Târgu Ocna – The light from the wounds (en)

Christmas Time It was a quiet winter, with snow but no frost. The surrounding hills stood grey and still. From the hermitage, the bells rang out the monks’ prayers, and we joined them—as did all Christian souls—in silent prayer. It is impossible to believe that these voiceless prayers of people caught between death and torture went unheard. They were heard; they brought heaven to earth. I believe that God will have mercy on this world and on those great and faithful souls of Târgu-Ocna. In Room 4 sat, among others, Archimandrite Gherasim Iscu; beside him, a Jewish former Soviet politician […]

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Testimony of Fr. Constantin Voicescu My word is a testimony. Out of the more than twelve years I spent in prison, four (1950–1954) were in Târgu-Ocna. If we speak of the “Pitești phenomenon” as a satanic work of systematic physical and especially spiritual destruction of man, then we must also speak of the “Târgu-Ocna phenomenon”, which unfolded in parallel — but as a divine work of restoration and spiritual edification, in the midst of the communist hell. It is very difficult to capture the spiritual life of Târgu-Ocna’s political prisoners in just a few words. I will try only to […]

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When the prisoners who had survived Țurcanu’s “mill” arrived at Târgu-Ocna, they fell into two distinct groups: those who had utterly and finally renounced re-education, and those who still adhered to it. From the first day the so-called “re-educated” began to beat others — a carryover of Pitesti’s inertia, without regard for the different conditions here. The result was immediate scandal. Then the politician remarked curtly: — If the re-education was ordered by the Party, it is good; if it was not ordered by the Party, it is bad. The local authorities in Târgu-Ocna — even the secretaries — knew […]

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Târgu-Ocna Prison Sanatorium Târgu-Ocna is a small town in an ancient Carpathian depression, named so because salt was mined there. It lies along the Trotuș River and is watched over by a hill on which, since olden times, a hermitage has stood. Its deep-toned bell has long comforted both souls and nature. In 1937, at the initiative of Dr. Ioan Cantacuzino, a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients was built here. Over time, it was improved: a two-story building with large windows, a terrace, and a spacious courtyard. It was here that long-sentenced tuberculosis patients were brought from prisons across the country— […]

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At Targu-Ocna, re-education was not successful because it did not benefit from isolation and the element of surprise. A re-education floor was created, but everyone was vigilant. Among those proposed for torture was V.I. (Virgil Ionescu, after Aristide Lefa), a thoroughbred intellectual with an excellent philosophical and literary background. He was held in high esteem by the students, being older than them. His re-education had begun in Pitești. There, one day, a blanket was put over his head and he was dragged by his headband into a cell with a single bed, on which two strangers in civilian clothes were […]

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