Perhaps more will be written about what happened at Pitesti and at the other
prisons, if the information ever penetrates the Iron Curtain. [1]
The contents of this little book of mine aim only to direct the reader's
attention to a phenomenon too vast in its scope and application to permit the
possibility of ascertainment of complete factual information (what is available
from Communist prisons is very limited), and a definitive explanation of it in
strictly psychological terms. In addition to the strict supervision of prison
life, my observations were limited by the understandable embarrassment that the
victims felt over many details of their experiences and conduct. Nor were they
a few who simply refused to discuss at all the most painful sector of their
lives.
But fragmentary as they are, the contents of this book are true. Nobody can
deny this, not even the "Communist authorities" at the helm of my
country. I do not believe that a better account of these events can be found
than the one given by the victims of the experiment themselves.
It is possible that the "Party" may not take notice of this work,
or it may institute a campaign of denial and slander against it, specifically
by ordering those who were tortured to "indignantly deny the lies put out
in the service of capitalism. " If this proves to be the case, it will not
be without many precedents. I shall cite one here, since it involves students,
who, of all prisoners, suffered the most. This example comes from the
experience of students in the so-called "free" life of a Romanian
university in 1956.
In those days, hope of liberation was less chimerical than it now is, and
the West had not yet proved conclusively that it is completely disinterested in
human freedom. In Hungary the students in Budapest joined forces with workers
and, side by side with them, endeavored to break their chains; they succeeded
in visibly shaking for a short time the rule of Satan. Their act had great
repercussions in the universities of Romania, particularly at Timisoara, the
closest to Hungary, and at Bucharest, where the student body was largest and
the most agitated. A successful uprising in two colleges of Bucharest
university (Letters and Medicine) was quickly put down by force through the
power of the Securitate. But at Timisoara, events were more complicated.
To begin with, the Minister of Education, Murgulescu, tried to reduce
tensions there but to no avail. In fact, he only succeeded in stirring things
up to such a pitch that, notwithstanding his high position, he was forced to
flee through a window of the cafeteria under a bombardment of handfuls of mush
thrown by irate students. As a result, the demonstration which the students had
planned for four o'clock that afternoon was cancelled by the authorities, and
several battalions of troops from the Securitate were sent in and stationed
around the dormitories.
In the evening, the Minister of the Interior himself arrived by plane and
tried to pacify the students. He promised to meet all three of their demands,
namely: elimination of Marxism and the Russian language as required subjects;
liberalization of the whole university; and the dissolution of the cadre of
students acting as spies for the Securitate. But after promising these things
and getting the students quieted down and back to their rooms, he gave them the
real answer: machine gun fire! For over two hours, in order to give the
Securitate time to rush in reinforcements, the dormitory of the Medical College
was kept under fire from automatic weapons. Then the assault was staged, with
soldiers rushing into the building with arms at the ready. To oppose them the
students had only their books and marmalade jars. For several hours, students
were arrested and hauled away in trucks to an army camp unoccupied since the
war, about 40 miles from Timisoara. Then for three days a vigorous search was
conducted for students in the streets and homes of the city. Everyone
whose card identified him as a student was arrested on the spot with no reason
given, then hustled out to the camp. Not until the Hungarian uprising had been
suppressed, however, were the arrested students given hearings. The majority
were then freed provided they signed a declaration that they would never again
participate in any action directed against the "Workers' Party!"
Several hundred were expelled from the university. In all this, social status
obviously played no part at all, for the most rebellious of the students were
those who came from poor families! Several score were considered
"instigators of the rebellion against the legal social order" and
spent some time in the cellars of the Securitate, then before the Tribunal,
where sentences decreed by the Securitate were pronounced. The sentences varied
in length from five years' imprisonment to hard labor for life.
By late December of 1956, when the situation had quieted down and the
Communists felt secure of their victory, some strange "meetings"
began to take place in various centers throughout the country. Under strict
supervision by the Securitate, students vigorously protested "slanders in
the capitalistic press," which had reported, rather vaguely, some
"unrest" on the campuses. Speeches, previously written and dictated
by the Securitate, were "spontaneously" delivered from many rostra.
These contained fulsome praise of the Party and the Soviet and affirmed the
"unconditional attachment" of all students to the "working class
in the People's Romania", expressing their deep indignation and their
"pledges" of vigilance against the "enemy [sic] of the
Romanian people. " Such slop was poured out for days. The same students in
whom, several weeks earlier, had been stirred a hope of liberation, now denied
everything and professed loyalty to the regime.
It is not unlikely that a similar denunciation of this book will be
launched, and a comparable denial of its veracity manufactured by the same
process.
These lines have been written to fulfill a pledge I made to several victims
of the unmaskings who, knowing that some day I would be able to smuggle the
book through the Iron Curtain, had confided to me, frequently with pain and
great inner anxiety, everything they thought it was man's duty not to forget.
More than just a record of these events, this book is a warning; it is a
voice from beyond the grave, from the living dead behind the Iron Curtain. Let
anyone draw conclusions according to his own heart.
Lastly, I would like to say that while some died and some were obdurate,
most of the victims recovered. Man has within himself certain powers that
nobody can destroy -- not even himself; for man does not belong to himself, and
the powers within him proclaim Him Who created man.
Bucharest, 1958
Paris, 1962
New York, 1970
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1) |
On the recent book by Dr. Carja, see the first footnote
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