Directorate of Police and General Safety
Direcția Poliției și Siguranței Generale
Common nameSiguranța Statului
Agency overview
FormedMarch 25, 1908
Dissolved30 August 1948
Superseding agencyDepartment of State Security
Jurisdictional structure
National agencyROU
Operations jurisdictionROU
General nature
Operational structure
HeadquartersBucharest
Parent agencyMinistry of Administration and Interior

Siguranța was the generic name for the successive secret police services in the Kingdom of Romania. The official title of the organization changed throughout its history, with names including Directorate of the Police and General Safety (Romanian: Direcția Poliției și Siguranței Generale), the Secret Intelligence Service (Romanian: Serviciul Secret de Informații), the Special Intelligence Service (Romanian: Serviciul Special de Informații) or simply the Intelligence Service (Romanian: Serviciul de Informații),

History

Created in 1908, in the aftermath of a major peasant revolt, it acted as a political police, supervising, infiltrating and trying to dismantle political groupings considered undesirable by the Romanian governments. Changing its structure several times during the first half of the 20th century, it was ultimately disbanded in 1948, when Romania became a people's republic. Siguranța's role, as well as a large part of its employees, were integrated into the newly founded Department of State Security ("Securitate").

Around 1924, Siguranța secret intelligence assassinated a leader of the militant wing of the Romanian Communist Party. The victim was also the brother of dedicated Communist Elizaveta Zarubina, soon to become one of the USSR's most crucial agents. A secret policeman came to her apartment in Bucharest later the same year to arrest her; he was subsequently shot by Zarubina, attracting the attention of top Soviet intelligence officials.[1]

References

  1. ↑ Soldatov, Andreĭ. The compatriots : the brutal and chaotic history of Russia's exiles, emigrés, and agents abroad. ISBN 978-1-5417-3018-2. OCLC 1122741981.


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