Soviet occupation of Romania
Encyclopedia
The Soviet occupation of Romania refers to the period from 1944 to August 1958, during which the Soviet Union
maintained a significant military presence in Romania
. The fate of the eastern territories of Romania occupied and eventually incorporated into the Soviet Union is treated separately at the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina article.
During their Eastern Front
offensive of 1944, Soviet troops occupied Romania. The northwestern part of Moldavia
was occupied through fighting from May to August, while Romania
was still an ally of Nazi Germany
. The rest was occupied after Romania changed sides in the war
, as a result of the royal coup launched by King Michael
on August 23, 1944. On that date, the King announced that Romania had unilaterally ceased all military actions against the Allied forces
, had accepted the Allied armistice offer, and had entered war against the Axis Powers. As no formal armistice offer existed, the Red Army
occupied most of Romania as enemy territory prior to the signature of the Moscow
Armistice of September 12, 1944.
The armistice convention and then the Paris Peace Treaties
of 1947 gave a legal basis to the Soviet military presence in Romania, which lasted until 1958, reaching a peak of some 615,000 in 1946.
Soviet authors and the 1952 Constitution of Romania
referred to the events of 1944 as the "liberation of Romania by the glorious Soviet Army". On the other hand, most Romanian and Western sources use the term "Soviet occupation of Romania," some applying it to the whole period from 1944 to 1958.
and King Michael Coup
After having withdrawn from Bessarabia
and Northern Bukovina
following the June 1940 Soviet Ultimatum, Romania
allied with Nazi Germany
and declared war on the Soviet Union
. Romania
n troops, placed under the German High Command
, entered World War II
in 1941, as part of Operation Barbarossa
. After reoccupying the territory annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, Romania also occupied Southern Ukraine
all the way to the Southern Bug
. However Romania's eastern campaign ended in disaster, notably at Stalingrad.
By the end of 1943, the Red Army
had liberated most of the Soviet territory, advancing westward from its borders to defeat Nazi Germany
and its allies. It was in this context that the Soviet forces crossed into Romania
and occupied Northern and Eastern Moldavia
.
On August 23, 1944 King Michael launched a coup d'état, overthrowing the pro-Nazi government of Ion Antonescu
, and putting Romania's Army on the side of the Allies
. As a result, King Michael was spared the fate of another former German ally, Prince Kyril, Regent of Bulgaria
, executed by the Soviets in 1945. As a matter of fact, King Michael was the last monarch behind the Iron Curtain
to lose his throne, on December 30, 1947.
The coup speeded the Red Army's advance into Romania, and gave the Romanian Army the chance to liberate the country from the German occupation. In the absence of an actual signed armistice, the Soviet troops continued to treat the Romanians as a hostile force. The armistice was signed three weeks later, on September 12, 1944, "on terms Moscow
virtually dictated." The coup effectively amounted to a "capitulation", an "unconditional" "surrender" to the Soviets and the rest of the Allies. During that time, between 114,000 and 160,000 Romanian soldiers were taken as prisoners of war
by the Soviets without any fight as result of the cease fire order given by King Michael, and marched on foot to camps in the Soviet Union; about a third of them perished on the way.
By September 12, the Red Army already controlled much of the Romanian territory. Under the Armistice Agreement between Romania and the Allies, Romania subjected itself to an Allied Control Commission, consisting of the Soviet Union, the United States
, and the United Kingdom
, while the Soviet military command de-facto exercised predominant authority. Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina were again incorporated into the Soviet Union.
on September 12, 1944), it was stipulated in Article 3 that
and in Article 18 that
In line with Article 14 of the Armistice Agreement, two People's Tribunals
were set up to try suspected war criminals
, one in Bucharest, and the other in Cluj
.
The plenipotentiary
signatories to the armistice as indicated therein were:
The Romanian delegation at the Paris
Conference was headed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Gheorghe Tătărescu
. The Peace Treaty with Romania was signed on February 10, 1947, in the Salon de l’Horloge of the Ministère des Affaires Étrangères
. On the Romanian side, the four signatories were Gheorghe Tătărescu
, Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu
, Ştefan Voitec
, and Dumitru Dămăceanu
. The signatories for the Allied powers included United States Secretary of State
James F. Byrnes
, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov
, and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Ernest Bevin
.
After the Armistice Agreement was concluded in 1944, Soviet troops occupied the entire territory of Romania. Estimates over troop levels vary between 750,000 and 1 million (estimates of British military officials), to between 1 and 1.5 million (estimates of the Romanian General Staff); many Western diplomats and experts refer to more than 1 million Soviet troops.
On November 8, 1945, King Michael's name day
, an anti-communist
demonstration in front of the Royal Palace
in Bucharest
was met with force, resulting in dozens of killed and wounded. Soviet officers restrained Romanian soldiers and police from firing on civilians, and Soviet troops restored order.
The estimated strength of Soviet forces in Romania (including air, navy, ground, and security troops), from VE Day
to 1952, appears in the table to the right.
During the second part of 1946, more than half of the frontline strength of the Soviet Air Forces was stationed outside the USSR, with the largest portion in Poland
and Romania
(2,500 planes in each country). The troop levels surged to a high of 615,000 in March 1946, but were drawn down after the conclusion of the Peace Treaty in 1947. By the end of 1946, Soviet units were concentrated in five areas: Craiova
–Slatina
, Sibiu
–Alba-Iulia, Constanţa
, and Brăila
–Focşani
. Troop levels reach a relatively stable level from May 1948 until October 1956: two full divisions, plus supporting units adding up to roughly a third division.
With the Austrian State Treaty
in 1955 the reason for the presence of troops as stated in the Paris Peace Treaties ceased to exist, but Premier Gheorghiu-Dej
announced the troops would stay as long as there are foreign soldiers in West Germany
.
Soviet troops in Romania were used to suppress the Hungarian Revolution in November 1956. Soviet troop facilities inside Romania were off limits to all Romanians at the time.
The Soviet occupation of Romania led to a complete reorganization of the Romanian Army under the supervision of the Soviet Army
. The size of the Romanian army was limited by the Paris peace treaty to 138,000 officers and troops total; however, under the Soviets it grew far past treaty limits through increasing militarization of Romania's population. By 1953, regular army forces had grown to approximately 300,000; reserve army forces to approximately 135,000; and "interior" forces (border guards, security brigades, et al.) at the disposal of the Ministry of the Interior to over 325,000.
At the onset, pro-German
elements were purged from the Romanian armed forces. In 1944–45, two divisions were formed out of Romanian volunteers—ex-prisoners of war, trained and indoctrinated in the Soviet Union during the war, but also of Communist activists such as Valter Roman
. One was the Tudor Vladimirescu
First Volunteer Division, under the command of Colonel Nicolae Cambrea
, and the other the Horia, Cloşca şi Crişan Division
, under the command of General Mihail Lascăr
(who was to serve as Minister of Defense from 1946 to 1947). These two units were to form the nucleus of the new Romanian Army under Soviet control. Once the Romanian Communist Party
was in charge, 30% of officers and noncommissioned officers (mostly experienced soldiers, and a potential source of opposition to the Sovietization
of the Army) were purged from the military.
After the Romanian Workers' Party
seized political power, the Sovietization of the army commenced, under the supervision of the new Minister of Defense, Emil Bodnăraş
. This involved copying the Soviet model of military and political organization, and changing the military doctrine
of combat and defense, also in the context of Romania's integration in the strategic system of the Soviets, at the beginning of the Cold War
.
Soviet officers were appointed as counselors to supervise the efficient reorganization of the army. They had leading control and surveillance roles in the main institutions of the state, but also in areas of lesser importance. In the beginning, they only had a few positions in the Ministry of Defense, the General Staff
, and the political sections inside the army. Their number gradually increased, while their positions became permanent. In November 1952, there were 105 permanent counselors and 17 temporary positions in military schools. After 1955, their number started to decrease: 72 in 1955, 63 in 1956, 25 in 1957 and 10 in 1958.
After 1945, new military regulations were elaborated following the model of the Red Army, and they were finalized in 1949–1952. As a consequence, a number of officers and military students were sent to the Soviet Union for training. Between 1949 and 1952, 717 students went to the USSR for studies, while in 1958 there were 471 military students in the USSR. Their number decreased in the following years.
on a large scale. The General Direction for the Security of the People (Romanian initials: DGSP, but more commonly just called the Securitate
) was officially founded on August 30, 1948 by Decree 221/30. The Securitate was created by SMERSH
, an NKVD
unit charged with demolishing existing intelligence agencies and replacing them with Soviet
-style bodies in the Soviet-occupied countries of Eastern Europe
. The SMERSH unit in Romania, called Brigada Mobilă, was led until 1948 by the NKVD colonel Boris Grünberg, also known in Romania as Alexandru Nicolschi
. Its stated purpose was to "defend democratic
conquests and guarantee the safety of the Romanian Peoples' Republic against both internal and external enemies." The first Director of the Securitate was NKVD
general Panteleimon Bondarenko, who used in Romania the name Gheorghe Pintilie
. Alexandru Nicolschi (by then a general) and another Soviet officer, Major General
Vladimir Mazuru (born Mazurov), held the deputy directorships.
from Romania in January 1945. In October 1944, the Sănătescu
government, at the solicitation of the Allied Control Commission, began arresting young ethnic German Romanian citizens, who were placed at the disposal of the Soviet command. Under the Rădescu
government, faced with ultimatums from the Soviet command, trains carrying Transylvanian Saxons left for the Soviet Union. In a Protest (dated January 13, 1945), the Rădescu government noted the Romanian government's obligation to protect each of its citizens, regardless of ethnic origin, and of the absence of a legal basis for the deportation of the Transylvanian Saxons. Such deportations would be outlawed in 1949 through the Fourth Geneva Convention
, which states at Article 49: "Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive."
on May 8, 1945. In theory, these ventures were aimed at generating revenue for reconstruction after the devastations of the war. However, they were mainly designed as a means to ensure resources for the Soviet side, and generally contributed to the draining of Romania's resources, in addition to the war reparations demanded by the Armistice Agreement and the Paris Peace Treaties
, which had been set at 300 million U.S. dollars
. The Soviet contribution in creating the SovRoms lay mostly in reselling leftover German
equipment to Romania, which was systematically overvalued. The total number of goods sent from Romania to the Soviet Union were estimated at 2 billion dollars, by far surpassing the war reparations demanded by the Soviets. By 1952, 85% of Romanian exports were directed towards the Soviet Union. The last Sovrom was dissolved in 1956.
One of these companies was Sovromcuarţ, which started operating in 1950 at the mine in Băiţa in Bihor County
, under a name which was meant to hide its main activity. The workforce initially consisted of 15,000 political prisoner
s; after most of them died of radiation poisoning
, they were replaced by local villagers, who did not know what they were mining. In secrecy, Romania delivered 17,288 tons of uranium
ore to the Soviet Union between 1952 and 1960, which was used, at least partly, in the Soviet atomic bomb project
. Uranium mining continued until 1961. All ore was shipped outside Romania for processing, initially to Sillamäe
in Estonia
; the uranium concentrate was then used exclusively by the Soviet Union.
, David Stone notes: "Unlike Bulgaria, Romania had few cultural and historical ties with Russia
, and had actually waged war on the Soviet Union. As a result, Soviet occupation weighted heavier on the Romanian people, and the troops themselves were less disciplined."
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....
maintained a significant military presence in Romania
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...
. The fate of the eastern territories of Romania occupied and eventually incorporated into the Soviet Union is treated separately at the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina article.
During their Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
offensive of 1944, Soviet troops occupied Romania. The northwestern part of Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
was occupied through fighting from May to August, while Romania
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...
was still an ally of Nazi Germany
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...
. The rest was occupied after Romania changed sides in the war
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...
, as a result of the royal coup launched by King Michael
Michael I of Romania
Michael was the last King of Romania. He reigned from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930, and again from 6 September 1940 until 30 December 1947 when he was forced, by the Communist Party of Romania , to abdicate to the Soviet armies of occupation...
on August 23, 1944. On that date, the King announced that Romania had unilaterally ceased all military actions against the Allied forces
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
, had accepted the Allied armistice offer, and had entered war against the Axis Powers. As no formal armistice offer existed, the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
occupied most of Romania as enemy territory prior to the signature of the Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
Armistice of September 12, 1944.
The armistice convention and then the Paris Peace Treaties
Paris Peace Treaties, 1947
The Paris Peace Conference resulted in the Paris Peace Treaties signed on February 10, 1947. The victorious wartime Allied powers negotiated the details of treaties with Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland .The...
of 1947 gave a legal basis to the Soviet military presence in Romania, which lasted until 1958, reaching a peak of some 615,000 in 1946.
Soviet authors and the 1952 Constitution of Romania
1952 Constitution of Romania
The 1952 Constitution of Romania, also called the "constitution of building socialism", expressed the consolidation of Communist power, featuring greater ideological content than its 1948 predecessor. A draft was written by a commission elected by the Great National Assembly on March 27, 1952 and...
referred to the events of 1944 as the "liberation of Romania by the glorious Soviet Army". On the other hand, most Romanian and Western sources use the term "Soviet occupation of Romania," some applying it to the whole period from 1944 to 1958.
Background and beginning of the occupation
See also: Romania during World War IIRomania 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...
and King Michael Coup
After having withdrawn from Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
and Northern Bukovina
Bukovina
Bukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains.-Name:The name Bukovina came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation from the Principality of Moldavia to the possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy, which became...
following the June 1940 Soviet Ultimatum, Romania
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...
allied with Nazi Germany
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...
and declared war on the Soviet Union
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....
. Romania
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 troops, placed under the German High Command
Oberkommando der Wehrmacht
The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht was part of the command structure of the armed forces of Nazi Germany during World War II.- Genesis :...
, entered 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...
in 1941, as part of 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...
. After reoccupying the territory annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, Romania also occupied Southern Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
all the way to the Southern Bug
Southern Bug
The Southern Bug, also called Southern Buh), is a river located in Ukraine. The source of the river is in the west of Ukraine, in the Volyn-Podillia Upland, about 145 km from the Polish border, and flows southeasterly into the Bug Estuary through the southern steppes...
. However Romania's eastern campaign ended in disaster, notably at Stalingrad.
By the end of 1943, the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
had liberated most of the Soviet territory, advancing westward from its borders to defeat Nazi Germany
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...
and its allies. It was in this context that the Soviet forces crossed into Romania
Battle of Romania (1944)
The Jassy–Kishinev Operation, named after the two major cities, Iaşi and Chişinău, in the staging area, was a Soviet offensive against Axis forces, which took place in Eastern Romania from 20–29 August 1944...
and occupied Northern and Eastern Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
.
On August 23, 1944 King Michael launched a coup d'état, overthrowing the pro-Nazi government of Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu
Ion Victor Antonescu was a Romanian soldier, authoritarian politician and convicted war criminal. The Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II, he presided over two successive wartime dictatorships...
, and putting Romania's Army on the side of the Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
. As a result, King Michael was spared the fate of another former German ally, Prince Kyril, Regent of Bulgaria
Prince Kyril of Bulgaria
Prince Kyril of Bulgaria, Prince of Preslav was the second son of Ferdinand I of Bulgaria and his first wife Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma. He was a younger brother of Boris III of Bulgaria...
, executed by the Soviets in 1945. As a matter of fact, King Michael was the last monarch behind the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
to lose his throne, on December 30, 1947.
The coup speeded the Red Army's advance into Romania, and gave the Romanian Army the chance to liberate the country from the German occupation. In the absence of an actual signed armistice, the Soviet troops continued to treat the Romanians as a hostile force. The armistice was signed three weeks later, on September 12, 1944, "on terms Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
virtually dictated." The coup effectively amounted to a "capitulation", an "unconditional" "surrender" to the Soviets and the rest of the Allies. During that time, between 114,000 and 160,000 Romanian soldiers were taken as prisoners of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
by the Soviets without any fight as result of the cease fire order given by King Michael, and marched on foot to camps in the Soviet Union; about a third of them perished on the way.
By September 12, the Red Army already controlled much of the Romanian territory. Under the Armistice Agreement between Romania and the Allies, Romania subjected itself to an Allied Control Commission, consisting of the Soviet Union, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, while the Soviet military command de-facto exercised predominant authority. Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina were again incorporated into the Soviet Union.
Founding documents
The Armistice Agreement
In the Armistice Agreement with Romania (in MoscowMoscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
on September 12, 1944), it was stipulated in Article 3 that
-
- "The Government and High Command of Rumania will ensure to the Soviet and other Allied forces facilities for free movement on Rumanian territory in any direction if required by the military situation, the Rumanian Government and High Command of Rumania giving such movement every possible assistance with their own means of communications and at their own expense on land, on water and in the air."
and in Article 18 that
-
- "An Allied Control Commission will be established which will undertake until the conclusion of peace the regulation of and control over the execution of the present terms under the general direction and orders of the Allied (Soviet) High Command, acting on behalf of the Allied Powers. In the Annex to Article 18, it was made clear that "The Rumanian Government and their organs shall fulfill all instructions of the Allied Control Commission arising out of the Armistice Agreement", and that The Allied Control Commission would have its seat in BucharestBucharestBucharest 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....
.
- "An Allied Control Commission will be established which will undertake until the conclusion of peace the regulation of and control over the execution of the present terms under the general direction and orders of the Allied (Soviet) High Command, acting on behalf of the Allied Powers. In the Annex to Article 18, it was made clear that "The Rumanian Government and their organs shall fulfill all instructions of the Allied Control Commission arising out of the Armistice Agreement", and that The Allied Control Commission would have its seat in Bucharest
In line with Article 14 of the Armistice Agreement, two People's Tribunals
Romanian People's Tribunals
The two Romanian People's Tribunals , the Bucharest People's Tribunal and the Northern Transylvania People's Tribunal were set up by the post-World War II government of Romania, overseen by the Allied Control Commission to try suspected war criminals, in line with Article 14 of the Armistice...
were set up to try suspected war criminals
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
, one in Bucharest, and the other in Cluj
Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca , commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest , Budapest and Belgrade...
.
The plenipotentiary
Plenipotentiary
The word plenipotentiary has two meanings. As a noun, it refers to a person who has "full powers." In particular, the term commonly refers to a diplomat fully authorized to represent his government as a prerogative...
signatories to the armistice as indicated therein were:
- Allied powers: "representative of the Allied (Soviet) High Command, Marshal of the Soviet Union, R. Y. MalinovskiRodion MalinovskyRodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky was a Soviet military commander in World War II and Defense Minister of the Soviet Union in the late 1950s and 1960s. He contributed to the major defeat of Nazi Germany at the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of Budapest...
, duly authorized hereto by the Governments of the United States of AmericaUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
; the Soviet Union, and the United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
." - Romania: "Minister of State and Minister of Justice L. PatrascanuLucretiu PatrascanuLucreţiu Pătrăşcanu was a Romanian communist politician and leading member of the Communist Party of Romania , also noted for his activities as a lawyer, sociologist and economist. For a while, he was a professor at Bucharest University...
, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Adjutant of His Majesty the King of Rumania General D. DamaceanuDumitru DamaceanuDumitru Dămăceanu was a Romanian army officer in World War II, later promoted to Brigadier-General, who played a predominant role in the Royal coup of August 23, 1944....
, Prince StirbeyBarbu StirbeyPrince Barbu Ştirbey was briefly Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Romania in 1927. He was the son of Prince Alexandru Ştirbey and his wife Maria Ghika-Comăneşti, and grandson of another Barbu Dimitrie Ştirbey , who was Prince of Wallachia and died in 1869.He married Princess Nadèje Bibescu about...
, and Mr. G. Popp."
Paris Peace Treaties, 1947
The effect of the Armistice Agreement ceased on September 15, 1947, when the Paris Peace Treaty with Romania entered into force. The new treaty posed the basis for continued and unlimited Soviet military presence into Romania through Article 21, paragraph 1:-
- Upon the coming into force of the present Treaty, all Allied Forces shall, within a period of 90 days, be withdrawn from Roumania, subject to the right of the Soviet Union to keep on Roumanian territory such armed forces as it may need for the maintenance of the lines of communication of the Soviet Army with the Soviet zone of occupation in Austria.
The Romanian delegation at the Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
Conference was headed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Gheorghe Tătărescu
Gheorghe Tatarescu
Gheorghe I. Tătărescu was a Romanian politician who served twice as Prime Minister of Romania , three times as Minister of Foreign Affairs , and once as Minister of War...
. The Peace Treaty with Romania was signed on February 10, 1947, in the Salon de l’Horloge of the Ministère des Affaires Étrangères
Minister of Foreign Affairs (France)
Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs ), is France's foreign affairs ministry, with the headquarters located on the Quai d'Orsay in Paris close to the National Assembly of France. The Minister of Foreign and European Affairs in the government of France is the cabinet minister responsible for...
. On the Romanian side, the four signatories were Gheorghe Tătărescu
Gheorghe Tatarescu
Gheorghe I. Tătărescu was a Romanian politician who served twice as Prime Minister of Romania , three times as Minister of Foreign Affairs , and once as Minister of War...
, Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu
Lucretiu Patrascanu
Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu was a Romanian communist politician and leading member of the Communist Party of Romania , also noted for his activities as a lawyer, sociologist and economist. For a while, he was a professor at Bucharest University...
, Ştefan Voitec
Stefan Voitec
Ştefan Voitec was a Romanian socialist and communist journalist, politician, and statesman of Communist Romania.-Biography:...
, and Dumitru Dămăceanu
Dumitru Damaceanu
Dumitru Dămăceanu was a Romanian army officer in World War II, later promoted to Brigadier-General, who played a predominant role in the Royal coup of August 23, 1944....
. The signatories for the Allied powers included United States Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
James F. Byrnes
James F. Byrnes
James Francis Byrnes was an American statesman from the state of South Carolina. During his career, Byrnes served as a member of the House of Representatives , as a Senator , as Justice of the Supreme Court , as Secretary of State , and as the 104th Governor of South Carolina...
, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov was a Soviet politician and diplomat, an Old Bolshevik and a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protégé of Joseph Stalin, to 1957, when he was dismissed from the Presidium of the Central Committee by Nikita Khrushchev...
, and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, commonly referred to as the Foreign Secretary, is a senior member of Her Majesty's Government heading the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and regarded as one of the Great Offices of State...
Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin was a British trade union leader and Labour politician. He served as general secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union from 1922 to 1945, as Minister of Labour in the war-time coalition government, and as Foreign Secretary in the post-war Labour Government.-Early...
.
Soviet forces in Romania, 1944–1956
| Date | Strength |
|---|---|
| May 8, 1945 | 80,000 |
| November 1, 1945 | 500,000 |
| January 4, 1946 | 420,000 |
| March 1, 1946 | 615,000 |
| June 1, 1946 | 400,000 |
| November 1, 1946 | 240,000 |
| 1947 | 60,000 – 130,000 |
| May 1 – July 1, 1948 | 35,000 |
| October 1, 1948 | 32,000 |
| July 1, 1949 | 28,000 |
| October 1, 1949 | 19,000 |
| January 1, 1950 | 32,000 |
| April 1, 1950 | 33,000 |
| September 1, 1950 – September 1952 |
32,000 |
After the Armistice Agreement was concluded in 1944, Soviet troops occupied the entire territory of Romania. Estimates over troop levels vary between 750,000 and 1 million (estimates of British military officials), to between 1 and 1.5 million (estimates of the Romanian General Staff); many Western diplomats and experts refer to more than 1 million Soviet troops.
On November 8, 1945, King Michael's name day
Name day
A name day is a tradition in many countries in Europe and Latin America that consists of celebrating the day of the year associated with one's given name....
, an anti-communist
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
demonstration in front of the Royal Palace
National Museum of Art of Romania
The National Museum of Art of Romania is located in the former royal palace in Revolution Square, central Bucharest, Romania, completed in 1937...
in 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....
was met with force, resulting in dozens of killed and wounded. Soviet officers restrained Romanian soldiers and police from firing on civilians, and Soviet troops restored order.
The estimated strength of Soviet forces in Romania (including air, navy, ground, and security troops), from VE Day
Victory in Europe Day
Victory in Europe Day commemorates 8 May 1945 , the date when the World War II Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. The formal surrender of the occupying German forces in the Channel Islands was not...
to 1952, appears in the table to the right.
During the second part of 1946, more than half of the frontline strength of the Soviet Air Forces was stationed outside the USSR, with the largest portion in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and Romania
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...
(2,500 planes in each country). The troop levels surged to a high of 615,000 in March 1946, but were drawn down after the conclusion of the Peace Treaty in 1947. By the end of 1946, Soviet units were concentrated in five areas: Craiova
Craiova
Craiova , Romania's 6th largest city and capital of Dolj County, is situated near the east bank of the river Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximately equal distances from the Southern Carpathians and the River Danube . Craiova is the chief...
–Slatina
Slatina
Slatina refers to a number of geographical objects in Europe:In Albania:* another name for Slatine and for SllatinaIn Antarctica* Slatina Peak...
, Sibiu
Sibiu
Sibiu is a city in Transylvania, Romania with a population of 154,548. Located some 282 km north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Cibin River, a tributary of the river Olt...
–Alba-Iulia, 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....
, and Brăila
Braila
Brăila is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of Brăila County, in the close vicinity of Galaţi.According to the 2002 Romanian census there were 216,292 people living within the city of Brăila, making it the 10th most populous city in Romania.-History:A...
–Focşani
Focsani
Focşani is the capital city of Vrancea County in Romania on the shores the Milcov river, in the historical region of Moldavia. It has a population of 101,854.-Geography:...
. Troop levels reach a relatively stable level from May 1948 until October 1956: two full divisions, plus supporting units adding up to roughly a third division.
With the Austrian State Treaty
Austrian State Treaty
The Austrian State Treaty or Austrian Independence Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state. It was signed on May 15, 1955, in Vienna at the Schloss Belvedere among the Allied occupying powers and the Austrian government...
in 1955 the reason for the presence of troops as stated in the Paris Peace Treaties ceased to exist, but Premier Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej was the Communist leader of Romania from 1948 until his death in 1965.-Early life:Gheorghe was the son of a poor worker, Tănase Gheorghiu, and his wife Ana. Gheorghiu-Dej joined the Communist Party of Romania in 1930...
announced the troops would stay as long as there are foreign soldiers in West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
.
Soviet troops in Romania were used to suppress the Hungarian Revolution in November 1956. Soviet troop facilities inside Romania were off limits to all Romanians at the time.
Reorganization of the Romanian Army
| Type | Strength |
|---|---|
| Land forces | 120,000 officers and troops |
| Anti-aircraft forces | 5,000 officers and troops |
| Naval forces | 5,000 officers and troops |
| Air forces | 8,000 officers and troops |
| Total | 138,000 officers and troops |
The Soviet occupation of Romania led to a complete reorganization of the Romanian Army under the supervision of the Soviet Army
Soviet Army
The Soviet Army is the name given to the main part of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union between 1946 and 1992. Previously, it had been known as the Red Army. Informally, Армия referred to all the MOD armed forces, except, in some cases, the Soviet Navy.This article covers the Soviet Ground...
. The size of the Romanian army was limited by the Paris peace treaty to 138,000 officers and troops total; however, under the Soviets it grew far past treaty limits through increasing militarization of Romania's population. By 1953, regular army forces had grown to approximately 300,000; reserve army forces to approximately 135,000; and "interior" forces (border guards, security brigades, et al.) at the disposal of the Ministry of the Interior to over 325,000.
At the onset, pro-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...
elements were purged from the Romanian armed forces. In 1944–45, two divisions were formed out of Romanian volunteers—ex-prisoners of war, trained and indoctrinated in the Soviet Union during the war, but also of Communist activists such as Valter Roman
Valter Roman
Valter or Walter Roman , born Ernst or Ernő Neuländer, was a Romanian communist activist and soldier. During his lifetime, Roman was active inside the Romanian, Czechoslovakian, French, and Spanish Communist parties as well as being a Comintern cadre...
. One was the Tudor Vladimirescu
Tudor Vladimirescu
Tudor Vladimirescu was a Wallachian Romanian revolutionary hero, the leader of the Wallachian uprising of 1821 and of the Pandur militia. He is also known as Tudor din Vladimiri or — occasionally — as Domnul Tudor .-Background:Tudor was born in Vladimiri, Gorj County in a family of landed peasants...
First Volunteer Division, under the command of Colonel Nicolae Cambrea
Nicolae Cambrea
Nicolae Cambrea was a Romanian Brigadier-General during World War II. In 1942, heserved as Chief of Staff 5th Division. He was briefly a Soviet prisoner of war, but the following year joined his captors and became General Officer Commanding of the Tudor Vladimirescu Division...
, and the other the Horia, Cloşca şi Crişan Division
Horia, Closca si Crisan Division
The Horia, Cloşca şi Crişan division was created in April 1945 from Romanian volunteers, mostly prisoners of war, but also Communist activists such as Valter Roman. It was created by the Soviet Union at Kotovsk. Its first leader was General Mihail Lascăr, who had been taken prisoner in November...
, under the command of General Mihail Lascăr
Mihail Lascar
Mihail Lascăr was a Romanian General during World War II, and Minister of Defense from 1946 to 1947.After graduating from the Infantry Officer School in 1910 with the rank of 2nd lieutenant, he fought in the Second Balkan War and in World War I, being promoted to major...
(who was to serve as Minister of Defense from 1946 to 1947). These two units were to form the nucleus of the new Romanian Army under Soviet control. Once the Romanian Communist Party
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...
was in charge, 30% of officers and noncommissioned officers (mostly experienced soldiers, and a potential source of opposition to the Sovietization
Sovietization
Sovietization is term that may be used with two distinct meanings:*the adoption of a political system based on the model of soviets .*the adoption of a way of life and mentality modelled after the Soviet Union....
of the Army) were purged from the military.
After the Romanian Workers' Party
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...
seized political power, the Sovietization of the army commenced, under the supervision of the new Minister of Defense, Emil Bodnăraş
Emil Bodnaras
Emil Bodnăraş was an influential Romanian Communist politician, an army officer, and a Soviet agent...
. This involved copying the Soviet model of military and political organization, and changing the military doctrine
Military doctrine
Military doctrine is the concise expression of how military forces contribute to campaigns, major operations, battles, and engagements.It is a guide to action, not hard and fast rules. Doctrine provides a common frame of reference across the military...
of combat and defense, also in the context of Romania's integration in the strategic system of the Soviets, at the beginning of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
.
Soviet officers were appointed as counselors to supervise the efficient reorganization of the army. They had leading control and surveillance roles in the main institutions of the state, but also in areas of lesser importance. In the beginning, they only had a few positions in the Ministry of Defense, the General Staff
General Staff
A military staff, often referred to as General Staff, Army Staff, Navy Staff or Air Staff within the individual services, is a group of officers and enlisted personnel that provides a bi-directional flow of information between a commanding officer and subordinate military units...
, and the political sections inside the army. Their number gradually increased, while their positions became permanent. In November 1952, there were 105 permanent counselors and 17 temporary positions in military schools. After 1955, their number started to decrease: 72 in 1955, 63 in 1956, 25 in 1957 and 10 in 1958.
After 1945, new military regulations were elaborated following the model of the Red Army, and they were finalized in 1949–1952. As a consequence, a number of officers and military students were sent to the Soviet Union for training. Between 1949 and 1952, 717 students went to the USSR for studies, while in 1958 there were 471 military students in the USSR. Their number decreased in the following years.
Reorganization of the security services
Right after August 23, 1944, communists began to infiltrate the Ministry of Internal AffairsMinistry of Administration and Interior of Romania
The Ministry of Administration and Interior of Romania is one of the fifteen ministries of the Government of Romania.From 23 August 1944 to 18 March 1975 the minister held the title of Minister of Internal Affairs, between 2004 and 2007, held the title of Minister of Administration and Interior,...
on a large scale. The General Direction for the Security of the People (Romanian initials: DGSP, but more commonly just called the Securitate
Securitate
The Securitate was the secret police agency of Communist Romania. Previously, the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului. Founded on August 30, 1948, with help from the Soviet NKVD, the Securitate was abolished in December 1989, shortly after President Nicolae Ceaușescu was...
) was officially founded on August 30, 1948 by Decree 221/30. The Securitate was created by SMERSH
SMERSH
SMERSH was the counter-intelligence agency in the Red Army formed in late 1942 or even earlier, but officially founded on April 14, 1943. The name SMERSH was coined by Joseph Stalin...
, an NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
unit charged with demolishing existing intelligence agencies and replacing them with 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....
-style bodies in the Soviet-occupied countries of Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
. The SMERSH unit in Romania, called Brigada Mobilă, was led until 1948 by the NKVD colonel Boris Grünberg, also known in Romania as Alexandru Nicolschi
Alexandru Nicolschi
Alexandru Nicolschi was a Romanian communist activist, Soviet agent and officer, and Securitate chief under the Communist regime...
. Its stated purpose was to "defend democratic
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
conquests and guarantee the safety of the Romanian Peoples' Republic against both internal and external enemies." The first Director of the Securitate was NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
general Panteleimon Bondarenko, who used in Romania the name Gheorghe Pintilie
Gheorghe Pintilie
Gheorghe Pintilie , was a Soviet intelligence agent, Romanian communist activist, and the first Director of the Securitate...
. Alexandru Nicolschi (by then a general) and another Soviet officer, Major General
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
Vladimir Mazuru (born Mazurov), held the deputy directorships.
Expulsion of Germans
The Red Army played a crucial role in the expulsion of Transylvanian SaxonsTransylvanian Saxons
The Transylvanian Saxons are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania from the 12th century onwards.The colonization of Transylvania by Germans was begun by King Géza II of Hungary . For decades, the main task of the German settlers was to defend the southeastern border of the...
from Romania in January 1945. In October 1944, the Sănătescu
Constantin Sanatescu
Constantin Sănătescu was a Romanian statesman who served as the first Prime Minister of Romania after the August 23, 1944 coup, through which Romania left the Axis Powers and joined the Allies....
government, at the solicitation of the Allied Control Commission, began arresting young ethnic German Romanian citizens, who were placed at the disposal of the Soviet command. Under the Rădescu
Nicolae Radescu
Nicolae Rădescu was a Romanian army officer and political figure. He was the last pre-communist rule Prime Minister of Romania, serving from December 7, 1944 to March 1, 1945....
government, faced with ultimatums from the Soviet command, trains carrying Transylvanian Saxons left for the Soviet Union. In a Protest (dated January 13, 1945), the Rădescu government noted the Romanian government's obligation to protect each of its citizens, regardless of ethnic origin, and of the absence of a legal basis for the deportation of the Transylvanian Saxons. Such deportations would be outlawed in 1949 through the Fourth Geneva Convention
Fourth Geneva Convention
The Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, commonly referred to as the Fourth Geneva Convention and abbreviated as GCIV, is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. It was adopted in August 1949, and defines humanitarian protections for civilians...
, which states at Article 49: "Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive."
SovRoms
The SovRoms were joint Soviet-Romanian ventures established in Romania at the end of World War II, and lasting until 1954–1956. An agreement between the two countries regarding the establishment of these enterprises was signed in MoscowMoscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
on May 8, 1945. In theory, these ventures were aimed at generating revenue for reconstruction after the devastations of the war. However, they were mainly designed as a means to ensure resources for the Soviet side, and generally contributed to the draining of Romania's resources, in addition to the war reparations demanded by the Armistice Agreement and the Paris Peace Treaties
Paris Peace Treaties, 1947
The Paris Peace Conference resulted in the Paris Peace Treaties signed on February 10, 1947. The victorious wartime Allied powers negotiated the details of treaties with Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland .The...
, which had been set at 300 million U.S. dollars
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
. The Soviet contribution in creating the SovRoms lay mostly in reselling leftover 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...
equipment to Romania, which was systematically overvalued. The total number of goods sent from Romania to the Soviet Union were estimated at 2 billion dollars, by far surpassing the war reparations demanded by the Soviets. By 1952, 85% of Romanian exports were directed towards the Soviet Union. The last Sovrom was dissolved in 1956.
One of these companies was Sovromcuarţ, which started operating in 1950 at the mine in Băiţa in Bihor County
Bihor County
Bihor is a county of Romania, in Crişana, with capital city at Oradea. Together with Hajdú-Bihar County in Hungary it constitutes the Biharia Euroregion.-Demographics:...
, under a name which was meant to hide its main activity. The workforce initially consisted of 15,000 political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
s; after most of them died of radiation poisoning
Radiation poisoning
Acute radiation syndrome also known as radiation poisoning, radiation sickness or radiation toxicity, is a constellation of health effects which occur within several months of exposure to high amounts of ionizing radiation...
, they were replaced by local villagers, who did not know what they were mining. In secrecy, Romania delivered 17,288 tons of uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
ore to the Soviet Union between 1952 and 1960, which was used, at least partly, in the Soviet atomic bomb project
Soviet atomic bomb project
The Soviet project to develop an atomic bomb , was a clandestine research and development program began during and post-World War II, in the wake of the Soviet Union's discovery of the United States' nuclear project...
. Uranium mining continued until 1961. All ore was shipped outside Romania for processing, initially to Sillamäe
Sillamäe
Sillamäe is a town in Ida-Viru County in the northern part of Estonia, on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland. It has a population of 16,183 and covers an area of 10.54 km²...
in Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
; the uranium concentrate was then used exclusively by the Soviet Union.
Comparison with Soviet occupation of other Eastern Bloc countries
Comparing the Soviet occupation of Romania to that of BulgariaBulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, David Stone notes: "Unlike Bulgaria, Romania had few cultural and historical ties with Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, and had actually waged war on the Soviet Union. As a result, Soviet occupation weighted heavier on the Romanian people, and the troops themselves were less disciplined."
In popular culture
- Davai ceas, davai palton. The well-known Romanian stage actor Constantin TănaseConstantin TanaseConstantin Tănase was a Romanian actor and writer for stage, a key figure in the revue style of theater in Romania.-Life:Born into a working-class family living in a peasant house in Vaslui, Romania...
was performing in Bucharest a year after the arrival of Soviet troops. He used to satirize the soldiers' habit of "requisitioning" all personal property in sight (in particular, wristwatches and coats), demanding them by saying, "Davai ceas, davai palton". There are differing accounts of his demise, in August 1945, but one of them is that he was found dead two days after one of his satirical acts. - Among the eyewitnesses to the events of 1944 was the writer Mihail SebastianMihail Sebastian-Life:Sebastian was born to a Jewish family in Brăila. After finishing his secondary studies, Sebastian went on to study law in Bucharest, but was soon attracted to the literary life and the exciting ideas of the new generation of Romanian intellectuals, as epitomized by the literary group...
. In his diary (Journal, 1935-1944: The Fascist Years), he described the atmosphere in Bucharest at the time, as follows: "Bewilderment, fear, doubt. Russian soldiers rape women (as Dina Cocea was saying yesterday). Soldiers stop cars, let the driver and passengers out, get behind the wheel, and take off. Stores looted. This afternoon, at Zaharia, three of them broke in the safe, taking watches. (The watch is the toy they like the best.)" Sebastian died in a tram accident just weeks after the Soviet Army occupied Romania. His Journal has recently gained a new audience in the West. In 2004, American playwright David AuburnDavid AuburnDavid Auburn is an American playwright.He was raised in Ohio and Arkansas. He attended the University of Chicago, where he was a member of Off-Off Campus, and received a degree in English literature....
wrote a one-man play, entitled The Journals of Mihail Sebastian; it made its debut the same year in New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, starring actor Stephen Kunken in the role of Sebastian. - The 25th Hour. Virgil GheorghiuVirgil GheorghiuVirgil Gheorghiu may refer to:*Constantin Virgil Gheorghiu, novelist*Virgil Gheorghiu , poet and pianist who was immortalised in the work of Geo Bogza...
's best-known book depicts the plight of a young farmhand, Johann Moritz, under GermanNazi GermanyNazi 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...
and Soviet occupation. Johann is sent to a labor camp by a police captain who covets his wife, Suzanna. At first, he is tagged as a Jew. Later, he is "rescued" by a Nazi officer, who forces him into service as a model for German propaganda. Imprisoned after the war, he is severely beaten by his Russian captors, then put on trial by Allied forces because of his work for the Nazis. In 1967, Carlo PontiCarlo PontiCarlo Ponti was an Italian film producer with over 140 production credits, and the husband of Italian movie star Sophia Loren.-Career:...
produced a film based on this book; directed by Henri VerneuilHenri VerneuilHenri Verneuil was a French-Armenian playwright and filmmaker, who enjoyed a successful career in France.-Biography:...
, it featured Anthony QuinnAnthony QuinnAntonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca , more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican American actor, as well as a painter and writer...
as Johann and Virna LisiVirna LisiVirna Lisi is a Cannes and César award-winning Italian film actress. She was born in Ancona, Marche, as Virna Lisa Pieralisi.-Early career:...
as Suzanna.
See also
- History of Romania
- Jassy–Kishinev Offensive (August 1944)
- Paris Peace Treaties, 1947Paris Peace Treaties, 1947The Paris Peace Conference resulted in the Paris Peace Treaties signed on February 10, 1947. The victorious wartime Allied powers negotiated the details of treaties with Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland .The...
- Potsdam AgreementPotsdam AgreementThe Potsdam Agreement was the Allied plan of tripartite military occupation and reconstruction of Germany—referring to the German Reich with its pre-war 1937 borders including the former eastern territories—and the entire European Theatre of War territory...
- Romania during World War IIRomania during World War IIFollowing 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...
- Romanian anti-communist resistance movementRomanian anti-communist resistance movementAn armed resistance movement against the communist regime in Romania 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 communist regime...
- Southern Group of ForcesSouthern Group of ForcesThe Southern Group of Forces was a Soviet Armed Forces formation formed twice following the Second World War, most notably around the time of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956....
- Soviet occupationsSoviet occupationsSoviet occupations is a term used for military occupations by the Soviet Union from the prelude to the aftermath of World War II. The term is typically used for occupations of Eastern European countries...
Further reading
- Romania and peace conditions after the Second World War, on the website of Radio Romania InternationalRadio Romania InternationalRadio România Internaţional is a Romanian radio station owned by the Romanian public radio broadcaster Societatea Română de Radiodifuziune that broadcasts abroad.According to the Romanian law nr...
, January 31, 2005 - Review of Verona's book, by J. Calvitt Clarke III, at Jacksonville UniversityJacksonville UniversityJacksonville University is a private university in Jacksonville, Florida, on the banks of the St. Johns River. The school was founded in 1934 as a two year college and was known as Jacksonville Junior College until 1958, when it shifted its focus to four-year university degrees and adopted its...
. Paula Mihailov Chiciuc, "Practica sovietică a lui 'Veni, vidi, vici'", Jurnalul NaţionalJurnalul NationalJurnalul Naţional is a Romanian newspaper, part of the Intact media group led by Dan Voiculescu, which also includes the popular TV station Antena 1....
, April 25, 2006 - "Paris-WWII Peace Conference-1946: Settling Romania's Western Frontiers", at the Honorary Consulate of Romania in Boston, has pictures of the Romanian delegation at the Paris Peace Conference