of those letters (dated April 20, 1956), Luca argued against his conviction for economic sabotage, saying that all the decisions he took were under the guidance and supervision of the Soviet counsellor at the ministry, and the legislation that he had worked on had been approved by the PCR (including Gheorghiu-Dej himself). Twenty-nine of Luca's present and former collaborators — from the Finance Ministry employees and from Centrocoop — were also arrested at the time. They were all subjected to torture. Alexandru Iacob, the deputy finance minister, received 20 years of forced labor; Ivan Solymos, vice-president of Centrocoop, was sentenced to 15, while Dumitru Cernicica, the Centrocoop first vice-president, was condemned to 3 years of corrective jail. For a while Luca and Iacob were detained at Râmnicu Sărat Prison. In 1952, charges against Luca implicated Teohari Georgescu, who was accused of împăciuitorism ("appeasing attitude") and admitted to "not having seen the gravity of Luca's deeds" in a futile effort to save himself from incarceration. Pauker herself claimed that she had suspected Luca of attempting to topple Gheorghiu-Dej, and argued that her Jewish origins and Luca's Hungarian roots had made them the target of Soviet suspicion (she recalled having been told so by Andrey Vyshinsky), as well as unpopular inside Romania. The entire writings of Luca, Pauker, and Georgescu were removed from their places in officially sanctioned libraries, and quotes from them were systematically deleted from reference works. Rehabilitation In September 1965, just two years after his death and six months after the death of Gheorghiu-Dej, the change in tone signaled by Nicolae Ceaușescu, the new general secretary, led to the re-evaluation of Luca's case by a party commission that included Ion Popescu-Puțuri. The investigation revealed major irregularities and a pattern of abusive measures, including the direct implication of Gheorghiu-Dej, Iosif Chișinevschi, and Securitate chief Alexandru Drăghici, into the proceedings, as well as inhumane treatment to which Luca had been subjected. It resulted in Luca's rehabilitation in 1968, although the final verdict seemed to confirm that Luca had betrayed some of his comrades during his 1920s stay in Jilava prison. Notes References Dosarele Istoriei, 2/I, 1996: Dragoș Drăgoescu, "Arma politică a reabilitărilor. Caruselul crimelor și liderii comuniști români", p. 20–34 Marius Oprea, "Radiografia unei înscenări. «Devierea de dreapta»", p. 48–53 Lavinia Betea, External links 1898 births 1963 deaths People from Covasna County Romanian communists Romanian trade unionists Romanian people of World