Resistance in the Mountains – The 20th Century Outlaws

For Romanians, communism was always something alien to their soul, both as an ideology and as a political regime. Before 1944, very few members joined the Communist Party in Romania, most of them of foreign ethnic origin.

The Communist Party was imposed on the government by the Soviet army and later enforced through the Securitate, relying on the most degraded individuals in Romanian society.

We Romanians emerged from the war as a defeated people, treated as such by both the Soviets and the Western democracies. Our sacrifices against Nazi Germany were in vain. The fate of Romania, like that of its neighboring countries—Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria—was sealed without any right of appeal at the negotiating table, even before the war had ended.

With the installation of a communist government under Petru Groza in 1945, freedom was suppressed, and a regime of terror gradually took hold—one of arbitrary power, exploited by those who seized the opportunity to seek authority and a comfortable life at the expense of their fellow citizens.

If in Romania the terror was more merciless, and the injustices more flagrant than in neighboring countries—if we had the Pitești phenomenon and the Canal of Death—it was due to the presence in Romanian society of so many blackened souls capable of any baseness. Moreover, geographically, Romania was exceptionally isolated from the West, bordered only by communist countries. We entered the communist era after two dictatorships—the Carlist and the Antonescu regimes—during which the population had been trained to obey, terrorized, and forced to execute every command. It should be noted that in 1938 and 1941, voters were marched to the polls in full view, “yes” or “no,” in columns, accompanied by gendarmes with bayonets fixed.

Romania quickly became the laughingstock of Ana Pauker, Luca Laslo, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, Burăh Tescovici (Teohari Georgescu), Pantiușa Botnarenco, Alexandru Nicolski, Walter Roman, Vincse, and Aranici.

Politicians and cultural figures without backbone deserted quickly, groveling before the new rulers, becoming their companions while leaving exposed those who refused to bow their heads—who were sent to prison or death. Desolation, despair, and cowardice spread across the country.

And yet, in this swamp of despair, an anti-communist armed resistance emerged. It began in Bukovina in March 1944, when Soviet troops stepped onto Romanian soil. The action was organized by the Romanian Army, by officers such as Lt. Motrescu, and continued in that corner of the country through Cenușe, Macoveiciuc, Vatamaniuc, sometimes smoldering, sometimes in flames, until 1962, with Vasile Motrescu.

The armed resistance then spread across the mountains of Romania. In the autumn of 1944 and the following winter, groups of German paratroopers were deployed in the country with the mission of acting against the Soviet army at a favorable moment—a moment that never came. Some groups known to the communist regime disbanded and entered legality; others, unknown to the authorities, remained in the mountains until 1948, when they became active. Such was the group of Sâmbăta de Sus–Făgăraș, which included the writer Constantin Gane and Gheorghe Pele, later relocating to Arnota.

Even former Minister of Internal Affairs under the Sănătescu government, General Aldea, initiated armed resistance as soon as he realized that no other path could save Romania.

By 1946, events had somewhat calmed. There were still hopes for free elections and Western assistance—hopes that proved futile. From that moment, the organization of military anti-communist resistance accelerated, involving senior officers such as Generals Coroamă, Mitrea, Carlaonț, Admiral Horea Măcelaru, and Colonel Arsenescu.

By 1947, an understanding existed among all anti-communist forces, including the National Peasant Party (engineer Pop), the Liberal Party (engineer Bujoi), the Legionary Movement (Professor Niculae Petrașcu, Nistor Chioreanu, George Manu), Romanian Army groups, student organizations, and other forces.

A unified Command of the Resistance was formed. Across the country, armed groups were organized to act at the appropriate moment. The Romanian National Council in Paris (General Rădescu) was informed of this development and relayed the information to Western governments.

Due to failures in Western intelligence services—where high-ranking Soviet agents such as Philby and others were infiltrated—the Romanian communist regime learned of these plans. In the spring of 1948, following massive arrests, the command structure was destroyed. In November 1948, a massive trial for the “Great Betrayal” resulted in hundreds of years of imprisonment for those arrested (including the author of these lines).

In May 1948, mass arrests targeted politicians, students, pupils, military personnel, and workers to prevent any resistance. Only a small number—perhaps 20%—of those committed to joining the armed resistance remained free, either unknown to the regime or having evaded arrest. From these few, Romania’s armed resistance emerged, as limited as it was.

Without a nationwide unified command to coordinate actions, without continuous external contacts, and with differing tactics and strategies, results could not be extensive. One can speak of anti-communist resistance across the country until 1962, when it was finally crushed. This was another defeat in Romania’s history—a history that seems composed mostly of defeats, with only rare victories. Defeated were Ioan Vodă, Mihai, Horea, the revolutions of 1848, and the two world wars. Yet these defeats kept our national conscience alive; through them, we survived through the centuries and stand today on our land.

Through the armed resistance and sacrifices of these groups (called “bands” by the communist regime), alongside Christian resistance in prisons and the Romanian diaspora, the Romanian people redeemed their honor, sullied by so many acts of cowardice and betrayal.

How many anti-communist armed resistance groups existed? The exact number is unknown. In the Securitate archives, no complete inventory exists—only partial tables, differing from year to year. No comprehensive historical study has been done. The Foundation of Anti-Communist Armed Resistance Fighters counted over 200 groups.

An armed anti-communist resistance group had the following characteristics:

• Two or more fighters (189 in the Lupșa Victor–Vrancea band, 250 in the Dunca Vasile–Maramureș band, etc.), determined to oppose the communist order with arms to overthrow it.

• A support network reaching into the thousands, providing shelter, food, and information to the fighters.

• A mountainous or forested sector in which to operate and a number of villages where they could influence the local population.

• Securitate and militia forces, from a platoon to an army of multiple battalions or regiments, equipped for combat, acting according to all rules of war against the group for days, months, or even years (20 years in the mountains of Bukovina).

• Some fighters killed or wounded in clashes with Securitate forces.

• Some fighters or supporters killed during investigations in the Securitate.

• One or more Judas figures who betrayed fighters for money or material gain.

• One or more public or secret trials resulting in dozens, hundreds, or thousands of convictions (e.g., the Făgăraș region), many resulting in death or confiscation of property.

• Executions of those sentenced to death in hidden locations, with bodies thrown into unknown mass graves, or public executions to terrorize the population (e.g., at Cîmpeni, involving relatives of Bishop Valerian Trifa).

• Killings of those sentenced to prison outside the penitentiary under unknown circumstances.

• Establishment of a regime of terror over families, supporters, and local populations (beatings, torture, confiscation of property, destroyed families, forced displacement, children denied schooling, military service in punitive labor units, entire villages relocated to Bărăgan, e.g., the village of Segacea in the Apuseni Mountains).

• Officers of the Securitate arrogating the right over life, freedom, or death, capable of committing any crime in their sector without accountability.

(Ion Gavrilă Ogoranu – Brazii se frâng, dar nu se îndoiesc)