Cornel Lupu

"My opinion is that... the goal both of party and Securitate was to intimidate people for collectivization to happen. And it was exactly like this how it happened, because in the spring of '59 they started the collectivization which ended in '62… when they made us a kind of favor... It's not the same thing to know that you stand with a sentence of penal servitude for life... or 25 years. Although we never thought we would resist a sentence of 25 years. We had examples, however, after release, after the decree... amnesty from... '64, were people who endured 22-23 years of imprisonment, but we didn’t think it, I knew that all... This invention was made with a purpose, and it must have come to an end."

"It wasn’t allowed to pray in the cell, but there were also priests in detention with us and not a single day passed without them serving the liturgy. And we made the liturgy together with the priests. They were doing the ceremonial, while we were singing... We were responding them from the cell. There were priests in the prison. At least one was in the cell with us... They were a few only when we were imprisoned for short periods of time. During the Easter we had situations when, like I told you, that were giving us tonic wine when we were weakened... we always kept a certain amount of quantity from the tonic wine for Easter blessing. And if we could not get it from outside..., there were among the guardians... some faithful and God-fearing men who put us at the window… and when we went for a walk... so we could have find it at the window. The ceremonial was done differently in the cell. They were consecrated by the priest, in those conditions, but we were able to celebrate the Easter."