Traian Murariu – executed for hosting those persecuted for justice

Murariu Traian was born into a family of hardworking farmers from the Banat plains. Traian and his mother Sanda had a nice household in the commune that was so common for middle peasants[1]. They were good people, with great faith in God and a deep respect for the principles of Christian morality. They brought up and educated their children in the spirit of love for God and helping their fellow men in need. They will pay with their lives for this Christian faith to which they have always been devoted.

We do not have much information about his work before 1950. It was certainly the life of an honest and dedicated villager from the Banat plains, with the worries, needs and aspirations specific to that time. He went to school in his native village. He stayed in his parents’ house and worked in the fields. Then he did his military service. He was not politically active and those who knew him say that he was animated by a deep faith in God, which was reflected in his impeccable moral behaviour in his dealings with his fellow citizens.

He had survived the aftermath of the Second World War and was attentive to the dramatic changes taking place in Romania under the occupation of the Soviet armies. As a man of faith and devoted to the principles of Christian morality, he certainly did not share the atheistic and anti-democratic policies being violently pursued by the Communist regime.

On the evening of 12 December 1950, two young men, Mazilu Nicolae and Mogos Ion, disguised as farmers, went to his house in Pădureni[2] to look for him. They were two former pupils of the “Negru Vodă” high school in Făgăraș. For their support of the anti-communist fighters in the Făgăraș mountains, they were expelled from the high school, arrested and sentenced to prison[3] and imprisoned in Târgșor Prison[4]. After their release, they went to the west of the country to find work in the factories of Reșița. They arrived in the commune of Pădureni, where one of the young men, Nicolae Mazilu, grew up, his father being the head of the gendarmerie. They found shelter in the house of Murariu Traian.

The indictment against the military men states that he “gave them shelter and food until the night of 15/16 December 1950, when they were discovered by the militia”[5]. During that night, seven militiamen broke into Murariu Traian’s house and were informed of the presence of the two young men. In the armed confrontation that followed, in which Traian Murariu did not participate, they were killed and then thrown into a mass grave in the cemetery of Pădureni.[6]

For his Christian act of sheltering innocent people hunted by the authorities, Murariu Traian was arrested by the Securitate and charged with “complicity in the crime of conspiracy against the social order”[7].

For almost a year he experienced the horrors and torture of the Security Service’s cellars. On 4 December 1951, he was brought before the military tribunal in Bucharest. It was a judicial farce designed to frighten the population by the severity of the sentence. The indictment reads: “The accused denied at first that he had given them shelter, but when he saw that the stationmaster was well informed, he told him where they were and went to fetch them with the lamp”[8].

With sentence no. 1529/4 December 1951, Murariu Traian is unanimously sentenced to death and confiscation of property for complicity in the crime of terror[9].

He was executed in Jilava Prison on 27 September 1952. He paid with his life for his desire and will to be a good Christian, who respected the Scythian doctrine of sheltering in one’s home those “persecuted for the sake of justice”.

(Ioan Munteanu – Martyrs for Christ in Romania during the Communist Regime, E.I.B.M.B.O.R., 2007, pp. 498-499)

1. Bucharest Military Tribunal. Section II, file no. 1803/1951, f. 663/1951, Copy-extracts. Information from the family of the deceased. Our thanks also to the deceased.

2. Ibid.

3. “Timișoara”, year VI, no. 181 (1359), 8 September 1995, p. 1, 16.

4. “Reality. Paralela 45”, no. 159, 8 September 1995, p. 16.

5. Bucharest Military Court. Section II, file no. 1803/1951, f. nepag.

6. “Timișoara”, year VI, no. 183 (1361), 11 September 1995, p. 12.

7. Bucharest Military Court. Section II, file no. 1803/1951, f. nepag.

8. Ibid.

9. Ibid.