Word: groza
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...very lucky man," said Rumania's burly, egotistical Petru Groza, "a sort of modern Midas." Born wealthy, he owned huge estates, was a director of many companies, served as a minister in the archconservative Cabinets after World War I, was a deputy in the Synod of the Rumanian Orthodox Church. In 1927 came the great change; Millionaire Groza abruptly abandoned what he called the "Sodom and Gomorrah" of Rumanian politics, retired to his Transylvanian estates, led a lusty Rabelaisian life and, in his words, "learned to think dialectically." Translation: Groza, an opportunist of agility, saw Russia as a coming...
Communism as the wave of the future. "When I get up early in the morning," said he, "the first thing I see is the sun. It always rises in the east, and it is undeniably red." Landlord Groza formed a left-wing peasants' movement known as the Plowmen's Front. He piled up wartime profits under the German occupation, but he shrewdly calculated the turn of the tide, got himself jailed by the Nazis before the Reds marched in from the east...
...desk-thumping ultimatum: fire the non-Communist government, install a pro-Communist regime-or sovereign Rumania would cease to exist. With Soviet troops in control of the country and no hope of help from Britain or the U.S., young Michael capitulated. The Kremlin's choice as Premier: Plowman Groza. A year later Groza helped the Communists undo the promises of Yalta for free elections by arranging an elaborately rigged election which confirmed Rumania's paltry Communist minority in power. In December 1947 Groza bounced young King Michael off the throne and into exile...
From then on, the Reds no longer needed Groza. They fed his egomania, allowed him always to win at tennis, to keep his wealth, to indulge his tastes in wine, women and sports-"anything I can buy with money." In 1952 they kicked him upstairs to the post of chief of state...
Last week, at 73, Petru Groza died of intestinal cancer-the first and most unlikely front man the Communists used in their drive to sovietize Eastern Europe. The Reds marshalled thousands to mourn at his funeral, quickly elected another political nonentity, Foreign Minister Ion Maurer, as his successor...