Penitenciarul Aiud în primul deceniu comunist (1948-1958): Penitenciarul Aiud în primul deceniu comunist (1948-1958)

The present paper approaches the history of the Aiud penitentiary during the first decade of the communist regime (1948-1958), using as sources the documents from the archive of the Aiud penitentiary and the archive of the communist political police. The main instrument utilised by the communist regime for consolidating its power was repression against political adversaries, either real or imaginary. Within the communist carceral system, a significant position was held by the Aiud penitentiary. Our analysis explores the materialization of repressive policies within the penitentiary, focusing on the “conflict” between the administration and the prisoners. Thus, on one hand, we are looking at the conditions of detention, the prison regime, the punishments, and the brutality of the administration, and on the other hand, we are looking at the prisoners’ response to these measures: solidarity, cultural preoccupations, and anti-regime attitudes. The repressive policy of the regime, a criminal one, was, however, uneven during the first communist decade, performing in different intensities and meeting distinct evolutions. For instance, years 1948-1953 are defined by a severe carceral regime that determined a high mortality among the prisoners; however, after Stalin’s death detention conditions ameliorate for a short while; finally, the second repressive wave initiated in the aftermath of the Hungarian revolution would lead to a hardening of the prison regime, moreover so as the Aiud penitentiary was preparing for the 1959 re-education process.