Elisabeta Rizea was born on June 28, 1912, in Domnești, Argeș County. She was the niece of the leader of the “țărănist” movement, Gheorghe Șuța, who was killed by the communists in 1948. She attended school until the age of 14, afterward following her destiny in the anti-communist struggle.

Elisabeta Rizea lived in a beautiful wooden cottage, surrounded by a courtyard filled with flowers and animals. Her everyday attire consisted of a national costume, embroidered in black and white.

The communists came to power in 1945. In response, Rizea joined the resistance and supplied fighters in the mountains with food and money for four years. Her opposition to communist expropriation and her husband, Gheorghe, joining the resistance fighters in the mountains led to torture and many years in prison.

She actively supported the anti-communist resistance group Arsenescu-Arnăuțoiu. She served 13 years of hard imprisonment for actively supporting the “Terrorist Gang.” The “boys” were actually heroes of the anti-communist resistance in the Făgăraș Mountains. She was labeled an “enemy of the people,” and her household was considered a “bandit’s house,” the gravest accusations in a communist state. Arrested by the militia, she was sentenced to 7 years in Pitești prison, where Elisabeta Rizea was placed in a maximum-security cell.

Released in the spring of 1958, Elisabeta continued to communicate with Resistance officers through a “post box” in the hollow of a tree in Valea Morii. When the leader of the anti-communist resistance, Gheorghe Arsenescu, was arrested in 1961, Elisabeta Rizea was arrested again, and her sentence was extended by another 25 years. She was transferred to Mislea prison, where she was incarcerated alongside Mrs. Ion Mihalache and dozens of Legionary women.

In prison, Elisabeta was beaten so many times that, in an interview in the early ’90s at the Memorial of Pain, she couldn’t even recall all the instances to describe them. However, she never denounced the members of the resistance. Her sentence also came with the confiscation of her entire estate, leaving Elisabeta toothless and bald, with mutilated feet and her dignity trampled upon in the prisons of Pitești, Jilava, Arad, and Miercurea Ciuc.

Under the terms of a general amnesty, Rizea was released from prison in 1964. For almost 30 years, she was kept under strict surveillance by investigative authorities. She was constantly summoned for interrogations, and together with her husband, they were considered “enemies of the people.”

35 years later, her story was published in Romanian newspapers and featured in documentaries about the communist era. In May 2001, Mrs. Rizea received a visit from King Michael I, whom she had known since childhood.

“He used to tell riddles, and I would laugh. Once, we roasted corn together, but he gave me the part with the bigger kernels,” Rizea recounted. “I will love him until I die, like the apple of my eye. I wish for him to be the king of Romania, to always be in the country.” King Michael and Queen Ana had lunch together with Elisabeta Rizea, who served them red eggs, sponge cake, and wine.

In 2003, the heroine Elisabeta Rizea passed away, hoping that she left behind a better Romania.

TVR Interview Memorial of Pain Episode 24 – Elisabeta Rizea – The Brave Woman from Nucşoara.