Beyond Torture: The Gulag of Pitesti, Romania (2007) | Short Movie | Fr. Roman Bragg

Beyond Torture documents the persecution of Romanians under the communist regime. You'll hear firsthand stories of the persecution of Romanians under Stalinist communism. Beyond Torture: The Gulag of Pitesti, Romania documents the persecution of Romanians under the communist regime. Electrical shock, hallucinogenic drugs, near starvation and fatal beatings were daily rituals in the prison of Pitesti, Romania. But this sadistic story goes beyond torture: this was an attempt to totally destroy a people's culture and faith. In 1949, Stalinist Soviets began a systematic sweep of Romanian college campuses. Their purpose was to imprison and transform young Romanians into a communistic way of thinking. One prisoner describes this re-education as the most vile tortures imaginable. Orthodox priest Father George Calciu says, They tried to destroy our souls. But he and others survived this gulag, lived to tell their stories and even forgave their captors. In this documentary, you'll meet three survivors from the prison of Pitesti and see shocking paintings that capture the essence of the extreme torture.
Director: Alan Hartwick
Starring: Fr. Roman Bragg, Fr. George Calciu, Dr. Nicu Ionita

[@capricrone3537]

I am so edified by the beautiful faith of the priests and how one even said solitary confinement was glorious. Can you imagine? May God multiply the merits of their suffering!

[@artdevivre2]

Jésus was with them. And they will be in the glory of God after their departure from.this life

[@LukiaSierra]

AMEN! 🙏☦️

[@artdevivre2]

I am speechless after watching this- - I had to make pauses because it was difficult to be a witness of those tortures-- what kept them sane was their faith-!! Praise the Lord!

[@sandahorvath-berindea1593]

I read a book years back,called Fenomenul Pitesti= Pitesti Phenomenon, written by Paul Goma.I'm Romanian and I was shaken by this brutally honest book, a memorial of pain,distruction of young intellectuals by the newly born comunist regime in Romania. Here I am, almost 40 years after reading the book, trying to get as much information I can about the survivers of the horrendous experiment associated with communism in Romania. Why? Mainly because I'm afraid that I didn't do anything right for my cultural background in my own family. We moved to Canada 25 years ago and I sheltered my own child from those criminal acts( historically speaking) ,never demonized the comunist era I lived in( during Ceausescu's regime) out of respect for my Romanian people,just changed conversation with the wave of hand. And here I am,horiffied to listen to my child( a professional by now, educated in Canada, raised by parents that left Romania) giving credit to so called egalitarian regime that is supposedly possible using the values on Marxists!!!!

[@EssentialReason]

May we NEVER let their stories die

[@areyoutheregoditsmedave]

we visited Fr Roman’s grave earlier tonight after hearing Fr John, who served with him in his last few years on earth, speak about his experiences with Fr Roman. he was a holy man. i wish to be like him one day if possible ☦️ Christ be with you all

[@OmarAbdulMalikDHEdMPASPACPAPro]

I never knew about this! It seems that we humans have no limits to our cruelty! But, these men also show that our capacity for goodness is VAST!❤

[@johntaylor8469]

Lord have mercy on the souls who mocked the liturgy. No earthly punishment can compare to what they face for their actions to other human beings and the mockery of our lord.

[@fgfanta]

People willing to inflict this sort of things, from a supposed high moral ground, are still among us, everywhere, in the same proportions, because human nature is still the same, everywhere. Something to keep in mind.

[@helpIthinkmylegsaregone]

Sure, to a degree, but a certain Christ-hating group dominated the Red Terror in all European countries and they tend to push for atrocities all over the world even today.

[@cateatfood6634]

This isn't just human nature and the eviI that we do, but what had been done here (and continues to be done by ALL governments) is to the point of demonism. It's demonic at its source. Darwinistic evolution.

[@luizantoniogaulia5633]

Comunism agents and politicians are like criminals...Pitesti shows us about their tirany and brutality. Never forget theses romanian gulag!

[@michaelmcbride3112]

Amazing testimonies from these wonderful men of God.

[@matthewbbenton]

The podcast MartyrMade has an intense but important episode called “The Anti-Humans” that goes into more detail about this horrible history. Highly recommended.

[@NathanFales]

Came here from that episode.

[@JimBillyRayBob]

Yeah, it was much much worse than this video described. These fathers who came out of it are beyond inspiring.

[@katalinkozak9869]

Martyrmade was talking of the “reeducation” experiment conducted between 1948-1952 on mostly Iron Guard and Zionist activists. The experiment was stopped in’52 by Dej and the prison operated later as preselection prison to labor camps after. Today the Orthodox Church is trying to canonise all who perished, but some detainees were controversial ie ex iron guard members or legionaries. Most of them were, however simple people who opposed communism and communists, enemy of the regime.

[@LukiaSierra]

Glory be to God for His holy saints which emerge out of such darkness and persecution! May they be crowned in His Kingdom! Please pray for us that we too may endure to the end whatever hardships, and remain faithful to the One true God and the one true Orthodox Faith! 🙏☦️

[@laurasuereynolds1959]

Thank you for bring this story of Love triumphant evil.❤

[@jeffreyreynolds4732]

I am amazed at how I've never heard of this before! ThankYou for bringing it to light. At the time it seems our World Government's especially here in the USA, closely following what a few EU Countries and Austrailia are doing to bring Communism back as what should be Normal.

[@Jp-do9ny]

Because communism is painted as good. They'll never stop mentioning nazis while hiding countless communist attrocities.

[@mr.d.572]

Exactly, this is the direction the U.S. is headed in right now. The godless Left demand group think and are completely capable of torturing or killing us to get that. They've been proving that over and over by their actions. And the E.U. is just another way to usher in a one world government. It's all related. The the only way to stop them is to fight them, and sadly Americans are either brainwashed and falling in line with them or they are passive and not really willing to put themselves out. This country needs a huge wake up call in a big way.

[@DuMySmokePlus]

Yes is many stuff out there … I am from this country and the history is very sad I would like the entire world to know our history to understand that we were the only country in the entire world who payed all the debt’s that we had in one way we were free , peace ✌️

[@NeverForget1776]

You've never heard of it because the powers that be did not want the general public to be aware of this.

[@missnthrop5763]

@@NeverForget1776 How did y'all never hear about this? Sounds more like poor parenting. I come from a lower middle class American family and my parents told us all about this horrific period of history.

[@DuMySmokePlus]

This people are the Prison Saints who never give up to God even after all this beating ! That’s what need the entire world to understand that not long time ago around 50-70 years ago people were literally dying for their beliefs in God 😔

[@rebeccaloyd1043]

They still do today. In North Korea, Nigeria, Syria, Pakistan, Iran, and several other countries.

[@DuMySmokePlus]

@@rebeccaloyd1043 Yes this I believe will never stop ,, evil will always exist till the end of the time

[@liverpool6058]

It's still happening all around the world today. Especially in the Islamic world Christians are suffering greatly.

[@JimBillyRayBob]

Take note of what Communist go after first: Family, Country and God. Look around. What do you see happening now?

[@wethepeople7629]

That’s the Democratic Party here in USA… 100% same similarities!!!

[@jfziemba]

Based on other information, this video just skimmed the surface of the depravity these men suffered.

[@edwinrodrigues9747]

very sad experience, but we were already warned in the Bible that we will need to suffer these things if we continue to believe and follow Jesus Christ.

[@2loaves388]

Just give up your god

[@edwinrodrigues9747]

@@2loaves388 give up my God for how many years? So for some years I will live without my God and once I am dead live for eternity in hell? I prefer not to leave my God for few years of pleasure.

[@riseandshine6896]

Jesus is the name of the Lord Amen and Amen and Amen. 🙏the 🙏🙏🌹♥️

[@2loaves388]

@@riseandshine6896 false god

[@riseandshine6896]

@@2loaves388 Your opinion and that you are entitled to. My opinion Jesus my Loed , my God and my savour. Jesus is the King of King's and the Lord of Lords. 🙏 Amen and Amen and Ame 🙏

[@grantkruger3689]

Communism is a crime against humanity and heaven. This is what they do when they are given over to the depth of the true depravity of sin (Romans 1:28-32).

[@theswede5402]

Its just beyond imagination how these priests didnt lose their minds from all that, a testament to the power of faith perhaps.

[@tallmikbcroft6937]

This has blessed my walk towards an Orthodox Faith. Pray for us Father Roman

[@omnitrus]

Thank you 🙏

[@chanelg376]

Just curious when Fr Roman Braga says that God allowed this to happen to some ppl to prepare them for his plan. How did It help those who had died from the prison especially those who committed suicide?

[@Vikingshop]

ChanelG - God had Mercy on those who did not have the strength. They went to be with Him.

[@DuMySmokePlus]

The ones who committed suicide NO! But God helped them all the people who survived and the ones who died are going to heaven because they die for this cause.. this spiritual stuff is very deep believe me ..

[@chanelg376]

Not to come off rude but it just seems harsh to just let the ones who commit suicide who had no choice of being in the prison be killed. What point is their existence if God wants them in that situation if he feels they should be there but they weren’t going to make it and he knew it.

[@DuMySmokePlus]

@@chanelg376 this stuff is hard to understand also I am not in a position where I can tell you that I know how it is exactly but I can tell what I feel and believe as we know when you kill yourself thats one very big sin but now I dont know maybe God forgive all this people maybe through His Son this people they received forgiveness who knows the ways of the Lord are mysterious and we are very unable to understand them all maybe when the right time will come we will understand , I wish you a good day 😃

[@TheDCBIGTIME]

@@DuMySmokePlus I think we should be careful not to condemn those who commit suicide. It is not our place to judge them. Each soul will be judged by God. He is the only one that knows all of the variables that contributed to that decision. He will not judge us all the same.

[@anokata-kd8oc]

Communism is such awful.. I could cry now after I learned about this

[@iuliadobre9769]

multumim!

[@calicavanaugh5647]

What religion is this catholic or orthodox?

[@cristiangaban960]

Most people in Romania are Orthodox , but there are Catholics too.The priests in this video are Orthodox.

[@calicavanaugh5647]

@@cristiangaban960 thanks for letting me know I appreciate it very much❣️

[@cristiangaban960]

@@calicavanaugh5647 No problem. This torture in Pitesti ended in '51, but later during the Ceausescu era , the communists infiltrated the church. The secret service gave privileges to some scholars , so they could get out of the country and study in Europe , then come back and be Church leaders. For this , the church leaders would have to become collaborators of the regime and then many people were imprisoned because many of the priests were informers .Even today in Romania, the big leaders of the Orthodox Church are almost exclusively ex-communist collaborators. Even during the first phase of the revolution in December 1989 in Timisoara, they closed the doors of the Cathedral , when civilians were trying to get inside to take shelter from the shooting in the streets. Many Orthodox priests suffered unimaginable torture and humiliation in communist gulags, only for the Church to be compromised later and used against the people.

[@DuMySmokePlus]

Orthodox-Christianity

[@thyagtubes]

11:27 - narrator says “Orthodox Christian beliefs”

[@witchreturns2263]

1:55 It's not because of resources. It was because it was at the crossing of all conquering people. The crossing point of all continents

[@longbow4856]

☦️

[@leasandham4813]

Litany to St Philomena - St. John Vianney Lord have mercy on us. Christ have mercy on us. Lord have mercy on us. God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us. God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us. God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us. Holy Trinity one God, have mercy on us. Holy Mary, Queen of Virgins, Pray for us. St. Philomena, Pray for us. St. Philomena, filled with the most abundant graces from your very birth, Pray for us. St. Philomena, faithful imitator of Mary, Pray for us. St. Philomena, model of Virgins, Pray for us. St. Philomena, temple of the most perfect humility, Pray for us. St. Philomena, inflamed with zeal for the Glory of God, Pray for us. St. Philomena, victim of the love of Jesus, Pray for us. St. Philomena, example of strength and perseverance, Pray for us. St. Philomena, invincible champion of chastity, Pray for us. St. Philomena, mirror of the most heroic virtues, Pray for us. St. Philomena, firm and intrepid in the face of torments, Pray for us. St. Philomena, scourged like your Divine Spouse, Pray for us. St. Philomena, pierced by a shower of arrows, Pray for us. St. Philomena, consoled by the Mother of God, when in chains, Pray for us. St. Philomena, cured miraculously in prison, Pray for us. St. Philomena, comforted by angels in your torments, Pray for us. St. Philomena, who preferred torments and death to the splendors of a throne, Pray for us. St. Philomena, who converted the witnesses of your martyrdom, Pray for us. St. Philomena, who wore out the fury of your executioners, Pray for us. St. Philomena, protectress of the innocent, Pray for us. St. Philomena, patron of youth, Pray for us. St. Philomena, refuge of the unfortunate, Pray for us. St. Philomena, health of the sick and the weak. Pray for us. St. Philomena, new light of the church militant, Pray for us. St. Philomena, who confounds the impiety of the world, Pray for us. St. Philomena, who stimulates the faith and courage of the faithful, Pray for us. St. Philomena, whose name is glorified in Heaven and feared in Hell, Pray for us. St. Philomena, made illustrious by the most striking miracles, Pray for us. St. Philomena, all powerful with God, Pray for us. St. Philomena, who reigns in glory, Pray for us. Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord. Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord. Lamb of God Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Pray for us, Great St. Philomena, That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Let us pray: We implore Thee, O Lord, by the intercession of Saint Philomena, Virgin and Martyr, who was ever most pleasing to Thyn eyes by reason of Her eminent purity and the practice of all the virtues, pardon us our sins and grant us all the graces we need with fortitude, perseverance, humilty. We beseech Thee, to show us the error of our ways. Amen🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@GeneghisKhan]

b-b-b-but real communism never happened!

[@anawilliams6500]

What year you are talking about

[@slash_em]

This goes on today in China. Investigate the fate of 100000 disciples of Truthfulness Benevolence Forbearance.

[@tamicrosley]

😭😭😭🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@busybody1474]

Piteski stopped because one evaded and got away..God provided a way for that one individual to escape and expose this evil to the 🌎 world.. finally ending it

[@petermeren123]

How do you know that?

[@busybody1474]

@@petermeren123 did you watch the video?? he said one prisoner escaped

[@petermeren123]

@@busybody1474 No I didnt yet brother. Thank you

[@lguz386]

God bless this world ,watch over us. dont think this cant happen again any ware.

[@DanceDadDaughter88]

Who has invented communism?

[@honketyhonk1364]

oy vey

[@lucatoma8101]

Karl Marx is the father of communism

[@private_channel11]

OY VEY GOYIM--- hem, hem CITIZEN! STOP NOTICING! THAT'S ANTISEMITIC!

[@epistuos1250]

Fuck still happening in 2007 crazy!

[@dualfluidreactor]

​@JimmyJaime-su5pxit's a joke on the title. The Film is from 2007, not the gulag.

[@markmcflounder15]

Richard Wurmbrand (imprisoned in Romania, probably Pitesti) "I will never forget my first encounter with a Russian prisoner, an engineer. I asked him if he believed in God....[H]e lifted his eyes toward me without understanding and said, 'I have no such military order to believe.' "Tears ran down my cheeks. I felt my heart torn in pieces. Here stood before me a man whose mind was dead, a man who had lost a great gift God has given to mankind--his individuality. He was a brainwashed tool in the hands of the Communists, ready to believe or not on an order. He could not think on his own. This was a typical Russian after all these years of Communist domination!" (14, Wurmbrand "Tortured for Christ")

[@toikissa8734]

27:00 very powerful

[@JLeiva-ph9ly]

Righteous fire we were promised. One day he will return to exact true Justice upon this broken world. May all be for his glory, for all time, for he lives and shall soon return to end this facade - to finally break us free from these bonds that the devil and his legions keep us under. May our faith be strong enough to withstand the things to come, for this is but a peering into the darkest evil that truly moves in our modern world. Father keep these broken souls, for in your perfect son we find refuge and through his righteous blood may we find forgiveness for what we have done to your perfect creation. If only people today truly understood what rejecting our creator leads humanity into.. Forgive us in his holy name, he has risen and shall soon return. Glory be yours my Lord Christ!

[@whiteowl1137]

25:19

[@jhw7742]

ALL this CRUEL THINGS, which happen in ROMANIA, have to do with CheauChescu. That`s, why People are hard against another! Even to Animals they are deeplest cruelty. They kill Millions of StrayDogs with extrem cruel Methods.....BUT first they should become a WARM HEART for each other.

[@GabrielaLtc]

Those things happened before Ceausescu came to power.

[@cristiangaban960]

It had to do with communism , not Ceausescu.

[@gigelfrone6592]

All this barbaric things happen when Bolshevik/stalinist communists were in power before Ceaușescu. Till '64. Ceaușescu was in power in 1965. Also those Bolsheviks who commanded this atrocities on Orthodox priests were almost 100% all chews. And we all know how much the sinagog us of satan hates Christ and it's people's.

[@mihaiserban5746]

what the hell do you know about being a Romanian?

[@mariadi1069]

:(((((

[@lguz386]

Never forget this evilness ,can come to the USA too this communism an markism can come to any country .we have to always be aware God bless this 🌎

[@williamjeffersonjameslowma3970]

I am that I am your humble servant to your lord will be done ✔

[@shovelhead1705]

It's crazy how this is pretty much written out of history. You have to know about it to study it.

[@ninobelov4153]

Romanians/New Romans as an artificial identity was created from DACHAN SERBS in 17 to 19 century and Romanian language in 1956 where they mixed Serbian language and Modern latin. Communists didn't sent to gulags Catholics and Uniate Ortodox Christians (Catholic puppets) they only attacked ORTODOX CHTISTIANS. And Serbian Dachan last names like Popovich, Petrovich, Ivanovich, Dimitrovich were artificially changed into latin-"romanian" sounding last names Popescu, Petrescu, Ivanescu, Dimitrescu,... And that is why there is more than 5000 Serbian words in Romanian language not counting latinized Serbian words or latin words with Serbian endings and prefixes. Communism was created, planned and financed by Vatican & Jesuit-Freemasonry.

[@dezacordat]

Maybe you should start by askign yourself why there are 3 times more romanians then serbians! And wsee who is who, you make no sense!

[@respectkindness-oj6xz]

i read a medieval macedonian cleric said "who are these latins who claim to be eastern-orthodox?", and slavic countries surrounding romanian principalities imposed cyrillic script and slavonised their language

[@respectkindness-oj6xz]

leave the ethnophyletism aside

[@respectkindness-oj6xz]

or romanised dacians who were influenced by slavs?

[@deborahdean8867]

I have heard Guantanamo Bay gets torturers from the middle east because Americans cant do it as well.

[@MohamedMohamed-tr2rz]

Where’d you get this? They are t--ring middle eastern men. Have you seen the Mauritanian?

[@deborahdean8867]

@MohamedMohamed-tr2rz I dont remember now where I heard that.

[@DuMySmokePlus]

The history of Romania is very sad because people was just wanted to talk about God and other was try to stop that and this means something because if is not real that should not bother but is real !

[@lauramariamarciuc5714]

İn romana unde găsim acest documentar

[@Romans--ir9nc]

If you haven't given your heart to Jesus, He's inviting you to do so right here, right now. Call upon the name of Jesus and confess you're in need of a Savior. Invite Him into your heart and you will be saved. For Jesus died for your sins, was buried and rose again the third day! He defeated death and so can you by calling upon Him today. Romans 10:9-10 God bless you, Andrew

[@LindaMcCoy-jc]

Amen..

[@ampuspunctulpej]

just another time when god has slept at work

[@private_channel11]

And yet the Saints live... May God bless you ☦️🙏

[@whiteowl1137]

28:48