Born to proletarian parents in Bucharest,"Tovarășul Dumitru Petrescu a încetat din viață", in Scînteia, 14 September 1969, p. 1 Petrescu was originally known as Gheorghe Dumitru, before adopting the alias he used in 1933 and throughout life (he was also known under the combined form "Gheorghe Dumitru-Petrescu"). Historian Dan Gîju reports that his exact name may be ultimately unknown, but that Romanian Police records had him as "Gheorghe M. Dumitru"—with the added initial of his carpenter father; Gîju notes a second alias used by the future general, namely "Petrusin".Gîju, p. 97 He was described in PCR propaganda as having "experienced from his early childhood terrible exploitation by the bourgeois-landowning regime";"Poporul muncitor propune pe fiii săi cei mai buni drept candidați ai F.D.P. în alegerile pentru Marea Adunare Națională. Circumscripția electorală 'Târgu-Jiu'. Colectivul fabricii de confecții 'Tudor Vladimirescu' a propus candidat in alegerile de deputați în Marea Adunare Naţională pe tovarășul Dumitru Petrescu", in Scînteia Tineretului, 17 October 1952, p. 3 historian Florin Șperlea describes his childhood as having been spent "in a working-class neighborhood", namely among employees of Căile Ferate Române (CFR, the national railway carrier).Șperlea, p. 26 Young Dumitru-Petrescu trained as a manual worker. In 1918, he was an apprentice at the CFR yard in Grivița, but transferred to begin training as a printer at Editura Socec (to October 1920). He returned to the CFR as an metalworking lathe operator, fully employed there from October 1920 to August 1928.Dobre et al, p. 467 During that interval, he was listed as a trusted operative by the Union of Communist Youth,Dobre et al, p. 467 which he reportedly joined in 1922. His four-grade education was supplemented by night school, earning him a diploma in secondary-level commercial studies.Dobre et al, p. 467
