The moment of supreme sacrifices began with the accident of a perforator: Father Teodor Codilă

The moment of supreme sacrifice began with the accidental death of a perforator: Fr. Teodor Codilă from Bihor, who was working in the 12th abutment of the east horizon. His eyesight was failing and he asked to be transferred from his position as a driller. He was transferred, but only temporarily. At the insistence of Captain Petrescu, the new prisoners’ inspector, who represented the political officer for both horizons, Father was given a new job as a perforator, with Constantin Pantelimonescu from Bucharest as his assistant. He recently told me how events unfolded. With his failing eyesight, Father did not do his job properly. As he was setting up the perforator, a pile of plates fell on his frail body. Severely injured, he soon died in the colony infirmary. The colony mourned. The priests kept a constant vigil at his bedside, saying prayers. He was buried by the guards in the cemetery of Baia Sprie.

(Nicolae Goga – The Triangle of Death. Memories from Baia-Sprie 1950-1952, ed. Marineasa, Timișoara, 1995, pp. 71-72)