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.