Cluj, Romania - Our readers are kindly asked to read the following article bearing in mind that some of the characters in this story might have religious responsibilities in today's Romania.

Similar cases have been found in all ex-communist countries, where a political police existed (such as STASI in the former German Democratic Republic). After the fall of the iron curtain, the victims of this police state stepped forward to request the names and the social blame for these "secret" agents. But this was not easy.

The problems
First of all, the entire process of exposing agents who used blackmail to reach their goal must take place in the presence of a special law. Following this, Bulgaria was not able to reach a consensus in this sense and gave up the democratic process of reaching for this law. They have simply forbidden anyone inside the state institutions to bring forward this issue anymore. In Romania, until 1996, the political will to uncover the past of the secret service protecting the Communist party was inexistent, mainly because Romania had only governments formed by the Social Democrat Party which, in that period was a party protecting the former communists, converted to democracy. In 1996, the democratic opposition came to power and immediately started to manifest their political will to make public the secret archives of the Securitate (the official name of the communist secret service, the political police). But it's easier to be said than done. First of all, the law waited almost 4 years before it was passed. Then, during the parliamentary discussions, the text of the law was severely modified, managing to upset all the parties involved. Finally, in the years after 2000, Romania created The National Council for Studying the Securitate Archives (NCSSA). This institution inherited some of the archives describing the agents and their activity from the Securitate, having as a goal to give verdicts in each case studied. This also is not very easy, because after almost each verdict given, the people involved refused to recognize it, saying they were deceived, wrongly involved or simply "it's just a misunderstanding". Lawsuits are a regular end to these cases.

"Lustration"
Lustration law is a law forbidding former collaborators, agents and people involved in the doings of the political police to run for public offices, to occupy public functions. In Czech Republic the law was adopted in the first years after the "velvet revolution" and was followed by a wave public debate related to the use of this law and to the goal it might reach. Words like "witch hunting" and "stirring the mud" were very present in this debate. This atmosphere characterizes today's Romania.

The Orthodox Church was also implicated in this process. As a whole, but also through some central figures of today. First of all, after the fall of communism in Romania, the Churches that were forced to end their activity (especially the Greek-Catholic Church) came back to life and started a campaign against the Orthodox Church, blaming it for collaborationism with the communist state and with the instruments of oppression (such as Securitate). This blame was hard to dismiss, because all the former Greek-catholic parishes came under the rule of the orthodox Holy Synod, making it very explicit they were interested in the disappearance of the Greek-Catholic Church. But what is more important, the Orthodox Church has at least the same number of martyrs in the communist churches as do the Greek-catholic.

Another blame comes in the form of personal responsibilities. In the '90ies, several Orthodox bishops were accused of collaborating with the Securitate. Some of them admitted their guilt, in an unprecedented gesture for today's Romania. Still, it is feared the lustration law will probably uncover people with Church responsibilities that collaborated with the communist apparatus.

Future
The president of Romania came forward these days to say Romania must not enter EU with the files from Securitate untouched. So, Romanians expect more debate and, maybe, more truth coming to light. Until now, the NCSSA gave verdicts in the case of some very charismatic politicians and state men and women. It's moral justice these laws are aiming for and morality cannot stay out of the Churches. So, probably, the Church men and women are next.

In the end two texts published in the Romanian press about the current issue. One is a great example of what is inside of a former Securitate officer's mind, a known member in the fear and crime political apparatus. The second is a text written by Vladimir Tismaneanu, Romanian dissident and professor of politology at the University of Maryland.

Interview with Ilie Merce, former securists
Vladimir Tismaneanu: The Need for Moral Clarity

Did you enjoy this article? Please bookmark it onto:

Be first to comment this article

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.