Constantin Apostol

Constantin Apostol competed in show jumping at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. He competed internationally in equestrian sport throughout Europe. Apostol was a career military man who did his military studies in Târgovişte and Sibiu. He served during World War II, both in the East and the West, and was decorated for his actions.

In August 1944 Apostol led military operations against Germany, both on German territory and up to the borders of Czechoslovakia, leading to his promotion to lieutenant-colonel in 1946 and being named commander of the Buzău Territorial Center (July 1945 – January 1948).

After the Communist Party took control of Romania, Apostol’s position became tenuous. In May 1951, he was removed from among the Army elites, as “he was wealthy and couldn’t be trusted.” In the secret information sheet produced by Lt. Ursache Ştefan on 11 September 1953, it was noted that Apostol, “was rich, of unwealthy social origin”, and that “his father has 20 hectares of arable land and his wife 11 hectares of living and two houses in Buzău” and, therefore, was untrustworthy for the new Romanian government. His war service was noted, but Ştefan concluded that “the material state of his parents and wife does not guarantee his attachment to the working class.”

Apostol spent the 1950s working as a riding technician, but on 20 July 1959 his case was settled and he was sentenced by the Bucharest Military Court to 6 years in jail as he had been considered against the social order and 3 years in correctional bans, along with the total confiscation of his personal property. He was imprisoned in Jilava, Peliprava, and Grind prisons and was released from Jilava Penitentiary on 15 April 1964. Apostol was retired from the military in January 1964 and spent his remaining years in Buzău where he worked as a farmer. Some measure of reconciliation occurred after his death, in 2010, when the Săgeata Commune Council, Buzău County, named the street where he was born in Apostol’s honor.