Radio România Internațional

Tag: dictator

  • 34 years on from the anti-communist revolution in Timișoara

    34 years on from the anti-communist revolution in Timișoara

    The last 80
    years of the past century were among the bleakest in Romania’s history. Already
    in power for 25 years, Romania’s septuagenarian president, the communist
    dictator Nicolae Ceausescu had for years been the object of an unbearable
    personality cult. He was described as a political genius by his laureate poets,
    who called him the leader of a happy and rich country, which he was leading
    towards the golden dream of mankind, communism.




    The few
    broadcasting hours of the state-owned television were nearly entirely reserved
    to this personality cult, and so did the newspapers and other publication, strictly
    monitored by the communist apparatchiks.




    Concurrently
    with the crazed personality cult, the country was facing an acute economic
    crisis, suffering from cold, hunger and fear. Heating was cut during winter in
    most of the apartments, schools and theatre halls around the country. Romania
    was also severely affected by a food shortage at the time and nobody was able
    to protest against the Securitate’s myth of omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence.




    In the
    meantime, against the changes promoted in Moscow by the latest Soviet leader,
    the reformist Michael Gorbachev, most of the communist dictatorships collapsed
    from the so-called German Democratic Republic to Romania’s southern neighbour,
    Bulgaria.


    In 1989, this
    wave of changes also hit Romania, and broke out first in its western city of
    Timisoara, a multiethnic area close to Hungary and Yugoslavia, two countries
    known for their liberal communism.




    The protest
    movement against the Hungarian reformed pastor Laszlo Tokes, closely monitored
    by the Securitate and who was supposed to be evicted from the city, on December
    15th flared up into a real revolt against the communist
    dictatorship.


    Irrespective
    of their ethnicity or confession more and more people joined the protest and
    braved the repressive troops of the dictatorship, which opened fire against the
    protesters, killing nearly 100 people and wounding several hundreds.




    On December
    20th, the military refused to kill more people and returned to their
    barracks, while Timisoara became the first Romanian city free of communism. The
    revolt rapidly engulfed other cities and culminated in Bucharest, when
    Ceausescu fled in a helicopter that took off from the roof of the Party’s
    Central Committee on December 22nd.




    Captured and
    briefly tried, Romania’s communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife,
    Elena, were executed by a firing squad three days later, on December 25. Even
    after their execution, against the confusion deliberately maintained by the new
    power, a mixture of authentic revolutionaries and second-hand communists,
    another one thousand people were to be killed during the anti-communist
    revolution in Romania, the only country in eastern Europe, where the regime
    change ended in a bloodshed.




    (bill)

  • Ceausescu seen from up close

    Ceausescu seen from up close


    The
    openness, transparency and popularity of a dictator are some of the
    strongest signals a propaganda machine can transmit. But since in a
    dictatorship these signals must be interpreted as being the opposite,
    so in the communist regime Nicolae Ceaușescu’s figure was the
    opposite to
    that
    promoted by the propaganda. Not many Romanians can boast seeing him
    from up close and ever fewer of shaking his hand. Suspicious and
    increasingly paranoid, Ceaușescu would not let many people get too
    close to him.

    One
    of the few occasions when he would make an exception was when he
    travelled abroad and attended press conferences. Sorin Cunea worked
    for Radio Free Europe in the second half of the 1960s and is the
    Romanian journalist abroad who saw Ceaușescu from up close most
    often. Interviewed by Radio Romania’s Oral History Centre in 1998,
    he said he would find out about Ceaușescu’s foreign visits from
    the Romanian press. He witnessed a
    total of 12
    visits by the Romanian communist leader:

    We
    were at the Bayer company, because his wife, who was a chemist,
    wanted to
    or
    the German hosts had arranged for her to visit the consortium in
    Leverkusen. As Ceaușescu
    had
    official talks I didn’t have access to, Noel Bernard decided we
    should also go Leverkusen. After visiting a few departments, the
    group of officials entered a conference room and that’s where she
    was given explanations and answers to the questions she asked. I then
    saw,
    I think for the first time, Adrian Păunescu, who was part of the
    press delegation accompanying the two. Bernard and I were standing in
    the back and didn’t pay much attention to her questions. But I was
    watching how Păunescu was sitting opposite her at the table and
    noting
    down every word she said, conspicuously, so that everyone would
    see
    how interested he was in what she was saying.

    Ceaușescu had his people follow Sorin Cunea, just as he did most other journalists working for Radio Free Europe. He recalls being mistreated by the Romanian communist delegation in Ankara. When they let the media know they could enter the room that was going to host the cocktail party, I slung my recorder over my shoulder and headed for the door. Everyone else walked in, but I was stopped by an individual who addressed me in Romanian and his tone was typical of Securitate officers. He knew exactly who I was. Don’t put your recorder too close to the comrade. Keep a lower profile, can’t you see you’re bothering him? I didn’t answer back, so I just walked into the room. When it was Ceaușescu’s time to speak, I placed the microphone as close to him as possible, so I could get his discourse on tape and be able to broadcast parts of it later. I have to say that, as he talked, he would take small sips from a glass with a yellowish liquid, which I think was chamomile tea. Maybe he was allowed to do that, or maybe the doctors who accompanied him knew better. Sorin Cunea was also asked if he ever got to speak directly to Ceaușescu during press briefings. I addressed him a question once, in Bonn. I have to say I would always sit on the front rows at press briefings, because I really wanted my face to be in the news on the television. He answered my question
    though. And during a news conference in Vienna, I was also in the front row, very
    carefully observing the two. Whenever he was answering one journalist or
    another, while the answer was being translated, Ceausescu looked intently at
    his wife, Elena, for approval. And I saw her nodding most of the time, as if
    she wanted to say ‘yeah, you answered pretty well to that one’.


    Ceausescu’s capricious
    and aggressive personality however often made him to take it out on the
    others. Sorin Cunea recalls such an episode


    Sorin Cunea: Also
    in Bonn, while answering a question regarding the Conference for Security and
    Cooperation, the translator, who was a guy from Bucharest translated and
    completed the answer by specifically mentioning the ‘Conference for Cooperation
    and Security in Europe’. Ceausescu swiftly turned to the translator and
    retorted I didn’t say anything about Europe, you know. And the man had done nothing
    wrong but only mentioned the complete title of that international conference. Furthermore,
    Ceausescu was always carrying a comb with him, which it used to adjust his
    haircut right before joining a conference or public event. He was always very
    concerned about his physical appearance.


    Seen
    from up close, dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was nothing but a common,
    simple man very different from the image the Romanian Television was striving to promote. But somehow, history has succeeded in overemphasizing the image of this
    tiny, little man.

    (CM/VP/bill)

  • The Romanian anti-communist revolution 33 years on

    The Romanian anti-communist revolution 33 years on

    The
    Romanians took to the streets 33 years ago to denounce the communist regime led
    by dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. The first protests began in Timisoara, western
    Romania, where people gathered in front of the house of the Hungarian reformed
    pastor Laszlo Tokes whom the communist authorities wanted to evict. On December
    16th 1989 people of Timisoara shouted ‘Down with Ceausescu’ and on
    December 20th, they proclaimed Timisoara the first city free of
    communism in Romania.




    The
    protest frightened the communist dictator who on December 21st
    summoned a big meeting in Bucharest in an attempt to appease the population and
    maintain its regime. But what was supposed to be a big quiet meeting of
    supporting the dictatorship, like many he had staged until that time, eventually
    turned into a revolt, which expanded to other cities all over the country.




    Over
    one thousand people lost their lives in the clashes between the protesters and
    the riot police while three thousand people were wounded in Romania, the only
    country in the communist bloc, where the change of the regime ended up in bloodshed.




    Commemoration
    events have these days been held all over the country in the memory of those
    who died for freedom. Ceremonies have been held and wreaths of flowers have
    been laid at various monuments of the revolution heroes. Eye witnesses of the
    revolution and descendants of the victims prayed and laid flowers in the
    cities, which saw the bloodiest events.




    Let us keep the memory of the 1989 heroes alive
    and carry on the ideals they fought for, Romania’s president Klaus
    Iohannis said while attending a wreath laying ceremony held at the University
    Square in Bucharest, a symbolic place of the revolution.




    To the martyrs of the Romanian Revolution and all
    those who suffered back in the communist dictatorship we owe the freedom we are
    enjoying today and we have to thank them through our taking care of Romania and
    through the strengthening of the democratic process, the country’s Prime
    Minister Nicolae Ciuca says in his message.




    In turn, Romanian senators kept a moment of
    silence on Wednesday.




    We are now in the 33rd year of our liberty.
    In December 1989 with huge sacrifices, the Romanians fought for their dose of
    liberty, for the human rights observance for the right of free movement outside
    the country’s border. In the last days of 1989 the Romanians hoped their lives
    would change radically in as shorter time as possible, say the Social-Democrats




    Attending the events in Timisoara devoted to the
    Romanian anti-communist Revolution, the senate president the Liberal Alina
    Gorghiu has underlined the fact that the city certainly proved to be an example
    for the entire country 33 years ago and that the revolution paved the way for
    Romania’s European and NATO aspirations.




    Alina Gorghiu reminded the revolutionaries of December
    1989 in Timisoara that their efforts and courage helped the country tremendously
    and urged them to get actively involved in the efforts of the Romanian society
    in this very difficult period of time and that everyone is needed in 2023,
    which is going to be a difficult year.




    (bill)

  • Automobiles in Communist Romania

    Automobiles in Communist Romania

    Automobiles have become so common
    today that it is almost impossible to imagine a world without them. Like any
    other invention in its early days, the automobile was present only in the lives
    of the affluent. However, in time, its rising popularity made it affordable to
    other people and thus it stopped being a symbol of belonging in a certain
    social category. Between 1945 and 1989, the automobile’s evolution in Romania saw
    some stages beginning with the restrictive one, when it was exclusively used by
    the state and the communist leadership, to a period when it was desired by the
    commoners as well. It went through a period of democratization as Serban
    Cornaciu, vice-chair of Retromobil Club Romania said. This period was kicked
    off by a low number of people, the ones who could afford it at that time.




    Serban Cornaciu: We cannot
    speak about this period of democratization, without speaking about car imports
    from the West. Those people were privileged because they had the courage to apply
    for buying such a luxurious product and they had well-paid jobs, being doctors,
    lawyers, artists. Most of them were interested in buying a Fiat 850 or a
    Renault 16 as Romania hadn’t started its car production yet. There were also very
    expensive models like Fiat 1800 and many of the applicants were being visited
    by officers of the former political police, the Securitate, because the state
    had a tight control on people’s incomes at that time and only a few could afford
    a car in the 1960s.




    Romania’s economy just like the others in Central and
    Eastern Europe was slowly recovering after the war and the process was also hindered
    by its being reorganized after the centralized soviet model. Furthermore,
    Romania wasn’t allowed to benefit from the Marshall plan and its economic
    recovery was dragging on. It was only in the late 60s, that two plants were
    built in Pitesti, southern Romania for the production of two models, Renault 8
    and 12, under the name of Dacia 1100 and Dacia 1300. At that time the then
    communist authorities wanted to give an impetus to the car market by producing
    local brands and importing some models from the other communist countries. Here
    is Serban Cornaciu at the microphone again






    Serban
    Cornaciu: At that time, you could
    subscribe to a waitlist for buying a car, apply for a loan and eventually you
    got it. In 1974, three versions of Dacia 1300, not very different from one
    another, became available. The cars used to come in a wide range of vivid
    colours until 1984 when a new model, Dacia 1310, had rolled off the assembly
    line. Cars from the communist bloc were also available on the market but
    imports from the West ceased shortly after the local production had begun. No
    Western brands were imported since 1971-72. One could only apply for a Lada
    1200, a Moskvich or a Trabant, produced in East Germany. Delivery periods for
    Trabant were shorter, though after 1988, applicants could wait even up to three
    years to get one.




    However, the systemic crisis that started to affect
    the communist regime in late 1970s, inevitably affected Romania’s car industry.
    Here is Serban Cornaciu again.




    Șerban
    Cornaciu: The models produced by
    Dacia Pitesti in the 1980s were changed and imports became increasingly
    difficult. Wait lists could no longer be made at the local dealers and people’s
    options started being trimmed in 1982-83. The plant in Pitesti started having
    delivery issues on the domestic market, because exports had become a priority.
    One can wait up to five years for a car and there were no colour options. They started
    using two-three colours back then. One year they were all painted in blue,
    another year green or white and so on. Vivid colours were no longer available.




    Restrictions for the drivers came one after the other
    and in 1978, Romania’s communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu issued orders that
    dignitaries and institutions use only Romanian cars. The crisis deepened in
    mid-1980s, with fuel shortages, driving restrictions at night and on Sundays.
    We’ve asked Serban Cornaciu about the used cars market in communist Romania.

    Serban Cornaciu: Cars were being sold by their owners; there was supply, there was
    demand and a second-hand market flourished back in the 80s. However, prices
    remained high in spite of the driving restrictions imposed by the communist
    authorities. Things went on like this, someone would buy a car but at the first
    snowfall authorities would issue a temporary driving restriction and the new
    owner had nothing to do but wait until the restrictions were lifted. Only
    communist leaders were allowed to travel in cars with yellow plates as well as members
    of the diplomatic corps or foreign residents in Romania whose number plates
    began with 12 B. For instance, famous Romanian director Sergiu Nicolaescu, who
    was shooting a lot of films back in the day, had to use this special type of
    plate in order to avoid being pulled over by the then road police which was known
    in Romania as ‘militia’.




    The real democratization of the automobile in Romania
    came only after 1989 and the change in the political regimes also brought
    changes to the relationship between cars and their owners.




    (bill)

  • December 19, 2019

    December 19, 2019

    LAW Romanian president Klaus Iohannis on Thursday promulgated
    a law, which abrogates the compensatory appeal endorsed by the Chamber of
    Deputies, as a decision-making forum on December 4th. The controversial law
    endorsed by the former Social Democratic government allowed for the release of
    thousands of convicts. Some of those, serving sentences for serious crimes have reoffended. Justice Minister Catalin Predoiu has recently explained that the flawed text of the law put Romanian citizens at risk. He added that the
    ministry he leads had drawn up a draft law with measures to be applied in
    penitentiaries across Romania, whose precarious state sparked off a lot of
    complaints to the European Court of Human Rights. The authorities are chiefly interested
    in improving detention conditions.










    IMPEACHMENT President Donald Trump has become the third president of the
    United States to be impeached when the House of Representatives charged him
    with abuse of power for personal gain a move that paves the way for a trial in
    the Senate, AFP reports. Only two other presidents were impeached, Andrew
    Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998. The Democrats believe that Trump is
    guilty of pressing his Ukrainian counterpart to launch investigation into
    political rival Joe Biden. President Trump has also been accused of obstructing
    Congress by refusing to allow his aides to testify in an inquiry and for
    failing to provide documents to House investigators.










    CELEBRATION The European Parliament is marking today 30 years since the
    anti-communist revolution in Romania. The European Parliament in Strasbourg has
    recognized that the sacrifice of the peaceful protesters of that time paved the
    way for Romania’s transition towards democracy. 1142 people lost their lives,
    over 3000 were severely wounded while other several hundred were imprisoned and
    tortured. The MEPs are expected to recommend the Romanian authorities to step
    up efforts to find out the truth about the events 30 years ago. Events
    commemorating the heroes of the 1989 revolution are continuing all over the
    country. Three decades ago, workers in factories in Timisoara, western Romania,
    went on a strike and created the first anti-communist organization shortly
    before the fall of the country’s ruthless dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. December
    19th was the day when the communist authorities tried to hide any evidence
    of the bloody repression of the peaceful demonstrations against the regime.










    TRAFFIC The Romanian authorities have taken additional measures to ease
    traffic at the border checkpoints during the winter holidays when a significant
    increase in the number of tourists is expected especially at the border with
    the Schengen zone. In order to avoid traffic jams, border police resorted to
    additional measures aimed at maximizing the traffic capacity of any border
    check point. Over 42 hundred police troops are presently involved in
    surveillance and control activities at the country’s borders, sources with the
    Romanian border police have announced.








    (translated by bill)