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Smil Marcovici

Smil Marcovici (1893-1940), communist activist and, known also by the name of Moraru, born in Iasi (Jassy), Romania. During World War I he fought in the Romanian army before joining a revolutionary battalion which was established in Odessa, Ukraine (Then part of Soviet Russia). Employed by the Soviet Russian authorities he smuggled printing presses and money into Romania in order to promote socialist ideas and support left wing terrorist groups there. In 1920 he was arrested by the Romanian authorities, accussed of being a a spy and consequently sentenced to 20 years in prison. Marcovici escaped and joined the Romanian communist party becoming chief of the central committee's technical operations, organizing networks and clandestine links with other communist parties. He was appointed head of the party's internal police keeping an eye on party members suspected of collaborating with the secret police. He was responsible for running connections with anti-fascist front organizations which were financed by the communist party.

He was arrested in 1935, and was one of the defendants at the "The Trial of Craiova", the largest anti-communist trial in Romania before WW 2. Marcovici was sentenced to prison. He died at Doftana prison, when the building collapsed during the November 1940 earthquake.

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Smil Marcovici

Smil Marcovici (1893-1940), communist activist and, known also by the name of Moraru, born in Iasi (Jassy), Romania. During World War I he fought in the Romanian army before joining a revolutionary battalion which was established in Odessa, Ukraine (Then part of Soviet Russia). Employed by the Soviet Russian authorities he smuggled printing presses and money into Romania in order to promote socialist ideas and support left wing terrorist groups there. In 1920 he was arrested by the Romanian authorities, accussed of being a a spy and consequently sentenced to 20 years in prison. Marcovici escaped and joined the Romanian communist party becoming chief of the central committee's technical operations, organizing networks and clandestine links with other communist parties. He was appointed head of the party's internal police keeping an eye on party members suspected of collaborating with the secret police. He was responsible for running connections with anti-fascist front organizations which were financed by the communist party.

He was arrested in 1935, and was one of the defendants at the "The Trial of Craiova", the largest anti-communist trial in Romania before WW 2. Marcovici was sentenced to prison. He died at Doftana prison, when the building collapsed during the November 1940 earthquake.

Written by researchers of ANU Museum of the Jewish People