Tămădău Affair

The Tămădău Affair (Romanian: Afacerea Tămădău, Înscenarea de la Tămădău - "the Tămădău frameup" - or Fuga de la Tămădău - "the Tămădău flight") was an incident that took place in Romania in the summer of 1947, the source of a political scandal and show trial.

It was provoked when an important number of National Peasants' Party (PNŢ) leaders, including party vice president Ion Mihalache, had been offered a chance to flee Romania, where the Communist Party (PCR), the main force inside the Petru Groza government, already had a tight grip on power with backing from the Soviet Union (see Soviet occupation of Romania). The affair signalled some of the first official measures taken against opposition parties, as a step leading to the proclamation of a People's Republic at the end of the same year (see Communist Romania).

The PCR victory in the 1946 general election, achieved through widespread electoral fraud, was followed by the first attempts at anti-Communist resistance (including large rallies, and the creation of a "military circle" led by Mihalache).

As the main adversary of Stalinism and committed supporter of the Western Allies, the PNŢ was the main target for PCR hostility. PNŢ party president Iuliu Maniu was already targeted for having backed attempts (during World War II) by the Conducător Marshal Ion Antonescu to sign a separate peace with the United Kingdom and the United States (see Romania during World War II). In late October 1946, the PNŢ entered into open conflict with the authorities; the first volley was to send a Report to the United Nations, heavily critical of Soviet policies (the text was subject to censorship inside Romania).

...
Wikipedia