During the communist era in Romania, evangelical Christians were among the victims of persecution.

That persecution took on various forms: psychological oppression, forced labor, and denial of access to decent employment, among other things.

Valerica Strubert is an example of those who endured such treatment at the hands of the political regime of the time. Today, she and her husband, Marcel Strubert, pastor the Relevant church in the western Romanian city of Arad.

From a young age

In a report for the Romanian broadcaster Alfa Omega TV, Valerica recounted how she faced that persecution right after finishing high school.

“At that time, every graduate was assigned a job based on their final grade, with priority given to those with permanent residence in the city. I met all the criteria, so I confidently and eagerly waited to appear before the assignment committee, hoping for a good position. My classmates came out smiling, even those with lower grades or who weren’t from the city were satisfied with the jobs they’d received”, she recalled.

However, when it was her turn, the first question the first question officials asked her was, ‘What church do you attend?’”.

“From that moment on, I was bombarded with a series of questions that had nothing to do with graduation or job placement. Their questions were downright mocking and humiliating; they tried to intimidate me and even pry for information from inside the church”, pointed out Valerica.

Hard physical work

The Communist party asked her to renounce her faith and collaborate with them by providing information from inside the church. When she refused, Valerica was assigned to loading and unloading freight wagons at the train station in Timișoara.

“I later found out that although there other high school classmates were also part of various Protestant denominations, the party decided to treat me differently, as an example”, Valerica told Alfa Omega TV.

Eventually, the institution responsible for securing her job signed a document stating they had no job to offer her, “which was a lie”.

Leaving her dreams behind

Over the following months, she tried to find work on her own and managed to get hired as a laborer at a fur factory .

At that time, she “was heavily involved in the music ministry at church and was privately taking singing lessons. The fur irritated my throat, and I started coughing up blood. So I ended up quitting, still dreaming that one day I would join the choir at the Timișoara Opera House”.

Persecution and humiliation

She was then hired in textile and footwear retail in Timișoara. “The so-called re-education began with doing unskilled labor”, underlined the Alfa Omega TV report.

“Those days were exhausting. I weighed only 45 kg at the time. When the big truck arrived, it had to be unloaded quickly, and hundreds of kilograms passed through my hands every single day”.

In adittion to the hard job conditions, Valerica faced “persecution and humiliation because of my faith again. I remember asking: ‘Lord, why me? Why is this happening to me?’”.

“I stood before God, searching for an answer. And I remember His gentle response that came to my heart: ‘You have the privilege of suffering for My Name and for your faith’. That brought me peace”.

“God had a different plan”

Valerica later married Marcel Strubert and became pregnant. Due to the harsh working conditions, her pregnancy became high-risk.

“We began to pray earnestly that God would change my workplace. We didn’t want to lose the baby. I was five months pregnant when, in a miraculous way, God opened a way of escape”, she recalled.

Valerica managed to get a job, “without bribery or connections”, at the pharmaceutical office in Timișoara, working as a cashier at one of the pharmacies.

One day, while she was at work, one of her former teachers, “who had been on that infamous job assignment committee”, walked into the pharmacy. “I’ll never forget the words he said to me, full of amazement: ‘It’s not possible that you’re working here”.

“His words confirmed once again the destructive plan that the regime had in place for me. But God had a different plan”, concluded Valerica.

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