Ion Flueraș – a man of great dignity and purity

I had learnt about Ion Flueraș, that he had also been schooled by Rek and Juberian, I had learnt that he had died, that he had also undergone re-education. This man was of a dignity and purity that one rarely encounters, I sat with him twice. Flueraș was the secretary general of the Social Democratic Party, of the Title Petrescu faction.

I witnessed a confrontation between Ion Flueraș and the two secretaries, Captain Gheorghiu, the prison director, and Lieutenant Avădanei from the Gherla prison. Poor Flueraș was about 70 years old, he was sick, I took care of him because he couldn’t get up from his chair, I supported him.

Captain Gheorghiu and Avădanei come to the morning roll call, at the beginning Flueraș tells them to take him to the infirmary, that he is sick and needs medical help. Captain Gheorghiu replies that he will be taken if he dissociates himself from “the traitor Titel Petrescu”. Flueraș replies with dignity: “You are all traitors, led by Gheorghiu-Dej and your whole clique.”

Avădanei wanted to lunge at him and hit him, but Captain Gheorghiu took Avădanei’s hand, spat at Flueraș and left. They handed him over to Rek and Juberian, and they made him pay for his courage and dignity.

(Mihai Timaru, Amintiri de la Gherla, Editura de Vest, Timișoara, 1993, pp. 90-91)