PRESS RELEASE

The search and exhumation of the anticommunist partisans killed by the in the Apuseni Mountains

Bucharest, 27 August 2015. The Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile (IICCMER) together with The National Historical Museum of Transylvania from Cluj-Napoca (MNIT) organize, starting Monday, 31 August 2015, an archaeological investigation within the village Bistra, Alba County. The investigation aims to search, find and exhume the human remains of five persons killed on the 4th of March 1949 in an armed confrontation with the Securitate troops and agents. The activities will be organized in collaboration with Bistra Town Hall, the National Museum of Unification from Alba Iulia, the History Museum and the Natural Sciences Museum from Aiud and the History Museum of .

The phenomenon of the armed anti-communist resistance has become very important on the territory of Transylvania. The highest density of groups that opposed the communist regime was in the Apuseni Mountains, on the territory of the former counties of Alba, Cluj and Turda. The most important was “National Defence Front – Hajduk Corps”, created and led by a former military officer, Major , seconded by brothers Alexandru and Traian Macavei. Nicolae Dabija was born on the 18th of April 1907 in Galați, one of the two sons of Dumitru and Ioana. In 1926 he became a volunteer in the army. He graduated from Military High School in Iași and the Military Schools for Infantry Officers, , in 1929, as a second Lieutenant. In the following years, he served as officer in various regiments in garrisons. In 1933 he married Florica Angheluță from Brăila. They had no children. In October 1941, as a captain of the 38th Infantry Regiment in Brăila he was sent with his unit on the East Front. For his acts of heroism and the spirit of sacrifice in the armed confrontations, his merits were recognized. He was awarded several Romanian and German military orders and decorations, including Mihai Viteazul Order, by Royal Decree. He was twice wounded in battle, being advanced as exceptional major and decorated three times in the army and once on the nation. Because of his wounds, he was not able to participate on The West Campaign. After the war, he remained in the army on a border unit, but in July 1946 he served again on active duty, before having been dismissed by communists. When he was awarded the Mihai Viteazul Order, he received five hectares of land in Aradul Nou, where he settled with his wife after 1946. Here he started to fight against the new communist regime. Within the political context in , Major Dabija came into contact with several persons involved in the anti-communist resistance. He met Macavei brothers from Bucium Muntari, Alba County, with whom, in December 1948, founded the organization The National Defence Front. They chose a place to settle a permanent camp, in the mountains, on the north of Arieș river valley, on the territory of Bistra village, Alba County. The camp was settled at an altitude of 1.200 m. in the place called Groși, 16 km northeast of the center of the village and 7 km southwest of the Big Mountain (1.826 meters). In January and February 1949, two shelters for the members of the organization were here built, a wood cottage and a large hovel partly dug into the ground which was covered with round fir beams, over which portions of land and grass were placed, in order to hide the place. The vestiges of this shelter are still visible in our days. The organization was based on military principles, with a status which included military rules, a program of military instruction, as well as an oath that all the members of the camp had to take on the 4th of March 1949. They even drew up a proclamation that had to be multiplied and spread in several regions of the country. Major Dabija intended to unify under his command all the anti-communist fractions from the Apuseni Mountains, and also to coordinate his actions with the anti-communist fighters from other regions of the country. In the beginning of March 1949, there were 25 persons in the camp from Groşi, most of them from other regions. Meanwhile, the authorities had heard about the group of partisans near Bistra and took measures to annihilate it. The Securitate agents put pressure on local people and blackmailed them. They learned about the place from a member of the organization, Ihuț Avram from Bistra, who was arrested and tortured, later being used as a guide to the camp. On the morning of 4 March 1949, the camp was attacked by the Securitate forces, two platoons from Battalion 7 of the Securitate Floreşti - Cluj, including 80 soldiers, officers, non-commissioned officers and several agents from the County Department of People Security Turda (second lieutenant Florea Sabău, senior warrant officer Vociu Octavian, senior warrant officer Pop T. Ioan, senior warrant officer Cosman Gheorghe, warrant officer Pintilie Alexandru). Operations on the field were led by second lieutenant Florea Sabău and the entire action was coordinated and supervised by colonel Mihai Patriciu, chief of Cluj Regional Security located in Câmpeni, and seconded by captain Kovács Mihai, chief of the SJSP Turda. The partisan camp was surrounded and attacked. The confrontation took place between 6:30 and 8:30. At that point, there were 22 people in the camp, three of them being women. Three partisans (Ihuț Traian, Selagea Nicolae, Clamba Iosif) had gone to bring food. Two men, Oniga Emil and Bocan Iancu, former soldiers, were infiltrated by the Securitate in the partisan camp, but this had already been revealed and known by Dabija and other members of the organization, and they were to be judged as traitors. Infantry weapons, grenades and loads of TNT were used in the fight. Both sides suffered of killed and wounded and the wooden cottage caught fire. Three of the attackers were killed (senior sergeant

2 Mateș I. Gheorghe, specialist Mărgineanu Gh. Marin, soldier Oană Gh. Traian) and six wounded. Five partisans were shot to death, four men ( Cigmăian Ioan, Decean Petru, Maier Iosif, Mitrofan Lucian) and a woman, Maier Elena, Maier Iosif’s wife. Six people managed to escape but they were captured or killed shortly after the attack (Dabija Nicolae, Scridon Ioan, Pascu Cornel, Câmpean Traian, Alexandru and Traian Macavei). Nine other partisans, except the two traitors, were arrested (Mihălțan Traian, Onea Titus, Rațiu Augustin, Oprița Gheorghe, Moldovan Simion, Vandor Victor, Breazu Iuliu, Pop Alexandra, Buțuțui Viorica). The victims of the Securitate were evacuated from the field in the same day as well as the personal objects, belongings, documents and the weapons taken from the camp and from the dead partisans and prisoners. Next day, on the 5th of March, some agents from the Bureau of the Securitate from Câmpeni, together with 20 soldiers, the mayor, the hospital attendant, the chief of Militia from Bistra and some young men from the village went in the camp to search and bury the partisans’ corpses. The bodies were put first on the back of the shelter partly dug into the ground. Then, they tried to destroy the roof in order to cover them, but they didn’t succeed. So, all the bodies were taken outside and put one above the other in the storehouse of the camp, which was set in a small underground cavity, dug and covered with wooden beams and land. Then its superior structure was turned down over the bodies. In the beginning of spring, some peasants who were passing by, found the decomposing bodies and threw some ground over, to protect them from animals. This place is the crypt grave where the remains of these people are still buried. The location of the mass grave was indicated in the field in August 2009 by Ioan Gligor from Bistra, deceased in 2012, who had participated in the burial of victims. The location was also confirmed by Alexandru Macarie from Bistra, who had taken part in the spring of 1949 at the covering of the corpses with ground. Soon after the attack on the camp and the destruction of the nucleus of The National Defense Front – The Haiduc Corps, other members and supporters of the group from the villages on the mountain or on the Mureș Valley and the places nearby were also arrested. Major Dabija was captured on the 22nd of March 1949, in Gârde, a small village near Bistra, after having been betrayed by some peasants . He was investigated in several places, being tried together with other defendants by the Military Tribunal from Sibiu. He was sentenced to death, with six other people, all of them being executed on the 28th of October 1949, in Sibiu. Dozens of people were sentenced to lots of years in prison, but some of them, contrary to the court order, were taken out from prisons and shot or hung by the Securitate. Other members of the group that first escaped from being arrested, were constantly followed, and finally captured, convicted and even killed in different circumstances.

The biographies of the people killed and buried at Groși

Cigmăian Ioan. Born on the 9th of September 1908 in Gelmar village, Geoagiu town, Hunedoara County. His parents were Cigmăian Nicolae and Mocsa Elena, peasants from Gelmar, that had three children, two girls, Fica and Maria, and a son, Ioan. This

3 one married, on the 3rd of February 1928, Rus Marc Sabina from Gelmar, whom he divorced on the 17th of October 1947. They had together a son, Aurel, deceased. People who knew him say that he used to do animal trading. After his divorce, he lived together with Adămuț Sabina in Șibot, Alba County. There, he was arrested for Legionnaire activity and propaganda against the Communist regime and brought in the Security prison in Cugir. He managed to escape and ran into the mountains where he joined Major Dabija group.

Decean Petru. Born on the 17th of August 1926 în Mihalț village, Alba County. His parents were Decean Florian and Mârza Maria, peasants who owned land. They had three children, two girls, Ana and Maria, and a boy, Petru. He went to primary school in his native village and in 1937 to Confessional high-school Sf. Vasile in Blaj, which he graduated in 1945. In high-school, he became a member of the youth organization of the National Peasants' Party. In the autumn of 1945, he entered the Faculty of Law in Cluj. Because of his frequent participations to the anticommunist demonstrations of the students, he was arrested and interrogated by the Securitate several times. That’s why, in the second year , he decided to transfer to the Faculty of Law in , where he became an important member of the National Peasants' Party - youth organization, together with Corneliu Coposu. He also worked as a secretary in a law firm and, in certain circumstances, he was Iuliu Maniu’s bodyguard. Because of his political activity, he was followed and, in order to avoid being arrested, in the autumn of 1947, he gave up school and stayed hidden in the capital, frequently changing homes. By the end of 1948, he decided to fight against the regime, becoming a member of the National Defense Front.

Maier Iosif and Maier Ida Elena. Maier Iosif was born on March 19, 1905, in Blaj, Alba County. His parents were Maier Emeric and Buni Olivia. He was a mechanic and according to some sources, worked at the CFR (state railway carrier of Romania). After his release from military service, he had the rank of sergeant in reserve. In 8 July 1929 he married Topfner Ida Elena from Teiuş, Alba County, born on 18 February 1908 in Bucharest, the daughter of Topfner Mihail and Câmpean Elena. After marriage, the Maiers lived in Teiuş. They were involved in the anticommunist resistance, and gave their support to certain clandestine organizations which opposed to the regime. In order to avoid the imminent arrest, they took refuge in the mountains and joined major Dabija group.

Mitrofan Lucian. Born on 7 February 1929, in Alba-Iulia. His parents, Mitrofan Ioan and Boancheş Ioana, were peasants from Hăpria village, Alba County. They had seven boys, Lucian being the fifth child. He graduated from Primary school (4 grades) and later he became a trained vulcanizer in a workshop in Alba Iulia. He never married. Since he was an active member of the youth organization of the National Peasants’ Party, he was followed by the authorities and in February 1948 he had to leave home and hide himself to people he knew. In the summer of 1948, he was arrested and

4 interrogated twice by the Securitate in Alba-Iulia, finally he took refuge in the mountains and became a partisan.

The researches will be done by a team of archaeologists and historians of the IICCMER and the museums mentioned here (Cosmin Budeancă, Horațiu Groza, Marius Oprea, Gheorghe Petrov, Gabriel Rustoiu, Paul Scrobotă, Constantin Vasilescu). If the common grave is found, the activities of exhumation and recovering the remains of victims will take place in the presence of the Military Prosecutor's Office representatives and of other state institutions.

Further information: tel. 0721 400 396 / 0744 516 108 (archaeologist Gheorghe Petrov, expert for the IICCMER).

Illustration: Fig. 1 – Cigmăian Ioan; Fig. 2 – Decean Petru; Fig. 3 – Maier Iosif and Maier Elena; Fig. 4 - Mitrofan Lucian; Fig. 5 – Semi-buried shelter from the camp at Groşi. Northwest View. (Photo CNSAS Archives); Fig. 6 – Remains of the cottage on fire. (Photo CNSAS Archives); Fig. 7 – Weapons, ammunition, radio, typewriter, and other objects recovered by the Securitate from the camp at Groşi (Photo CNSAS Archives); Fig. 8 – Drawing of the battle of Groşi, done by the Securitate (CNSAS Archives).

* * * * *

About IICCMER. The Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile is a governmental body founded in 2005 and coordinated by the Prime Minister. Firstly, its purpose is to analyze and investigate, through research, the effects of totalitarianism in Romania. Secondly, the activity of IICCMER supports the creation and implementation of certain educational instruments with memorial aims, thus contributing to the articulation of the context in which the post-totalitarian society becomes aware of the fundamental rights and values. Last but not least, IICCMER has to collect, create an archive and publish documents related to the memory of the Romanian exile.

5