Dumitru Petrescu | |
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 Petrescu in military uniform | |
| Deputy Prime Minister of Romania | |
| In office 4 October 1955 – 11 May 1956 | |
| Romanian Minister of Finance | |
| In office 9 March 1952 – 4 October 1955 | |
| Preceded by | Vasile Luca |
| Succeeded by | Manea Mănescu |
| Chairman of the Great National Assembly | |
| In office 5 July – 28 December 1949 | |
| Preceded by | Constantin Pîrvulescu |
| Succeeded by | Alexandru Drăghici |
| In office 26 January – 29 May 1950 | |
| Preceded by | Alexandru Drăghici |
| Succeeded by | Constantin Doncea |
| Member of the Great National Assembly | |
| In office March 1948 – November 1952 | |
| Constituency | Gorj County |
| In office 30 November 1952 – July 1956 | |
| Constituency | Tîrgu Jiu |
| In office 2 March 1969 – 13 September 1969 | |
| Constituency | Libertății Park |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Gheorghe M. Dumitru 10 May 1906 Bucharest, Kingdom of Romania |
| Died | 13 September 1969 (aged 63) Karlovy Vary, Czech Socialist Republic, Czechoslovak Socialist Republic |
| Resting place | Libertății Park Mausoleum, Bucharest |
| Political party | Romanian Communist Party (c. 1932–1956; 1965–1969) |
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| Spouse | Ecaterina Petrescu |
| Alma mater | International Lenin School |
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| Military service | |
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| Branch/service | |
| Years of service | 1943–1949 |
| Rank | Major general |
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Dumitru Petrescu, believed to have been born Gheorghe M. Dumitru,[1][2] also known as Gheorghe Petrescu and Petrescu-Grivița (10 May 1906 – 13 September 1969), was a Romanian general, trade union leader, and Communist Party (PCR) activist. After training as a metalworker in Grivița, he took to left-wing politics, joining the underground communist groups at some point before the railwaymen's strike of February 1933, which he helped organise together with Constantin Doncea and Gheorghe Vasilichi. Arrested by the Romanian Kingdom authorities in its wake, he received a 15-year prison sentence. He broke out of Craiova penitentiary a few months later, together with Vasilichi and Doncea, after overpowering a guard. With support from the International Red Aid, Petrescu made his way into Czechoslovakia, and then headed for the Soviet Union, where he lived until 1944. He worked in publishing and trained as a propagandist at the International Lenin School in Moscow.
During World War II, Petrescu was acknowledged as a member of the PCR's exile, or "Muscovite", faction, which gravitated around Ana Pauker. He helped rallying up Romanian prisoners of war for the Red Army's Tudor Vladimirescu and Horea, Cloșca și Crișan Divisions, emerging as a political commissar and lieutenant colonel. He had a mainly political role in the Soviet conquest of Romania, upon which he was integrated into the Romanian Land Forces, serving as a coordinator of cultural and propaganda efforts, leading toward their transformation into the Romanian people's army. He followed the Romanian army and the Vladimirescu units as they crossed into Northern Transylvania and Hungary, recording his troops' initial bravery and subsequent breakdown during the Battle of Debrecen. Although promoted to major general in 1948, and assigned seats in the Great National Assembly and the Central Committee, Petrescu was pushed aside by the Romanian People's Republic; he had only a brief involvement in the collectivisation of agriculture, as part of a commission that also included Pauker. His marginalisation occurred largely because the communist leader, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, had a more modest pedigree in the railways movement than either Petrescu or Doncea, and as such resented their visibility.
Petrescu displayed his loyalty in 1952, when he assisted Gheorghiu-Dej in toppling Pauker and her "Muscovites"; he himself was Minister of Finance in 1952–1955, replacing the disgraced "Muscovite" Vasile Luca. His administrative career peaked in 1955–1956, when he served as deputy prime minister. Outspoken in his criticism of Gheorghiu-Dej, Petrescu was identified as belonging to a "Doncea group" of factionalists, and expelled from the party in July 1956. He returned to favour in 1965, when Gheorghiu-Dej had died and Nicolae Ceaușescu, as the new general secretary, had introduced a more liberal political line. Reinstated and allowed back on the Central Committee, Petrescu served in various administrative positions, before emerging as vice-president Front of Socialist Unity (in 1968) and of the State Council (in 1969). Already terminally ill with cirrhosis, he died while vacationing in Karlovy Vary; his final assignment had been one of national importance, as a member of the Permanent Presidium of the PCR Politburo. He is remembered as a founding figure of CSA Steaua București and of its football club.