This is the monument church in Aiud.
It is a monument to those who perished during the Communist period in the Aiud prison. Too bad many Romanians do not know anything about the whole story.
In short: the prison of Aiud was a political prison, used especially in the period from 1947 to 1964 AD. The convicts were members of the Romanian elite, but also normal people fighting the dictatorship. To name but a few victims : Vasile Voiculescu (writer), Mircea Vulcanescu (philosopher), Nichifor Crainic (philosopher), Radu Gyr (poet); well-known members of the clergy, like Dumitru Staniloae, Constantin Galeriu, Arsenie Papacioc or Dimitrie Bejan, but also 240 high rank officers of the Romanian Royal Army.
Many of them were condemned because of their affiliation with a extreme-right movement - but that was a pretext, the real reason was that the new power wanted no competition in ruling Romania.
The monument was raised in 2000 AD. The seven twin-crosses at the base symbolize the unity in suffering of the victims, while the cross on top symbolizes the cross of their nation, Romania, the cross they carried.
Other two political prisons that come to my mind now are those of Sighet and Pitesti - all part of the Romanian GULAG.
In the end, I want to make clear that we, Romanians, are to be blamed because we neglect this part of our history. By ignoring our memory, we rightfully deserve our recent past - and our present.
Kindle your mind.
4 comments:
It will be good if you add some more info about the monument. A lot of people will be interested to hear more about it. Regards!
@Luxury Hotel Bucharest:
thank you for your comment.
And thank you too for the suggestion. I'll provide a.s.a.p. an update to the post with some more info.
s53
Thank you for sharing this photo and, more importantly, taking the time to explain it. I was not aware of the Romanian Gulag system.
It is a very powerful photograph and the history behind it is just as necessary to be aware of as the Holocaust.
In this secular age, too many people are ignorant of the suffering of the past.
Regards from Canada
@Anonymous:
you are welcome. Political prisons were essential for the survival of the communist dictatorships, and thus someone should expect to find their remnants in former communist countries in Eastern Europe. These prisons still operate in communist countries in Asia, and the most blatant example I come to think of is that of North Korea, where an estimated least of 100,000 lives in concentration camps today.
Thank you for your comment.
Regards from Bucharest.
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