Ion Ioanid

Ion Ioanid (28 March 1926 – 12 October 2003) was a Romanian dissident and writer. Ioanid was a victim of the communist intellectual cleansing which occurred in Romania after the second world war and spent 12 years in prison and labour camps. He is also known for his book Give us each day our daily prison (Inchisoarea noastra cea de toate zilele), a reference to the verse from the Christian Lord's Prayer, which is a comprehensive recollection of his time spent in detention. Often called a Romanian Solzhenitsyn, as his description of the communist detention regime in Romania is the most detailed one submitted by a victim of it, there is however a slight difference in composition between the two writings, as in general Ioanid also focuses of his own experiences, while the Russian writer presents more of a collection of other Gulag victim experiences.

Biography

Ioanid was born at 28 March 1926 at his father's estate in Ilovaț village, Mehedinți County. His godfather was Octavian Goga, a very close friend of his father, Tilică Ioanid. Tilică Ioanid was a descendend from an old and well known Greek landlord family, a National Liberal Party member and a secretary in the Romanian government led by Miron Cristea before the second warld war. Undergoing primary school in his native village, he continued his studies in Bucharest, the first six years at St. Sava National College, and the last two at Spiru Haret highschool. He got his bachelor degree in 1944, in the Sişeşti village school, where both teachers and students sought shelter from the allied bombardment. In 1945 he subscribes to Law School, but gets expelled in the third year because of his "unhealthy social origin", as his father was a landlord. He is first arrested in 1949, but is released only a few days later. In 1952 he is arrested again, and this time sentenced to 20 years of forced labour. He spends the next 12 years in several prisons and Labor Camps, and is released in 1964, following a pardon decree targeting political prisoners. He leaves Romania in 1969 and seeks political asylum in West Germany. There, he worked for 20 years as a Romanian announcer for Radio Free Europe.

Give us each day our daily prison

1949. First arrest

He is arrested for the first time for facilitating the typewritting of two letters, one from his cousin George Boian, containing economical, political and military information about the current situation in Romania, letter designed to a friend outside of the country; and the second, from his close friend Baby Ivanovici, designed to the Remington company in the USA. When Boian was arrested, the letters were found upon him, and as such Ioanid was also involved.^[1] He was detained at Malmaison prison, in Bucharest, where his investigation was held. He was beaten and tortured into admitting his part in the so-called plot - the other involved persons were cross-examined in parallel, and any lie told with the intent of protecting the others was eventually revealed - but released a few days later.^[2]

1952. Second arrest. Piteşti prison and trial

Following the purge, in May 1952, of the Vasile Luca, Ana Pauker and Teohari Georgescu group, a new wave of political trials was initiated and Ioanid is once again arrested. Taken, with the entire G. Boian group to the Secret Police quarters in Piteşti, he was part of a mock trial lead by general Alexandru Petrescu, who also led the trial against Iuliu Maniu. He is sentenced to 20 years forced labor.

"Everybody was surprised, by this I mean that the guards as well were amazed. Aside two or three defendants, who received less than 5 years, all the sentences were starting at 10 years and going up, most represented 15 years of forced labor. The highest punishment was addressed to George Boian, a life long forced labor sentence for high treason. The smallest one was attributed to N.Z: three years. I got 20 years of forced labor for complicity to high treason. All our belongings were seized and we received a additional 3 to 5 year civic rights suspension. The fourty-four, fourty-five people trialed that day cumulated more than 800 years of prison. None of us, not even the most pesimistic, would have made such a assumption. The terms were so absurd, even in relation to the punished deeds, where such were not made up, that after the first moment of bewilderment, I felt like I was part of a hoax."

—Ion Ioanid, Închisoarea noastră cea de toate zilele. Vol. I, pag. 42

After the trial, regardless of the its location, as it was the procedure back then, the convicts were transferred to the Jilava prison near the capital via the railroad. However, days or weeks could pass before a suitable train was available. From Jilava, they were assiged to either prisons or labor camps all over the country, as the conviction stated. As the conviction was issued, the prisoners were no longer detained at the Secret Police location, but moved to the local prison. For Ioanid, the Pitești prison stage, although a short one this time, compared to future detentions, was the first contact with a communist prison. As he was only a temporary prisoner here, and the worst of the brainwashing experiments performed in this facility were terminated earlier the same, he was not subject to them. However, it was the first contact with the butality of the prison guards, as "it was pouring curses and fists, generously distributed to all those who were not executing orders fast enough",^[3] with the strictness of the detention, as the inmates were not allowed to talk loud to each other, sing, look outside the window, attempt to communicate with other cells, lay down in bed during the day, or perform many other ordinary tasks.^[4] They were tortured, either directly, as beating and isolation were commonplace habit, or indirectly, with bad food or starvation, lack of hygene, depravation of almost all or any medical care. Opening the prison cell during the night was not allowed for guards except in the presence of higher rank officer, and only in exceptional cases, such as severe injury or death, so emptying the bucket was not possible. The content was spilled over the window, which lead to a pestilential odor all over the prison.^[5] However, starting here, and then through all the detention places, Ioanid makes vivid portrayls of the inmates he meet, from simple peasants who opposed the nationalization process, to former members of the historic, pre-communist, parties, from citizens who were missfortuned enough to have an unhealthy origin, or make an out-of-place remark towards the communist leadership, to iron guard members, but all victims of the communist purging machine.

1952. Jilava prison.

In early October 1952, Ioanid was moved from Piteşti to Jilava prison. As the transport train arrived once in a while, it was many times the case that those transported were crowded in the small compartments: "When they started pushing the ninth prisoner, we were downright crushed, barely able to breathe. [...] The highest price for closing the door was paid by the ones positioned closest [...] they were savagely beaten with clubs and fists. Blood was all over their faces".^[6] On arrival in Bucharest, they spent one night in the common law designated prison of Văcăreşti, before being moved to Jilava.

"Straight from the entrance, the spectacle proved worthy of Dante's Inferno. A staircase with a seemingly endless number of steps. On each of the first seven - eight steps, on both left and right, there was a bucket, some on the verge, some already overflowing all over the stairs, all the way down, forming a ooze of feces and urine. The stink was awful. I shall not say unbearable, since that would not be true. Not only we bear it, but after a few hours we did not even notice it anymore. Aside almost every bucket there was a prisoner, satisfying one's needs, one way or the other, either in, either aside. They looked terible: most were weak with their heads shaved, all having their clothes torn apart and patched as I have never seen before, not even on beggars. The dim light, hanging above the staircase, gave the surroundings a eerie look".

—Ion Ioanid, Închisoarea noastră cea de toate zilele. Vol. I, pag. 56

Ioanid's first Jilava stage lasted around one and a half month. At the time of his stay "...commander in chief was captain Maromet. Of Gagauz origin, heavily stuttered, he was famous for his cruelty and sadism. Personally beating the inmates, his favourite torture was that, during summer, he had the windows of the overcrowded cells nailed closed, until, because of heat exhaustion and lack of air, people started to faint".^[7] In the middle of November, he was assigned to a detail of 150 prisoners that was to be transferred to a new labor camp at Cavnic mine, in the Maramures county. The requirements for the detail were such that the prisoners would be capable of hard mine work: they had to be younger than 35, healthy and with convictions exceeding 15 years. However, in the end, the numbers had to be completed with crippled and up to 60 year old prisoners.

1953. Escape from Cavnic labor camp

From Jilava, they are transferred to the location of the Cavnic mine labor camp, in northwest Romania, close to another, older, labor camp at Baia Sprie. Before the second world war, the Cavnic mine belonged to a mixed Romanian-Belgian company, that closed down the facility because of low profitability. Now, the Baia Sprie Mining Plant decided to reopen it. They provided the technical and logistic guidance, while the Ministry of Internal Affairs provided the labor force, consisting of political prisoners.^[8] Aside the Jilava lot, also a group of older prisoners, from the Baia Sprie camp, was assigned to start work at this new mining facility. There were also civilan miners working there. The civilian work force was concentrated at the -100 meter work front, while the political prisoners, completely isolared from the first, were concentrated at the -200 meter work front. At first, as part of the overall experiment, the prisoners were haused in brand new huts and even overfeed. They were told by the administration that the civilized behaviour towards them, detention comfort and food amount is depending on the level of the performed work quota. Coming from prisons allover the country where personal space was very restricted, while cold and famine were regular, the inmates started working hard and rasing the quota on a daily basis. However, in time, the food quality and quantity worsened, and so did the administration's behavior towards the prisoners. They were not able to met the high workload anymore, and this also led to conflicts with newly arrived inmates, who were accusing the old ones of stahanovism.^[9] Ioanid makes a very detailed description of work techniques and equipment that was used by the prisoners during their daily shift. However, there was always a competition between the camp administration and the prisoners. The first wanted high quotas, while the latter wanted to work as less as possible, to avoid injuries and prevent overwork related health issues. The inmates made use of any possible means to sabotage the work effort: intentionatelly damaging the work equipment, reporting false - bigger - quotas or not reporting rich ore veins when discovered so that they could be slowly exploited. Working in the mine was difficult, depending on the exploited vein, temperatures and humidity could be very high or freezing cold water could pour from the ceiling. Accidents were often and many died or got crippled. Mining related diseases were also common. Those who opposed the administration were punished with cruelty:

"The solitary was some sort of a booth, build up of wood boards, where you could only fit standing up. To make it even more uncomfortable, several layers of barbed wire were pinned on the inner walls. So leaning on the walls was out of question as well. There was no roof, hence snow got inside, and because of the over the day thaw, mixing with the ground, it transformed into mud."

—Ion Ioanid, Închisoarea noastră cea de toate zilele. Vol. I, pag. 155

Not being commissioned into a tight security prison, Ioanid was determined to take the necessary risks and attempt an escape. Meanwhile, he befriended several other prisoners, some of which also expressed similar thoughts. Eventually they formed a group and planned to escape the following spring. The group cosisted of:^[10]

• Ion Pantazi: captured during an attempt to illegally cross the border and sentenced to 5 years of forced labor, part of the Baia Sprie group.
• Constantin Coşereanu (Titi): fought during the war aside the German forced on the Baltic front line (as he was a student in the German Military school). His sister was married to an American commissioned to the military mission in Bucharest, and through this route he was providing unfiltered and uncensored information about the communist authorities actions in the country. Captured and sentenced to more than 20 years of forced labor.
• Ion and Simion Cojocaru, brothers. They were assigned with heavy sentences for taking part in the uprising that followed the nationalization of peasant belongings in Vrancea county.
• Ion and Gheorghe Brînzaru, brothers. Same as above.
• Colea Ungureanu
• George Sarry
• Mircea Vueric
• Dr. Miltiade Ionescu (Mache)
• Dr. Paul Iovănescu
• Alexandru Ciocâlteu (Ducu), sentenced to more than 20 years during the staged trial against the Vatican nunciature in Bucharest.

As they arrived at the camp in late autumn, the plan was to wait for early summer in order to escape. Escaping during winter posed several problems, such as no shelter in the leafless forest, freezing temperatures and no possibility to cover the snow tracks. This was a period, after the second warld war, when Romania was completely isolated from outside information flow. At the dawn of the Cold War, people still believed that allied forces would start a new war against the Soviet Union and this war could lead to freedom. As such, after escape, almost all planned to join the guerilla forces that were still active in the mountains or attempt to flee across the border towards the west. They escaped on 6 June 1953. Taking advantage of the poor security inside the mine, they managed to get out during the shift change using a tunnel destined for the civil miners. They met no resistance except one guard and a civil engenieer, whom they overpowered and tied.^[11]

Outside the mine, they split up. Ioanid, Coşereanu, Vueric and Ion Cojocaru eventually regrouped, but after a few days, they split up again, Ioanid and Coşereanu being the ones that stayed free for the longest period. Most of the escapees managed to slip outside of the area where the secret police started patrolling after they noticed the missing prisoners. However all were eventually captured, some at the Soviet Union border, where they reached by mistake, some during police raids and some even betrayed by their own family.^[12] From Cavnic, they headed est, across Maramureș County and the Rodna Mountains, feeding on what they received from the shepherds and peasants they meet; most of which, despite the escapees efforts to conceal it, recognized they were fugitives. After 18 days, on the 24 of June, they reached Iacobeni village, from where, with money received from the local priest, they bought tickets to Bucharest, arriving the next day.

1953. Capture. Baia Mare inquiry

1953 - 1954. Oradea prison

After the investigation at Baia Mare, the two are sent to Oradea prison, which "[...] was in fact a dungeon, reminiscent from the Hungarian times, with one meter thick walls and iron bars latticed windows, behind which, visible from the outside, the broken glass and peeled plaster gave the impresion of a deserted buiding."^[13] Here, they reunite with the rest of the escape group, which were meanwhile captured as well. During the cross-examination preceding the trial, it becomes clear that one of them was a denunciator, as the investigators had a very deep insight about the escape plans, connections between the Cavnic prisoners and civilian workers and personal details about the escapees. It turns out the culprit is Alexandru Ciocâlteu, a surprise at first for Ioanid, since Ducu was one of the most actively involved prisoner in the escape planning. After his capture, the same qualities that had him appreciated by his colleagues: intelligence and energy, were turned against those he helped at first.^[14] Aside the 13 escapees, also the civilians and other prisoners that helped them escape were held at Oradea. This way, it was possible to find out what were the consequences of their actions on the other prisoners at Cavnic. Although their ordeal worsened, with daily raids and searchings through the baracks, increased and impossible to met quotas in the mine, as well as hardened punishments for every small act of defiance, the inmates did not show grudge on the group and had unanimous support towards their actions.^[15]

All the members of the group had received previously severe terms in prison, so for some there was the fear that the Cavnic incident may lead to the capital punishment. As the strongest supporter of this idea, Ciocâlteu tried to convince the others that the best solution would be to show full cooperation with the secret police. On the other side, the rest of the group had no intention on cooperating with the authorities, and put pressure on Ciocâlteu so he would withdraw the statements made during the inquiry. He was treated as a denunciator, a snitch, which was one of the worse offenses within the prison walls. As a result, during the following trial, trying to please both parts, he made confusing statements, which only helped the prosecution, used to manipulate ambiguous statements in its advantage.^[16] In the end, Ioanid's sentence was: one year for prison escaping, five years for use of exposives (which, although he manufactured, he did not use) and eight years for political conspiracy in prison. The first two sentences were merged in the highest one and three years were added for aggravating circumstances, in the end resulting in additional eleven years to serve.^[17] Later, this conviction was merged to the previous one of 20 years hard labor. The incarceration conditions were severe, as the winter of 1953-1954 was very cold.

"The hardships I had to endure during the almost five month long stay at Oradea prison were cold and famine. The remaining misery - lack of hygiene, loneliness, lack of medical care and the managements behavior towards the inmates was easy to endure compared to these ones. [...] I was continously shivering. [...] Always crouching, trying to make the most of the small blanket, covering my head. I recall that, if I was facing the cell window, I could see a spotlight lighting up the prison courtyard through the old and spent fabric. After a few minutes, wormed up by my breath alone, I used to stop shaking, but the legs always felt frozen, in contact with the cold iron chains. However, this was the time I usually dozed off. I don't think it lasted more than 15 minutes. I used to wake up up again, all numbed up because of the uncomfortable position, knees to mouth. [...] Because of the cold, I felt the need to urinate a lot. I suspect it was cystitis, and it got worse over time, up to the point when I had to go 15-20 times per night. Most of the night time was spend using the bucket, moving aroud to take the chill off and cuddling under the blancket in a futile attempt to waste as less warmth as possible."

—Ion Ioanid, Închisoarea noastră cea de toate zilele. Vol. I, pag. 380

In addition, the food was scarce and innutritious. As it was the general understanding of the prisoners, their chances of survival were low in these conditions, so they decided, paradoxically, that the only solution not to die of starvation would be to go on hunger strike. However, the attempt was only partially successful. After a few days, realizing that the management was not yielding towards any concessions, and scared at the prospect of force-feeding, they gave up on the strike. "Sitting up, walking down the hallway and especially going down the stairs happened as inside a nightmare, when you want to step down or do whatever other movement and the limbs are not responding to your intentions. I could not control the size of the step, nor its general direction. Everything was happening as in a slow motion film.".^[18] Although if was officially a failure, the strike had resulted in some improved prison conditions, especially in terms of food.

1954 - 1955. Aiud prison

In may 1954, following the new conviction, Ioanid is moved from Oradea to the Aiud prison. Aiud was the destination of the political prisoners that were considerred most dangerous by the authorities: "It's reputation was well established. The prison of all prisons. It became a symbol. The Holy of Holies."^[19] Here the isolation from the outside world was the most severe of all detention places. The Aiud detention center consisted of several buildings, of which the oldest one was reserved for political detainees. It's nickname was Zarca. (from hungarian zárka, meaning solitary)

"The extermination process had different implementations: in labor camps it was forced labor, impossible to achieve quotas, all sort of deprivation, lack of hygene, of medical treatment, excesive cold or heat, beatings etc; in prison, the means were identical, except forced labor that was replaced by systematic starvation; in the Zarca, the main instrument in achieving the goal was time."

—Ion Ioanid, Închisoarea noastră cea de toate zilele. Vol. I, pag. 474

The regime here, in terms of food and authorities vigilance was more relaxed at first than at Oradea. The increased quantity of food helped the dystrophy suffering inmates recover and it was possible, with extra care, contrary to prison rules, to get short periods of sleep also during the day. However, the intentions of the regime became clear with time. The prison doctor: Cornel Petrasievici, a inmate himself and former collegue of some of the Cavnic mine group at the Baia Sprie labor camp and a close friend, was well respected for his professional and ethical integrity. As many of the prisoners had severe health issues, it was his task to request the proper medication to the prison responsibles who brought them from the outside. However, for certain detainees, it was always reported that medication was not available. As such, if he would prescribe the needed medication on someone else's file, the medicine was approved, showing thus that some were explicitly marked for extermination.^[20] One of the most graphic account is that of the suffering of Radu Gyr. Aside physical exhaustion, he was also suffering from rectal prolapse. "I clearly recal Cornel's words: 'after every stool, his intestine was forty centimeters on theoutside'."^[21] Patrasievici had to fix the problem using only a washstand with warm water. During one of the many solitary punishments received while in Aiud, Ioanid recollects being sent to a room where he managed to get in contact with his neighbors, by talking close to the window bars. In one cell, the prisoner was novelist and memoirist Constantin Gane, who later died in the Aiud prison in 1962, while in the other one it was poet, playwright, essayist and journalist Radu Gyr.^[22]

1955 - 1960. Piteşti prison

Beginning of 1955, Ioanid and Coşereanu are moved from Aiud to Jilava. Here, they assist to the trial of Ioanid's mother and M.C., both accused of not denouncing them while hidding in Bucharest, after the Cavnic escape. Although their presence was not required, the defense attorney, presented as Benea alone, managed to get them transferred there through a bureaucratic wrinkle. Ioanid was arrested in Bucharest and his arrest file was initiated there, but later he was trialled in Oradea, where a new file was documented. Due to excessive bureaucracy, the Bucharest court was not yet informed about the sentence from Oradea and as such they were called in to be trialed again.^[23] In the court room, Benea presented the sentence to the judge, and the trial did not take place; however, under these circumstances, Ioanid was able to meet with his mother. From Jilava, they are not sent back to Aiud, but to the Piteşti prison. Again, with the spectrum of rehabilitation in sight, they found worse conditions here then at Aiud.^[24]

"The room we entered had a gloomy sense to it, and it took some time to adjust and be able to distinguish what was going on in there. The first senses that came into contact with the surroundings were smell and hearing. I was no stranger to the mixture of prison odor, bucket, unwashed bodies and DDT, still there was this fetid stench that was striking from the very entrance. While trying to get the eyes accustomed to the inside darkness, I could sense we stirred motion around to cell, like the tinkling of a mechanism, made up of metal gears. As through dense fog, we started seeing the scaffolding, made up of overlapping iron beds, with little room inbetween. The motion we detected were the detainees, getting off their beds so they could greet us. They were also responsible for the metal roar, as all were wearing chains on their feet. Now we understood why the officer laught when Titi asked him to remove our chains."

—Ion Ioanid, Închisoarea noastră cea de toate zilele. Vol. II, pag. 105

As in Oradea, when the incarceration conditions worsened, the inmates decided to go on hunger strike. The initiative was met with general endorsement, as with extreme care - and occasional retaliation when caught - it was possible to communicate with other cells and coordinate such a activity. The demands were: court case review after the file statements that were obtained by means of torture are removed, a retrial and the right to chose the defense attorney, citation of the prosecution witnesses and hearing them in court, medical treatment for the sick, improved diet, the right to write and receive letters, to speak with members of the family and the right to receive and own books and writing materials, among other.^[25] Undergoing such a endeavor was risky, as usually such actions were followed by prison staff retaliation, best case targeted only toward these who initiated it, worse case targeted towards all the prisoners, of which many were old and weak. At strike start, may 1956, some 150-160 prisoners reported they will not eat the received food, which totaled to almost half of the prison political detainees. The management reacted with the usual response, ranging from threats (of violence, new terms, solitary), promises of better conditions (which usually lasted only for a limited period) or attempting to set discord among the strike group. Many gave up on the strike, but at least 56 continued.^[26] Of course, the management could not give into all the demands, and as such it finally came to force-feeding. Ioanid recalls his own personal experince of the ordeal: "At the very first sip, when the tube Ciortan was pushing barely passed the larynx, the involuntary contraction of the esophagus in contact with rubber was so violent, that in a instance, feeling as if choking, I pulled it out. [...] While trying to regain my breathing, holding back on the cough and queasiness, Ciortan threatened he would have me tied to the chair unless I kept my hands behind the back."^[27] The process was repeated several times before the strike ended. This time, there were several concessions made by the management: the diet got better, a new set of clothes was received, the guards vigilance lessened, and the inmates were able to perform actions not possible before (sleep during the day, talk out loud or with other cells, make custom tools, etc), the solitary stopped being used, so were chains and the sick were either treated in the prison hospital or, if the case was beyond local competence, moved to a external facility.^[28]

Out of the almost 12 continous years spent incarcerated, Ioanid spent the longest period in Piteşti. As for former detention places, detailed portrays of the political convicts and prison staff are presented here, as well. External political events af the age, such as the Hungarian Revolution, are presented through the eyes of inmates. As Romania was situated somewhat at the border between eastern and western blocks, every major event that could have adverse consequences towards the regime usually had two stages. At first, a slight improvement in the detention conditions would be observed, since the prison personnel feared the outcome of the event. As it was often proved, even for the perpetrators of the rehabilitation, it did not take much for the aggressor to end up behind bars. But if the events turned out favorable for the leaders, conditions suddenly went for the worst. Such was the case for the Soviet intervention in Budapest on the 4th of November 1956. In the aftermath, inmates were officially announced, a prison first, that breaking the prison rules will lead to retaliation in the form of physical punishment.

"Truly, no prisoner showed any visible signs of being impresed by the thrests, although we all suffered the same shock: it was the first time we were notified of possible physical punishment, with the official consent of the prison management. Even during the worst periods, when it was raining fists, clubs and boots all over our bodies, the senior staff would not admit authorizing such practices. The victim complains were always rejected as false and only seldom accepted as a abuse of a guard, of which they had no knowledge of and felt to dissociate with care. The fact that now, they were accepting, willingly and in advance, the responsabillity of applying phisical punishment, as a disciplinary measure, made us realize the difficult times we were facing. [...] The hypocrite villain, who used to renounce his actions, made room to the cynical villain, who did not care of covering them anymore."

—Ion Ioanid, Închisoarea noastră cea de toate zilele. Vol. II, pag. 397

1960. Timişoara prison

1960 - 1964. Salcia labor camp

1964. Release

References in literature and television

Ion Ioanid in particular and the Cavnic mine escape in general were the subject of the 28th episode of Memorialul Durerii television program, which aired on national television after the 1989 revolution, depicting the abuse of the communist party towards the Romanian people.

Notes

References

• Ioanid, Ion (2013). Închisoarea noastră cea de toate zilele. Editia a III-a. Vol. I. Bucharest, Romania: Editura Humanitas. ISBN 978-973-50-4203-5. 
• Ioanid, Ion (2013). Închisoarea noastră cea de toate zilele. Editia a III-a. Vol. II. Bucharest, Romania: Editura Humanitas. ISBN 978-973-50-4203-5. 
• Ioanid, Ion (2013). Închisoarea noastră cea de toate zilele. Editia a III-a. Vol. III. Bucharest, Romania: Editura Humanitas. ISBN 978-973-50-4203-5. 

External links

• Memorialul Durerii - Episode 28 - Evadarile din Gulag - Ion Ioanid (Romanian language)