871.00/11–2646
Report Prepared by Mr. Charles E. Hulick, Jr., on the Staff of the Representative in Rumania (Berry)54
Report No. 54
Rumania’s First Mass Trial Proclaims Open War To Liquidate Historical Parties
During the week November 11–18, 1946, there was held in Bucharest a Mass Trial according to the Soviet pattern established by Andrei Vishinsky in famous Moscow Trials of 1936. This report is based entirely on the notes of the Mission’s Officer who was present as observer throughout every minute of the trial. It is of immediate actual importance in that the blunders made by the less experienced Vishinskys of Rumania exposed in its entirety the real objective of the trial and provided the Western Democracies with a window through which they could obtain a clear glimpse of Soviet Russia’s goal in “the Balkans and the ruthlessness with which she intends to attain it. More trials with the same purpose will follow. The press already has announced the discovery of another alleged terrorist organization, led by an Army General. Although the trial of this group and others will follow the same pattern, the revealing mistakes made during the trial under review will not likely be repeated.
On the surface, the trial of ninety-one individuals for alleged subversive activity was to be presented as a trial following the normal established method of the civilized world to administer justice to [Page 659] individuals accused of illegal activities. Fortunately for the truly civilized part of the world, the trial’s cruel travesty on Justice could not be concealed, but, on the contrary, was revealed in all its despicable evilness.
First arrests were carried out May 27, 1946. The public learned of these arrests through sensational front-page articles in the Communist controlled press. These articles told of the discovery of subversive terroristic organizations which had hidden deposits of arms, ammunitions and infernal machines; that these organizations aimed at overthrowing the Government, insurrection of the Army and disrupting unity of Rumanian State; that among the arrested were prominent members of the opposition parties, the National Peasant, under leadership of Iuliu Maniu, and the National Liberal, under leadership of C. Constantin Bratianu, and Rumanian employees of the American Political and Military Missions in Bucharest; and that the organizations, as could be seen from the confiscated propaganda leaflets, were anti-semitic, anti-communist and anti-russian in character. Thus the stage was set to produce irrefutable proof of the necessity to dissolve the “Fascist” historical parties and to infer to the world that the United States was supporting these organizations and therefore unmasked itself to be the cradle of reactionary Fascism.
After holding the accused under detention for nearly six months the much heralded trial, which was rushed through with morning, afternoon and evening sessions, commenced on November 11. On the following day the indictment was read.
After a brief résumé of the indictment, which was eighty-one pages long, this report, instead of treating the trial as it progressed from day to day, will endeavor to present the plot of Emil Bodnaras (Secretary General of the Presidency of Council of Ministers and Rumanian Communist Politburo member, recognized Chief of Secret Police), as it was uncovered during the trial.
[Here follow details of the indictment and of the testimony given during the trial.]
inquisition methods to extort incriminating evidence
The mere fact that the trial was built up mostly on the basis of “synthetic evidence produced in the laboratory of the Secret Police and Judiciary authorities”, as one outstanding lawyer told the Court, served to make even the Judges of the Court believe in the veracity of the declarations made by numerous of the accused that they had been tortured morally and physically at the prison of Pitesti to extort from them false declarations to incriminate them and the American and British Missions.
[Page 660]Radu Valsanescu’s55 declaration in Court about the subterranean cell has already been described. Others were placed in this cell, in particular Mr. Calleya and Colonel Plesnila.56 In addition to keeping Colonel Plesnila for days in this stinking, filthy cell, the commissars told him that his wife had been arrested and was being detained in a similar cell. Plesnila heard the wailings of a woman’s voice and was later told by the commissars that his wife had died. After this he was brought to the cell of General Aldea57 and Calleya. He was described to the Court by General Aldea as a half-crazy man, nearly unrecognizable, who begged that he be killed so that he could join his wife, whom he believed to be dead! If the commissars wanted to get signatures from somebody else they brought Plesnila into the individual’s cell and threatened to put that person through the same torture. This was done to General Aldea who was likewise told that if he did not sign the desired statement, his wife would be arrested and subjected to Gestapo tortures.
Generals Aldea and Eftimiu,58 Colonel Evolceanu59 and every officer arrested in connection with “The Armed Group Sinaia” described to the Court how they had been tortured and threatened with the arrest of their wives. They said they preferred to sign anything in the end, rather than subject themselves, the uniforms they wore and possibly their wives to further indignities. They declared that they decided to do this with the firm conviction that when they appeared before the High Military Court composed of Generals of the Army in which they had served or were serving, they would be judged not on the basis of these extorted statements but on the basis of truth and justice.
General Atanasiu, President of the Court, could not hide the fact that he was deeply moved by these declarations. However, he tried to minimize their value by stating to the officers that he could not believe Army officers decorated for bravery on the front could permit civilian commissars to quail them into signing false statements. No one in the courtroom believed for one moment that Atanasiu was sincere in saying what he did. His facial expression gave him away.
[Here follows brief accounts of the concluding statements by the prosecuting attorney and the defense lawyers.]
[Page 661]the verdicts
Following three-and-a-half hours deliberation, General Atanasiu announced the Court’s heavy verdicts at 7:30 a.m.60 Twenty-seven of the accused were condemned to life-imprisonment at hard labor. Among these were General Aldea and Eftimiu, Colonel Plesnila, Lt. Colonel Evolceanu and all but one of those who were tried in absentia, including Manicatide of the American Military Mission. Steanta and Paliacu were likewise condemned to hard labor for life. There were eleven acquittals, the most important being Ionel Pop,61 Radu Valsanescu and the Secret Service agent, Captain Dumitrescu. Miss Olteanu, alien employee of the American Mission was bound over to trial by another court. Until such trial the Court decided that she should be placed in liberty. The other sentences ranged from twenty years to six months’ imprisonment.
interpretation of verdicts
The harsh verdicts against General Aldea and his friends is interpreted as a sign that anyone who is capable of organizing a Coup d’État such as August 23, 1944, is considered dangerous to the Government and must be eliminated.
The verdict in the case of Elvira Olteanu is the result of constant intervention on the part of the Mission. It is far from satisfactory. It means that she has not been declared innocent or guilty of the charges and she can be arrested again on a minute’s notice. Theoretically she cannot be arrested on the same charges, but she can be tried again by a different court or arrested for different trumped-up charges. It is possible that she may never be called to trial again, but she remains with the fear that she is at the mercy of the Secret Police. This formula of suspending sentence without delivering a verdict is common in political trials in Rumania. It is a face-saving device for the Government when they bring to trial an innocent person and in the end yield to pressure for this person’s release.
Ionel Pop was due to be sentenced to twenty years hard labor. Through confidential sources it has been learned that at the last minute Mr. Maniu personally requested the King to intercede in his behalf. The King is reported to have said that he was impotent, but promised to speak to Princess Ileana, sister of former King Carol II. The latter called one of the career magistrates working behind the scenes for the prosecution and gave him instructions to General Atanasiu to acquit Ionel Pop.…
[Page 662]Radu Valsanescu obtained an acquittal by signing on the last day of the trial a behind the scenes declaration withdrawing his previous statement in Court about the pressure brought to bear upon him to sign a statement that Major Hall and Mr. Frank Shea, of the American Missions, had requested him to arrange contact with the Black Cloak’s organization.
The sentences of life imprisonment for Steanta and Paliacu were simply part of the show. From an official source it has been learned that after a short detention they will be permitted to “escape”. Again they will roam the country in the service of [the] Secret Police and produce evidence for another trial of political enemies of the Communists.
how communist press treated trial
During the first two days of the trial the Communist press carried long front-page articles covering the trial, reviewing in particular the Bill of Indictment. As the trial progressed, the coverage became smaller and smaller relegated to inside pages and then only covered that portion of the testimony which supported the thesis of the indictment. On the final day the papers simply published the verdicts without comment.
conclusion
In concluding this report on the sordid trial which was revolting to the core for any individual in whom still resides a mere particle of the most elementary instinct of justice of man for fellow-man, one can state that to his partial credit, General Atanasiu, over the objections of the prosecution, allowed all the sordidness to come to light. There is little doubt that over his head hung similar threats as were used to obtain false statements from the condemned officers to force him to render the previously dictated sentences, but on his conscience rests the knowledge that he allowed himself to be quailed into condemning innocent fellow-officers and civilians.
United States Representative in Rumania
Prepared by:
Foreign Service Officer
- Received by the Division of Foreign Reporting Services of the Department of State on December 11, 1946.↩
- Private Secretary to Constantin (Dinu) Bratianu.↩
- Lt. Col. Eugen Plesnila, allegedly a member of the so-called “National Resistance Movement”.↩
- Gen. Aurel Aldea, Rumanian Minister of Interior August–December 1944, and allegedly the commander of the so-called “National Resistance Movement”.↩
- Gen. Constantin Eftimiu, alleged leader in the so-called “National Resistance Movement”.↩
- Alleged member of the so-called “Armed Group Sinaia” described as a terroristic organization.↩
- The verdicts were rendered on November 18, 1946.↩
- Nephew of Constantin (Dinu) Bratianu and a leader in the National Peasant Party.↩