Gheorghe Arsenescu
Gheorghe Arsenescu was a Romanian army officer who led an anti-communist resistance movement in post-World War II Romania.
He was born in Câmpulung. His father, Captain Ion Arsenescu, fought in World War I and was killed in action at the Battle of Mărășești. Following in the military tradition of his father, Arsenescu trained as an officer and joined the 30th Regiment Dorobanți from Câmpulung. At the start of World War II he was Operations Chief for the 20th Division Vânători de munte, under the command of General Ioan Dumitrache. He fought in the Crimean campaign, was wounded, and then returned to the front. During the war he rose to the rank of colonel.
After being discharged in 1946, he joined the National Liberal Party–Tătărescu. He started a small farm to provide milk to the Câmpulung market; accused of economic sabotage, he went into hiding. Together with a fellow army officer, Toma Arnăuțoiu, he formed in December 1948 a group named "Haiducii Muscelului". Arsenescu's resistance group operated out of the Southern Făgăraș Mountains, and, according to official reports, was responsible for over 70 robberies and 15 murders. On the night of June 18, 1949, members of Arsenescu's group were ambushed by troops of the Securitate; in the ensuing firefight, two officers were killed, but the group of partisans escaped through a security cordon thrown around the area.
Arsenescu was captured by the Securitate on February 1, 1960. In February 1962 he was sentenced to death by the Bucharest Military Tribunal for "terrorist acts perpetrated as organizer of an armed group of anti-communist resistance", and was executed on May 29, 1962 at Jilava Prison. A notable member of Arsenescu's resistance movement was Elisabeta Rizea, who was captured by the Securitate at the same time as he was.
