Who is Elisabeta Rizea from Nucşoara?

                   The symbol of the anti-communist resistance in Romania.

                 She was born on June 28, 1912 in the village Domneşti, Muscel and passed away on October 6, 2003 in Nucşoara.

                 A model for Romanians, a model of dignity, courage and resistance to injustice.

                     A brave woman from Nucsoara, a courageous peasant, who faced Security for years, both in her village and in detention.

                    Granddaughter of the peasant leader Gheorghe Şuta in Domneşti, assassinated by the Communists near the 1946 elections.

[“This is why I did what I did, mam! I'm in front of the icon and God help me if I lie ... They killed my uncle. They shot him when the Communists came. He was cousin of my father, their parents were brothers. They couldn’t expand communist party because of him, that’s why they shot him.”]

                 Active participant in the armed resistance movement in the Făgăraş mountains, the southern part, known as Haiducii Muscelului (The Muscels Outlaws) from Nucşoara or Partizanii Libertatii (The Freedom Partisans).

                  A fervent supporter of the anti-communist partisans, both she and her husband Gheorghe, her daughters and other relatives who had suffered from this involvement.

[“Three of my brothers took the oath, Naie, Ghita and Luca. But they are gone, only Luca is still alive… Luca ran away from the village, but he did not ran long, afterwards he surrendered. He was hiding out at his sister-in-law's, at home in his mother’s attic of the stable, wherever he could. And then he surrendered. He didn't stay in the mountains. And after they arrested him and he came home, when he arrived home, because he did not have a phone to announce that he was coming, they brought him from Brasov to Pitesti and from Pitesti he came by himself and, mam, what happened, his wife couldn’t take itanymore, they kissed and she fell down on him dead. She died. […] From our family many people went to prison, let me tell you: my brothers Naie and Luca, brother-in-law Vlădescu, Petre Vlădescu, married to my sister Elena Vlădescu, my daughter Laurenția, me, my husband Gheorghe, my other daughter Lenuța’s husband Vasile, Belu as we call him, Belescu, and Belu’s father, Ghica Belescu, Lenuța’s father-in -law. What can you say?! And I don’t speak anymore about the others, how many were taken away from their houses in their sleep, in the night, from their beds, for questionings.”]

                   Devoted to the leader of the partisans, Toma Arnăuţoiu from Nucşoara, friend and confidant of his parents, Iancu and Laurentia Arnăuţoiu.

[The first person she met when she was coming from the prison in 1956, right when getting off the bus that was going from Piteşti to Domneşti, was the priest Constantinescu - “He greeted me, sending me << compliments from the boys >> and telling they are healthy. '' Questioned later, after two years, when she was arrested again, Elizabeth boldly declared that “I stated that I am determined to continue my activity with them at any risk and that I will procure money and food, which I really did.”]

                    Political prisoner, arrested several times, sentenced to prison in 1950 for 6 years and in 1958 for 25 years of forced labor.

                    A strong woman, who did not give in to the tortures she was subjected to, she did not give in to the temptations and promises of the Communist Security, kept her integrity in prison.

[“When Cârnu beat me the worst, he took me into a room of Militia. He brought a table. It had a big hook in the middle there. And Cârnu pulled a chair near the table, tied my hands behind the back of the chair, with a rope, he then raised the chair up to another chair and climbed the chairs together on the table and tied my tail up there in the hook. And there was a chain and he put the chain here after the rope, as it was tied to my hands. And I was scared (...) and I sat and screamed and said, 'Sir, shoot me, cut my head, take off my eyes, cut my tongue, I don't know about them, don't ask me, I do not know!". When he got me all the way up, he let go ofmy tail, untied my hair, and left only my hands. I still didn't sell them ... And then he took me down, untied my hands, there was a kettle of water on the stove there and he dipped a sack in the water, squeezed it, took my skirt offand after he put the sack like that on me. And hetookthat rubber thingin his right hand, like that, with a rope, and he mademe all just thickstripes as big as my hand. Ten days I stayed in the hospital only on the forehead and knees "]

         The first voice of a woman from the anti-communist resistance heard after the revolution, thanks to the participation in the program of Mrs. Lucia Hossu-Longin, Memorialul Durerii (Pain Memorial).

         Devoted to democratic ideas understood simply and soundly as respecting the right to property, the non-interference of the state in private life, the freedom of unrestrained opinion.

        Convinced monarchist, faithful to His Majesty King Mihai whom she met in Nucşoara in the years of the World War and then after the fall of the communist regime on several occasions, first in 1992 at Curtea de Argeş.

["I love him to death like I love my eyes. I want him to be the king of Romania, to always be in the country ”]

[,, I was visiting the monastery Curtea de Argeş, the place where my ancestors are sleeping. While I was inside thechurch I saw an old woman in a wheelchair. She wanted to kiss my hand, I didn't know who she was. I had, of course, heard about Elizabeta Rizea, but I didn't know her face. I immediately asked Ticu Dumitrescu, who was next to me, who this person was ... He told me that she was Elisabeta Rizea. When I found out who she was, I felt, I do not know how to tell you, maybe not very bad, but in any case it hit me very hard. I wanted then to speak more to Elizabeta Rizea, but she had have already left. In this situation, when I returned to Versoix, I immediately wrote her a letter explaining what had happened and I made a promise to her that, when I will return to Romania, I will go see her at home. (...) I notified her in writing before I went to her home. Nucşoara village is a small mountain village (...) and, unfortunately, a lot of people gathered in her yard, knowing that I come, some even tried to make a political capital out of this visit (...) they tried to take advantage of this visit, and I did not liked this at all. When I entered the courtyard, I saw a large number of people, but I could see nowhere Elisabeta Rizea, whomI had actually came to. Eventually I found her behind a group of people, but, being in the wheelchair, she couldn't be seenin the crowd, I could hardly see her head. I asked the crowd to step aside, so I could at least say hello to her ... Then the people lift her up with the wheelchair and put her at the table. The authorities insisted that I sit no more, no less than at the head of the table. The authorities continued to insist, but I said no, I said I did not come to see them, but to see Elizabeta Rizea. '']

        It is the woman from Romania who most impressed Regina Ana, according to her own statement.

       She is the person who has been visited in Nucşoara by numerous politicians, journalists, members of the government. But also by His Majesty King Mihai, by CorneliuCoposu, by the President of Romania at that time, Emil Constantinescu. She told everyone to escape the country of communism, of the consequences of deep-rooted communism in institutions and people. Her testamentary words impress us even today, as if more than ever: "Three days if I live more, I want to know that the world has been cleared!"

       Elisabeta Rizea asked and gained in 1997, thanks to the help given by the Minister of Public Works Nicolae Noica, to pave the road in Nucşoara from the intersection with the village of Slatina to the Church and City Hall.

       Elisabeta Rizea lived in a divided Nucşoara, with few friends and many enemies, she was admired and hated, but she put the small mountain village, Nucşoara, on the Romanian memory map. And she did a little justice with the help of her memory!

        FOR ALL THIS, ELIZABETH RIZEA MUST HAVE A MEMORIAL HOUSE IN NUCŞOARA. THE ROAD TO THE HEAVEN ( CER) IS GIVING YOUR WELFARE. PLEASE BE WITH US. ENTER ON http://casaelisabetarizea.ro/ AND YOU WILL FIND ALL THE INFORMATION RELATED TO THE PROJECT. THANK YOU !

(Traducerea - Andrei Tudorean)