former commander of the Ramnicu Sarat communist prison from 1956 to 1963 poses holding a photograph showing him as a child and the couple Romanian authorities say Alexandru Visinescu a communist-era prison guard serving a 20-year sentence for crimes against humanity a Romanian communist-era prison guard serving a 20-year sentence for crimes against humanity Visinescu was the first prison guard from the early years of communism to go on trial in Romania He became a national symbol of the Communist era's brutality against its own people most of whom who had simply fallen afoul of the regime Romania had about 500,000 political prisoners under the Communist regime that was in power from 1947 until 1989 about one-fifth of whom died while in detention Visinescu died Monday at Rahova prison hospital a spokeswoman for the Institute for Investigating the Crimes of Communism 'He will forever be known as the torturer adopted by the communist Securitate secret police to kill He ended the lives of defenseless human beings who initiated the investigation into Visinescu's conduct in 2013 Visinescu was convicted in 2015 for the abuse and killing of prisoners at Ramnicu Sarat prison in eastern Romania He was imprisoned in February 2016 after losing his appeal Former prisoners under Visinescu testified that they were denied access to medical treatment They were held in solitary confinement and beatings were common The prison housed members of Romania's intellectual 'He annihilated his victims in a sadistic program of physical and mental alienation total isolation combined with physical torture,' said Muraru Visinescu showed no remorse and insisted he was only following orders A judge and prosecutor asked him six times why inmates died under his command a historian who is now an adviser to Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said Visinescu would remain 'the unmistakable face of the torturer who was able to hide for half a century due to the .. post-communist system that protected him.' said Romania's current authorities wanted her client to die in prison Funeral arrangements were not immediately available The Daily Universe is an educational lab tied to the curriculum of the journalism sequence in the BYU School of Communications and is committed to the mission of BYU and its sponsoring institution The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Contact us: Dureceptionist@byu.edu This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker convicted of crimes against humanity for deaths of political prisoners at Râmnicu Sărat between 1956 and 1963 A communist-era Romanian prison commander convicted of crimes against humanity for the deaths of 12 inmates has been sentenced to 20 years in prison to paying €300,000 (£210,000) to relatives of the victims said her client was unhappy with the sentence but had not decided whether to appeal a prison in eastern Romania where intellectuals and political and military officials were tortured and sometimes killed Interior of Râmnicu Sărat prison in Romania Photograph: AP“This is a moral victory for us,” said Anca Cernea whose father and grandfather were political prisoners at Râmnicu Sărat “He committed crimes and however long has passed since then Prosecutors said detainees were kept in unheated cells and solitary confinement denied medical treatment and beaten in “a regime of extermination” About 138 inmates were incarcerated under Visinescu’s command “This is the most important decision ever taken by Romania’s justice system regarding accountability for the communist era,” said Andrei Muraru who initiated the case in 2013 when he was head of the institute investigating crimes under communism “This confirms a transformation in the justice system.” About 500,000 Romanians were held as political prisoners in the 1950s and early 60s Visinescu is the first prison commander from that time to stand trial is awaiting trial for crimes against humanity for the deaths of 103 people there AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTSlide 1 of 8,The Ramnicu Sarat prison was reserved for political offenders singled out for harsh treatment a Reckoning Faces ObstaclesThe decision to charge a former prison commander raises hopes that the country may be able to re-examine a culture of impunity By submitting the above I agree to the privacy policy and terms of use of JTA.org A new book tells the story of the “Fusgeyers,” or Jewish wayfarers who walked across the country in hopes of reaching more hospitable locales abroad 6 (JTA) — Roughly a century after tens of thousands of impoverished and persecuted Jews walked across Romania in hopes of reaching more hospitable locales abroad a Canadian writer-photographer has chronicled their story Jill Culiner’s book follows the footsteps of the largely forgotten “Fusgeyers” — the word is Yiddish for “wayfarers” or “foot-wanderers.” As Culiner recounts in “Finding Home: In the Footsteps of the Jewish Fusgeyers,” she became obsessed with the subject after seeing a mention of the Fusgeyers in Irving Howe’s “World of Our Fathers.” Like much Jewish immigration in history When persecution in Romania worsened about 1899 tens of thousands of Jews sold their meager possessions formed large groups for protection and marched hundreds of miles Most groups consisted of between 40 and 300 migrants Representatives of Jewish aid organizations met the weary pedestrians at towns along the Austro-Hungarian border and provided them with food and shelter as well as train and ship tickets to their ultimate destinations As many as 70,000 Jews took part in the pedestrian exodus that began in 1900 the American Jewish Yearbook of 1903 reported that some 200 to 300 Jews were streaming out of Romania each week the outbreak of war reduced the flow to a trickle Culiner found only a few historical works such as Joseph Kissman’s “The Immigration of Romanian Jews up to 1914,” that dealt with the subject By far the richest documentary source was Jacob Finkelstein’s “Memoir of a Fusgeyer from Romania to America,” a Yiddish manuscript held by the New York-based YIVO Institute for Jewish Research A New Yorker who had trekked out of Romania with a pioneering group called the Barlad Fusgeyers Finkelstein had submitted the work to YIVO in 1942 in response to a contest meant to attract immigrant stories The Barlad Fusgeyers left the town of Barlad in April 1900 and journeyed some 200 miles in a large semicircle around the base of the Carpathian Mountains They supported themselves by staging theatrical performances and selling brochures in Jewish towns on their route It was the director of a Jewish social club whose members sometimes staged amateur theatrics who first came up with “a plan about how we can get to America without money,” Finkelstein recorded The plan had been so simple to work out that we wondered why we hadn’t thought of it before.” Consisting of 75 single men and three women the Barlad Fusgeyers generated much publicity and public support and received gifts of food and clothing from both Jews and Romanian peasants along their route In many places they were welcomed as heroes Their success encouraged hundreds of other groups to follow The Fusgeyers’ reception in Central Europe they were not permitted to continue on foot once they reached the border of the Austro-Hungarian Empire everyone looked down on them as poor refugees,” Culiner said “The assimilated Jews of Vienna and Budapest and Germany were especially embarrassed by the Jews from the East They were afraid they would once again awaken anti-Semitism in the non-Jewish communities.” Culiner who learned Yiddish in order to read Finkelstein’s story provides generous translated excerpts in her book; his journey became the template for her own “Where Jacob Finkelstein and the Fusgeyers slept in fields When they were housed by the Jewish community then I slept in hotels.” A veteran traveler who also speaks German Turkish and “really bad Hungarian,” she traveled with a male companion in search of synagogues teahouses and other settings that Finkelstein had described but often she found few physical relics or traces of a locality’s Jewish past this synagogue,” she wrote about the former prayer house in Ramnicu Sarat “It has the air of a long-deserted theatre in which the abandoned stage is set for a forgotten play.” The few remaining Jews she encountered greeted her warmly she said; many sadly acknowledged that they were part of the closing chapter of Romanian Jewish history ‘What’s going to happen to the Jews of Romania?’ and he said ‘We’re going to die and we’re going be buried in the graveyard and that’ll be the end There’ll be nobody to replace us.’ ” Numerous museums en route furnished documentary evidence of the Fusgeyers and more scattered material turned up in larger institutions in Budapest Particularly rich troves surfaced in Paris and New York With the help of some thick files found at the Canadian Jewish Congress Archives in Montreal Culiner concluded her quest by following the Fusgeyer trail to a variety of remote northern Ontario towns and Jewish farming communities in Saskatchewan Large numbers of Fusgeyers also settled in New York Paris and the towns of Rosh Pina and Zichron Ya’acov in what was then British-mandate Palestine In addition to “Finding Home,” the Fusgeyer saga may also be gaining new currency from another recent book and perhaps soon from a proposed documentary film as well Florida-based Lighthouse Press published The Wayfarers a thick historical novel about the Fusgeyers by Los Angeles writer Stuart Tower The company has optioned documentary film rights to Yale Strom Toronto-based Sumach Press will soon extend distribution of “Finding Home” to the United States and Britain who recalled that she was perpetually amazed during her journey at how thoroughly the Fusgeyer legend had been erased from popular memory “People just don’t know the story except for some Romanians of Jewish descent,” she said “Even the children of Fusgeyers don’t know about it.” JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent I accept the Privacy Policy with the head of a brutal Communist-era labour camp charged with crimes against humanity is accused of running an “extermination regime” at the notorious Ramnicu Sarat prison in the east of the country the accused … submitted the political detainees to conditions designed to destroy them physically food and heating and inflicting abuse on them,” the indictment reads At least 14 inmates died during his tenure Many more were left permanently traumatised or disfigured from the camp dubbed “the prison of silence” because detainees were held in solitary confinement and not allowed visitors Valentin Cristea only surviving detainee of Ramnicu Sarat prison during the time of Alexandru Visinescu’s command Photograph: DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP/Getty ImagesValentin Cristea the former engineer was convicted in 1956 of “divulging state secrets” to an aunt who was a member of the anti-Communist resistance “It was against the rules to approach the walls in case we used morse code to talk to each other,” he told AFP at his home in Campina He said prisoners were also banned from sitting on their beds recalled the treatment of her husband who was sentenced to 14 years in prison and 25 years’ forced labour for writing a satirical novel about Stalin he was forced to stand for several hours with bare feet in a bucket of ice water,” said Nicoleta Eremia “This burly man weighed no more than 30 kilos (70 pounds) and could barely walk when he came out of prison.” Activists hope Visinescu’s trial will be the first of many with prosecutors looking at 35 other former Communist officials because for the first time an instrument of communist terror will face justice,” said Radu Preda head of the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and Memory of the Romanian Exile (IICCMRE) this amounts to a Romanian Nuremberg,” he said referring to the famous trials of Nazi leaders after the second world war Visinescu has said he is innocent and was only obeying orders The trial comes a quarter century after the downfall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu following an impromptu trial in which they were convicted of genocide Most Communist-era officials went unpunished Although a few top leaders were also convicted of genocide many of the charges were later reduced and they were released on health grounds But pressure has mounted for a true accounting of the regime’s crimes which included the imprisonment of more than 600,000 dissidents from the late 1940s onward A first complaint by the IICCMRE in 2006 against 210 former prison guards was rejected by prosecutors new prosecutors indicated they were finally prepared to listen accepting a fresh demand for Visinescu and others to go on trial Public response to the trial has been muted amid nostalgia for the Communist era and disillusionment with the country’s entry into the European Union in 2007 since most of the accused are already in their eighties But historian Adrian Cioroianu says that what matters is “that these crimes are punished and that the truth is re-established” The interior of the prison in Ramnicu Sarat Photograph: DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP/Getty ImagesPreda also believes it is never too late to seek justice otherwise it risks becoming an abstraction,” he said where Communist-era leaders have largely escaped punishment Former Polish strongman Wojciech Jaruzelski enjoyed a quiet retirement after the end of the cold war while Bulgarian dictator Todov Jivkov was acquitted after a trial “This trial is necessary so that people discover the horrors which marked this epoch,” said Steluta Coposu a former detainee and member of the anti-Communist resistance Visinescu’s trial is expected to last several months told AFP he was concerned by his client’s “precarious physical and mental state” a point that sources close to the case say could be used to argue for an acquittal Looking to access paid articles across multiple policy topics Interested in policy insights for EU professional organisations The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday (25 April) took Romania to task for its dismal prison conditions saying they could be considered inhumane and degrading Ramnicu Sarat, a Communist-era prison. [Romania Dacia] The European Commission yesterday (16 February) welcomed as a "very good step" the decision of the Romanian government to repeal a decree that would have decriminalised graft and offered Bucharest assistance and funds to improve the country's prisons DiesWhether Isadore Blumenfeld earned his soubriquet for his boxing prowess or for sheltering from bullets in the toilet he was a criminal master who stayed crooked to the end 2015Get email notification for articles from David B Kid Cann – the best-known alias of the Minneapolis Cann was a shrewd and brazen criminal who was sophisticated enough to be capable of assembling and profitably operating a number of different illegal enterprises but who also was not above pulling the trigger himself on individuals According to the real estate consultancy company CBRE 367,000 sqm are currently under construction on the retail market with delivery dates in 2018 and 2019 retail spaces totalling around 30,000 sqm were delivered in projects located in Bistrita The modern retail stock is 3.52 million square meters, out of which 59 percent are shopping centres and 41 percent retail parks. Over half of number of projects are developed between 1999 and 2008. The modern retail stock comprise 32 percent projects located in Bucharest and other 38 percent located in 10 different cities: Constanța 53 percent of the projects currently under construction is represented by the shopping centre sector 18 percent of all the retail projects that are developed now is represented by extensions the German retailer; the German brand Hugo Boss; Esquires Coffee the Canadian coffee shop chain; the Romanian footwear brand S-Karp; the only mono brand shop opened in Eastern Europe by the Swiss watch brand TAG Heuer; the fashion retailer Comma international; Karaca retailer of household products from Turkey; Miniso a Japanese retailer of home and accessories products The prime shopping centres rent (the average rent for class A projects and between EUR 8 and EUR 15/sqm for retail parks in H1 2018 The prime rent for high street retail units was EUR 55/sqm The prime shopping centres yield (the yield registered by class A projects situated in best areas) was 6.5 percent We use cookies for keeping our website reliable and secure providing social media features and to analyse how our website is used The former head of one of Romania's notorious communist-era prisons who was serving time for crimes against humanity Alexandru Visinescu was serving a 20-year prison term after being found guilty of overseeing crimes at Ramnicu Sarat prison dubbed "the prison of silence" where inmates suffered torture where he was under supervision for "chronic medical problems" Visinescu ran the Ramnicu Sarat prison for political detainees in eastern Romania between 1956 and 1963 Prosecutors said he oversaw an "extermination regime" and that at least at least 14 prisoners died during his tenure All prisoners were held in solitary confinement denied the right to speak to anyone and many suffered beatings and enforced hunger "Inmates were dying after a slow but efficient process that involved physical and psychological torture," prosecutors argued Visinescu had expressed no regret for his actions arguing that he was only obeying orders from his superiors and had upheld the law another former head of a communist-era prison camp he was also serving a 20-year jail sentence for crimes against humanity Over 600,000 people were jailed in Romania for political reasons between 1945 and 1989 according to the Sighet Memorial Museum for the victims of communism The most severe crackdowns took place in the 1950s Carrefour Romania opens this Friday its 9th supermarket in Bucharest and the 40th in the country Carrefour Market Ramnicu Sarat is located on the Liviu Rebreanu Street and has a total sales area of 460 sqm Carrefour Romania operates a network of 24 hypermarkets, 40 supermarkets and a proximity store which was launched earlier this October in partnership with local meat producer and retailer Angst Simona Bazavan Cushman & Wakefield Echinox assisted MAS PLC a leading property investor and operator in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in the sale process of the strip malls portfolio in Romania to M Core Group The portfolio consists of 7 assets with a total GLA of approximately 32,000 sq The properties are positioned in densely populated areas next to Kaufland stores have an occupancy rate of 100% and feature a mix of national and international tenants Cushman & Wakefield Echinox provided strategic advisory services and transaction support the project being coordinated by Cristi Moga M Core Group was assisted during the process by CMS Cameron McKenna Cushman & Wakefield Echinox: “This transaction reconfirms the recovery trend of Romania’s investment market with retail sector being acknowledged as a healthy and secure asset class The quality of the portfolio was consequential for the transaction while the professionalism of the parties involved significantly eased the process.” Cushman & Wakefield Echinox: “As the macroeconomic environment and consumers’ behaviour stabilizes This shift has sparked heightened interest in Romania from both current investors seeking to expand their portfolios and newcomers Romania presents considerable growth potential across all sectors This recent transaction serves as a strong indicator of the retail market’s resilience and the overall positive sentiment among investors.” is a property investor and operator listed on the main board of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and with a secondary listing on A2X Limited The Group is operated by a multidisciplinary team of approximately 270 professionals with investment MAS aims to maximise total long-term shareholder returns via its investments in directly owned income property and other income-producing investments in CEE and indirectly in developments via preferred equity in a development joint venture with co-investor developer and general contractor Prime Kapital highly profitable collective of property investment and management companies operating in the United Kingdom M Core’s portfolio value exceeds 6bn pounds Evolve and Square 7 as local partner for Romanian portfolio anything," says one of the medical team at southeastern Romania's Ramnicu Sarat hospital one of those designated to treat COVID-19 patients "Everything is done on the cheap," protests the staff member It's a complaint echoed in other parts of the country where doctors and nurses have begun speaking out about what they say are life-threatening shortcomings in the fight against the new coronavirus some have taken to social media or public TV to voice their concerns; dozens staged protests in the grounds of two hospitals Several felt so strongly that they resigned leaving an already struggling healthcare system in one of the European Union's poorest countries even more vulnerable "Nobody instructed us so we're encouraged to learn from videos," the Ramnicu Sarat medical staff member told AFP The hospital has been placed on a long list of "support units" selected to receive patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 But the move has sparked fear among local residents that the virus could spread in the area and an online petition has been launched more than 14,000 healthcare workers have emigrated in search of better pay and conditions abroad 10 nurses and one intensive care unit (ICU) medic from central Hunedoara county quit blaming a chronic lack of basic medical equipment such as surgical masks and gloves the nurses -- but not the doctor -- were persuaded by officials to change their minds and go back to work "We have two medical gowns for 12 employees...," the doctor adding they were being forced to face the virus and risk their health "with bare hands" At a hospital in the western city of Timisoara "I can understand my colleagues who step down but I don't encourage resignation," Gheorghe Borcean president of Romania's medical association there is a lack of trust in the medical system," he said had confirmed more than 2,450 cases of COVID-19 -- about 300 of them medical workers -- and 86 deaths The government has promised to get more protective gear for medical staff It also considered banning resignations but decided against fearing such a move would fuel more resentment but we'll do our best to give you protective gear," President Klaus Iohannis told medical staff on Tuesday in a press statement Doctors are also critical of the state of ICU units which risk being overwhelmed soon in a country of 19 million people with the outbreak expected to peak in the middle of this month but fewer than half of those are equipped with a ventilator the system has been plagued by widespread corruption and a lack of investment Romania spends just over five percent of its gross domestic product on health care Sfantul Ioan Emergency Hospital in the northeastern city of Suceava has become the centre of the country's coronavirus outbreak The hospital was forced to close after dozens of staff members became infected Prosecutors have opened an investigation on suspicions that "measures taken to prevent and limit the spread of the novel coronavirus weren't respected" But Sfantul Ioan hospital doctor Mircea Dinu Bordiniuc said on RFI Romania radio that not all medical personnel were tested "It's an error of public health to ask medical personnel Some 30 people infected with the virus have died The city of 100,000 inhabitants includes many emigrants who recently returned from Italy or France and was placed in quarantine earlier this week.