''Siguranța'' was the generic name for the successive

secret police image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression. Secre ...

services in the

Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania () was a constitutional monarchy that existed from with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King of Romania, King Carol I of Romania, Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian royal family), until 1947 wit ...

. The official title of the organization changed throughout its history, with names including Directorate of the Police and General Safety (), the Secret Intelligence Service (), the Special Intelligence Service () or simply the Intelligence Service (),

History

Created in 1908, in the aftermath of a major peasant revolt, it acted as a political police, monitoring, infiltrating and trying to dismantle political groupings considered undesirable by the government. Changing its structure several times during the first half of the 20th century, it was disbanded in 1948, when Romania became a people's republic. Siguranța's role, as well as many of its employees, were integrated into the newly founded Department of State Security ("Securitate"). Around 1924, Siguranța secret intelligence assassinated a leader of the militant wing of the

Romanian Communist Party The Romanian Communist Party ( ; PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave an ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that would replace the social system ...

. The victim was also the brother of dedicated Communist Elizaveta Zarubina, soon to become one of the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

's most crucial agents. A secret policeman came to her apartment in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

later the same year to arrest her; he was subsequently shot by Zarubina, attracting the attention of top Soviet intelligence officials.

References

External links

*
Istorie Contemporana
*

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