Ionel Jora was the third child of a working-class family from the port of Galați; his parents, Ion and Tudorița, were under the surveillance of Siguranța, Romania's secret police before World War II, for their communist convictions.

The cell held several clandestine meetings and on the night 12–13 December 1940 organised the distribution of manifestos directed at the shipyard employees, workers of the port and the general populace.

[2] In the early days of 1941, as Romania's dictator Ion Antonescu was aligning the country closer with Nazi Germany, Jora was involved in spreading anti-fascist flyers in his native town.

After one member of the cell was apprehended during the action, the local police quickly rounded up all suspected communists in the city, including Jora and his brother.

[1][2] After a trial that lasted only four days, on 10 February 1941 the Military Tribunal of the 3rd Army Corps sentenced the Jora brothers to five years of penal labour and civic degradation each.

[9][7] Dissatisfied with this position, in early 1948 Ionel Jora requested to enrol in the Siguranța, soon to become the General Directorate for the Security of the People, joining as a lieutenant.

[7][11][8] In February 1950 Jora was assigned to lead a team in capturing a former member of the Gendarmerie accused of war crimes who had been hiding in Dâmbovița County.

Bârlădeanu initially denied involvement in Jora's death, however he acknowledged it after the officer suggested he would join him in forming an anti-communist group in the Apuseni Mountains.

[15] Romanian realist sculptor Vasile Vedeș dedicated a bust to the Securitate officer, currently on display in the Museum of Visual Art of Galați.