Cristina Boico
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Cristina Luca Boico (8 August 1916 – 16 April 2002) was a
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
n communist activist. After going into exile in France, she joined the
French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...
and worked in the intelligence service. At the end of the war, she returned to Romania and worked as the director of the Ministry of Education and numerous other governmental posts, until she was purged in 1952. Working as an editor for the Scientific Publishing House she later taught at the
Politehnica University of Bucharest Politehnica University of Bucharest () is a technical university in Bucharest, Romania founded in 1818.Botoșani Botoșani () is the capital city of Botoșani County, in the northern part of Moldavia, Romania. Today, it is best known as the birthplace of many celebrated Romanians, including Mihai Eminescu, Nicolae Iorga and Grigore Antipa. Origin of the ...
, Romania to Luisa (née Segal) and Isidor Marcusohn. Her family, which included an older sister, Hermina, belonged to the assimilated
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
middle-class. Both she and her sister were deeply attached to Romanian culture and literature. The
Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania () was a constitutional monarchy that existed from with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King of Romania, King Carol I of Romania, Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian royal family), until 1947 wit ...
was a deeply Francophile country as Romanian intellectuals embraced the idea of modelling the newly independent kingdom after France, Romania's "big Latin sister". Marcushon and her sister grew up reading French literature. After completing her secondary education at Carmen Sylva High School in Botoșani, Marcusohn moved to
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
to undertake medical studies. She later recalled about the Carmen Sylva school: "It was the nom de plume of Romania’s first queen, Elisabeth, the wife of Carol I. The school had an excellent national reputation. Teachers were selected among the very best, the discipline was severe. But it was in this high school that I had my first direct encounters with anti-Semitism... At the school, our teachers would have never made discriminatory or offensive statements-regardless of what they may have thought privately-but some girls with that family background maintained a certain distance from us". As an young woman, she was greatly influenced by the writings of the Romanian socialist
Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea (born Solomon Katz; 21 May 1855 – 7 May 1920) was a Romanian Marxist theorist, politician, sociologist, literary critic, and journalist. He was also an entrepreneur in the city of Ploiești. Constantin Dobroge ...
. She joined the Students' Democratic Front, an organization aligned with the
Romanian Communist Party The Romanian Communist Party ( ; PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave an ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that would replace the social system ...
and wrote articles for journals on the international
anti-fascist movement Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...
. As a university student, she spent much at time at the Schuller, the dormitory set aside for Jewish students that was often attacked by anti-Semitic students. One student at the
University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest (UB) () is a public university, public research university in Bucharest, Romania. It was founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princely Academy of Bucharest, P ...
remembered that many students spent "their time and energy in the absence of university sports on Jew-baiting or actual Jew-beating". In common with many other Jewish intellectuals in Eastern Europe, she was attracted to Communism because it promised to dissolve nationalities, religions and ethnicities, thereby rendering the "Jewish Question" moot as she recalled: "Communism promised a better world for all and, thereby, the genuine liberation of the Jewish people, allowing for a complete flourishing of its potential. Communism was supposed to bring about a democratic solution to the question of nationalities. Hardly anyone can imagine what it meant for us, young high school girls and boys". The Schuller was the center of much intellectual debate and discussion with the Jewish students mostly divided between the Communists who argued that only Communism could end antisemitism in Romania vs. the Zionists who argued that Romanian Jews should all leave for
Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
to establish a Jewish state there under the grounds there was no future for Jews in Romania. In 1931, the ACSE (''Asociațiile Generale ale Studeților Evrei''-General Union of Jewish Students), which managed the Schuller, was taken over by members of the illegal
Union of Communist Youth The Union of Communist Youth ( Romanian: '; UTC) was the Romanian Communist Party's youth organisation. Like many Young Communist organisations, it was modelled after the Soviet Komsomol. It aimed to cultivate young cadres into the party, as ...
, and thereafter, the Communist tendency at the Schuller tended to dominate at the expense of the Zionists. She was a friend of
Lucien Goldmann Lucien Goldmann (; 20 July 1913 – 8 October 1970) was a French philosopher and sociologist of Jewish-Romanian origin. A professor at the EHESS in Paris, he was a Marxist theorist. His wife was sociologist Annie Goldmann. Biography Goldmann w ...
and was influenced by his ideas. Like Goldmann, she favored staying in Romania and supported the Communists against the Zionists. Goldmann often took part in the debates at the Schuller, taking a Marxist line while also venturing into more esoteric topics such as the impact of the theories of
Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...
and
Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies seen as originating from conflicts in t ...
for Marxism and the understanding of human sexuality. Goldmann's theories, which were regarded as eccentric, brought him into conflict with the
Stalinist Stalinism (, ) is the totalitarian means of governing and Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1927 to 1953 by dictator Joseph Stalin and in Soviet satellite states between 1944 and 1953. Stalinism in ...
Union of Communist Youth, which accused him of
Trotskyism Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...
. In 1937, after being expelled for her political activities, Marcusohn left Romania to continue her studies at the Sorbonne. On 28 December 1937,
King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...
Carol II of Romania Carol II (4 April 1953) was King of Romania from 8 June 1930, until his forced abdication on 6 September 1940. As the eldest son of King Ferdinand I, he became crown prince upon the death of his grand-uncle, King Carol I, in 1914. He was the f ...
appointed
Octavian Goga Octavian Goga (; 1 April 1881 – 7 May 1938) was a Romanian far-right politician, poet, playwright, journalist, and translator. Biography Early life Octavian Goga was born on 1 April 1881 in the village of Rășinari, on the northern sl ...
of the extreme right-wing
National Christian Party The National Christian Party () was a far-right authoritarian and strongly antisemitic political party in Romania active between 1935 and 1938. It was formed by a merger of Octavian Goga's National Agrarian Party and A. C. Cuza's National-Chr ...
as prime minister. During Goga's short period in office, he passed a flood of anti-Semitic laws, one of which was to strip Romanian Jews of their Romanian citizenship. At the approach of the Nazis, the university was closed and per a posted notice, she was allowed to graduate by taking her final tests at any university offering them. Marcusohn made her way to
Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...
, where she completed her examinations and received her certificate in Natural Sciences in June 1940.


Career

Marcusohn began working in the marine biology laboratory of
Édouard Chatton Édouard Chatton (; 11 October 1883 – 23 April 1947) was a French biologist who first characterized the distinction between the prokaryotic and eukaryotic cellular types. Chatton was born in Romont, Switzerland. His initial interest was ...
in
Banyuls-sur-Mer Banyuls-sur-Mer (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales Departments of France, department in southern France. Geography Location Banyuls-sur-Mer is located in the canton of La Côte Vermeille and in the arrondissemen ...
, but by September had decided to return to Paris. Once there, she contacted the Romanian affiliates of the
French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...
and reconnected with the communist movement. Taking in mathematics students, she worked as a tutor and was eventually offered a post with to translate journal articles to French for researchers at the ''Caisse nationale de la recherche scientifique'', forerunner to the
French National Center for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 engi ...
. She participated in the 1940 demonstrations to protest the arrest of
Paul Langevin Paul Langevin (23 January 1872 – 19 December 1946) was a French physicist who developed Langevin dynamics and the Langevin equation. He was one of the founders of the '' Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes'', an anti-fascist ...
and was arrested but quickly released. The anti-Semitic laws threatened the Jewish community in France with destitution, and the burden of poverty fell especially hard on women, and the all more so on immigrant Jewish women. In France, there were two terms for Jews; namely the ''les Israélites'' to describe Jews who had embraced the French language and culture, which was a respectful and polite term, and ''les Juifs'' for those Jews who were seen as having failed to properly embrace the French language and culture, which had derogatory connotations. French Jews were usually described politely as ''Israélites'' while the more derogatory term ''les Juifs'' was reserved for Jewish immigrants, especially from Eastern Europe. The popular image in France at the time of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe was of a mass of illegal immigrants who lived in poverty, refused to assimilate and engaged in criminality; the fact that the number of Eastern European immigrants, and even more so of illegal immigrants was greatly exaggerated led to the perception that this was a major social problem. Marcusohn spoke fluent French, but as a stateless Jew from Romania, she was considered to be more of a ''Juif'' than an ''Israélite'' In 1941, Marcusohn joined the Organisation Spéciale—Main-d'Œuvre Immigrée (OS-MOI), the armed group of the Immigrant Labor Force, using the name Monique as a disguise. She was recruited into underground work by
Boris Holban Boris Holban (20 April 1908 – 27 June 2004) was a Russian-born Franco-Romanian communist known for his role in the French Resistance as the leader of FTP-MOI group in Paris and for ''l’Affaire Manouchian'' controversy of the 1980s. Communist a ...
. She lost her translating job in 1942 and went to work full time, spying for the FTP-MOI. From the summer of 1942 onward, it was widely understood within the French Jewish community that the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" was not deportation to some vague utopian Jewish homeland in Eastern Europe as the Nazis were promising, but rather genocide, which gave a major impetus to Jewish resistance. Marchusohn recalled that once it was understood that the threat was now an existential one of extermination that many Jews embraced resistance as the issue was one of survival. In 1942 when the OS-MOI merged with two other groups to form the Francs-Tireurs et Partisans—Main-d'Œuvre Immigrée (FTP-MOI), Marcusohn changed her name again, to Cristina Luca, and became and intelligence officer in the resistance. As the intelligence chief, she selected targets for resistance attacks and collected as much information as possible about the targets. The intelligence branch of the FTP-MOI was a largely female-dominated section, which reflected the prevailing assumptions that women were better suited for intelligence work while men were better suited for action. With the knowledge of her professors, Luca funneled stolen chemicals from the biology laboratory at the Sorbonne to the partisans. Between January-June 1943, the FTP-MOI staged 93 actions in Paris. In the first six months of 1943, the FTP-MOI were responsible for 14 train derailments, 34 acts of arson or bombings of buildings, and 43 assassinations in Paris. The FTP-MOI was regarded as an elite group within the FTP that was always assigned the most dangerous missions, which was seen as an honor. She specialized in constructing Molotov cocktails, and as the intelligence chief of the FTP-MOI she played a key role in the investigation to find the informer who betrayed
Missak Manouchian Missak Manouchian (; , 1 September 1909 – 21 February 1944) was an Armenians, Armenian poet and communist activist. A survivor of the 1915–1916 Armenian genocide, he Armenians in France, moved to France from an orphanage in Lebanon in 1 ...
and his group in November 1943. Ultimately, her investigation exposed as the informer as Joseph Davidowicz, the political commissar to the ''groupe Manouchian'', who was promptly killed. In 1944, she was assigned to combat duty for the entire north of France and participated in several partisan attacks. During the liberation of Paris between 19-25 August 1944, she took part in the revolt. Together with her fellow Romanian communists Holban, Gheorghe Vasilichi and Ion Marinescu, she led a group that seized the Romanian consulate and the Romanian tourist office in Paris, which was announced at the time as the first step towards the overthrow of the regime of the prime minister, Marshal
Ion Antonescu Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and Mareșal (Romania), marshal who presided over two successive Romania during World War II, wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister of Romania, Prime Minister and ''Conduc ...
. After the liberation, she joined the French Army as a lieutenant. At the end of the war, Luca returned to Romania in March 1945. Between 1945 and 1947, she worked in the Ministry of Information and then went to
Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
,
Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...
, where she worked at the Romanian embassy as a press-attaché for a year. During her time in Belgrade, she was a friend of
Milovan Djilas Milovan Djilas (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Милован Ђилас, Milovan Đilas, ; 12 June 1911 – 20 April 1995) was a Yugoslav communist politician, theorist and author. He was a key figure in the Partisan movement during World War II, as well ...
, who at the time served as the vice-president of Yugoslavia and was Marshal Tito's right-hand man. Because of the
Tito–Stalin Split The Tito–Stalin split or the Soviet–Yugoslav split was the culmination of a conflict between the political leaderships of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, under Josip Broz Tito and Joseph Stalin, respectively, in the years following World W ...
, Luca was recalled to Romania and began working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in charge of the press department. In 1949, she married Mihail Boico (born Rosner), a military officer in command of troops on the border. Shortly after the marriage, Stalin began targeting veterans of the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
and those who had been involved in the French Resistance, placing both Boico and her husband, who was known as Bibi, under suspicion. Besides for having served in the French Resistance, Boico's unwillingness to denounce Tito and her friendship with Djilas placed her under suspicion as a "Titoist"; only her friendship with the Foreign Minister Anna Pauker kept her safe from the Securitate. Pauker's downfall removed her principle patron and protector from within the PCR. Boico was dismissed from her job in June, 1952 and Bibi was purged from his position in the Interior Ministry that same fall. Boico was assigned to a minor position in the
Grigore Antipa National Museum of Natural History The Grigore Antipa National Museum of Natural History () is a natural history museum, located in Bucharest, Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. I ...
. Disillusioned by the party, after 1956, Boico no longer participated in political activities, concentrating instead on her work in history and science. In the 1960s, she began working as the editor of the Scientific Publishing House and later taught courses on
Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...
at the
Politehnica University of Bucharest Politehnica University of Bucharest () is a technical university in Bucharest, Romania founded in 1818.Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( ; ;  – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian politician who was the second and last Communism, communist leader of Socialist Romania, Romania, serving as the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 u ...
. By the 1970s, she considered Ceausescu's regime to be "fascist" as she was disgusted by the anti-intellecualism of the Ceausescu regime. The American scholar Brett Bowles noted that the crucial role played by women in the Resistance has tended to be overlooked, giving the example of the 1985 French documentary ''
Des terroristes à la retraite ''Des terroristes à la retraite'' (''Terrorists in retirement'') is a 1985 French documentary film about the FTP-MOI, a sub-group of the ''Francs-tireurs et partisans'' (FTP) organization, a component of the French Resistance during the German m ...
'' (''Terrorists in Retirement'') by Mosco Boucault about the FTP-MOI. Bowles noted that in the film, there was almost no mention of the women who served in the FTP-MOI and Boico, despite her key role as the FTP-MOI intelligence chief, was mentioned only once in passing. Buico was not interviewed for ''Des terroristes à la retraite''; indeed the only woman interviewed in the film was
Mélinée Manouchian Mélinée Manouchian (born Melina Assadourian or Soukémian; ; 1913–1989) was a French-Armenian ''résistante'' and the widow of Missak Manouchian. Biography She was born in 1913 in Constantinople as Melina Assadourian (or Soukémian). During t ...
and the interviews with her the focus was mostly on being the wife of
Missak Manouchian Missak Manouchian (; , 1 September 1909 – 21 February 1944) was an Armenians, Armenian poet and communist activist. A survivor of the 1915–1916 Armenian genocide, he Armenians in France, moved to France from an orphanage in Lebanon in 1 ...
instead of her role as a ''résistante''. In 1987, she left Romania to visit her children in Paris and chose not to return. She began publishing again in France and wrote such works as ''Les Hommes qui ont porté Ceaușescu au pouvoir'', which has been called by
Vladimir Tismăneanu Vladimir Tismăneanu (; born July 4, 1951) is a Romanian American political scientist, political analyst, sociologist, and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. A specialist in political systems and comparative politics, he is d ...
"the most comprehensive and illuminating analysis" of the rise of Ceaușescu and
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (; 8 November 1901 – 19 March 1965) was a Romanian politician. He was the first Socialist Republic of Romania, Communist leader of Romania from 1947 to 1965, serving as first secretary of the Romanian Communist Party ...
to the leadership of the Romanian Communist Party. Her major concern in the last years of her life was writing about the Holocaust in Romania and to rebut the attempts, which had started under the Ceaușescu regime in the 1970s, to portray Antonescu as a well meaning, but misguided Romanian patriot who was opposed to the Holocaust. She often advised the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C about the subject. At the time of her death she was writing a memoir entitled ''Histoire d’une famille au XXème siècle Souvenirs et réflexions''.


Death and legacy

Boico died on 17 August 2002 in Paris. In 2009, the French novelist
Didier Daeninckx Didier Daeninckx (born 27 April 1949 in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis) is a French author and left-wing politician of Belgian descent, best known for his '' romans noirs''. Works translated into English *' (''Meurtres pour mémoire'') by Melvil ...
published a novel ''Missak'', where Luca Boico is mentioned several times as the book's hero, the journalist Dragère, seeks in 1955 to find out who betrayed Manouchian. In 2014, a French miniseries, ''Résistance'', was released about the young people involved in the French Resistance during the war. One of the characters in the series was based on Boico's experiences and was played by Romanian actress
Cristina Flutur Cristina Flutur is a Romanian film and theatre actress. In 2012 she made her debut in cinema, portraying the complex Alina Ringhis, main character in Cristian Mungiu's praised drama, Beyond the Hills. For her outstanding performance in this fi ...
.


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Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boico, Cristina Luca 1916 births 2002 deaths Jewish female partisans Jews in the French resistance People from Botoșani Romanian Communist Party politicians Political activists Members of the Francs-tireurs et partisans FTP-MOI Romanian participants in the French Resistance Jewish women activists Communist members of the French Resistance 20th-century Romanian women writers Academic staff of the Politehnica University of Bucharest Romanian civil servants Romanian women civil servants Romanian Jews Romanian defectors Romanian emigrants to France Jewish communists