Vasile Luca

Vasile Luca (born László Luka; June 8, 1898—July 23, 1963) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian and Soviet communist politician, a leading member of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) from 1945 and until his imprisonment in the 1950s. Noted for his activities in the Ukrainian SSR in 1940-1941, he sided with Ana Pauker during World War II, and returned to Romania to serve as the Minister of Finance and one of the most recognizable leaders of the Communist regime. Luca's downfall, coming at the end of a conflict with Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, signaled that of Pauker.

He was married to Elisabeta Luca (née Birman), a volunteer in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War, who was also imprisoned following her husband's arrest.

Biography

Early activities

A native of Szentkatolna (or Sâncatolna - present-day Catalina) in Transylvania (at the time part of Austria-Hungary), Luca was an ethnic Hungarian of the Székely community; during his later years, Luca also indicated that he was of Jewish and proletarian origin.

In the period following the Aster Revolution, as Transylvania's administration was taken over by Romania, he joined Károly Kratochwill's Székely Division (formed inside Hungary by Hungarian Transylvanian refugees).Betea,...
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