View source for Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

{{Short description|Leader of Romania from 1947 to 1965}}
{{Expand Romanian|date=March 2025|topic=bio}}
{{for|the city in Romania formerly known as Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej|Onești}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}{{Use British English|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox President
| name = Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
| image = Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej1.jpg
| caption = Official portrait, 1948
| nationality = [[Romania|Romanian]]
| birth_date = 8 November 1901
| birth_place = [[Bârlad]], [[Vaslui County]], [[Kingdom of Romania]]
| birth_name = Gheorghe Gheorghiu
| death_date = {{death date and age|1965|03|19|1901|11|08|df=yes}}
| death_cause = [[Lung cancer]]
| death_place = [[Bucharest]], [[Socialist Republic of Romania|Romanian People's Republic]]
| resting_place = [[Carol Park]], [[Bucharest]], [[Romania]] {{small|(until 1991)}} <br /> [[Bellu Cemetery]], [[Bucharest]], [[Romania]] {{small|(after 1991)}}
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| spouse = [[Maria Alexe]]
| party = [[Communist Party of Romania]] (1930–1965)
| office = [[General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party]]{{Ref label |term|a|}}
| term_start1 = 2 October 1944
| term_end1 = 19 April 1954
| predecessor1 = [[Ștefan Foriș]]
| successor1 = [[Gheorghe Apostol]]
| term_start = 30 September 1955
| term_end = 19 March 1965
| predecessor = [[Gheorghe Apostol]]
| successor = [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]]
| office2 = [[President of Romania|President of the State Council]]
| term_start2 = 21 March 1961
| term_end2 = 19 March 1965
| predecessor2 = [[Ion Gheorghe Maurer]]<br /> <small>(as President of the Presidium of Great National Assembly)</small>
| successor2 = [[Chivu Stoica]]
| office3 = [[Prime Minister of Romania|President of the Council of Ministers]]
| term_start3 = 2 June 1952
| term_end3 = 2 October 1955
| predecessor3 = [[Petru Groza]]
| successor3 = [[Chivu Stoica]]
| office4 = [[Deputy Prime Minister of Romania|First Vice President of the Council of Ministers]]
| primeminister4 = [[Petru Groza]]
| term_start4 = 15 April 1948
| term_end4 = 2 June 1952
| predecessor4 = [[Gheorghe Tătărescu]]
| successor4 = 
| office5 = [[Minister of Industry and Commerce]]
| primeminister5 = [[Petru Groza]]
| term_start5 = 1 December 1946
| term_end5 = 14 April 1948
| predecessor5 = [[Petre Bejan]]
| successor5 = 
| office6 = [[Minister of Public Works]]
| primeminister6 = [[Petru Groza]]
| term_start6 = 6 March 1945
| term_end6 = 30 November 1946
| predecessor6 = [[Virgil Solomon]]
| successor6 = [[Ion Gh. Vântu]]
| office7 = [[Minister of Communications (Romania)|Minister of Communications]]
| primeminister7 = [[Constantin Sănătescu]] <br> [[Nicolae Rădescu]] <br> [[Petru Groza]]
| term_start7 = 4 November 1944
| term_end7 = 30 November 1946
| predecessor7 = 
| successor7 = {{ill|Nicolae Profiri|ro}}
| signature = Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej's signature, 1950-03-22.svg
| footnotes     =
a. {{note|term}} {{small|First Secretary of the Romanian Worker's Party (from February 1948)}}
}}

'''Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej''' ({{IPA|ro|ˈɡe̯orɡe ɡe̯orˈɡi.u ˈdeʒ|-|Ro-Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej.ogg}} {{OldStyleDate|8 November|1901|26 October}} &ndash; 19 March 1965) was a Romanian politician. He was the first [[Socialist Republic of Romania|communist leader]] of Romania from 1947 to 1965, serving as first secretary of the [[Romanian Communist Party]] (ultimately "Romanian Workers' Party", PMR) from 1944 to 1954 and from 1955 to 1965, and as the first communist [[Prime Minister of Romania]] from 1952 to 1955.

Born in [[Bârlad]] (1901), Gheorghiu-Dej was involved in the communist movement's activities from the early 1930s. Upon the outbreak of [[World War II]] in Europe, he was imprisoned by [[Ion Antonescu]]'s regime in the [[Târgu Jiu internment camp]], and escaped only in August 1944. After the forces of [[King of Romania|King]] [[Michael I of Romania|Michael]] ousted Antonescu and had him arrested for war crimes, Gheorghiu-Dej together with prime-minister [[Petru Groza]] pressured the King into abdicating in December 1947, marking the onset of out-and-out communist rule in Romania.

Under his rule, Romania was considered one of the [[Soviet Union]]'s most loyal satellite states, though Gheorghiu-Dej was partially unnerved by the rapid [[de-Stalinization]] policy initiated by [[Nikita Khrushchev]] at the end of the 1950s. Gheorghiu-Dej stepped up measures that greatly increased trade relations between Romania and the Western countries. At the same time his government committed human rights violations within the country.

He died of [[lung cancer]] in March 1965. His once protégé [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]] succeeded him as [[Romanian Communist Party#General Secretaries (1921–1989)|General Secretary]].

==Early life==
Gheorghiu-Dej was the son of a poor worker from [[Bârlad]],<ref name="NeagoePleșa77">Neagoe-Pleșa, p. 77</ref> his father was Tănase Gheorghiu and his mother, Ana. At the age of two he was adopted by his uncle Nicolae Gheorghe Ionescu from [[Moinești]], [[Bacău County]] and attended secondary school in the current school no. 1 "Ștefan Luchian". After finishing school, he worked at a sawmill, at a weaving mill, and then worked for carpenters in [[Piatra Neamț]] and [[Moinești]]. He also had a younger sister named Tinca Gheorghiu.

==Career==
Poverty made him leave school early on and start working at the age of 11.<ref name="NeagoePleșa77"/> Due to his age and the lack of professional training, he often changed jobs, eventually settling to be an [[electrician]].<ref name="NeagoePleșa77"/> Working at a factory in [[Comănești]], he joined the workers' union and participated in the [[1920 Romanian general strike]], during which all the participants were dismissed.<ref name="NeagoePleșa77"/>

A year later, he was hired as an electrician at the [[Galați]] tramway company, where he was also fired after organizing protests against the 9-hour workday and for higher wages.<ref name="NeagoePleșa77"/> He was later hired by the [[Căile Ferate Române|Romanian Railways]] (CFR) workshops in Galați.<ref name="NeagoePleșa78">Neagoe-Pleșa, p. 78</ref>

As the workers' standard of living was already low, the [[Great Depression in Romania]] began eroding it much more so. In 1930, Gheorghiu became more politically active, joining the [[Communist Party of Romania]].<ref name="NeagoePleșa78"/> He was assigned to organize agitation in the Romanian Railways workshops in [[Moldavia]].<ref name="NeagoePleșa78"/>

On 15 August 1931, Gheorghiu was accused of "communist agitation" and punitively transferred to [[Dej]], a town in [[Transylvania]], where he continued the union activity.<ref name="NeagoePleșa78"/> The union presented a petition in February 1932 to the CFR Railways, demanding better working conditions and higher wages. As a response, the CFR Railways closed down the Dej plant and fired all the workers, including Gheorghiu, who was deprived of the opportunity to be hired by any other CFR Railways workshop in the country.<ref name="NeagoePleșa80">Neagoe-Pleșa, p. 80</ref>

===Activist===
During this time, Gheorghiu got the moniker Gheorghiu-Dej (from [[Dej, Romania]] where he'd been sent by the party) from the [[Siguranța]] (secret police), in order for his name to be differentiated from other union activists called Gheorghiu.<ref name="NeagoePleșa80"/> After his dismissal from the CFR Railways workshop, Gheorghiu became even more active in organizing the unions and coordinating the workers of [[Iași]], [[Pașcani]], and Galați.<ref name="NeagoePleșa81">Neagoe-Pleșa, p. 81</ref>

On the night of 14–15 July 1932, he was arrested for placing "subversive posters on the walls and poles of [[Giulești]] Road", being held in the [[Văcărești Prison]].<ref name="NeagoePleșa82"/> Defended by lawyer [[Iosif Schraier]], he was freed because the posters were meant to be related to the elections, during the electoral campaign for the [[1932 Romanian general election]].<ref name="NeagoePleșa82">Neagoe-Pleșa, p. 82</ref>

Gheorghiu-Dej was briefly arrested again on 3 October 1932, at the end of a workers' meeting in Iași, after he urged the workers to "unite for the fight against the capitalist class", on alleged charges of having hit a [[police commissioner]].<ref name="NeagoePleșa84">Neagoe-Pleșa, p. 84</ref> He was freed as the charges were found to be false.<ref name="NeagoePleșa84"/>

In January 1933, the Romanian Government announced some even more stringent [[austerity]] measures that included new wages cuts, which led to the radicalization of the workers.<ref name="NeagoePleșa86">Neagoe-Pleșa, p. 86</ref> Gheorghiu-Dej, together with union president [[Constantin Doncea]], led the Bucharest workers to the big strike that became known as the CFR Railways [[Grivița Strike of 1933]].<ref name="NeagoePleșa86"/>

As the negotiations failed, the government feared a [[general strike]], so it declared a [[state of siege]] in Bucharest and other cities.<ref name="NeagoePleșa87">Neagoe-Pleșa, p. 87</ref> Gheorghiu-Dej was arrested during the night of 14–15 February 1933.<ref name="NeagoePleșa88">Neagoe-Pleșa, p. 88</ref>

===In prison===
{{Communism in the Kingdom of Romania|Leaders}}
Gheorghiu-Dej was sentenced to prison in the same year by a [[military court]],<ref name="NeagoePleșa100">Neagoe-Pleșa, p. 100</ref> serving time in [[Doftana prison|Doftana]] and in other facilities. In 1935–1936 he was detained at [[Ocnele Mari Prison]], together with [[Chivu Stoica]].<ref name="Oane">{{citation|url=https://biblioteca-digitala.ro/?articol=82146-comunisti-in-inchisoarea-de-la-ocnele-mari-1918-1938--buridava-studii-si-materiale-buridava--2-xii-2015|title=Comuniști în închisoarea de la Ocnele Mari (1918&ndash;1938)|lang=ro| first=Sorin|last=Oane|journal=Buridava. Studii și materiale| volume=XII|issue=2|year=2015|pages=66&ndash;78}}</ref> In 1936 he was elected to the party's [[Central Committee]] and became leader of the ''prison faction'' of the [[Romanian Communist Party|communist party]] (party members who were incarcerated in Romania, a term distinguishing them from party members living in exile, mainly in the [[Soviet Union]]: the ''Muscovite faction'').

As a known activist, he was detained at [[Târgu Jiu internment camp]] during all of [[Ion Antonescu]]'s regime and most of [[World War II]] period, and escaped only on 10 August 1944, a few days before the [[1944 Romanian coup d'état|fall of the regime]]. He became [[Secretary (title)|general secretary]] in 1944 after the [[Soviet occupation of Romania|Soviet occupation]], but did not consolidate his power until 1952, after he purged [[Ana Pauker]] and her ''Muscovite faction'' comrades from power. Ana Pauker had been the unofficial leader of the Party since the end of the war.

While in prison, Gheorghiu-Dej met [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]]. They were imprisoned after a rally organized by the communist party, of which both Ceaușescu and Gheorghiu-Dej were members. Gheorghiu-Dej taught Ceaușescu in prison Marxist-Leninist theories and principles, and kept him close as Gheorghiu-Dej steadily gained power after their release from prison in 1944.<ref name=stalinism_in_romania>{{cite web|url=http://www.rri.ro/en_gb/gheorghe_gheorghiu_dej_and_stalinism_in_romania-2536497|title= Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and Stalinism in Romania|publisher=[[Radio Romania International]]|date=21 September 2015|access-date=11 December 2018}}</ref> During 1946–1947, he was a member of Romania's [[Gheorghe Tătărescu]]-led delegation to the [[Paris Peace Treaties, 1947|Paris Peace Conference]].

==Political career==

===Under Soviet directives===
On 30 December 1947, Gheorghiu-Dej and Prime Minister [[Petru Groza]] forced [[King of Romania|King]] [[Michael I of Romania|Michael I]] to [[abdication|abdicate]]. Years later, Albanian Communist leader [[Enver Hoxha]] alleged that Gheorghiu-Dej personally pulled a gun on the King and threatened to kill him unless he gave up the throne.<ref>[[Nikita Khrushchev|Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev]], Sergeĭ Khrushchev.[https://books.google.com/books?id=EkFZqlgdzCkC&pg=RA1-PA701&dq=king+michael+romania&sig=s9B8__XDcPT1NZr2s6G55jEOdyA ''Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev: Statesman, 1953–1964''], [[Pennsylvania State University Press]], 2007, p. 701, {{ISBN|0-271-02935-8}}</ref> Hours later, Parliament, fully dominated by Communists and their allies after the [[1946 Romanian general election|elections held a year earlier]], abolished the monarchy and declared Romania a People's Republic. From this moment onward, Gheorghiu-Dej was the ''[[de facto]]'' most powerful man in Romania.

Soviet influence in Romania under [[Joseph Stalin]] favoured Gheorghiu-Dej, largely seen as a local leader with strong [[Marxism-Leninism|Marxist-Leninist]] principles. The economic influence of Moscow was protected by the creation of the ''"[[SovRoms|Sov-Rom]]" companies'', which directed Romania's commercial exchanges to unprofitable markets (mainly the Soviet Union).<ref>The contradictions between domestic and foreign policies in the Cold War Romania (1956–1975), Ferrero, M.D, 2006</ref> Up until Stalin's death and even afterwards, Gheorghiu-Dej did not amend repressive policies, such as the works employing [[penal labor|penal labour]] on the [[Danube-Black Sea Canal]]. On orders from Gheorghiu-Dej, Romania implemented also the massive [[Collectivization in Romania|forced collectivization]] of land in the rural areas. 

=== Creation of heavy industry ===
[[File:Gheorghiu-Dej & Khrushchev at Bucharest's Baneasa Airport (June 1960).jpg|thumb| Gheorghiu-Dej with [[Nikita Khrushchev]] at Bucharest's [[Băneasa Airport]] in June 1960. [[Nicolae Ceaușescu|Ceaușescu]] can be seen at Gheorghiu-Dej's right hand side]]

Gheorghiu-Dej became the architect of a new semi-autonomous foreign and economic policy under the Warsaw Pact and CAER at the end of the sixth decade. He decided to create a heavy industry, an initiative that contradicted the Muscovite plans that had reserved for Romania the role of granary of the communist bloc. Thus, the Galați Steel Plant was created, the construction of which was to be made with funds from the IMF. Production was based on iron ore imported from India and Australia. In 1952, construction began of the Borzești Petrochemical Platform with the first combine (Refinery no. 10) and the related city of Onești, mostly with the workforce of political prisoners. Also, in 1953, the Bârlad Bearing Company was put into operation, which later developed reaching a number of approx. 9,000 employees, about 1/9 of the city's population (approx. 80,000 inhabitants in 1989).

Romania became one of the world's leading steel-producing countries, the machine building industry expanded considerably, and the chemical industry was overdeveloped, with an oil refining capacity far in excess of domestic raw material production. Romania began to produce, at high cost prices but of inferior quality, civil and military aircraft, tanks, maritime vessels, helicopters, automobiles and computers.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

A large-scale development was achieved by three industrial branches: the steel industry, the petrochemical industry and the machine building industry. Romania, lacking sufficient sources of domestic raw materials, was forced to rely on imports, sometimes obtained at extremely high prices. In addition, the decrease in demand for steel, of machine tools and petrochemical products on the world market, in the last decade of the Gheorghiu-Dej regime, limited the possibilities of exporting Romanian industrial products and, implicitly, massively reduced the foreign exchange funds thus obtained. The lack of competitiveness of Romanian products, mainly due to their poor quality and outdated technologies, forced Romania to sell its industrial goods at prices lower than their production costs, mostly on [[Third World]] markets and often within barter or credit exchanges.

===Personal rule===
The first five years of the [[Socialist Republic of Romania|Romanian People's Republic]] saw a period of collective leadership, with [[fellow traveler]] Groza serving as prime minister. However, in 1952, Groza stepped down from the premiership and became head of state as Chairman of the Presidium of the [[Great National Assembly (Socialist Republic of Romania)|Great National Assembly]]. Gheorghiu-Dej succeeded him, becoming the first Communist to hold the post. He thus combined the two most powerful posts in Romania in his own hands, with full Soviet approval.[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gheorghe-Gheorghiu-Dej?utm_source=chatgpt.com]

Gheorghiu-Dej briefly gave up the first secretaryship of the Communist Party in 1954 to [[Gheorghe Apostol]], retaining the premiership. However, he was still the actual leader of Romania, and he regained the party leadership in 1955, at the same time handing the premiership to [[Chivu Stoica]]. In 1961, he became head of state as the president of the newly created [[State Council of Romania|State Council]].

Gheorghiu-Dej was at first unsettled by [[Nikita Khrushchev]]'s reforms in the new process of [[De-Stalinization]]. He then became the architect of Romania's semi-autonomous foreign and economic policy within the [[Warsaw Pact]] and the [[Comecon]], in the late 1950s, notably by initiating the creation of a [[heavy industry]] in Romania which went against Soviet directions for the [[Eastern Bloc]] as a whole (e.g., the new large-scale steel plant in [[Galați]], which relied on iron resources imported from [[India]] and [[Australia]]). Ironically, Romania under Gheorghiu-Dej was once considered one of the most loyal among the Soviet satellites, and thus there is a tendency to forget "who first established the pattern of foreign policy openness and 'liberalness' coupled with domestic repression".<ref>Johanna Granville, [https://www.academia.edu/22876051/Dej-a-Vu_Early_Roots_of_Romanias_Independence "''Dej''-a-Vu: Early Roots of Romania's Independence"], ''East European Quarterly'', vol. XLII, no. 4 (Winter 2008), p. 366.</ref> The ideological steps undertaken were made clear by the ousting of the "Sov-Rom" companies, together with the toning down of Soviet-Romanian common cultural ventures. In 1958 the [[Red Army]] withdrew its last troops from Romania (a personal achievement of Gheorghiu-Dej). The official ''History of Romania'' made then reference to a Romanian [[Bessarabia]], as well as other topics which tensed relations between the two communist countries. Moreover, the final years of Dej's regime saw the publishing of [[Karl Marx]] - newly discovered - texts dealing with [[Imperial Russia|Russia]]'s [[Imperialism|imperial policy]] in previously Romanian and now Soviet regions.

Yet, the [[Securitate]] was still Dej's instrument of choice,<ref name="Deletant1999">Deletant, p. x</ref> and Romania joined the other Warsaw Pact countries' wave of repression after the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956]] – incidentally, [[Hungary|Hungarian]] leader [[Imre Nagy]] was shortly detained on Romanian soil.

In his late years, Gheorghiu-Dej established diplomatic relations with the [[First World]], including the [[United States]]. Such steps were highly encouraged by [[President of the United States|President]] [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], who had come to see Romania as an almost friendly{{vague|date=July 2015}} Communist country in the [[Cold War]] context (1963).{{citation needed|date=July 2015}} Also, many [[political prisoner]]s were released in 1964.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ciobanu |first=Monica |date=2015 |title=Remembering the Romanian Anti-Communist Armed Resistance: An Analysis of Local Lived Experience |url=https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/euro/2015-v10-n1-euro02010/1033884ar/ |journal=Eurostudia |language=en |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=105–123 |doi=10.7202/1033884ar |issn=1718-8946}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ciobanu |first=Monica |date=2014 |title=Reconstructing the History of Early Communism and Armed Resistance in Romania |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24537155 |journal=Europe-Asia Studies |volume=66 |issue=9 |pages=1452–1481 |doi=10.1080/09668136.2014.956440 |jstor=24537155 |issn=0966-8136}}</ref>

===Interaction with the West===
[[File:1961 Vizita delegatiei din RSF Cehoslovaca. Dej, Antonin Novotny.jpg|thumb|Gheorghiu-Dej sharing a toast with [[Antonín Novotný]], President of [[Czechoslovakia]]]]
In the early years of Gheorghiu-Dej's rule, Romania's relations with the West were tense, marked by accusations of [[United States]] espionage and Romanian human rights violations. There were also low levels of trade between Romania and the West, as Romania tied itself to the Soviet Union and the other satellite nations; in 1950, Romania's economic plan involved 89% of trade to be solely with the [[Soviet Bloc]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Deletant |first=Dennis |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3146600-romania-under-communist-rule |title=Romania under communist rule |date=1999 |publisher=The Center for Romanian Studies |isbn=978-973-98392-8-0 |location=Iasi |pages=112–130}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Amazon.com |isbn=0520237471 |language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, however, Romania's willingness to trade with the West became more apparent. For example, 1952 saw the first publication of the journal ''Romanian Foreign Trade'', which offered opportunities to Western traders to buy Romanian goods, such as [[petroleum]] and [[grain]]. Western publications also recognized the potential for Romania to sell its products on the world market. An article from ''[[The Times]]'' of 29 August 1953 wrote: "[Romania] could, for instance, it is thought, obtain higher prices on the world market for much of what she is forced to export to Russia, foodstuffs included, in return for machinery and aid", As Gheorghiu-Dej realized, if Romania were able to trade with the West the [[standard of living]] would likely rise.

From 1953, the West gradually relaxed their export controls, which had limited the products that the U.S., Great Britain, and France could export to [[Eastern Europe]]. Gheorghiu-Dej, eager to establish interaction between Romania and the West, relaxed travel restraints on Western diplomats in [[Bucharest]] and allowed Western journalists more access to Romania. In early 1954, Romania also appealed to Great Britain about having talks to resolve Romania's outstanding claims, to which Great Britain agreed in December of that year.

Romania's foreign policy towards the West was closely tied to its policy toward the Soviet Union; Romania could only develop trading with the West if it asserted its independence from the intensely anti-West Soviet Union. Gheorghiu-Dej realized this, and thus emphasized Romania's sovereignty. In the Second Party Congress, which opened on 23 December 1955, Gheorghiu-Dej gave a five-hour speech in which he stressed the idea of national communism and Romania's right to follow its own interests, rather than be forced to follow another's (referring to the Soviet Union). Gheorghiu-Dej also discussed opening up trade with the West. In an attempt to increase the dialogue between Romania and the West, in 1956 Gheorghiu-Dej instructed the new ambassador to the U.S. to meet with both [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] [[John Foster Dulles]] and then with [[United States President|President]] [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]. As a result of these meetings, the [[United States Department of State|U.S. Department of State]] expressed interest in increasing the interaction between the two nations, including possibly establishing a library in Bucharest.[[Image:001 O parte a delegatiilor de peste hotare.jpg|thumb|Foreign communist leaders at Gheorghiu-Dej's funeral, including [[Zhou Enlai]] at left and [[Anastas Mikoyan]] at right]]Romania's interaction with the West temporarily decreased, however, with the [[1956 Hungarian Revolution]] and the violent response of the Soviet Union to the uprising. Gheorghiu-Dej continued to strengthen the independence from the Soviet Union. For example, Romanian schools dropped the Russian language requirement. Additionally, Romania endorsed the Moscow Declaration of 1957 which stated that "Socialist countries base their relations on the principles of complete equality, respect for territorial integrity, state independence and sovereignty, and non-interference in one another's affairs… The socialist states also advocate the general expansion of economic and cultural relations with all other countries…" These statements coincided with Gheorghiu-Dej's claims to national sovereignty and independence.

By 1957 Romania had substantially increased its Western trade; in that year trade with the West had increased to 25% of Romania's total trade. By the early 1960s, Romania under Gheorghiu-Dej was more industrialized and productive. After World War II 80% of the population had worked in agriculture, but by 1963, 65% did. Despite the decrease in hands working the land, agricultural productivity had actually increased. Additionally, Gheorghiu-Dej had successfully begun a strong shift in trade towards the West, further separating it from the Soviet Union; Romania imported much of its industrial equipment from [[West Germany]], Great Britain, and France. This trade pattern followed Gheorghiu-Dej's economic plan, which he made clear to Great Britain and France in 1960, when he sent his head of foreign intelligence to [[Paris]] and [[London]] in order to clarify Romania's desire to interact with the West and disregard [[Comecon]] orders.

By 1964 Gheorghiu-Dej had made a trading agreement with the U.S. that allowed Romania to buy industrial products from them. The agreement came as a result of U.S. businesses' complaints that they were losing money to [[Western Europe]]. During his presidency, President [[John F. Kennedy]], concerned with these businesses' losses, used his powers to increase trade between the U.S. and Eastern Europe, a policy which President [[Lyndon B. Johnson|Lyndon Johnson]] also followed.

Thus, Gheorghiu-Dej greatly increased trade with the West, making Romania the first Soviet Bloc country to independently trade with the West. Through his policy of national sovereignty, Gheorghiu-Dej increased the popularity of Romania in the West. National U.S. publications moved away from reports in the early 1950s of [[human rights]] abuses and oppression, towards articles from the mid-1950s to the early 1960s of Romanian de-satellization. In the early 1960s, ''[[The Times]]'' also reported often on Gheorghiu-Dej's and Romania's increased economic ties with the West. Gheorghiu-Dej's successful efforts to expand Romania's foreign relations, especially those with the West, were evident at his March 1965 funeral, attended by 33 foreign delegations, including a special French envoy sent by General [[Charles de Gaulle]]. Gheorghiu-Dej's policies set the stage for his successor, [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]], to carry Romania's new course even further.

== Death and legacy ==
[[Image:USSR stamp G.Gheorghiu-Dej 1965 4k.jpg|thumb|100px|Soviet stamp featuring Gheorghiu-Dej|left]]
[[Image:Mormant GGDej 1.jpg|right|thumb|Gheorghiu-Dej's grave at [[Bellu Cemetery]] in Bucharest]]

Gheorghiu-Dej died of [[lung cancer]] in Bucharest on 19 March 1965.<ref name="careu">{{cite web|url=https://www.viata-medicala.ro/istoria-medicinei/un-careu-de-asi-pentru-sanatatea-lui-dej-co-7040|title=Un careu de ași pentru sănătatea lui Dej & co.|lang=ro|work=Viața Medicală|first=Mihail|last=Mihailide| date=June 14, 2013|access-date=December 29, 2022}}</ref> [[Gheorghe Apostol]] has claimed that Gheorghiu-Dej himself designated him party leader in waiting; in any case many perceived him as such in 1965. Prime Minister [[Ion Gheorghe Maurer]], who had developed hostility towards him, made sure that Apostol was prevented from taking power, rallying the Party leadership instead around longtime Gheorghiu-Dej protégé [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]]. Securitate general [[Ion Mihai Pacepa]], who defected to the United States in 1978, wrote that Ceaușescu had allegedly told him about "ten international leaders the Kremlin killed or tried to kill"; Gheorghiu-Dej was among them.<ref name="Pacepa0">{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/article/219342/kremlins-killing-ways-ion-mihai-pacepa|title= The Kremlin's Killing Ways|first=Ion Mihai|last=Pacepa|author-link=Ion Mihai Pacepa|magazine=[[National Review Online]]|date= November 28, 2006}}</ref>

Gheorghiu-Dej was buried in a [[mausoleum]] in Liberty Park (now [[Carol Park]]) in Bucharest. In 1991, after the [[Romanian Revolution]], his body was exhumed and reburied at [[Bellu Cemetery]].<ref name="StanVancea2015">{{cite book|author1=Lavinia Stan|author2=Diane Vancea|title=Post-Communist Romania at Twenty-Five: Linking Past, Present, and Future|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I2zHCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA46|year=2015|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield|Lexington Books]]|isbn=978-1-4985-0110-1|pages=46}}</ref> The Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest, renamed to Polytechnic Institute "Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej" Bucharest in his honour, is now known as the [[Politehnica University of Bucharest]]. In the early 1950s, one of the [[Sectors of Bucharest]] (roughly, the present-day [[Sector 6 (Bucharest)|Sector 6]]) was named after him.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://romania.europalibera.org/a/ocupația-sovietică-1945-1958-reforma-administrativa-modelele-lui-stalin-ceausescu/31718873.html|title=România în stand-by. Reforma administrativă, încremenită în modelele Stalin și Ceaușescu|lang=ro|publisher=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|Europa Liberă România]]|first=Cristian|last= Andrei|date=April 23, 2022|access-date=May 18, 2022}}</ref> The city of [[Onești]] was once named ''Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej''. Also, the [[Russia]]n city of [[Liski, Voronezh Oblast|Liski]] was, from 1965 to 1990, named ''Georgiu-Dezh'' in his honour.

Gheorghiu-Dej was married to Maria Alexe and they had two daughters, {{ill|Lica Gheorghiu|lt=Vasilica|ro|Lica Gheorghiu}} (1928–1987) and Constantina (1931–2000).

<!-- No source === Labour camps ===
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej was directly involved in the application of communist terror in Romania. By the Decree of the Presidium of the Great National Assembly of 14 January 1950, the labour camps, originally known as "Labour Units", were legalised. Their purpose was "to re-educate elements hostile to the Romanian People's Republic and to prepare and integrate these elements into the social life of a popular democracy in full construction of socialism" (art. 1 of Decree no. 6). The persons liable to be interned in the camps were defined in an order of Gheorghe Pintilie, the head of Security, issued on 3 April 1950. Included were “all those who launch or spread alarmist, tendentious or hostile rumours, or listen to or spread the shameless propaganda of imperialist radio stations; all those who defame the Romanian Workers' Party or its leaders, or the Soviet Union and its leaders; all those Romanian citizens who frequented or frequent the libraries and embassies of the capitalist powers in Romania". 

In the spring of 1950, during the ''de facto'' severing of relations with Western countries, the communist regime began to arrest those who frequented Western institutes and libraries. Many students were arrested, including Șerban Papacostea, detained for visiting the French library in Bucharest. He was detained at the Capul Midia labor camp. (After 1990, Papacostea was the director of the "N. Iorga" Institute of History in Bucharest, between 1990 and 2001, as well as a member of the Romanian Academy.)

On 22 August 1952, the Council of Ministers adopted resolution 1554 by which the camps were designated "labour colonies". The document was signed by Gheorghiu-Dej, as president of the Council. The resolution introduced the penalty of forced residence, or internal exile, for those who had not been "re-educated" in prison or labour camps. Included here were former landlords, bankers and wholesalers, the close female relatives of those who had left the country before 1944 (the legionnaires). Artists, sculptors, composers and academics "who work honestly and are useful to society" were excluded from these provisions. Gheorghiu-Dej was also responsible for purging other party colleagues like [[Ana Pauker]] and her allies in the Secretariat: [[Vasile Luca]] and [[Teohari Georgescu]], who was scapegoated and blamed for many political and economical failures during his rule.-->

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite book |last=Neagoe-Pleșa |first=Elis |chapter=Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej și "procesul ceferiștilor" (1933–1934) |editor1-first=Adrian |editor1-last=Cioroianu |editor1-link=Adrian Cioroianu |year=2014 |title=Comuniștii înainte de comunism: procese și condamnări ale ilegaliștilor din România |trans-title=Communists before communism: trials and convictions of the illegalists in Romania |url=http://www.andco.ro/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/comunistii_inainte_de_comunism.pdf |language=ro |location=Bucharest |publisher=[[University of Bucharest|Editura Universității București]] |isbn=978-606-16-0520-0}}
*{{Cite book |last=Deletant |first=Dennis|author-link=Dennis Deletant|title=Communist terror in Romania: Gheorghiu-Dej and the Police State, 1948–1965 |year=1999 |publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]]|location=New York |isbn=0-312-21904-0 |oclc=40762619}}

{{sisterlinks}}

===Primary sources===
* ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', July 4, 1964; p. 11; Tito Socialism Wins Support in Balkans; Donald Starr.
* ''[[The Times]]'', Saturday, August 29, 1953; p. 7; Issue 52713; col F. "Communism In Rumania Arrests And Collectives In A Satellite State From Our Special Correspondent".
* ''The Times'', Saturday, May 11, 1963; p. 7; Issue 55698; col C. "Comecon Meets In Warsaw Preparing For Party Secretaries' Talks".
* ''The Times'', Tuesday, Nov 26, 1963; p. 9; Issue 55868; col D. "Rumania Leader At Yugoslavia Steel Centre Power Project On Danube".
* ''The Times'', Monday, Apr 13, 1964; p. 10; Issue 55984; col A. "Mr. Khrushchev's Allies To Meet This Week Rumania Still Stands Aloof From China Dispute From Our Special Correspondent".
* ''The Times'', Monday, Jun 08, 1964; p. 10; Issue 56032; col F. "Signs Of Coming Russian Clash With Rumania Background To President Tito's Leningrad Visit Today From Our Own Correspondent".
* ''The Times'', Friday, Dec 11, 1964; p. 13; Issue 56192; col F. "Rumanian Drive For Independence".
* ''The Times'', Friday, Jan 22, 1965; p. 9; Issue 56226; col A. "Warsaw Pact Warning On M.L.F. Counter-Measures Threatened".
* ''The Times'', Thursday, Mar 25, 1965; p. 10; Issue 56279; col E. "Rumania Affirms Independence".

===Secondary sources===
*{{Cite journal |last=Deletant |first=Dennis |author-link=Dennis Deletant|year=1993 |title=The ''Securitate'' and the police state in Romania: 1948–64 |journal=[[Intelligence and National Security]] |language=en |volume=8 |issue=4 |pages=1–25 |doi=10.1080/02684529308432223}}
*{{Cite book |last=Deletant |first=Dennis |title=Romania under communist rule |year=1998 |publisher=Fundația, Civic Academy Foundation |isbn=973-98437-2-7 |location=Bucharest|oclc=42404569}}
* {{Citation|first=Mary Ellen|last= Fischer|title=Nicolae Ceaușescu and the Romanian Political Leadership: Nationalization and Personalization of Power|publisher=National Council for Soviet and East European Research|year= 1983|url=https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/nceeer/1983-626-10-Fischer.pdf}}
*{{Cite book |last=Fischer-Galați |first=Stephen|title=Twentieth Century Rumania |year=1970 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=0-231-02848-2 |location=New York |oclc=71802}}
*{{Cite book |last=Gallagher |first=Tom |author-link=Thomas Gerard Gallagher|title=Theft of a Nation: Romania Since Communism |year=2005 |publisher=[[C. Hurst & Co.]] |isbn=1-85065-717-3 |location=London |oclc=57750161}}
* {{Cite journal|first=Johanna|last= Granville|url=http://www.scribd.com/doc/17679545/DejAVu-Early-Roots-of-Romanias-Independence-by-Johanna-Granville |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014154623/http://www.scribd.com/doc/17679545/DejAVu-Early-Roots-of-Romanias-Independence-by-Johanna-Granville |archive-date=2013-10-14 |title=''Dej''-a-Vu: Early Roots of Romania's Independence|journal=East European Quarterly|volume=XLII|issue=4 |year=2008|pages=365–404}} {{ProQuest|195170946}}
*{{Cite book |last1=Harrington |first1=Joseph F. |first2=Bruce J. |last2=Courtney|title=Tweaking the nose of the Russians: fifty years of American-Romanian relations, 1940–1990 |year=1991 |publisher=East European Monographs |isbn=0-88033-193-3 |location=Boulder |oclc=23051317}}
*{{Cite book |first=Paul D.|last= Quinlan |title=The United States and Romania: American-Romanian relations in the twentieth century |year=1988 |publisher=American-Romanian Academy of Arts and Sciences |isbn=0-912131-06-3 |location=Woodland Hills, Calif. |oclc=19323636}}
*{{Cite book |last=Tismăneanu |first=Vladimir|author-link=Vladimir Tismăneanu |title=Fantoma lui Gheorghiu-Dej |lang=ro|year=1995 |publisher=Univers |isbn=973-34-0324-5 |location=București |oclc=35033916}}
*{{Cite book |last=Tismăneanu |first=Vladimir |title=Stalinism for All Seasons: A Political History of Romanian Communism |year=2003 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |isbn=0-520-23747-1 |location=Berkeley |oclc=51172356}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{succession box
| before = [[Ștefan Foriș]]
| title = {{nowrap|General Secretary<br/>of the [[Romanian Communist Party]]}}
| years = 1944&ndash;1954
| after = [[Gheorghe Apostol]]
}}
{{succession box
|before = [[Gheorghe Apostol]]
|title = {{nowrap|General Secretary<br/>of the [[Romanian Workers' Party]]}}
|years = 1955&ndash;1965
|after = [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]]
}}
{{s-end}}
{{PCRGenSecs}}
{{RomanianPrimeMinisters}}
{{Presidents of Romania}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gheorghiu-Dej, Gheorghe}}
[[Category:1901 births]]
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