13 Facts About Teohari Georgescu

Teohari Georgescu was a Romanian statesman and a high-ranking member of the Romanian Communist Party.

Teohari Georgescu became a member of the party's Central Committee and its secretariat, participating in secret meetings, organising strikes, and spreading leaflets.

Teohari Georgescu was released after the arrival of the Red Army in August 1944, and at Ana Pauker's suggestion he became undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Interior on November 4.

Teohari Georgescu was well-qualified for the clandestine work the job required: in 1940, in Moscow, Georgescu had received training, coordinated by Georgi Dimitrov, from NKVD agents; he learned both the secret code for corresponding with the Comintern, and a special technique for writing its messages on glass.

Teohari Georgescu served on the Politburo, was the Secretary of the Party's Central Committee, and ran the United Workers' Front, which coordinated the actions of communists and social democrats.

Teohari Georgescu was instrumental in setting up the administrative divisions of the Romanian People's Republic on the Soviet model.

In January 1952, General Secretary Gheorghiu-Dej travelled to Moscow to seek Joseph Stalin's approval for purging the leadership of the Romanian Communist Party, accusing Pauker, Luca, and Teohari Georgescu of fomenting factional intrigue; Vyacheslav Molotov intervened on behalf of Pauker, whereas Lavrentiy Beria defended Teohari Georgescu.

Teohari Georgescu was accused of a conciliatory stance regarding Luca's deviation and, ironically, of insufficient militancy against the class enemy and revolutionary vigilance.

Unlike the other two, he had not spent World War II in Moscow, but the Comintern's suggestion in 1940 that Teohari Georgescu be made General Secretary kept Gheorghiu-Dej wary of his influence.

Teohari Georgescu confessed guilt to all charges, but was nevertheless released in April 1956.

Teohari Georgescu returned to his old workplace, Cartea Romaneasca, now called "Intreprinderea 13 Decembrie", first working as a proofreader and then being appointed manager before retiring in 1963.

Teohari Georgescu was appointed candidate member of the Central Committee at the party's 1972 national conference, holding the post until 1974.

Teohari Georgescu died in obscurity; after cremation, his ashes were placed in the Monument of the Heroes for the Freedom of the People and of the Motherland, for Socialism in Bucharest's Carol Park, being removed after the Romanian Revolution of 1989.