destroyed by the torture. After the fall of Communism in 1989, her story became known following an interview included in the 1992 documentary Memorialul Durerii by . In May 2001 the former King Michael I of Romania visited Rizea at her home in Nucșoara. During the visit, she told reporters, "When these wretched Communists came to power, they took everything from us, the land, the wooden carts — the hair off our heads. Still, what they could not take was our soul." Rizea died in 2003 of viral pneumonia, at a hospital in Pitești. Legacy In a 2006 poll conducted by Romanian Television to identify the "100 greatest Romanians of all time", she came in 58th. When there was a proposal to build a monument in memory of the anti-communist resistance, Rizea's name was the first on the list, and received the most support from Romanian civic organizations. As of 2019, there are plans to turn her house in Nucșoara into a museum. Streets in Iași, Nucșoara, Timișoara, and Voluntari are named after Rizea. References External links Website dedicated to the memory of Elisabeta Rizea 1912 births 2003 deaths 20th-century Romanian women 21st-century Romanian women Members of the Romanian anti-communist resistance movement Romanian women activists People from Argeș County Members of the Romanian Orthodox Church People detained by the Securitate Romanian torture victims Inmates of Pitești prison Deaths from pneumonia in Romania