Brainer, Bela

Born Feb. 13,1896, in Oradea; died Mar. 10, 1940, in Bucharest. A figure in the Rumanian workers’ movement.

Brainer’s revolutionary activity began in Hungary; in 1912 he joined the Social Democratic Party of Hungary. During World War I he carried on revolutionary activity among the soldiers. In 1919 he took part in the revolution of the Hungarian proletariat and in October 1921, in the organization of a general strike of Rumanian workers. He joined the Communist Party of Rumania (CPR) in 1921. In the period 1926–31 he was in Doftan prison, where he directed a committee of political prisoners’ activity. In 1931 he was selected as a member of the Central Committee of the CPR, and then later as a member of the Secretariat of the CC of the CPR. In 1932 he was sentenced to a three-year prison term. From 1935 to 1939, Brainer directed the publication of the illegal newspaper of the CPR, the Scínteia, and in 1939–40 he participated in the organization of the underground radio station România Libera.