17 Facts About Paul Niculescu-Mizil

Paul Niculescu-Mizil was kept under surveillance by the secret police, was prosecuted during the famous Dealul Spirii Trial, and stood as a pro-communist candidate during the 1922 election.

Paul Niculescu-Mizil was a student at the military officers' school in Ploiesti during the war, and right after King Michael's Coup, his unit was sent to help retake Northern Transylvania.

Paul Niculescu-Mizil taught at the Stefan Gheorghiu Academy from 1946 to 1950, and was deputy rector and rector there between 1950 and 1954.

Paul Niculescu-Mizil entered the PMR's history institute in 1954, holding positions near the top.

Paul Niculescu-Mizil joined the central committee of the PMR at the end of 1955, and would remain a member until 1989.

Paul Niculescu-Mizil headed the PMR's propaganda and agitation section between 1956 and 1965, where, as Leonte Rautu's deputy, he was one of the few persons with access to the latter's house, and backed his strident attacks on Romanian culture.

Paul Niculescu-Mizil played a key role in introducing national Stalinism to Romania and in ensuring the presence of a compliant intelligentsia.

Until the death of Gheorghiu-Dej in 1965, Paul Niculescu-Mizil was a consistent supporter, and helped distance Romania from the Soviet Union beginning in 1964.

Paul Niculescu-Mizil began holding these positions several months after Gheorghiu-Dej died and Nicolae Ceausescu came to power in March 1965.

Paul Niculescu-Mizil portrayed himself as an intellectual, and was viewed as one of the party's ideologues, indeed as its most prominent one after Rautu was marginalized in 1965.

Paul Niculescu-Mizil sat in the Great National Assembly from 1957 to 1961 and from 1965 to 1989, successively representing areas in Galati, Timis, Arad, Bacau, and Satu Mare counties.

Paul Niculescu-Mizil became a marginal figure in the 1980s, despite remaining on the executive committee.

Paul Niculescu-Mizil headed Centrocoop, a cooperative union, from 1981 to 1989, and it was the start of his tenure there that marked his real diminution in power.

Paul Niculescu-Mizil was arrested and sent to prison, accused of direct involvement in repressing revolutionary activities in Timisoara and Bucharest, and was incarcerated until 1992.

Paul Niculescu-Mizil discussed the regime during numerous talk-show appearances, where he was countered by representatives of anti-communist civil society groups, and published his memoirs.

Paul Niculescu-Mizil died of heart disease and his body was displayed for public viewing at the Finance Ministry he once headed.

Paul Niculescu-Mizil was buried at Cernica Monastery following a Romanian Orthodox service.