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December 6, 1944

Record of Conversation between S. P. Kirsanov with L. Patrashkanu about the Newly Formed Government of Romania

This document was made possible with support from Leon Levy Foundation

Record of Conversation between Deputy Head of the Political Department of the Allied Control Commission in Romania S. P. Kirsanov with L. Patrashkanu about the Newly Formed Government of Romania Led by N. Redesku1

 

Bucharest

 

December 6, 1944

Top Secret

 

On December 6, after the dinner at the Mayor of Bucharest Dombrovsky's, Patrashkanu approached me and initiated a conversation about the new Redesku government, which has been formed today.

 

Patrashkanu believes that the Redesku government, compared to the previous Sanatesku government, is a certain step back.

 

Everything inwhich the Redesku government differed from the previous government was not in our favor, he said. The former Prime Minister Sanatesku is a soft person and is not characterized with exceptional intelligence. The new Prime Minister Redesku is a strong-willed person and has a strong influence in the army, but this will and this influence would be soon directed against us. Redesku is connected with the British. The resignation of Penesku from the position of Minister of the Interior and the appointment of Redesku to this position, simultaneously with his appointment as Prime Minister, should not be seen as our victory. There is very little difference between Redesku and Penesku. The arguments that because Redesku would be preoccupied as the Prime Minister and a comrade of the Minister of the Interior would control the Ministry of the Interior, who is a Communist, are not sufficiently justified. Knowing Redesku's personality, it is hard to imagine such a situation. In the old Sanatesku government the position of the Minister of Defense remained vacant, therefore, there remained an opportunity to replace him with a person close to the Communist party. Now, in the new government, we do not have such an opportunity. Nigulesku 2, who is a court person, took the position of Defense Minister.

 

Patrashkanu criticized the tactics of the Communist party during the beginning and the resolution of the current governmental crisis. "We do not have any policy, -- he said. – Our statements were random, inconsistent, and somewhat hysterical. We began the attack against the government too early and in unfavorable conditions. At the same time, the crisis was resolved in such a way that it would be expedient to launch our attack against the government anew starting tomorrow. We should have, using our positions3 in the government, undertaken measures for isolating Maniu, for pulling the national-liberals away from him, and for winning the local organizations of the national-tsaranist party to our side. When we received the first news that Redesku was in charge of forming the cabinet, we made very negative statements against him, and now it is difficult for us to explain to the masses why we decided to cooperate with him."

 

Later, Patrashkanu developed the idea that the statements of the Communist party, especially of such representatives of the Communist party as comrades Pauker and Luka who lived in the Soviet Union for a long time, engage the Soviet Union in a certain way. "Therefore, -- he said, -- we should be twice more careful and twice more prudent. We should be politicians. "

 

I left Patrashkanu's statements without any comments from my side, because the situation was not conducive to a substantive conversation, and because Patrashkanu was in a hurry to express his thoughts to me. We agreed to meet again tomorrow. I had an impression that there were certain disagreements on tactical issues in the leadership of the Communist party between Pauker on one side, and Patrashkanu on the other.

 

Deputy Director of the Political Department of the Allied Control Commission in Romania.

S.KIRSANOV

 

 

1. Copies distributed to V. Molotov, A. Vyshinsky, V. Dekanozov, V. Vinogradov, to the IV European Department of the NKID USSR, and to the files

 

2. As in the original. Should be: Negulesku

 

3. Inserted to replace the word "victories"

Discussion between Kirsanov and Lucretiu Patrascanu (a Romanian communist politician and leading member of the Communist Party of Romania) about the newly formed Redesku government in Romania. Patrascanu is very critical of the development and believes that the new government is a step backward. Kirsanov demurs and says that he refrained from commenting on the issue. The two agree to meet again the next day.


Associated Places

Document Information

Source

AVP RF, f. 0125, op. 32, p. 125, d. 1, ll. 41-42. Document 32 in Vostochnaia Evropa v dokumentakh rossiiskikh arkhivov (Eastern Europe in the Documents of the Russian Archives), vol. I, 1944-1948. Translated for CWIHP by Svetlana Savranskaya.

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Original Uploaded Date

2012-06-26

Type

Memorandum of Conversation

Language

Record ID

114556

Original Classification

Top Secret

Donors

Leon Levy Foundation