with explaining the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, with its truce between the Comintern and fascism—locally represented by the Iron Guard. He was notorious for his failure to predict the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and Romania in mid 1941, thereafter finding his legitimacy openly challenged by Petre "Zidaru" Gheorghe and Teohari Georgescu; in the aftermath, he also refused to sponsor a partisan movement, and obstructed others from attempting to form one. Foriș's leadership style also relied on isolation and atomization of the existing party cells, a matter which contributed to his own demise. In 1943, he upset the powerful "prison faction" centered on Caransebeș penitentiary—its leaders, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and Emil Bodnăraș, conspired with Constantin Pîrvulescu to have Foriș deposed. In April 1944, an unusually docile Foriș agreed to Bodnăraș's forceful demands, and resigned on the spot. He was kidnapped alongside his lover Victoria Sârbu, and then held hostage in PCR safe houses. Gheorghiu-Dej eventually took over as general secretary, and only tolerated Foriș as a contributor to the PCR's illegal press. After the anti-German coup of 23 August, which brought the PCR into government, the Foriș–Sârbu couple was repeatedly tormented, and made aware that their freedom was relative. Allegedly contemplating emigration into Hungary, Foriș was again kidnapped on orders from the new party elite, and bludgeoned to death by Gheorghe Pintilie. He was singled out as a traitor in party literature, though his fate remained undisclosed until April 1968, which was four years after Gheorghiu-Dej's own death. Foriș was only partly rehabilitated by Nicolae Ceaușescu as the new general secretary, with constant reference being made to his "grave mistakes"; as a sign of reconcilliation, his remains were dug up and reburied in the Freedom Park necropolis. Biography Early life Foriș was born in Tatrang, Transylvania, Brassó County, part of Austria-Hungary (Transleithania) at the time—now Tărlungeni, Brașov County. As reported by historian Hilda Hencz, his ethnic origin was not only Hungarian, but also specifically Csángó, from a branch that had settled in Burzenland. Another historian, Cristina Diac, highlights Foriș's origins in the "Seven Villages" area, "whose inhabitants were often trilingual". Aside from his native Hungarian, Foriș was able to speak Romanian, German and French, talents which allowed him to work as a journalist. He lived at the same time as another Tatrang Csángó who shared both his first and last names, and who achieved posthumous recognition as a Hungarian folk