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| THE HISTORY OF TERRORISM IN ROMANIA: MAX GOLDSTEIN 15/02/2010 |
| (2010-02-15) |
| Last updated: 2010-02-16 13:32 EET |
The history of terrorism begins in the second half of the 19th Century, although the first instances of murdering innocent people were reported as far back as the French Revolution. Anarchism was the most violent formula engendering terrorism in its early days, until the victory of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia in 1917. Once the communists seized power in what became the Soviet Union, Comintern wrote key pages in the history of global terrorism. Since 1945, it was far-leftist groups and the Islamic terrorism that took the lead.
In the history of terrorism in Romania, Max Goldstein played a key role. Born into a Jewish family, he joined the communist movement as a young man and embraced anarchist combat methods, including terrorist attacks. He was dubbed “the man with a hook,” because he had lost an arm in an experimental blast. Historian Ioan Scurtu explains Max Goldstein’s idea of bringing a new world into Romania:
“In this case, it is not so much an attack with political undertones that we speak of, but rather a mind frame. In late 19th Century and early 20th Century, a political trend took shape, whose chief promoter was Mikhail Bakunin. It was anarchism, which targeted the assassination of the top-most members of the leading class, with a view to having this class beheaded and implicitly unable to respond. In this case, the working class was supposed to seize power and ensure a better life for the many. Anarchism was not particularly popular in Romania. Its ideas were discussed, at a theoretical level, but most people dismissed the concept that by murdering a handful of people one could do away with an entire political system.”
In November 1920, Max Goldstein tried to assassinate the then foreign minister Constantin Argetoianu. He failed, and on December 8th of that same year, helped by Saul Osias and Leon Lichtblau, he staged another bomb attack targeting the Romanian Senate building. The device killed the justice minister Dimitrie Greceanu, and Senators Demetriu Radu, a Greek-Catholic Bishop of Oradea, and Spirea Gheorghiu. Several other people were wounded, including the Senate speaker Constantin Coanda. Here is Ioan Scurtu:
“He was convinced that by killing a number of people, he would be able to reach the goals of Socialism. In 1919 and 1920, he made several attempts to assassinate King Ferdinand I. As we all remember, it was King Ferdinand I who accomplished the Union of Romanian Principalities, and reformed the state, therefore he was by no means one who had damaged the interests of Romanians—on the contrary. So Goldstein plotted the attack at the Senate, an institution that brought together the elite members of the society. Because at that time many Senate members were not elected, they were Senators by virtue of their outstanding positions: they were leaders of various religious denominations, university rectors, people who had long been members of the government or parliament. The Senate enjoyed a special standing in the society.”
Goldstein’s action shocked the public and prompted authorities to mount a campaign to apprehend him, which they did in November 1921. Goldstein’s example helped spread and consolidate the “Jewish Bolshevism,” the far-right stereotype that identified the Jewish people with communism. A famous trial was held, known as the “trial up the Spirea Hill,” which consisted in three cases. In the first case, leaders of the all-out strike of 1920 were heard; in the second case, it was Max Goldstein who was on trial for his attack on the Senate; and the third case brought in the defendants’ box the socialists who had voted in favor of the affiliation of the Socialist Party to the Third Communist International. Ioan Scurtu has details:
“During the trial, both the Social Democrats involved in the all-out strike, and the Communists, opposed this practice and demanded that cases be separated, which the Court eventually accepted. Goldstein was tried separately and sentenced to life in prison. He was imprisoned in Doftana and went on hunger strike for over a month, 32 days to be precise. He died further to this form of protest. And with him died the last terrorist in the history of the anarchist movement in Romania.”
Max Goldstein died at the age of 26, and left behind the image of a radical, fearless fighter against capitalist society. His reckless crimes fueled the illusion of millions of people, who brought themselves to believe in a new world built on murdering fellow humans.
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