As a known activist, he was detained at Târgu Jiu camp during all of Ion Antonescu's regime and most of World War II period, and escaped only in August 1944, a few days before the fall of the regime. He became general secretary in 1944 after the Soviet occupation, but did not consolidate his power until 1952, after he purged Ana Pauker and her "Muscovite faction" comrades from power. Ana Pauker had been the unofficial leader of the Party since the end of the war.