Valeriu Gafencu

Valeriu Gafencu
Valeriu Gafencu
	Gafencu on a 2021 stamp of Moldova
Personal details
Born	24 January 1921; Sîngerei, Kingdom of Romania (now in Moldova)
Died	18 February 1952 (aged 31); Târgu Ocna, Romanian People's Republic
Denomination	Romanian Orthodox Christian
Parents	Vasile Gafencu (father)

Valeriu Gafencu (24 January 1921 – 18 February 1952) was a Romanian Orthodox theologian^{[citation needed]} and Legionnaire who was active during the Legionary Rebellion. Arrested by the Communist authorities, he died at [ro] after being tortured for years.^{[citation needed]}

Known as the Saint of the Prisons (a nicknamed bestowed upon him by Nicolae Steinhardt), the Romanian Orthodox Church is considering his canonization.^[1]

Biography[]

Cross erected in memory of detainees at Târgu Ocna Prison; Gafencu's photograph is at the base of the cross

Gafencu was born in 1921 in Sîngerei, at the time a city in Bessarabia, a region in the northeastern part of Romania (now in the Republic of Moldova). He attended high school in Bălţi, where Eugen Coșeriu, Sergiu Grossu, Vadim Pirogan, Ovidiu Creangă and Valentin Mândâcanu were his classmates.^[2] Shortly after he graduated in 1940, the Soviet Union occupied Bessarabia and northern Bukovina; as a result, Gafencu and his family took refuge in Romania.

Gafencu is now an honorary citizen of the town of Târgu Ocna.^[3]

References[]

^ Valeriu Gafencu: “Elevii sunt un explozibil mai puternic decât dinamita!”. Consiliulul Local Tg. Ocna menține titlul de cetățean de onoare acordat acestuia post-mortem
^ "Un apostol al Neamului Românesc". Literatura şi Arta.
^ Alexandru Florian, Indiana University Press, 2018, Holocaust Public Memory in Postcommunist Romania, p. 194

[1] Valeriu Gafencu: “Elevii sunt un explozibil mai puternic decât dinamita!”. Consiliulul Local Tg. Ocna menține titlul de cetățean de onoare acordat acestuia post-mortem

[2] "Un apostol al Neamului Românesc". Literatura şi Arta.

[3] Alexandru Florian, Indiana University Press, 2018, Holocaust Public Memory in Postcommunist Romania, p. 194

[1]

[2]

[3]

show v t Anti-communism in Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina (1917–1991)
Political entities	Bessarabia Bukovina Moldavian Democratic Republic Moldavian ASSR Moldavian SSR
Events	Soviet occupation Soviet deportations Romania during World War II Fântâna Albă massacre Tatarka common graves Operation North 1989 Moldovan civil unrest
Anti-Soviet organizations	Arcașii lui Ștefan Black Army Democratic Agrarian Party Freedom Party Democratic Union of Freedom Sabia Dreptăţii "Vasile Lupu" High School Group Vocea Basarabiei
Activists and dissidents	Alexandru Baltagă Filimon Bodiu Olimpiada Bodiu Gheorghe Briceag Ion Codreanu Valeriu Gafencu Gheorghe Ghimpu Pan Halippa Eufrosinia Kersnovskaya Ion Moraru Vasile Odobescu Ion Pelivan Vadim Pirogan Ion Vasilenco Victor Zâmbrea
Persecutors	NKVD KGB Securitate Ivan Bodiul Pyotr Grigoryevich Borodin
Organisations, places, events	Literatura și Arta Popular Front of Moldova Stephen the Great Monument Marea Adunare Naţionalǎ Glasul Deşteptarea Memorial to Victims of Stalinist Repression Monument to the Victims of the Soviet Occupation Muzeul Memoriei Neamului
1988–1991 people	Nicolae Costin Nicolae Dabija Mircea Druc Gheorghe Ghimpu Ion Hadîrcǎ Dumitru Matcovschi
Political diaspora	Anton Crihan Paul Goma Nicolae Lupan Grigore Singurel
See also Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Moldova

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