About Alexandru Nicolschi
Alexandru Nicolschi (born Boris Grünberg, his chosen surname was often rendered as Nikolski or Nicolski; Russian: Александр Серге́евич Никольский, Alexandr Sergeyevich Nikolsky; June 2, 1915 – April 16, 1992) was a Romanian communist activist, Soviet agent and officer, and Securitate chief under the Communist regime. Active until 1961, he was one of the most recognizable leaders of violent political repression. == Biography == === Early life === Born to a Jewish family in Tiraspol, on the eastern bank of the Dniester river (part of Russian Empire at the time), he was the son of Alexandru Grünberg, a miller. His family relocated to Chișinău shortly after the union of Bessarabia with Romania. In 1932, he joined the local section of the Romanian Union of Communist Youth, a wing of the Romanian Communist Party (PCdR); in 1933, due to his political activities, he was arrested and held for two weeks by the Romanian secret police, Siguranța Statului. Later in the 1930s, as associates of General Secretary Vitali Holostenco, he and Vasile Luca were elected to the internal Politburo (which was doubled by a controlling body inside the Soviet Union). In 1937, he joined the ranks of the Moscow-controlled PCdR. He did his military service in the Signals Regiment of Iași in 1937–39, being discharged with the rank of corporal. He subsequently worked for the telephone exchange in Chișinău. In December 1940, following the onset of the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, Grünberg became a Soviet citizen, joined the NKVD, and trained as a spy in Chernivtsi (Cernăuți). He was sent undercover into Romania on May 26, 1941, carrying papers with the name Vasile Ștefănescu, in order to report on Romanian Army movements in preparation for Operation Barbarossa (the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany, in which Romanian troops, under the command of Marshal Ion Antonescu, participated; see Romania during World War II).
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.