Aurel_Aldea
Aurel Aldea (18 March 1887 – 17 October 1949) was a Romanian general, Interior Minister, and anti-communist resistance leader.
Aurel Aldea | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1887-03-18)18 March 1887 Slatina, Olt County, Kingdom of Romania |
| Died | 17 October 1949(1949-10-17) (aged 62) Aiud Prison, Aiud, Alba County, Romania |
| Allegiance |  Kingdom of Romania |
| Service/ | Army |
| Years of service | 1908–1945 |
| Rank | 2nd Lieutenant (1908) 1st Lieutenant (1911) Captain (1916) Major (1917) Lieutenant Colonel (1923) Colonel (1928) Brigadier General (1936) Major General (1940) Lieutenant General (1944) |
| Commands held | 4th Infantry Division |
| Battles/wars | Second Balkan War World War I World War II |
| Alma mater | Higher War School |
| Minister of Internal Affairs | |
| In office 23 August 1944 – 3 November 1944 | |
| Prime Minister | Constantin Sănătescu |
| Preceded by | Dimitrie I. Popescu [ro] |
| Succeeded by | Nicolae Penescu |
| Other work | Anti-communist resistance leader (1945–46) |
Aurel Aldea was born in Slatina, Olt County on 28 March 1887. He graduated from the Artillery and Engineering Military School of Iași, after which he was sent to Germany to the Preparatory School of Military Officers of Hanover (1907–1912) and to the Military Technical Academy of Charlottenburg, where he had his internship at the 23rd Artillery Regiment in Koblenz.[1]
In 1912 Aldea was recalled to Romania to participate in the Second Balkan War, and in 1913 he graduated from the Higher War School. He served in World War I as a battery commander, and participated in the battles from Dobrogea and Bucharest.
In the interwar period Aldea worked within the General Staff of the Romanian Armed Forces in the Transport Division and Historic Service, Head of Staff of the 11th Infantry Division and 1st Army Corps, then commander of the 23rd Artillery Regiment. Between 1935 and 1938 he was the commander of the Artillery Brigade, after which he was appointed Secretary General of the Ministry of Army Endowment and Commander of the 11th Infantry Division (autumn 1938) and 4th Infantry Division (April 1939).[1]
In June 1940, during the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina, Aldea led the Romanian delegation that discussed with Red Army commanders the evacuation plans from those territories.[2][3] The next year, he entered into conflict with Marshal Ion Antonescu, and was forced into retirement on July 21, 1941.[2][4]
In August 1944, the Soviet Army launched the Jassy–Kishinev Offensive and entered Romania. Aldea was instrumental in the coup d'état led by King Michael I, which resulted in the arrest of Antonescu and Romania switching allegiance from the Axis powers to the Allies.[2][5] He then served as Interior Minister in the first Sănătescu cabinet from August 23 to November 3, 1944.[4]
Under the command of Aldea, elements of the Romanian army officer corps sought to form in 1945–46 a National Resistance Movement, in order to oversee the disparate anti-communist resistance groups and to organize an armed insurrection.[6][7] He was arrested on May 27, 1946 and tried by the High Court of Cassation and Justice November 11–18, 1946 for his resistance efforts. The presiding judge was General Vasile Atanasiu; other judges included generals Mihail Lascăr, Ilie Crețulescu, and Constantin Argeșanu.[8] He was found guilty of plotting against the State, and was condemned to life in prison.[9] He died in Aiud Prison on October 17, 1949.[4][10]
A street in his native city, Slatina, now bears his name, as do streets in Craiova and Drăgănești-Olt.
- Duțu Alesandru and Dobre Florica: Drama generalilor români, p. 22
- Smedescu, Constantin (October 24, 2019). "Generalul Aurel Aldea — un erou al Mişcării Naționale de Rezistență". Gazeta Oltului (in Romanian). Retrieved April 15, 2020.
- "Final Report of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania" (PDF). November 11, 2004. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
- "Aldea, Aurel". generals.dk. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
- "Actorii zilei din 23 august 1944, eroii care nu au încăput în manualele de istorie ale comuniștilor". Digi24 (in Romanian). August 19, 2014. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
- Miroiu, Andrei (2016). Romanian Counterinsurgency and its Global Context, 1944–1962. Cham: Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-32379-4. ISBN 978-3-319-32378-7.
- David, Mihaela (2015). "Considerații privind dimensiunea militară a rezistenței anticomuniste din România" (PDF). Buletinul Arhivelor Militare Române (in Romanian). 18 (3): 78–83. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
- Iliescu, Silvia (19 November 2014). "11–18 noiembrie 1946 Procesul Sumanelor Negre (II)" (in Romanian). RADOR. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
- "Gen. Aurel Aldea". memorialsighet.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved April 15, 2020.
- Țârău, Virgiliu; Ciupea, Ioan. "Morții Penitenciarului Aiud 1945-1965" (PDF) (in Romanian). p. 19. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 24, 2015. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
- "Interesant, o altă istorie ascunsă de marii istorici ai Institutului de Istorie Națională". Cotidianul. June 3, 2012. Retrieved April 15, 2020.