Victor I. Rădulescu-Pogoneanu (September 21, 1910 – March 10, 1962) was a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n diplomat. He helped set up negotiations to remove his country from its alliance with

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. An opponent 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 ...

, he was arrested shortly before the establishment of a

communist regime 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 Cominte ...

and spent the next fifteen years in prison before succumbing to the treatment he received there.

Biography

Born 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 ...

into an upper-class family, his father Ion A. Rădulescu-Pogoneanu, a university professor, was a follower of

Titu Maiorescu Titu Liviu Maiorescu (; 15 February 1840 – 18 June 1917) was a Romanian literary critic and politician, founder of the ''Junimea'' Society. As a literary critic, he was instrumental in the development of Romanian culture in the second half of ...

, while his mother Elena headed the Central School for Girls prior to 1939. His brother was also a distinguished diplomat, while his sister Anina (1902–1994) was active in the Romanian émigré community in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

during the communist era. Florica Dimitrescu
"Școala Centrală de fete la 150 de ani"
, in ''

România Literară ''România Literară'' is a cultural and literary magazine from Romania. In its original edition, it was founded on 1 January 1855 by Vasile Alecsandri and published in Iași until 3 December 1855, when it was suppressed. The new series appeared on ...

'', Nr. 11/2001 Rădulescu-Pogoneanu obtained university degrees in law, philosophy and sociology Gabriel Zamfir
"10 martie 1962 – Decesul lui Victor Rădulescu-Pogoneanu"
at the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and Memory of the Romanian Exile site before entering the

Foreign Ministry In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

"Victor Rădulescu-Pogoneanu"
at the Râmnicu Sărat Memorial site in 1934"Victor Rădulescu-Pogoneanu"
at the Sighet Memorial site in spite of advanced paralysis in his lower body. He was assigned to the press and information office. During

, while a ministry employee, he took part alongside Camil Demetrescu and

Grigore Niculescu-Buzești Grigore Niculescu-Buzești (August 1, 1908 – October 4, 1949) was a Romanian politician who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania. Niculescu-Buzești was one of the founding members of Romanian National Committee (''Comitetul N ...

in organizing secret negotiations with the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

. Their objective was the exit of

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis *Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinate ...

Romania from the war, alongside a conspiracy against dictator

Ion Antonescu Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and marshal who presided over two successive wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister and ''Conducător'' during most of World War II. A Romanian Army career officer who made ...

that culminated in the Coup of August 1944.

Cicerone Ionițoiu Cicerone ( ) is an old term for a guide who conducts visitors and sightseers to museums, galleries, etc., and explains matters of archaeological, antiquarian, historic or artistic interest. The word is presumably taken from Marcus Tullius Cicero, ...

"Victimele terorii comuniste. Arestați, torturați, întemnițați, uciși. Dicționar R"
/ref> Moreover, as director of the ministerial cabinet and

cipher In cryptography, a cipher (or cypher) is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption—a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is ''encipherment''. To encipher or encode i ...

unit, he played an important role both during the war and its immediate aftermath in keeping the country's decision-makers informed. He also passed along information to Western embassies in Bucharest, alerting them to the impending danger of a communist takeover, and sent documents abroad that demonstrated the economic domination and despoilment being practiced by the country's Soviet occupiers. He was dismissed from the ministry in 1946. A member 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 ...

, he had helped its leader

Iuliu Maniu Iuliu Maniu (; 8 January 1873 – 5 February 1953) was an Austro-Hungarian-born lawyer and Romanian politician. He was a leader of the National Party of Transylvania and Banat before and after World War I, playing an important role in the Un ...

develop ties with foreign diplomats during the war. Rădulescu-Pogoneanu was arrested in August 1947 following the

Tămădău Affair The Tămădău affair ( ro, Afacerea Tămădău, ''Înscenarea de la Tămădău'' – "the Tămădău frameup" – or ''Fuga de la Tămădău'' – "the Tămădău flight") was an incident that took place in Romania in the summer of 1947. It was t ...

that led to the persecution of numerous individuals within the party. Sentenced that November together with Maniu and four others, he received 25 years' imprisonment for conspiracy and treason, with an additional 55 years for three other charges. One account relates that, charged with abetting "foreign traitors", he replied that he was only prevented from doing so lest his ill health impede their activities. He passed through the prisons at Malmaison,

Galați Galați (, , ; also known by other alternative names) is the capital city of Galați County in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in eastern Romania. Galați is a port town on the Danube River. It has been the only port for the most par ...

, Sighet,

Râmnicu Sărat Râmnicu Sărat (also spelled ''Rîmnicu Sărat'', , german: Rümnick or ''Rebnick''; tr, Remnik) is a city in Buzău County, Romania, in the historical region of Muntenia. It was first attested in a document of 1439, and raised to the rank of ' ...

, and Văcărești. He spent nearly four years at Galați, after which he was transferred to Sighet. While at Sighet Prison, where he was mainly kept isolated from other prisoners, a medical examination found he was suffering from a variety of physical ailments, including

spastic paraplegia Hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) is a group of inherited diseases whose main feature is a progressive gait disorder. The disease presents with progressive stiffness (spasticity) and contraction in the lower limbs. HSP is also known as hereditar ...

hypoesthesia Hypoesthesia or numbness is a common side effect of various medical conditions that manifests as a reduced sense of touch or sensation, or a partial loss of sensitivity to Sensory receptor, sensory stimuli. In everyday speech this is generally r ...

and sphincter of Oddi dysfunction. By the time he reached Râmnicu Sărat Prison following the closure of Sighet in 1955, he was confined to a bed in his cell. In 1956, he asked for a medical examination, and the prison authorities recorded a "hostile attitude" on his part toward the leadership and staff due to complaints about his treatment. Unable to leave his bed when ordered, he was, as a result, beaten by prison warden Alexandru Vișinescu and his guards. In the autumn of 1961, by which time it was too late to save his life, he was transferred to the Văcărești prison hospital and died there the following March. According to

Neagu Djuvara Neagu Bunea Djuvara (; 18 August 1916 – 25 January 2018) was a Romanian historian, essayist, philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat. Biography Early life A native of Bucharest, he was descended from an aristocratic Aromanian family ...

, the pro-communist sociologist

Mihai Ralea Mihai Dumitru Ralea (also known as Mihail Ralea, Michel Raléa, or Mihai Rale;Straje, p. 586 May 1, 1896 – August 17, 1964) was a Romanian social scientist, cultural journalist, and political figure. He debuted as an affiliate of Poporanism, the ...

had suggested to Rădulescu-Pogoneanu to be "more flexible" with the prison administration. His interlocutor reportedly answered: "neither my health nor my life are for sale". His wife Cici was arrested shortly after Victor and sent to prison for six months in December 1947 for failing to report his activities. Arrested again in 1952, she was questioned about her husband's ties with

Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu (; November 4, 1900 – April 17, 1954) was a Romanian communist politician and leading member of the Communist Party of Romania (PCR), also noted for his activities as a lawyer, sociologist and economist. For a while, he w ...

. Two years later, she testified at the latter's

show trial A show trial is a public trial in which the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt or innocence of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal the presentation of both the accusation and the verdict to the public so th ...

, declaring the two men had carried on negotiations between government and opposition during

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 tit ...

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

's "royal strike", a fact that was used to show Pătrășcanu was guilty of conspiracy.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Radulescu-Pogoneanu, Victor 1910 births 1962 deaths Diplomats from Bucharest National Peasants' Party politicians 20th-century Romanian politicians Romanian politicians with disabilities Romanian anti-communists People convicted of treason against Romania Inmates of Sighet prison Inmates of Râmnicu Sărat prison Romanian torture victims Prisoners who died in Romanian detention Romanian people who died in prison custody Inmates of Văcărești Prison