Avramescu, George

World War I

World War II (until 1944)

On the side of the anti-Hitler coalition

On March 2, 1945, General Avramescu was called to the commander of the 40th Soviet Army . An hour after the start of the conversation, the Romanian delegation announced that Avramesku, together with Soviet General F.F. Zhmachenko, had left for the command post of the 2nd Ukrainian Front , where they were supposedly expected by Marshal R. Y. Malinovsky . In fact, Abramescu was detained. They explained to him that he would not be long; having no fear so far for his fate, he called his wife and daughter Felicia to him. General Nicolae Desquelescu was appointed interim commander of the 4th Army, who unsuccessfully tried to find out from the Soviet authorities the fate of General Avramescu. The Soviet general Zhmachenko advised him to turn to the Romanian Minister of Defense or to the General Staff for information about Avramescu.

On March 3, 1945, his wife Adela and his second daughter Felicia, who arrived at the call of the general, were arrested. The daughter hanged herself (according to other sources, took the poison) on March 6. The exact circumstances of the death are unknown, since her grave has not yet been discovered. The wife of the general, having spent more than 10 years in Siberia, returned to Romania in 1956. Of the nearly 40 people arrested in the General’s case, almost all died in Soviet prisons. Felicia’s 5-year-old daughter Mariana and her 11-month-old son Paltin spent several months in the military unit, and then were transferred to Rodica (the general’s eldest daughter) and survived ^{[1] [2]} .

Soviet authorities announced that Abramescu died on March 3, 1945 (on the day of the arrest of his family), allegedly as a result of an air strike on the car in which he was driving. The general was buried in Budapest at a cemetery in the Budapest suburb of Shashhalom ( en: Sashalom , "Eagle Hill"). In the car in which he was driving, a trace of the only bullet was discovered, which supposedly killed the general.

In a secret report from Beria to Stalin dated March 22, 1945, it was reported that during the passage of General Avramescu to the headquarters of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, he was killed as a result of a raid by enemy aircraft ^[3] .

This case of strange death remains open to historians and researchers. According to some historians, the cause of death and repression against his entourage (a total of about 40 people were arrested, including relatives and immediate employees) was the king's intention to appoint Abramescu as Minister of Defense, despite the general's anti-communist sentiments being known. As another reason, the fact is considered that the daughter’s husband, lieutenant and prince Elijah Vlad Sturdza, the son of the minister in the “ Legionary Government ” of 1940-1941. and the former activist of the legionary movement himself, had previously fled to the Germans on the Czechoslovak front. At the same time, the general himself was not involved in relations with the legionnaires, and his eldest daughter Rodica and her husband Paul Basarabescu were known for anti-German sentiments. General Nicolae Dragomir reported to the Soviet authorities that Lieutenant Sturdza, who had fled to the Germans, went through the acquaintances to the general and tried to convince him to also flee to the territory occupied by the Germans. This did not help Dragomir himself - he spent 11 years in Soviet camps ^[2]

On October 23, 2000, the remains of General Avramescu were returned to Romania and were reburied with military honors in the military cemetery of Cluj-Napoca.

• Order of Mihai the Brave III. - II. class (10/17/1941 and 09/09/1942); Swords for the Order of Class III 11/15/1944
• Order of the Star of Romania of the Cavalier degree on the tape "For Courage" (1917)
• Order of the Crown of Romania, Officer degree on the tape “For Courage” (09/09/1917)
• The Iron Cross (1939) II. class (07/29/1941)
• Iron Cross (1939) I. Class
• German cross in gold on October 25, 1942 - for actions at the head of the mountain corps ^[4]

• T.A. Pokivailova. The mystery of the death of the commander of the 4th Romanian army, General G. Avramescu
• http://www.hrono.ru/biograf/bio_a/avramescu.html
• https://www.historia.ro/sectiune/general/articol/generalul-avramescu-tradator-sau-victima-a-nkvd
• http://jurnalulbucurestiului.ro/revista-art-emis-drama-generalului-gheorghe-avramescu/
• http://www.stelian-tanase.ro/cum-disparut-generalul-avramescu/
• http://generals.dk/general/Avramescu/Gheorghe/Romania.html