Márton Áron, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Alba Iulia (1938–1980), came to the attention of the Securitate from the founding of this repressive institution until the autumn of 1980, when he passed away. The reasons for his surveillance were his popularity among the faithful, his outspoken anti-communism, his loyalty to the Vatican and the fact that he came from the country’s largest national minority. The results of this extended surveillance are reflected today in the bishop’s files in the Archive of the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives in Bucharest. One of the main methods used by the Securitate in the surveillance process was the use of microphones. They were installed in the bishop’s office in 1956 and operated with short interruptions until the end of his life. The transcripts of the recorded conversations are today in the bishop’s files and represent a “gold mine” for historians interested in the Catholic Church in Romania during the Communist regime.

[1] Stefano Bottoni, Transilvania roșie. Comunismul român și problema națională (1944–1965) [Red Transylvania. Romanian Communism and the National Question (1944–1965)] (Cluj-Napoca: Editura ISPMN & Kriterion, 2010), 260.

[2] The Informative Fund of the Archive of the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives (hereafter ANCSSA) contains reports filed by the political police of the Communist state while following people.

[3] The Penal Fund of the ANCSSA contains penal files reporting persons arrested, interrogated, judged and convicted for political reasons during the Communist period.

[4] ANCSSA, Informative Fund, file no. 261991, vol. 1, 1, 5–6.

[5] Idem, file no. 209511, vol. 2, 46–48.

[6] Idem, file no. 261991, vol. 106, 141.

[7] Ibid., vol. 1, 1; vol. 13, 134–135.

[8] Ibid., vol. 98, 368.

[9] The Department of Security Police was part of the General Police Department, which was founded in 1929 within the Ministry of the Interior and was tasked with guiding, coordinating and performing police and intelligence activities throughout the country.

[10] Operative technique was the totality of the technical means (radio, microphones, video or photographic) of tracking and surveilling a person or any other objective targeted by the Securitate.

[11] According to a document dated 16 April 1963, Márton Áron was supervised by forty-nine agents. ANCSSA, Informative Fund, file no. 209511, vol. 6, 317.

[12] Ibid., 359–360.

[13] Ibid., 84, 359–360.

[14] Idem, file no. 261991, vol. 13, 306.

[15] So far, we have identified the following orders and instructions in the ANCSSA: Instructions on methods for organisation and execution of measures ‘X’ and ‘Z’ (April 1958), Order No 388 of 29 January 1965, Order No 95 of 19 October 1971, Order No 240 of 18 May 1973 and Order No 1450 of 1 July 1978.

[16] Measures ‘X’ referred to eavesdropping via microphone installations while measures ‘Z’ referred to interception of the target’s telephone conversations. ANCSSA, DMRU Fund, file no. 3616, vol. 6, 27.

[17] Ibid. 29.

[18] Ibid.

[19] Ibid.

[20] Idem, file no. 3623, vol. 1, 54.

[21] Idem, file no. 3629, vol. 9, 158.

[22] Idem, file no. 3631, vol. 4, 51.

[23] Idem, Documentary Fund, file no. 7929, vol. 182, 10.

[24] Idem, Informative Fund, file no. 261991, vol. 57, 220–221.

[25] Ibid., vol. 164, 305.

[26] Ibid., vol. 65, 61–62.

[27] Ibid., vol. 46, 72, 94, 239; Ibid., vol. 122, 257; Ibid., vol. 147, 296; Ibid., vol. 148, 3.

[28] Ibid., vol. 73, 55; Ibid., vol. 146, 43. For example, the only conversation Márton Áron had on 2 October 1960 is summarised as follows: ‘A stranger comes into the office and discusses religious and other various unimportant matters.’ Ibid., vol. 154, 181.

[29] Ibid., vol. 56, 164–165; Ibid., vol. 123, 1, 124–125, 128–129, 132–135.

[30] Ibid., vol. 73, 70 (one appendix), 87 (four appendices), 91 (nine appendices), 95 (three appendices), 101 (two appendices), 105 (seven appendices); 135 (eight appendices), 160–161 (no appendices); Ibid., vol. 119, 3 (one appendix), 21–23 (no appendix), 95 (three appendices); Ibid., vol. 120, 26 (two appendices), 156 (five appendices); Ibid., vol. 149, 61 (eight appendices).

[31] Ibid., vol. 73, 177.

[32] Ibid., vol. 164, 302–303.

[33] Ibid., vol. 146, 169.

[34] Ibid., vol. 71, 104; Ibid., vol. 147, 261, 263; Ibid., vol. 157, 62, 64, 66.

[35] For more than ten persons, see the document of 13 September 1957. Ibid., vol. 51, 213–214.

[36] See, for example, Ibid., vol. 73, 4–15, 24, 26–36, 41–43, 45–47, 56–61, 75–78, 80–82; Ibid., vol. 119, 13–20; Ibid., vol. 122, 199, 207–209, 213–216, 219–228, 239–242, 251–256; Ibid., vol. 157, 84–85, 88–89, 108–109.

[37] Ibid., vol. 47, 167; Ibid., vol. 67, 223; Ibid., vol. 68, 1; Ibid., vol. 73, 39–40; Ibid., vol. 121, 172; Ibid., vol. 126, 199; Ibid., vol. 146, 195; Ibid., vol. 148, 88, 103; Ibid., vol. 154, 161.

[38] Ibid., vol. 73, 40; Ibid., vol. 126, 199; Ibid., vol. 146, 195, 197–198, Ibid., vol. 149, 197; Ibid., vol. 148, 88, 103.

[39] Ibid., vol. 68, 5; Ibid., vol. 121, 174; Ibid., vol. 123, 229, 156; Ibid., vol. 125, 33, 58; Ibid., vol. 148, 88; Ibid., vol. 157, 66.

[40] Ibid., vol. 73, 22; Ibid., vol. 124, 103; Ibid., vol. 148, 12; Ibid., vol. 149, 60, 63, 159, 168.

[41] Ibid., vol. 147, 39.

[42] Ibid., 53.

[43] Ibid., vol. 7, 81–84.

[44] Ibid., vol. 61, 139.

[45] Ibid., vol. 56, 17–23.

[46] Ibid., vol. 138, 88.

[47] Ibid., vol. 56, 16.

[48] Ibid., vol. 147, 283.

[49] Ibid., vol. 21, 361.

[50] Ibid., vol. 156, 183.

[51] Ibid., vol. 21, 646.

[52] Ibid., vol. 148, 51.

[53] Ibid., 49.

[54] Ibid., 43, 45.

[55] Ibid., 30.

[56] Ibid.

[57] Idem, DMRU Fund, file no. 3623, vol. 1, 54.

[58] Idem, file no. 3629, vol. 9, 158.

[59] Ibid.

[60] Idem, file no. 3631, vol. 4, 52.

[61] Ibid., 52.

[62] Idem, Documentary Fund, file no. 7929, vol. 182, 12.

[63] Ibid.

[64] CIS Fund (Special Information Expenditure) was a money fund used to pay informants or other current expenses of security officers.

[65] ANCSSA, Documentary Fund, file no. 8634, vol. 1, 53.

[66] Idem, Informative Fund, file no. 261991, vol. 138, 88.

[67] Ibid., 88–89.

[68] Ibid., 88.

[69] Ibid., vol. 164, 302.

[70] Ibid.

[71] Ibid., vol. 138, 109.

[72] Ibid., 211–212.

[73] Ibid., vol. 74, 59–60.

[74] Ibid., vol. 138, 88.

[75] Ibid., vol. 5, 47, 166–167; Ibid., vol. 6, 333–334.

[76] Idem, file no. 209511, vol. 2, 84–88.

[77] Idem, file no. 261991, vol. 5, 93.

[78] Ibid., vol. 57, 246–249.

[79] Ibid.

[80] Idem, file no. 209511, vol. 1, 49–53.