu, president of the N.I.S.T. Scientific Council, also coordinates the research theme Comparative studies on the formation and activity of the anti-Bolshevik resistance organizations in Romania and Bessarabia, 1940-1989. Memoirs: The Seal of the Devil, 2002. Recent book: The Prison System in Romania, 1940-1962, 2002.



Studies


GHEORGHE BARBĂ, Solzhenitsyn and the Russian question 8

Solzhenitsyn’s role in the world, the place he has been assigned in Russian culture has already been praised in countless writings. He was said to represent “Russia’s hope”, to have “given us back the grandeur and sense of morality,” to be “the symbol of our epoch,” to have won recognition as “the Great Witness in the trial of communism;” likewise, it was said that he left an extraordinary mark on those living in the West.

A very correct and comprehensive characterization comes from the Montenegrin Milovan Djilas (1911-1995), another famous dissident from the ex-communist space: “Solzhenitsyn fills the vacuum created in the Russian culture and consciousness. He gave Russia back its soul, that soul which was revealed to the world by the likes of Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Chekhov and Gorki.”

Professor Gheorghe Barbă, Ph.D., a philologist and Slavic specialist focusing on Russian literature and culture, teaches at the University of Bucharest. Mikhail Sholokhov in the Romanian Literary Universe; A History of Ancient Russian Literature, 11th-17th Centuries; Lectures on Russian Literature and Romanian-Russian Literary Relations. Co author of several volumes such as: Contemporary Soviet Prose; Pushkin in the Romanian Cultural Context; The Song of Igor’s Campaign.


DUMITRU ŞANDRU, The Moscow conference of December 1945 and

 its impact on Romania 17

Western historians agree, as Romanian ones do, that in Moscow, insofar as Romania was concerned, Britain and the US yielded to the Soviet Union. Consequently, what was decided in Moscow by the foreign ministers of the three major powers did not have a favourable impact on events in Romania. Actually, there was no way those decisions could favour Romania since they were implemented under Vyshinsky’s direct patronage. What they did, however, was temper in part, and for a brief period, the antidemocratic zeal of the Romanian communists, who soon after reverted to their actions against the Opposition parties.

Dumitru Şandru, Ph.D., historian, is a Professor with the “Ştefan cel Mare” University in Suceava. Recent work: The 1945 Agrarian Reform in Romania, 2000.


ADELINA ŞTEFAN, The Stakhanovite in Romania of the 1950s: between

propaganda and economic realities 33

In Romania, the campaign to impose Stakhanovism began in 1945 with a number of articles in the central press. Labour unions played the most important role in spreading it. Party orders were that the work methods successfully applied in the USSR should be made known to as many people as possible. The aim was to make the Stakhanovite a role model. The process of promoting Stakhanovism implied not only the spreading of images but also of values society had to assume. 

It didn’t take the Establishment long to impose the “new-type values” – very generous but inconsistent ideas – and, concurrently, its control over society at large. Stakhanovism became a method of reforming people in the spirit of the goals the regime pursued: control, order, discipline and, last but not least, a compliant role model.

Adelina Ştefan is a M.A. student; graduate from University of Bucharest, Faculty of History


BRÂNDUŞA COSTACHE, Specialization and cooperation.

Agriculture within COMECON. 1954-1965 40

At COMECON level, agricultural issues grew in importance in step with the interest in new forms of economic cooperation. The article presents the stands of the COMECON countries versus the USSR-proposed agricultural policies, insisting on the context that determined Romania to reject the proposals for agricultural specialization in 1956-1965.

Brânduşa Costache – Graduate from University of Bucharest, Faculty of History; Ph.D. student.


CRISTIAN VASILE, The Intelligence Network of the Securitate in

Theological Schools in the Late ‘70s and Early ‘80s 47

The membership of the Romanian Orthodox Church in the World Council of Churches as of 1961 favoured the articulation of an ecclesiastical diplomacy that often accompanied Nicolae Ceausescu’s maverick foreign policy. This church diplomacy also integrated priest-teachers that had been political detainees. Late in the ‘70s, there occurred a rise in the number of those who refused to collaborate with the communist regime. Father Gheorghe Calciu-Dumitreasa, imprisoned between 1979 and 1984, and the priests who taught at the Theological Institute of Alba Iulia were among the opponents of the regime that the Securitate kept under scrutiny and incriminated.

Cristian Vasile is a Ph. D. student; assistant researcher with the “Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History.


AMY HAMPARTUMIAN, The Relationship between Britain and Romania during the rule of Nicolae Ceausescu, 1966-1989 54

An abridged version of Amy Hampartumian’s final dissertation at the University of London, this text describes how the relations between the UK and socialist Romania developed at the time of Ceausescu’s dictatorship.

The author surveys these relations from their peak in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, when the British monarchy honored the Romanian leader with the highest awards for his anti-Soviet stance, up to the moment when blame was cast on the communist regime for its human rights abuses in the ‘80s. In doing so Hampartumian attempts to make out the interests behind those political stands.

Using sources the Romanian readership can hardly access – the British press, diplomatic documents of the Foreign Office in London – the work could be of major interest to students of both the British foreign policy towards the communist countries and communist Romania’s policy in relation to the West.

Amy Hampartumian is BA. with honours in History and Social Science, March 2002, Great Britain.


FLORIN ABRAHAM, Central Europe at the end of the Cold War 76

Central Europe, defined as a geographical space between the Elbe, the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, between the German world and the Russian one, shows several significant characteristics. First comes its geopolitical frailty in relation to neighbours having repeatedly manifested hegemonic or imperial tendencies. It was used as a buffer zone, a space of compensatory understandings, experimental space, and battlefield or to attract occasional allies. This versatility of the space also explains the many ways it has been called: Central Europe, including Germany in the interwar period, Eastern Europe during the Cold War, “transition states” after the fall of communism, or New Europe as significant rifts emerged between America, on the one hand and France and Germany, on the other, on how international issues should be solved.

Florin Abraham - Assistant-researcher with NIST; graduate of the In-Depth Study Program of the Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj; Ph.D. student.


Documents


ANA-MARIA LASCU, The release of the social-democrats from

communist prisons, 1956 92

The Romanian social-democrats were released from jail under Decree no. 206/April 24, 1956. The gesture of the Romanian leadership fell in line with a behaviour implying imitation of the Soviet policy, which the Bucharest regime had espoused as soon as it had taken office. The decision to set free the social-democrats was consonant with the new directives Khruschev was issuing in Moscow, at the 20th CPSU Congress, at the height of a peaceful coexistence policy. The document is the transcript of a shorthand report of the debates conducted on April 25, 1956 by several representatives of the RWP leading bodies and the social-democrat Romulus Dan, recently out of prison. 

Ana-Maria Lascu is an assistant researcher with the NIST. BA, 2002, History Department of the University of Bucharest.


FLORENTIN BREAZU, 1956 as seen by the Bucharest Regional Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior 105

The Report of the Bucharest Regional Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior, published by Florentin Breazu, shows how the Romanian repression machinery applied the instructions from the capital of the communist camp, without reforming or in any way altering its functioning. The Securitate people were still focusing on repression measures while also insisting on the need for a closer cooperation with the party apparatus.

Florentin Breazu is graduate from University of Bucharest, archivist with Giurgiu National Archives.


OCTAVIAN ROSKE, The Collectivization of Agriculture. Total Repression, 1957-1962, XIX 120

The documents continue the series of historical accounts of the final stage of collectivisation of agriculture between 1958 and 1962. The abuses are objectively reflected by documents from all the regions: Moldavia, Oltenia and Transylvania. In 1956, the search and sequestration policy was extended throughout the country.

Octavian Roske, Ph.D., is Scientific Secretary of the NIST and associate professor with the Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Bucharest. Recent books: The Collectivisation of Agriculture in Romania. The Political Dimension, 1949-1953, 2000 (co-author); Repressive Mechanisms in Romania, 1945-1989. Biographical Dictionary, A-C, 2001 (coordinator).


MIHAELA CRISTINA VERZEA, Desovietization of Romanian culture

at the beginning of the seventh decade, II 127

The desovietization process that started in the early ‘60s and the assertion of an independent attitude versus the Soviet Union were a fact. On September 15, 1963, the Maxim Gorki Russian-Language Institute, a Russophilic body, was dissolved, actually being included in the Institute of Foreign Languages and Literatures attached to Bucharest University. The agenda of the Political Bureau of the CC of the RWP at the end of August – beginning of September 1963 included certain organizational changes in the study of foreign languages at university level, such as abolishing the obligation of learning Russian, as of academic year 1963-1964.

Mihaela Cristina Verzea graduated from the advanced studies programme “Romania in the 20th Century.” Museum curator at the National History Museum of Romania, Contemporary History section. Ph.D. student at of the University of Bucharest. Recent work: Politics Structures in Central Europe and South-Eastern Europe, 2003 (co-author)


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, Romania and the Soviet-Chinese schism, VII. The plenum of April 15-22, 1964 145

At the end of the ‘50s, Romania was striving to achieve a more active international position. Political and economic consolidation of the regime at home seemed to justify such a tendency. Romania’s efforts to further its own interests began being construed internationally as a long-term policy and not a circumstantial one. Concurrently, the worsening Soviet-Chinese conflict provided a window of opportunity not to be neglected. The real standtaking came during the plenary meeting of the CC of the Romanian Workers Party in April 1964, later to materialize in a document recorded in history as the Declaration of April 1964. According to RWP leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, this document was designed to express publicly “our party’s stand on the core issues of the international communist and worker movement, which however should indicate clearly that we do not take up polemics either on the side of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union or on the side of the Chinese Communist Party.”

Dan Cătănuş is an alumnus of the In-Depth Studies Programme by the History Department of the University of Bucharest; researcher with N.I.S.T. Recent books: Failed De-Stalinization. Backstage Aspects of the Miron Constantinescu and Iosif Chisinevschi Case, 1956-1961, 2001 (co-author); The Cadrilater. Cominternist Ideology and Bulgarian Irredentism, 2001.


ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, Gheorghiu-Dej’s political heirs. An interpretation of Radio “Free Europe, 1965” 175

This article belongs with the set of documents addressing the first years of the regime headed by Nicolae Ceausescu, originating in the archives of Radio Free Europe and currently in the custody of the Open Society Archives in Budapest. 

This time the documentalists from the Munich-based radio station focus exclusively on the evolution of relations between Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej’s successors in the party and state leadership.

The text contains brief biographies of those who were identified as the chief communist leaders of Romania, as well as a membership list of the first Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party elected in July 1965, after the death of Gheorghiu-Dej. 

Alexandru-Murad Mironov is a junior assistant professor with the History Department of the University of Bucharest; a Ph.D. student; assistant researcher with the NIST.


DANIEL BARBU, RADU CIUCEANU, OCTAVIAN ROSKE, Will Survive Bucharest untill 1984?, II 200

The authors present a document secretly carried out and sent for broadcasting to the Free Europe radio station in mid-’80s, pointing out the abuses committed by the communist authorities against the old architecture of Bucharest. 

Daniel Barbu is an University Professor with the Faculty of Political Science, University of Bucharest. Recent book: Bizanţ versus Bizanţ, 2001.


Biographical Dictionary


OVIDIU BOZGAN, Aron Marton, 1896-1980 212

The study of anticommunist resistance in Romania cannot deal exclusively with the manifestations of the majority ethnic group. Regrettably, the current tendency, which favours parallel histories written by members of the different ethnic groups living in Romania, implacably leads to a ghettoization of the survey of the communist past. Of course, there are explanations, running from linguistic barriers to ethnic prejudice. Such is the case of Roman-Catholic Bishop of Alba Iulia, Aron Marton, a prominent personality of Catholicism in Romania. Bishop Aron Marton was not a Romanian patriot, some of his statements being such as to indicate the contrary; nevertheless his opposition to the communist regime, to its policy of curtailing religious freedom and the freedom of conscience assign him to the same camp joined tacitly or publicly by most citizens of communist Romania.

Ovidiu Bozgan – Lecturer with the University of Bucharest, Faculty of History. He is the head of the Center of Church History, University of Bucharest. Recent work: Romania vs. Vatican, 2000.


CORNEL CONSTANTIN ILIE, Octav Livezeanu, 1902-1975 220

Octav Livezeanu was able to build a political career under the communist regime, on the basis of the activity he had conducted as a journalist and politician in the interwar period and during World War II. A former member of the National Peasant Party, following the NPP’s fusion with the Peasant Party, he joined Mihai Ralea’s Socialist Peasant Party. During World War II, his activity was a low-profile one, Livezeanu being arrested on two occasions (January 1942 and February 1943) for “defeatist propaganda and news damaging the national security.” Livezeanu had a way of approaching the communists, and that afforded him a rapid rise in his political career.

Cornel Constantin Ilie is graduate from History Department of the University of Bucharest. MA, 2003. He teaches History.


Book Reviews


OVIDIU BOZGAN, France’s East-European relations, 1945-1989… ...…………223

This is a review of Thomas Schreiber’s book Les actions de la France à l’Est ou les absences de Marianne, L’Harmattan, Paris, 2000.


ALINA TUDOR PAVELESCU, Le communisme comme miroir tendu

a la France 230

A review of Marc Lazar’s book Le communisme, une passion française, Perrin, Paris, 2002.

Alina Tudor is Ph.D. student at University of Bucharest. Researcher at the National Archives of Romania; recent books: The Romanian Communist Party during the Second World War, National Archives of Romania, Bucharest, 2003.



GHEORGHE NEACŞU, Romania between 1939 and 1944 and

its relations with Germany ………………………………………………………….. 233

A review of the book Relatiile militare romano-germane, 1939-1940. Documente (Romanian German Military Relations, 1939-1940. Documents), published by the Stefan Gusa Foundation with Europa Nova Publishers, Bucharest, 2000.

Gheorghe Neacşu is a historian; recent books: 23 August 1944 in the Communist Archives, 200; Communist Ideology and Structures in Romania, 1920-1921, vol. III, 2001 (co-author).


ALEXANDRU-ALIN SPÂNU, SSI on the Eastern front……………………………235

A review of Cristian Troncota’s book Glorie si tragedii. Momente din istoria Serviciilor de informatii si contrainformatii romane pe Frontul de Est (1941-1944) (Glory and Tragedy. Moments in the History of Romanian Intelligence and Counterintelligence Services on the Eastern Front, 1941-1944).

Alexandru-Alin Spânu is an alumnus of the In-Depth Studies Programme by the History Department of the University of Bucharest.


ALIN NIŢU, Stalin Unknown 238

A review of Jores Medvedev and Roy Medvedev’s book Neizvestnîi Stalin, Folio, Moscow, 2002.

Alin Niţu is graduated in History at the University of Bucharest; master student at Russian University “Friendship of the People” in Moscow.


VICTOR CRISTIAN GOJINESCU, The black book of Romanian torturers 242

A review of Doina Jela’s book Lexiconul negru. Unelte ale represiunii comuniste (Black Lexicon. Tools of the Communist Repression), Humanitas, Bucharest, 2001, 344 p.

Victor Cristian Gojinescu is assistant researcher with the NIST. Ph.D. student at University “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” of Iaşi.

The NIST Library


MIHAI-VLADIMIR ILIESCU, Books  and Periodicals. Included in the NIST Collections 245



The NIST Agenda 247

The N.I.S.T. agenda describes the activity of the institute’s researchers during the first half of this year. This is a short review of participation in symposiums, round tables, book releases, openings of document exhibitions, where the participants discussed issues related to the access to documents from the communist period and the debunking of certain huge historical mystifications. The exchange of ideas was the great advantage of these encounters and the published works show the true value both of the organizational effort and of this serious scientific approach.



Authors 255


Contents. Summary. Contributors 265



© The National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, 2003.

 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism 


Volume X          Number 36-37     3-4/2002



Editorial


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XX    5

Radu Ciuceanu, president of the N.I.S.T. Scientific Council, also coordinates the research theme Comparative studies on the formation and activity of the anti-Bolshevik resistance organizations in Romania and Bessarabia, 1940-1989. Memoirs: The Seal of the Devil, 2002. Recent book: The Prison System in Romania, 1940-1962, 2002.



Studies


GHEORGHE NEACŞU, Some data on the events of August 1944 9

Given the importance of the political act of August 23, 1944 for Romania’s subsequent evolution, partisan attitudes have often marked its analysis. Thus, it is either the political parties and the King or the communists that appear as having initiated that move. Resorting to documents from the archives of the former Institute of Historical and Social-Political Studies, this article tries to pinpoint the role and the relations established between the forces that set in motion the events of August 1944.

Gheorghe Neacşu is a historian; recent books: 23 August 1944 in the Communist Archives, 200; Communist Ideology and Structures in Romania, 1920-1921, vol. III, 2001 (co-author).


DUMITRU ŞANDRU, Hungarian ethnics return 

to Romania after August 23, 1944 20

The return to Transylvania of Hungarian ethnics who had left the country was quite an intense process, notably in the case of those who had fled illegally during the end-period of WW2. Their return was rendered possible by the support the Soviets gave the former fugitives and by the goodwill shown by the local communist authorities, as a compensation for the Hungarians’ massive adherence to the Communist party.

Dumitru Şandru, Ph.D., historian, is a Professor with the “Dunărea de Jos” University in Galaţi. Recent work: The 1945 Agrarian Reform in Romania, 2000.


OANA ILIE, The propaganda of political trials under the communist regime, 1945-1953. 37

A political dictionary defines the term “propaganda” as “systematic action to spread a doctrine or an opinion in order to make them known and determine the people to accept them, based not only on facts but also on emotional aspects.” Unlike the propaganda of democratic regimes, that of totalitarian regimes is characterized by the government’s monopoly over it as well as by the avowed goal of communist propaganda – to shape a new man.

Although subjectivism is not excluded, the fragmentary recollections presented by the author reveal an universe of terror that the regime presented as a victory of the new government: the bringing to justice of war criminals. If in the beginning (1945, 1946) the persons involved were well known, in time the trials came to be staged for ordinary people, arrested for minor offences.

Oana Ilie is a Museum curator at the National Museum of History.


LIVIU ŢĂRANU, The socialist economy and the problems of Romania’s economic modernization, 1948-1965 50

The platform of the communists who came to power was geared to the idea of economic advancement based on industrialization. Their economic model was the Soviet one, which was actually implemented with the help of Soviet advisers. The first step in the new program was to nationalize all production means, the state taking over the whole production and distribution of goods and services. The second economic move consisted in the switch to a planned economy, as of 1949. Initially the planning was to be done for only one year, the Romanian communists considering that a five-year plan was not yet possible. Beginning in 1953, a different kind of economic policy was espoused, with negotiations starting with a view to dismantling the sovroms. The following decade, 1955-1965, was marked by consistent economic growth – though quality did not improve – based on domestic resources, modernization in agriculture and the building of industries using the latest technologies bought from the West.

Liviu Ţăranu is an graduate of the Faculty of History , University „Al. I. Cuza” of Iaşi. Ph.D. student. Expert at the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives.


ALEXANDR STYKALIN, The Romanian Party Leadership and the Fate of Imre Nagy 69

On November 2, 1956 Nikita Khrushchev secretly met in Bucharest with the leaders of Romania, Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia to inform them of the Soviet plans to overthrow the Imre Nagy government. The Romanians suggested that their troops should also participate in the military operation. Romania was considered by the Soviets a more reliable allied than any other Socialist country. Turning into an active advocate and even participant of the violence over the former Hungarian Prime Minister, the Romanian Party leader Gheorghiu-Dej did more than merely submitted himself to the order of “elder brother”, he tried to derive maximum benefit from the events in the neighbor country. Mortally frightened by the Hungarian revolt, the Romanian communists succeeded in using it in the interests of strengthening their power.

Alexandr Stykalin held a PhD in history. Reasercher with the Slavistic Institute, Academy of Sciences, Russian Federation. 


LOREDANA NECULA, Preliminaries to the “Daciada” national contest, 1971-1976 77

In the late 1970s, a new ideological-propagandistic invention was making its way in this country: the “Daciada great national contest – a source of good health, vigour, and high spirits.” This article dwells on some of the events instrumental in preparing the “Daciada.” It is fit here to show that mass sports had existed long before the “Daciada.” Moreover, neither the concept of mass sports nor the Daciada-like manifestations were Romanian inventions, but were taken over from the Soviet model.

Loredana Nicula has graduated from the Faculty of History, Bucharest University; currently pursuing a master’s degree from the Central European University in Budapest.


FLORIAN BANU, Joining the anticommunist armed resistance – individual and collective motivations 85

Resistance to communism was fuelled from the start by the firm belief that the situation Romania had to cope with was transient and that the West, the US in particular, would not condone the Soviet empire’s expansion over half of Europe. Though unaware of what the communist regime was really about, people instinctively rejected the new establishment Moscow had helped to power. The resistance groups mainly pursued to remove the communist regime. But most of them knew that by themselves they would never be able to overthrow the regime. Despite the longevity of certain resistance pockets and the large number of “subversive organizations” identified by the Securitate, at no moment did the resistance movement endanger the communist regime in Romania.

The resistance movement in Romania needs to be approached and re-evaluated responsibly, while avoiding exaggeration of any kind and appraising the various groups according to strict standards.

Florian Banu is an alumnus of the “Lower Danube” University of Galaţi. PhD in history. Expert at the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives.



The Rethoric of the Image


ADIRAN BRIŞCĂ, Radu Bercea and the Romanian gulag. A pictorial      autobiography 101

Radu Bercea was 20 and a senior high school student when he was arrested, together with a group of schoolmates, for having been part of a subversive anticommunist organization. It happened on April 30, 1959.

He was sentenced to 20 years hard labour, and he served 5 years in the labour camps of the Danube Delta. The horrors experienced there inspired the drawings reproduced here, which are part of an exhibition hosted in August 2002 by the community center in Campulung Moldovenesc, an exhibition that illustrates the artist’s life in detention.

Adrian Brişcă took part in the anticommunist resistance. Since 1989 he has dedicated to the study of the partisan movement in Romania. Recent work: Armed Resistance in Bukovina, 1950-1952, vol. II, 2000.



Documents


OVIDIU BOZGAN, DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, 1948 Romania in the focus of French diplomacy 114

On April 11, 1949 the French Legation in Bucharest sent back home a report entitled “One year of people’s democracy in Romania, December 30, 1947 – January 1, 1949.” The report had been drafted by Philippe de Luze, a Legation adviser, and was based on information regarding the situation in Romania, as perceived by French diplomats in 1948. The political, economic and cultural developments in Romania represented just the beginning in the application of the Soviet model. Quoting the title of an article published in Scanteia of October 14, 1948  (“Love for the USSR is the cornerstone of patriotism”), the French diplomat sadly remarked, “Romania’s fate was no longer in the hands of its inhabitants.”

Ovidiu Bozgan is lecturer with the University of Bucharest, Faculty of History. He is the head of the Center of Church History, University of Bucharest. Recent book: Romania vs. Vatican, 2000.

Dan Cătănuş is an alumnus of the In-Depth Studies Programme by the History Department of the University of Bucharest; researcher with N.I.S.T. Recent books: Failed De-Stalinization. Backstage Aspects of the Miron Constantinescu and Iosif Chisinevschi Case, 1956-1961, 2001 (co-author); The Cadrilater. Cominternist Ideology and Bulgarian Irredentism, 2001.


VASILE BUGA, The Romanian-Soviet talks of January-February 1954 140

The difficulties that confronted Romania in 1953 (because of an erroneous industrial and agrarian policy, of excessive imports of military equipment, costly investment projects above the country’s economic possibilities, such as the Danube-Black Sea Canal) determined the Romanian government to ask the Soviets for a loan of about 400 million rubles.

Vasile Buga published documents that rendered the talks and the atmosphere at the meeting between the two party and state leaderships. The topics debated suggest that the Soviets had kept abreast of economic and social developments in Romania, as well as of many other problems such as the preparations and the progress of the Pătrăşcanu trial. The Kremlin leaders tacitly accepted the measures taken by the Romanian leaders, allowing the latter to decide on the final verdict, which proved a crime since even the Soviets had begun reviewing certain Stalinist trials involving communist activists.

Vasile Buga, PhD in history, is a collaborator of the Romanian-Russian Joint History Commission.


OCTAVIAN ROSKE, The Collectivization of Agriculture. Total Repression, 1957-1962, XVIII 156

The documents continue the series of historical accounts of the final stage of collectivisation of agriculture between 1958 and 1962. The abuses are objectively reflected by documents from all the regions: Moldavia, Oltenia and Transylvania. In 1956, the search and sequestration policy was extended throughout the country.

Octavian Roske, Ph.D., is Scientific Secretary of the NIST and associate professor with the Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Bucharest. Recent books: The Collectivisation of Agriculture in Romania. The Political Dimension, 1949-1953, 2000 (co-author); Repressive Mechanisms in Romania, 1945-1989. Biographical Dictionary, A-C, 2001 (coordinator).

MIHAELA CRISTINA VERZEA, The desovietization of Romanian culture in the early seventh decade, I 167

After March 6, 1945, Sovietization spread from the socio-political and economic sector to the cultural one as well. The newly created institutional framework included: the Romanian Association for Closer Ties with the Soviet Union (ARLUS), the “Russian Book” publishing house and bookstore (1946), the Institute of Romanian-Soviet Studies (1947), the Romanian-Russian Museum (1948) and the “Maxim Gorki” Russian Language Institute (1948).

In the early seventh decade, a distancing from the Soviet Union determined a review of the relations with the big neighbour in the East. The text reproduces two documents about the desovietization process in Romania. Interesting aspects are revealed about the closing of two institutions that had played a major role in the Sovietization of Romanian culture. The formula the communist elite adopted was very artful, i.e. it specified not the uselessness of certain bodies but the overlapping of their activity with that of other similar institutions.

Mihaela Cristina Verzea graduated from the advanced studies programme “Romania in the 20th Century.” Museum curator at the National History Museum of Romania, Contemporary History section.


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, Romania and the Sino-Soviet rift, VI. Conclusions after N.S. Khrushchev’s last visit to Bucharest, 1963 172

In June 1963, Bucharest hosted Khrushchev’s last Romanian-Soviet summit. Tenser Romanian-Soviet relations and the growing crisis in the international communist movement provided the background for the talks which addressed issues ranging from economic integration within COMECON, through the situation related to the Iron Gates hydro-electric station, the issue of the Soviet agents, to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and the relations with China and Yugoslavia.

Dan Cătănuş is an alumnus of the In-Depth Studies Programme by the History Department of the University of Bucharest; researcher with N.I.S.T. Recent books: Failed De-Stalinization. Backstage Aspects of the Miron Constantinescu and Iosif Chisinevschi Case, 1956-1961, 2001 (co-author); The Cadrilater. Cominternist Ideology and Bulgarian Irredentism, 2001.


MIOARA ANTON, The Limits of Sovereignty. Nicolae Ceauşescu’s visit to Moscow, September 1965, I 206

In the early 60s Romanian-Soviet relations entered a new stage, when the Romanian communists refused to accept subordination to the Soviets. In September 1965 the new Bucharest team traveled to Moscow, on a so-called confirmation visit, with an agenda that caused bewilderment and even irritation with the Soviets. The Romanian delegation mainly asked for clarification of certain political and economic issues (returning of Romania’s treasury and the party archives, the relations within the Warsaw Treaty, etc.).

As the visit drew to an end, the Soviet leadership promised that the “subjectivism” of the Khrushchev era would be dumped as far as bilateral relations were concerned. But Bucharest wanted firm Soviet guarantees that equality relations would be maintained in the spirit of the April 1964 Declaration.

Mioara Anton is a Ph.D. student; researcher with the “Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History.


ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, Away from Moscow. The foreign policy of the Ceauşescu regime, 1965-1967 228

When Ceauşescu came to power, the Romanian communist regime’s distancing from the “big brother” in the East – a move initiated in the early 60s by the then first secretary of the communist party, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej – became increasingly obvious, at least at a declarative level. The new leader in Romania was careful enough to gradually dissociate from everything that could have identified him with the old party, which Romanian public opinion perceived exclusively as an offshoot of the Soviet authorities. Aware of its chronic lack of legitimacy, the socialist regime began playing more and more insistently on the national sentiment of the population, hoping for reconciliation with the society. Nothing could be more popular in the time’s Romania than anti-Soviet rhetoric.

This did not go unnoticed abroad either, as attested also by the two analyses presented in this issue of Totalitarianism Archives, made by J.F. Brown and A. Ross Johnson from Radio Free Europe Research, the documentation section of Radio Free Europe. The texts in this issue come from the Open Society Archives in Budapest.

Alexandru-Murad Mironov is a junior assistant professor with the History Department of the University of Bucharest; a Ph.D. student; assistant researcher with the NIST.


GABRIELA DUMITRESCU, Literature and politics. Debates at the Writers Union, 1975, III 255

The “cultural revolution” was maybe the most difficult period of the Ceauşescu era. The communists tried to replace the universal principles governing literary creation with party directives. Everything had to follow the drift of the “revolution,” literature and the other arts being expected to help shape the awareness of socialist-type “new man.”

Starting from Ioan Petrovici’s view that “culture alone can create the best conditions for a sincere democracy and genuine equality,” we wish to facilitate, by publishing this document, a more accurate image of an era that ended not too long ago. The author reproduces the shorthand report of the meeting of the Bureau of the Writers Union of the Socialist Republic of Romania, October 15, 1975.

Gabriela Dumitrescu is a bibliographer, head of section at the Manuscripts and Rare Books Cabinet of the Romanian Academy Library. Volumes recently published: Constantin Radulescu-Motru, Diary. 1946-1956, 2001; Constantin Radulescu-Motru, Dialectics, 2002.



Biographical Dictionary


ALEXANDRU-ALIN SPÂNU, TUDOR STOMFF, Constantin Tobescu (1893-1951) 270

Gen. Constantin Tobescu was one of the prominent officers of the Romanian army. His participation in the Second Balkan War and in WWI was remarkable and determined his appointment as head of the Gendarmerie Service of the General Inspectorate of the Gendarmerie (1940) and his promotion to brigadier general (1943). Arrested in 1944, subjected to an inquiry in the USSR and sentenced to 10 years in prison, Gen. Constantin Tobescu died in 1951.

Alin Alexandru Spânu is an alumnus of the In-Depth Studies Programme by the History Department of the University of Bucharest.

Tudor Stomff is an engineering professional and the grandson of Gen. Tobescu.


ADRIAN BRIŞCĂ, Ioan-Liviu Vucu (1913-1969?) 274

Ioan-Liviu Vucu participated in WWII, being present on the Eastern front as a military doctor. After the communist takeover, his Legionary past – in 1935 he had joined the Legionary Movement – determined the political police to keep an eye on him. In 1948/1949 he opted for resistance and became the leader of a partisan group. Arrested by the Securitate troops in 1952, Ioan-Liviu Vucu was sentenced in 1953 to many years in prison.



Book Reviews


FLORIN, CONSTANTINIU, Once again about “Pătrăşcanu Case”…...…………277

The author reviews Lavinia Betea’s book Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu. The Death of a communist leader, Humanitas, Bucharest, 2001, 429 p.

Florin Constantiniu is a Ph.D.; member of Romanian Academy

DANA BELDIMAN, Once again about rebelion. January 1941 mirrored in foreign documents…………………………………………………………………………….. 280

The author reviews Ottmar Traşcă and Ana-Maria Stan’s book The Legionary rebellion mirrored in foreign archives (German, Hungarian, French), Albatros Publishers, Bucharest, 2002, 477 p., 4 illustrations.

Dana Beldiman is Ph.D.; researcher with the NIST.

ADELINA ŞTEFAN, The evolution of Romanian literature under communism: theory and practice……………………………………………………………………………284

We publish a review of Anneli Ute Gabanyi’s book Literature and politics in Romania after 1945, Romanian Cultural Foundation Publishers, Bucharest, 2001, translated by Irina Cristescu.

Adelina Ştefan is a M.A. student; graduate from University of Bucharest, Faculty of History


The NIST Library


MIHAI-VLADIMIR ILIESCU, Books  and Periodicals. Included in the NIST Collections 286



The NIST Agenda 288

The N.I.S.T. agenda describes the activity of the institute’s researchers during the first half of this year. This is a short review of participation in symposiums, round tables, book releases, openings of document exhibitions, where the participants discussed issues related to the access to documents from the communist period and the debunking of certain huge historical mystifications. The exchange of ideas was the great advantage of these encounters and the published works show the true value both of the organizational effort and of this serious scientific approach.



Universitas 291



Authors 293


Contents. Summary. Contributors 296



© National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, 2002.

 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism 


Volume IX          Number 32-33    3-4/2001



Editorial


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XX    5

Radu Ciuceanu, president of the N.I.S.T. Scientific Council, also coordinates the research theme Comparative studies on the formation and activity of the anti-Bolshevik resistance organizations in Romania and Bessarabia, 1940-1989. Memoirs: The Seal of the Devil, 2002. Recent book: The Prison System in Romania, 1940-1962, 2002.


Studies


DANA BELDIMAN, The Romanian Armed Forces and the Right-wing and Extreme Right-wing Movements, 1921-1937 11

The objective approach of the relations established between the institution of the Armed Forces and the right-wing and extreme right-wing movements could make a necessary contribution to reconsidering certain events and phenomena that occurred over 1921-1937. Mention should be made that the Armed Forces as an institution – whatever the personal beliefs of their members – fulfilled their duty as established by the laws and regulations in force at the time. 

Dana Beldiman, Ph.D., is a researcher with the NIST. Recent work:  The Army and the Iron Guard, 2002.


ALIN NIŢU, The Soviet Purges in the ’30s. A Bibliographical Approach 21

The author focused on specialized literature dedicated to the Great Terror era of the Stalinist regime in an effort to overview the multitude of historical approaches concerning the general history of the USSR. 

Alin Niţu is graduated in History at the University of Bucharest; master student at Russian University “Friendship of the People” in Moscow.


LAURA SECRIERU, The Spanish Exile of Carol II and its Diplomatic Implications. 38

Having abdicated in favour of his son on September 6, 1940, Carol II left Romania for Portugal. Between September 12, 1940 and March 5, 1941, Carol was “retained’ in Spain, upon pressure from the Romanian authorities. This study analyses the diplomatic context of the former king’s Spanish exile, a period Carol, in his memoirs, described as the darkest after he had given up the throne. 

Laura Secrieru is master student at University of Bucharest.


DUMITRU ŞANDRU, Arrests in Romania in the first half of 1947 47

The text reveals how, in the first years of the totalitarian regime, the communists got rid of the political enemies of their party, therefore of everyone that had a different political hue. Particular attention is given to identifying the “legal” reasons, invented overnight in order to maintain a façade of legality (pluralist Romania still existed, though increasingly deprived of content), on which the arrests were based.

Dumitru Şandru, Ph.D., historian, is a Professor with the “Dunărea de Jos” University in Galaţi. Recent work: The 1945 Agrarian Reform in Romania, 2000.


MIHAELA CRISTINA VERZEA, The State-Party. A Comparative Analysis of the Constitutions of the Communist Regime in Romania 59

Under the communist regime, Romanian society “benefited” by the provisions of three constitutions – those of 1948, 1952 and 1965. Though allegedly submitted to debate by the masses of people, those fundamental laws mirrored not the will of the entire Romanian society but the will of a single political party, the communist party, which had arrogated all the powers of the state, holding an absolute monopoly over decision-making. The democratic provisions were applied only in part. Subordination of the state bodies was accompanied also by subordination of economic affairs and, implicitly, by a total enslavement of the individual.

Mihaela Cristina Verzea graduated from the advanced studies programme “Romania in the 20th Century.” Museum curator at the National History Museum of Romania, Contemporary History section.


OANA ILIE, The Danube-Black Sea Canal in the Literature of 1949-1953 80

The building of the Danube-Black Sea Canal had full propaganda support since its start in 1949. The literature of the Communist regime excelled at publicizing the favorable aspects of this huge Stalinist building site, emphasizing mostly its would-be economic and educational virtues, which appeared much lesser after Stalin’s death in 1953. 

Oana Ilie is a Museum curator at the National History Museum of Romania.


CRISTIAN VASILE, An Undergroud Survival: the Romanian Greek Catholic Church in the 1950’s 97

After December 1, 1948 the Romanian Greek Catholic Church was banned and in the 1950’s many of its clergy were injailed under the pretext of political offences or even “spying activity”, but their only “fault” was the fidelity for the old confession. The Communist authorities tried to break the Greek Catholic faithful’s resistance even through the agency of absurd measures: the removal of the Romanian language from the Transylvanian Catholic Latin-rite churches. This paper emphasizes the activity of Ioan Ploscaru and Ioan Chertes, two of the bishops ordained in secret who contributed together with the underground clergy to the survival of the forbidden Church. 

Cristian Vasile is a Ph. D. student; assistant researcher with the “Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History.


CRISTIAN TRONCOTĂ, “The New Policy” in the Secret Services of the Romanian Communist Regime, 1965-1989 112

The Securitate was mainly a reppressive institution created to totally and radically transform the Romanian society, relying on antidemocratic methods. Gradually, from traditional methods to strategies of manipulating people and control through terror simulation, the Securitate succeeded in creating the image of an omnipresent, omnipotent repressive institution. 

Cristian Troncotă held a Ph. D. in military history and he is an university lecturer professor at the National Intelligence Institute. Recent work: The History of the Romanian Secret Services. From Cuza to Ceauşescu, 1999.


EVANTIA BOZGAN, OVIDIU BOZGAN, The Long Wait of an Orthodox Bishop. About the Life and Work of Antim Nica 134

Survival and the collaboration between the Romanian Orthodox Church and the communist authorities has been one of the main subjects of research after 1990. The present biographical study, devoted to the life and work of one of the Orthodox prelates during the dictatorship, Antim Nica, attempts to render the atmosphere in the first decades of the communist totalitarianism, with emphasis on how difficult it was for clerics to survive in those times. Antim Nica began his ecclesiastical career during the military dictatorship (which doomed him in the eyes of the regime that followed), but managed to remain in the religious leadership at the cost of compromise. With all the many proofs of loyalty, the regime however assigned him only much later a bishop’s seat. In his new position, Antim Nica made no concession to administrative claims.

Evantia Bozgan is a History teacher. 

Ovidiu Bozgan is lecturer with the University of Bucharest, Faculty of History. He is the head of the Center of Church History, University of Bucharest. Recent book: Romania vs. Vatican, 2000.


Documents


ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, Rewards for Loyal Service: Writers’ Incomes under the Communist Regime 149

The article addresses the issue of material rewards granted by the communist regime, through the agency of an institution designed to exert control over literature – the Writers Union of the Romanian People’s Republic, to literati willing to serve the political project of the totalitarian party. The value of these rewards was sometimes huge (100 times the salary of a worker). The authorities knew how to repay their “friends.” 

Alexandru-Murad Mironov is a junior assistant professor with the History Department of the University of Bucharest; a Ph.D. student; assistant researcher with the NIST.


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, Romania and the Soviet-Chinese Schism, V, Soviet Moves, 1963 164

When at the plenum of the CC of the Romanian Workers Party of March 5-8, 1963 they openly addressed the existence of disputes between the Romanian People’s Republic and the USSR, notably as far as COMECON was concerned, Moscow became restless. To prevent a possible new schism in the international communist movement, after the cases of Albania and China, in only two months, N.S. Khrushchev sent two delegations to Bucharest, at head with such front-ranking apparatchiks as A.I. Andropov and N.V. Podgonyi, to try and stop the deterioration of the Romanian-Soviet relations. The two delegations of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union insistently asked for a top-level meeting between Gheorghiu-Dej and N. S. Khrushchev. The RWP leadership only accepted it when it was sure the Kremlin was to make all the possible concessions. 

Dan Cătănuş is an alumnus of the In-Depth Studies Programme by the History Department of the University of Bucharest; researcher with N.I.S.T. Recent books: Failed De-Stalinization. Backstage Aspects of the Miron Constantinescu and Iosif Chisinevschi Case, 1956-1961, 2001 (co-author); The Cadrilater. Cominternist Ideology and Bulgarian Irredentism, 2001.


OCTAVIAN ROSKE, The Collectivization  of Agriculture. Total Repression,

1957-1962, XVII 196

The documents continue the series of historical accounts of the final stage of collectivisation of agriculture between 1958 and 1962. The abuses are objectively reflected by documents from all the regions: Moldavia, Oltenia and Transylvania. In 1956, the search and sequestration policy was extended throughout the country. Octavian Roske, Ph.D., is Scientific Secretary of the NIST and associate professor with the Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Bucharest. Recent books:  The Collectivisation of Agriculture in Romania. The Political Dimension, 1949-1953, 2000 (co-author); Repressive Mechanisms in Romania, 1945-1989. Biographical Dictionary, A-C, 2001 (coordinator).


ALESANDRU DUŢU, Romanian Proposals on Improving Relations within the Warsaw Treaty (1966-1969) 207

The three documents of the material were selected to illustrate Romania’s favourable evolution within the Warsaw Treaty Organization around the fatidic year 1968. Having already begun to distance itself from the policy of the Soviet superpower, Romania attached more and more strings to its participation in the military alliance of the socialist camp. On the one hand, it demanded relative equality of treatment and sharing in decision-making, while after the armed intervention in Czechoslovakia it demanded that its sovereignty be ensured and that its territory should not be trespassed by allied troops without its prior assent. Alesandru Duţu held a Ph.D. in military history.


DANIEL BARBU, RADU CIUCEANU, OCTAVIAN ROSKE, Will Survive Bucharest untill 1984? 231

The authors present a document secretly carried out and sent for broadcasting to the Free Europe radio station in mid-’80s, pointing out the abuses committed by the communist authorities against the old architecture of Bucharest. 

Daniel Barbu is an University Professor with the Faculty of Political Science, University of Bucharest. Recent book: Bizanţ versus Bizanţ, 2001.

Testimonies


ION CEAUŞU, The Forced Collectivization of the Peasants in the Former District of Potcoava, Piteşti Region 242

In the former district of Potcoava, Piteşti region, collectivization began in 1956 and was accompanied by the typical abuses of this process. Though officially concluded in December 1960, in the following months the peasants rebelled against the collectivization and withdrew en masse from collective farms. The farmers that participated in the movement were arrested and convicted. Then the collectivization was resumed by tougher activists, with threats, arrests, interrogations, and beating.

Ion Ceauşu was a teacher in the former district of Potcoava, Piteşti region, during the collectivization of that area.



Biographical Dictionary


ADRIAN BRIŞCĂ, Traian Andreescu (1913-2000) 247

Traian Andreescu, a police officer and lawyer, graduated from two faculties (Law, and Philosophy and Letters). He was arrested and tortured under charges of espionage established by the Security of the Capital in 1948. He made the object of several sham trials and was sentenced to hard prison. Having been released, the Securitate again arrested him twice and tortured him. His life under the communist regime was an ordeal he bore stoically.

Adrian Brişcă took part in the anticommunist resistance. Since 1989 he has dedicated to the study of the partisan movement in Romania. Recent work: Armed Resistance in Bukovina, 1950-1952, vol. II, 2000.


ALEXANDRU-ALIN SPÂNU, Constantin (Pichi) Z. Vasiliu (1882-1946) 254

Gen. Constantin (Pichi) Z. Vasiliu was chief of the General Inspectorate of the Gendarmerie between September 1940 and August 1944.  Arrested on August 23, 1944, he then accompanied Marshal Ion Antonescu during detention in the USSR. He was sentenced to death and executed on June 1, 1946, at the same time with Ion Antonescu, Mihai Antonescu and Gh. Alexianu. 

Alin Alexandru Spânu is an alumnus of the In-Depth Studies Programme by the History Department of the University of Bucharest.



Book Reviews


MIOARA ANTON, Crises in the Soviet Bloc, 1956 258

The author reviews Ioana Boca’s book 1956-The Year of the Split. Romania between the Proletarian Internationalism and the Anti-Sovietic Stalinism, Fundaţia Academia Civică Publishers, Bucharest, 2001. 

Mioara Anton is a Ph.D. student; researcher with the NIST and the “Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History.


ANA-MARIA LASCU, The Destiny of a Dictator 262

This is a review of Pavel Câmpeanu’s book Ceauşescu, Counting Back the Last Years, Polirom, 2002. 

Ana-Maria Lascu is an assistant researcher with the NIST.


CORNEL ILIE, The Red Terror in Romania 264

We publish a review of Dennis Deletant’s book Communist Terror in Romania, Gheorghiu-Dej and the Police State, 1948-1965, Polirom, 2001. 

Cornel Ilie is a History teacher.

The NIST Library


MIHAI-VLADIMIR ILIESCU, Books  and Periodicals. Included in the NIST Collections 267



The NIST Agenda 268

The N.I.S.T. agenda describes the activity of the institute’s researchers during the first half of this year. This is a short review of participation in symposiums, round tables, book releases, openings of document exhibitions, where the participants discussed issues related to the access to documents from the communist period and the debunking of certain huge historical mystifications. The exchange of ideas was the great advantage of these encounters and the published works show the true value both of the organizational effort and of this serious scientific approach.



Authors 276


Contents. Summary. Contributors 282



© National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, 2001.

 




Totalitarianism Archives

Review of the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism 


Volume IX          Number 30-31      1-2/2001



Editorial


RADU CIUCEANU, History as Ballast, XIX    5

Radu Ciuceanu, president of the N.I.S.T. Scientific Council, also coordinates the research theme Comparative studies on the formation and activity of the anti-Bolshevik resistance organizations in Romania and Bessarabia, 1940-1989. Memoirs: Entrance to Tunnel, 1991; The Unlucky Horseshoe, 1994. Recent books: A Dynasty’s Fate. Autocracy and Nationalism, 2001; Beginnings of the resistance movement in Romania, volume II, 2001 (co-author).



Studies


CONSTANTIN BUCHET, Geopolitics as Myth, Geopolitics as Propaganda. The Japanese Case, 1919-1940 12

After World War I, Japan became involved in changing the political-territorial order in the Far East, by military expansion and geopolitical domination over the area. The “Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere,” the “Asia for the Asians,” the Japanese pan-Asian messianism were elements of geopolitical and geoeconomic engineering, components of the Japanese political ideology that pursued to establish Japan’s hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region. Recent volume: Romania and the Weimar Republic. Economics, Diplomacy and Geopolitics, 2001.


FLORIAN BANU, The German Ethnic Group in Romania – An Organization of the Totalitarian Type 24

The German Ethnic Group in Romania is known to have carried on an intense activity between 1940 and 1944, based on a well-oiled machinery and a large membership (over 500,000). The organization’s totalitarian character is highlighted by the ideological components GEG strove to put into practice: the demographic policy, the so-called celibacy tax, the patriotic guards, the “voluntary” contributions, control over the press and control over the individual by including them into some sort of organization. Florian Banu is a researcher with the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives; a Ph.D. student.


DUMITRU ŞANDRU, The Departure of Slavic and Armenian Ethnics from Romania for the USSR, 1944-1948 38

Over 1944-1948 many Romanians, Ukrainians, Russians, Jews, Tartars who had become Soviet citizens under the March 8, 1941 decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR sought refuge in Romania, across the Prut river, and the Russian military commands rounded up the inhabitants having come from Bessarabia, northern Bukovina and the USSR to settle down in the territory of the Romanian state. Besides this, the period was marked by the voluntary departure for the Soviet Union of a number of Lippovans, Rutenians and Armenians from different parts of the country who were Romanian citizens. Dumitru Şandru, Ph.D., historian, is a Professor with the “Dunărea de Jos” University in Galaţi. Recent work: The 1945 Agrarian Reform in Romania, 2000.


CRISTIAN VASILE, Monsignor Vladimir Ghika under the Scrutiny of Intelligence Services, 1945-1948 46

After the pro-Communist government led by Petru Groza had taken over on March 6, 1945, a strict surveillance was instituted against the representatives of the Catholic Church, who were suspected of anti-Communism and an anti-Soviet attitude. Monsignor Vladimir Ghika, a prince of the Catholic Church, was arrested in 1952 under charges of “treason” and “espionage in favor of the Vatican.” After a sham trial he was incarcerated at Jilava, where he died, probably on May 17, 1954. Cristian Vasile is a Ph.D. student; assistant researcher with the “Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History.


OVIDIU BOZGAN, The French Diplomacy Mirroring the Elections of November 1946 52

Though not containing any spectacular revelations about the real returns of the November 1946 ballot, the French diplomatic documents provide interesting information on the position of the main actors in the drama that played out in the autumn of 1946 and on the stance of the Anglo-Saxon powers and the French diplomats with respect to the political trial held here. Ovidiu Bozgan is lecturer with the University of Bucharest, Faculty of History. He is the head of the Center of Church History, University of Bucharest. Recent work: Romania vs. Vatican, 2000.


COSMIN POPA, The Cominform’s Role in the Soviet Foreign Policy 59

Next to the signing of mutual friendship and assistance treaties, both between the countries of Central and Southeastern Europe and between them and the USSR, setting up the Information Bureau of Communist parties (Cominform) was part of the Soviet strategy designed to help create an interstate zonal system likely to secure and guarantee the dependence of the states and parties targeted by Moscow in general and Stalin in particular. This study is intended to analyze the activity of the Information Bureau, in the context of the strategic changes occurring in the Soviet foreign policy in 1946-1947 and of the initiatives of the Soviet leaders who pursued to create a new body to coordinate the Communist parties. Cosmin Popa is a Ph.D. student; assistant researcher with the “Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History.


OANA ILIE, The Danube-Black Sea Canal in the Press of 1949-1953 79

The building of the Danube-Black Sea Canal had full propaganda support since its start in 1949. The press of the Communist regime excelled at publicizing the favorable aspects of this huge Stalinist building site, emphasizing mostly its would-be economic and educational virtues, which appeared much lesser after Stalin’s death in 1953. Oana Ilie is a Museum curator at the National Museum of History.


CLAUDIU MIHAIL FLORIAN, Die Auflösung der Arbeitslager in der Sowietunion, 1953-1957, I 94

Stalin’s death in 1953 and the change in rule in Moscow fostered a “new path” for Soviet policy. One of the most important steps to be made on this path was the closing down of labour camps, a phenomenon whose intensity increased following February 1956. Claudiu Mihail Florian is a graduate of  the in-depth study programm of the University of Bucharest, the Interdisciplinary Humanistic Studies department in German, candidate for Ph.D. with the dissertation The Ethnic Germans of Transylvania in the Romanian-German Relations, 1939-1967.


VICTORIA ISABELA CORDUNEANU, New Methodologies and Themes in Historical Research 110

The author focuses on the debates of the new theoretical methods in study of contemporary and recent history. This article analyzes different points of view sustained by well-known scholars, in the methodology of history writing. Its purpose is to familiarize Romanian public with the newest options of Western historiography. Victoria Isabela Corduneanu is a graduate from University of Bucharest, Faculty of History; Ph.D. candidate.

The Rethoric of Image


NICOLAE ANDERCO, AUREL DUŢU, Assault on Public Monuments in the Fifties 123

The late authors present a list of destroyed or still in place statues that once decorated streets and squares of Bucharest, many of these being important masterpieces. The communist regime decided that those of the monuments that were no more on ideological ‘line’ should be demolished and replaced by an art showing the new socialist realities. The article contents some evaluation of the historical figures represented by the monuments and their chances to be or not integrated in the new public historical image. Nicolae Anderco was museum curator at the History Museum of Bucharest City. Aurel Duţu was museum curator at the History Museum of Bucharest City.


Documents


BRANDUŞA COSTACHE, The Romanian-Bulgarian Economical Relations, 1950-1957 131

In the ‘50s the Romanian-Bulgarian relations unfolded within COMECON. A major aspect of these relations was the problem of energy sources. Romania was supplying oil, oil products and power to Bulgaria. The two states were interested in cooperating in building power stations on the common course of the Danube. Brânduşa Costache is a graduate from University of Bucharest, Faculty of History; Ph.D. candidate.


FLORIN ABRAHAM, Political Attitudes at Communist Power counter part Population Problems after Death of Stalin 140

After the death of Stalin appeared question administration his legacy, of vision about economy. Neither Romanian communist leaders don’t elusive this pressure. The document present discussions among Gheorghiu-Dej and local chiefs of department  of cooperatist system. Gheorghiu-Dej criticize deficiencies of state-planned economy in a non-dogmatic style, at the moment when the communist leadership was focused on ensuring popular support for the government and to avoiding any sort of contestation. Florin Abraham is Assistant-researcher with NIST; graduate of the In-Depth Study Program of the Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj; candidate for Ph.D. 


FLORENTIN BREAZU, Echoes of the RWP Plenum of June-July 1957 147

The secret report N.S. Khrushchev presented at the 20th congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in February 1956 triggered a fierce dispute at the top in the Romanian Workers Party. Miron Constantinescu and Iosif Chisinevschi tried to capitalize on the de-Stalinization trend and make Gh. Gheorghiu-Dej appear as a little local Stalin that had to be dismissed. The dispute only ended in the summer of 1957, when the two mavericks were removed from the RWP leadership. Florentin Breazu is graduate from University of Bucharest, archivist with Giurgiu National Archives.


OCTAVIAN ROSKE, The Collectivization  of Agriculture. Total Repression, 1957-1962, XVI 156

The documents continue the series of historical accounts of the final stage of collectivisation of agriculture between 1958 and 1962. The abuses are objectively reflected by documents from all the regions: Moldavia, Oltenia and Transylvania. In 1956, the search and sequestration policy was extended throughout the country. Octavian Roske, Ph.D., is Scientific Secretary of the NIST and associate professor with the Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Bucharest. Recent works:  The Collectivisation of Agriculture in Romania. The Political Dimension, 1949-1953, 2000 (co-author); Repressive Mechanisms in Romania, 1945-1989. Biographical Dictionary, A-C, 2001 (coordinator).


ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, Marin Preda: Journey in USSR, 1962 166

These documents present the journey of Marin Preda, a famous Romanian writer, and his wife in the early 60s to the Soviet Union. The authors of the above-mentioned documents remained anonymous and, in fact, they were spying the activities of Preda’s family during the visit. The Romanian Writers’ Association considered necessary to confront Marin Preda to his surveyor’s report. Alexandru-Murad Mironov is a junior assistant professor with the History Department of the University of Bucharest; a Ph.D. student; assistant researcher with the NIST.


DAN CĂTĂNUŞ, Romania and the Sino-Soviet Schism, IV, The Conflict within COMECON, 1962-1963 174

One of the most important accelerators of Romania’s break with the Soviets and of its rapprochement with China was N.S. Khrushchev’s intention to revamp the COMECON after the Common Market model. Greater economic integration, superstate planning, creation of joint enterprises by branches would have benefited the more developed countries of the communist bloc and favored a partial loss of national sovereignty. All these aspects incurred a 

determined opposition from the RWP leaders, who started looking for new economic alternatives (in the West) and political options (in China). Recent volumes: Failed De-Stalinization. Backstage Aspects of the Miron Constantinescu and Iosif Chisinevschi Case, 1956-1961, 2001 (co-author); The Quadrilateral. Cominternist Ideology and Bulgarian Irredentism, 2001.


MIOARA ANTON, The First Confrontation Brejnev-Ceauşescu: Moscow – September 1965 194

Gheorghiu-Dej’s death in March 1965 did not entail a change in the Romanian foreign policy in point of the relations with Moscow. The new leader, Nicolae Ceausescu, in his first visit to Moscow as secretary-general of the Romanian Communist Party, surprised the Kremlin with the daring demands he set forth: the return of the Romanian treasury sent to Moscow for safekeeping in 1917, and of the RCP archives, as well as an alteration of the management structure of the Warsaw Treaty. Such demands were not of a nature to improve the Romanian-Soviet relations. Mioara Anton is a Ph.D. student; researcher with the “Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History.


DANIEL BARBU, RADU CIUCEANU, OCTAVIAN ROSKE, The Condition of the  Monument under the Communist Regime, III 205

The second part of the study secretly carried out by Radu Ciuceanu, Daniel Barbu and Octavian Roske in 1980 and broadcast by the Free Europe radio station in the summer of 1981 is a valuable document postul de radio Europa Liberă în vara anului 1981 reprezintă un valoros document relating the abuses committed by the communist authorities against the Romanian patrimony. The first part is dedicated to the typology of aggressions and abuses committed by the Direction of Natural Cultural Patrimony. This attitude was responsible for the degradation of frescoes and paintings in churches and monastries, especially from Northern Moldavia, as well as the incredible “evacuation” of priceless religious monuments brought to ruins, abandoned and put on the demolition list; the porch of St. Gheorghe Church  is the best known case. Daniel Barbu is an University Professor with the Faculty of Political Science, University of Bucharest. Recent works: The Romanian Character, 2000 (coordinator).


Testimonies


MARIN C. STĂNESCU, The Last Major Cominternist Northerly Wind after August 23, 1944 230

The June 9-13, 1958 plenum of the Central Committee of the Romanian Workers Party saw the purge from the party of the last major group of opponents, made up of second-tier apparatchiks that shared the same trait, i.e. they were former underground militants. The plenum was followed by a huge wave of purges, which Marin C. Stanescu witnessed while a young research scholar at the History Institute of the RWP, one of the worst hit institutions. Marin C. Stănescu is Ph.D. Recent work: Communist Ideology and Structures in Romania, 1920-1921, volume III, 2001 (co-author).


Biographical Dictionary


FLORIN ABRAHAM, Iosif Chişinevschi (1905-1963) 233

Iosif Chişinevschi (1905-1963) is born in Bessarabia, of the Jewish origin. Member at Communist Romanian Party in illegality at 1928, imprisoned at Galatzi and Doftana. After 1945 possessed several positions in Romanian establishment. Chişinevschi to became after the Second World War gray eminence in apparatchiks and ideological problems. In 1952 prepared, cooperatively by Miron Constantinescu and Alexandru Moghioroş, accusation against Ana Pauker-Vasile Luca group. Entering in conflict by Gheorghiu-Dej, Chişinevschi is replaced from political positions in Plenary meeting P.S.M. (June 28-29, 1957), together by Miron Constantinescu.


OVIDIU BOZGAN, Mihai Ralea (1896-1964) 235

Professor Mihai Ralea was a typical ally of the Romanian communist regime of the first years. Despite his “bourgeois” origins and his collaboration with King Carol II, whose minister has been during the royal dictatorship, Ralea was appointed ambassador to Washington between 1946 and 1948. Losing this position, he led various cultural institutions dealing with foreign cultural exchange.


NICOLAE CIOBANU, Radu R. Rosetti (1877-1949) 240

Historian, former general of the Romanian Army, Radu R. Rosetti had important contribution to Romanian historiography, concerning the military past. Member of the Romanian Academy, director of the largest library in Romania, Library of the Romanian Academy and founder of the National Army’s Museum, Radu R. Rosetti was arrested for his collaboration with Marshall Antonescu’s regime as a Minister for Education. He died in prison. Nicolae Ciobanu, Ph.D., General (r) is professor at the Academy of Higher Military Studies.


ADRIAN BRIŞCĂ, Mihail Ştefănescu (1910-?) 243

Mihail Ştefănescu was military prosecutor during the World War II. During this time he prosecuted several political prisoners. After the war, he managed to escape from the accusation of war crimes and continued his job successfully under communist as military judge. In the late forties he condemned thousand of “enemy of the people”, many of them being executed. In 1950 he was arrested and convicted to 6 years imprisonment. After 5 he was excused. Adrian Brişcă took part in the anticommunist resistance. Since 1989 he has dedicated to the study of the partisan movement in Romania. Recent work: Armed Resistance in Bukovina, 1950-1952, vol. II, 2000.


BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX 244 

It includes brief presentations of the Biographical Dictionary in Totalitarianism Archives, no. 1/1993 – 3-4/2000.



Book Reviews


MARIN CONSTATIN, “The Twilight of Underground Militants” – Between Rites of Passage and Expiatory Rites 251

The author reviews Alina Tudor and Dan Cătănuş book The Twilight of Underground Militants. The Plenum of the CC of the RWP of June 9-13, 1958, Vremea Publishers, Bucharest, 2000. Marin Constantin is a researcher with Institute of Anthropology of Bucharest.


FLORINEL MARIAN, On National Interest, Politics and Information 254

This is a review of Cristian Troncotă book A History of the Romanian Intelligence Services from Cuza to Ceausescu, Ion Cristoiu Publishing House, Bucharest, 1999. Florinel Marian is an alumnus of the Specialised Study Programme by the History Department of the University of Bucharest.


ADELINA STEFAN, Confessions of a Diplomat 259

We publish a review of Lavinia Betea’s book Unfinished Talks. Corneliu Mănescu Talking to Lavinia Betea, Polirom, 2001. Adelina Ştefan is a student of University of Bucharest, Faculty of History.


OANA ILIE, The Trial of the Generals 261

This is a review of Corneliu Beldiman’ s (ed.) document collection The Trial of the Generals of the PNT Military Circle (1946-1948), Vremea, 2000. 


VALENTIN SĂNDULESCU, Identity and Otherness in History 262

We present The National Conference of Students of Human Sciences which was organized in March 15-17, 2002, in Bucharest, by the Romanian branch of International Students of History Association and “Erasmus” Society of Historical Sciences. Valentin Săndulescu is a student of University of Bucharest, Faculty of History.



The NIST Library


MIHAI-VLADIMIR ILIESCU, Books  and Periodicals. Included in the NIST Collections 265



The NIST Agenda 268

The N.I.S.T. agenda describes the activity of the institute’s researchers during the first half of this year. This is a short review of participation in symposiums, round tables, book releases, openings of document exhibitions, where the participants discussed issues related to the access to documents from the communist period and the debunking of certain huge historical mystifications. The exchange of ideas was the great advantage of these encounters and the published works show the true value both of the organizational effort and of this serious scientific approach.



Authors 273


Contents. Summary. Contributors 281



© National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, 2001



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