Teodor Doru Maries, Securitatea 80 la suta cu noi, si Generalul Iulian Vlad
(purely personal views, based on more than two decades of prior research and publications)
Teodor Doru Maries, promoted in the local electoral campaign of February 1992, in the pages of the Ilie Neacsu’s weekly Europa!
(Europa xeroxes from Babes-Bolyai University Library in Cluj, Romania, June 1997)
(Witness my surprise at the time to find Teodor Doru Maries in the pages of the former Securitate’s de facto mouthpiece)
I will translate into English a critical exchange with journalist Angela Bacescu from the far right of the column of the episode from issue #45 of October 1991.
Angela Bacescu (ziarista revistei Europa): Erai manipulat de cineva, de ce ai facut in nenumarate rinduri afrimatia la microfonul din piata [Universitatii, intre aprilie si iunie 1990] ca securitatea este 80 la suta cu voi? La ce te refereai?
[Angela Bacescu: Were you manipulated by someone, why did you on numerous occasions affirm at the microphone in University Square (April-June 1990) that 80 percent of the Securitate was with you? To what were you referring?]
Doru Maries: Ma bucur pentru aceasta intrebare. Este afirmatia pentru care am fost mult controversat si boicotat, dar va explic acum. Eu nu consider intreaga securitate romana niste criminali cum au fost etichetati in evenimentele din decembrie 1989. Numarul celor vinovati este foarte restrins.
[Doru Maries: I am happy you asked me this question. This statement for which I became very controversial and was boycotted (by other protesters), I will explain for you now. I do not consider the whole Romanian Securitate criminals as they were tarred in the events of December 1989. The number of guilty was very small.]
Angela Bacescu: Dorule, mai sus mi-ai precizat ca tu ai fost dezinformat. De unde aceasta informatie?
[Angela Bacecsu: My dear Doru, earlier you to told me that you had been a victim of disinformation. From where do you have this information?]
Doru Maries: Aceasta informatie si imagine mi-am format-o inca din data de 22 decembrie 1989 dupa discutia cu generalul Iulian Vlad in sediul fostului Comitet Central. Timpul a dovedit ca generalul Iulian Vlad nu si-a tinut in brate degeaba majoritate subalternilor.
[Doru Maries: I have this information and formed this view from 22 December 1989 after a discussion with General Iulian Vlad in the headquarters of the former Central Committee building. Time has demonstrated that General Iulian Vlad did not hold on to the majority of his subordinates in vain.]
Elsewhere, among the many other interesting and signficant things Maries said in this interview, he specified the following (13 June 1991, issue #31, far right column):
Doru Maries: “Eu sustin ca martor ocular ca [securistii] nu au tras. Ba, mai mult, si-au lasat armele si munitia. Acum inteleg de ce. Probabil ca aveau informatii ca gogorita cu “teroristii” o sa fie pusa in spinarea lor. Au fost bine informati. Nu s-au implicat in conflict, nu au tras. Altfel ar fi fost razboi civil, se omora frate cu frate.”
[Doru Maries: I maintain as an eyewitness that the Securitate did not fire. What is more, they left their weapons and munition. Now I understand why. Probably because they had information that this huge lie with the “terrorists” was going to be blamed on them. They were well-informed. They didn’t get invovled in the conflict, they didn’t shoot. Otherwise there would have been a civil war, with brother killing brother.]
Along with Nicolae Popovici (Nicolae Ceausescu’s last Prosecutor General), Ion Itu (a journalist with an interesting history…for some relevant discussion here, https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2009/09/29/romania-december-1989-doublespeak-the-all-too-familiar-tales-of-nicolae-ceausescus-double-by-richard-andrew-hall/), the revolutionary Tudor [sic.] Maries, testified in defense of Securitate General Iulian Vlad (from Romania Libera, 13 June 1991, xerox from Library of Congress, July 1995)
But, of course, Romanian emigre journalists and senior Romanianists who emphasize “the ethic of not forgetting” surely know all of this, and care deeply about its implications for uncovering and understanding the truth about December 1989 (a few links below as recommended reading):
The Archive of the Romanian Revolution of December 1989 