Gheorghe Gheorghiu-dej

Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej ( – 19 March 1965) was a Romanian politician. He was the first communist leader of Romania from 1947 to 1965, serving as first secretary of the Romanian Communist Party (ultimately "Romanian Workers' Party", PMR) from 1944 to 1954 and from 1955 to 1965, and as the first communist Prime Minister of Romania from 1952 to 1955. Born in Bârlad, Gheorghiu-Dej was involved in the communist movement's activities from the early 1930s.

Upon the outbreak of World War II in Europe, he was imprisoned by Ion Antonescu's regime in the Târgu Jiu internment camp, and escaped only in August 1944. After the forces of King Michael ousted Antonescu and had him arrested for war crimes, Gheorghiu-Dej together with prime-minister Petru Groza pressured the King into abdicating in December 1947, marking the onset of out-and-out communist rule in Romania.

Under his rule, Romania was considered one of the Soviet Union's most loyal satellite states, though Gheorghiu-Dej was partially unnerved by the rapid de-Stalinization policy initiated by Nikita Khrushchev at the end of the 1950s. Gheorghiu-Dej stepped up measures that greatly increased trade relations between Romania and the Western countries. At the same time his government committed human rights violations within the country. He died of lung cancer in March 1965.

His once protégé Nicolae Ceaușescu succeeded him as General Secretary.