Lieutenant Toma Arnautoiu was one of the heroes of the
\nanti-communist resistance in Romania. He was born on February 14, 1921.
\nArnautoiu was one of the leaders of the longest-lasting groups of partisans in
\nMuscel area, in central Romania, actually on the southern slope of Fagaras Mountains.<\/p>\n
\n
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We recall that Muscel is arguably the core area where
\nthe literary variety of standard Romanian was formed. Throughout the centuries,
\nMuscel was inhabited by free, acceptably well-to-do peasants, while its seat,
\nthe town of Campulung, has a remarkable multicultural history. People from
\nMuscel have always benefitted from administrative autonomy. They also had close
\nconnections with the principality of Transylvania, lying over the Carpathians. <\/p>\n
\n
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Lieutenant Toma Arnautoiu was a member of the cultural
\nelite of the commune of Nucsoara. Toma was the third child of a primary school
\nteacher. His elder brother, Ion, a cavalry officer, was killed in action in
\nCrimea, in 1943. In 2000, Toma Arnautoiu’s sister, Elena Florea Ioan, gave an
\ninterview to Radio Romania’s Oral History Center. That’s how we found out
\nprimary school teacher Arnautoiu’s family was one of the most respected
\nfamilies in the commune of Nucsoara. The family had strong values and
\nprinciples. <\/p>\n
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Elena Florea Ioan:<\/p>\n
\n
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My heartfelt, very special gratitude goes to my mother, who brought us up
\nharmoniously, guiding me and teaching me everything, so that I , when I would
\nbe completely on my own later in life, could be able to cope with all the hardships
\nthat occurred. As for father, with his tender-heartedness and kindness, I could
\nnever annoy him. I couldn’t possibly upset them and proof of that stands the
\nfact that everything they advised me I had no problem complying with that. They
\nsort of denied me furthering my own education so that the lads could push
\nthemselves forward, go to university, and suchlike. And when it was about time
\nfor me to marry, that’s true, there were also my parents who chose my would-be
\nhusband for me and I could never say they made a mistake. They always guided me
\nto take the right path, teaching me to be honest, hardworking, respectful and
\nbehave in society so that I could not embarrass myself in front of anybody.<\/p>\n
\n
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<\/p>\n
Toma Arnautoiu was wounded on the frontline. He got
\nadmitted to the Royal Guard Battalion, an elite military unit. After August 23,
\n1944, yet another fateful page would be written in Romanian history, the
\nmilitary occupation and the instatement of a pro-communist government on march
\n6, 1946. Arnautoiu got fired from the army in 1947. In 1948 he left for
\nBucharest to pursue a study program with the Business Academy. It was there
\nthat young Toma and 30, 40 other colleagues got to know colonel Arsenescu.
\nTogether they drew up a plan to mount a group of partisans capable of fighting
\nin the mountains against the government. The group implemented the plan in
\n1949. Also joining the group was Toma’s younger brother, Petre. Elena
\nFlorea Ioan gave her own account of how the partisans, lead by her
\nbrother, got help from the locals in Nucsoara. But soon the skirmishes began,
\nwith the troops of the Interior Ministry. <\/p>\n
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They were being sent food, there, in
\nthe mountains, they got whatever else they needed, but the Securitate began to
\nguard the commune and there was no leeway for them to go feed them any longer.
\nAnd despair seized them, there, in the mountains, they had no food, they had
\nnothing of what they needed. One night they climbed down into the village, came
\nto our home, and someone who was around, an informer, Ileana and I don’t know
\nwhat her other name was, announced the Securitate. The informer was a
\nscrubwoman working on a dairy farm. And then an entire regiment came after
\nthem. They had a clash with the Securitate, a Securitate non-commissioned
\nofficer even died there.<\/p>\n
\n
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As soon as the Arnautoiu brothers went up in the
\nmountains, the Securitate arrested the whole family, the parents, their sister,
\nher husband, Petre’s wife. She was investigated many times, and from what she
\ncould recall, Elena Florea Ioan reminisced about an episode that occurred in
\nthe Pitesti prison. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
For the second time around I got
\nsentenced to five years in prison, an administrative sentence on the grounds of
\nomission to inform the authorities in right. The reason was that I had got wind
\nof my brothers being in the mountains, that I did not help the Securitate
\napprehend them. Time and again they arrested me, they summoned me telling me to
\ngo search them, to go there as their sister. I kept telling them I had not
\nhelped them and they were astounded, during the interrogation, because I had
\nnot helped them. When I was in prison in Pitesti, one night a colonel came from
\nBucharest and interrogated me, it was 1 or 2 in the dead of night. He pulled my
\nshirt so hard my buttons snapped, asking me why as their sister did not offer
\nthem my help, whereas other 100 or more wretches helped them?<\/p>\n
\n
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In 1958, in the wake of 9 years of harassing, the
\nMuscel resistance group was apprehended. The Securitate framed them, promising
\nthem passports so they could leave Romania. The passports were offered through
\na friend of Toma’s and the heads of the group were seized in a shepherd’s
\nhouse. Back then Arnautoiu was caught and with him, his two-year old daughter
\nand her mother, Maria Plop. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Elena Florea Ioan:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
That friend of theirs, he went there
\nwith some plum brandy and with narcotics poured in the drink, he was also
\ncarrying their passports. And while they were chatting, he poured them a cup of
\nthe plum brandy. Toma refused the drink, Petrica drank a cup of that plum
\nbrandy. And while they were having their chat and planning their way out of the
\ncountry the Securitate people were right outside, they came and seized Toma. He
\nfought back, they knew he had a little poison envelope sewn into the lapel so
\nhe couldn’t be caught alive if they ever got seized. They darted at him
\nstraight away and took the poison envelope as Toma was still fighting. Petrica
\nhad the time to escape while Toma was still fighting them. He crossed over a
\nwatercourse and as he was climbing up a hill somebody saw him and denounced
\nhim. They chased him with a sniffer dog and they found him too, with the
\nbelt strapped around his neck, trying to commit suicide.<\/p>\n
\n
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The investigation for the members of the group lasted
\nover a year. They were caught on May 20, 1958. On the night of July 18 to July
\n19, 1959, Toma Arn\u0103u\u021boiu, his brother Petre and 14 other people who for nine
\nyears helped them were shot. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
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Lieutenant Toma Arnautoiu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":50395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41141],"tags":[32441,39785,42887,42886,42888],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-131184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-history-show","tag-communism","tag-fight","tag-informer","tag-lapel","tag-seize"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n