DESTINUL UNUI BUCOVINEAN: PANTELIMON CHIRILĂ (1899–1952) (II)
Destiny of a Bukovinian: Pantelimon Chirilă (1899–1952) (II)

Summary/Abstract: The author presents in this second part of the study the life and political activity of the lawyer Pantelimon Chirilă, the leader of the P.N.Ţ. (National Peasants’ Party) County Organization in Rădăuți, between 1944 and 1952. Just like other leading members of the P.N.Ţ. County Organization, his main concern was the reorganization of the party and its successful participation in the 1946 election campaign. During this time, he and the democratic political organizations had to face the adversity of all administrative and political structures of the Bolsheviks, who aimed at establishing the communist regime in Romania. After winning with great sacrifices a seat in the Romanian Parliament and having been brutalized by the loyal communists from Rădăuţi, Pantelimon Chirilă had to hide in various places in Bucharest and Câmpulung-Muscel, in the houses of close relatives or politicians, keeping a permanent connection with the central management of the PNȚ. After the Tămădău episode in July 1947, when some leaders of the PNȚ were framed and accused of illegally trying to leave the country, the political situation of Pantelimon Chirilă got worse. The Security Service intensified the searches for him and his family members, building up an entire case in which a larger group of people was arrested, a group known as the “Pitești Lotˮ. Pantelimon Chirilă was tried and convicted together with his wife and the other relatives who supported him throughout the entire period until his arrest in January 1951, in Bucharest. He died under suspicious circumstances in the Văcăreşti Prison on August 18, 1952.

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