Richard Wurmbrand was born March 24, 1909, in Bucharest, Romania. He was the youngest of four boys in a Jewish family. He married Sabina on October 26, 1936. Wurmbrand and his wife were converted to Christianity in 1938 through the witness of Christian Wolfkes, a Romanian Christian carpenter. They joined the Anglican Mission to the Jews. Richard was ordained twice - first as an Anglican, then after World War II he became a Lutheran minister.
In 1944, when the Communists seized Romania, Wurmbrand began a ministry to his Romanian countrymen and to the Russian soldiers. When the government attempted to control the churches, he immediately began an "underground" ministry to his people. He was arrested on February 29, 1948, while on his way to church services. Richard spent three years in solitary confinement. His wife, Sabina, was arrested in 1950 and spent three years as a slave laborer on the Danube Canal. Pastor Wurmbrand was released in 1956, after 8-1/2 years, and, although warned not to preach, resumed his work in the underground church. He was arrested again in 1959, and sentenced to 25 years. Due to political pressure, he was given amnesty and released in 1964. Concerned with the possibility of further imprisonment, the Norwegian Mission to the Jews and the Hebrew Christian Alliance negotiated with the 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.
Wurmbrand traveled to Norway, England, and then the United States. In May of 1965, he testified in Washington, D.C before the U. S. Senate's Internal Security Subcommittee. He became known as the "The Voice of the Underground Church", doing much to publicize the persecution of Christians in Communist countries. In April of 1967, the Wurmbrands formed Jesus to the Communist World (later named The Voice of the Martyrs), an interdenominational organization working with and for persecuted Christians around the 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.
The Wurmbrands had one son, Mihai. Richard wrote 18 books in English and others in Romanian. His best-known book is entitled Tortured for Christ, released in 1967. Pastor Wurmbrand passed away on February 17, 2001. His wife, Sabina, died August 11, 2000.
Books by Richard Wurmbrand