The first memorial-thematic route in the Moţilor eco-museum, called the Partisans’ Trail, is now open to the public.
Located in the Apuseni Mountains, in the commune of Mărgău, it was inaugurated on Saturday, October 5, in the presence of the Orthodox Metropolitan of Cluj, Andrei Andreicut, and Her Royal Highness Princess Sofia.
This is the first eco-museum of its kind in Romania.
The Şuşman Group is one of the most famous cases of Romania’s anti-communist resistance movement, surviving against the communist regime for ten years. The five members of the family, Gheorghe, Teodor, Traian, Leon and Avisalon Şuşman, were peasants from the village of Răchiţele, who hid in the mountains. All were eventually betrayed by the people who agreed to hide them and were tortured by the communist police but did not confess, and managed to evade the communists many times by hiding in the area that trail takes hikers through. Ultimately, everyone associated with them, including elderly people and children, were arrested, and the Şuşman Group was executed.
“This trail reminds us of what happened at the end of the 1940s and the beginning of the 1950s, regarding the anti-communist resistance in the Apuseni Mountains. The activities of the Şuşman Group spread over a much wider territory than that mentioned in this route,including areas in the county Bihor. Two or three partisans were captured right next to our headquarters, in Sudrigiu. The house still exists, I was there with historians,” commented the director of the Apuseni Natural Park Administration.
The Ţara Moţilor Eco-Museum covers several areas of Cluj, Bihor and Alba counties over the mountains, so far comprising seven communes, out of the 18 which are planned, eventually making up an area of over 220,000 hectares, with the Apuseni Natural Park in the center.
The route is 10 km long and is dotted with nine stops/panels that capture sequences from the story of the “Şuşman” Group and the motives that opposed the communist dictatorship. It involves an interactive GPS map and audio illustrations related to each stop, these being made by the director Nicolae Mărgineanu and the actress Maria Ploae.
Saturday’s inauguration involved a hike of medium difficulty, starting from Troiţa of the “Şuşman” Group (Răchițele-Doda Pilii, upstream of Valea Firii) and a religious service and short speeches at the troită.
On December 18, 1925, Teodor Şuşman, the later leader of the partisan group from Răchițele by King Ferdinand of Romania, the great-grandfather of Princess Sofia. The route passes through places of memory where he fought and died with a weapon in his hand.
Complementary to the route, the evocation of the anti-communist resistance is achieved by reconstructing a mountain shelter, the one used by the members of the “Şuşman” Group between November 1951 and April 1952 and which was located at Piciorul Batrânii, near Poiana Călineasa. Now, the partisans’ hut is rebuilt in the same space of memory that houses the tomb of Teodor Şuşman and the commemorative Troiţa.
The memorial objective was creative by the descendants of the martyred Şuşman family (Constantin and Carmen Şuşman) and the Cluj Monarchs Club Association, in partnership with the Administration of the Apuseni Natural Park, the “Corneliu Coposu” Foundation, the Association of Former Political Prisoners from Romania and the Volunteers Association from Ciucea .
The project was carried out with the financial support of the Cluj County Council and several donors (individuals, commercial companies, associations).
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