When we arrived in Pitesti, Romania Pastor Cristi wanted us to know what we were walking into: War.
No, Romania isn't at war and hasn't been at war in recent history, but their people have been prisoners to the shackles of harsh communist rule that just ended in 1989.
I wasn't aware of the history, and perhaps many of you readers aren't either, so I'll catch you up:
In the 1940's Romanian President Ceausescu morphed from the 'people's choice for president' into a tyrannical communist dictator. He set up 'camps' all over the country to 're-educate' the people that stood up against communism.
<This was a map of Romania's dark history of Communism – these were prisons, torture camps, extermination centers, etc>
Pitesti, the city we live in (pronounced "Pi-tesht") was instituted as an "experimental ground" where Ceausescu pioneered the first "Experiment in Re-Education by Torture."
And it was exactly what it sounds like: A Torture Center.
They targeted the educated: college students, lawyers, architects, any one with the intellectual likelihood of challenging the communist ideals. They also targeted people of faith: Christians and Jews, alike.
Why? Because people with faith are harder to break.
And breaking people was what these communist bullies were in the business to do.
This is how it went down: people were told they had a 'meeting with a government official', they'd show up to this inconspicuous office building, and then they'd disappear. The 'Experiment in Re-Education by Torture' was underground; it was basements and tunnels underneath this regular looking office building– which we visited!
We also watched a documentary about this Pitesti Experiment of Re-Education (1949-1952). People were tortured in unimaginable ways, both physically and mentally. We learned about a particular survivor, Richard Wrumbrand who was a prisoner in the Pitesti experiment. He later founded 'The Voice of the Martyrs,' which I've heard of somewhere before. Learning about the ways these people suffered because they refused to embrace the communist way of life was nothing short of horrifying.
As the 'Experiment' continued, they were taking so many prisoners that they were literally running out of prison guards to do the torturing. So what did they do? They would promise the prisoners freedom in exchange for their service. They turned the tortured into the torturers. They turned Romanian against Romanian.
Empty promises of freedom in exchange for torturing their fellow countrymen.
This went on for years. And lots of people didn't even know it was happening! Some people still don't know it happened. How? Well, because everything was kept pretty well under wraps. It still is. The office building that was the 'Torture Center'- it's still standing. It just looks like an abandoned old office building. People walk by it every day. At the end of Ceausescu's rule, they poured cement into the underground basements and tunnels so that no one would ever know the atrocities that took place down there. And it worked.
<this was the building>
"So why is the building not turned into a 'museum' or a 'memorial' to those who died there?" I asked. "Well, because a lot of the torturers are still alive and living in the city. It's too soon," Pastor Cristi told me. "What? They weren't punished?" "Nope," I was informed.
Whaaaaaat? How did this all go down?
So what happened was President Ceausescu slowly went from Socialist President into Communist Ruler into Crazy Tyrant Dictator. Towards the end of his rule, he didn't even want any individual families to have the ability to buy their own food. He wanted everyone to eat together in the town squares- sharing everything and having nothing of their own.
It was then that his regime, his own buddies, realized that he had totally went off the deep end. So one of his own regime- a friend- rallied the people into a revolution, organized his assassination, and then took over as President. So everybody who was a part of the old communist crew stayed on; Minus Ceausescu, who was dead, of course. They cemented over the Torture & Extermination Centers, brought in some new faces to the regime –often times friends and family of the old crew, and just started over.
A big brush under the rug and no looking back.
And that's how it ended.
No punishments, no museums, no memorials, the torturors and the tortured living side by side.
Pastor Cristi says he remembers accompanying his dad one time when he was called into the Police Station for questioning. His dad was asked at gunpoint if he was a Christian. Then told to watch himself. Cristi was just a little kid at the time, but you never forget the face of someone who pulls a gun on your dad.
Cristi says he still sees that old man walking around town sometimes.
CRAZY, eh?
Cristi's Dad was targeted because he was open about his faith and, unbeknownst to the communist police, Cristi's dad actually smuggled bibles into Romani from the Hungarian border. Cristi told me that his dad would stop and change cars 5 TIMES on his way from Arad (the border) to Pitesti. He had to change cars and watch his back because he could've been killed for smuggling bibles into the country.
Isn't that SO awesome?
He was targeted correctly! But he still lives! And though his profession was as a mechanic, he now is retired and spends much of his time preaching 😉
Cristi wanted us to know all this history so we might understand what we're up against: we are shining light into a society with a dark, cryptic, and very recent past.
During my time in Pitesti, I have spent almost everyday with the kids of Razboieni — a rough part of town where our church, Living Hope, does kids outreach. We taught English classes, bible stories, songs, and games — all while trying to keep the kids from yelling and fighting and hitting one another, as they often do.
And why shouldn't they?
The name of their neighborhood: "Razboieni" means 'WAR'.
That is what we've been up against.
But lemme tell you, God has moved in a big way during our time here- and it's been an honor to be a part of it 😉
Even the darkness is not dark to You, Lord. You make the night is as bright as day.
Psalm 139:12
Feed the hungry, and help the oppressed. Then your light will shine out from the darkness,
and the darkness around you will be as bright as day.
Isaiah 58:10
