Stefan Foris
Encyclopedia
Ştefan Foriş was a Romania
n communist
activist and journalist who served as general secretary
of the Romanian Communist Party
(PCR or PCdR) between 1940 and 1944.
, Transylvania
(part of Austria-Hungary
at the time), and was a member of the Jewish-Hungarian minority. He completed his secondary studies in Exact Sciences at a lyceum
in Braşov
. During World War I
, he was drafted in the Austro-Hungarian Army
, rising to the rank of Hadnagy
. He also graduated from the University of Budapest's Faculty of Physics and Mathematics (1919). Aside from his native language and Romanian
, he was able to speak German
and French
, and began to work as a journalist.
An active socialist
, he took part in the movement that led to the creation of a Soviet Republic
in Hungary
, and joined the Hungarian Communist Party
; after its disestablishment, Foriş settled inside the Kingdom of Romania
, entered the Socialist Party
in Braşov, and began contributing to left-wing
publications.
in 1923, and, after the PCR was outlawed in 1924, he served several terms in prison for his revolutionary activism.
Indicted in a 1927 trial held in Cluj
, Foriş began a hunger strike
and, after 27 days, was released in the care of his family pending trial. Instead, he illegally crossed into the Soviet Union
, and served as the exile cadre of the PCR and its representative to the Comintern
(1928-1930). He was tried in absentia
by the Cluj tribunal, and sentenced to ten years imprisonment and to a 50,000 lei
fine.
Despite the sentencing, Foriş returned to Transylvania, where he served as regional secretary, he was selected head of the Agitprop
Section. He lived most of the rest of his life in hiding from the authorities; again jailed at Văcăreşti and Doftana
in 1931 (or 1932), he was released in 1935, two years before the end of his sentence.
Ştefan Foriş became a member of the PCR Central Committee
charged with activities involving agitprop (ca. 1936), and, with support from the Comintern, replaced the ousted general secretary Boris Stefanov
four years later, after the start of World War II
(he had crossed into Soviet territory earlier in that year, and, having reached Moscow
, he was assigned the position a while after Stefanov had been deposed). Upon his return (having clandestinely sailed through Tulcea
), he replaced Bela Breiner, the provisional overseer of the PCR, who had since died.
At the time, repression of the PCR reached its most severe phase (see Romania during World War II
). By 1943, almost all the leadership of the party was either living in exile in the Soviet Union (forming the Moscovite faction of the party) or in prison either in Romania-proper or in Romanian-run labor camp
s in Transnistria
(forming the prison faction of the party). Only three members of the communist leadership, Foriş, Remus Koffler and Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu
were free, remaining active clandestinely, and constituting the secretariat faction. Foriş, Koffler, and Foriş' secretary and lover Victoria Sârbu oversaw the small group from a secret location in Bucharest. Among other persons involved in support for the PCR was the engineer Emil Calmanovici
, who donated part of his fortune for this purpose.
prison, a group formed around Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
. He was also increasingly critical of his subordinates' behavior and ideology, which probably contributed to his isolation inside the party he led. Among prominent leaders who had received Foriş' reproaches were Constantin Pîrvulescu
, Gheorghe Pintilie
, Iosif Rangheţ, and Emil Bodnăraş
. The latter was even demoted by the general secretary in March 1944 — having been charged with keeping documents relative to planned sabotage
actions, he was made responsible for the ease with which these were confiscated by the authorities.
During communications between Gheorghiu-Dej and Bodnăraş (who was disseminating rumors about having ensured Soviet approval and was viewed as representing the Soviet MGB
), it was agreed in favor of toppling the PCR leadership. On April 4, 1944, just after a massive air bombing of Bucharest
, Bodnăraş, Pîrvulescu, and Rangheţ, captured and deposed Foriş at gunpoint, instituting a joint leadership (troika
), which, during the same year, recognized Gheorghiu-Dej as the new general secretary. Soon after the action had been carried out, Bodnăraş reported to Gheorghiu-Dej, who was still held in prison, with an encrypted
note:
Pătrăşcanu, who represented an isolated intellectual
grouping (which also included Miron Constantinescu
and Grigore Preoteasa
), agreed to support the move (his approval was probably obtained as early as 1943).
At the time, Foriş was alleged to have infiltrated the PCR as an informant
for Siguranţa Statului during the 1920s and '30s, and that collaboration with the authorities had ensured his freedom during the early 1940s. The official charge involved his "cowardice" in front of reactionary
forces, probably due to his refusal to organize a partisan
movement during the war.
After the event, Foriş was assigned a position on the editorial staff for the underground newspaper România Liberă
, which he maintained throughout the final months of Ion Antonescu
's pro-Nazi German
regime. Following Romania's exit from the Axis
camp in late August, when the PCR took power as part of the National Democratic Bloc (backed by King
Michael I
), Gheorghiu-Dej ordered Foriş to be taken into custody by the PCR's paramilitary
forces; kidnapped in late September, he was set free in January 1945. After rumors that he had authored a manifesto questioning the actions of Gheorghiu-Dej, Bodnăraş and others, he was again captured on March 23, only to be released twenty days later. At the time, he authored his "Last Will", which ended with a statement of his faith in the PCR, the Soviet Union, and Joseph Stalin
.
His last time in relative freedom occurred during late May and early June, when he was allowed to move in with his companion Victoria.
chief Gheorghe Pintilie
approached Foriş on the street, and again kidnapped him. Apparently, this happened while Foriş was purchasing supplies needed for a trip abroad, having planned to settle with his family in the home of one of Victoria's brothers.
After approximately one year, his killing was decided by a confidential vote at the top of the party (the final decision was taken by Gheorghiu-Dej, Ana Pauker
, Vasile Luca
, and Teohari Georgescu
). According to later testimonies, Foriş was attacked by Pintilie and Pintilie's chauffeur
, Dumitru Neciu (known to Teohari Georgescu as Petre Bulgaru, and to others as Mitea); Pintilie beat him to death with a crowbar
, and the two buried him in a nearby yard, covering the hole with earth and debris. Two of his collaborators were killed in the same manner during the following days, and buried in similar circumstances (one of the two is known to have been named Nicolae Pârgariu).
For Gheorghiu-Dej, this opened the road for further attacks on the members of the secretariat faction, beginning with arbitrary arrests of PCR members who were pressured to testify against Foriş. The campaign culminated in the 1954 execution of Koffler and Pătrăşcanu, at the end of a trial orchestrated by the Communist regime
(it also involved Emil Calmanovici
, who was allegedly killed in prison).
by the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party which was by then under the leadership of Gheorghiu-Dej's successor, Nicolae Ceauşescu
. Headed by Ion Popescu-Puţuri and charged with rehabilitation measures, a special party committee found suspicions of treason to have been spurious in Foriş' case, it also concluded that the latter had shown incompetence in handling party matters during his time in office, and that he had allowed the group to be infiltrated by Siguranţa Statului agents.
Later in the same year, his body was uncovered and reburied at the Monument of the Heroes for the Freedom of the People and of the Motherland, for Socialism in Bucharest's Carol Park
.
Foriş' case was instrumental in provoking Gheorghe Pintilie's expulsion from the party. Nevetheless, the latter was still present at official ceremonies, and was decorated with the Tudor Vladimirescu Order only two years later. As the committee's main attribute was parting with the legacy of Gheorghiu-Dej, Foriş' case remained without other notable consequences (Teohari Georgescu himself was later assigned another office inside the PCR).
Several historians consider Foriş' dismissal as the complete rupture in historical continuity between the PCR as established in 1921 and the post-1944 grouping. According to Adrian Cioroianu
, the final version of the PCR was entirely shaped by the group of Caransebeş
prisoners.
, Bessarabia
in 1909, to Jewish parents, and, as an unemployed graduate of the University of Iaşi's Faculty of Natural Science, worked as a courier for the Red Aid
, before joining PCR defense teams for indicted party members. She carried out her activities as a party leader during the war, without ever having formally joined the party. At one point, her sister, Elena Pavel, was unsuccessfully courted by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
.
Among the charges brought against Foriş was his alleged attempt to seduce Constanţa Crăciun, a prominent PCR activist who supported Gheorghiu-Dej; he was accused of having pressured her to engage become his mistress at the time when she was already in a relationship with Ion Vincze
, and of having thus caused her a nervous breakdown
which had facilitated her capture by authorities. Under pressure from her interrogators, Sârbu partly confirmed the rumor, stating that she had become Foriş' partner soon after the incident.
Having also been imprisoned in December 1949, Victoria Sârbu was indicted in the Pătrăşcanu-Remus Koffler trial, and,having been repeatedly torture
d during the inquiry, served another six years. She was set free in 1955, after a medical examination concluded that she had developed a mental illness
.
Vera-Victoria, her daughter with Ştefan Foriş, born during the 1940s, never fully recovered from the shock caused by the persecution of her parents; after 1968, she was awarded a pension from the Romanian state, and died during the late 1970s. Elena Pavel, who had since died, continued to be used as an asset in PCR propaganda
for the entire period.
Following Foriş' disappearance, his mother Maria repeatedly petitioned authorities to answer as to his whereabouts. In 1947, a group of secret policemen allegedly acting on the orders of Gheorghiu-Dej, and supervised by Alexandru Nicolschi
, kidnapped her from her residence in Oradea
. They then tied rocks to her neck and drowned her in the Crişul Repede
. During his hearing of 1967, Nicolschi indicated that one of his subordinates, a certain "Comrade Bîrtaş" of the Oradea section, had taken the initiative ("Comrade Bîrtaş had received the indication to talk to her and get her to return to Oradea and admit herself into an old people's home. Details of how Comrade Bîrtaş has accomplished the mission are not known to me").
Tatiana Bulan, a Bessarabian Communist activist who had been Foriş' lover, rose through the PCR ranks after the 1960s, being promoted by Elena Ceauşescu
.
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
activist and journalist who served as general secretary
General secretary
-International intergovernmental organizations:-International nongovernmental organizations:-Sports governing bodies:...
of the Romanian Communist Party
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
(PCR or PCdR) between 1940 and 1944.
Early life
Foriş was born in Tatrang (Tărlungeni)Tarlungeni, Brasov
Tărlungeni is a commune in Braşov County, Romania. It is composed of four villages: Cărpiniş, Purcăreni, Tărlungeni and Zizin.At the 2002 census, 54.9% of inhabitants were Romanians, 34.3% Hungarians and 10.7% Roma. 61.3% were Romanian Orthodox, 31.2% Evangelical Lutheran, 3.6% Pentecostal and...
, Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
(part of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
at the time), and was a member of the Jewish-Hungarian minority. He completed his secondary studies in Exact Sciences at a lyceum
Lyceum
The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies between countries; usually it is a type of secondary school.-History:...
in Braşov
Brasov
Brașov is a city in Romania and the capital of Brașov County.According to the last Romanian census, from 2002, there were 284,596 people living within the city of Brașov, making it the 8th most populated city in Romania....
. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he was drafted in the Austro-Hungarian Army
Austro-Hungarian Army
The Austro-Hungarian Army was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint army , the Austrian Landwehr , and the Hungarian Honvédség .In the wake of fighting between the...
, rising to the rank of Hadnagy
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
. He also graduated from the University of Budapest's Faculty of Physics and Mathematics (1919). Aside from his native language and Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
, he was able to speak German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, and began to work as a journalist.
An active socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
, he took part in the movement that led to the creation of a Soviet Republic
Hungarian Soviet Republic
The Hungarian Soviet Republic or Soviet Republic of Hungary was a short-lived Communist state established in Hungary in the aftermath of World War I....
in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, and joined the Hungarian Communist Party
Hungarian Communist Party
The Communist Party of Hungary , renamed Hungarian Communist Party in 1945, was founded on November 24, 1918, and was in power in Hungary briefly from March to August 1919 under Béla Kun and the Hungarian Soviet Republic. The communist government was overthrown by the Romanian Army and driven...
; after its disestablishment, Foriş settled inside the Kingdom of Romania
Kingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...
, entered the Socialist Party
Socialist Party of Romania
The Socialist Party of Romania was a Romanian socialist political party, created on December 11, 1918 by members of the Romanian Social Democratic Party , after the latter emerged from clandestinity...
in Braşov, and began contributing to left-wing
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
publications.
Prominence
Foriş joined the PCR upon its creation in 1921, moved to BucharestBucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
in 1923, and, after the PCR was outlawed in 1924, he served several terms in prison for his revolutionary activism.
Indicted in a 1927 trial held in Cluj
Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca , commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest , Budapest and Belgrade...
, Foriş began a hunger strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
and, after 27 days, was released in the care of his family pending trial. Instead, he illegally crossed into the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, and served as the exile cadre of the PCR and its representative to the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
(1928-1930). He was tried in absentia
In absentia
In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
by the Cluj tribunal, and sentenced to ten years imprisonment and to a 50,000 lei
Romanian leu
The leu is the currency of Romania. It is subdivided into 100 bani . The name of the currency means "lion". On 1 July 2005, Romania underwent a currency reform, switching from the previous leu to a new leu . 1 RON is equal to 10,000 ROL...
fine.
Despite the sentencing, Foriş returned to Transylvania, where he served as regional secretary, he was selected head of the Agitprop
Agitprop
Agitprop is derived from agitation and propaganda, and describes stage plays, pamphlets, motion pictures and other art forms with an explicitly political message....
Section. He lived most of the rest of his life in hiding from the authorities; again jailed at Văcăreşti and Doftana
Doftana prison
Doftana was a Romanian prison. Built in 1895, it was used in the 1930s to detain political prisoners, among them the future president Nicolae Ceauşescu. It is situated close to the village with the same name, in the Telega commune...
in 1931 (or 1932), he was released in 1935, two years before the end of his sentence.
Ştefan Foriş became a member of the PCR Central Committee
Central Committee
Central Committee was the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, whether ruling or non-ruling in the twentieth century and of the surviving, mostly Trotskyist, states in the early twenty first. In such party organizations the...
charged with activities involving agitprop (ca. 1936), and, with support from the Comintern, replaced the ousted general secretary Boris Stefanov
Boris Stefanov
Boris Stefanov was a Romanian communist politician, who served as general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1936 to 1940.-Early life and activism:...
four years later, after the start of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
(he had crossed into Soviet territory earlier in that year, and, having reached Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, he was assigned the position a while after Stefanov had been deposed). Upon his return (having clandestinely sailed through Tulcea
Tulcea
Tulcea is a city in Dobrogea, Romania. It is the administrative center of Tulcea county, and has a population of 92,379 as of 2007. One village, Tudor Vladimirescu, is administered by the city.- History :...
), he replaced Bela Breiner, the provisional overseer of the PCR, who had since died.
At the time, repression of the PCR reached its most severe phase (see Romania during World War II
Romania during World War II
Following the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939, the Kingdom of Romania officially adopted a position of neutrality. However, the rapidly changing situation in Europe during 1940, as well as domestic political upheaval, undermined this stance. Fascist political forces such as the Iron...
). By 1943, almost all the leadership of the party was either living in exile in the Soviet Union (forming the Moscovite faction of the party) or in prison either in Romania-proper or in Romanian-run labor camp
Labor camp
A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons...
s in Transnistria
Transnistria (World War II)
Transnistria Governorate was a Romanian administered territory, conquered by the Axis Powers from the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa, and occupied from 19 August 1941 to 29 January 1944...
(forming the prison faction of the party). Only three members of the communist leadership, Foriş, Remus Koffler and Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu
Lucretiu Patrascanu
Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu was a Romanian communist politician and leading member of the Communist Party of Romania , also noted for his activities as a lawyer, sociologist and economist. For a while, he was a professor at Bucharest University...
were free, remaining active clandestinely, and constituting the secretariat faction. Foriş, Koffler, and Foriş' secretary and lover Victoria Sârbu oversaw the small group from a secret location in Bucharest. Among other persons involved in support for the PCR was the engineer Emil Calmanovici
Emil Calmanovici
Emil Calmanovici was a Romanian engineer, businessman, and communist militant. Known for the financial support he gave to the Romanian Communist Party during the late 1930s and early 1940s, he became a political prisoner of the Communist regime after being implicated in the show trial of his...
, who donated part of his fortune for this purpose.
Downfall
In this context, Foriş became an obstacle to the rise of Communists held in the CaransebeşCaransebes
Caransebeş is a city in Caraş-Severin County, part of the Banat region in southwestern Romania. It is located at the confluence of the river Timiş with the river Sebeş, the latter coming from the Ţarcu Mountains. To the west, it is in direct contact with the Banat hills...
prison, a group formed around Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej was the Communist leader of Romania from 1948 until his death in 1965.-Early life:Gheorghe was the son of a poor worker, Tănase Gheorghiu, and his wife Ana. Gheorghiu-Dej joined the Communist Party of Romania in 1930...
. He was also increasingly critical of his subordinates' behavior and ideology, which probably contributed to his isolation inside the party he led. Among prominent leaders who had received Foriş' reproaches were Constantin Pîrvulescu
Constantin Pîrvulescu
Constantin Pîrvulescu was a Romanian communist politician, one of the founders of the Romanian Communist Party , and, eventually, an active opponent of Communist Romania's leader Nicolae Ceauşescu...
, Gheorghe Pintilie
Gheorghe Pintilie
Gheorghe Pintilie , was a Soviet intelligence agent, Romanian communist activist, and the first Director of the Securitate...
, Iosif Rangheţ, and Emil Bodnăraş
Emil Bodnaras
Emil Bodnăraş was an influential Romanian Communist politician, an army officer, and a Soviet agent...
. The latter was even demoted by the general secretary in March 1944 — having been charged with keeping documents relative to planned sabotage
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
actions, he was made responsible for the ease with which these were confiscated by the authorities.
During communications between Gheorghiu-Dej and Bodnăraş (who was disseminating rumors about having ensured Soviet approval and was viewed as representing the Soviet MGB
Ministry for State Security (USSR)
The Ministry of State Security was the name of Soviet secret police from 1946 to 1953.-Origins of the MGB:The MGB was just one of many incarnations of the Soviet State Security apparatus. Since the revolution, the Bolsheviks relied on a strong political police or security force to support and...
), it was agreed in favor of toppling the PCR leadership. On April 4, 1944, just after a massive air bombing of Bucharest
Bombing of Bucharest in World War II
The Bucharest World War II bombings were primarily Allied bombings of railroad targets and those of the Oil Campaign of World War II, but included a bombing by Nazi Germany after the royal coup. Bucharest stored and distributed much of Ploiești's refined oil products....
, Bodnăraş, Pîrvulescu, and Rangheţ, captured and deposed Foriş at gunpoint, instituting a joint leadership (troika
Troika (triumvirate)
Troika is a committee consisting of three members. The origin of "troika" comes from the term in Russian used to describe three-horse harnessed carriage, or more often, horse-drawn sledge.- Communist states :...
), which, during the same year, recognized Gheorghiu-Dej as the new general secretary. Soon after the action had been carried out, Bodnăraş reported to Gheorghiu-Dej, who was still held in prison, with an encrypted
Encryption
In cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information...
note:
"The inheritance [that is, the party documents] was passed down to us, and the head of the family [Foriş], his wife [Sârbu] and the family friend [Koffler] were taken to a good sanatoriumSanatoriumA sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...
[a house controlled by Bodnăraş' faction]."
Pătrăşcanu, who represented an isolated intellectual
Intellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
grouping (which also included Miron Constantinescu
Miron Constantinescu
Miron Constantinescu was a Romanian communist politician, a leading member of the Romanian Communist Party , as well as a Marxist sociologist, historian, academic, and journalist...
and Grigore Preoteasa
Grigore Preoteasa
Grigore Preoteasa was a Romanian communist activist, journalist, and politician, who served as Communist Romania's Minister of Foreign Affairs between October 4, 1955 and the time of his death.-Biography:...
), agreed to support the move (his approval was probably obtained as early as 1943).
At the time, Foriş was alleged to have infiltrated the PCR as an informant
Informant
An informant is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law enforcement world, where they are officially known as confidential or criminal informants , and can often refer pejoratively to the supply of information...
for Siguranţa Statului during the 1920s and '30s, and that collaboration with the authorities had ensured his freedom during the early 1940s. The official charge involved his "cowardice" in front of reactionary
Reactionary
The term reactionary refers to viewpoints that seek to return to a previous state in a society. The term is meant to describe one end of a political spectrum whose opposite pole is "radical". While it has not been generally considered a term of praise it has been adopted as a self-description by...
forces, probably due to his refusal to organize a partisan
Partisan (military)
A partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activity...
movement during the war.
After the event, Foriş was assigned a position on the editorial staff for the underground newspaper România Liberă
România Libera
România Liberă is one of the leading newspapers in Romania. Based in Bucharest, the Romanian-language daily has a paid daily circulation of 40,000....
, which he maintained throughout the final months of Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu
Ion Victor Antonescu was a Romanian soldier, authoritarian politician and convicted war criminal. The Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II, he presided over two successive wartime dictatorships...
's pro-Nazi German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
regime. Following Romania's exit from the Axis
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
camp in late August, when the PCR took power as part of the National Democratic Bloc (backed by King
King of Romania
King of the Romanians , rather than King of Romania , was the official title of the ruler of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947, when Romania was proclaimed a republic....
Michael I
Michael I of Romania
Michael was the last King of Romania. He reigned from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930, and again from 6 September 1940 until 30 December 1947 when he was forced, by the Communist Party of Romania , to abdicate to the Soviet armies of occupation...
), Gheorghiu-Dej ordered Foriş to be taken into custody by the PCR's paramilitary
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
forces; kidnapped in late September, he was set free in January 1945. After rumors that he had authored a manifesto questioning the actions of Gheorghiu-Dej, Bodnăraş and others, he was again captured on March 23, only to be released twenty days later. At the time, he authored his "Last Will", which ended with a statement of his faith in the PCR, the Soviet Union, and Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
.
His last time in relative freedom occurred during late May and early June, when he was allowed to move in with his companion Victoria.
Killing
On June 9, a squad led by future SecuritateSecuritate
The Securitate was the secret police agency of Communist Romania. Previously, the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului. Founded on August 30, 1948, with help from the Soviet NKVD, the Securitate was abolished in December 1989, shortly after President Nicolae Ceaușescu was...
chief Gheorghe Pintilie
Gheorghe Pintilie
Gheorghe Pintilie , was a Soviet intelligence agent, Romanian communist activist, and the first Director of the Securitate...
approached Foriş on the street, and again kidnapped him. Apparently, this happened while Foriş was purchasing supplies needed for a trip abroad, having planned to settle with his family in the home of one of Victoria's brothers.
After approximately one year, his killing was decided by a confidential vote at the top of the party (the final decision was taken by Gheorghiu-Dej, Ana Pauker
Ana Pauker
Ana Pauker was a Romanian communist leader and served as the country's foreign minister in the late 1940s and early 1950s...
, Vasile Luca
Vasile Luca
Vasile Luca was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian and Soviet communist politician, a leading member of the Romanian Communist Party from 1945 and until his imprisonment in the 1950s...
, and Teohari Georgescu
Teohari Georgescu
Teohari Georgescu was a high-ranking member of the Romanian Communist Party.-Life:Born in Bacău, he was the third of seven children of Constantin and Aneta Georgescu. Georgescu, whose formal education ended after the fourth grade, began his career as an assistant in his father's store...
). According to later testimonies, Foriş was attacked by Pintilie and Pintilie's chauffeur
Chauffeur
A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine.Originally such drivers were always personal servants of the vehicle owner, but now in many cases specialist chauffeur service companies, or individual drivers provide...
, Dumitru Neciu (known to Teohari Georgescu as Petre Bulgaru, and to others as Mitea); Pintilie beat him to death with a crowbar
Crowbar (tool)
A crowbar, a wrecking bar, pry bar, or prybar, or sometimes a prise bar or prisebar, and more informally a jimmy, jimmy bar, jemmy or gooseneck is a tool consisting of a metal bar with a single curved end and flattened points, often with a small fissure on one or both ends for removing nails...
, and the two buried him in a nearby yard, covering the hole with earth and debris. Two of his collaborators were killed in the same manner during the following days, and buried in similar circumstances (one of the two is known to have been named Nicolae Pârgariu).
For Gheorghiu-Dej, this opened the road for further attacks on the members of the secretariat faction, beginning with arbitrary arrests of PCR members who were pressured to testify against Foriş. The campaign culminated in the 1954 execution of Koffler and Pătrăşcanu, at the end of a trial orchestrated by the Communist regime
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
(it also involved Emil Calmanovici
Emil Calmanovici
Emil Calmanovici was a Romanian engineer, businessman, and communist militant. Known for the financial support he gave to the Romanian Communist Party during the late 1930s and early 1940s, he became a political prisoner of the Communist regime after being implicated in the show trial of his...
, who was allegedly killed in prison).
Rehabilitation and legacy
In April 1968, Foriş and Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu were rehabilitatedRehabilitation (Soviet)
Rehabilitation in the context of the former Soviet Union, and the Post-Soviet states, was the restoration of a person who was criminally prosecuted without due basis, to the state of acquittal...
by the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party which was by then under the leadership of Gheorghiu-Dej's successor, Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
. Headed by Ion Popescu-Puţuri and charged with rehabilitation measures, a special party committee found suspicions of treason to have been spurious in Foriş' case, it also concluded that the latter had shown incompetence in handling party matters during his time in office, and that he had allowed the group to be infiltrated by Siguranţa Statului agents.
Later in the same year, his body was uncovered and reburied at the Monument of the Heroes for the Freedom of the People and of the Motherland, for Socialism in Bucharest's Carol Park
Carol Park
Carol Park is a public park in Bucharest, Romania, named after King Carol I of Romania. For the duration of the communist regime, it was called Liberty Park ....
.
Foriş' case was instrumental in provoking Gheorghe Pintilie's expulsion from the party. Nevetheless, the latter was still present at official ceremonies, and was decorated with the Tudor Vladimirescu Order only two years later. As the committee's main attribute was parting with the legacy of Gheorghiu-Dej, Foriş' case remained without other notable consequences (Teohari Georgescu himself was later assigned another office inside the PCR).
Several historians consider Foriş' dismissal as the complete rupture in historical continuity between the PCR as established in 1921 and the post-1944 grouping. According to Adrian Cioroianu
Adrian Cioroianu
Adrian Mihai Cioroianu is a Romanian historian, politician, journalist, and essayist. A lecturer for the History Department at the University of Bucharest, he is the author of several books dealing with Romanian history...
, the final version of the PCR was entirely shaped by the group of Caransebeş
Caransebes
Caransebeş is a city in Caraş-Severin County, part of the Banat region in southwestern Romania. It is located at the confluence of the river Timiş with the river Sebeş, the latter coming from the Ţarcu Mountains. To the west, it is in direct contact with the Banat hills...
prisoners.
Personal life and family
His lover, Victoria Sârbu, was born in SorocaSoroca
Soroca is a Moldovan city situated on the Nistru river about 160 km north of Chişinău. It is the administrative center of Soroca District.- History :The city has its origin in the medieval Genoese trade post of Olchionia, or Alchona...
, Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
in 1909, to Jewish parents, and, as an unemployed graduate of the University of Iaşi's Faculty of Natural Science, worked as a courier for the Red Aid
International Red Aid
International Red Aid was an international social service organization established by the Communist International...
, before joining PCR defense teams for indicted party members. She carried out her activities as a party leader during the war, without ever having formally joined the party. At one point, her sister, Elena Pavel, was unsuccessfully courted by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej was the Communist leader of Romania from 1948 until his death in 1965.-Early life:Gheorghe was the son of a poor worker, Tănase Gheorghiu, and his wife Ana. Gheorghiu-Dej joined the Communist Party of Romania in 1930...
.
Among the charges brought against Foriş was his alleged attempt to seduce Constanţa Crăciun, a prominent PCR activist who supported Gheorghiu-Dej; he was accused of having pressured her to engage become his mistress at the time when she was already in a relationship with Ion Vincze
Ion Vincze
Ion Vincze was a Romanian communist politician and diplomat...
, and of having thus caused her a nervous breakdown
Nervous breakdown
Mental breakdown is a non-medical term used to describe an acute, time-limited phase of a specific disorder that presents primarily with features of depression or anxiety.-Definition:...
which had facilitated her capture by authorities. Under pressure from her interrogators, Sârbu partly confirmed the rumor, stating that she had become Foriş' partner soon after the incident.
Having also been imprisoned in December 1949, Victoria Sârbu was indicted in the Pătrăşcanu-Remus Koffler trial, and,having been repeatedly torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
d during the inquiry, served another six years. She was set free in 1955, after a medical examination concluded that she had developed a mental illness
Mental illness
A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...
.
Vera-Victoria, her daughter with Ştefan Foriş, born during the 1940s, never fully recovered from the shock caused by the persecution of her parents; after 1968, she was awarded a pension from the Romanian state, and died during the late 1970s. Elena Pavel, who had since died, continued to be used as an asset in PCR propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
for the entire period.
Following Foriş' disappearance, his mother Maria repeatedly petitioned authorities to answer as to his whereabouts. In 1947, a group of secret policemen allegedly acting on the orders of Gheorghiu-Dej, and supervised by Alexandru Nicolschi
Alexandru Nicolschi
Alexandru Nicolschi was a Romanian communist activist, Soviet agent and officer, and Securitate chief under the Communist regime...
, kidnapped her from her residence in Oradea
Oradea
Oradea is the capital city of Bihor County, in the Crișana region of north-western Romania. The city has a population of 204,477, according to the 2009 estimates. The wider Oradea metropolitan area has a total population of 245,832.-Geography:...
. They then tied rocks to her neck and drowned her in the Crişul Repede
Crisul Repede
Crişul Repede is a river in Bihor county, Crişana, Romania and in southeastern Hungary . Together with the rivers Crişul Alb and Crişul Negru , it makes up the Three Criş rivers . These are considered the main rivers in the Crişana region of Romania...
. During his hearing of 1967, Nicolschi indicated that one of his subordinates, a certain "Comrade Bîrtaş" of the Oradea section, had taken the initiative ("Comrade Bîrtaş had received the indication to talk to her and get her to return to Oradea and admit herself into an old people's home. Details of how Comrade Bîrtaş has accomplished the mission are not known to me").
Tatiana Bulan, a Bessarabian Communist activist who had been Foriş' lover, rose through the PCR ranks after the 1960s, being promoted by Elena Ceauşescu
Elena Ceausescu
Elena Ceaușescu was the wife of Romania's Communist leader Nicolae Ceaușescu, and Deputy Prime Minister of Romania.-Background:She was born Elena Petrescu into a peasant family in Petrești commune, Dâmboviţa County, in the informal region of Wallachia. Her family was supported by her father's job...
.