Siguranța was the generic name for the successive secret police services in the Kingdom of Romania. The official title of the organization changed throughout its history, with names including Directorate of the Police and General Safety ( ro, Direcția Poliției și Siguranței Generale), the Secret Intelligence Service ( ro, Serviciul Secret de Informații), the Special Intelligence Service ( ro, Serviciul Special de Informații) or simply the Intelligence Service ( ro, Serviciul de Informații),

History

Created in 1908, in the aftermath of a major peasant revolt, it acted as a political police, supervising, infiltrating and trying to dismantle political groupings considered undesirable by the Romanian governments. Changing its structure several times during the first half of the 20th century, it was ultimately disbanded in 1948, when Romania became a people's republic. Siguranța's role, as well as a large part of its employees, were integrated into the newly founded

Department of State Security The State Security Service ( hr, Služba državne sigurnosti, sr, Служба државне безбедности; mk, Служба за државна безбедност; sl, Služba državne varnosti), also known by its original name ...

("Securitate"). Around 1924, Siguranța secret intelligence assassinated a leader of the militant wing of the

Romanian Communist Party The Romanian Communist Party ( ro, Partidul Comunist Român, , PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that woul ...

. The victim was also the brother of dedicated Communist Elizaveta Zarubina, soon to become one of the USSR's most crucial agents. A secret policeman came to her apartment in Bucharest later the same year to arrest her; he was subsequently shot by Zarubina, attracting the attention of top Soviet intelligence officials.

References

1908 in Romania 20th century in Romania Defunct Romanian intelligence agencies Law enforcement agencies of Romania Secret police Kingdom of Romania {{Romania-hist-stub ro:Siguranță