Tag #129144 - Interview #78031 (Arnold Leinweber)

One day I was waiting in line at the union organization of the 3rd district. A tall individual, Ion Stoica [member of the Romanian Communist Party] asked me: ‘Hey, Nicu [Ed. note: ‘Nicu’ is a diminutive of Arnold – Aronica, Nicu.], you live in Aparatorii Patriei, right? There used to be a family there, a brush maker who had three sons. Do you know anything about them?’ – ‘Of course I do, Comrade Stoica, I know them!’ He couldn’t believe his ears. ‘When you needed my parents [Surica and Friederich Leinweber], you all came barging in; you slept and ate at our place, while I was staying in a ditch, watching your backs – in case some suspicious fellow would show up, I was ready to get you out through the corn field, so that you wouldn’t get arrested. And now, after 23rd August [1944], have you totally forgotten the people who gave you a helping hand?’ They left their materials at my father’s, based on nothing but trust. Someone else came to get them after a number of days, and they were hidden next to one of those old-fashioned gas lamps. The lamp stood in a vessel and the papers were placed between the lamp and the vessel. My parents were some poor old people, they had no money and no one cared about them. But they risked their freedom nonetheless… [Ed. note: Before 23rd August 1944, the Romanian Communist Party led an underground activity.