Romanian anti-communist resistance movement

Romanian anti-communist resistance movement
Part of the Cold War and the anti-communist insurgencies in Central and Eastern Europe

Map of Romania with armed resistance areas marked in red
Date1947–1962
Location
Result Insurgency suppressed
Belligerents

 PR Romania

Supported by:
 Soviet Union

Anti-communist groups

Supported by:
 United States
 United Kingdom
CNR
Commanders and leaders
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Pintilie
Alexandru Drăghici
Ion Gavrilă Ogoranu
Ioan Carlaonț #
Vasile Motrescu [ro] Executed
Iosif Capotă Executed
Toma Arnăuțoiu Executed
Leon Șușman (DOW)
Teodor Șușman [ro] 
Nicolae Dabija Executed
Aurel Aldea #
Constantin Eftimiu #
Victor Lupșa Executed
Gogu Puiu 
Units involved
  • Haiducii lui Avram Iancu
  • Haiducii Muscelului
  • National Defence Front
  • ...and others
    Strength
    Several battalions[1] 10,000 rebels
    Casualties and losses
    Unknown, but most likely light 2,000 killed
    Most of the army rebels executed
    Rest of them imprisoned

    The Romanian anti-communist resistance movement was active from the late 1940s to the mid-1950s, with isolated individual fighters remaining at large until the early 1960s. Armed resistance was the first and most structured form of resistance against the Romanian People's Republic, which in turn regarded the fighters as "bandits". It was not until the overthrow of Nicolae Ceaușescu in late 1989 that details about what was called "anti-communist armed resistance" were made public. It was only then that the public learned about the several small armed groups, which sometimes termed themselves "hajduks", that had taken refuge in the Carpathian Mountains, where some hid for ten years from authorities. The last fighter was eliminated in the mountains of Banat in 1962. The Romanian resistance was one of the longest lasting armed movements in the former Eastern Bloc.[2]

    Some academics argue that the extent and influence of the movement is often exaggerated in the post-communist Romanian media, memoirs of the survivors, and even historiography, while the authoritarian, anti-Semitic and/or xenophobic ideology of part of the groups are generally overlooked or minimized.[3] Others, generally civic associations and former dissidents, argue that had external circumstances been different, and had the Western powers not permitted the Soviet Union to incorporate Romania and other countries from Eastern Europe into its sphere of domination, the anti-communist armed resistance could have led a successful war of national liberation.[4][5] Still others, mainly former officials, former members of the Securitate secret police, as well as sympathizers of the communist government, label these clandestine groups as fascist, criminal, or anti-national elements subordinate to foreign Western interests seeking to destabilize the country.[4] Some former resistance fighters (such as Ion Gavrilă Ogoranu, Gavrilă Vatamaniuc, and Lucreția Jurj) acknowledged after 1989 that they never posed a real threat to the communist government, and that their role was rather limited in maintaining an anti-communist climate in their local communities in the event of an American intervention.[4]

    1. ^ Miroiu, Andrei. Wiping Out 'The Bandits' Romanian Counterinsurgency Strategies in the Early Communist Period. p. 688.
    2. ^ Consiliul Național pentru Studierea Ahivelor Securității, Bande, bandiți și eroi. Grupurile de rezistență și Securitatea (1948–1968), Editura Enciclopedică, București, 2003
    3. ^ Totok, William; Macovei, Elena-Irina (2016). Între mit și bagatelizare. Despre reconsiderarea critică a trecutului, Ion Gavrilă Ogoranu și rezistența armată anticomunistă din România. Polirom. pp. 103–104, 179–180. ISBN 978-973-46-6127-5.
    4. ^ a b c Ciobanu, Monica (28 July 2015). "Remembering the Romanian Anti-Communist Armed Resistance: An Analysis of Local Lived Experience". Eurostudia. 10 (1): 105–123. doi:10.7202/1033884ar.
    5. ^ Boldur-Lățescu, Gheorghe (2005). The communist genocide in Romania. New York: Nova Science Publishers. ISBN 1-59454-251-1. OCLC 57002619.