Filimon Sârbu
Encyclopedia
Filimon Sârbu was a Romania
n communist
activist and anti-fascist
militant executed by the pro-Nazi authorities
during World War II
. After the war, he was acclaimed as a hero by the communist government
.
Sârbu was born into a family of workers in Herepeia
, Transylvania
. His father, a railway
worker, was sacked in 1926 for his participation in the strikes of the early 1920s, and the family had to move to Constanţa
by 1930. Due to lack of material means, the young Sârbu was forced to abandon school after completing primary education
, and in October 1930 he started as an apprentice lathe
operator at the Workshops of the Directorate of Maritime Ports in Constanţa
. There he joined the worker's movement and came under communist influence, and in 1933 he was dismissed for his political opinions, being readmitted at his colleagues pressure. In that period he also took part in the meetings of the National Antifascist Committee, a front organization of the Communist Party of Romania
, banned by the government in the 1920s. Arrested along other activists in 1936 during such an antifascist conference, he was condemned by a Military Tribunal to 6 months of jail.
In 1938 he was drafted in the Romanian Army and assigned to the border area of Carei. In August 1940 the area, along with all Northern Transylvania
was awarded
to Hungary
. Sârbu's protests against the territorial settlement led to his disciplinary transfer to the 10th Mountain Hunters
Battalion in Târnăveni
. Discharged in April 1941, he rapidly reestablished contacts with the antifascist organizations, first in in Braşov
, then back in Constanţa
.
After joining the Union of Communist Youth
(UTC) in 1941, he received the task to organize sabotage
acts against the fascist
forces in the city and in the port. He also became the Secretary of the county organization of the UTC. Sârbu was also responsible for spreading anti-war propaganda leaflets in the factories of Constanţa
.
According to Vartan Arachelian and Corneliu Coposu
, Sârbu was part of a group who set fire to a German
military depot in Constanţa, and signaled Soviet
warplanes at night. On June 22, 1941 (the day Operation Barbarossa
was launched), Sârbu was arrested along four other anti-fascist militants by Romania's secret police during a clandestine meeting on the Pescărie beach, in Mamaia
. The purpose of the meeting was described by the official indictment as "instigation to sabotage acts against the state order". After a summary trial by the Court Martial of the Bucharest
Territorial High Command, he was sentenced to death on July 4. On the evening of July 19, he was executed by firing squad at Jilava prison
, in a place named Valea Piersicilor (Valley of the Peaches). Sârbu was the only one to be executed, the other 4 activists tried in the same case being sentenced to prison.
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
activist and anti-fascist
Anti-fascism
Anti-fascism is the opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals, such as that of the resistance movements during World War II. The related term antifa derives from Antifaschismus, which is German for anti-fascism; it refers to individuals and groups on the left of the political...
militant executed by the pro-Nazi authorities
Romania during World War II
Following the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939, the Kingdom of Romania officially adopted a position of neutrality. However, the rapidly changing situation in Europe during 1940, as well as domestic political upheaval, undermined this stance. Fascist political forces such as the Iron...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. After the war, he was acclaimed as a hero by the communist government
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
.
Sârbu was born into a family of workers in Herepeia
Vetel
Veţel is a commune in Hunedoara County, Romania. It is composed of ten villages: Boia Bârzii , Bretelin , Căoi , Herepeia , Leşnic , Mintia , Muncelu Mare , Muncelu Mic , Runcu Mic and Veţel.At the 2002 census, 91.6% of the population were...
, Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
. His father, a railway
Caile Ferate Române
Căile Ferate Române is the official designation of the state railway carrier of Romania. Romania has a railway network of of which are electrified and the total track length is . The network is significantly interconnected with other European railway networks, providing pan-European passenger...
worker, was sacked in 1926 for his participation in the strikes of the early 1920s, and the family had to move to Constanţa
Constanta
Constanța is the oldest extant city in Romania, founded around 600 BC. The city is located in the Dobruja region of Romania, on the Black Sea coast. It is the capital of Constanța County and the largest city in the region....
by 1930. Due to lack of material means, the young Sârbu was forced to abandon school after completing primary education
Primary education
A primary school is an institution in which children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational,...
, and in October 1930 he started as an apprentice lathe
Lathe
A lathe is a machine tool which rotates the workpiece on its axis to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, or deformation with tools that are applied to the workpiece to create an object which has symmetry about an axis of rotation.Lathes are used in woodturning,...
operator at the Workshops of the Directorate of Maritime Ports in Constanţa
Constanta
Constanța is the oldest extant city in Romania, founded around 600 BC. The city is located in the Dobruja region of Romania, on the Black Sea coast. It is the capital of Constanța County and the largest city in the region....
. There he joined the worker's movement and came under communist influence, and in 1933 he was dismissed for his political opinions, being readmitted at his colleagues pressure. In that period he also took part in the meetings of the National Antifascist Committee, a front organization of the Communist Party of Romania
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
, banned by the government in the 1920s. Arrested along other activists in 1936 during such an antifascist conference, he was condemned by a Military Tribunal to 6 months of jail.
In 1938 he was drafted in the Romanian Army and assigned to the border area of Carei. In August 1940 the area, along with all Northern Transylvania
Northern Transylvania
Northern Transylvania is a region of Transylvania, situated within the territory of Romania. The population is largely composed of both ethnic Romanians and Hungarians, and the region has been part of Romania since 1918 . During World War II, as a consequence of the territorial agreement known as...
was awarded
Second Vienna Award
The Second Vienna Award was the second of two Vienna Awards arbitrated by the Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Rendered on August 30, 1940, it re-assigned the territory of Northern Transylvania from Romania to Hungary.-Prelude and historical background :After the World War I, the multi-ethnic...
to Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
. Sârbu's protests against the territorial settlement led to his disciplinary transfer to the 10th Mountain Hunters
Vânatori de Munte
The vânători de munte |Huntsmen]]) are the elite mountain troops of the Romanian Land Forces. They were first established as an independent Army Corps in 1916 during World War I, and became operational in 1917 under Corpul de Munte designation....
Battalion in Târnăveni
Târnaveni
Târnăveni is a city and municipality in central Romania, Mureş County. It lies on the Târnava Mică River in central Transylvania. The city administers three villages: Bobohalma, Botorca and Cuştelnic; the last was part of Găneşti Commune until 2002....
. Discharged in April 1941, he rapidly reestablished contacts with the antifascist organizations, first in in Braşov
Brasov
Brașov is a city in Romania and the capital of Brașov County.According to the last Romanian census, from 2002, there were 284,596 people living within the city of Brașov, making it the 8th most populated city in Romania....
, then back in Constanţa
Constanta
Constanța is the oldest extant city in Romania, founded around 600 BC. The city is located in the Dobruja region of Romania, on the Black Sea coast. It is the capital of Constanța County and the largest city in the region....
.
After joining the Union of Communist Youth
Union of Communist Youth
The Union of Communist Youth was the Romanian Communist Party's youth organisation, modelled after the Soviet Komsomol. It aimed to cultivate young cadres into the party, as well as to help create the "new man" envisioned by communist ideologues.-History:Founded in 1922, the UTC went underground...
(UTC) in 1941, he received the task to organize sabotage
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
acts against the fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
forces in the city and in the port. He also became the Secretary of the county organization of the UTC. Sârbu was also responsible for spreading anti-war propaganda leaflets in the factories of Constanţa
Constanta
Constanța is the oldest extant city in Romania, founded around 600 BC. The city is located in the Dobruja region of Romania, on the Black Sea coast. It is the capital of Constanța County and the largest city in the region....
.
According to Vartan Arachelian and Corneliu Coposu
Corneliu Coposu
-Early life:Coposu was born in Bobota, Sălaj County to the Romanian Greek-Catholic archpriest Valentin Coposu and his wife Aurelia Coposu...
, Sârbu was part of a group who set fire to a German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
military depot in Constanţa, and signaled Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
warplanes at night. On June 22, 1941 (the day Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
was launched), Sârbu was arrested along four other anti-fascist militants by Romania's secret police during a clandestine meeting on the Pescărie beach, in Mamaia
Mamaia
Mamaia is a resort on the Romanian Black Sea shore, considered to be Romania's most popular resort. It is situated immediately north-east of Constanţa...
. The purpose of the meeting was described by the official indictment as "instigation to sabotage acts against the state order". After a summary trial by the Court Martial of the Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
Territorial High Command, he was sentenced to death on July 4. On the evening of July 19, he was executed by firing squad at Jilava prison
Jilava
Jilava is a commune in Ilfov county, Romania, near Bucharest. It is composed of a single village, Jilava.The name derives from a Romanian word of Slavic origin meaning "humid place". Jilava was the location of a fort built by King Carol I of Romania, as part of the capital's defense system...
, in a place named Valea Piersicilor (Valley of the Peaches). Sârbu was the only one to be executed, the other 4 activists tried in the same case being sentenced to prison.
