Open letter to

Mr. Klaus Iohannis, President of Romania

Mr. Nicolae Ciucă, Prime-Minister of Romania

MR. Lucian Romașcanu, Minister of Culture

In the context of a part of the building of the former penitentiary in Pitesti facing the danger of demolition, we request your involvement in finalising the definitive listing of the entire complex of the former prison as a heritage and protected site. Pitesti Prison was functional during the communist dictatorship and is considered one of the most terrible penitentiaries for political prisoners in the communist world. The complex of the former prison is composed of three connected buildings and two independent constructions situated on 30 Negru Voda street, Pitesti and it is owned by multiple private companies. We consider it absolutely urgent to preserve and protect the building from any intention of demolition.

     A part of the former prison building was listed as a Memorial Ensemble, category A, by the Ministry of Culture's Listing Order no. 2201/20.05.2009 (currently owned by the Pitesti Prison Memorial Foundation), as an urgent measure in the face of the danger of it being demolished at the time. This fact does not mean, however, that the rest of the building is not of major historical and memorial importance, despite the changes occurred to it over time. We mention that the building of the former Pitesti prison was included in Romania's tentative list of UNESCO world heritage sites in 2019.

     Pitesti prison was built in 1941, being the most modern prison in the country at that time. After 1944, political prisoners from across the political spectrum were brought here. Between 1949 and 1951, the communist authorities applied here the violent action known today as the "Pitesti Experiment/Phenomenon". More than 600 students were tortured to denounce their anti-communist activities and forced to dissociate themselves from their family, friends and all moral values. Finally, in order to prove that they had truly become new individuals, they were asked to become aggressors for other victims. From the summer of 1951, members and supporters of the anti-communist resistance group "The Muscel Outlaws" were imprisoned here, and later, people accused of espionage. The penitentiary was relocated in a different town in 1977 and the building of the former prison became the headquarters of the Pitesti Industrial Construction Trust, a state-owned company. In the 1991, the Construction Trust was privatized. As a result, each of the several companies with private capital that emerged owned distinct areas of the building of the former prison. A part of the former penitentiary was transformed into a memorial museum by the Pitesti Prison Memorial Foundation, a private foundation, in 2014. After 1991, each owner modified their respective section of the building differently, but it can be seen, even today, that the facades and the configuration of the construction are similar to what is found in the original architectural plans and in images from the 1990s.

     In the list published online by Pitesti City Hall, on 11.01.2021, the owner of the section of the formr prison known as the "cells building", Conarg SA, obtained the Urban Planning Certificate for the demolition of the building in Negru Voda street, as well as for building a collective housing block (positions 40, 41).

Through address no. 2/15.03.2021, the Pitesti Prison Memorial Foundation took knowledge of the situation and requested the emergency listing of the entire building in order to protect it, address communicated to the Ministry of Culture and the County Department for Culture Argeș, together with the necessary documents for this action. Through the response of the General Department of Culture Argeș dated 12.04.2021, we were informed that the members of the Record Department of the National Commission of Historical Monuments "encourage the initiation of the emergency listing procedure and the preparation of the listing documentation according to the methodological norms".

Through address no. 8/09.12.2021 we mentioned the importance of including in the listing the two buildings located at 30A Negru Voda street, Pitesti (currently National Liberal Party headquarters), respectively 30 Negru Voda street, Pitesti (Reintegration Center of the Colibași Penitentiary), part of the complex of the former Pitesti penitentiary.

Having no answer on the definitive listing of the former penitentiary complex, with address no. 2/23.05.2022 we sent an entire file consisting of documents such as: a historical study for the building of the former prison in Pitesti, plans showing the entire prison complex, research and testimonies related to the experiences of former political prisoners, images and archival documents. We have not received a response to our last addresses, which worries us, given that it is possible that, in the absence of the definitive listing of the building, any of the owners can receive a demolition or a building permit.

     We remind you of the special importance of the building section in the property of Conarg SA as well as the rest of the building that has not yet been classified, given the fact that these sections housed the cells for prisoners, used almost exclusively for political detention between 1944-1964.

The basement (level -2) of this particular section is preserved closest to the original state of the former penitentiary. We insist that every element of the former prison be classified as a historical monument and protected precisely because each one is an undeniable witness of the horrors that happened during the communist dictatorship in this penitentiary. Moreover, each preserved element contributes to an overview of the entire complex, to the enrichment of the material and immaterial heritage of Romania, to the preservation of the memory of the historical events that took place here and to the enrichment of historical research regarding the concentration system in communist Romania.

We also draw attention to the aesthetic and ethical aspects of a residential block on the very site where hundreds of anti-communist men and women, young and old, were interrogated, tortured and starved by the communist regime. The complex of the former prison, torn apart in the event of a demolition, would become suffocated and attached to a completely different and unsuitable construction in terms of utility and appearance.

In addition, the building that aims to be demolished is structurally linked to the rest of the building, and there is no specialized technical study to establish the exact state of the structure of the entire construction, nor the consequences of the demolition on the rest of the building. We express our deep concern over the fact that the demolition may affect the buildings where the Pitesti Prison Memorial currently operates.

     At a time when a space is being sought with difficulty for the future Museum of the Horrors of Communism, recently established, it would be a crime to allow the destruction of a part of the former Pitesti Penitentiary. The fact that Romania has allocated funds to create new museums of communism and is making huge efforts to save the building of the prison in Ramnicu Sarat is a strong signal of the importance of preserving these witnesses of recent history for the Romanian society and for the European culture.

     Finally, we reflect on the thought that the communist regime allowed the survival of the building of the former prison in Pitesti, even if giving it different uses, and we express our concern that precisely the current democratic regime might allow the destruction of one of the last communist prisons still existing in Romania. 

Considering the situation detalied above and taking into account your latest statements on the importance of knowing and researching the horrors of communism, we, the signatories of this open letter, once again ask you to order the completion of the procedure for the definitive listing of the entire complex of the former Pitesti prison located on 30 Negru Voda street, Pitesti.

Yours sincerely,

Maria Axinte

President and Founder of Pitesti Prison Memorial

contact@pitestiprison.org

+4 0734 365 102

Signatories:

Sergiu Rizescu, former political prisoner, President of The Association of Former Political Prisoners in Romania

Marek Mutor, President of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience

Ana Blandiana, President of the Civic Academy Foundation– Memorial to the Victims of Communism

Ioana Boca, Executive Director The Civic Academy Foundation– Memorial to the Victims of Communism Marius Oprea, historian

Ion-Andrei Gherasim, Executive President of the Corneliu Coposu Foundation

Cosmin Budeancă, Historian, Memoria Cultural Foundation 

Alin Mureșan, historian, President of The Center or the Study of Contemporary History

Lucian Vasile, historian, President of The Association for Education and Urban Development 

Mădălina Mirea, muzeologist and curator

Alexandru Groza, Manager of the Museum of the Horrors of Communism

Irina Hasnaș Hubbard, member ICOM, ICMEMO

Gino Rado, President of the Revolution Memorial in Timisoara

Alexandru Paleologu, President of the Paleologu Foundation

Mihai Alexandrescu, Manager of the Brătianu National Museum

Flori Bălănescu, historian, National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism

Clara Mareș, historian

Emanuel Costoiu, historian

Filip Petcu, Manager of the National Art Museum in Timisoara

Teodor Baconschi, writer and diplomat

Catalin Nedelcu, history teacher

Cosmin Năsui, art historian, PostModernism Museum Association