Ion Șerb, also Ioan Șerb (January 11, 1926 – January 5, 2004) was a general of the

Socialist Republic of Romania The Socialist Republic of Romania ( ro, Republica Socialistă România, RSR) was a Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989. From 1947 to 1965, the state was known as the Romanian People ...

accused of espionage for the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. Full version was published in: Armata României și politica națională. Studii și comunicări prezentate la Sesiunea națională de comunicări științifice Pitești-Mioveni, 24 July 2015, Editura Istros, Brăila, 2015, pp. 213–218. Șerb was born in

Malu cu Flori Malu cu Flori is a commune in Dâmbovița County, Muntenia, Romania with a population of 2,484 people as of 2021. It is composed of five villages: Capu Coastei, Copăceni, Malu cu Flori, Micloșanii Mari, and Micloșanii Mici. Seven generals of t ...

Dâmbovița County Dâmbovița County (also spelt ''Dîmbovița'', ) is a county ( județ) of Romania, in Muntenia, with the capital city at Târgoviște, the most important economic, political, administrative and cultural center of the county. It has an area of ...

. After the August 1944 coup d'état, he volunteered for service in the

Tudor Vladimirescu Division The Tudor Vladimirescu Division (full name: ''Romanian 1st Volunteer Infantry Division 'Tudor Vladimirescu – Debrecen' '') was a Soviet-organized division of Romanians that fought against Germany and Hungary during the final year of World War I ...

; promoted to sergeant, he was awarded after the war the

Medal of Faithful Service The Medal of Faithful Service ( ro, Medalia națională "Serviciul Credincios") was instituted by King Carol I in April 1878. In early 1948, together with the Order, Cross and all the traditional Romanian orders was disbanded by the communist a ...

with swords, 3rd class. He then became a non-commissioned officer in the Muscel Gendarmerie Legion (1947–1948). From 1948 to 1949, he attended the M.A.I. Officers' School no. 1 in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, in the border guard specialty. On August 23, 1949, he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant and assigned to the Border Guard Training Center in

Rădăuți Rădăuți (; german: Radautz; hu, Radóc; pl, Radowce; uk, Радівці, ''Radivtsi''; yi, ראַדעװיץ ''Radevits''; tr, Radoviçe) is a town in Suceava County, north-eastern Romania. It is situated in the historical region of Bukovi ...

, in the position of political deputy of a company commander. Between November 1950 and July 1952, captain Șerb was sent by the Communist authorities to study at the K. Е. Voroshilov Higher Military Academy in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. On July 30, 1955, colonel Șerb was promoted to major general, at the age of 29. In 1969, he advanced in rank to lieutenant general and was appointed commander of the Second Army (

Muntenia Muntenia (, also known in English as Greater Wallachia) is a historical region of Romania, part of Wallachia (also, sometimes considered Wallachia proper, as ''Muntenia'', ''Țara Românească'', and the seldom used ''Valahia'' are synonyms in R ...

) and of the Bucharest garrison. A declassified

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

document states the following. Romanian counter-intelligence monitored several high-rank officers suspecting them in sympathies for the Soviet Union. In 1971 unauthorized documents were found during the search of the house of Ion Șerb, and in subsequent interrogations he confessed he was recruited by the Soviet

military attaché A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission, often an embassy. This type of attaché post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer, who retains a commission while serving with an embassy. Opport ...

to Romania, Aleksandr Fyodorovich Musatov, a known

GRU The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых сил Росси́йской Федера́ци ...

officer. In order to avoid confrontation with the Soviet Union, Șerb was not prosecuted, but demoted to the rank of private.A CIA document dated 5 November 1971, declassified in 2006
/ref> 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 December 1989, he joined the

Socialist Party of Labour The Socialist Party of Labour ( ro, Partidul Socialist al Muncii, PSM) was a left wing-nationalist political party in Romania. The party was labelled as neo-communist. It was founded on 16 November 1990. The chairman of the party was Ilie Verde� ...

, founded by the former communist prime minister

Ilie Verdeț Ilie Verdeț (10 May 1925 – 20 March 2001) was a Romanian communist politician who served as Romania’s Prime Minister from 1979 to 1982. Biography Born in Comănești, Bacău County, and a miner from age 12, he joined the Romanian Commun ...

and, in June 1996, he was elected mayor of Malu cu Flori. He died in his native commune in 2004.

References

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