# Valter Roman

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For other people named Walter Roman, see [Walter Roman (disambiguation)](/source/Walter_Roman_(disambiguation)).

**Valter** or **Walter Roman** (October 9, 1913 – November 11, 1983), born **Ernst** or **Ernő Neuländer**, was a [Romanian](/source/Romania) [communist](/source/Communism) activist and soldier. During his lifetime, Roman was active inside the [Romanian](/source/Romanian_Communist_Party), [Czechoslovak](/source/Communist_Party_of_Czechoslovakia), [French](/source/French_Communist_Party), and [Spanish](/source/Communist_Party_of_Spain_(main)) Communist parties[1] as well as being a [Comintern](/source/Comintern) cadre. He started his military career as a volunteer in the [International Brigades](/source/International_Brigades) during the [Spanish Civil War](/source/Spanish_Civil_War), and rose to prominence in [Communist Romania](/source/Communist_Romania), as a high-level politician and military official.

Valter was the father of [Petre Roman](/source/Petre_Roman), a [post-1989](/source/History_of_Romania_since_1989) politician, who served as [Prime Minister](/source/Prime_Minister_of_Romania).

## Biography

### Early life

Born in Nagyvárad, [Austria-Hungary Empire](/source/Austria-Hungary_Empire) (today [Oradea](/source/Oradea), [Romania](/source/Romania)), he was the child of [Jewish](/source/History_of_the_Jews_in_Hungary) parents whose first language was [Hungarian](/source/Hungarian_language).[2] In later testimonies, he indicated that his ethnic background was not entirely relevant to him: "[Germans](/source/Germans_of_Romania) said I was a [Hungarian](/source/Hungarian_minority_in_Romania), Hungarians that I was [Romanian](/source/Romanians), Romanians said that I was Jewish, but Jews said I was a communist, although I was not yet one at the time".[3]

Roman obtained a degree in [electrical engineering](/source/Electrical_engineering) in [Brno](/source/Brno), [Czechoslovakia](/source/First_Republic_of_Czechoslovakia).[4]

### Military career

Initially active inside the PCR's [agitprop](/source/Agitprop) section,[5] he was a volunteer in a [Romanian artillery](/source/Anna_Pauker_Battery_%E2%80%93_Franco-Belgian_Group)[6] unit of the [International Brigades](/source/International_Brigades) during the [Spanish Civil War](/source/Spanish_Civil_War) (*see also [Jewish volunteers in the Spanish Civil War](/source/Jewish_volunteers_in_the_Spanish_Civil_War)*)[7] — according to one source, it was then that he first adopted the name *Valter Roman*, while also using the pseudonym *G. Katowski*.[8] Wounded twice during combat, Roman eventually left for the [Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_Union).[1]

In 1938–1941, Roman worked at a plane factory in [Kalinin](/source/Tver), later for one of the [Comintern](/source/Comintern) sections, and, during [World War II](/source/World_War_II), for an Institute for Scientific Research (1941–1945).[1] During the period, he married Hortensia Vallejo, who was originally from [Santander](/source/Santander,_Cantabria), Spain.[9]

At the time, Roman also headed the [Romanian-language](/source/Romanian-language) radio station of the Comintern (*România Liberă*), broadcasting [propaganda](/source/Propaganda) against the regime of [Ion Antonescu](/source/Ion_Antonescu) and Romania's actions on the [Eastern Front](/source/Eastern_Front_(World_War_II)) as an ally of [Nazi Germany](/source/Nazi_Germany) (*see [Romania during World War II](/source/Romania_during_World_War_II)*).[10] He returned to [Soviet-occupied](/source/Soviet_occupation_of_Romania) Romania in July 1945, as the [political commissar](/source/Political_commissar) for the Soviet-organized [Horea, Cloșca și Crișan Division](/source/Horea,_Clo%C8%99ca_%C8%99i_Cri%C8%99an_Division), commanded by General [Mihail Lascăr](/source/Mihail_Lasc%C4%83r).[1]

Under the [communist regime](/source/Communist_Romania), Roman became a general in the [People's Army](/source/Army_of_the_Socialist_Republic_of_Romania) ([Major General](/source/Major_General) after May 1, 1948) with political responsibilities (Chief of the Army Directorate for Education, Culture, and Propaganda, 1946; Chief of the Superior Political Direction of the Romanian Army and [Chief of Staff](/source/Chief_of_staff_(military)), 1947–1951), and [Minister of Telecommunications](/source/Ministry_of_Communications_and_Information_Technology_(Romania)) (March 29, 1951 – January 24, 1953).[11] At the time, he declared himself in favor of recruiting a new military force "from the ranks of the [working class](/source/Working_class), of the toiling peasantry and of the [progressive](/source/Progressivism) [intelligentsia](/source/Intelligentsia)".[12]

Close to the [Ana Pauker](/source/Ana_Pauker) "Muscovite wing" of the PCR,[13] he came into conflict with the party leadership around [Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej](/source/Gheorghe_Gheorghiu-Dej). Initially removed from his Army position in 1950, at the same time as all [cadres](/source/Professional_revolutionaries) who had fought in the International Brigades or the [French Resistance](/source/French_Resistance),[14] Roman was deposed from government office,[15] purged from the PCR and Army on charges of "[Titoism](/source/Titoism)" and "espionage",[2] and singled out for a possible [show trial](/source/Show_trial) (1952).[16] He became subject to daily interrogations by the Party Control Commission.[15]

Pressures on him were relaxed after the death of [Joseph Stalin](/source/Joseph_Stalin) in 1953, and Roman became head of [Editura Politică](/source/Editura_Politic%C4%83) (1954–1983).[17] He remained a suspect at a time when Gheorghiu-Dej felt increasingly threatened,[18] was subject to a "vote of censure" in 1954,[18] and was completely [rehabilitated](/source/Rehabilitation_(Soviet)) only in 1956.[2]

### Party leadership

In 1956 and 1957, as a high-ranking member of the Communist Party, Valter Roman was involved in deciding Romanian policies in regard to the [Hungarian Revolution of 1956](/source/Hungarian_Revolution_of_1956), which threatened to spark similar actions in Romania. He spent late October in [Budapest](/source/Budapest), sending back reports which inflamed sentiments by presenting alleged revolutionary violence.[19] After the [Red Army](/source/Red_Army) invaded [Hungary](/source/Hungary), he accompanied Gheorghiu-Dej, the writer [Mihai Beniuc](/source/Mihai_Beniuc), and other local Communists to Budapest, where the three of them reviewed the situation and expressed approval of Soviet policies.[20] Later on, he was involved in interrogating [Imre Nagy](/source/Imre_Nagy) during his detainment in [Snagov](/source/Snagov), while also ensuring contacts between Nagy and Soviet officials.[21] Nagy was returned to Hungary, secretly tried and executed. According to Fedor Burlatsky, Nikita Khrushchev had Nagy executed, "as a lesson to all other leaders in socialist countries."

An associate of [Leonte Răutu](/source/Leonte_R%C4%83utu),[22] Roman seconded [Emil Bodnăraş](/source/Emil_Bodn%C4%83ra%C5%9F) in the 1959 process of writing and compiling Party history, with a mission to highlight both Gheorghiu-Dej's role in the 1944 toppling of [Ion Antonescu](/source/Ion_Antonescu)'s regime and the insurrectional character of the coup.[23]

In 1961, he was among the Party leaders who spoke out against [Iosif Chişinevschi](/source/Iosif_Chi%C5%9Finevschi) and other former leaders who had been since marginalized,[24] such as Pauker (whom he accused of having maintained contacts with Soviet police chief [Lavrentiy Beria](/source/Lavrentiy_Beria)), [Boris Stefanov](/source/Boris_Stefanov), and [Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu](/source/Lucre%C5%A3iu_P%C4%83tr%C4%83%C5%9Fcanu).[25] He also rallied with Gheorghiu-Dej's positive views on [de-Stalinization](/source/History_of_the_Soviet_Union_(1953-1985)), claiming that Pauker's fall had been a sign of Romania parting with [Stalinism](/source/Stalinism).[3] At the time, he argued that Pauker and her collaborator [Vasile Luca](/source/Vasile_Luca) had viewed him with suspicion based on his participation in the Spanish Civil War.[3]

After Gheorghiu-Dej's death, he approved of the change in course indicated by [Nicolae Ceauşescu](/source/Nicolae_Ceau%C5%9Fescu), and joined in condemning the [1968 Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia](/source/Prague_Spring) (at the time, he notably quoted [Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea](/source/Constantin_Dobrogeanu-Gherea)'s statement that "[socialism](/source/Socialism) and truth are inseparable").[26] Elected to the [Central Committee](/source/Central_Committee) on July 24, 1965, he was in office until his death.[27]

Decorated a *Hero of the Socialist Labor*, Roman was also employed as a University professor. By the 1970s, he was becoming opposed to the Ceauşescu leadership and questioned [Leninism](/source/Leninism) itself; a diary entry of 1975 shows that he resented the massive enrollment of obedient [cadres](/source/Professional_revolutionaries) into the PCR,[28] and speculated that "when [Lenin](/source/Vladimir_Lenin) elaborated the concept of the [new-type party](/source/Bolshevik) he took inspiration from, he also thought of [Ignacio de Loyola](/source/Ignatius_of_Loyola), of his «[company of Jesus](/source/Society_of_Jesus)», of what it represented from the point of view of discipline, of obedience, hence there later emerged many negative consequences and, first of all, the deterioration of human character, of human integrity".[29]

## Controversies

Several aspects of Roman's past remain under dispute.

In 2000, investigations by [Russian](/source/Russia) historian Tofik Islamov concluded that, after Soviet authorities charged [Maxim Litvinov](/source/Maxim_Litvinov) to investigate the issue of [Northern Transylvania](/source/Northern_Transylvania), disputed between Romania and Hungary, Roman approached the commission in late 1944 with plans to have [Transylvania](/source/Transylvania) declare itself independent (under a common guarantee from the Soviets and [Western Allies](/source/Allies_of_World_War_II)).[30] [Petre Roman](/source/Petre_Roman) has repeatedly contested the conclusion, advancing documents which, he argued, proved that his father was in favor of Transylvania's status inside Romania.[30]

In his own reply to Petre Roman's arguments, Islamov repeated his statements, and contended that views such as those attributed to Valter Roman were commonplace among [internationalists](/source/Proletarian_internationalism) of the time.[31] He also cited Valter Roman's own 1944 statement — according to the document, Roman viewed both Hungary and Romania as guilty of waging war on the Soviet Union, arguing that the region (Transylvania) was "an ethnographic conglomerate" with a tradition of regional [sovereignty](/source/Sovereignty), economic independence, and status as "the most [progressive](/source/Progressivism) part of the country".[31]

In 2006, Petre Roman was involved in a polemic with former [Securitate](/source/Securitate) chief and defector [Ion Mihai Pacepa](/source/Ion_Mihai_Pacepa) over the extent to which Valter Roman took part in political repression in the wake of the Hungarian Revolution.[32]

## Works

### Essays

- *Revoluția industrială în dezvoltarea societății* ("The [Industrial Revolution](/source/Industrial_Revolution) in Social Development")
- *Eseuri despre revoluția științifică și tehnică* ("Essays on the Scientific and Technical Revolution")

### Memoir

- *Sub cerul Spaniei* ("Under the Skies of Spain")

## Notes

1. Mihailov

1. *Final Report*, p.45; Tismăneanu, *Stalinism*, p.124, 320

1. Roman in *Sfera Politicii*, Part II

1. *Final Report*, p.45; Mihailov; Tismăneanu, *Stalinism*, p.124

1. Tismăneanu, *Stalinism*, p.99

1. Ungureanu, Laurențiu & Eremia, Radu (December 6, 2014). ["Apostolii lui Stalin. Politrucul regimentului: Biografia completă a lui Valter Roman și interviu cu fiul său, Petre Roman"](https://adevarul.ro/stil-de-viata/cultura/foto-apostolii-lui-stalin-politrucul-1584234.html) (in Romanian). Retrieved June 17, 2025.

1. *El País*; *Final Report*, p.105; Mihailov; Roman in *Sfera Politicii*, Part II; Tismăneanu, *Stalinism*, p.124, 239, 320

1. Tismăneanu, *Stalinism*, p.320

1. *El País*

1. *Final Report*, p.45, 60; Roman in *Sfera Politicii*, Part I; Tismăneanu, *Stalinism*, p.124, 163

1. *Final Report*, p.45; Levy, p.161; Tismăneanu, *Stalinism*, p.124, 320

1. Roman, in Corlățan

1. *Final Report*, p.59; Roman in *Sfera Politicii*, Part I; Tismăneanu, *Stalinism*, p.162, 163

1. Corlățan

1. Levy, p.161

1. Levy, p.161; Tismăneanu, *Stalinism*, p.124, 320

1. *Final Report*, p.60; Tismăneanu, *Gheorghiu-Dej and the Romanian Workers' Party*, p.6, 20; *Stalinism*, p.124, 320, 334

1. Levy, p.162

1. Tismăneanu, *Gheorghiu-Dej and the Romanian Workers' Party*, p.20

1. *Final Report*, p.77; Tismăneanu, *Stalinism*, p.338

1. *Final Report*, p.77-78; Tismăneanu, *Gheorghiu-Dej and the Romanian Workers' Party*, p.22; *Stalinism*, p.192, 338

1. Arachelian; Tismăneanu, *Gheorghiu-Dej and the Romanian Workers' Party*, p.12

1. Arachelian

1. *Final Report*, p.80, 86-87; Roman in *Sfera Politicii*, *passim*; Tismăneanu, *Gheorghiu-Dej and the Romanian Workers' Party*, p.25, 39-40; *Stalinism*, p.196, 212

1. Roman in *Sfera Politicii*, Part I

1. *Final Report*, p.105; Tismăneanu, *Stalinism*, p.347

1. *Final Report*, p.45; Tismăneanu, *Stalinism*, p.124, 239

1. Cioroianu, p.414-415

1. Roman, in Cioroianu, p.415

1. Vohn

1. Islamov

1. Pacepa

## References

- (in Romanian) Valter Roman's speech and subsequent exchange of replies with other Communist leaders (December 1961), at *[Sfera Politicii](/source/Sfera_Politicii)*: [Part I](https://web.archive.org/web/20070527204739/http://www.sferapoliticii.ro/sfera/113/art10-document.html), [Part II](http://www.sferapoliticii.ro/sfera/114/art8-document.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20060813211422/http://www.sferapoliticii.ro/sfera/114/art8-document.html) 2006-08-13 at the Wayback Machine
- (in Spanish) ["Roman llega hoy a Madrid para impulsar las relaciones entre España y Rumanía" ("Roman Arrives Today in Madrid to Revive Relations between Spain and Romania")](http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/ROMAN/_PETRE/ESPAnA/RUMANiA/RUMANIA/Roman/llega/hoy/Madrid/impulsar/relaciones/Espana/Rumania/elpepiesp/19900416elpepinac_15/Tes/), in *[El País](/source/El_Pa%C3%ADs)*, January 16, 1990
- (in Romanian) [Final Report](https://web.archive.org/web/20070218131409/http://www.beius.ro/raport%20final_%20cadcr.pdf) of the [Presidential Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania](/source/Presidential_Commission_for_the_Study_of_the_Communist_Dictatorship_in_Romania)
- (in Romanian) [Vartan Arachelian](/source/Vartan_Arachelian), ["Falsificatorii" ("The Forgers")](https://web.archive.org/web/20071011104913/http://ziua.net/display.php?id=183279&data=2005-08-23), in *[Ziua](/source/Ziua)*, August 23, 2005
- [Adrian Cioroianu](/source/Adrian_Cioroianu), *Pe umerii lui Marx. O introducere în istoria comunismului românesc* ("On the Shoulders of Marx. An Incursion into the History of Romanian Communism"), [Editura Curtea Veche](/source/Editura_Curtea_Veche), Bucharest, 2005
- (in Romanian) [Mirela Corlățan](/source/Mirela_Corl%C4%83%C8%9Ban), ["Elita militară: o epurare perfectă" ("The Military Elite: a Perfect Purge")](http://www.cotidianul.ro/index.php?id=7374&art=18760&cHash=7c9b547d1a), in *[Cotidianul](/source/Cotidianul)*, February 28, 2006
- (in Romanian) Tofik Islamov, ["Scrisoare către Petre Roman" ("Letter to Petre Roman")](http://www.provincia.ro/cikk_roman/c000115.html), hosted by *Provincia*, August 19, 2000
- Robert Levy, *Ana Pauker: The Rise and Fall of a Jewish Communist*, [University of California Press](/source/University_of_California_Press), [Berkeley](/source/Berkeley,_California), 2001, ISBN 0-520-23747-1
- (in Romanian) Paula Mihailov, ["Figuri moscovite ale comuniştilor români" ("Muscovite Figures of the Romanian Communists")](https://web.archive.org/web/20051102041045/http://www.jurnalul.ro/articol_35973/figuri__moscovite__ale_comunistilor_romani.html) in *[Jurnalul Național](/source/Jurnalul_Na%C8%9Bional)*, February 28, 2007
- (in Romanian) [Ion Mihai Pacepa](/source/Ion_Mihai_Pacepa), ["Walter Roman - dedicat bolşevismului internaţional" ("Walter Roman - Dedicated to International Bolshevism")](http://www.ziua.ro/display.php?id=206867&data=2006-09-08) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20070930163737/http://www.ziua.ro/display.php?id=206867&data=2006-09-08) 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine, in *[Ziua](/source/Ziua)*, September 8, 2006
- [Vladimir Tismăneanu](/source/Vladimir_Tism%C4%83neanu), - [*Gheorghiu-Dej and the Romanian Workers' Party: From De-Sovietization to the Emergence of National Communism* (Working Paper No.37)](https://web.archive.org/web/20061215144130/http://www.wilsoncenter.org/topics/pubs/ACFAF5.pdf), [Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars](/source/Woodrow_Wilson_International_Center_for_Scholars), [Washington, D.C.](/source/Washington,_D.C.), 2002 - *Stalinism pentru eternitate*, [Polirom](/source/Polirom), [Iaşi](/source/Ia%C5%9Fi), 2005 ISBN 973-681-899-3 (translation of *Stalinism for All Seasons: A Political History of Romanian Communism*, [University of California Press](/source/University_of_California_Press), Berkeley, 2003, ISBN 0-520-23747-1)
- (in Romanian) Cristina Vohn, ["Transilvania, în planurile URSS" ("Transylvania in the USSR's Plans")](https://web.archive.org/web/20160303222844/http://jurnalul.ro/articol_46005/transilvania__in_planurile_urss.html), in *[Jurnalul Național](/source/Jurnalul_Na%C8%9Bional)*, February 16, 2006

## Further reading

- Gheorghe Crișan, *Piramida puterii* ("The Pyramid of Power"), second edition, Pro Historia publishing house, [Bucharest](/source/Bucharest), 2004 ISBN 978-973-85206-9-1

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Valter Roman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valter_Roman) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valter_Roman?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.