Caransebeș Prison

Until the 1944 coup, prisoners included Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, Chivu Stoica, Miron Constantinescu, Nicolae Ceaușescu, Alexandru Drăghici, Ion Vincze, Emil Bodnăraș, Teohari Georgescu, Iosif Chișinevschi, Ana Pauker, Gheorghe Pintilie, Athanase Joja [ro], and Pavel Câmpeanu.

[1] The future politburo of the Romanian Communist Party, aside from Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu and those who lived in Moscow during World War II, was composed of former Caransebeș inmates.

The workshops, open eight hours a day, specialized in carpentry, polishing furniture, carving stone, lathing wood, making boots and iron objects, painting (the latter was led by Ceaușescu for a time).

They were allowed to sell their products in front of the prison: toys, cigarette cases, chessboards, boxes.

He shared a cell with Stoica and Drăghici, who formed a command nucleus; their contact with other prisoners was not restricted.

One evening in late 1941, the anniversary of the October Revolution was celebrated by performing Nikolai Gogol’s Government Inspector.

Members of the Romanian anti-communist resistance movement active in the Banat Mountains passed through the prison.

A number of executions took place inside the prison, including three partisans shot in August 1951; there are reports of mass graves nearby.