REMEMBRANCE IN TIME - Index of

Corneliu PINTILESCU: The Interrogation Stages, Strategies, and Techniques of the … 135
We will not insist on the torture techniques because this topic has been very well
covered both in memoirs and the historical research. In many cases, the use of torture was
unnecessary because the psychological methods, such as threats and blackmail, proved
their efficiency. The psychological methods for the obtaining of confessions were based
on a system of collecting and organizing information on the people who came under the
scrutiny of the Securitate. During the investigation, the personal file of the suspect
comprised a picture, personal data, the “identification elements,” “prior offenses,” “the
result of the house search,” “the information resulting from his [and other peoples’]
statements,” “confrontations,” “personal descriptions,” “conclusions,” and “proposals.” 14
According to the biographical data and the description, guidelines were issued as to the
manner in which the suspects would be approached during the interrogation. Descriptions
were short and tried to note the weak points of the suspect
Based on the information gathered from the suspects in custody, the leading
investigation officer together with his superiors decided on which suspects the
investigation should focus as well as on the manner in which the interrogation would be
conducted. A note of the Cluj Regional Directorate for the Security of the People
(CRDSP) to the GDSP in Bucharest, dated July 29, 1952 and referring to an
investigation, made an evaluation of the interrogation work and put forward proposals.
Those who showed resistance during the course of the investigation were proposed for
internment in “work units,” 15 because they were considered “dangerous elements,” those
who fell into the trap of the blackmail of the Securitate became informants, and those
who confessed to their guilt were further investigated in view of their trial in a court of
law. 16
Manipulation was another method that was successfully used to obtain selfincriminating
statements. Those who came into contact with the Securitate for the first
time were unaware of its tricks. The investigation could begin in a non-violent and
persuasive manner. The suspect was assured that he was brought in only for some
routine questions. This way, the investigators obtained from the suspect confessions
that in his view were not serious, such as the listening to Western radio stations and
the voicing of critical remarks on the policy of the government or the Soviet Union.
By starting from apparently unimportant details, the Securitate managed to construct -
by means of additions, exaggerations, and reinterpretations – serious
counterrevolutionary crimes. Another manipulation method was to make suspects
believe that the Securitate knew everything on their life and they could not hide
anything away from it. For instance, suspects were surprised by the mentioning of
certain details from their personal life, which convinced them that the Securitate knew
everything about them and resistance was futile. Furthermore, investigators made
full use of the frictions that appeared within a group of suspects. In order to break
the solidarity of the group, investigators would show to some suspects the damaging
statements that the other suspects made on them or would promise their release or a
lighter sentence in exchange of cooperation.
14
NCSAS Archives, Criminal Fonds, file P 290, vol.1, pp.72-75.
15
It was a form of labor camp. For details see Ion Bălan, Regimul concentraŃionar din România,
1945-1964, Bucureşti, 2000, pp. 79-82.
16
NCSAS Archives, Criminal Fonds, file P 389, vol.2, pp. 442-443.