Elisabeta Rizea was born before the WWI, in a small village of the Southern Carpathians, in County Arges. She was a peasant farmer with a minute plot of land, a modest wooden cottage, covered in shingles and a few animals. Her every day’s dress was the national garb, embroidered with intricate patterns. She left school at the age of 14 to do, what was expected of her lot - to help making a meagre existence off her small allotment. Her fierce opposition to the Communist expropriation and her husband joining the guerrilla fighters in the mountains led to torture and long years of imprisonment. She was branded “an enemy of the people” (“dusman al poporului”) and her household labeled “a home of bandits” (“casa de
banditi”) – the worst possible indictment in the Comunist state. Once in jail, in the notorious Pitesti prison, Elisabeta Rizea was held chains and put on the death row. She outlived her death sentence to tell her story, after Ceausescu’s fall.

The communists came to power in Romania in 1945. In response, Rizea joined the resistance and spent four years providing the guerillas with food and money. She was eventually captured by the Romanian militia, sentenced to seven years in prison and branded "an enemy of the people." When anti-communist leader Gheorghe Arsenescu was arrested in 1961, Rizea's sentence was extended another 25 years.

During her incarceration, Rizea was tortured for her beliefs. She was hung up by her hair from a hook and beaten unconscious.

"After they took the table from under my feet, they started to beat me with a stick until I bled. They broke some ribs, and I fainted," Rizea once said.

Under terms of a general amnesty, Rizea was released from prison in 1964. Thirty-five years later, her story was published in Romanian newspapers and featured in documentaries about the communist era.

Tributes

I am romanian, I lived under the reds and I hope Elizabeta is secure in heavens. If there were more people fair and truth-speakers, we would be free.

Posted by Luci Sandor

I will never forget.

Posted by Cezar Covrig

Do not forget the great culture produced in Romania after WW2.

Posted by Jerry Smith

Some may say contemporary romanians are lacking faith and integrity, that is allmost true, and it is so because Elisabeta Rizea, is only one. The other millions of romanians had chosen the easy way out. Now, after the comunism is gone, we could say that most of them had chosen NOT to be Elisabeta Rizea. Why? Because... take a look: who`s Elisabeta Rizea today? An heroic memory of few thousand people, mostly romanians. But we are allmost 22 milions in that country!

Posted by anonim

I can`t forget how she said: I love romanian people so much; I will do even more for them.

Posted by Magdalena