Underground Printing

During the ban, spiritual food was smuggled into Romania as printed matter, stencils, or in some other form and was reproduced locally. Sometimes it had been translated into Romanian and Hungarian, but usually it had to be translated locally from English, French, German, or Italian. Couriers came in many forms, such as foreign tourists visiting the country, students coming to study, and Romanians returning from their travels.

The Securitate tried hard to intercept the couriers and also to find out where the literature was being produced in Romania. Prudently, the brothers operated from several soundproof, private dwellings in a number of towns and cities. Inside these homes, they constructed secret compartments, or rooms, where they set up their duplicating equipment. Some of these rooms were concealed behind fireplaces, which were normally attached to a wall. However, the brothers modified the fireplaces so that they could be moved, allowing access to a hidden entrance.

Sándor Parajdi worked in a secret printery in Tirgu-Mures, where he produced the daily text, Kingdom Ministry, The Watchtower, and Awake! “We worked up to 40 hours on the weekends, taking turns to sleep for one hour,” recalls Sándor. “The smell of chemicals permeated our clothes and skin. On one occasion, when I arrived home, my three-year-old son remarked: ‘Daddy, you smell like the daily text!’”

Traian Chira, a husband and father, duplicated and transported literature in Cluj County. Traian was given an old manual duplicating machine nicknamed The Mill, for which retirement was long overdue. It did the job, but the results would have won no prizes. So Traian asked a brother who was a mechanic to overhaul it. The brother inspected the machine, but his grave expression said it all​—the old Mill was beyond repair. Then his face lit up, and he said: “I can build you a new one!” As it turned out, he did much more. He set up a workshop in a sister’s basement and built his own lathe. Instead of making one duplicator, he manufactured more than ten! These new Mills were sent to different parts of the country and produced good work.

In the 1980’s a number of brothers were taught to operate offset duplicators, which were superior machines. The first to be trained was Nicolae Bentaru, who in turn taught others. As was often the case, literature production at the Bentaru home was a family affair, each member performing certain tasks. Of course, keeping these operations secret was a challenge, especially during the time when the Securitate spied on people and raided homes. Speed was therefore of the essence, so the brothers would work long hours all weekend to get the literature printed and out. Why on the weekend? Because they had their regular jobs during the week.

The brothers also had to be cautious when purchasing paper. Even if a customer requested just one ream​—about 500 sheets—​he had to explain why. Yet, the printeries processed up to 40,000 sheets a month! So the brothers had to be circumspect when dealing with store personnel. And because roadside inspections were common, they also had to be alert when transporting materials.

[Box on page 132, 133]

Duplication Methods

During the 1950’s, handwritten duplication, often with the help of carbon paper, was the simplest and most convenient method of reproducing Bible study aids. Although slow and tedious, this method did have one particularly useful side benefit​—the copyists memorized much of the material. So when imprisoned, they were able to give much spiritual encouragement to others. The brothers also used typewriters, but these had to be registered with the police and were difficult to obtain.

Mimeographs, or stencil duplicators, came to the fore in the late 1950’s. To make stencils, the brothers mixed glue, gelatin, and wax and then spread the mixture in a thin, even layer on a smooth rectangular surface, preferably glass. Using a special ink that they prepared themselves, they embossed the text onto paper. When the ink dried, they pressed the paper evenly onto the waxy surface, thus obtaining a stencil. These stencils, however, had a short life span, so the brothers constantly had to make new ones. And as with handwritten copies of articles, stencils also presented a security risk​—the writer could be identified by his or her handwriting.

From the 1970’s until the last years of the ban, the brothers built and employed more than ten portable, hand-operated duplicators. They were based on a model from Austria, and they used plasticized-paper printing plates. The brothers dubbed this machine The Mill. Beginning in the late 1970’s, a few sheetfed offset duplicators were obtained, but the brothers were unable to make the plates, so the machines sat idle. Starting in 1985, however, a brother who was a chemical engineer from what was then Czechoslovakia taught the brothers the necessary skills. Thereafter, both the output and the quality were markedly improved.

Two years later, I received the additional privilege of purchasing paper for our local underground printing operation. In 1980, I learned how to print and shared in producing The Watchtower, Awake!, and other publications. We used a mimeograph and another small, manually operated press.

In the meantime, I met Veronica, a fine sister who had demonstrated her faithfulness to Jehovah, and we married. Veronica proved to be a great support to me in my work. In 1981, Otto Kuglitsch from the Austria branch taught me how to operate our very first sheetfed, offset duplicator. We set up a second press in Cluj-Napoca in 1987, and I was assigned to train the operators.

[Picture on page 133]

The Mill

[Pictures on page 134]

Veronica and Nicolae Bentaru in the secret bunker beneath their house