Jilava is a commune in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania, near Bucharest. It is composed of a single village, Jilava.
The name derives from a Romanian word of Slavic origin (Bulgarian öøûðò à ¾ilav (tough), which passed into Romanian as jilav) meaning "humid place".
In this commune there is an operating prison and also the Fort 13 Jilava.
Jilava was the location of a fort built by King Carol I of Romania, as part of the capital's defense system. At a later date, the fort was converted into a prison. Jilava Prison is now a historical monument.
This prison is the site where, on November 26âÂÂ27, 1940, the Iron Guard authorities of the National Legionary State killed 64 political prisoners as revenge for the previous killing of their leader Corneliu Zelea Codreanu (see Jilava Massacre); it was also here that Ion Antonescu, dictator (ConducÃÂtor) of Romania during World War II, was executed for war crimes in 1946 and where on 23 October 1971 the serial killer, Ion Rîmaru was executed by firing squad.
The prison also was a detention site for political prisoners after the start of Communist rule in Romania. According to a study done by the International Centre for Studies into Communism, 36.1% of all such prisoners did some time at Jilava Prison. Among the political prisoners detained at Jilava were Corneliu Coposu, Richard Wurmbrand, Gen. Radu Korne, Gen. Nicolae CiupercÃÂ, and Gen. Radu R. Rosetti, as well as Gheorghe Arsenescu, Gen. Radu BÃÂldescu, Aristide Blank, Matei BoilÃÂ, Victor CÃÂdere, Gen. Dumitru CarlaonÃÂ, Gen. Dumitru CoroamÃÂ, Gen. Nicolae DÃÂscÃÂlescu, Gen. Ioan Dumitrache, Anton Durcovici, Radu Filipescu, Paul Goma, Iuliu HirÃÂea, Iuliu Hossu, Ion Ioanid, George IvaÃÂcu, Adm. Horia Macellariu, Mihail Manoilescu, Gen. Gheorghe Manoliu, Gen. Ion NegoiÃÂescu, Constantin Noica, Ovidiu Papadima, LucreÃÂiu PÃÂtrÃÂÃÂcanu, Gherman Pântea, I. Peltz, Nicolae Penescu, Constantin Titel Petrescu, Gen. David Popescu, Mihai RÃÂdulescu, Alexander Ratiu, Nicolae Steinhardt, Alexandru Todea, Sandu Tudor, Alexandru Zub, and many others.