Constantin Doncea
Constantin Doncea (September 26, 1904 – November 4, 1973) was a Romanian
Biography
Beginnings, strike action and Spain
Doncea was born in
On January 3, 1935, together with fellow Grivița strikers Dumitru Petrescu and Gheorghe Vasilichi, he made a daring escape from prison that created a press sensation.[3] After spending time in various safe houses, the trio managed to leave Romania through Halmeu, passing into Czechoslovakia before ending up in Moscow.[4] There, they enrolled in classes at the Moscow State V. I. Lenin Pedagogical Institute, but the Romanian-language section was disbanded before they could graduate.[4] Soviet intelligence subjected them to lengthy interrogations, suspecting a possible infiltration by the Siguranța secret police.[5]
In 1938, he went to France, where he soon enrolled as a volunteer in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War,[1][5] functioning both as a soldier and as a political secretary at the company, battalion and brigade level at the Battle of the Ebro and during the Catalonia Offensive. After fleeing Spain in February 1939 as the war neared its conclusion, he was interned in a camp at Saint-Cyprien in the south of France, where he was secretary of the Romanian volunteers' party organization and of the Dimitrov Battalion.[1][5] Several months later, he left for the Soviet Union, where he remained during World War II until after the Coup of August 1944, when the Soviets parachuted him into Romania.[5]
In office and downfall
Upon the August 1944 legalization of the PCR (PMR from 1948, shortly after the establishment of
Doncea's downfall occurred at a June 1958 central committee plenary session. That year marked the 25th anniversary of the Grivița strike,
Later years
After his exclusion from the party, Doncea became head of a Ialomița County collective farm, working from 1958 to March 1964.[1] A retiree from the beginning of 1964, he was again president of the agricultural products pricing committee from February 1966 to April 1968, and an adviser to the prime minister's office, with ministerial rank, from April 1968 until his death.[10] He was rehabilitated after Ceaușescu succeeded Gheorghiu-Dej in 1965.[2]
Doncea was elected to the
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g Dobre, p.224
- ^ a b Stoica, p.182
- ^ Burcea, passim
- ^ a b Burcea, p.103
- ^ a b c d Burcea, p.104
- ^ (in Romanian) Dan C. Mihăilescu, "Nenoroc la statui" Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine, Dilema Veche, 402/October 27, 2011
- ^ a b (in Romanian) Cristina Diac, "Doncea, exclus din partid" Archived 2014-08-27 at the Wayback Machine, Jurnalul Național, April 13, 2005
- ^ a b (in Romanian) Biografiile nomenklaturii Archived 2012-03-05 at the Wayback Machine, at the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile site
- ^ Neagoe-Pleșa, pp.160–61
- ^ Dobre, pp.224–25
- ^ a b Dobre, p.225
- ^ Alexandrescu, p.72
References
- Ion Alexandrescu, Enciclopedia de istorie a României, vol. 2. Editura Meronia, Bucharest, 2000, ISBN 978-9738-20000-5
- Florica Dobre (ed.), Membrii C. C. al P. C. R.: 1945-1989, ISBN 973-45-0486-X
- Mihai Burcea, "3 ianuarie 1935: un scenariu cominternist? Fuga din închisoare a trei dintre liderii ceferiștilor și petroliștilor participanți la grevele de la începutul anului 1933", in Ștefan Bosomitu, Mihai Burcea (eds.), Editura Polirom, Bucharest, 2012, ISBN 978-9734-63262-6
- (in Romanian) E. Neagoe-Pleșa, "'Camarila' lui Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej", in Annales Universitatis Apulensis, Series Historica, 10/I, 2006, pp. 147–163
- Stan Stoica (ed.), Dicționar biografic de istorie a României. Editura Meronia, Bucharest, 2008, ISBN 978-9737-83939-8