Ion Vincze

Who was Ion Vincze?

Ion Vincze was a Romanian communist politician and diplomat. An activist of the Romanian Communist Party, he was married to Constanţa Crăciun, herself a prominent member of that party.

Born to an ethnic Hungarian family in Lipova, Arad County, he became a member of the Union of Communist Youth in 1930 and of the then-outlawed PCR the following year. An accountant by profession, he attended Școala Superioară de Comerț and Academia Comercială din Cluj. In 1935, he was briefly imprisoned for his activities in support of the PCR.

During World War II, Vincze was in Bucharest, becoming involved in activities against the fascist regime of Ion Antonescu. By then, he was already in a relationship with Constanța Crăciun, and allegations later surfaced that she was unsuccessfully courted by the PCR general secretary, Ştefan Foriş.

On November 19, 1942, a military tribunal in the city condemned him to hard labour for life, having found that

"He was part of the central leadership of the Communist Party of Romania, being tasked with the indoctrination of the capital's young people. He was ordered by the party to procure false identity cards for members of the Communist Party who were to remain in Romania clandestinely. He took part in conspiratorial sessions. He recruited and instructed new members of the communist movement. He received and spread communist propaganda materials and gave instructions regarding the organisation of a Communist Youth of Romania. He refused to declare to us his place of residence, which indicates that in that place there was to be found an important stock of materials, instructions, and names of important persons who form part of the leadership of the Communist Movement."