The Oath-Taking in front of the “Democratic People’s” State by the Representatives of the Religious Cults from Romania (1948)

Abstract

After the complete takeover of political power, the communist authorities launched, at the beginning of 1948, an ample plan aiming at restructuring the Romanian society. The religious cults in Romania were among the domains considered as top priorities for this change. In the first phase, they had to become subordinated to the new political authorities, so as to avoid their being attracted in anti-communist actions. The first step was, with the significance of a loyalty test, to request to the representatives of the religious cult to take the fidelity oath towards the new regime. As numerous legends and speculations existed around this fact, the author refers, on the basis of unpublished documents, to this event and its true significance.