1. Aiud Prison

2. URGE TO FIGHT by Radu Gyr (a poem written inside Aiud prison) No pain from the lost fights, no pain from the chest wounds, like the pain of misshapen arms that refuse to fight no more. If heart’s still beating in your chest one lost arm in battles is no harm. Why do you care of trifles If you rise above everything? You’re not defeated when you’re bleeding, nor when you have tears in your eyes. The real defeats are when you give up dreaming.

3. Aiud is a town with sad echoes in Romanians’ souls. For many years all ways went to the frightful prison of Aiud which stopped the destinies of the bravest Romanians ever. Aiud is a town with sad echoes in Romanians’ souls. For many years all ways went to the frightful prison of Aiud which stopped the destinies of the bravest Romanians ever. Situated in the centre of the town the prison has the shape of a huge stone T programmed to bully, torture the souls and bodies of the Romanians fond of faith and country who never let themselves brutalized by the filthy and crazy communism regime. These special people, among whom many young people, understood it was time when they were asked for the impossible, the courage, the holy madness, otherwise there was no escape neither for them nor for the nation. They took on freely and fully aware to bear their Cross and atone for the sins of the nation. Situated in the centre of the town the prison has the shape of a huge stone T programmed to bully, torture the souls and bodies of the Romanians fond of faith and country who never let themselves brutalized by the filthy and crazy communism regime. These special people, among whom many young people, understood it was time when they were asked for the impossible, the courage, the holy madness, otherwise there was no escape neither for them nor for the nation. They took on freely and fully aware to bear their Cross and atone for the sins of the nation.

5. Aiud prison was a real torture institution: the prisoners were starved, tortured, mocked at, humiliated, although many of them were intellectuals making up the Romanian society elite of that time and who, had they lived, would have changed Romania’s view. Those who were killed were thrown in the common grave dug by the prison administration at the outskirts of Aiud, a place called “The Slave Steep” so far. Aiud prison was a real torture institution: the prisoners were starved, tortured, mocked at, humiliated, although many of them were intellectuals making up the Romanian society elite of that time and who, had they lived, would have changed Romania’s view. Those who were killed were thrown in the common grave dug by the prison administration at the outskirts of Aiud, a place called “The Slave Steep” so far.

6. Walls

7. Ilie Tudor, the father of the great bard Tudor Gheorghe, was imprisoned from 1958 until 1964. One of the little pleasant memories from Aiud was the Resurrection Mass, done by a few prisoner priests. „They got us out of the cells one morning by the Palm Sunday”, Ilie Tudor begins his story. „We stayed there about 2 weeks. It was a moment of joy, I met people I had not seen before I got into prison. But I also met Radu Gyr, Nichifor Crainic, the intellectuals from prisons. They crowded in that underground cave more than 100 people. It was cold and nothing else on the floor than cement. We could not sleep face up because we were so crowded side by side, on one side and that is how we managed to keep warm. When they changed our position, they used to cry : To the right!, and everybody would turn around. I got near an old man. He was feeble, gaunt, and I was young. I took off the fur-coat I had got from a villager of mine and I gave it to him. He did not want to get it. He asked me about my denunciation; I told him I had to serve a sentence of 22 years of forced labour. He said keep it, you never know”. Hardly then had cantor Ilie found out the man was father Staniloae. „They wanted to destroy us by cold and hunger. But Someone up there loves us, and saved some of us, while taking others to Him. As my judgments are not thy judgments, my thoughts are not thy thoughts, Jesus says. We are like horses, blindfolded, and we are not allowed to see; only by faith and love can you get to spiritual perfection”.

8. After all this suffering, they were put to another test : „They gave us minced meat filled peppers, namely what we had longed for after we had lived of 100 g bread every day. But the hunger of our souls was greater than that of the bodies. Most of us were devout, we knew what fasting was. Nobody ate, except maybe for a few men who could not keep from it. In our cell everybody fasted. We were 11, father Ieronim and bishop Serafim from Valcea, father Dumitru Gornic from Arad, a monk Dancu, an extraordinary writer, another two monks and many others. To give up filled peppers – what a rare thing! – or cheese and tomatoes…, but all of them were meant to tempt us. That was our strength. Although we got little food, we could keep up. Suffering makes value”. After all this suffering, they were put to another test : „They gave us minced meat filled peppers, namely what we had longed for after we had lived of 100 g bread every day. But the hunger of our souls was greater than that of the bodies. Most of us were devout, we knew what fasting was. Nobody ate, except maybe for a few men who could not keep from it. In our cell everybody fasted. We were 11, father Ieronim and bishop Serafim from Valcea, father Dumitru Gornic from Arad, a monk Dancu, an extraordinary writer, another two monks and many others. To give up filled peppers – what a rare thing! – or cheese and tomatoes…, but all of them were meant to tempt us. That was our strength. Although we got little food, we could keep up. Suffering makes value”. „Easter was drawing near and we did not seem to feel hungry at all. When one was sitting by father Staniloae, one would forget about everything just by listening to him. It was as quiet as the grave, he was not too strong, he was weak. He used to speak from the daily Gospel, from Philokalia … It was nice to hear him! I was sitting next to him, I could not let him wipe the floor or clean. He had grace and wit! God’s inspiration ! I did not manage to understand him too much then, I was young”. „Easter was drawing near and we did not seem to feel hungry at all. When one was sitting by father Staniloae, one would forget about everything just by listening to him. It was as quiet as the grave, he was not too strong, he was weak. He used to speak from the daily Gospel, from Philokalia … It was nice to hear him! I was sitting next to him, I could not let him wipe the floor or clean. He had grace and wit! God’s inspiration ! I did not manage to understand him too much then, I was young”. The last preparations for Easter were made; they were ready to have the religious service in the cell. They used a chair for the holy table, where they placed a white towel. The wafer was replaced with the daily bread and the wine and they prepared the wine out of the sugar cakes they got at breakfast, gathered and put into the tea, which then fermented and turned into wine. The last preparations for Easter were made; they were ready to have the religious service in the cell. They used a chair for the holy table, where they placed a white towel. The wafer was replaced with the daily bread and the wine and they prepared the wine out of the sugar cakes they got at breakfast, gathered and put into the tea, which then fermented and turned into wine. The priests sanctified as cult vessels the pipkins and special jars in which they got their food. The priests sanctified as cult vessels the pipkins and special jars in which they got their food. „They left us alone in the cave, locked it and left. We were like in a cellar with windows at 8 meters above. I noticed that the guards were spying on us, but they did not disturb us. We were happy that they were generous at least at Easter”. „They left us alone in the cave, locked it and left. We were like in a cellar with windows at 8 meters above. I noticed that the guards were spying on us, but they did not disturb us. We were happy that they were generous at least at Easter”. At midnight, bishop Serafim, surrounded by 20 priests, gave the blessing and the mass began. They did not have any candles, but we had “the light in our souls. We all sang Christ has resurrected, not too loud, but harmoniously, it was great. Being a cantor, I closed my eyes and saw the Pentecostarion. I could see even the red letters at the beginning of the row. I could not imagine that I knew the Resurrection Mass by heart. Resurrection Day, may it enlighten us …, with all the verses. When the litany ended I was already thinking of the next song”, Ilie Tudor says in tears, a church cantor for 60 years. At midnight, bishop Serafim, surrounded by 20 priests, gave the blessing and the mass began. They did not have any candles, but we had “the light in our souls. We all sang Christ has resurrected, not too loud, but harmoniously, it was great. Being a cantor, I closed my eyes and saw the Pentecostarion. I could see even the red letters at the beginning of the row. I could not imagine that I knew the Resurrection Mass by heart. Resurrection Day, may it enlighten us …, with all the verses. When the litany ended I was already thinking of the next song”, Ilie Tudor says in tears, a church cantor for 60 years. „It was a joy I had never experienced before, the cries, the hugs… I cannot describe it. I felt happy, and not only I felt so, but all of us did. We all were real Christians in our souls. It was a joy and a spiritual happiness which you experience in our world once in a life”. „It was a joy I had never experienced before, the cries, the hugs… I cannot describe it. I felt happy, and not only I felt so, but all of us did. We all were real Christians in our souls. It was a joy and a spiritual happiness which you experience in our world once in a life”.

9. Petre Tutea – torture at Aiud “I made a promise in a yard where there were six hundred people in Aiud prison. Dear brothers, I said, if we all die in here, wearing striped clothes and in chains, then it’s not us to honor the Romanian people by dying for them, but they are giving us the honor to die for them! (...)” There’s no bigger idiot than myself. To be imprisoned for 13 years for a nation of idiots! Only I could have done that..." Petre Tutea One of the outstanding intellectuals imprisoned in Aiud is Petre Tutea. Former Head of Service and then Director at the Ministry of National Economy within the National-Legionary Government installed after 6 September, Tutea was the picture of what the communists used to call the enemy of the new system. After the communists had taken on the power, he was arrested and convicted to 5 years of prison at first (1948-1953) and then to 18 years of forced labor of which he served eight years (1956-1964), all in all 13. He spent most of these years in Aiud where more leaders of the legionary movement were imprisoned. He was released in 1964, in a bad health condition and continued to be kept under Security observance. He lived many years in a modest bachelor’s room in Bucharest, which he insisted (unsuccessfully) to sell to Emil Cioran “not to die while paying rent to the state“. “Thirteen years of prison... I was wearing just a prisoner outfit. They used to give us clear soup and fried polenta. They beat me... They arrested me at home. I can’t even remember the year when it happened … When they asked me questions, I passed out because of the beating. But I did not die! I stayed at Interne for three years. After that I went to Jilava, Ocnele Mari and then Aiud. I even wonder how I got here. There were many times when I wanted to die. I have always been coward enough to lack the courage to commit suicide. Out of religious reasons…Thirteen years! I can’t tell all that I have been through because I cannot offend the Romanian people by telling them that such atrocities took place among them “, Petre Tutea confessed afterwards.

10. Ion Popa murdering