Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

Born Nov. 8, 1901, in Bòrlad; died Mar. 19, 1965, in Bucharest. Activist in the Rumanian labor movement, a governmental and political figure of the Socialist Republic of Rumania.

Gheorghiu-Dej became active in the labor movement at the age of 18 and joined the Communist Party of Rumania (CPR) in 1930. In 1932 he was elected secretary of the All-Rumanian Central Committee of the Railroad Workers’ Action. In the summer of 1933 he was sentenced to 12 years at hard labor for his part in the organization of the railroad and oil workers’ strike in January-February 1933. In 1935 he was elected in absentia to the Central Committee of the CPR. In August 1944, when the armed uprising against the military-fascist dictatorship was being prepared the Communist Party organized Gheorghiu-Dej’s escape from a concentration camp. After the liberation of Rumania from fascism in August 1944, Gheorghiu-Dej led the struggle of the working masses for the implementation of social and economic transformations in Rumania. In October 1945 he was elected general secretary of the Central Committee of the CPR; from October 1955 to March 1965 he was first secretary of the Central Committee of the party. From 1944 to 1948 he headed several ministries. From 1948 to 1952 he was first, vice-chairman and from 1952 to 1955, chairman of the Council of Ministers. The title of Hero of Socialist Labor of the Socialist Republic of Rumania was conferred on him twice (1951, 1961). In March 1961 he became chairman of the State Council of the Socialist Republic of Rumania.