Iosif Ardeleanu (born Adler Döme, September 25, 1909 – July 26, 1988) was an

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

-born Romanian communist activist and bureaucrat. He was born into a Hungarian-Jewish family in Salonta. After World War I, he moved with his family to

Oradea Oradea (, , ; german: Großwardein ; hu, Nagyvárad ) is a city in Romania, located in Crișana, a sub-region of Transylvania. The county seat, seat of Bihor County, Oradea is one of the most important economic, social and cultural centers in the ...

, where he completed his secondary studies. In 1928 he went to Timișoara, where he was employed for 6 years by an iron commerce firm. During that time he changed his name and married his first wife, Gherghina. Ardeleanu joined the

Romanian Communist Party The Romanian Communist Party ( ro, Partidul Comunist Român, , PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that woul ...

(PCR) in 1933, while it was banned, and was a militant in Timișoara, tasked with Agitprop by the party. Arrested in 1934, he was incarcerated for 5 years at prisons in Timișoara, Caransebeș, and Doftana. From 1939 to 1941, he was the PCR Secretary for the Yellow Sector of Bucharest. During World War II, Ardeleanu was detained at the

Târgu Jiu Târgu Jiu () is the capital of Gorj County in the Oltenia region of Romania. It is situated on the Southern Sub-Carpathians, on the banks of the river Jiu. Eight localities are administered by the city: Bârsești, Drăgoieni, Iezureni, Polata, ...

camp for political prisoners, together with Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, and also at the Vapniarka concentration camp and in Grosulovo. After 1944 he divorced his first wife and in the early 1950s he married Clara Turcu, a manager at the Foreign Ministry under Ana Pauker. As head of the General Press and Typography Directorate from 1951 to 1973, Ardeleanu was one of the chief enforcers of

censorship in Communist Romania Censorship in Communist Romania occurred during the Socialist Republic in two stages: under the first Communist president Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (1947-1965) and the second and last Communist president Nicolae Ceaușescu (1965-1989). Before the ...

. His obtuseness, intolerance and dogmatism became legendary. Between 1956 and 1958, he was part of a team that investigated and monitored the ousted

Imre Nagy Imre Nagy (; 7 June 1896 – 16 June 1958) was a Hungarian communist politician who served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers (''de facto'' Prime Minister) of the Hungarian People's Republic from 1953 to 1955. In 1956 Nagy became leader ...

-led Hungarian government being held under arrest at

Snagov Snagov (population: 7,272) is a commune, located north of Bucharest, in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania. According to the 2011 census, 92% of the population is ethnic Romanian. The commune is composed of five villages: Ciofliceni, Ghermănești ...

.Biografiile nomenklaturii
, at the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania site He retired in 1973 and died in 1988 in Bucharest.

Notes

1909 births 1988 deaths People from Salonta Romanian Jews Hungarian Jews Romanian Communist Party politicians Inmates of Târgu Jiu camp Survivors of World War II deportations to Transnistria Romanian censors 20th-century Romanian civil servants Inmates of Doftana prison {{Romania-bio-stub