Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
PITEŞTI PRISON & THE SECRET POLICE
In the years immediately following WWII, governments around the world experimented to various degrees with
mind control, hoping to use (and in some cases abuse) breakthroughs in psychology and behavioural sciences for
their own ends.
In Romania, this research took a particularly nefarious turn at Piteşti prison, where the former communist re-
gime implemented a brainwashing scheme to 're-educate' political enemies. The program, which ran from 1949
to 1952, was initiated by one of the prisoners, Eugen Ţurcanu, acting on the orders of the secret police, the Secur-
itate. The idea was to subject inmates to intolerable levels of abuse in order to break down their identities and
make them more amenable to the communist system.
The program had three stages: in the first stage, prisoners were subjected to demeaning acts like scrubbing
floors with rags between their teeth or having to lick toilets clean. Religious prisoners were humiliated through
acts such as being baptised with buckets of urine.
Next, the prisoners were forced to betray fellow inmates who'd shown them any kindness or sympathy and then
to renounce their own families. The point was to sever existing bonds of love or loyalty.
In the final stage, the prisoners were forced to prove their successful re-education by inflicting the same acts of
mental and physical abuse on new prisoners. Failure to follow through meant having to spend weeks in a tiny isol-
ation cell.
The program was eventually discredited by the communists themselves, and in 1954 Ţurcanu and 21 other pris-
oners were tried and sentenced to death for murdering and abusing prisoners. The Securitate at the time denied
any knowledge of the program.
These days, the prison is long gone, replaced by a (now-crumbling) public housing estate. The only reminder is
a memorial to the victims of communism that stands on the prison's former grounds.
Sleeping
HOTEL
Hotel Argeş $$
( 0248-223 399;
www.hotelarges.ro
; Piaţa Muntenia 3; s/d 180/220 lei; )
On our shortlist for the best three-star hotel in the country. Ultra-clean rooms with high-
thread-count linens, thick-weave carpets, sparkling baths and a warm reception add up to
easily the best deal in the city. The location is dead centre. The only negative is a
lacklustre breakfast, but there are plenty of cafes nearby.
Hotel Victoria $$
( 0248-220 777;
www.victoriahotel.ro
; Str Egalităţii 21; s 200-250 lei, d 225-280 lei;
)
The Victoria, with both three- and four-star rooms, offers excellent value,
HOTEL
