Aspects of the Regime of Forced Labor in Romania in the 1950s’

Aspects of the Regime of Forced Labor in Romania in the 1950s’

Marius Petraru, Sacramento

An understanding of the regime of forced labor in Romania is eased by a prior acquaintance with the working of that institution in the Soviet Union, where, with the benefit of thirty years’ experience practice behind it, it has become a permanent economic and political factor of the regime, forming indeed one of the characteristic and essential bases of that regime. It is therefore sufficient to recall that, in the course of the several years when Moscow government appointed a communist-dominated government in Romania, the system of forced labor has been gradually introduced and perfected in that country.

For the Moscow government, as for the dispensation it has installed in Romania, the aims of that regime are twofold: on the one hand, it seeks to increase production by setting up a vast labor pool, maintained at the barest subsistence level at a minimum cost, and on the other, by terrorizing and destroying all opposition, actual or potential, and creating a homogeneous and amorphous proletariat, it seeks to entrench and perpetuate totalitarian communism of the Stalinist variety.

Of the legislative texts and administrative provisions, some give precise and direct indications concerning the legal bases of forced labor. In the first place, there is the Penal Code elaborated by the communist regime and published in the “Official Monitor” Nr. 48, on February 27, 1948. A conspicuous feature of this Code is the extension of forced hard labor, which in the Criminal Code formally in force was provided for common criminals only, to convicted political offenders.

In addition to the so-called “political offenders”, the pool of available slave labor is also kept constantly replenished by these sentenced for alleged economic offenses. So-called economic sabotage had been made to cover a multitude of acts, through Decree Nr. 183, of April 30, 1949, published in the “Official Bulletin” Nr. 70, of August 17, 1950, which is specifically aimed at “punishing economic offenses.”

There is yet another means whereby the communist regime of Romania recruits slave labor with a semblance of legality, through administrative measures. This is provided by Decree Nr. 351, published in the “Official Bulletin” Nr. 54, of August 20, 1949, which is aimed at organizing so-called “re-education centers for vagrants, beggars, prostitutes, and panders.” The definitions given for these categories are elastic enough to provide great numbers of additional inmates for slave labor camps. Persons falling under the provisions of this Decree are sent to the so-called re-education centers, whose nature may be deduced from the fact that they are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Labor.

There is also a legislative provision of a general nature that permits the regime to send anyone, at any time, to forced labor. Article 111 of the Labor Code, which was published in the “Official Bulletin” Nr. 50, of June 8, 1950, reads as follows:

“The citizens of the Romania People’s Republic, in exceptional cases, in order to forestall or to fight calamities, and to cover the lack of labor that may be needed to carry out important state works projects, may be called upon to fulfill certain temporary labor obligations.

“The call to such temporary obligations of labor shall be issued, for a determined duration, by Decision of the Council of Ministers.”

And, lastly, there remains to be mentioned Decree Nr. 68, of May 16, 1951, published in the “Official Bulletin” Nr. 56, of May 18, 1951. This provides for the drafting of 45,000 to 55,000 laborers each year, from among young workers, which contingent is to be sent to certain professional and trade schools for two to three years, and then on to specialized schools for a further period of six months. Graduates of such schools, states Article 5 of the decree, “shall be assigned to sectors of activity, in accordance with the plan approved by the Council of Ministers”. The Decree further provides that those so trained and allocated must work “at least four years in the units to which they have been assigned.” This means in effect that a young boy or girl, once “recruited” by the Directorate General of Labor Reserves, is trained for at least two and half years, and is then “obligated” to work at least four more years for the state.

As to the “de facto” situation, occasional intelligence from behind the Iron Curtain provides some knowledge of conditions governing forced labor in Romania in the 50s’. Some reports even explain in a full detailed the life and organization of the suppression communist regime in the forced labor camp. The labor forced camp numbered consecutively, and are assigned to certain localities. In 1951 the famous “labor units” 2 and 3 were at the Cernavodă projects of the Danube-Black Sea Canal. Others are located at Cape Midia, Năvodari, Tasheul Lake, Basarab, Canari, Constanța, Tataia and Poarta Alba (See the Map). Others again have been assigned to the construction projects of the electric plants in Moldavia and Transylvania, and to projects of a military nature throughout the country.

The separation center was at Bucharest-Ghencea, where “labor unit Nr. 1” has its headquarters. Here, a vast camp of wood hutments has been built, and here laborers are registered and assigned to the various other formations. There was even a hospital for those seriously ill-need- less to add, a most rudimentary establishment. Here prisoners where never kept more than the time needed for completing the required formalities: about two days. Here, too, come those who have ended their terms and are to be set free.

As September 1951, the U.M. 2, at Cernavodă has include some 1,500 political prisoners and about 450 peasants, men and women, from the Vlașca district, sentenced for rebellion in September 1950 on the occasion of the forced collection of grains for the state. Members of the National Peasant and Social Democratic parties are also reported to be in that unit. The camp was located near the Cernavodă cement works. Political prisoners lived in wood hutments. Each hut has an iron stove and the portraits of Stalin and other communist heads.

Prisoners were awakened at 4:30 am for the roll-call, which was followed by a breakfast of ersatz coffee and a slice of black bread. They are then marched two miles to the actual working site, under heavy armed escort. Work lasts from 6:00 a.m. to 7 p.m., with half an hour off for the midday meal. Noon and evening, the meals are invariables, a soup of beans or potatoes and a dish of vegetables. On Wednesdays and Fridays-which are fast-day prescribed by the Church-a tiny portion of meat is added to the soup. The bread ration varies according to the nature of the individual prisoner’s work: 350 to 750 grams daily.

Laborers were divided into groups of 50 to 70, which must fulfill an ascribe “norm”, that usually fails to take into account the state of the weather, or other working conditions. The work consists mainly of excavation. Youngsters of 15 to 18 are required to carry at least 150 loads of stone a distance of 600 to 900 feet every day. The men go barefoot and their heads are shaved. Women, too, usually work barefoot. At the close of the working day, norms are verified. Those who fail to fulfill their assigned quotas are deprived of food and housed in the guardroom, without beeding of any sort. Those who worked well are given a post-card at the end of the week, which they may write to their family. As an exceptional favor, prisoners are allowed to receive from home a monthly parcel of food (about 11 lbs.) or clothing. In unusual and entirely rare cases, prisoners may be visited by members of their family. Likewise as a reward for over-fulfilling the norm, prisoners are permitted to deduct three days off their sentence for every day in camp.

Every evening, following dinner, a program of “political reeducation”, begins at 8:00 p.m. In the presence of political officers, prisoners must read brochures of Marxist doctrine, and study various themes, selected by the head of the “cultural agitation” unit of the camp.

These information have been confirmed essentially by a multitude sources from time to time. It is by now common knowledge that the notorious Danube-Black Sea Canal, leading from Cernavodă to Cape Midia, and designed to alter the course of the greatest river of Europe, is the most impressive among the works projects on which slave labor is used on a vast scale. Leland Stowe in his book, “Conquest by Terror: The Story of Satellite Europe” (Random House, New York, 1952), writes: “Several recent decrees indicate the growth of the slave system. In January, 1951, a “Central Labor Office” for all satellite states was established in Prague. Each Red puppet government was instructed to report to this office the total number of persons it had available for forced labor. A Soviet representative said that various East European states might be obligated to send their quotas of prisoners to work on major projects, such as the Danube-Black Sea Canal. This launches an all-satellite slave-labor pool, controlled by Moscow.” According to him, “more than 40,000 prisoners are said to work there under the harshest conditions.” And Leland Stowe adds: “A reported 10,000 to 20,000 Rumanian prisoners are slaving on the big Bistrița Valley hydroelectric project. Another 3,500 work on the Argeș Canal project.”

In treating the issue of forced labor in Romania, something must also be said of certain categories of slave laborers. In the first place, the very numerous former war prisoners which were held on the soil of the Soviet Union must be mentioned. In direct and flagrant violation of Article 20 of the Romanian Peace Treaty, of the total of less than 420,000 officers and men which were captured by the Soviet armies, only 190,000 were repatriated. One of the outstanding crimes of the communist government of Bucharest consists of its consent to the continued holding of the rest as slave laborers by the Soviet Union.

In this general connection, another brutal act of the Soviet occupation authorities, committed after the conclusion of the Armistice agreement with Romania, and in direct violation of the provisions of that agreement, must be mentioned. This was the mass deportation to slave labor in and about the Donetz Basin of entire age groups of the German minority of Romania, namely all males between the ages of 18 and 45, and all females aged 17 to 35. In spite of all protests of the then Romanian government, more than 100,000 Romanians of German origin were taken to the Soviet Union in unheated cattle-cars and freight-cars, without being allowed to take along any personal belongings whatsoever. There they were subjected to particularly inhuman conditions. Many died there, and most of those who finally were allowed to return remained with shattered health.

From the texts, testimonies, reports and other evidence it may be asserted without fear of contradiction that the existence of forced labor in Romania is amply proven. As has been shown, legislative texts and administrative decrees issued by the communist regime of Bucharest were not available before 1989 and the theme needs to be more investigated.