Elisabeta Rizea (28 June 1912 – 4 October 2003) was a
Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
** Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
**Romanian cuisine, traditiona ...
anti-communist
Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...
partisan in the
Făgăraș Mountains
The Făgăraș Mountains ( ro, Munții Făgărașului ; hu, Fogarasi-havasok) are the highest mountains of the Southern Carpathians, in Romania.
Geography
The mountain range is situated in the heart of Romania, at .
The range is bordered in the ...
of northern
Wallachia. After the
Romanian Revolution
The Romanian Revolution ( ro, Revoluția Română), also known as the Christmas Revolution ( ro, Revoluția de Crăciun), was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred i ...
of 1989, she became the symbol of
Romania's anti-communist resistance.
She was twice imprisoned for her activities, suffering extensive torture on the second occasion.
Life
Rizea was born in 1912 in
Domnești, a village in
Argeș County
Argeș County () is a county (''județ'') of Romania, in Muntenia, with the capital city at Pitești.
Demographics
On 20 October 2011, it had a population of 612,431 and the population density was 89/km2.
* Romanians – 97%
* Roma (Gypsi ...
in the
Southern Carpathians
The Southern Carpathians (also known as the Transylvanian Alps; ro, Carpații Meridionali ; hu, Déli-Kárpátok) are a group of mountain ranges located in southern Romania. They cover the part of the Carpathian Mountains located between the ...
, to a family of peasants, Ion and Maria Șuța, who lived off a plot of cultivated land. At the age of 19 she moved to a nearby village,
Nucșoara
Nucșoara is a commune in Argeș County, Muntenia, Romania. It is composed of four villages: Gruiu, Nucșoara, Sboghițești and Slatina.
The commune is located in the northern part of the county, on the border with Brașov County. It is nestled ...
, where she married Gheorghe Rizea, an employee of her uncle, Gheorghe Șuța.
After
World War II, the
Soviet Army
uk, Радянська армія
, image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg
, alt =
, caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army
, start_date ...
imposed a
Communist government
A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Comi ...
in Romania. Rizea's uncle, a local leader of the
National Peasants' Party
The National Peasants' Party (also known as the National Peasant Party or National Farmers' Party; ro, Partidul Național Țărănesc, or ''Partidul Național-Țărănist'', PNȚ) was an agrarian political party in the Kingdom of Romania. It w ...
, was reportedly killed by the secret police on the day of the elections, though sources disagree whether this happened in 1946 or 1948.
This led Rizea's husband to join an
anti-communist
Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...
guerrilla group,
Haiducii Muscelului, led by Colonel
Gheorghe Arsenescu. Elisabeta provided the group with food and supplies.
On the night of June 18, 1949, members of Arsenescu's group were ambushed by troops of the
Securitate
The Securitate (, Romanian for ''security'') was the popular term for the Departamentul Securității Statului (Department of State Security), the secret police agency of the Socialist Republic of Romania. Previously, before the communist regi ...
; in the ensuing firefight, two officers were killed, and the group escaped through a security cordon thrown around the area. As a result, a massive search was launched by Securitate troops and two army battalions. She was arrested for aiding the partisan group, beaten, and taken to
Pitești Prison
Pitești Prison ( ro, Închisoarea Pitești) was a penal facility in Pitești, Romania, best remembered for the reeducation experiment (also known as ''Experimentul Pitești'' – the "Pitești Experiment" or ''Fenomenul Pitești'' – the "Pite ...
, where she was held for 18 months before being put on trial, and sentenced to seven year's imprisonment.
After being released from prison, she continued to provide food and information to the anti-communist fighters in the mountains. When Arsenescu was arrested in 1961, she was again tried, declared "''dușman al poporului''" (
enemy of the people
The term enemy of the people or enemy of the nation, is a designation for the political or class opponents of the subgroup in power within a larger group. The term implies that by opposing the ruling subgroup, the "enemies" in question are ac ...
) and sentenced to 25 years, and she was sent to a penitentiary for female political prisoners in
Mislea.
Three years later, in 1964, she was freed under the terms of a general amnesty.
During the twelve years Rizea spent in prison, she was subjected to various forms of
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts carr ...
: according to her own declarations, she was hung by her hair from a hook and beaten until she fainted due to broken ribs,
and was also
scalped, burned, and beaten with a shovel. Upon her release from prison, she had no hair and she couldn't walk, as her knees had been destroyed by the torture.
After the
fall of Communism
The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Natio ...
in 1989, her story became known following an interview included in the 1992 documentary ''
Memorialul Durerii'' by .
In May 2001 the former
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the ti ...
Michael I of Romania
Michael I ( ro, Mihai I ; 25 October 1921 – 5 December 2017) was the last King of Romania, reigning from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930 and again from 6 September 1940 until his forced abdication on 30 December 1947.
Shortly after Michael's ...
visited Rizea at her home in
Nucșoara
Nucșoara is a commune in Argeș County, Muntenia, Romania. It is composed of four villages: Gruiu, Nucșoara, Sboghițești and Slatina.
The commune is located in the northern part of the county, on the border with Brașov County. It is nestled ...
.
During the visit, she told reporters, "When these wretched Communists came to power, they took everything from us, the land, the wooden carts — the hair off our heads. Still, what they could not take was our soul."
Rizea died in 2003 of
viral pneumonia
Viral pneumonia is a pneumonia caused by a virus. Pneumonia is an infection that causes inflammation in one or both of the lungs. The pulmonary alveoli fill with fluid or pus making it difficult to breathe. Pneumonia can be caused by bacteria, v ...
, at a hospital in
Pitești
Pitești () is a city in Romania, located on the river Argeș. The capital and largest city of Argeș County, it is an important commercial and industrial center, as well as the home of two universities. Pitești is situated in the historical re ...
.
Legacy
In a 2006
poll
Poll, polled, or polling may refer to:
Figurative head counts
* Poll, a formal election
** Election verification exit poll, a survey taken to verify election counts
** Polling, voting to make decisions or determine opinions
** Polling places ...
conducted by
Romanian Television
Televiziunea Română (), more commonly referred to as TVR , is the short name for Societatea Română de Televiziune ("Romanian Television Society"; SRTV), the Romanian public television. It operates six channels: TVR1, TVR2, TVR3, TVR Info ...
to identify the "
100 greatest Romanians of all time", she came in 58th. When there was a proposal to build a monument in memory of the anti-communist resistance, Rizea's name was the first on the list, and received the most support from Romanian civic organizations.
As of 2019, there are plans to turn her house in Nucșoara into a museum.
Streets in
Iași
Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionall ...
, Nucșoara,
Timișoara
), City of Roses ( ro, Orașul florilor), City of Parks ( ro, Orașul parcurilor)
, image_map = Timisoara jud Timis.svg
, map_caption = Location in Timiș County
, pushpin_map = Romania#Europe
, pushpin_ ...
, and
Voluntari
Voluntari () is a town in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania. It is located at a distance of 1 km from the northern border of Bucharest (on the DN2 road towards Urziceni) and is thus frequently viewed as a suburb of Bucharest.
The population ...
are named after Rizea.
References
External links
Website dedicated to the memory of Elisabeta Rizea
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rizea, Elisabeta
1912 births
2003 deaths
20th-century Romanian women
21st-century Romanian women
Members of the Romanian anti-communist resistance movement
Romanian women activists
People from Argeș County
Members of the Romanian Orthodox Church
People detained by the Securitate
Romanian torture victims
Inmates of Pitești prison
Deaths from pneumonia in Romania