{"id":526777,"date":"2025-05-14T13:23:49","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T10:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/?p=526777"},"modified":"2025-05-14T13:23:49","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T10:23:49","slug":"may-14-communist-prisons-victims-remembrance-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/may-14-communist-prisons-victims-remembrance-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Blessed are the persecuted: May 14 – Remembrance Day for Communist Prisons Victims"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday, Romania commemorates the Day of Remembrance for the Martyrs of Communist Prisons, established by the Romanian Parliament in 2017, in honour of those who lost their lives due to inhumane treatment and torture in communist-era prisons.<\/b><\/p>\n

Those arrested by the communist regime were not only former politicians but also wealthy peasants, intellectuals, students, and especially many priests\u2014individuals who, by their very existence, contradicted the atheist ideology imposed across all state institutions.<\/p>\n

May 14 was chosen as the official date of remembrance because on the night of May 14\u201315, 1948, mass arrests began: approximately 10,000 people were detained in a single night, often without their families knowing where they were held\u2014or even whether they were still alive.<\/p>\n

Numerous political prisoners perished in communist prisons, such as Pite\u0219ti, Gherla, Aiud, T\u00e2rgu Ocna, Sighet, R\u00e2mnicu S\u0103rat, Arad, Jilava, and V\u0103c\u0103re\u0219ti.<\/p>\n

Memorials Dedicated to Former Political Prisoners<\/h2>\n

Through the initiative of poet Ana Blandiana, the Sighet Prison was transformed into the Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Aiud, at the site known as \u201cR\u00e2pa Robilor\u201d (\u201cSlave\u2019s Ravine\u201d), the \u201cCalvary of Aiud\u201d monument was erected. The martyrs are represented by multiple crosses bearing the burden of the Romanian nation\u2019s cross. Victims\u2019 names are engraved in stone.<\/p>\n

Inside the monument, Metropolitan Bartolomeu Anania, himself a former political prisoner at Aiud, consecrated a chapel in 2000. At its entrance is inscribed: \u201cBlessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven\u201d (Matthew 5:10).<\/p>\n

Appeal to Preserve Pite\u0219ti Prison<\/h2>\n

A unique experiment took place at Pite\u0219ti Prison, where inmates were tortured until they became the torturers of their own cellmates. Today, the former prison houses a memorial museum<\/a>, and a chapel is being built in memory of the victims.<\/p>\n

The foundation responsible for preserving the site is currently calling<\/a> for the protection of the former prison building, which the municipality transferred from public to private ownership and traded to a company without considering the legal right of first refusal granted to historic monuments.<\/p>\n

Although Pite\u0219ti Prison is on Romania\u2019s Tentative List for UNESCO World Heritage Sites, this status does not provide legal protection.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must show that we care about this place\u2014that the hundreds of students tortured during the Pite\u0219ti Experiment will be remembered; that the memory of the many women abused here by the Securitate for supporting the resistance movement will be preserved; that the cold, wet concrete where political prisoners wept over their fate will be protected; that this history will not be erased,\u201d representatives of the Pite\u0219ti Prison Memorial Foundation said.<\/p>\n

More information about the best-known martyrs of the communist prisons and a commemorative calendar can be found at Fericiticeiprigoniti.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Photo: Facebook \/ Memorialul \u00cenchisoarea Pite\u0219ti<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday, Romania commemorates the Day of Remembrance for the Martyrs of Communist Prisons, established by the Romanian Parliament in 2017, in honour of those who lost their lives due to inhumane treatment and torture in communist-era prisons. Those arrested by the communist regime were not only former politicians but also wealthy peasants, intellectuals, students,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":526710,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[32291,35037,24220,35038,34504,34691,35039],"class_list":["post-526777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anniversaries-and-commemorations","tag-commemorative-year-2025","tag-communist-prison-victims","tag-human-rights","tag-pitesti-experiment","tag-political-prisoners","tag-romanian-history","tag-sighet-memorial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}