- Petru Dugulescu
Petru Dugulescu (
November 18 ,1945 –January 3 ,2008 ) was aRomania nBaptist pastor, poet, and politician. A member of theBaptist Union of Romania and a representative of theNational Peasants' Party (PNŢ), he played a part in the 1989 Revolution, being among the organizers of protests inTimişoara .Biography
Born in Chelmac,
Arad County , Dugulescu graduated from the Baptist Theological Seminary inBucharest , and became a pastor, while authoring works ofChristian poetry . During a period when the Communist regime engaged in the persecution of Baptists, he was kept under surveillance by the secret police (theSecuritate ). The latter institution pressured him to stop preaching, and threatened that he was to suffer a car accident were he to refuse; Dugulescu refused to comply. [Ramet, p.279] In September 1985, an unmarked bus crashed into the car he was driving, causing the pastor to suffer multiple fractures. [Ramet, p.279] Dugulescu's autobiography, "Ei mi-au programat moartea" ("They Programmed My Death", translated into English under the title "Repenters"), details this interval and includes his own account of the events.Following the Revolution, Petru Dugulescu joined the PNŢ, and was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for
Timiş County during the 1992 suffrage, and again in the 1996 election. He served on the Committee for Human Rights, Religious Affairs and National Minority Issues, as well as on the Committee for Foreign Policy. He was the founder and president of Charity Foundation Jesus the Hope of Romania and Onesimus Brothers House forstreet children in Timişoara.Dugulescu turned in his last book ("Democraţie şi Persecuţie", "Democracy and Persecution") for publication on
December 20 ,2007 , and on the afternoon ofJanuary 3 ,2008 he suffered a fatal heart attack. [ro icon [http://www.pasi.ro/revista/interviu-cu-fostul-senator-pastorul-si-poetul-petru-d.html "A murit pastorul Petrică Dugulescu"] , in [http://www.pasi.ro/ "Paşi"] ; retrievedJanuary 5 ,2008 ]Notes
References
*ro icon [http://www.cdep.ro/pls/parlam/structura.mp?idm=96&cam=2&leg=1996&pag=0&idl=1 Profile at the Chamber of Deputies site]
*Sabrina P. Ramet, "Church and State in Romania before and after 1989", in Henry F. Carey (ed.), "Romania since 1989", Lexington Books, Lanham, 2004
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