The release
Around 1960-1961, the re-education of prisoners began in Aiud. Several so-called clubs of 400 people were formed in the prison yards. That was the procedure: Compromise yourself and distance yourself from the Legion. Every day, they committed themselves to the word. They went to the lectern and wrote their autobiography, a kind of exposé, of their time as Legionnaires, the activities they had carried out against the Party, and then they slandered everything they held dear to prove that they had undergone their re-education out of conviction. They began by slandering their parents as bastards and scoundrels who had not given them a good upbringing and directed them towards the Communist Party that had liberated the country from the yoke of the bourgeoisie.
The Party opened their eyes to the fact that the Church and the Priests were nothing more than a superstition that helped to exploit the workers and peasants. The Legionary Movement, the Iron Guard, Captain Corneliu Codreanu, Moța, Marin and all our martyrs who sacrificed themselves for the nation and for Christ were slandered in the most vulgar way by some who had once been Legionaries and had now become dirty traitors. The bastards said that they were traitors, bandits, tools and supporters of the bourgeoisie and the exploiting landlords. Some of them even testified that they had become atheists. Among them was Băniță Ion and many others who were welcomed by the party and put on the lists for early release. I say this with great pain in my heart because there were many who compromised, did not resist and gave in.
Politicians, prison officers, came to our cells and brought us newspapers in which we could read about the achievements of the party. Many of us accepted them, but some of us refused them outright. Among them were Father Marcu, the student Trifon, the monk Arsenie Papacioc, the monk Ioan from the Vladimirești monastery, the monk Lungeanu, Father Vrânceanu and others. They put prison shirts on our heads and took us to the famous torture chamber. We were fed with the sour juice left over from the food of those who had undergone re-education and were being released. Two of us slept in an iron bed, one of those large single beds. It was indeed a sleep of torment and torture. Then frost, cold and hunger made many of us, in addition to T.B.C., sick with dystrophy, especially ankylosis.
Within two years, many prisoners were released and the prison was almost empty. On 1 July 1964, all the prisoners in the Zarca, about two hundred of them, put the prison shirts on our heads and took us to the wards. Sima Dimcica and Puiu Atanasiu were terrified. They put them on stretchers and took them to the wards. Most of us had become wrecks and when we walked we leaned against each other. And because we were unruly, without re-education, it was a miracle that we were released, it was the hand of God. But because we were in an indescribable state, anaemic, ankylosed, they couldn’t send us home like that. So they created the best conditions for our recovery. The door to our room was open all day and the food was surprisingly hearty. All day we sat in the courtyard in the life-giving sunshine. Within a month we were back on our feet.
On 1 August 1964, in the evening, we were given our exit tickets. We went to the station to catch the train to Bucharest. We got on the train, sat down on the benches, but we couldn’t believe we were free. We looked around, there were no militiamen. Lots of people, all civilians, men, women, children, lots of activity. This gave us peace of mind and confidence that we were free. We all prayed our prayers in our minds, trusting in the good Lord that we would go home.
(Nicolae Ciolacu – Dobrogea’s Outlaws)