142:, imprisoned there from December 1948 to March 1952, recalled the perennial problem of spoiled, insufficient food, augmented by overcrowding. There was no running water or sewage system. The pervasive filth bred bedbugs, leading prisoners to sleep with socks on their hands. Solitary confinement was carried out inside the white tower at the entrance, in dirty, smelly, suffocating, mouse-infested cells.
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grams of potatoes per week, 100 grams of chives, 300 grams of onions, and several tens of grams of corn, sugar, or coffee. Later, they received even less food; rations were constantly reduced until many of the inmates began to die from extreme anemia and chronic diseases. It has been estimated that the number of
179:
teamsâ, showing they understood the Soviet origin of what was unfolding. Detainees were isolated and forced to unmask themselves, to write down what they had not told under
Securitate interrogation. Torture and questioning went on only after midnight. Targets were beaten until fainting, then awoken
183:
Those who refused were beaten with bats, broomsticks and boots by the âre-educatedâ, who competed in ferocity in order not to be suspected themselves. Between sessions, the victim had to stand for hours on end facing the wall, or to sit on the bed from five in the morning until ten at night. The
149:
The main form of extermination of prisoners was planned starvation. The guards had come to calculate with precision the day when a starving prisoner would die. The menu consisted of porridge (boiled corn), potato soup, beans or chives, and vegetables; a detainee was not entitled to more than 800
253:
struggle, were exterminated at Ocnele Mari and buried anonymously in the
Bozeasca Cemetery. The penitentiary remains as one of the harshest detention centers in the history of Romania, where the unbearable conditions contributed decisively to the mental and physical destruction of the prisoner.
145:
Prisoners would catch linden leaves blown into their cells by the wind, chewing one per day in an effort to ward off the very common ailments of scurvy, vitamin deficiency and tooth decay. Many barely managed to climb down to use the toilets dug into the yard. Medical visits were purely formal,
109:
During this period, the regimen was one of extermination, based on torture, hunger, and lack of medical care. Although many of the guards were locals, they did not dare to discuss what happened inside the walls or about the cart carrying dead prisoners to the cemetery at night, to be buried in
266:
was halted and detainees there sent to Aiud, a selection was made. Between three and four hundred prisoners who were mildly ill, old or unable to work were sent on to Ocnele Mari. This group had been sentenced at trial. In some cases, their sentences had expired as far back as 1951, but were
175:. In 1951, a group of students, veterans of the process, arrived from there. The administration offered them three cells to carry out their experiment, the windows were painted black and the guards prohibited entry. According to Pandrea's recollection, the prisoners called the new arrivals â
146:
prisoners were banned from receiving medicines from their families, and imprisoned doctors often had to operate with scissors or blades reddened in the fire. Prisoners alleviated boredom through conversation; there was also an organized âunderground academyâ led by
Pandrea.
196:, and Ion Victor Vojen threatened to commit suicide en masse unless the torture. The experiment was abandoned: total isolation could not be maintained like in PiteČti, and fearing that the atrocities would be heard about, the Interior Ministry stopped the unmaskings.
281:. Sentenced to lengthy terms following the deaths of 63 detainees, they were freed in 1957. In 1959, the prison became a youth penitentiary, holding youngsters who had escaped repeatedly from other facilities. In turn, they were sent to
154:
needed by the human body for survival is around 1,200; however, at that time, the caloric value of the daily menu at Ocnele Mari prison did not even exceed 600 calories. The older inmates were the first to suffer from
129:, arrived at Ocnele Mari at the age of 74, after receiving a 32-year sentence for conspiring against the social order and possession of prohibited publications; he died in July 1959, after 18 days of detention.
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Administrative sentences were abandoned in 1954, when many were freed, although some were kept at the behest of the
Securitate. Late that year, a group of Interior Ministry employees was brought from
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lengthened via administrative decision. In 1953â1954, torture and hunger abated, and no deaths were recorded. Prisoners could wear their home clothes, although these were often falling apart.
303:
285:
in 1963. In autumn 1964, a salt mine collapsed, forming a saltwater lake. The prison was soon closed and demolished, a plaque commemorating the communist detainees put up.
102:, 98 Interior Ministry cadres, and 52 common criminals. They worked in a wood shop. Ocnele Mari became one of the most important concentration camps for fighters from the
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victims were generally older, believed to be unable to resist the torture; nevertheless, they did manage to resist and to warn others about what was happening.
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238:. Also detained were ordinary workers and peasants who had stood up to the regime. In mid-1950, some of the more prominent detainees were sent to
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274:. At the height of the prison population in 1948â1952, each cell held around 70 men; in 1954, there were no more than ten.
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459:
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In 1956â1957, the prison received
Interior Ministry cadres sentenced for various offenses. These included a group from
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with urine poured on their faces from the common chamber-pot. Isolation and torture continued for three to six months.
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unmarked graves. Among the dead were
Gheorghe Grama, first tortured to the point of madness; Andrei Nicola, peasantist
17:
387:"DeČinuČii politici din Ocnele Mari, exterminaČi prin ĂŽnfometare. AceČtia nu primeau mai mult de 600 de calorii pe zi"
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The prison population changed in 1953. First, existing prisoners were transferred elsewhere. Then, after work on the
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550:
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Other prisoners included Iancu ArnÄuČoiu (member of the anti-communist resistance movement led by son,
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642:
71:
652:
591:
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A series of significant figures of the
Romanian intelligentsia and simple people, linked to the
75:
63:
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67:
688:
586:
498:
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171:â. This was carried out not only through forced labor but also through the method used at
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was the first political prisoner to be detained there, in 1920. The nine leaders of the
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114:, and Gheorghe Niculescu-Malu, leading social-democratic activist. The poet and writer
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483:
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430:
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58:, the prison was for common criminals with life terms, forced to work in the nearby
425:(in Romanian). Institutul de Investigare a Crimelor Comunismului ĂŽn România. IaČi:
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were also held there, in 1935–1936. From 1948 to 1953, the prison held
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detainees not convicted in court. At one point, it had 500 prisoners: 279
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304:"ComuniČti ĂŽn ĂŽnchisoarea de la Ocnele Mari (1918–1938)"
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DicČionarul penitenciarelor din România comunistÄ: 1945â1967
357:"Iadul de la Ocnele Mari prin care a trecut Či Petre ČuČea"
90:affiliates, 38, 17, and 16, respectively, from the
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104:Romanian anti-communist resistance movement
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70:were brought to Ocnele Mari in 1924.
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715:1964 disestablishments in Romania
385:RĂŽpan, Irina (October 23, 2013).
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560:Transylvania, CriČana, MaramureČ
363:(in Romanian). November 10, 2010
125:, a good friend of the composer
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662:Western Moldavia and Bukovina
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308:Buridava. Studii Či materiale
167:The prison was a center for â
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159:and were doomed to perish.
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710:Defunct prisons in Romania
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92:National Peasants' Party
72:Romanian Communist Party
33:was a prison located in
100:Social Democratic Party
525:DanubeâBlack Sea Canal
264:DanubeâBlack Sea Canal
96:National Liberal Party
76:Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
64:Mihail Gheorghiu Bujor
302:Oane, Sorin (2015),
68:Tatarbunary Uprising
27:Ocnele Mari's Prison
343:Muraru, pp. 403-09
213:Gheorghe Cristescu
74:activists such as
31:Ocnele Mari Prison
18:Ocnele Mari prison
697:
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484:Communist Romania
436:978-973-46-0893-5
279:Salcia labor camp
190:Mihail Manoilescu
16:(Redirected from
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272:Baia Sprie mine
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236:Savel RÄdulescu
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209:Dumitru CoroamÄ
205:Gheorghe Mihail
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251:anti-communist
232:Mihai Popovici
221:Aurel LeucuČia
217:Aurel Dobrescu
201:Toma ArnÄuČoiu
194:Virgil Solomon
173:PiteČti Prison
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163:âRe-educationâ
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54:Prior to the
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397:. Retrieved
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365:. Retrieved
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203:), Generals
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169:re-education
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80:Chivu Stoica
53:
30:
29:
546:Ocnele Mari
520:BrÄila Pond
486:(1945â1967)
482:Prisons in
258:Later years
244:Aiud Prison
224: [
186:Petre ČuČea
136: [
119: [
50:Early years
41:, Romania.
35:Ocnele Mari
704:Categories
689:Târgu Ocna
602:Lead mines
587:DumbrÄveni
499:CaransebeČ
412:References
314:(2): 66â78
88:Iron Guard
84:Securitate
653:VÄcÄreČti
621:Wallachia
551:Târgu Jiu
504:TimiČoara
445:297531689
177:Makarenko
60:salt mine
669:BotoČani
421:(2008).
392:AdevÄrul
361:Historia
157:cachexia
152:calories
684:Suceava
648:TârgČor
638:PiteČti
592:FÄgÄraČ
541:Craiova
534:Oltenia
513:Dobruja
427:Polirom
399:May 23,
367:May 24,
112:senator
45:History
674:GalaČi
633:Mislea
628:Jilava
612:Sighet
607:Oradea
597:Gherla
572:BraČov
443:
433:
240:Sighet
234:, and
98:, and
492:Banat
289:Notes
228:]
140:]
123:]
679:IaČi
577:Cluj
567:Aiud
441:OCLC
431:ISBN
401:2023
369:2023
207:and
78:and
582:Dej
312:XII
242:or
706::
439:.
429:.
389:.
377:^
359:.
348:^
320:^
306:,
246:.
230:,
226:ro
219:,
215:,
211:,
192:,
188:,
138:ro
121:ro
106:.
94:,
62:.
37:,
475:e
468:t
461:v
447:.
403:.
371:.
20:)
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