Among the thousands of people who were victims of the monstrous Pitești Phenomenon there are also several Sibiians – moreover, as the specialists say, there is not a family that lived during the 50s and did not know or hear of someone imprisoned in the Argesian penitentiary.
The exhibition “The Pitesti Phenomenon. The true face of communism” in Sibiu Sursa Colaj Brukenthal Museum
One of the most captivating and unique exhibitions organized for the first time by the Brukenthal National Museum in Sibiu (SEE PHOTO GALLERY) in recent years it has played a crucial role in bringing to the public’s attention some lesser-known chapters of Romania’s recent history, especially from the period of totalitarian regimes – legionaryism and communism. The Romanian/English bilingual exhibition, entitled “The Pitesti phenomenon. The true face of communism in Romania”was inspired by the stories of 14 Sibiians identified as victims of oppressive regimes, incarcerated in the terrible Pitesti Prison, considered the toughest in the communist bloc.
Their fates were put in the spotlight alongside other aspects of this phenomenon, to honor the memory of the victims and to offer a complete perspective on the impact of these regimes on Romanian society, but also on human resistance to tyranny.
Andreea Corca, the initiator and co-curator of the event, explained for “Weekend Truth” the importance of understanding the diversity of experiences of victims of re-education and how innocent people with no connection to Legionnaires ended up being arrested: “We want to integrate these stories into history local and to honor their memory as much as possible, because not all prisoners from the phenomenon of re-education were part of the structures of the Iron Guard. This is also demonstrable in the case of the 14 Sibiians. For example, our documentation shows that, in two of the cases, one was sympathetic to the policies of the National Peasant Party, and the other was apolitical. Most likely, similar situations existed in the case of other prisoners from Pitesti, who ended up locked up in various circumstances, without any political affiliation or sympathy towards the extreme right”.
For almost a year, the exhibition became itinerant. After being presented in several cities in the country, on December 6, 2024, it was inaugurated in Oradea, where it will be able to be visited until February 2025.
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The exhibition “The Pitesti Phenomenon. The true face of communism in Romania” Photo Brukenthal National Museum Sibiu
Tremendous exhibition
The project, which included several activities, debuted in Sibiu with an exhibition hosted for four months by the Casa Altemberger History Museum. Within it, original objects from the communist prison system, originating from the Memorial’s heritage, were presented for the first time “Pitesti Prison” and of the Bucharest Jilava Penitentiary – Fort 13. These exhibits added authenticity to the exhibition, including cell furniture (bed, cell door, handcuffs), prisoners’ uniforms (seghe), criminal records, postcards sent by prisoners to their families and original photos. The presentation included information about the Pitesti Phenomenon and the chronology of the repression in the Argeș penitentiary, a special section being dedicated to the Sibiu who went through the re-education phenomenon. Visitors also had a landscaped area where they could share their thoughts and impressions.
Thousands of visitors – locals, tourists from the country and abroad – had the opportunity to discover the stories of former political prisoners and understand the brutality of the re-education regime. The information provided was supplemented by an excerpt from the documentary “The Unmasking”subtitled in English, as well as the documentary “The survivors The Pitesti Experiment”.
Torn destinies: Sibiians who endured the horrors of Pitesti Prison
Marcel Armeanu, born in 1924, in Agnita, was among the Sibiu who endured the horrors of Pitesti Prison. At the age of 24, while he was a student at the Faculty of Philosophy and an active member of the Brotherhood of the Cross organization, he was sentenced by the Sibiu Military Court to three years of correctional prison for conspiracy. During his detention, he passed through Jilava, Pitesti and Gherla penitentiaries. In 1959 he was arrested again, this time at the request of the Stalin MAI Region, under the same accusation of conspiracy, and spent five years in Codlea Penitentiary.
Nicolae Borchine, born in 1927, also in Agnita, was sentenced, at the age of 22, by the Cluj Military Court to 10 years of hard prison for conspiracy, because he had hosted a legionnaire. A student at the Faculty of Medicine in Cluj at the time of his conviction, he was incarcerated in Jilava, Pitești, Gherla, Târgu Ocna, Aiud and Oradea prisons, and later he was sent to the Periprava and Culmea Labor Colonies. He was released only in 1961, after 12 years of detention.
Ioan Carăbulea, originally from Sibiu, was sentenced in 1949 by the Cluj Military Court to 10 years of hard prison for belonging to an anti-communist student organization. At the time of the conviction, he was 23 years old. He was incarcerated in Jilava, Pitesti, Aiud penitentiaries, as well as in the Valea Neagra labor colony. He served his sentence and was released in 1955. No explicit political affiliation emerges from his records.
Dionisie Macarei, born in 1924 in Mediaș, was sentenced in 1948 by the Bucharest Military Court to four years of hard prison for involvement in a legionary organization. A student at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, he was imprisoned in the Pitesti Penitentiary, being later transferred to the Valea Neagră and Capul Midia Labor Colonies. He was released in 1952.
“You could very easily be accused of belonging to a certain political group”
Between 1949 and 1951, more than 600 students were subjected to inhumane torture in Pitesti Prison, under a brutal re-education regime that extended to other prisons starting in the spring of 1950. Several hundred other political prisoners also endured these atrocities. “Most of them, indeed, were in Pitesti Prison during their student years, either for belonging to the Brotherhood of the Cross or to legionary student centers. But, as I said, others ended up, under different circumstances, being imprisoned without any connection or sympathy for the far right. In that period, you could very easily be accused of belonging to a certain political group”also explained for “Weekend Truth” the initiator of the exhibition, Andreea Corca, student of the Summer School “The Pitesti phenomenon” and museographer at the Brukenthal National Museum.
She admitted that, unfortunately, too little information is known about the political prisoners of Sibiu, incarcerated in the dreaded prison. Some details come from criminal records, while in other cases the information was obtained from discussions with families or their descendants: “For example, it is known about Octavian Tomuță that he survived Pitesti Prison because Petru Cojocaru, I think, mentions him at one point in his memoirs, saying that they met in the 90s. Otherwise, we have very little information about the others”.
Every family with a prisoner’s drama
The curator of the exhibition project also mentioned: “research showed us that the Pitesti Phenomenon, like all historical phenomena, also has a local dimension. And when we refer, for example, to the Second World War, we should look at the event including through the lens of our predecessors. The same applies to former political prisoners. It is impossible, if not in our family, in our locality, that there was not at least one political prisoner during the communist period. And this reveals to us the extent of the generalized repression of the communist regime that tried to strike at any enemy, be it real or imaginary”.
Together with the historian Lucian Vasile, associate researcher of the Pitesti Prison Memorial, she discussed in meetings with the public, organized in this exhibition project, about the impact of the Pitesti Phenomenon and about the memory of these victims, thus contributing to a deeper understanding of this painful chapter from Romania’s black history. During the tours, which were also attended by many students from the schools in Sibiu, other political prisoners imprisoned in Pitesti were also discussed. Among them were Gheorghe Calciu Dumitreasa, Eugen Țurcanu, Mihai Buracu, Dumitru Cojocaru, Ilie Drăgan, Alexandru Dorobanțu, Eugen Munteanu, Nicolae Neamțu, Gheorghe Rădoiu.
Currently, there are no more Sibiu survivors of this phenomenon, stated the representatives of the Brukenthal Sibiu National Museum.
At the national level, according to Maria Axinte, the founder of the Pitesti Prison Memorial, “the largest and most intensive torture brainwashing program in the communist bloc”among the thousands of people who went through the Pitesti Experiment, today “I’m alive less than ten”.
