•holidays religious Justice and Repression in Communist Romania: takepart The Trial of Greek-Catholic Bishop Alexandru Rusu in 1957 · emned, '·order to Ioan-Marius Bucur ted the Babe§-Bolyai University,Cluj-Napoca Abstract In early July, 1957, the Greek-Catholic Bishop of Maramure§, Alexandru Rusu was sentenced, following a mock trial, to a lifetime heavy detention. Thus, in the year that has to be the 73rd anniversary, Bishop Rusu had to face, again, almost two years after its dischargein the"relative freedom", the rigors of communist prisons. This time,the prison experience of would be fatal, bishop Rusu ceasing from living on May 9, 1963. The present study, that take advantage of both recent history and unpublished archives sources, aims to reconstruct the internal and external círcumstances in which the trial occurred and the stakes of the judicial presentations. In the same time,the study seeks to argue the limits of destalinization in the middle of the sixth decade of the last century, illustrated by the violent answer of the Communist authorities to the movement of Greek-Catholics in the summer of 1956. Last but not least, the study reveals the importantrole of the SecretPolice (Securitatea)and communist justice in the constructionof the political guilt and repression. Keywords: Greek-Catholic Church, communism, repression, détente, communistjustice, trial. Rezumat Justiµe §i represiune in Romania comunista: procesul episcopului greco-catolic Alexandru Rusu din 1957. La inceputul lunii iulie 1957, episcopul grece><atolic de Maramure§, Alexandru Rusu era condamnat, in urma unui simulacru judiciar, la temnita,grea pe viata,. Ínanul incare avea sa implineasca73 de ani, episcopul Rusu avea sa infrunte, din nou, la mai bine de doi ani de la punereasa in„relativa libertate", rigorile inchisorilor comuniste.De aceasta data, experienta carcerala aveasa-i fiefatala, episcopul incetand din viata, la 9 mai 1963. Studiul de fatá,, care valorifica atat istoriografia recenta dit §i surse inedite provenind din arhivele romane§ti, urmare§te sa reconstituie circumstantele inteme §i exteme incare a avut loc,precum §i mizele acestei inscenarijudiciare. Ín egala masura, studiul cauta sa argumenteze Iimitele destinderii de la mijlocul deceniului§ase al secoluluitrecut, ilustrate §Í de raspunsul violent al autoritatilor comuniste la mi§carea petiponara a grece><atolicilor din vara anului 1956. Nu in ultimulrfuld, studiul releva rolul important al Securitapi §i justipei comuniste in construirea vinovapeipolitice §i administrarearepresiunii. Cuvinte cheie: Biserica Greco-Catolica, comunism, represiune, destindere limitata, justip.ecomunista, proces ln the morningof the 4th of February1955 in the yard of the infamous Sighet prison three old men dressed in priestly garments were helped by 114 Justice and Repression ín Communist Romania guardians to get into an automobile under the strict supervision of the feared prison warden, Vasile Ciolpan, character included in the communist persecutors' gallery. The three were Greek-Catholic bishops, Iuliu Hossu of Cluj-Gherla, Alexandru Rusu of Maramureg and Ioan Balan of Lugoj who survived the extermination regime from the prison situated in the north of the country. Other comrades of theirs, along with whom they entered the gates of that prison almost five years ago, had died during the period of the imprisonment1. However, in the cold morning in January, the bishops will be surprised by the prison warden's kindness: he personally checked the blankets laid in the automobile in order to keep away the cold, and in the end reached out his hand smiling2• This time, the bishops will go along the road to Bucharest in the opposite way. It was also a sign that the wind of the post Stalinist defrosting had begun to blow in communist Romania too. ln December 1956, being at the Orthodox monastery from Cocog where the communist authorities had fixed a compulsory residence as a punishment for the assumed role played in the petitioners' movement of the Greek-Catholics in the summer of that year3, thus separating him from the two bishops with whom he had been after the release from Sighet in the places which the authorities have indicated as place of residence, first at the Curtea de Arges monastery and, then, at Ciorogarla, bishop Alexandru Rusu reflected upon the episode and events that took place in the last one and a half year. Everything he had done from the moment he had been given "a relative freedom",from the 2nd February 1955 and until his transfer to Cocog monastery, "has beenconcemed exclusively with my right and my duty to help the Greek-Catholic believers to validate their liberty of consciousness and theirfreedom to practice their cult", thebishop will write later, under other circumstances4• Moreover, all his actions, similar with the 1 The bishop of Oradea Valeriu T. Frenpu (the 11th of July 1952), the bishop Ioan Suciu (the 27th of June 1973), the bishop Tit Llviu Chinezu who had beenordained secretly in December 1949 (the 15th of January 1955). The bishop Vasile Aftenie deceased in the hospital of the Vacare§tiprison, on the l()thof May 1950, because of the brutalitiessuffered during the investigationof the Ministryof Jntemal Affairs. 2 The episode is depicted by the bishop, promoted among the cardinals by pope Paul the 6th, Iuliu Hossu in his memoirs, Credinfa noastra este viafa noastra, Cluj­ Napoca, Viata Crel?tina,2003, pp. 350-351, 357, 363. 3 Through the decision of the Ministryof InternalAffairs no. 6467 /14 August 1956 bishop Rusu was set a mandatory residence for 60 months at the Cocoi? monastery. See the Archives of the National Council for the Study of the Former Security's Archives, (ACNSAS), Fund P 13277, vol. 2, f. 1-5. The bishop was transferred at the new locationon the13 th of August; see Iuliu Hossu, op.dt., p. 438. 4 The Decree no. 358/lst December 1948 for the settlement of the situation of the former Greek-Catholic cult penalized legally "the self-destruction" of the Greek- Ioan-Marius Bucur 115 ones of the other two bishops, were recognized in the memoir he sent on the 8th of December, that year, to the Central Committee of the Romanian Working Party5• However, at the end of the same month, following an order received from the Ministry of Intemal Affairs (MAI), the 3rd Direction of Security, bishop Rusu was arrested by the Galap./MAI Regional Direction. At the request of Cluj Regional Direction he was transferredfrom Galap.for the continuation of the investigation and he was sent to court "for participatingin hostile activitiesduring the eventsfrom the P.R. Hungary"6• What exactly was hiding behind those imprecise but very serious accusations through the association with the events that happened in the fall of 1956 rnthe neighbouring communist country,the bishop will understand during the investigation to which he was subjected to after the transfer in the city situated on Some§ul Mic's banks7• An investigation which extended over a period of more than two months, completed with his referring to court alongside other 12 persons, priests and believers and his conviction. ln what the trial and the conviction of Alexandru Rusu are concemed, in 1957, older or more recent historiography, as well as the memorial literature essentially states the following: in December 1956, the bishop was transferred (not from Coco§ monastery, as it was believed, but from the Securitate from Galap., as we have mentioned earlier) to the Securitate from Cluj, convicted together with other Greek-Catholic priests from Cluj or from the surroundings, involved in the petitioners' movement of the Greek-Catholic clergy and believers from the summer of that year because he had elaborated and addressed several memoirs to the autorities distributed also to the intemational public opinion, and because he had sent Catholic Churchthrough "the return" of the clergy and the believersto the Romanian Orthodox Church. For the communist authorities those who remained "faithful to Rome", after December1948, they were considered to beoutside the law, thenotion of "clandestine" associated with the Church as well as with the bishops, priests and believershad negative politicalconnotations and implied a transgressionof thelaw. 5 ACNSAS, Fund P 13278 vol. 6, f. 8. 6 ACNSAS, Fund P 13277,vol. 2, f. 14. 7 This wasn't the bishop's first experience of this type. ln 1948 it was attempted to involve him in a trial connected to the illegal trafficking with currency, the investigation being initiatedby the Prosecutor's Officeof the Court fromSatu Mare. The file was submitted to the Court fromOradea at the end of September. However, the trialhad many delays becausefrom the file there didn't result "enough evidence for him to get well deserved punishment", as it was mentioned in a report of the Securitate. The investigation of bishop Rusu betweenJanuary and May 1950 at the General Directionof the Securitatedidn't offer enough incriminatingevidence so his involvement in this trial was dropped. See the report from the 18th of May 1950, in ACNSAS, Fund P 13277, vol. 2, ff. 44-45. 116 Justice and Repressíonín Communist Romania pastoráls to the Greek-Catholic clergy and believers. Considered moral author of the petitioners' movement, bishop Rusu was judged by the Military Court of the 3rd Military Region from Cluj and condemned through the sentence from the 12th of May 1957 to twenty five years of forced labour for high treason and instigation8• He had passed through the prisons from Dej and Gherla where he died on the 9th May 19639•