Gheorghe Pintilie
Gheorghe Pintilie (born Pantelei Bodnarenko, also rendered as Pintilie Bodnarenco, and nicknamed Pantiuşa; 1902 – August 11, 1985) was a Soviet intelligence agent, Russian citizen and naturalised Romanian communist activist of Ukrainian origin,[1] and the first Director of the Securitate. As such, he was one of the main organizers of the repression in Communist Romania, responsible for the arrest, deportation, and internment of around 400,000 people.[2]
Gheorghe Pintilie | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Director General of the Securitate | |
| In office August 30, 1948 – 1963 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1902 Tiraspol, Russian Empire (now in Transnistria, Moldova) |
| Died | August 11, 1985 (aged 82–83) Bucharest, Socialist Republic of Romania |
| Resting place | Ghencea Cemetery, Bucharest |
| Nationality | Romanian |
| Political party | Romanian Communist Party |
| Spouse(s) | Ana Toma |
| Signature |  |
He was born in Tiraspol, Russian Empire (now in Transnistria, Moldova). As an adolescent, he fought with the Red Army in the Russian Civil War.[3] Subsequently, he was recruited by Soviet intelligence to carry out espionage and sabotage actions in Romania.[3] He was caught, and incarcerated at the Doftana and Caransebeș prisons, where he befriended Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, who was to become the General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) in 1945.
After World War II, Pintilie married Ana Toma, a top aide to Ana Pauker. The couple adopted two children (Radu and Ioana).[3] Between 1945 and 1948, he was the chief of "Gospodăria de partid" (Romanian: economic household, in control of all property of the PCR).[3]
In June 1945, he led the squad that kidnapped Ștefan Foriș, the previous General Secretary of the PCR. A year later, after a confidential vote at the top of the party, Pintilie beat Foriș to death with a crowbar.
At the founding of the Securitate on August 30, 1948, Gheorghe Pintilie became the first Director of this organization (his Deputy Directors were Alexandru Nicolschi and Vladimir Mazuru-Mazurov, both of them ex-Soviet agents). In this capacity, he was directly implicated in the Pitești Prison "experiment". The majority of deportations to the forced labor camps at the Danube–Black Sea Canal (referred to as the "graveyard of the Romanian bourgeoisie" by the Communist authorities) were approved by Pintilie and his deputies.[3][4]
Pintilie played a considerable role in the establishment of the communist terror apparatus in Romania. As Vladimir Tismăneanu argues, "if one does not grasp the role of political thugs such as the Soviet spies Pintilie Bodnarenko (Pantiuşa) and Alexandru Nikolski in the exercise of terror in Romania during the most horrible Stalinist period, and their personal connections with Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and members of his entourage, it is difficult to understand the origins and the role of the Securitate".[5]
He served as general director of the Securitate and as an adjunct minister in the Ministry of the Interior until his retirement in 1963. In 1968, he was excluded from the Communist Party; nevertheless, he was decorated in 1971 by Nicolae Ceaușescu with the "Tudor Vladimirescu" medal.[3]
Pintilie died in Bucharest in 1985. He was buried with full honors at the Ghencea Military Cemetery.[3]
References
- Ion Turcanu, Istoria romanilor: Cu o privire mai larga asupra culturii. Istros. 2007. ISBN 9789731871028.
- Stejărel Olaru, "The communist regime and its legacy in Romania" Archived March 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, Stiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur, Berlin-Bucharest, July 2004
- Vladimir Tismăneanu, "Cǎlǎii stalinişti - Cazul Pantiuşa", Cotidianul, 21 April 2006
- Ion Mihai Pacepa, "E timpul ca Securitatea să fie repudiată (IV)" Archived 2006-03-18 at the Wayback Machine, in Jurnalul Național, October 8, 2005
- Vladimir Tismăneanu, Stalinism for All Seasons: A Political History of Romanian Communism (University of California Press, Berkeley, 2003). ISBN 0-520-23747-1 p. 20
External links
- The Security Police (Securitate) between 1948 and 1989 at The Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance
- (in Romanian) "Politica si servicii secrete", interview of Viorel Patrichi with General (retired) Nicolae Pleșiță, Lumea
- (in Romanian) Gabriel Catalan, Mircea Stănescu, Scurtă istorie a Securității ("Short history of the Securitate"), Sfera Politicii, Nr. 109 (2004), pp. 38–53.