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Overview edit
Bibliography
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Tortured for Christ
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With God in Solitary Confinement
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100 Prison Meditations
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Marx & Satan
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Reaching Toward the Heights
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Early life
Richard Wurmbrand, the youngest of four boys, was born in 1909 in Bucharest in a Jewish family. He lived with his family in Istanbul for a short while; his father died when he was 9, and the Wurmbrands returned to Romania when he was 15.
As an adolescent, he was sent to study Marxism in Moscow, but returned clandestinely the following year. Pursued by Siguranţa Statului (the secret police), he was arrested and held in Doftana prison. When returning to his mother country, Wurmbrand was already an important Comintern agent, leader and coordinator directly paid from Moscow. Like other Romanian communists he was arrested several times, then sentenced and released again.
He married Sabina Oster on October 26, 1936. Wurmbrand and his wife became believers in Jesus as Messiah in 1938 through the witness of Christian Wolfkes, a Romanian Christian carpenter; they joined the Anglican Mission to the Jews. Wurmbrand was ordained twice - first as an Anglican, then, after World War II, as a Lutheran pastor.
In 1944, when the Soviet Union occupied Romania as the first step to establishing a communist regime, Wurmbrand began a ministry to his Romanian countrymen and to Red Army soldiers. When the government attempted to control churches, he immediately began an "underground" ministry to his people. Richard is remembered for his courage in standing up in a gathering of church leaders and denouncing government control of the churches. He was arrested on February 29, 1948, while on his way to church services.
Prisons
Wurmbrand, who passed through the penal facilities of Craiova, Gherla, the Danube-Black Sea Canal, Văcăreşti, Malmaison, Cluj, and ultimately Jilava, spent three years in solitary confinement. His wife, Sabina, was arrested in 1950 and spent three years in penal labour on the canal.
Pastor Wurmbrand was released from his first imprisonment in 1956, after eight and a half years. Although he was warned not to preach, he resumed his work in the underground church. He was arrested again in 1959 and sentenced to 25 years. During his imprisonment, he was beaten and tortured.
Eventually, he was a recipient of an amnesty in 1964. Concerned with the possibility that Wurmbrand would be forced to undergo further imprisonment, the Norwegian Mission to the Jews and the Hebrew Christian Alliance negotiated with Communist authorities for his release from Romania for $10,000. He was convinced by underground church leaders to leave and become a voice for the persecuted church.
Exile and mission
Wurmbrand travelled to Norway, England, and then the United States. In May 1966, he testified in Washington, D.C. before the US Senate's Internal Security Subcommittee. That testimony, in which he took off his shirt in front of TV cameras to show the scars of his torture, brought him to public attention. He became known as "The Voice of the Underground Church," doing much to publicise the persecution of Christians in Communist countries. He compiled circumstantial evidence that Marx was a satanist.
In April 1967, the Wurmbrands formed Jesus To The Communist World (later renamed The Voice of the Martyrs), an interdenominational organisation working initially with and for persecuted Christians in Communist countries, but later expanding its activities to help persecuted believers in other places, especially in the Muslim world.
In 1990 Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand returned to Romania for the first time in 25 years. The Voice of the Martyrs opened a printing facility and bookstore in Bucharest. He engaged in preaching with local ministers of nearly all denominations. The Wurmbrands had one son, Mihai, now 70. Wurmbrand wrote 18 books in English and others in Romanian. His best-known book entitled Tortured for Christ, was released in 1967.
Pastor Wurmbrand died on February 17, 2001 in a hospital in Torrance, California. His last address was in Palos Verdes, California. In 2006, he was voted fifth among the greatest Romanians according to the Mari Români poll. His wife, Sabina, died August 11, 2000.
Richard Wurmbrand, the youngest of four boys, was born in 1909 in Bucharest in a Jewish family. He lived with his family in Istanbul for a short while; his father died when he was 9, and the Wurmbrands returned to Romania when he was 15.
As an adolescent, he was sent to study Marxism in Moscow, but returned clandestinely the following year. Pursued by Siguranţa Statului (the secret police), he was arrested and held in Doftana prison. When returning to his mother country, Wurmbrand was already an important Comintern agent, leader and coordinator directly paid from Moscow. Like other Romanian communists he was arrested several times, then sentenced and released again.
He married Sabina Oster on October 26, 1936. Wurmbrand and his wife became believers in Jesus as Messiah in 1938 through the witness of Christian Wolfkes, a Romanian Christian carpenter; they joined the Anglican Mission to the Jews. Wurmbrand was ordained twice - first as an Anglican, then, after World War II, as a Lutheran pastor.
In 1944, when the Soviet Union occupied Romania as the first step to establishing a communist regime, Wurmbrand began a ministry to his Romanian countrymen and to Red Army soldiers. When the government attempted to control churches, he immediately began an "underground" ministry to his people. Richard is remembered for his courage in standing up in a gathering of church leaders and denouncing government control of the churches. He was arrested on February 29, 1948, while on his way to church services.
Prisons
Wurmbrand, who passed through the penal facilities of Craiova, Gherla, the Danube-Black Sea Canal, Văcăreşti, Malmaison, Cluj, and ultimately Jilava, spent three years in solitary confinement. His wife, Sabina, was arrested in 1950 and spent three years in penal labour on the canal.
Pastor Wurmbrand was released from his first imprisonment in 1956, after eight and a half years. Although he was warned not to preach, he resumed his work in the underground church. He was arrested again in 1959 and sentenced to 25 years. During his imprisonment, he was beaten and tortured.
Eventually, he was a recipient of an amnesty in 1964. Concerned with the possibility that Wurmbrand would be forced to undergo further imprisonment, the Norwegian Mission to the Jews and the Hebrew Christian Alliance negotiated with Communist authorities for his release from Romania for $10,000. He was convinced by underground church leaders to leave and become a voice for the persecuted church.
Exile and mission
Wurmbrand travelled to Norway, England, and then the United States. In May 1966, he testified in Washington, D.C. before the US Senate's Internal Security Subcommittee. That testimony, in which he took off his shirt in front of TV cameras to show the scars of his torture, brought him to public attention. He became known as "The Voice of the Underground Church," doing much to publicise the persecution of Christians in Communist countries. He compiled circumstantial evidence that Marx was a satanist.
In April 1967, the Wurmbrands formed Jesus To The Communist World (later renamed The Voice of the Martyrs), an interdenominational organisation working initially with and for persecuted Christians in Communist countries, but later expanding its activities to help persecuted believers in other places, especially in the Muslim world.
In 1990 Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand returned to Romania for the first time in 25 years. The Voice of the Martyrs opened a printing facility and bookstore in Bucharest. He engaged in preaching with local ministers of nearly all denominations. The Wurmbrands had one son, Mihai, now 70. Wurmbrand wrote 18 books in English and others in Romanian. His best-known book entitled Tortured for Christ, was released in 1967.
Pastor Wurmbrand died on February 17, 2001 in a hospital in Torrance, California. His last address was in Palos Verdes, California. In 2006, he was voted fifth among the greatest Romanians according to the Mari Români poll. His wife, Sabina, died August 11, 2000.
