Alexandru Nicolschi

Alexandru Nicolschi (born Boris Grünberg, his chosen surname was often rendered as Nikolski or Nicolski; Russian: Александр Сергеевич Никольский, "Alexandr Sergeyevich Nikolsky"; June 2, 1915–April 16, 1992) was a Romanian communist activist, Soviet agent and officer, and Securitate chief under the Communist regime. Active until the early 1960s, he was one of the most recognizable leaders of violent political repression.

Biography

Early life

Born to a Jewish family in Chişinău, Bessarabia (part of Imperial Russia at the time), he was the son of Alexandru Grünberg, a miller. [Bălteanu, p.46] In 1932, he joined the local section of the Union of Communist Youth, a wing of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR or PCdR); [Bălteanu, p.46; Deletant, p.19] in 1933, due to his political activities, he was arrested and held for two weeks by the secret police, Siguranţa Statului. [Deletant, p.19] Later in the 1930s, as associates of General Secretary Vitali Holostenco, he and Vasile Luca were elected to the internal Politburo (which was doubled by a controlling body inside the Soviet Union). [Tismăneanu, p.93] In 1937, he joined the ranks of the Romanian Communist Party. He did his military service in the Signal Regiment of Iaşi in 1937-39, [Deletant, p.19; Miruna Munteanu] being discharged with the rank of corporal. [Miruna Munteanu] He subsequently worked for the telephone exchange in Chişinău. [Deletant, p.19]

In December 1940, following the onset of the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia, Grünberg became a Soviet citizen, [Bălteanu, p.47] joined the NKVD, and trained as as a spy in Cernăuţi. [Adameşteanu; Deletant, p.19; Bălteanu, p.46-47; Tismăneanu, p.45, 297] He was sent undercover into Romania on May 26, 1941, carrying papers with the name "Vasile Ştefănescu", and reporting on Romanian Army movements in preparation for Operation Barbarossa (the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany, in which Romanian troops, under the command of Marshal Ion Antonescu, participated; "see Romania during World War II"). [Bălteanu, p.47; Deletant, p.19] He was apprehended by Romanian border guards after just two hours (according to subsequent reports, he was given away by the fact that he could not express himself in Romanian; [Deletant, p.19] his case was investigated June 6-12 by the Special Investigations Service's Lieutenant Colonel Emil Velciu; Nicolschi confessed he had been recruited into Soviet intelligence by NKVD Captain Andreev. [Miruna Munteanu] After a short trial, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and hard labor on August 7, 1941. [Bălteanu, p.47; Deletant, p.19; Miruna Munteanu] He was sent to prison in Ploieşti, and then Aiud, where other Soviet spies, such as Vladimir Gribici, Simion Zeiger and Afanasie Şişman, were also held. [Deletant, p.19; Miruna Munteanu] It was during the time that he began using his adopted name, and passed himself off as an ethnic Russian. [Deletant, p.19]

Detective Corps

He was set free by the Red Army occupying Romania on August 28, 1944, and benefited from a general amnesty. [Adameşteanu; Frunză, p.150] In October, Nicolschi was incorporated into the police force, becoming an inspector, [Bălteanu, p.47; Deletant, p.19; Pop, "Antanta extremelor...", p.36; Tudor & Pavelescu] while, in parallel, he rose rapidly through the ranks of the PCR. [Bălteanu, p.47] In May 1945, just after the end of World War II in Europe, he was present in Moscow, where he was entrusted with the task of transporting Ion Antonescu and his group of collaborators (Mihai Antonescu, Constantin Pantazi, Pichi Vasiliu and others, all of whom had been captured by the Soviets) from Lubyanka back to Romania. [Tudor & Pavelescu] On April 9, 1946, it was he who signed the release papers when these prisoners were brought back to Romania by Soviet Lieutenant Colonel Rodin to face trial. [Miruna Munteanu]

Under the Petru Groza Communist-controlled government, Nicolschi was appointed head of the Detective Corps. [Bălteanu, p.47; Deletant, p.19; Pop, "Antanta extremelor...", p.36; Tudor & Pavelescu] At the time, Nicolschi, together with Minister of the Interior Teohari Georgescu, was contacted by Nicolae Petraşcu, a fascist activist who oversaw the main interior branch of the Iron Guard (claiming to represent Horia Sima's exiled leadership of the movement). [Enuţă, p.30-33; Aurel Dragoş Munteanu; Pop, "Antanta extremelor...", p.35-36] Petraşcu, who had just been arrested, offered his subordinates' support for the National Democratic Front, which was an alliance controlled by the Communists (in the process, he avoided a direct mention of the Communist Party, and later carried on parallel negotiations with the opposition National Peasants' Party, PNŢ). [Enuţă, p.33] Georgescu and Nicolschi agreed to the deal, and allowed Iron Guard's affiliates (the Legionaries) to emerge from the underground, awarding them identity papers and employment on the condition that they disarmed themselves. [Enuţă, p.33] Georgescu was persuaded by Nicolschi to let Petraşcu go free; [Pop, "Antanta extremelor...", p.36] the minister later confessed that this was done on suspicion that the Iron Guard would otherwise provide support for the National Peasantist leaders: "The PNŢ's attempts, successful up to a certain extent, of attracting Legionaries into their party, [thus] giving them a legal possibility to act against the regime". [Georgescu, in Pop, "Antanta extremelor...", p.36]

According to Georgescu, as a direct result of the understanding, as much as 800 Iron Guard affiliates applied for recognition, including a number of people who had "returned from Germany after August 23, 1944, having diversion as their [original] purpose". [Georgescu, in Enuţă, p.33; Pop, "Antanta extremelor...", p.37] In autumn 1945, the two Communist representatives intervened to have sizable groups of Iron Guard members set free from various labor camps, [Enuţă, p.34; Pop, "Antanta extremelor...", p.36-37] while Petraşcu was awarded a degree of liberty in resuming political contacts. [Enuţă, p.34; Aurel Dragoş Munteanu; Pop, "Antanta extremelor...", p.36-37] On Georgescu's orders, Nicolschi drew up a list of Legionaries who had been imprisoned for lesser crimes under Ion Antonescu's regime, a document which formed the basis of pardons. [Pop, "Antanta extremelor...", p.37] Most of the newly-released persons were subsequently kept under surveillance by Nicolschi and his Detective Corps. [Pop, "Antanta extremelor...", p.37] An unknown number of Petraşcu's supporters consequently joined the Communist Party, as part of a large wave of new members. [Enuţă, p.34-35]

Mobile Brigade

Nicolschi was later assigned General Inspector of the traditional secret police, Siguranţa Statului, where he and Serghei Nicolau led a Mobile Brigade, entrusted with silencing political opposition. [Bălteanu, p.47; Deletant, p.19; Pacepa; Golpenţia] The unit, which was to become an embryo for the Securitate, comprised an active cell of MGB envoys. [Bălteanu, p.47; Pacepa; Pop, "1950. Legaţia S.U.A..."; Tănase] At the time, Nicolschi himself rose to the rank of Colonel in the MGB. [Pacepa]

With Alexandru Drăghici, Nicolschi ordered a wave of arbitrary arrests in 1946-1947, which, according to some sources, came to mark the lives of as many as 300,000 people. [Bălteanu, p.47] He also played a role in the killing of Ştefan Foriş, who, after being toppled from his position as General Secretary, had been kept in seclusion; [Golpenţia] it was Nicolschi who ordered Foriş' mother to be drowned in the Crişul Repede. [Betea, p.45; Golpenţia] In 1967, he indicated that one of his subordinates, a certain "Comrade Bîrtaş" of the Oradea section, had taken the initiative:

"Comrade Bîrtaş had received the indication to talk to her and get her to return to Oradea and admit herself into an old people's home. Details of how Comrade Bîrtaş has accomplished the mission are not known to me." [Nicolschi, in Betea, p.45]

In early 1948, after the PCR forced King Mihai I to abdicate, Nicolschi escorted the latter out of the country and as far as Vienna. [Pacepa] During May, Nicolschi, together with Marin Jianu, engineered a series of trials for sabotage, which notably implicated the industrialists Radu Xenopol and Anton Dumitru, who were accused of having destroyed their own enterprises as a means to resist nationalization. [Deletant, p.17; Golpenţia]

ecuritate crimes

After the founding of the Securitate on August 30 of that year, Lieutenant General Gheorghe Pintilie (Pintilie Bondarenko) became the first Director of this organization. The positions of Deputy Directors went to two Major Generals Nicolschi and Vladimir Mazuru, both of whom were also Soviet officers; ["The Security Police..."; Adameşteanu; Bălteanu, p.46, 47; Golpenţia; Pacepa; Pop, "1950. Legaţia S.U.A..."; Tismăneanu, p.297] nobody could be appointed to the Securitate's leadership without their approval. ["The Security Police..."] Together, they oversaw the creation of the massive Communist Romanian penal system and communist terror apparatus, starting in February 1950. [Cesereanu; Pacepa; Tismăneanu, p.43] As historian Vladimir Tismăneanu argues, this was made possible by the Soviet agents and their relations with the group around emerging Communist leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej: "if one does not grasp the role of political thugs such as the Soviet spies Pintilie Bondarenko (Pantiuşa) and Alexandru Nikolski in the exercise of terror in Romania during the most horrible Stalinist period, and their personal connections with Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and members of his entourage, it is difficult to understand the origins and the role of the Securitate". [Tismăneanu, p.43]

Upon introducing the new Securitate policies, Nicolschi presented a series of ideological imperatives, resumed in sentences such as:

"The rust of bureaucratism has begun to gnaw at us [that is, the Securitate] . Our apparatus cannot be gnawed at, but this is an aspect [of things turned wrong] ." [Nicolschi, in Cesereanu]

Involved in the interrogation of Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu, he ensured Soviet intervention in the proceedings, [Golpenţia] and was personally responsible for the arrest of Lena Constante. [Golpenţia] He also played a leading role in the brainwashing experiment provoked by the Communist authorities in 1949-1952 at the Piteşti prison; [Cesereanu; Cioroianu, p.317; Frunză, p.150; Golpenţia] he encouraged Eugen Ţurcanu to carry out the task [Cioroianu, p.317] and carried out regular inspections, during which he would ignore evidence of torture. [Bacu, Chapter XXI] In the inquiry preceding the show trial for sabotage at the Danube-Black Sea Canal, Nicolschi led a squad of torturers that was entrusted with obtaining forced confessions from Gheorghe Crăciun and other employees. [Hossu-Longin]

As early as 1949, Nicolschi was arguably the first Securitate senior officer to become known for his brutality outside the Eastern bloc. [Deletant, p.19] This came after a Romanian refugee to France, Adriana Georgescu Cosmovici, recounted the manner in which, four years earlier, she had been tortured by team of which Nicolschi was a member, and indicated that the latter had been one of the three to have threatened her with guns. [Deletant, p.19]

Inner-Party conflicts and retirement

Although an associate of Ana Pauker's "Muscovite wing", [Frunză, p.151] Nicolschi maintained links with Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, and relied on his NKVD-MGB credentials to survive political turmoil caused by the fall of Pauker, Vasile Luca, and Minister of the Interior Teohari Georgescu. [Bălteanu, p.47; Tănase; Tismăneanu, p.43] Pauker was officially accused, among other things, of having welcomed the Iron Guard into the Party, although her degree of involvement in the deal remains disputed [Enuţă, p.35] (while Nicolschi is credited with having initiated it, it was also proposed that his Soviet superiors had played a part in the decision). [Enuţă, p.35; Aurel Dragoş Munteanu]

He apparently rallied with Gheorghiu-Dej, and, despite the fact that he was still a Soviet citizen, he was decorated with the high distinction "Steaua Republicii Populare Române". [Bălteanu, p.47] In 1953, he became a General Secretary in the Interior Ministry. [Adameşteanu; Deletant, p.19; Bălteanu, p.47] At around that time, his suspicion towards Gheorghiu-Dej allegedly led him to plant microphones in the latter's office. [Adameşteanu]

In 1961, after Gheorghiu-Dej began adopting anti-Soviet themes in his discourse, Nicolschi, promoted to Lieutenant General, was sidelined and forced into retirement, [Adameşteanu; Bălteanu, p.47; Tismăneanu, p.297] without being denied the luxuries reserved for the nomenklatura. [Adameşteanu] He lived through the Nicolae Ceauşescu years, and died in Bucharest, two years after the Romanian Revolution, as the result of a heart attack. [Bălteanu, p.47] This happened on the very same day he was presented with a subpoena from the Prosecutor General, who had received a formal notification from the victims' families and the Association of Former Political Prisoners (Nicolschi was scheduled for hearings on April 17, 1992). [Adameşteanu; Bălteanu, p.47]

Alongside Pintilie and Mazuru, Nicolschi features prominently in theories that the early Securitate was controlled by ethnic minorities (as notably voiced by the press of the ultra-nationalist Greater Romania Party). [Deletant, p.20-21] Referring to this particular claim, British historian Dennis Deletant indicated that, in fact, of the total 60 leaders of the Securitate Directorate, 38 were ethnically Romanian, while the rest was divided between 5 other communities (in this statistic, Deletant counts Nicolschi as an ethnic Russian). [Deletant, p.21] He concluded that "the numbers drawn from ethnic minorities, although disproportionate, do not appear to be excessive". [Deletant, p.20] Deletant also argued that, while there is indication that the ethnic origin of top officials was obscured, [Deletant, p.20] "there is no evidence to suggest the 'Romanianisation' of officers of other ethnic origins". [Deletant, p.20-21]

Notes

References

* [http://www.memorialsighet.ro/en/sala.asp?id=7 "The Security Police (Securitate) between 1948 and 1989" at The Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance]
*ro icon Gabriela Adameşteanu, [http://www.observatorcultural.ro/informatiiarticol.phtml?xid=15780&print=true "Crimele neglijate ale comunismului. O sintagmă neinspirată" ("The Neglected Crimes of Communism. An Ill-Inspired Syntagm")] , in "Observator Cultural"
*Dumitru Bacu, [http://litek.ws/k0nsl/detox/anti-humans.htm "The Anti-Humans. Student Re-Education in Romanian Prisons] ", Soldiers of the Cross, Englewood, Colorado, 1971 (translation of "Piteşti, Centru de Reeducare Studenţească", Madrid, 1963)
*Valeriu Bălteanu, "1948–1958: Control, supraveghere, verificare, dominaţie. Agenţii NKVD şi consilierii sovietici din MAI şi Securitate" (1948–1958: Control, Supervision, Verification, Domination. NKVD Agents and Soviet Advisers in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Securitate"), in "Dosarele Istoriei", 3/1996
*Lavinia Betea, "Testamentul lui Foriş" ("Foriş' Last Will"), in "Magazin Istoric", April 1997
* Gabriel Catalan, Mircea Stănescu, "Scurtă istorie a Securităţii" ("Short history of the Securitate"), in "Sfera Politicii", [http://www.sferapoliticii.ro/sfera/pdf/Sfera_109.pdf Nr. 109] (2004), p.38–53
*ro icon Ruxandra Cesereanu, [http://www.memoria.ro/?location=view_article&id=1455 "«Limba» Securităţii" ("The Securitate's «Language»"), at "Memoria.ro"] (review of Marius Oprea, "Banalitatea răului. Istoria Securităţii în documente")
*Adrian Cioroianu, "Pe umerii lui Marx. O introducere în istoria comunismului românesc" ("On the Shoulders of Marx. An Incursion into the History of Romanian Communism"), Editura Curtea Veche, Bucharest, 2005
*Dennis Deletant,
**"Ceausescu and the Securitate", M.E. Sharpe, Armonk, New York, 1995
**"Communist Terror in Romania", C. Hurst & Co., London, 1999
* _ro. Almira Enuţă, "Infiltrarea partidului comunist de către legionari. Suflete verzi cu berete roşii" ("The Communist Party's Infiltration by Legionaries. Green Souls with Red Berets"), in "Dosarele Istoriei", 4/1997
*Victor Frunză, "Istoria stalinismului în România" ("The History of Stalinism in Romania"), Humanitas, Bucharest, 1990
*ro icon Sanda Golpenţia, [http://www.memoria.ro/?location=view_article&id=1373 "Introducere la "Ultima carte" de Anton Golpenţia (Anchetatorii)" ("Introduction to Anton Golpenţia's "Ultima carte" (The Inquisitors)"), at "Memoria.ro"]
*ro icon Valentin Hossu-Longin, [http://www.ziua.net/display.php?id=195457&data=2006-03-11 "Procesul Canalului Morţii" ("The Trial of the Death Canal")] , in "Ziua", March 11, 2006
*Aurel Dragoş Munteanu, [http://www.jurnalul.ro/articol_62200/comunisti_si_verzi___esecul_aliantei_dorite_de_moscova.html "Comunişti si verzi - Eşecul alianţei dorite de Moscova" ("Communists and Greens - Failure of the Alliance Desired by Moscow")] , in "Jurnalul Naţional", September 20, 2006
*ro icon Miruna Munteanu, [http://www.ziua.net/display.php?data=2003-06-28&id=121181&ziua=70055e94e7df1175ca46cb85f3f7c2ef "Sinistrul Nicolschi"] , in "Ziua", June 28, 2003
*ro icon Ion Mihai Pacepa, [http://www.jurnalul.ro/articol_38106/e_timpul_ca_securitatea_sa_fie_repudiata__iv_.html "E timpul ca Securitatea să fie repudiată" ("It's Time for the Securitate to be Repudiated"), part IV] , in "Jurnalul Naţional", October 8, 2005
*Adrian Pop,
**"Antanta extremelor politice româneşti. «Pactul» legionari - guvernul Groza" ("The Entente of Romanian Political Extremes. The Legionaries - Groza Government «Pact»"), in "Dosarele Istoriei", 4/1997
**ro icon [http://www.itcnet.ro/history/archive/mi2001/current4/mi40.htm "1950. Legaţia S.U.A informează: Dominaţia U.R.S.S asupra României nu poate fi slăbită" ("1950. The US Legation Informs: The USSR's Domination over Romania Cannot Be Loosened")] , in "Magazin Istoric"
*ro icon Stelian Tănase, [http://www.itcnet.ro/history/archive/mi2002/current1/mi18.htm "Dej - omul resentimentului" ("Gheorghiu-Dej, the Man of Grudges")] , in "Magazin Istoric"
*Vladimir Tismăneanu, "Stalinism pentru eternitate", Polirom, Iaşi, 2005 ISBN 973-681-899-3 (translation of "Stalinism for All Seasons: A Political History of Romanian Communism", University of California Press, Berkeley, 2003, ISBN 0-52-023747-1)
*ro icon Alina Tudor, Şerban Pavelescu, [http://www.itcnet.ro/history/archive/mi1997/current10/mi28.htm "Moscova - închisoarea Liubianka. Mareşalul Antonescu: alte interogatorii" ("Moscow - Lubyanka Prison. Marshal Antonescu: Other Interrogations")] , in "Magazin Istoric"