Marcel Pauker

In 1922, he became a member of the Central Committee and the Politburo, and was sent as delegate to the Balkan Communist Federation Conferences in Sofia (June 1922) and Berlin (1923).

His activities brought him to the attention of the Romanian authorities: he was arrested and sentenced first to ten years imprisonment, and then to labour for life.

Marcel Pauker got involved in a political fight with Vitali Holostenco, reflecting the struggle between the Bucharest section and that of the Ukrainian SSR that had taken hold of the Party's wing inside the Soviet Union around the proceedings of the 4th Congress in Kharkiv.

He fell victim to the Great Purge: arrested by the NKVD on March 21, 1937 and held in the infamous Taganka Prison, Marcel Pauker was first interrogated over a year later, being presented with the charge of espionage in favour of Romania.

While Gheorghiu-Dej was exercising a looser control of the society, he was not ready to question most of the Stalinist measures, as these had served to enforce his own rule during the previous decade.

Largely thanks to circumstances, Ana Pauker was able to survive her husband's downfall, and she even reached the peak of her political career in the following years.