“The truth is that we listened to Radio Free Europe at home. So we basically grew up without any kind of love for the communist regime.”
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She was born on October 21, 1943, in Ploieşti, where her parents had taken refuge during Second World War, after running away from Reghin (Mureş County). In 1944-1945, Niculina Moica’s family moved back to Reghin, where her father managed to buy 5 hectares of arable land - for which he would later on, after the establishment of the communist regime, be accused of being a wealthy peasant (Romanian chiabur). In 1959, Niculina Moica, who was still a high school student, joined the anti-communist organization Union of the Free Youth, formed on the initiative of a high school colleague, Nicolae Munthiu, along with other fellow peers. The members of the group met on several occasions, talked badly about the regime and wrote a few compassion letters to families whose members had been arrested. In June 1959, several boys in the group stole a few weapons from the forest division in Valea Gurghiului. Following this incident, on June 15, 1959, all members of the organization were arrested. Niculina Moica was 15 years and a half. Shortly after her arrest, on July 13, 1959, her father, Petru Moica, was also arrested. Tried by the Cluj Military Court in a trial in which about 20 people were involved (most of them high school students), the members of the group received sentences between 10 in prison and 25 years of forced labor. Niculina Moica and her father were sentenced to 20 years of forced labor for „plot against the socialist order”. After their arrest, Domnica, Niculina Moica’s mother, was evacuated from the house and all her belonging were confiscated. After spending five years in prison, in Târgu Mureş, Jilava, Botoşani, Arad and Oradea, Niculina Moica was pardoned and released from prison on June 23, 1964. Immediately after her release, she barely managed to find a job because of her criminal record, working in a bakery, where she peeled potatoes for bread. She then managed to re-enroll to high school in a distance learning program, and worked in accounting after graduation until her retirement. Niculina Moica is now living in Bucharest and is an active member of the Association of Former Political Detainees.
