Alexandru Nicolschi facts for kids

Alexandru Nicolschi (born Boris Grünberg, June 2, 1915 – April 16, 1992) was a powerful figure in Romania during the Communist era. He started as a Soviet secret agent and later became a high-ranking officer in the Securitate, Romania's secret police. Nicolschi was known for leading harsh political actions until 1961.

Alexandru Nicolschi's Life Story

Early Years and Joining the Communists

Alexandru Nicolschi was born Boris Grünberg in 1915 in Tiraspol, a city that was then part of Imperial Russia. His father was a miller. In 1932, when he was 17, he joined the local branch of the Romanian Union of Communist Youth. This group was connected to the Romanian Communist Party.

Because of his political activities, he was arrested for two weeks in 1933 by the Romanian secret police, called Siguranța Statului. Later in the 1930s, he became an important member of the Communist Party's leadership. From 1937 to 1939, he served in the military and worked for the telephone company in Chișinău.

Becoming a Soviet Agent

In December 1940, after the Soviet Union took over some parts of Romania, Grünberg became a Soviet citizen. He joined the NKVD, which was the Soviet secret police, and trained to be a spy. In May 1941, he was sent secretly into Romania. His mission was to report on the movements of the Romanian Army. This was happening just before Operation Barbarossa, when Nazi Germany and its allies, including Romania, invaded the Soviet Union.

However, Nicolschi was caught by Romanian border guards after only two hours. He was carrying fake papers and couldn't speak Romanian well, which gave him away. He confessed that the NKVD had recruited him. After a quick trial, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and hard labor. He was sent to prisons in Ploiești and then Aiud. During this time, he started using the name Alexandru Nicolschi and pretended to be ethnic Russian.

Leading the Detective Corps

In August 1944, the Red Army freed Nicolschi when they occupied Romania. He was also granted a general amnesty, meaning he was forgiven for his past crimes. By October, Nicolschi joined the police force as an inspector. He quickly moved up in the Communist Party as well.

In May 1945, after World War II ended in Europe, Nicolschi traveled to Moscow. There, he was given the job of bringing important Romanian prisoners, including Ion Antonescu (Romania's leader during the war), back to Romania to face trial.

Under the new Communist-controlled government led by Petru Groza, Nicolschi became the head of the Detective Corps. This group was part of the police. Nicolschi and the Minister of the Interior, Teohari Georgescu, made a deal with a former fascist group called the Iron Guard. They allowed members of this group to come out of hiding and get identity papers and jobs, as long as they gave up their weapons. This deal was made to weaken other political parties that opposed the Communists. Many Iron Guard members were released from labor camps and some even joined the Communist Party.

The Mobile Brigade and Securitate

Nicolschi later became a General Inspector of the traditional secret police, Siguranța Statului. Here, he helped create a new security force called the "Mobile Brigade." This unit was designed to silence people who opposed the Communist government. It was an early version of what would become the "Securitate," Romania's powerful secret police. At this time, Nicolschi also became a colonel in the Soviet secret police, the MGB.

Between 1946 and 1947, Nicolschi, along with Alexandru Drăghici, ordered many arrests. These arrests affected hundreds of thousands of people. In early 1948, after the Communist Party forced King Michael I to give up his throne, Nicolschi escorted the King out of the country. Later that year, Nicolschi helped organize trials for "sabotage," where industrialists were accused of destroying their own businesses to resist the government taking them over.

Later Life and Retirement

Even though Nicolschi was connected to a group within the Communist Party that later lost power, he managed to stay important. This was because he had strong ties to the Soviet secret police. He was even given a high award, the Steaua Republicii Populare Române. In 1953, he became a General Secretary in the Interior Ministry.

In 1961, the Romanian leader, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, started to distance Romania from the Soviet Union. As a result, Nicolschi, who had been promoted to Lieutenant General, was forced to retire. However, he still enjoyed a comfortable life, like other high-ranking officials. In 1971, he received another award, the Order of Tudor Vladimirescu [de].

Nicolschi lived through the years when Nicolae Ceaușescu ruled Romania. He died in Bucharest in 1992, two years after the Romanian Revolution of 1989. He died from a heart attack on the same day he was supposed to appear in court. The Prosecutor General had called him to answer questions after receiving complaints from families of victims and an association of former political prisoners. The next day, he was cremated.

Some people have suggested that the early Securitate was mostly controlled by people from ethnic minorities in Romania. However, historian Dennis Deletant has studied this and found that most of the Securitate's leaders were ethnically Romanian. He counted Nicolschi as an ethnic Russian in his study. Deletant concluded that while there were more people from ethnic minorities in leadership roles than their share of the population, the numbers were not extremely high.