Father Ion Drăgoi, killed for the “Arnăuțoiu gang”
Ion Drăgoi was born on 20 October 1900 in Vâlsănești Commune, Argeș County. After primary school, he attended the second class of the Theological Seminary, graduating in 1923. On 15 December 1925, Ion Drăgoi was ordained a priest, and on 20 December 1926 he was assigned to the parish of Nucșoara, Muscel County, in place of the deceased priest Pompiliu Dragomirescu. At the same time he was to attend the Faculty of Theology in Bucharest[1]. He was one of the most prominent intellectuals of Nucșoara and contributed much to the education of the villagers. He had four sons.
In 1940, Fr. Ion Drăgoi was the parish priest of Nucșoara, in a parish consisting of the villages of Nucșoara, Secături, Slatina and Sboghițești, with 382 families, 1,816 souls and a parish church dedicated to “All Saints’ Sunday”[2].
“He was a good servant,” said his son Corneliu after 1990. He served beautifully, sang beautifully and spoke beautifully. When he went to a pastoral circle, as the priests did from time to time, with the protopriests and bishops, or when they were at a more formal funeral, the other priests would say: “Father Drăgoi, let me speak first, because if I speak after you, it will be in vain”[3].
Member of the National Peasant Party
In 1932, Father Drăgoi joined the politics of the National Peasant Party, which had a tradition in the area thanks to the origins of Ion Mihalache. His political background was one of many reasons why he and his family were followed by the Securitate.
In March 1949, after the return to Nucșoara of the released officers Gheorghe Arsenescu and Toma Arnăuțoiu, the foundations were laid for the resistance group that was to operate in the area. The shepherd of the Nucșoara people, Father Ion Drăgoi, participated and was sworn in by the members of the newly formed group in the house of Gheorghe Rizea[4]. However, this did not mean that the priest would go to the mountains with the partisans, but that he would provide support in the form of food and other supplies. At the same time, according to Toma Arnăuțoiu, Father Drăgoi was the group’s confessor, i.e. the one who confessed them and gave them communion, thus fulfilling his mission as an altar server[5].
However, the Securitate Police immediately raided the place to arrest members of the resistance group. In this situation, on 19 June 1949, the priest took refuge with relatives in the vicinity[6]. At the home of Father Drăgoi’s family, the Securitate found his son Cornel and arrested him. Later, in the autumn of the same year, the Securitate also arrested his wife, Elena Drăgoi, and subjected her to a harsh investigation in order to get her to confess where the priest was hiding[7].
Arrested for participation in the anti-communist resistance
On 26 April 1950, the priest Ion Drăgoi was arrested on the basis of arrest warrant No. 110.205 issued by the Bucharest Military Prosecutor’s Office,[8] and on 31 August 1950 his arrest warrant was extended and he was taken to Jilava[9]. On 1 November 1950, another arrest warrant was issued, this time for the purpose of bringing him to trial for the offences provided for and punishable under Article 204, para. 4 of the Penal Code[10]. According to the minutes of the criminal investigation of 28 May 1950, the priest Ion Drăgoi, a former member of the Maniu PNT, “met Arsenescu in Arnăuțoiu’s house. The second time he met Arsenescu also at Arnăuțoiu’s house, and the third time he met Arsenescu at Gheorghe Rizea’s house. The first time he was called by Ion Arnăuțoiu, the second time by Victoria Arnăuțoiu and the third time by Laurențiu Arnăuțoiu. They met at Gheorghe Rizea’s house in May-June 1949, in the presence of Benone Milea, Ion Chircă, Luca Șuțu, Toma and Petre Arnăuțoiu. He fled his home on 23 June 1949 and remained in hiding until the day of his arrest”. At the same time, the Securitate considered him to be a member of the former PNȚ who, together with other members of the resistance – led by Arsenescu – “committed crimes and terrorised the population of the neighbouring communes as well as the forest workers in the region”[11].
The investigation file contains only one statement (there were probably several) made by the priest Drăgoi in connection with his actions. It is dated 28 May 1950 and reads as follows: “I had no activity within the Arsenescu gang. I met him at Arnăuțoiu’s house, not knowing that he was there, after old I. Arnăuțoiu invited me, telling me that his son had come from Bucharest with news, as I have already said. Besides, I only spoke to Arsenescu three times. The first time when I met him at the Arnăuțoiu house, the second time when I was called by Victoria Arnăuțoiu, at the house of P. Arnăuțoiu, and the third time at the house of Gheorghe Rizea, called by Mrs. Laurenția Arnăuțoiu. The last time I spoke with Arsenescu was at Gh. Rizea’s house, at the end of May, beginning of June 1949, I do not remember the exact date. Toma Arnăuțoiu, if I am not mistaken, and his brother Petre, Benone Milea, Nel Chircă, the deserter, and the Șuțu brothers, who had come to buy a calf, were present. I don’t know where Colonel Arsenescu is or with whom he is, because I left the commune on 23 June 1949. I stayed with my parents, who live in the commune Corbeni-Argeș, with Constantin Șerban in the commune Albești-Argeș, with my sister Constanța Toma in the commune Vâlsănești-Argeș and with the inhabitants Maria and Ion Nicuț, Andrei Păuna, Filofteia Lom and Petre Nițulescu, who are not my relatives but former school friends and fellow citizens; I also stayed with Matei P. Gheorghe, also from Vâlsănești, who is a relative of mine; I told them that I was being followed because I was suspected of belonging to the Arsenescu gang. Throughout this refuge I was alone and had no contact with anyone from the Arsenescu gang.
I further declare that in G. Rizea’s house, Arsenescu took the oath from Luca Șuțu and G. Șuțu and myself. The oath consisted of an oath of allegiance to the former King Michael I against communism and a pledge of secrecy about the Arsenescu gang. The Șuțu brothers swore with their hands on the gun, and I swore with nothing but the following words: “I swear that I will not say anything about anyone or anything”, that is, I will not say what Arsenescu told me, that he had found good landing places for planes and that resistance centres were being built in the mountains, which would prevent the Soviet armies from being destroyed in their retreat”[12].
Father Drăgoi’s statement only confirmed what other participants in the oath taken at Gheorghe Rizea’s house on 7 July 1949 had said, according to the latter: “I declare that on the night of the 1st of June, at about 11 o’clock, a fat gentleman, Tomiță Arnăuțoiu, Petrică Arnăuțoiu, Benone Milea, Chircă Ion (called Nel), the priest Drăgoi and others, who stayed outside and did not enter the house, whom I did not know. And Tomiță Arnăuțoiu came into the house and told me to swear an oath and not to tell and to go with them to the forest, and I swore […]. And Father Dragoi told me that there was going to be a war and that things were going to change, and in the meantime he told me to always go outside so that no one would come. He stayed for about an hour and then retired to the old Arnăuțoiu”[13]. The same thing was to happen to Victoria Arnăuțoiu and Gheorghe Șuțu on 28 May 1950 – the same day as to Father – according to the statements recorded in the investigation file[14].
Sentenced to five years in prison
On 19 October 1950, in an introductory report, the military prosecutor charged Father Drăgoi Ion, together with the other 35 accused, with the offence provided for and punished by Article 209, Part IV of the Criminal Code, because “although he was not a member of the organisation, he nevertheless acted in favour of the organisation and its members and in favour of the aims pursued by the organisation”[15].
At the hearing on 30 November 1950, the priest did not propose any witnesses in his defence for the hearing on 11 December. At the hearing of the accused, Father Drăgoi maintained his statement of 28 May[16].
By decree no. 1183 of 20 December 1950 of the Military Tribunal of Bucharest, Section II, the court did no more than accept the incriminating conclusions of the Securitate investigation, so that the priest Drăgoi Ion was sentenced to five years’ correctional imprisonment, three years’ correctional prohibition, a fine of 4000 lei and 4000 lei in court costs, for the crime of incitement against the social order, provided for and punished by 209 Article 4 of the Criminal Code[17]. The sentence was commuted from the date of remand in custody, i.e. 25 April 1950, to 20 April 1955[18]. On 24 July 1951, by decision no. 2668 of the Military Court of Cassation and Justice, Father Drăgoi’s appeal was rejected[19].
On 4 June 1954, Father Ion Drăgoi was in Gherla prison[20], and on 22 April 1955, he was released from the 0893 Constanța formation when he signed the declaration of release from detention[21]. In his prison record, drawn up for this detention, there are a number of entries that lead us to believe that on 20 July 1953, the father was transferred from the Valea Neagră labour colony to the Gherla prison (where he arrived on 22 July), then on 24 December 1954, he was interned at Poarta Albă, where he was released after a few months[22].
His return home was very well received by his followers, as we can see from the account given by a Securitate informer: “On the evening of 26 April, the priest I. Drăgoi was welcomed by the people of Nucșoara, as was I. Arnăuțoiu. Among those who visited him at home that evening was the chiaburoaica Verona Cusbescu. On the 28th of April, Drăgoi passed by on the road and the people who had been at the funeral of the late I. P. Chelu, as soon as they saw him, came out to greet him, shouting: “Look, I see our father!” and so on. The priest N. Andreescu also came out with the people and kissed Drăgoi on the way. Today, Drăgoi did not go to church, expressing that he would not come to church when he went straight to the service”[23].
Back in the parish
He did not return to the parish until 20 November 1955, where he served together with the priest Nicolae Andreescu, and at the end the ex-convict “expressed his gratitude for returning to the church and praised Andreescu. Andreescu also greeted Drăgoi. Iancu Arnăuțoiu also spoke, urging the two priests to work in harmony and not to pay attention to the mouth of the world”[24].
Perhaps I. Arnăuțoiu was referring to the fact that Father Andreescu was suspected of being a Securitate informer because he played the “hero”, but had not been arrested. This tense situation in Nucșoara had been provoked by the Securitate. It seems that this was also the reason for his conflict with Father Drăgoi. In view of this dispute, in mid-1957 the diocese of Râmnic and Argeș punished both of them by sending them to the Arnota monastery for an indefinite period, during which time the parish was administered by the parish priest of Domnești[25].
Since the Mountain People were still active, with links to the priests Ion Constantinescu, Nicolae Andreescu, Ilie Dragomirescu and Nicolae Mănescu, the Securitate Service considered that Father Drăgoi, who had participated in the creation of the Mountain Group, also had contacts. Thus, when the entire Muscelian group was arrested, Father Drăgoi was arrested again on 28 January 1959 and sent to UM 0336, the Security Police in Pitești, for the crime of “promoting acts of terror”, in accordance with Article 284 in conjunction with Article 207 of the Penal Code[26].
He had been under investigation since 29 January 1959 for his links with the mountain resistance in 1949, for which he had been convicted in 1950. According to the documents in the criminal file, Father Drăgoi was investigated between 29 January and 16 February 1959, and on 11 March 1959 he was confronted with Toma and Petre Arnăuțoiu and Titu Jubleanu in the same case. On 14 March 1959, the investigation was concluded and he was accused of having committed the offence provided for and punishable under Article 207(1) of the Penal Code[27].
During the trial, which took place between 5 and 19 May 1959, Fr. Drăgoi was accused of having “put on the false mask of a priest, hiding behind it the emaciated face of a vile criminal, in order to attack honest people with cruelty. He tried to hypocritically deny his deeds in order to escape punishment.
Sentenced to death and executed
On 19 May 1959, by judgment no. 107, Father Ion Drăgoi was sentenced to death and total confiscation of his property for the offence provided for and punished by Article 207, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code[29].
The execution of the sentence is recorded in the minutes of 19 July 1959: “We went to Jilava prison to carry out the execution. We found that the sentence had become final with the rejection of the appeal in accordance with decision no. 283 of 1 June 1959 of the Supreme Court, Military College, and that it had become enforceable with the rejection of the request for commutation of the death sentence by the Presidium of the Great National Assembly, in its session of 16 July 1959, communication from the Ministry of Justice, Directorate of Military Courts, dated 18 July 1959, no. 01116 and forwarded by the Military Tribunal of the Second Region, No. 0338 of 18 July 1959, with instructions to carry out the sentence in accordance with the provisions of Articles 14 et seq. of the Regulations on the Execution of Death Sentences. The execution of the sentence having been set for 23.45 hours today, 19 July 1959, we all went to the place of execution together with the above-mentioned condemned man, who had been brought from Jilava Prison, under the supervision of the prison commander, the condemned man was identified and then blindfolded. At the place of execution, after the condemned man had been identified again and his personal details matched those in the sentence, the judge appointed by the President of the Court of Execution read out the death sentence and the execution order. The military prosecutor verified the identity of the condemned person and ensured that the execution was carried out in accordance with the law. In addition, a team of three military officers, reassigned from the military staff of the place of detention, arrived at the place of execution. The execution took place today, 19 July 1959, at 23.45 p.m. in the Jilava Prison by shooting the above-mentioned condemned man with a pistol by order of the Director of the Jilava Prison. The prison doctor, delegated by the MAI, verified and confirmed the death of the condemned Drăgoi Ion, after which the body of the executed man was taken over by the commander of the Jilava prison, who ordered the burial in the place where the other deceased prisoners were buried”[30].
(Adrian Nicolae Petcu – Rost Magazine, year IV, no. 44, October 2006, pp. 42-46)
[1] ANIC, Dudu Velicu fonds, file 277, f. 44; Anuarul Arhiepiscopiei Bucureștilor pe anul 1941, Tipografia Sf. Mănăstiri Cernica, p. 409; The Imprisoned Church. Romania 1944-1989, INST, Bucharest, 1999, p. 156; Vasile Manea, Orthodox Priests in Communist Prisons, Patmos, 2001, p. 100.
[2] Calendar of the Archdiocese of Bucharest for 1940, Cernica Monastery, p. 212.
[3] Irina Nicolau, Theodor Nițu, The Story of Eisabetei Rizea. Mărturia lui Cornel Drăgoi, Bucharest, Humanitas Publishing House, 1993, p. 148.
[4] ACNSAS, Criminal fonds, file 50, vol. 9A, f. 221; Alexandru Marinescu, Pagini din resistência armată anticomunistă. Zona Nucșoara-Făgăraș, in “Memoria”, no. 7, p. 48; Luptătorii din munți, p. 81.
[5] Fighters in the mountains. Toma Arnăuțoiu-Nucșoara group. Documents of the investigation, trial, detention, editor Ioana Raluca Voicu-Arnăuțoiu, Bucharest, Vremea Publishing House, 1997, p. 684.
[6] ACNSAS, Informative fund, file 6443, f. 25, 27, 33-35; Irina Nicolau, Theodor Nițu, op. cit. p. 118-119, 148-149.
[7] ACNSAS, Informative fund, file 6443, f. 8-10.
[8] Idem, Criminal fonds, file 50, vol. 107, f. 2. From the statement of Toma Arnăuțoiu, dated 30 May 1958, we learn that Father Drăgoi was arrested, “because he did not have proof of having stayed in the capital” (Fighters from the Mountains, p. 39).
[9] ACNSAS, Criminal fonds, file 50, vol. 107, f. 11.
[10] Ibid, f. 10.
[11] Ibid, vol. 9A, f. 15; Idem, Informative fund, file 675, vol. 1, f. 120. There were 36 defendants in the batch.
[12] ACNSAS, Criminal fonds, file 50, vol. 9A, f. 248.
[13] Ibid, f. 251.
[14] Ibid, f. 254-255.
[15] Ibid, f. 275.
[16] Ibid, f. 313, 373. During the trial the priest was imprisoned in Jilava prison (Ibidem, f. 316).
[17] Ibidem, f. 391-400v; Ibidem, vol. 107, f. 9.
[18] Ibidem, f. 4; Fighters in the Mountains, p. 296, 299.
[19] ACNSAS, Criminal fonds, file 50, vol. 10, f. 85. On 2 August 1955, the Diocese of Râmnic and Argeș requested from the Bucharest Military Tribunal a copy of the sentence of conviction of the priest I. Drăgoi, in order to “clarify his situation in the clergy in accordance with our canons, laws and church regulations”. On 13 August, the Bucharest Military Tribunal replied with a copy of the aforementioned sentence (Ibidem, f. 228-229).
[20] Ibidem, vol. 107, f. 5.
[21] Ibidem, f. 3.
[22] Ibidem, f. 13.
[23] Idem, Informative fund, file 675, vol. 12, f. 411.
[24] Ibid., f. 397.
[25] Ibid, vol. 33, f. 2.
[26] Idem, Criminal fonds, file 50, vol. 77, f. 210-210v.
[27] Ibid, vol. 46, 186-203, 216.
[28] The mountain fighters, p. 687.
[29] Ibid, p. 708.
[30] ACNSAS, Criminal fonds, file 50, vol. 77, f. 219-219v. Confessors from Behind Bars, p. 31. In The Imprisoned Church, p. 157 oi Orthodox Priests, loc. cit. incorrectly states 18 July 1959 as the date of execution. Also, in The Golden Book, p. 51, 321, Cicerone Ionițoiu gives the date as 21 July 1959. The father’s son, Cornel Drăgoi, was sent to a labour camp and was released only on 25 February 1962 (ACNSAS, Criminal fonds, file 50, vol. 78, f. 155-183).