Bank robbery in Bucharest in 1959

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In a bank robbery in Bucharest on July 28, 1959, around 1,680,000 lei were looted. After intensive investigations, interrogations under torture and ill-treatment, six people were arrested: Monica Sevianu, Igor Sevianu, Alexandru and Paul Ioanid, Sașa Mușat and Haralambie Obedeanu. You have been accused of perpetrating the most spectacular bank robbery that has ever occurred in a communist state. The motives for the act could never be clarified.

The Romanian secret service Securitate had the attack reproduced in the same year in the propaganda film Reconstituirea (Reconstruction) by those involved. The five men were sentenced to death and executed in 1960 ; Monica Sevianu was sentenced to life imprisonment with forced labor . In 1964 she was released from prison in connection with an amnesty for political prisoners. The bank robbery and the story of the propaganda film were the subject of other films.

Political background

Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (1961)

From 1947 Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) in power in the Socialist Republic of Romania ; in the following years he also held various ministerial posts. In the mid-1950s he was considered one of the last representatives of Stalinism in Europe, while on the other hand he pursued the emancipation of Romania from the Soviet Union through a policy of national communism, with whose de-Stalinization he did not agree. He had the party “cleansed” of rivals with close ties to the Soviet Union, including Foreign Minister Ana Pauker in 1952. Members of minorities such as Magyars or Jews , some of whom held high positions, were also removed from the state apparatus. The persecution of unwelcome citizens, especially intellectuals, escalated in 1958 when the Soviet troops were withdrawn from Romania; on the one hand to prove to the Soviet Union that the Romanian government in its own country is able to maintain the political course, on the other hand to reject the people's hopes for de-Stalinization or liberalization .

Gheorghiu-Dej was largely responsible for building up the Romanian secret service Securitate . There were around 600,000 political prisoners under his regime; Reports speak of two million people (just under a tenth of the total population) affected by the Stalinist repression in Romania. Historians assume that around 20 percent of those detained died as a result of the brutal circumstances in the around 120 labor camps and prisons.

Until the end of 1958, Jewish Romanians were not allowed to emigrate. When the ban was lifted, around 100,000 people applied to leave for Israel. The regime, which did not expect such high numbers, stopped processing the applications and instead began to prosecute the applicants.

The raid

On July 28, 1959, five armed men ambushed an armored money transporter belonging to the Romanian National Bank , the only bank in the country. The car had collected money from several branches and was in front of the bank's branch in the Giuleşti district . The drivers of the transporter (one of them was the father of the future tennis star Ilie Năstase , Gheorghe) left the vehicle and its contents to the robbers, who had come in a taxi and pointed guns at them, without resistance. At first they believed in a prank by the Patriotic Guards, whose uniform one of the men was wearing. The booty amounted to 1,680,000 lei, which in 1959 corresponded to around 2000 monthly Romanian salaries set by the state. The bank robbers' getaway car, in which the perpetrators had left around 213,000 lei, was later found in the city center of Bucharest.

The People's Police (Miliția Populară) began the investigation. Since the police could not trace the robbers, the investigation finally had to be handed over to the Securitate secret service . This made use of his network of informants. In total, thousands of people were interrogated, including bank employees, including violence and torture. Gheorghe Nastase spent approximately four months in detention and was ill-treated; He was then forced to sign a statement that he was not beaten. The interrogators beat another bank employee to death. It is said that the then chairman of the State Council, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, instructed him to be kept informed of the progress of the investigation on a daily basis.

One of the traces is said to have led to the married couple Monica and Igor "Gugu" Sevianu. Igor Sevianu (* 1920) was considered a "disillusioned apparatchik "; he was a former fighter pilot and aeronautical engineer who had worked as a police officer and employee of the Interior Ministry in the post-war years, but had been fired in 1957. His wife Monica worked as a teacher; she had previously worked for the radio. She had lived in Israel with her first husband for three years and was a Zionist , which aroused the suspicion of the Securitate .

The investigators came across four other alleged suspects, in whose possession weapons and large sums of money are said to have been: One of them was Alexandru "Lică" Ioanid (actually Leibovici ), who had been the head of the criminal investigation department until March 1959. He was a brother-in-law of the Romanian Interior Minister Alexandru Drăghici , who had also been his superior until Ioanid's dismissal. Ioanid just divorced his wife, which is said to have resented Drăghici so much that he threatened his brother-in-law ("I will destroy you"). Ioanid's younger brother Paul (* 1923), former head of the aviation department of the national military academy, also came into the focus of the investigators. He had studied in Moscow , received his doctorate there , and had become known through reports in the press and radio about the launch of the Sputniks into space. As a representative of Romania, he had participated in the secret space program of the Soviet Union , was temporarily arrested on his return to Romania and transferred to the Ministry of Commerce in August 1959.

Alexandru Drăghici

The former history professor Saşa Muşat (* 1924 as Abraşa Glenzstein ), party secretary at the University of Bucharest and close relative of the high-ranking politician Emil Bodnăraş , also came under suspicion . In 1948 Mușat was sent to France as a spy , but was exposed and expelled. He became an associate professor in the Faculty of History at the University of Bucharest, but was dismissed in 1958 on the grounds that he did not have a doctorate. A Securitate informant reported statements by Muşat that, as a long-time Marxist, he believed that socialism would solve the problems of the Jews, but now he has to recognize that he was wrong. He complained to a friend that he felt he was living in a huge prison. The sixth suspect was Haralambie Obedeanu, journalist and dean of the Faculty of Journalism who had worked for the party's newspaper Scînteia . He, too, had recently been released.

The five suspected men were all members of the Communist Party before the royal coup in 1944 , were involved in the establishment of the new regime and held high positions. All six suspects were in their late thirties, Jews and internationalists , while the party leadership took a national communist line. The assumption is that they were "victims of one of the regular internal cleansing" within the nomenklatura . Further purges related to the bank robbery strengthened the position of Minister Alexandru Drăghici, who was also head of the Securitate .

After several interrogations, all six - known by the authorities as the banda Ioanid (Ioanid gang) - confessed to the crime. The case was to be heard in camera in November 1959. Before that, they had to re-enact the attack on camera. In return, they were promised a pardon . The trial was filmed and part of the propaganda film called Reconstituirea . The one-hour film was produced by the Securitate and then screened to selected cadres, but many Romanians tried to watch this film in secret because they thought it was a " gangster film " and such films were banned in Romania.

On November 22, 1959, after a three-day trial, all of the accused were found guilty, not just of the bank robbery, but primarily of “conspiracy” and “terrorism against the state”. In the course of the trial, the defendants reportedly realized in light of these allegations that the authorities' promise that they would be pardoned had been a trap. The five men were sentenced to death and executed by firing squad on February 18, 1960 in Jilava prison ( Penitenciarul Bucureşti-Jilava ) after their appeals were denied. Because Monica Sevianu was the mother of two children, she was not sentenced to death, but was sentenced to life imprisonment with forced labor. She was released in 1964 after being pardoned as part of a general amnesty for political prisoners. Sevianu emigrated to Israel in 1970 , where she died seven years later.

Reconstituirea

In 1960 the propaganda film Reconstituirea was released under the direction of Virgil Calotescu . The defendants Monica and Igor Sevianu, Alexandru and Paul Ioanid as well as Saşa Muşat and Haralambie Obedeanu played themselves in the film, but had to act according to the precise information provided by the Securitate. The script was written by the Securitate officer in charge, Gheorghe Enoiu (nickname “the butcher of the inside”), and he too played himself in the film. The filming took place under the strictest security measures, as it was feared that the prisoners would try to escape. An informant told the secret service that Sevianu had told him about the shooting: “[...] you won't believe me. They made a film about our bank robbery, accompanied by an unprecedented display of power, only planes and tanks were missing. "

According to the historian Ciprian Cirniala, “In the logic of the Securitate, these pretend statements became valid statements .” In this interpretation, the reconstruction took on a downright perverse dimension. ”The film claims that the six members of the“ gang ”lived a luxurious life would have led. They are fraudulent, corrupt, degenerate and have avoided “honest work” and have been referred to as “saboteurs of the regime”.

Unresolved questions and theories

To this day there are numerous theories and rumors surrounding the attack by the "Ioanid gang". All six defendants held important professional positions until some time before the attack, when the Gheorghiu-Dej regime began to systematically exclude Jews and remove them from civil service. At the same time, they were not allowed to leave the country. Therefore, many Romanians interpreted the attack as a kind of rebellion against the regime. It has also been speculated that the attack was orchestrated by the authorities to intimidate the public and the Jewish community with the court rulings and to justify the government's anti-Semitic policies. If it did actually take place, the six perpetrators were forced to do so by the secret service. There were also rumors that the former spy Saşa Muşat was an agent provocateur of the regime and the mastermind behind the attack and was not executed.

Monica Sevianu is said to have given the reason for the act, among other things, the hatred of all six of the politician Leonte Răutu , who prevents the emigration of people of "Jewish nationality" and treats intellectuals, especially Jews, "unjustly". A former cellmate of Monica Sevianu reported that she had confessed to her that the bank robbery was her idea. She had returned from Israel to help the Jews in Romania with the help of Zionist institutions, but there was no money. The government cheated them of their ideals. The money was intended to finance Jews leaving for Israel.

In a communist country with an efficient secret service like Romania it was practically impossible to spend large sums of money unnoticed or to set up a secret network to support Jews, which people who had worked for the state themselves must have been informed about. The Romanian leu was also worthless outside the country, which is why there was also the assumption that the "gang" wanted to use the money to buy jewelry and other valuables that could then be sold. In the film The Great Communist Bank Robbery the conclusion is: "The motives for the bank robbery defy any logical explanation."

reception

In addition to the original re-enactment Reconstituirea, there are other cinematic interpretations of the attack, such as the ironic drama Reconstruction by Lucian Pintilie from 1968, which filled Bucharest cinemas until it was banned in Romania in 1969. Instead of the bank robbers, the protagonists are young people who were drunk in a brawl: “From today's perspective, The Reconstruction , with its depiction of humiliation, violence and the abuse of authority, looks like a gloomy prophecy [...]. The film was immediately banned by the censors as it encouraged resistance to the state, and director Pintilie was unofficially declared an enemy of the state. "

In 2001 a documentary by the British - American filmmaker Irene Lusztig , a granddaughter of Monika Sevianu, was released, again with the title Reconstituirea . The film is about the story of the Sevianu family and has won several awards. In 2005 another documentary was released, The Great Communist Bank Robbery (Romanian title Marele Jaf Comunist ) by Alexandru Solomon , which is based on the original films and protocols as well as testimony from contemporary witnesses, including the Securitate officer Gheorghe Enoiu, who was in charge at the time and who was in Reconstituirea had played a "leading role". He was notorious for his methods of torture while working for the secret service and now protested in front of the camera that he had never mistreated anyone. The Romanian film critic Alex Leo Șerban described this film as a "historical investigation using cinematic means - a kind of picture against picture".

In 2014, Romanian director Nae Caranfil processed the material in the lavishly produced black comedy Closer to the Moon , the most expensive Romanian production to date, starring Vera Farmiga and Mark Strong . It tells the story of the robbery fictionally, and the names of the protagonists have been changed. The film title alludes to a sarcastic-surrealist suggestion that the gang leader Max Rosenthal (alias Alexandru Ioanid) makes to his tormentors: Instead of death by shooting, the gang members should be the first cosmonauts to be shot on the moon, where they have the same fate as the bitch “ Laika ”, who died in space, would suffer, but could at least render one last service to mankind beforehand through relevant reports from above. According to a statement by Gheorghe Enoiu in the film The Great Communist Bank Robbery , Alexandru Ioanid is said to have actually made such a sarcastic suggestion in a conversation shortly before his execution.

The radio play episode Romanian Episode (2008) from the Yevgeny Marlov series by American author David Zane Mairowitz also revolved around the bank robbery. The Romanian writer Edgar Reichmann (who emigrated to Paris in 1957) wrote the novel Le dénonciateur in 1962 about the adventurous life of his friend Saşa Muşat.

literature

  • Ciprian Cirniala: Ceaușescu's police. Rule, peace and order in Romania (1960–1989) (= Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies - Ulf Brunnbauer / Konrad Clewing [ed.]: Southeast European works . Volume 159 ). De Gruyter Oldenbourg, Berlin / Boston 2018, ISBN 978-3-11-056993-3 .

Web links

Individual references and comments

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  2. ↑ Israel's Quest For Romanian Jews in the "Golden Era" of Communism. In: jewishjournal.com. Accessed November 9, 2021 .
  3. ^ East European Perspectives: December 7, 2000. In: rferl.org. December 7, 2000, accessed November 9, 2021 .
  4. ↑ Rani deschise "Marele Jaf" şi pedagogia infernală. In: contributors.ro. January 21, 2015, accessed November 9, 2021 .
  5. ↑ Peter Ulrich Weiß: Two Regimes - One System: Tyranny in Romania 1944–1989 . In: Eastern Europe . tape 50, 6 , June 2000, pp. 692 .
  6. ^ Dragoș Petrescu: Community-Building and Identity Politics in Gheorghiu-Dej's Romania, 1956-64 . In: Vladimir Tismaneanu (ed.): Stalinism Revisited . Central European University Press, 2009, ISBN 978-963-9776-55-5 , pp. 417 . Petrescu refers to figures from the publication Cronologia și geografiarepriunii comuniste din România: Recensǎmîntul populației concentraționare by Romulus Rusan, the head of the Memorial Sighet who died in 2016 .
  7. ↑ Romanian labor camp chief Ficior jailed for Periprava crimes. In: bbc.com . March 30, 2016, accessed November 10, 2021 .
  8. ^ Film The Great Communist Bank Robbery , 38:25 min f.
  9. ↑ a b Rebels with a cause. In: thejc.com. October 29, 2015, accessed November 9, 2021 .
  10. ↑ a b Povestea neştiută a suferinţei lui Ilie Nastase: "Tata suferea de inima, is l-au zdrobit boxerii de la Dinamo! De acolo mi se trage ura. ” In: gsp.ro. November 11, 2020, accessed November 9, 2021 (Romanian).
  11. ↑ a b c d e f g This is how the greatest money robbery took place in communist Eastern Europe. In: vice.com . November 3, 2021, accessed November 6, 2021 .
  12. ↑ a b c Cirniala, Ceaușescus police , p. 249.
  13. ^ Film The Great Communist Bank Robbery , 12:10 min f .; 1:04:50 h f.
  14. ↑ a b c d e Historia: Cel mai mare jaf din perioada comunistă. In: historia.ro. Retrieved November 9, 2021 (Romanian).
  15. ↑ a b Elisabeth Bouleanu: Misterul "afacerii Ioanid," marele jaf comunist: cum a dispărut o SUMA Enorma din Banca Naţională şi ce sa ascuns de fapt în spatele incidentului. In: adevarul.ro . May 19, 2016, accessed November 9, 2021 (Romanian).
  16. ^ Film The Great Communist Bank Robbery , 39:00 min f.
  17. ↑ a b c Cirniala, Ceaușescus police , p. 252.
  18. ↑ a b Cirniala, Ceaușescus police , p. 250.
  19. ↑ a b c Markus Fischer: Black comedy from a red past. In: adz.ro . March 13, 2014, accessed November 6, 2021 .
  20. ^ Film The Great Communist Bank Robbery , 7:38 min f.
  21. ^ Film The Great Communist Bank Robbery , 59:30 min f.
  22. ^ Dorian Galor: Arena: Marele jaf din 1959 la Banca Națională. In: bbc.co.uk. May 25, 2004, accessed November 7, 2021 .
  23. ↑ Country history Romania: 1963 - Biographical Lexicon. In: dissident.eu. Retrieved November 9, 2021 .
  24. ↑ "Interior" means the interior ministry for which Enoiu worked.
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  26. ^ The Great Communist Bank Robbery. In: en.cinepub.ro. September 30, 2005, accessed November 9, 2021 .
  27. ↑ Gheorghe Enoiu was never prosecuted for his actions and died unmolested in his home village of Măniceşti in 2010. See Cum a murit, neştiut de nimeni, torționarul comunist Gheorghe Enoiu. In: evz.ro. July 4, 2011, accessed November 11, 2021 (Romanian).
  28. ^ Film The Great Communist Bank Robbery , 48:40 min f.
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  30. ^ Film The Great Communist Bank Robbery , 34:15 min f.
  31. ^ Film The Great Communist Bank Robbery , 33:00 min f.
  32. ^ Film The Great Communist Bank Robbery , 41:50 min f.
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  36. ↑ Gheorghe Enoiu, bruta din din pivnitele Securitații. In: bzi.ro. October 14, 2013, accessed November 9, 2021 (Romanian).
  37. ^ The Great Communist Bank Robbery. In: en.cinepub.ro. September 30, 2005, accessed November 9, 2021 .
  38. ↑ Cirniala, Ceausescu's police , pp 244th
  39. ^ Romania hooks up with Hollywood to get Closer to the Moon. In: cineuropa.org. March 5, 2014, accessed November 9, 2021 .
  40. ^ Film The Great Communist Bank Robbery , 1: 09.40 h f.
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