DOCUMENT RESUME ED 364 441 SO 023 199 TITLE Romania: A Selection of Teaching Materials. Education for Democracy Project. INSTITUTION American Federation of Teachers, Washington, D.C. PUB DATE [92] NOTE 56p. PUB TYPE Guides Classroom Use - Teaching Guides (For Teacher) (052) EDRS PRICE MFOI/PC03 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Area Studies; *Current Events; *Democracy; Foreign Countries; Global Approach; *Instructional Materials; Multicultural Education; Secondary Education; Social Change; Social Studies; *World History IDENTIFIERS Global Education; *Rumania ABSTRACT These classroom materials on Romania are intended to be used in U.S. history, European history, world history, area studies, or current affairs courses. The naterials are designed to offer an historical framework for considering current events, as well as sone insight into the events, ideas, issues, and personalities involved in Romania's struggle for democracy. The naterials include maps, a timeline, geographic information, and a series of articles from newspapers and magazines. (DB) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ***********************************************************************
Transcript
DOCUMENT RESUME
ED 364 441 SO 023 199
TITLE Romania: A Selection of Teaching Materials. Educationfor Democracy Project.
INSTITUTION American Federation of Teachers, Washington, D.C.PUB DATE [92]
NOTE 56p.
PUB TYPE Guides Classroom Use - Teaching Guides (ForTeacher) (052)
EDRS PRICE MFOI/PC03 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS Area Studies; *Current Events; *Democracy; Foreign
Countries; Global Approach; *Instructional Materials;Multicultural Education; Secondary Education; SocialChange; Social Studies; *World History
IDENTIFIERS Global Education; *Rumania
ABSTRACTThese classroom materials on Romania are intended to
be used in U.S. history, European history, world history, areastudies, or current affairs courses. The naterials are designed tooffer an historical framework for considering current events, as wellas sone insight into the events, ideas, issues, and personalitiesinvolved in Romania's struggle for democracy. The naterials includemaps, a timeline, geographic information, and a series of articlesfrom newspapers and magazines. (DB)
LLIL OEM MT OF ROUCATOm011eadtimmomollimmck 1.0.0.4*raEDUCAllONM. RESOUNCES MFORMADON
COMER WWIfry eavanoM ,s brim Mil101kocall me
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"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THISMATERIAL BEEN GRANTED BY
11'N C'
TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)
We need free trade unions, free massmedia, lots of different structures untilRomania has a civil society, elections areof no significance. The parties are onlynames. If we are lucky, a goodgovernment could emerge and give usfreedom and liberty. But only a civilsociety can assure it.
Gabriel Andreescu
AMERICAN FEDIv A TION OF If AC,HEle,, AFL CI.0
2 BEST COPY AVAILABLE
NOTE TO TEACHERS
These supplemental classroom materials onRomania were produced by the American Federationof Teachers to be photocopied for use in secondaryschools in conjunction with the Education forDemocracy's Classroom-To- Classroom project.
Recent events in Eastern Europe mark a majorchange in the post-World War H world. Afterdecades of Soviet domination and communist dic-tatorship, Eastern European countries aredemandingand achieving democracy, human rights and an end tothe Soviet Unities military presence.
The democratic revolutions in Eastern Europeshould help American students gain a greater ap-preciation of and interest in the subject of history andattain a deeper understanding of the ideas and prin-ciples of democracy, for which millions of EasternEuropeans have risked their lives.
We hope that this collection of materials onRomania will offer an historical framework for con-sidering current events, as well as some insight into theevents, ideas, issues, and personalities that havepropelled Romania's continuing struggle fordemocracy. A timeline and maps are induded to givea basic historical context. Editorial cartoons, aresource guide, and suggested classroom activities arealso included.
Materials were designed to be used in AmericanHistory, European History, World History, AreaStudies or Current Affairs courses. We have tried todesign tine packet to be flexible enough to be used inmany different ways. Some suggestions are:
Using the material as a unit to be completed inone week to a week and a half. The timeline andmaps can be handed out the first day, with eachsection as assigned reading for succeeding clas-ses. Section questions can be used forhomework, and students can be asked to pickone activity as a long -term project.
The entire packet can be banded out at onetime, with students given two or three weeks toread the unit. One or two classes can be devotedto discussion, and students can then be asked tochoose an activity as a long-term project.
In World History or European History courses,sections can be assigned as additional reading,scheduled to coincide with historical periods inthe general course of study. Essays answeringthe section questions, or activities could be as-signed, perhaps as extra credit.
For students in World History, European His-tory or Current Affairs courses who wish to doa term paper or project on Eastern Europe,both the packet and the resource guide can beoffered.
One or two reading selections from each sectioncan be assigned to students. In American His-tory courses, this could be done either to coin-cide with the historical period in the generalcourse of study, or as supplemental materialwhen U.S. foreign policy or U.S.-Soviet rela-tions are being discuss(
We hope that the series of materials will be a usefulcontribution to the historical, current affairs andprimary source resources available to U.S. educators.Suggestions and cowman from teachers are wel-come, please send them to:
Education For Democracy ProjectAmerican Federation of Teachers555 New Jersey Avenue, N.W.Washington, D.C. 20001
about the education for democracy projectEducation for Democracy, a joint project of the
Americas Federation of Teachers, the EducationalExcellence Network and Freedom House, waslaunched in 1987 with a statement of principles signed
BEST COPY Wit ABLE
by more than 150 prominent Americans. Its purposeis to encourage schools to impart to students the learn-ing necessary for an informed, reasoned allegiance tothe ideals and practices of a democratic society.
3
ROMANIA
Size: 91,699 sq. mi. (Slightly smaller than Oregon.)
Government: Led by the National Salvation Front, which took power after thefall of Nicolae Ceausescu on December 22, 1989. President IonIliescu is a former Communist Central Committee member.Prime Minister Petre Roman heads a governing council largelycomposed of former Communist officials.
CENTRAL EUROPE
PRE-WORLD WAR I
POST-WORLD WAR II
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TIMELINE
The legions of the Roma emperor Trajan are stationed in the area o' the Thracian tribe (Dacians).What is to become the Romanian nation is formed through the union of the Romans and the nativepopulations.
500s Slavic tribes begin to settle in this area.
600s Bulgarians also begin moving into the area.
864 The Bulgarian Tsar, Boris, converts to Christianity and brings it in its eastern, Byzantine form tothe region. This is the origin of Romania's Orthodox faith.
900S Hungarian (Magyar) advances drive the Romanians into the Carpathian mountains, where anindependent kingdom is established in Transylvania.
1000s
1241
Transylvania is conquered by King Istvan of Hungary and is incorporated into his ,Qngdom. (Alarge Hungarian minority becomes established in Transylvania, and a debate over whether theselands should be considered Hungarian or Romanian continues to this day.1
A Mongol invasion destroys all records of Transylvania's early inhabitants. [It is not until the endof the 20th century that documents are found to prove that two Romanian principalities had beenestablished: one to the south called Valachia and one to the east called Moldavia. They remainseparate until 1774 when they are combined under Turkish rule./
1417 Valachia surrenders to the Islamic forces of Turkish Sultan Muhammad I. but is allowed tomaintain its ruling family, territory and religion.
1600s
1608
1700s
Michael the Brave, with the support of Christian Europe, wins several battles against the Turks.and establishes Romania as a kingdom in the Hapsburg-ruled Holy Roman Empire. 'Althoughtheir independence was short-lived. Romanians celebrate Michael as a national hero -- the tirstleader to bring all the Romanians of Valachia. Moldavia and Transylvania together under a singlerule. Full national unity will not be realized again until 1918.1
After re-gaining control, the Turks move the Romanian capital to Bucharest. The threeprincipalities are again divided and a series of local rulers are appointed to help administer Turkishrule.
As the Sultan's power begins to decline, direct rule is imposed. Greek Voivods (princes are usedas Turkey'! agents. Each voivod is only allowed to rule for a brief period, and the Romanianssuffer as each new ruler attempts to leave office taking as much from the people as possible.
1806 The Ruuian Empire, at war with the Turks, demand Moldavia and Valachia. As a counter,Napoleon urges the Sultan to dethrone the ruling princes in these lands. After defeating Napoleon,
6 BEST COPY AVAILABLE
1848
1859
1877
1881
1907
1914
1916
the Russians seize both principalities. During the six-year Russian occupation, the people aremade to surrender their produce and are subjected to forced labor. Resisters are sent to Siberia.
Inspired by the French. a nationalist movement emerges, and sporadic uprisings break out. AtRussian insistence, the Turks put down the rebels.
An attempt to unite Moldavia and Valachia under the name of Romania is blocked. However, oneprince, Alexander Cum, is named ruler of both regions. His progressive land reforms go farenough to infuriate the landowners and the Church. but not far enough to please the peasants. Heis deposed in 1866 and replaced by a German prince: Carol of the Hohenzollerns. Although theselands are still considered part of the Turkish Empire, Caro! establishes a liberal, independentgovernment.
Russia and Turkey again go to war. The Romanians side with the victorious Russians. and in
1878, the Treaty of Berlin recognizes Romania's full independence. Transylvania. still a part of theAustro-Hungarian empire, remains outside of the new state.
The prince is crowned King Carol.
A major peasant uprising is violently repressed.
King Carol I dies and his nephew, Ferdinand I takes the throne. With the onset of World WarRomania declares itself neutral.
Romania enters the war on the side of the Allied forces against the German and Austro-Hungarian
Empires.
1919 As one of the victors in the war, Romania is able to re-acquire a great deal of historical territory:Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia (part of Moldavia) and the Banat.
1920s The country enters a period of political uncertainty, as political parties on the left and the rightjockey for power. Ferdinand's son, Crown Prince Carol, is so little respected, he is forced torenounce any claim on the crown. Instead, Carol's five-year-old son is proclaimed heir.Ferdinand dies in 1928, and Carol begins plotting to return and regain the crown from his son.
1930 Carol is crowned Carol U. ruler of a republican monarchy.
1933 Th. Iron Guard. a fascist organization. assassinates the prime minister.
1937 In the 1930s, fascist forces throughout Europe gain strength. Carol II, fearful that Nazi Germany
would support Hungarian invasion to reclaim Transylvania, signs a treaty with Germany thatgives it broad influence over Romanian domestic policies.
1938 Right-wing parties. with the exc., :ion of the Iron Guard, establish a government. After severalmonths, Carol II ousts the new government, and proclaims a royal dictatorship. All politicalparties are banned, except for Carol U's National Rebirth Front.
7
1939
1940
With the outbreak of World War U, Romania again declares itself neutral, but quickly feels theeffects of the war. Germany and the Soviet Union sign an agreement (HitlerStalin Pact), whichdivides up Eastern Europe between the two powers and forces Romania to relinquish territory:40% of Transylvania to Hungary, Dobruja to the Bulgarians, and Bessarabia and Bukovina to theSoviet Union.
Carol 11 abdicates in favor of his son Michael. A military dictatorship is formed, led by GeneralIon Antonescu and backed by the Iron Guard, it aligns itself with Germany. A reign of terrorbegins.
1941 General Antonescu, seeking to regain Bessarabia and Bukovina, sends Romanian armed forces jointhe German invasion of the Soviet Union.
1944 In response to Antonescu's failed military policy, King Michael organizes a coup, overthrows thegovernment, and declares support for the Allies. As the Soviets and the Allies begin to close in onGermany, the Red Army enters Romania. The Soviet occupation force tolerates the establishmentof a coalition government, but begins to place Romanian communists in key government positions.
1945 In March, King Michael, under e,treme Soviet pressure, accepts the installation of communistPetru Groza as prime minister. After objections by the United States and Great Britain, it isagreed that elections will be held.
1946 Through fraud, the elections sweep a communist-led government to power. Antonescu is tried andexecuted. Many non-communist politicians are imprisoned.
1947 With communist dictatorship firmly established. King Michael is forced to abdicate the throne, anda Romanian People's Republic is proclaimed. Banks and industries are nationalized.
1948 New "elections" are held, but only one list of candidates is on the ballot. A treaty of 'friendship.collaboration and mutual assistance" is signed with Moscow, firmly binding Romania to the SovietUnion. A period of Stalinist repression and purges of the communist party. [By June of 1950,192,000 people will have been expelled from the ranks of the Communist Party.]
1951 In September, ten Roman Catholic priests are tried on charges of espionage and anti-state activity.All receive long prison terms.
1952 A new constitution is written, almost identical to the Soviet Union's. In an internal battle forcontrol of the Romanian Communist Party, a nationalist faction, led by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej,takes power.
1953 In the Soviet Union, Stalin dies.
1955 In response to the creation of NATO, the Soviet Union establishes the Warsaw Pact, a formalmilitary-political alliance with the nations of the Soviet bloc. The People's Republic of Romaniajoins.
1960s Gheorghiu-Dej begins to loosen ties with the Soviets, and openly cultivates ties with Tito'sYugoslavia, Mao's China and the West.
8
1964 In April, the Romanian Workers' Party proclaims Romania's neutrality in the split between Chinaand the Soviets, declaring that China has the right to develop its own "road to socialism.'
In May, a USARomanian joint trade agreement is announced.
In June, Romania announces the release of practically all of the political prisoners jailed over theprevious three years.
1965 Dej dies. Nicolae Ceausescu, Dej's cellmate during the war, is named the new First Secretary ofthe Communist Party. The country's name is changed to the Socialist Republic of Romania.
1967 Romania is the only Warsaw Pact nation that does not break off relations with Israel after the SiltDay War.
1968 Despite its membership in the Warsaw Pact, Romania criticizes the Sovietled invasion ofCzechoslovakia and does not send troops.
1969 Believing that Romania is moving away from the Soviet camp, U.S. President Richard Nixon paysan official visit to Ceausescu.
1970s Despite Romania's foreign policy, repression mounts under Ceausescu's rule.
1980 In a joint statement with Great Britain, Romania criticizes the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
1983 After borrowing heavily to finance massive building projects, Ceausescu announces that he willpay off the nation's $21 billion foreign debt. He imposes strict domestic austerity measures; foodis rationed, heat is restricted in the winter, and electricity is rationed, leaving entire cities darkduring the night. Withiu five years, the nation has the lowest standard of living in Europe.
1986 A human rights group, Helsinki Watch, describes the totalitarian control in Romania as the mostrepressive in Eastern Europe. In Romania it is illegal to speak to foreigners. Paper is rationed,ann ill typewriters must be registered with the police. Since Ceausescu has declared that thepopulation must rise from 22 million to 30 million by the year 2000, every woman is expected tobear five children. All forms of birth control and abortion are illegal. All women are required tohave a gynecological exam every three months to insure that they are obeying the law. Abandonedchildren live on the streets and swell the ill-equipped orphanages, where they receive little foodand almost no adult attention. All decrees are enforced by the secret police the Securitare.
1987 Soviet leader Gorbachev visits Romania. Ceausescu states that the liberalization occurring in someother Eastern European nations will not take place in Romania.
1988
In November, after long years of energy rationing, thousands of truck and tractor workers inBrasov demonstrate in protest over low living standards. They attack the local Communist Partyheadquarters and burn it. Authorities move in quickly and arrest hundreds. An unknown numberare killed; prison sentences of 5.10 years are handed out to the leaders of the strike.
Ethnic tensions are heightened in March when Ceausescu announces a policy of 'urbanization,"with plans to destroy 11,000 villages and resettle the inhabitants. 50,000 of those to be relocated areHungarians.
1989
1990
In July, after reports that Romania has begun construction of a barbed-wire fence along its boraerwith Hungary, officials from both nations meet to discuss Romania's treatment of ethnicHungarians.
On November 17, Romania seals its border with Hungary. A week later at the RomanianCommunist Party's 14th Congress, Ceausescu is reelected General Secretary, and denies anysuggestion that reforms are necessary.
On December IS, demonstrators surround a church in Timisoara to prevent the arrest of a priest,Laszlo Tokes, a prominent spokesman for the rights of ethnic Hungarians. On December 17, thearmy opens fire on demonstrators in Arad and Timisoara; hundreds are killed. Protests soonspread to other cities.
On December 20, Ceausescu declares a state of emergency in Timisoara. On the 21st, the revoltspreads to Bucharest, where security forces fire on demonstrators. Ceausescu is shouted down ata staged rally.
On December 22. army units join the rebellion. Ceausescu, party leader and head of state, resignsand flees. A group of communist/ and ex-communists declare themselves to be the NationalSalvation Front, and seizes power.
On December 23, the new government captures the Ceausescus. Street fighting occurs between thearmy, which backs the new government, and elements of the secret police still loyal to Ceausescu.
On December 25, the Ceausescus are given a 'trial,' summarily sentenced to death and executed.The secret police battle the rebels until December 2$, the provisional regime's deadline for securityforces to surrender or face execution.
On December 29, the National Salvation Front vows to hold free elections in April and to establisha democracy. Leaders declare that they will not run in the elections. Ion Iliescu, a former memberof the Communist Central Committee, assumes the presidency as the head of the National SalvationFront.
No independent figures are given, but it is reported that upwards of 2,000 fatalities occurredduring the December fighting.
On January 12, up to five thousand demonstrators gather in Bucharest to protest continuingcommunist control of the government. They march to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where theNational Salvation Front is headquartered, shouting, "Down with communism!' "Who electedthem?' and 'What is the Front biding?'
On January 23, the Front declares that, contrary to an earlier promise, it will compete in theupcoming national elections. Ion Iliescu announces that he will run for president.
On February 9, the new provisional Parliament, the Council for National Unity, convenes.
In March, the Student League and other opposition organizations hold protest demonstrations andbegin hunger strikes.
Elections ans held in May, the first elections since 1937. The National Salvation Front wins 66%of the vote. Iliescu becomes president with 85 % of the 'tote. Anti-government demonstrationscontinue.
10
In response to government calls to stop the protests, securitate police and pro-government mineworkers rampage through Bucharest on June 13. Student leaders are beaten and arrested. andoffices of the anti-Front political parties and other independent groups are ransacked. Sevenpeople are reported killed.
On July 13, more than 200,000 anti - government protestors rally in Bucharest's Victory Square, todemand the release of the student leaders and to protest the Front's actions.
On October 18, Premier Petre Roman offers legislation for rapid free-market reform.
On December 15, a crowd of 8,000 marches in Timisoara to commemorate the first anniversary ofthe street demonstrations that led to the ouster of Ceausescu. They call for a 'second revolution'against the Iliescu government, still dominated by former communists.
Opposition parties continue to ask for new elections and a coalition government. Dissatisfaction.with the government's inaction against the Securitate and continued poor economic performanceseems to be growing.
1991 In Hungary, on February 25, leaders of the Republics of Romania, Hungary, Poland, Czecho-slovakia, Bulgaria and the USSR sign a formal protocol dissolving the Warsaw Pact.
An Index of Readings
I. "Romania: When the Lights Went Out," Europe: A Tapestryof Nations, by Flora Lewis.
IL "Ceausescu Bear Hunt Shows a Dictator Hunting for Honor,"The Milwaukee Journal, January 13, 1991, &
"Where Policemen Outnumber Pigeons," by Mircea Dinescu,Uncaptive Minds, May/June/July 1989.
Excerpt from "Report from Romania: Down with the Tyrant,"by Robert Cullen, The New Yorker, April 2, 1990.
IV. "New Masks, Old Faces," by Vladimir Tismaneanu, The NewRepublic, February 5, 1990, &
"Street Theater," by Anna Husarska, The New Republic,February 5, 1990.
V. "June 20, 1990 Protest by the Student League," UncaptiveMinds, August/September/October 1990.
VI. "Homage to Goiania," by Vladimir Tismaneanu, The NewRepublic, July 30/August 6, 1990.
12
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13
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wife
, Ele
na, t
ook
seco
nd p
lace
in 't
hehi
erar
chy,
and
som
e si
xty
mem
bers
of h
is fa
mily
man
ned
the
uppe
rec
helo
ns in
a fa
shio
n lit
tle s
hort
of i
mpe
rial.
Pla
ying
on
Sta
lin's
dic
tum
of th
e so
ws
that
Sov
iet p
olic
y of
that
per
iod
shou
ld c
once
ntra
te o
n"b
uild
ing
soci
alis
m in
one
cou
ntry
," R
oman
iaas
cam
e to
say
that
thei
rst
ate'
s co
ntrib
utio
n to
ideo
logy
was
"bu
ildin
g so
cial
ism
in o
ne fa
mily
."A
ll th
e tr
appi
ngs
of M
arxi
st -
Len
inis
t the
ory
wer
e pr
esen
t, to
tal s
tate
mon
opol
y of
the
econ
omy
with
out e
ven
rest
aura
nts
or ta
xis
left
topr
ivat
e en
terp
rise,
and
a h
uge
Com
mun
ist P
arty
of 1
.s m
illio
n in
1985
(in a
pop
ulat
ion
of a
l mill
ion)
with
con
trol
of e
very
thin
g.A
n of
ficia
l
clai
med
that
a p
roof
of R
oman
ia's
"de
moc
ratic
" m
anag
emen
t was
that
in fa
ctor
ies
the
head
of t
he p
arty
uni
t was
inva
riabl
y th
ehe
ad o
f the
wor
ker'
coun
cil,
and
the
depu
ty h
ead
of th
e un
it w
as th
efa
ctor
y m
an-
ager
. A s
adde
ned,
terr
ibly
har
d-pr
esse
d bu
t stil
lsp
unky
art
ist s
aid,
We
do h
ave
real
equ
ality
her
eat t
he v
ery
botto
m a
nd a
t the
low
est p
os
sibl
e le
vel."
Som
ehow
the
text
ure
of R
oman
ian
soci
ety
does
n't s
eem
to h
ave
14
468
Ettu
ors:
muc
h to
do
with
com
mun
ism
at a
ll, th
ough
the
win
dy s
loga
nsex
pres
sth
e co
nven
tiona
l dog
mas
.It
is m
uch
mor
e re
min
isce
nt o
f the
wor
sttr
aditi
onal
Byz
antin
ede
spot
ism
, fun
ctio
ning
by
fear
, ven
ality
, cul
tiva-
tion
of d
evio
usne
ssto
circ
umve
ntan
unb
udge
able
, sw
olle
n bu
reau
-cr
acy.
pat
rona
ge a
nd, a
bove
all,
the
unqu
estio
nabl
ew
him
of o
nem
an,
one
fam
ily. S
ome
say
that
one
out o
f eve
ry fo
ur R
oman
ians
wor
ksdi
rect
ly o
r in
dire
ctly
for
the
secr
et p
olic
e.O
ther
s sa
y no
, it i
son
e in
thre
e. It
is h
ard
to te
llw
heth
er R
oman
ia's
'diff
eren
ce"
prov
oked
wha
tha
ppen
ed, o
r w
heth
erit
was
the
resu
k.It
is a
rel
ativ
ely
larg
eco
untr
y, tw
elfth
inar
ea in
Eur
ope,
the
size
of
Ore
gon.
The
clim
ate
runs
to e
xtre
mes
; in
a ty
pica
l yea
r th
e te
mpe
ratu
rein
Buc
hare
st d
esce
nds
to11
F d
urin
g th
e lo
ng, h
ard
win
ter
and
up to
rot i
n su
mm
er. B
utna
ture
favo
red
it to
pogr
aphi
cally
,w
ith a
gen
erou
sba
lanc
e of
pla
ins,
plat
eaus
and
mou
ntai
ns,
riven
and
woo
ds a
ndbe
ache
s. T
hesc
ener
y is
aw
esom
e in
par
ts, i
n th
epe
aks
of th
e C
arpa
-th
ians
in T
rans
ylva
nia
and
the
raw
maj
esty
of t
he Ir
on C
ates
, whe
reth
e D
anub
e flo
ws
thro
ugh
a de
epgo
rge
cut b
etw
een
!ner
d re
dcl
iffs.
In o
ther
area
s it
is b
ucol
ic, b
right
fiel
dsro
lling
ove
r ge
ntle
hill
s,w
ild-
flow
ers
alon
gsid
e th
ena
rrow
roa
ds. P
easa
nt tr
aditi
ons
are
stro
ng; v
il-la
gers
sin
g an
d da
nce
and
flaun
t the
ir br
illia
ntly
embr
oide
red
cost
umes
as th
ey h
ave
for
cent
urie
s.B
ut th
e la
nds
they
till
no lo
nger
bea
r th
ena
me
of a
n ar
isto
crat
icpr
oprie
tor,
they
hav
e be
entu
rned
into
col
lec-
tives
with
suc
hna
mes
as
rhe
New
Life
"or
"In
the
Soc
ialis
t Way
."O
ver
a qu
arte
r of
the
peop
le s
till m
ake
thei
rliv
ing
in a
gric
ultu
re,
thou
gh th
em
en h
ave
been
dra
ined
off
to th
e fa
ctor
ies
and
four
out o
ffiv
e fa
rm w
orke
rsar
e w
omen
. The
men
sen
dm
oney
hom
e to
hel
p th
eir
fam
ilies
.Li
ke th
e re
st o
f the
Bal
kans
, Rom
ania
was
late
in d
evel
opin
g, c
ut o
fffr
om .t
he .E
urop
ean
mai
nstr
eam
by
Tur
kish
over
lord
ship
, with
feud
alha
bits
and
ext
rem
esof
wea
lth a
ndpo
vert
y. F
or a
ll th
e co
smop
olita
nso
phis
ticat
ion
of th
e ca
pita
l,th
e pe
ople
wer
e la
rgel
y ill
itera
te w
ell i
nto
the
twen
tieth
cent
ury.
In W
este
rney
es, R
oman
ia w
as e
mbo
died
inda
zzlin
g bl
ond
actr
esse
ssu
ch a
s E
lvin
Pop
escu
or th
e in
geni
ousl
y su
r-re
alis
tic d
ram
atis
tE
ugen
e lo
ttesc
o, e
xciti
ngfig
ures
who
wer
e pa
rt o
fth
e ge
nera
l spa
rkle
of
Eur
opea
n cu
lture
. The
rew
ere
writ
ers
and
pain
t-er
s an
d pr
ofes
sors
who
cou
ldbe
at h
ome
anyw
here
,an
d w
ho c
ontr
ib-
uted
to th
e sa
ying
that
"Rom
ania
n is
n't a
nat
iona
lity,
it's
s p
rofe
ssio
n."
As
Wor
ld W
ar II
appr
oach
ed, B
ucha
rest
was
a fa
bled
cap
ital o
f in-
trig
ue, h
igh
life,
ref
ugee
san
d es
pion
age.
The
dow
ager
Que
en M
arie
,
RO
MA
NIA
: TIW
WI-
.NT
OM
IT4(
W)
of r
oyal
Brit
ish
and
Rus
sian
desc
ent,
was
a b
reat
htak
ing
wor
ld fi
gure
who
del
iber
atel
y at
trac
ted
atte
ntio
n w
ith th
e ex
trav
agan
ceof
her
war
d-ro
be a
nd h
er d
allia
nces
.H
er b
iogr
aphe
r, H
anna
hP
akul
a, c
alle
d he
r"t
he la
st r
oman
tic."
The
Ath
ente
Pal
ace
linte
lw
as a
n in
tern
atio
nal
cent
er fo
r th
e pe
ople
who
sena
mes
pro
vide
d th
e gl
itter
of
goss
ip c
ol-
umns
and
, no
doub
t. fo
r m
any
who
sena
mes
fatte
ned
polic
e do
ssie
rs.
For
som
e ye
ars
afte
rwar
d, it
was
stil
l ele
gant
but
the
com
fort
able
chai
rsin
the
lobb
y an
d by
the
elev
ator
son
eac
h flo
or w
ere
occu
pied
by
shar
p-ey
ed, a
wkw
ardl
y dr
esse
dm
en w
ho p
rete
nded
to r
ead
the
sam
e ne
ws-
pape
r al
l day
long
. Now
the
polic
ear
e st
ill th
ere,
but
the
hote
l is
dark
and
shab
by, w
ith m
iser
able
little
ref
riger
ator
s th
atne
ver
wor
k in
eac
hro
om a
nd c
heap
furn
iture
with
the
vene
er s
plitt
ing
off.
Rom
ania
has
alw
ays
been
a la
nd o
f gre
at b
eaut
y an
d gr
eat h
ards
hip,
a sl
ow p
lace
mov
ing
no fa
ster
nor
furt
her
with
the
cent
urie
s th
ana
hors
e-dr
awn
cart
can
mov
e. T
he o
rigin
al in
habi
tant
sw
ere
Dic
kens
, ape
ople
who
m H
erod
otus
desc
ribed
as
"the
mos
t val
iant
and
right
eous
of th
e T
hrac
ian.
" T
hey
had
an a
dvan
ced
civi
lizat
ion
with
achi
eve-
men
ts in
mus
k, a
stro
nom
y an
dm
edic
ine
and
wro
te in
bot
hth
e C
reek
and
Latin
alp
habe
ts.
Und
er E
mpe
ror
Tra
ian,
Rom
e co
nque
red
Dac
iain
A.D
.st
h af
ter
long
, stu
bbor
nca
mpa
igns
spa
nnin
gm
ore
than
a g
en-
erat
ion.
The
con
ques
t was
follo
wed
by
inte
nsiv
e co
loni
zatio
nin
whi
chth
e po
pula
tions
mer
ged,
crea
ting
a ne
w D
aco-
Rom
anet
hnic
ity w
ithst
rong
roo
ts a
nd h
igh
cultu
re.
The
Lat
in p
oet O
vid
lived
muc
h of
his
life
in e
xile
at T
anis
, near
Con
stan
tsa,
a s
ubtr
opic
al c
ityon
the
Bla
ckS
ea w
hose
lang
uid
clim
ate
and
plea
sant
life
enco
urag
ed th
ough
ts o
fro
man
tic lo
ve. B
ecam
e of
its p
rosp
erity
, the
prov
ince
was
kno
wn
asD
acia
Fel
ix,
one
of th
e em
pire
's m
ost a
gree
able
and
civi
lized
. In
A.D
.27
1, E
mpe
ror
Aur
elia
n of
ficia
llyw
ithdr
ew th
e R
oman
legi
ons
to ti
ghte
nhi
s em
battl
edde
fens
es. H
isto
rians
dis
agre
eab
out t
he m
ixtu
re o
fpe
o-pl
es a
fter
that
. But
the
dom
inan
t vie
w is
that
larg
e nu
mbe
rs o
f the
colo
nist
s ha
d st
ayed
on, a
nd r
esis
ted
assi
mila
tion
byw
aves
of i
nvad
ing
cultu
re.
who
mov
ed in
to E
urop
ein
the
seco
nd h
alf a
the
miN
en-
nium
. The
lang
uage
and
the
cust
oms
rem
aine
dfir
mly
bas
ed o
n La
tin
But
the
peop
lew
ere
unab
le to
org
aniz
e th
eir
soci
ety
in th
e fa
ce o
fsu
ccee
ding
ons
laug
hts
by G
oths
, Sta
n, A
vars
,B
ulga
n an
d M
arlin
.A
fter
the
conv
ersi
on o
f the
Bul
garia
n T
sar B
oris
in 8
114,
dur
ing
a pe
riod
of B
ulga
rian
dom
inio
n in
Dac
ia, C
hris
tiani
tyw
as b
roug
ht to
the
regi
onin
its
east
ern,
Byz
antin
e fo
rm. T
hat w
as th
e or
igin
of R
oman
ia's
Ort
ho-
516
dos
faith
. It h
ad lo
st a
ll tie
s w
ills
Rom
e. M
agya
r ad
vanc
es d
rove
the
peop
le in
to th
e C
arpa
thia
ns, w
here
they
bec
ame
know
n as
the
Vla
chtr
ibes
and
est
ablis
hed
an in
depe
nden
t kin
gdom
in T
rans
ylva
nia
in th
ese
cond
hal
f of t
he te
nth
cent
ury.
In th
e el
even
th .c
entu
ry, t
hey
wer
eco
nque
red
by K
ing
Ste
phen
and
Tra
nsyl
vani
a w
as in
corp
orat
ed in
tohi
s ki
ngdo
m o
f Hun
gary
.T
he d
ispu
te p
ersi
sts
toda
y ov
er w
heth
er T
rans
ylva
nia
shou
ld b
e co
n-si
dere
d hi
stor
ical
ly a
s a
Rom
ania
n or
Hun
garia
n la
nd. R
oman
ia's
larg
eH
unga
rian
min
ority
is c
once
ntra
ted
ther
e, a
nd it
s tr
eatm
ent i
s a
con-
stan
t sou
rce
of fr
ictio
n w
ith H
unga
ry b
ecau
se o
f atte
mpt
s at
forc
ed.
assi
mila
tion.
The
cap
ital o
f Tra
nsyl
vani
a, c
alle
d C
luj i
n R
oman
ian
and
Kol
ozsv
ir in
Hun
garia
n, is
a la
rge,
han
dsom
e ol
d ci
ty w
ith p
roud
tra-
ditio
ns. R
ecor
ds o
f the
are
a's
early
inha
bita
nts
wer
e al
l des
troy
ed d
urin
ga
Mon
gol i
nvas
ion
in a
m,.
It w
as n
ot u
ntil
the
end
of th
at c
ent_
that
exis
ting
docu
men
ts c
onfir
m th
e de
velo
pmen
t of t
wo
Rom
ania
n pr
inci
-pa
litie
s, o
ne s
outh
of t
he C
arpa
thia
ns, c
alle
d V
alac
hia,
and
the
othe
rto
the
east
, cal
led
Mol
davi
a. T
hey
rem
aine
d se
para
te u
ntil
1774
, whe
nth
eir
anna
ls w
ere
com
bine
d un
der
a un
iform
Tur
kish
adm
inis
trat
ion.
The
Tur
kish
adv
ance
had
beg
un in
the
fifte
enth
cen
tury
. Val
achi
aso
ught
hel
p fr
om th
e B
ulga
rs a
nd th
e S
erbs
, firs
t aga
inst
Hun
gary
and
then
aga
inst
the
Tur
ks, b
ut a
ll th
e so
vere
ignt
ies
of th
e re
gion
wer
esu
ccum
bing
to th
e ov
erw
helm
ing
Tur
kish
exp
ansi
on. J
oint
Chr
istia
nfo
rces
, with
exp
editi
ons
trai
n F
ranc
e an
d B
urgu
ndy,
wer
e de
feat
ed a
tth
e B
attle
of N
ikop
ol in
1;9
6. V
alac
hia
was
fina
lly fo
rced
to c
apitu
late
to S
ulta
n M
uham
mad
I in
141
7, b
ut in
sub
ject
ion
was
allo
wed
to m
ain-
tain
its
dyna
sty,
terr
itory
and
rel
igio
n. R
esis
tanc
e co
ntin
ued
unde
rH
unga
rian
lead
ersh
ip u
ntil
the
deat
h of
the
unbe
lieva
bly
crue
l loc
alR
oman
ian
rule
r V
lad
IV. H
is fu
ll na
me
was
Vla
d D
racu
l, bu
t he
was
know
n as
Vla
d T
epes
(V
lad
the
Impa
ler)
bec
ause
of h
is a
troc
ities
. Ile
was
the
orig
in o
f the
sto
ry o
f Dra
cula
, the
vam
pire
. Som
e sa
y th
e m
yth
of h
is d
epra
ved
ritua
ls w
as d
elib
erat
ely
spre
ad to
Wes
tern
Eur
ope
bysu
bjec
ts w
ho s
ough
t rev
enge
by
defa
min
g hi
m. B
ut w
ith o
r w
ithou
tsa
tani
c co
nnot
atio
ns, h
is b
ehav
ior
was
mon
stro
us e
noug
h to
insp
ire th
eni
nete
enth
-cen
tury
nov
elis
t Bra
m S
toke
r's h
orro
r st
ory.
His
sup
pose
dto
mb
lies
in a
littl
e ch
apel
on
an is
land
in L
ake
Sna
gov,
not
far
from
Buc
hare
st. R
oman
ians
are
of t
wo
min
ds a
bout
his
mem
ory,
bec
ause
for
all h
is c
rimes
he
did
mou
nt a
n ef
fect
ive
oppo
sitio
n to
the
Tus
ks, b
ut it
colla
psed
afte
r hi
m.
Ove
r th
e ne
xt tw
o ce
ntur
ies,
ther
e w
ere
fitfu
l but
gen
eral
ly u
nsuc
-
17
KO
MA
Nuc
TH
E L
IGH
TS
wr.
N.r
OU
T47
1
cess
ful e
ffort
s to
wre
nch
free
from
Tur
lush
suz
erai
nty.
At t
he s
tart
of
the
seve
ntee
nth
cent
ury,
Mic
hael
the
Bra
vedi
d am
ass
enou
gh s
uppo
rt
from
Chr
istia
n po
wer
s to
win
bat
tles
and
esta
blis
h a
king
dom
und
er th
e
Hab
sbur
g em
pero
r, a
lthou
gh it
was
shor
t-liv
ed. N
onet
hele
ss, h
e is
re-
mem
bere
d as
Rom
ania
's le
adin
g na
tiona
l her
o be
caus
e fo
r th
efir
st ti
me
Sin
ce th
e R
oman
per
iod
he b
roug
ht th
e R
oman
ians
of T
rans
ylva
nia,
Val
achi
a an
d M
olda
via
unde
r a
sing
le r
ule
and
esta
blis
hed
the
goal
of
full
natio
nal u
nity
, whi
ch w
as n
ot to
be
real
izet
i aga
inun
til 1
918.
Mi-
chae
l's w
as th
e la
st s
tand
aga
inst
Tur
kish
doi
nina
non,
whi
ch w
as e
xer-
cise
d in
crea
sing
ly th
rotig
h C
reek
sur
roga
tes.
The
Tur
ks m
oved
the
capi
tal t
o B
ucha
rest
in 1
6o8,
aw
ayfr
om th
e
fron
tier
of r
estiv
e T
rars
ylva
nia,
and
app
oint
ed a
ser
ies
of lo
cal r
uler
s
who
bot
h ac
cept
ed a
nd in
trig
ued
agai
nst t
heir
dom
inio
n. B
y th
e st
art
of th
e ei
ghte
enth
cen
tury
, the
Sul
tan'
' vas
t pow
erha
d en
tere
d de
clin
e
and
rein
forc
emen
t war
sou
ght b
y sh
iftin
g to
dire
ctru
le o
f the
prin
ci-
palit
ies.
Cre
eks
from
the
Pha
nar
dist
rict o
f Con
stan
tinop
le w
ere
chos
en
as T
urke
y's
agen
ts. B
ut th
ese
hosp
odar
s(p
rince
s) w
ere
give
n br
ief a
nd
unce
rtai
n te
nure
of t
heir
stew
ards
hip.
Thu
s th
eyfe
lt ob
liged
to e
xtra
ct
as m
uch
as p
ossi
ble
from
thei
r su
bjec
ts a
s qu
ickl
y as
pos
sibl
e. T
he
aver
age
reig
n w
as tw
oan
d a
half
year
s. S
o th
e w
ord
Pha
nano
t cam
e to
stan
d fo
r br
iber
y, e
xact
ion
and
corr
uptio
n, th
ough
the
hosp
odar
s th
em-
selv
es w
ere
said
to h
ave
ofte
n be
en m
en o
f cul
ture
and
inte
llige
nce.
Man
y pe
asan
ts fl
ed th
e op
pres
sive
reg
ime,
dras
tical
ly r
educ
ing
the
popu
latio
n. M
eanw
hile
, Rus
sia
was
pre
ssin
gha
rd a
gain
st th
e T
urks
.
Afte
r im
port
ant v
icto
ries,
Em
pres
s C
athe
rine
dem
ande
d th
at T
urke
y
reco
gniz
e th
e in
depe
nden
ceof
Val
achi
a an
d M
olda
via
unde
r R
ussi
an
pow
er. I
n th
e ea
rlyni
nete
enth
cen
tury
, St.
Pet
ersb
urg'
s in
fluen
ce in
-
crea
sed.
To
coun
ter
it, N
apol
eon
urge
d th
eS
ulta
n to
det
hron
e th
e
prin
ces
of M
olda
via
and
Val
achi
a in
s8o
6. It
led
to a
dis
astr
ous
six-
year
Rus
sian
occ
upat
ion
of th
e pr
inci
palit
ies,
with
req
uisi
tion
of th
eir
pro-
duce
, for
ced
labo
r an
d de
port
atio
nof
res
iste
rs to
Sib
eria
. The
Rom
ani-
ans
neve
r fo
rgot
. By
thei
r co
unt,
Rus
sia
inva
ded
thei
r co
untr
y th
irtee
n
times
, alw
ays
brin
ging
dis
tres
s. O
nce
Rom
ania
inva
ded
Rus
sia
to r
e-
cove
r lo
st te
rrito
ry, b
ut it
was
aco
stly
failu
re. U
nlik
e th
e ne
ighb
orin
g
Bul
garia
ns, w
ho r
emem
ber
the
Rus
sian
s as
Chr
istia
n lib
erat
ors
from
the
Tur
ks, R
oman
ians
feel
a d
eep-
root
ed h
ostil
ityan
d fe
ar o
f Rus
sia.
In th
e re
volu
tiona
ry y
ear
1848
ther
e w
ere
upris
ings
in s
ever
al p
lace
s.
A n
atio
nal m
ovem
ent e
mer
ged,
insp
ired
by F
ranc
e,w
hich
had
bec
ome
a be
acon
for
the
Rom
ania
n in
telli
gent
sia.
'Ile
'lurk
s, a
t Rus
sian
mos
-
18
472
EU
RO
PE
knee
, put
dow
n th
e re
bels
. Eur
opea
n in
fluen
ce w
as e
nhan
ced
by th
eT
reat
y of
Par
is in
185
6. A
n at
tem
pt to
uni
te th
e pr
inci
palit
ies
unde
r th
ena
me
of R
oman
ia a
nd to
pro
clai
m n
eutr
ality
was
blo
cked
, but
a s
ingl
epr
ince
was
nam
ed a
s th
e ru
ler
of b
oth
regi
ons
in 1
859.
He
was
Ale
x-an
der
Cuz
a, a
man
of p
rogr
essi
ve v
iew
s bu
t des
potic
way
s w
hose
agr
ar-
ian
refo
rms
infu
riate
d th
e la
ndow
ners
and
the
Chu
rch
with
out g
oing
far
enou
gh to
ple
ase
the
peas
antr
y. H
e w
as d
epos
ed in
036
6 an
d re
-pl
aced
, by
gene
ral a
gree
men
t, w
ith a
Ger
man
prin
celin
g. T
he n
ewru
ler,
acc
orde
d he
redi
tary
rig
hts,
was
Cha
rles,
sec
ond
son
of P
rince
Cha
rles
Ant
hony
of I
folie
nzol
lem
-Sig
niar
irqte
n. B
efor
e th
e un
ity o
fG
erm
any,
its
nobl
e ho
uses
wer
ede
sira
bk fo
unt f
or c
ount
ries
inse
arch
of a
rul
er w
ith le
gitim
ate
clai
m to
a ti
tle b
ut w
ithou
t the
pow
erst
atus
whi
ch w
ould
pro
voke
riv
alry
from
the
impo
rtan
t Eur
opea
nst
ates
.
Prin
ce C
harle
s, w
ho r
oman
ized
his
nam
e to
Car
ol, a
ccep
ted
a ne
wco
nstit
utio
n ba
sed
on th
e lib
eral
Bel
gian
con
stitu
tion
of 1
811.
afte
rB
elgi
an in
depe
nden
ce. T
he c
ount
ry r
emai
ned
nom
inal
ly u
nder
the
Tur
kish
em
pire
, but
it d
evel
oped
aut
onom
ous
gove
rnm
ent.
Whe
n R
us-
sia
and
Tur
key
wen
t to
war
aga
in in
how
ever
, Rom
ania
pin
edon
Rus
sia'
s si
de a
nd w
as r
ewar
ded,
by
the
Tre
aty
of B
erlin
in 1
878,
with
form
al r
ecog
nitio
n of
its
full
inde
pend
ence
. Aut
horit
y w
as r
esto
red
over
the
prov
ince
of D
obni
dia.
But
Tra
nsyl
vani
a, p
art o
f the
Aus
tro-
Hun
garia
n E
mpi
re, r
emai
ned
outs
ide
the
new
sta
te. P
rince
Car
ol w
ascr
owne
d K
ing
Car
ol in
188
1. H
avin
g no
hei
r, h
e ar
rang
ed to
hav
e hi
sne
phew
Prin
ce F
erdi
nand
of H
ohen
zolle
rn n
amed
his
rig
htfu
l suc
ces-
sor. P
oliti
cal p
ower
was
hel
d tig
htly
by
Libe
ral P
arty
lead
er J
on B
rillia
nt'
and
his
Fra
ncop
hile
sup
port
ers,
who
se p
olic
y w
as to
enc
oura
ge th
ede
velo
pmen
t of a
str
ong
mid
dle
clas
s. T
he o
ppos
ition
Con
serv
ativ
esw
ere
divi
ded
into
the
old
nobi
lity,
who
tend
ed to
favo
r R
ussi
a, a
nd a
youn
ger
pro-
Ger
man
gro
up. T
he s
tand
ing
of J
ews
beca
me
an a
bras
ive
issu
e. T
here
had
bee
n fe
w in
the
coun
try
befo
re in
depe
nden
ce, b
utth
ey im
mig
rate
d in
larg
e nu
mbe
rs a
fterw
ard.
Rus
sia'
s fa
iled
sqos
rem
-hi
tion
spar
ked
a pe
asan
t upr
isin
g in
Rom
ania
aga
inst
the
Jew
s, w
how
ere
cons
ider
ed a
cau
se o
f pov
erty
bec
ause
of t
heir
mon
ey-le
ndin
gbu
sine
sses
, and
aga
inst
the
larg
e la
ndow
ners
.T
he c
ount
ry w
as in
soc
ial,
polit
ical
and
fina
ncia
l tro
uble
whe
n K
ing
Car
ol d
ied
at th
e be
ginn
ing
of W
orld
War
I. H
e ha
d tr
ied
to b
ring
Rom
ania
into
the
war
as
an a
lly o
f his
rel
ativ
e th
e K
aise
r. H
is n
ephe
w,
RO
MA
NIA
: 111
1: li
ciris
)1' 1
'.1
-
who
bec
ame
Kin
g F
erdi
nand
I, w
as le
ss fe
rven
tly p
ro.G
eon.
m. a
ndQ
ueen
Mar
ie, F
erdi
nand
's w
ife, w
as a
dam
antly
ant
i-Ger
man
. She
144
1be
en h
orn
Prin
cess
Mar
ie o
f Edi
nbur
gh, a
gra
ndda
ught
er o
f Que
enV
icto
ria a
nd o
f Tsa
r A
lexa
nder
H. a
nd h
er fa
vors
wer
e fir
mly
For
En.
glan
d an
d R
ussi
a. (
She
die
d in
$93
8. a
s R
oman
ia a
gain
face
d th
e ch
oice
of w
hich
sid
e to
join
in th
e co
min
g w
ar.)
The
cou
ntry
sta
yed
neut
ral
for
the
first
two
year
s of
Wor
ld W
ar I,
cou
rted
by
each
sid
e w
ith a
nof
fer
of te
rrito
ry fr
om th
e ot
her.
The
Cen
tral
Pow
ers
prom
ised
to r
etur
nR
ussi
an-h
eld
Bes
sara
bia,
and
the
Alli
es o
ffere
d T
rans
ylva
nia,
of m
uch
mor
e em
otio
nal a
s w
ell a
s ec
onom
ic im
port
ance
to th
e R
oman
ians
.S
o R
oman
ia d
ecla
red
war
on
Aus
tro-
Hun
gary
on
Aug
ust a
z 19
16. I
tw
as a
dis
aste
r, b
ringi
ng b
oth
Ger
man
s an
d R
ussi
ans
into
the
coun
try
and
resu
lting
in th
e fa
ll of
Buc
hare
st. W
ith th
e B
olsh
evik
rev
olut
ion
inO
ctob
er 1
917
and
Rus
sia'
s w
ithdr
awal
from
the
war
, the
Rus
sian
forc
esin
Rom
ania
bro
ke d
own
into
sca
veng
ing
band
s. A
n ar
mis
tice
was
sig
ned
with
the
Cen
tral
Pow
ers
in D
ecem
ber,
taki
ng R
oman
ia o
ut o
f the
war
at g
reat
cos
t. B
y th
e te
rms
of th
e T
reat
y of
Buc
hare
st, s
igne
d on
May
7, 1
918,
hal
f of D
obni
dja
was
ced
ed to
Bul
garia
with
onl
y th
e pl
edge
of
a tr
ade
rout
e to
Con
stan
tsa
affo
rdin
g ac
cess
to th
e B
lack
Sea
. Hun
gary
'sT
rans
ylva
nian
bor
der
was
adv
ance
d ea
stw
ard,
and
far-
reac
hing
con
ces-
sion
s ha
d to
be
gran
ted
on D
anub
e tr
ansp
ort,
the
railr
oads
and
the
oil
field
s. It
was
a n
atio
nal c
atas
trop
he. T
hen,
on
Nov
embe
r 9,
:918
, tw
oda
ys b
efor
e G
erm
any
sign
ed th
e ar
mis
tice
ackn
owle
dgin
g its
def
eat,
Rom
ania
aga
in d
ecla
red
war
on
the
Cen
tral
Pow
ers
in a
noth
er a
ttem
ptto
em
erge
on
the
win
ning
sid
e. O
n N
ovem
ber
so, w
hen
Ger
man
troo
psev
acua
ted
in a
ccor
danc
e w
ith th
e su
rren
der
term
s in
Wes
tern
Eur
ope.
the
Kin
g re
turn
ed to
Buc
hare
st.
Rom
ania
then
pro
ceed
ed to
pro
clai
m th
e in
corp
orat
ion
of T
rans
yl-
vani
a, fu
lfilli
ng th
e ol
d dr
eam
of n
atio
nal u
nity
. But
ther
e re
mai
ned
the
prob
lem
of o
btai
ning
Alli
ed r
ecog
nitio
n, c
ompl
icat
ed b
y R
oman
ia's
am
-bi
tious
inva
sion
of f
urth
er H
unga
rian
terr
itory
and
occ
upat
ion
of H
un-
gary
's c
apita
l. B
udap
est,
defe
nsel
ess
in th
e tu
rmoi
l of B
ela
Run
's
Com
mun
ist r
evol
utio
n. T
he T
reat
ies
of S
aint
Ger
mai
n, T
riano
nan
d
Neu
illy
final
ly fi
xed
inte
rnat
iona
lly r
ecog
nize
d bo
rder
s, le
ss th
anR
o-
man
ia h
ad h
oped
to o
btai
n by
the
initi
al 1
916
agre
emen
t to
ente
r th
e
war
but
stil
l sat
isfy
ing
maj
or a
spira
tions
. The
y kf
t an
impo
rtan
t Hun
-
garia
n m
inor
ity w
ithin
Rom
ania
, a s
ourc
e of
con
tinui
ngirr
eden
tism
,
as w
ell a
s th
e tr
aditi
onal
eth
nic
min
oriti
es o
f Ger
man
s,Je
ws,
Gyp
sies
And
oth
ers.
PEST
CO
PYA
VA
ILA
BL
E
r)
474
Itt(H
.F.
The
inte
rnal
pol
itica
l situ
atio
n w
as u
nrul
y. T
he o
ld C
onse
rvat
ive
Par
ty c
olla
psed
bec
ause
of i
ts fa
iled
pro-
Ger
man
pol
icy.
Eig
hty
perc
ent
of th
e po
pula
tion
wer
e pe
asan
ts, l
eavi
ng th
e S
ocia
lists
and
the
Com
-m
unis
ts w
ith li
ttle
of th
eir
cust
omar
y w
orki
ng c
lass
bas
e. T
hey
trie
d to
mak
e up
for
it by
aud
acity
; as
a re
sult,
thei
r le
ader
ship
was
arr
este
d an
din
193
4 th
e C
omm
unis
t Par
ty w
as o
utla
wed
. The
re w
as fi
erce
con
tro-
vers
y ov
er a
pro
mis
ed a
grar
ian
refo
rm a
nd e
xpro
pria
tion,
fina
lly p
asse
dby
the
legi
slat
ure
but t
o no
one
's s
atis
fact
ion.
And
ther
e w
as tr
oubl
eov
er th
e su
cces
sion
to th
e m
onar
chy.
Cro
wn
Prin
ce C
arol
, Kin
g F
er-
dina
nd's
son
, was
a n
otor
ious
, ext
rava
gant
pla
yboy
. Iv
a925
, he
was
forc
ed to
ren
ounc
e hi
s rig
ht to
the
thro
ne a
nd h
is fi
ve-y
ear-
old
son
was
reco
gniz
ed a
s ne
xt in
line
und
er a
reg
ency
cou
ncil.
But
two
year
s la
ter
whe
ri K
ing
Fer
dina
nd d
ied,
Car
ol p
lotte
d to
ret
urn
and
take
the
thro
neba
ck fr
om h
is o
wn
son.
He
final
ly s
ucce
eded
and
was
cro
wne
d K
ing
Car
ol It
in 1
930.
In th
is ti
me
of d
isor
der,
a r
ight
-win
g te
rror
ist o
rgan
izat
ion
rose
topr
omin
ence
. It u
sed
vario
us n
ames
in v
ario
us p
erio
ds, b
ut it
was
gen
-er
ally
kno
wn
as th
e Ir
on G
uard
. 'T
he g
over
nmen
t's fo
reig
n po
licy
was
oppo
sed
to th
e in
terw
ar fa
scis
t pow
ers;
Rom
ania
sup
port
ed th
e B
alka
nE
nten
te o
f 193
4 an
d op
pose
d Ita
ly's
inva
sion
of E
thio
pia
and
Hitl
er's
occu
patio
n of
the
Rhi
nela
nd a
nd a
nnex
atio
n of
Aus
tria
. But
, sup
port
edan
d fin
ance
d by
the
Naz
is, t
he Ir
on G
uard
and
its
deat
h te
ams
kept
the
coun
try
in c
haos
. In
193B
, hop
ing
to r
egai
n co
ntro
l, K
ing
Car
ol b
anne
dal
l pol
itica
l par
ties
and
proc
laim
ed a
roy
al d
icta
tors
hip.
Whe
n. W
orld
War
II b
egan
rig
ht a
fter
the
Hitl
er-S
talin
pac
t in
939,
the
Kin
g tr
ied
toba
rgai
n w
ith th
e be
llige
rent
s as
his
fath
er h
ad d
one
in W
orld
War
Ito
see
whi
ch s
ide
wou
ld p
ay th
e m
ost f
or R
oman
ia's
par
ticip
atio
n. li
eso
ught
firs
t to
get p
rom
ises
of t
errit
oria
l exp
ansi
on fr
om B
ritai
n an
dF
ranc
e, b
ut, d
issa
tisfie
d w
ith th
eir
offe
rs, h
e th
en tu
rned
to G
erm
any.
Hitl
er o
ffere
d ec
onom
ic a
id b
ut d
eman
ded
incl
usio
n of
the
Iron
Gua
rdin
the
cabi
net.
Whe
n th
e K
ing
refu
sed,
Hitl
er o
utm
aneu
vere
d hi
m a
ndm
ade
agre
emen
ts w
ith R
oman
ia's
riv
als
whi
ch p
artly
dis
mem
bere
d th
eco
untr
y. T
he S
ovie
ts, s
till a
t pea
ce w
ith G
erm
any,
wer
e aw
arde
d B
es-
sara
bia
and
nort
hern
Buk
ovin
a. S
outh
ern
Dob
rudj
a, tw
ice
take
n fr
omB
ulga
ria s
ince
191
3, w
as r
etur
ned
to B
ulga
ria a
gain
, and
Tra
nsyl
vani
aw
as r
esto
red
to H
unga
ry. A
s a
cons
eque
nce,
Car
ol w
as fo
rced
to a
bdi-
cate
in S
epte
mbe
r rim
°. H
is s
on M
icha
el, b
y th
en tw
enty
, onc
e ag
ain
was
cro
wne
d K
ing,
but
as
a pu
ppet
in th
e ha
nds
of a
mili
tary
dic
tato
r-sh
ip b
acke
d by
the
Iron
Gua
rd.
21
141/
MA
NtA
:1.
1:M
TS
WE
NT
ou'
r47
5
The
new
lead
er w
as th
e pr
o-N
azi M
arsh
al Io
n A
nton
escr
a. C
arol
was
pack
ed o
ff in
to e
xile
, alo
ng w
ith h
is fl
ambo
yant
, red
head
ed J
ewis
hm
is-
tres
s, M
agda
Lup
escu
. The
new
reg
ime
laun
ched
a r
eign
of t
erro
r, b
utth
e Ir
on G
uard
stil
l was
not
sat
ed. I
t trie
d to
mis
t Mar
shal
AltO
fteS
CU
and
seiz
e po
wer
for
itsel
f alo
ne in
Jan
uary
194
i. B
ut th
ear
my
was
oppo
sed,
ral
lyin
g to
the
mar
shal
, who
pro
ceed
ed to
app
ly th
e te
rror
toth
e Ir
on G
uard
in it
s tu
rn, e
xecu
ting
all o
f the
lead
en. T
houg
h he
supp
ress
ed th
e N
azis
' Rom
ania
n co
unte
rpar
ts, A
nton
escu
took
the
coun
try
into
the
war
on
Ger
man
y's
side
. Onc
e ag
ain,
Buc
hare
st g
am-
bled
on
a G
erm
an v
icto
ry to
gai
n te
rrito
ry. B
y F
ebru
ary,
ther
ew
ere
5on,
coo
Ger
man
troo
ps in
Rom
ania
, whi
ch d
ecla
red
war
on
the
Sov
iet
Uni
on. G
reat
Brit
ain
decl
ared
war
on
Rom
ania
, and
afte
r P
earl
Har
bor,
Rom
ania
dec
lare
d w
ar o
n th
e U
nite
d S
tate
s. jo
inin
g th
e N
azis
was
popu
lar
atfir
st, b
ecau
se R
oman
ia w
as r
ewar
ded
with
Bes
sa-
rabi
a, s
ince
the
Ger
man
lilt/
8610
11 o
f Rus
sia
in M
ay u
sai h
adov
er-
thro
wn
the
prev
ious
Hill
er-S
talin
agr
eem
ent.
But
whe
n th
e ca
st:a
lly li
sts
arriv
ed h
orn
Sta
Iingr
ati a
nd it
gra
dual
lybe
cam
e cl
ear
thnl
Rum
ania
had
aga
in c
hose
n th
e lo
sing
sid
e, p
ublic
disc
onte
nt in
crea
sed.
The
out
law
ed p
uhtk
id p
artie
s ha
d m
anag
ed to
keep
thei
r ol
gani
zalk
urs.
l'lw
four
mau
l one
s w
ere
the
Nat
iona
l Pea
s-an
ts, t
he L
iber
als,
the
Soc
ial I
)er
tnic
ials
and
the
Com
mun
ists
, who
had
recr
uite
d Ir
on G
ust&
eag
er fi
n i1
4.11
011
but w
ithou
t dire
ctio
n af
ter
the
exec
utio
n of
then
kad
ers.
The
tour
join
ed to
sup
port
a c
oup
mou
nted
by K
ing
Mic
hael
, whi
ch o
vert
hrew
Ant
onew
u an
d sw
itche
d si
des
inth
e w
ar o
n A
ugus
t 23,
194
4 S
ovie
t tro
ops
pour
ed in
to th
e co
untr
y ev
enbe
fore
the
form
al a
rmis
tice,
sig
ned
in M
osco
w o
n S
epte
mbe
r is
, 194
4.T
he r
ever
sal w
as in
the
nick
of t
onne
to r
egai
n T
rans
ylva
nia
but t
oo la
teto
pre
vent
Sov
iet d
omin
atio
n, d
espi
te w
artim
e A
llied
agr
eem
ents
. An-
tone
scu
was
trie
d an
d ex
ecut
ed in
194
6.A
s in
the
othe
r co
untr
ies
occu
pied
by
the
Red
Arm
y, th
e S
ovie
ts a
tfir
st a
ccep
ted
a co
aliti
on g
over
nmen
t and
enc
oura
ged
orga
niza
tion
of a
natio
nal b
loc.
The
re s
impl
y w
eren
't en
ough
Com
mun
ists
to b
e in
stal
kdfr
om th
e st
art,
and
Sta
lin w
as c
autio
us a
bout
not
bei
ng to
o fla
gran
t in
unde
rmin
ing
the
acco
rds
with
Roo
seve
lt an
d C
hurc
hill
sign
ed a
t Yal
tain
ear
ly 1
945.
The
agr
eem
ent w
as th
at p
ostw
ar g
over
nmen
ts w
ere
to b
ede
moc
ratic
and
ant
ifasc
ist.
Nor
ietli
ekss
, he
sent
Sov
iet D
eput
y F
orei
gnM
inis
ter
And
rei V
ishi
nsky
, who
had
bee
n th
e pr
os .t
utor
at t
he p
rew
arM
osco
w p
urge
Itr
iin
stal
ltr
ials
, t .
i IIS
.a..
o(0
2a a
s P
rem
ier.
Cro
za w
as h
ead
Of a
spl
inte
r le
ftist
pea
sant
s' p
arty
cal
led
the
Plo
ughm
an's
Fro
nt. S
fltal
l
22
476
1.:1
1111
111:
and
the
igni
ted
Sta
tes
obje
cted
bec
ause
the
Nat
iona
l Pea
sant
Par
ty a
ndth
e Li
bera
ls, b
y fa
r th
e m
ost p
opul
ar, w
ere
excl
uded
.In
res
pons
e to
an
appe
al fr
om K
ing
Mic
hael
, the
Big
Thr
ee a
gree
d in
Mos
cow
in D
ecem
ber
ro45
on
nam
ing
a br
oadl
y ba
sed
gove
rnm
ent
whi
ch w
ould
hol
d el
ectio
ns. T
hey
took
pla
ce in
Nov
embe
rs9
46. B
utby
then
, the
Com
mun
ists
had
est
ablis
hed
them
selv
es in
key
min
istr
ies
and
put t
heir
cand
idat
es o
n a
sing
le g
over
nmen
t blo
c lis
t so
that
thei
rst
reng
th c
ould
not
be
mea
sure
d. In
the
Rom
ania
n.pe
ace
trea
ty s
igne
dth
e ne
xt y
ear,
it w
as p
rovi
ded
that
Sov
iet f
orce
s co
uld
rem
ain
in th
eco
untr
y un
til p
eace
was
con
clud
ed w
ith A
ustr
ia. T
hat a
ssur
ed a
dequ
ate
time
for
Sov
iet i
nflu
ence
to b
e fir
mly
impl
ante
d.S
talin
nev
er a
ccep
ted
an A
ustr
ian
peac
e tr
eaty
. It w
as n
ot u
ntil
Nik
itaK
hrus
hche
v so
ught
to r
elax
tens
ions
with
the
Wes
t tha
t the
Aus
tria
ntr
eaty
was
sig
ned,
in19
15,
prov
idin
g th
e le
gal b
asis
on
whi
ch th
e R
o-m
ania
n go
vern
men
t cou
ld s
?cur
e S
ovie
t with
draw
al in
1957
. The
Ro-
man
ian
peac
e tr
eaty
ced
ed B
essa
rabi
a an
d no
rthe
rn B
ukov
ina
to th
eS
ovie
ts a
gain
, aw
arde
d so
uthe
rn D
obm
dia
to B
ulga
ria a
gain
, but
re-
turn
ed n
orth
ern
Tra
nsyl
vani
a fr
om H
unga
ry, e
stab
lishi
ng th
e co
untr
y's
curr
ent f
ront
iers
.A
fter
the
1946
ele
ctio
ns, h
owev
er, w
hen
Rom
ania
n C
omm
unis
tsw
ere
still
ver
y cl
ose
to M
osco
w, n
on-C
omm
unis
t pol
itici
ans
and
thei
rfo
llow
ers
wer
e im
pris
oned
. The
Nat
iona
l Pea
sant
Par
ty, w
hich
had
maj
ority
sup
port
, was
out
law
ed. A
spl
it w
as m
aneu
vere
d w
ithin
the
Soc
ial D
emoc
rats
whi
ch le
d to
a fo
rced
mer
ger
with
the
Com
mun
ists
,to
cre
ate
the
Rom
ania
n W
orke
rs' P
arty
. Tha
t pat
tern
was
follo
wed
inal
mos
t all
of E
aste
rn E
urop
e. N
ew e
lect
ions
wer
e ca
lled
in s
n411
with
asi
ngle
list
pre
sent
ed b
y th
e P
eopl
e's
Dem
ocra
tic F
ront
, whi
ch c
laim
ed4o
5 ou
t of t
he 4
4 se
cts
in th
e as
sem
bly.
Sho
rtly
bef
ore
the
elec
tions
, atr
eaty
of "
frie
ndsh
ip, c
olla
bora
tion
and
mut
ual a
ssis
tanc
e"w
as s
igne
dw
ith th
e S
ovie
t Uni
on, f
irmly
bin
ding
Rom
ania
n po
licy
to M
osco
w.
The
n, w
ith th
e ot
her
polit
icia
ns o
ut o
f the
way
, the
inte
rnal
Com
mu-
nist
pur
ges
bega
n. T
he p
arty
had
bee
n sw
olle
n by
gor
ging
all
it co
uld
swee
p in
to it
s ra
nks
right
afte
r th
e w
ar. I
n og
io, i
t thr
ew o
ut t1
1 pe
rcen
tof
its
mem
bers
hip,
adm
itted
new
peo
ple
mor
e ca
refu
lly v
ette
d fo
r re
li-ab
ility
and
by
mid
-19
50 a
nnou
nced
its
stre
ngth
at
720,
000
card
car
riers
.T
he le
ader
was
Che
orge
Che
orgh
iu-D
ej,
st d
ark-
eyed
, rat
her
hant
:so
me
man
who
had
spe
nt th
e w
ar in
pris
m, a
nd e
scap
ed b
ut b
efor
e th
ei9
44 c
oup.
Ile
was
the
son
of a
labo
rer
will
s on
ly a
few
yea
rs o
f for
mal
scho
olin
g, b
ut a
long
exp
erie
nce
of a
gita
tioo,
jail
and
labo
rca
mps
. Ile
03
RO
MA
NIA
. 111
1.t(
1:11
1'II
NI n
111
had
adde
d "I
)ci"
to h
is s
urna
me
Atm
he
was
Hite
, in
itni
that
mth
eum
s.A
fter
the
arriv
al id
the
Sov
iets
and
his
In, I
tem
oil
influ
gove
rnm
ent a
s M
inis
ter
of C
omm
itilic
alio
n, 1
w w
ent o
il to
Mus
limII
I,a
time,
ret
urni
ng in
Jan
uary
194
5. Il
e w
as k
now
n as
an
ailih
itini
,un
scru
pulo
us, s
ubtly
cun
ning
man
, ski
lled
al o
utbi
ddin
g hi
s riv
als
int
Sov
iet s
uppo
rt w
hate
ver
the
Mow
n* li
ne o
f the
mom
ent.
Ilew
as s
ecre
-tiv
e sh
out h
is p
erso
nal l
ife, b
ut h
is d
nIkl
, milk
figu
re w
asse
en a
t lim
esin
Buc
hare
st c
afes
. Che
ergh
iu-D
ei w
as ju
nior
In o
ther
s in
the
patty
.B
ut h
e w
as a
n et
hnic
Rom
ania
n an
d he
had
bee
na
wor
ker,
on
the
railr
oads
, cla
ims
whi
ch fe
w o
f his
com
mod
es c
ould
adv
ance
. In
usse
he
beca
me
the
part
y's
Firs
t Sec
reta
ry.
Fro
m o
utsi
de, t
he m
ost v
isib
le m
embe
r of
the
lead
ersh
ipw
as A
naP
auke
r, a
grim
-fac
ed, l
umpy
wom
an w
ho k
ept h
er ir
on-g
ray
hair
inan
awkw
ard
bob
and
wor
e ill
-fitt
ing
man
nish
sui
ts. T
here
war
no
mor
ete
lling
imag
e of
wha
t was
hap
peni
ng in
Rom
ania
than
her
arr
ival
on a
nof
ficia
l vis
it to
War
saw
in 1
947.
She
wen
t by
trai
n ai
r se
rvic
ew
as s
till
unce
rtai
nand
use
d on
e of
the
luxu
rious
old
Orie
nt E
xpre
ss s
peci
als,
new
ly p
aint
ed a
nd p
olis
hed.
War
saw
sta
tion
had
been
tota
lly d
e-st
roye
d in
the
war
, mad
e in
to a
cra
ter
of tw
iste
d tr
acks
. So
Mrs
. Pan
-ke
r's tr
ain
pulle
d up
in a
n op
en c
lear
ing
just
out
side
the
city
, whe
re th
eP
olis
h di
gnita
ries
lined
up
to g
reet
her
. The
con
tras
t bet
wee
n he
r an
dhe
r es
cort
was
eve
n gr
eate
r th
an th
at b
etw
een
the
eleg
ant c
an a
nd th
ede
vast
atio
n. A
t eac
h w
indo
w a
s th
e tr
ain
slow
ed to
a s
top
wer
e th
e m
enof
her
hon
or g
uard
, wea
ring
extr
avag
ant r
ed a
nd b
lue
unifo
rms
with
oper
etta
dec
orat
ions
. Son
ic w
ere
obvi
ousl
y co
rset
ed, t
heir
chee
ks a
ndlip
s ro
uged
, the
ir m
oust
ache
s w
axed
and
twirl
ed. T
hen
cam
e A
na P
au-
ker.
She
clo
mpe
d to
the
grou
nd, e
yes
stee
ly a
nd li
ps s
tern
lyse
t. S
hem
ade
no c
once
ssio
ns. T
he m
en a
roun
d he
rw
ere
noth
ing
mor
e th
anR
oman
ia's
van
ishi
ng p
ast.
She
was
bor
n A
na R
abin
sohn
, dau
ghte
r of
a M
olda
vian
Jew
ish
butc
her,
and
had
taug
ht H
ebre
w a
te B
ucha
rest
syna
gogu
e sc
hool
be-
fore
goi
ng to
Zur
ich
to s
tudy
med
icin
e. T
here
she
met
and
mar
ried
Mar
cel P
auke
r, a
Rom
ania
n st
uden
t who
se fa
ther
was
a n
ewsp
aper
publ
ishe
r. B
ut s
he d
evel
oped
a c
onsu
min
g in
tere
st in
Mar
xism
, joi
ned
the
Com
mun
ist P
arty
in u
m a
nd w
as e
lect
ed to
its
Cen
tral
Com
mitt
eeaf
ter
only
a y
est.
She
had
the
usua
l exp
erie
nces
of u
nder
grou
nd w
ork,
arre
st, s
tudy
in h
er fi
lthy,
sol
itary
cel
l. T
he m
ain
diffe
renc
e in
her
care
er fr
om th
ose
of h
er c
omra
des
was
that
dur
ing
the
late
192
01 s
heha
d liv
ed in
the
Uni
ted
Sla
tes,
whe
re h
er h
usba
nd r
epre
sent
ed th
e
94
478
EU
I1()
11E
.
Sov
iet t
rade
org
aniz
atio
n. T
hat w
as o
nly
an u
tterlu
de, h
owev
er. B
ack
in R
oman
ia, s
he la
nded
in p
rison
aga
in. I
n is
oo, t
here
was
a S
ovie
t-R
oman
ian
exch
ange
of p
rison
ers
afte
r th
e oc
cupa
tion
of B
essa
rabi
a,an
d sh
e w
as r
elea
sed
to M
osco
w. D
urin
g th
e w
ar, s
he h
elpe
d or
gani
zea
spec
ial R
ed A
rmy
divi
sion
of R
oman
ian
pris
oner
s of
war
and
mar
ched
hom
e w
ith th
em in
194
4 w
earin
g th
e m
ajor
's u
nifo
rm o
fa
polit
ical
com
mis
sar.
Ana
Pau
ker's
vis
it to
War
saw
was
for
the
mee
ting
whi
ch d
rafte
da
new
man
ifest
o re
vivi
ng th
e of
ficia
l int
erna
tiona
l Com
mun
ist m
ove-
men
t and
est
ablis
hing
the
Com
info
rm. S
he w
as n
ot to
bec
ome
For
eign
Min
iste
r un
til tw
o m
onth
s la
ter,
but
she
alre
ady
rank
ed a
mon
g th
ew
orld
's to
p C
omm
unis
t fig
ures
, alo
ng w
ith Y
ugos
lavi
a's
Tito
and
Bul
-ga
ria's
Dim
itrov
. She
was
sai
d to
be
the
only
Rom
ania
n w
ith d
irect
acce
ss to
Sta
lin. A
long
with
Mrs
. Pau
ker
and
Che
orgh
iu-D
ej, F
inan
ceM
inis
ter
Vas
ik [A
MA
(an
eth
nic
Hun
garia
n w
hose
rea
l nam
e w
as L
aszl
oLu
kacs
) ap
pear
ed to
com
pose
a s
turd
y le
ader
ship
troi
ka th
at c
ould
not
be b
udge
d. B
ut th
e R
oman
ian
Com
mun
ists
wer
e ha
ving
trou
ble.
The
coun
try
had
been
plu
nder
ed, h
ad lo
st a
fifth
of i
ts te
rrito
ry a
nd, o
n to
pof
that
, had
had
to p
ay h
eavy
rep
arat
ions
to th
e S
ovie
ts. T
he p
easa
nts
resi
sted
col
lect
iviz
atio
n, w
hich
was
impo
sed
slow
ly b
ut in
exor
ably
.ov
er 1
2 pe
rcen
t of t
he p
opul
atio
n be
long
ed to
res
tive
min
oriti
es. T
urks
and
Pew
s w
ere
allo
wed
to e
mig
rate
in th
e ea
rly y
ears
, but
Cem
ians
,S
erbs
and
, mos
t of a
ll, th
e la
rge
num
ber
of H
unga
rians
wer
e di
fficu
ltto
dea
l with
. Mon
etar
y re
form
,.int
rodu
ced
sudd
enly
, wip
ed o
ut b
oth
inlia
tioo
and
virt
ually
all
priv
ate
savi
ngs.
The
Rom
ania
n le
ader
ship
was
tota
lly d
epen
dent
on
Mos
cow
, and
Mos
cow
was
not
ent
irely
ple
ased
with
its
resu
lts.
The
bre
ak b
etw
een
Sta
lin a
nd T
ito g
ave
Ghe
orgh
iu-D
ej th
e ar
gu-
men
ts to
elim
inat
e fir
st th
e "n
atio
nalis
ts"
amon
g hi
s C
omm
unis
t riv
als
and
then
, in
sop,
the
"cos
mop
olite
s,"
whi
ch in
the
cont
ext m
eant
none
thni
c R
oman
ians
and
inte
llect
uals
, esp
ecia
lly M
rs. P
auke
r an
dLu
ca, W
ith s
ome
shre
wd
deto
urs,
he
cont
inue
d to
con
solid
ate
his
pow
er L
ater
, Che
orgh
iu-D
ej w
as to
take
cre
dit f
or c
reat
ing
som
e di
s-fr
om th
e S
ovie
ts o
n fo
reig
n po
licy.
But
at t
he ti
me,
he
was
alw
ays
in s
tep,
pro
vidi
ng n
ew h
eadq
uart
ers
for
the
Com
info
rm in
Buc
hare
stal
to it
had
to b
e m
oved
from
Bel
grad
e. W
hen
Tito
dem
onst
rabl
y su
c-ce
eded
in e
scap
ing
from
sat
ellit
edom
, how
ever
, the
Rum
ania
n le
ader
bega
n to
feel
the
attr
acta
nt o
f mor
e in
depe
nden
ce. H
e ai
med
gra
du-
ally
, Ind
the
peop
le w
aite
d th
e gr
owin
g co
olne
ss to
war
d th
e R
ussi
ans
9or ej
RO
MA
NIA
: TH
E L
IGH
TS
WE
NT
OU
T47
9an
d w
ere
delig
hted
. Che
orgh
iu-D
ejha
d fo
und
that
natio
nalis
m w
asa
mor
e ef
fect
ive
way
to fo
rce
dow
nth
e pi
ll of
Sta
lmis
in.
Bes
ides
, lie
was
havi
ng in
crea
sing
argu
men
ts w
ith K
hrus
liche
y,w
ho h
ad o
bser
ved
the
prod
uctiv
e im
puls
e th
at th
eC
omm
on M
arke
tw
as g
ivin
g W
este
rn E
u-ro
pe. T
he S
ovie
t lea
der
dete
rmin
edto
rev
erse
the
Eas
tern
bloc
'so-
nom
ic p
olic
y, b
uilt
on tr
ying
to im
itate
the
Sov
iet's
heav
y-in
dust
rym
odel
in e
ach
coun
try,
and
to in
crea
se c
oope
ratio
nan
d tr
ade
by a
llo-
catin
g ea
ch s
tate
a s
peci
alta
sk. E
ast C
erin
any
and
C7e
chos
lova
kia
wer
epl
ease
d, a
ntic
ipat
ing
bene
fits
beca
use
of th
eir
indu
stria
l bas
e. B
utR
u-m
ania
was
sha
rply
opp
osed
.B
ucha
rest
was
det
erm
ined
to c
ontin
ue it
spo
licy
of s
elf-
suffi
cien
cyan
d gr
andi
ose
proj
ects
.U
naw
are
of th
ese
unde
rlyin
gar
gum
ents
and
wha
t the
yw
ould
mea
nto
the
deve
lopm
ent o
f Rom
ania
'sec
onom
y, th
e pu
blic
app
laud
edan
ysi
gn o
f def
ianc
e to
Mos
cow
. The
Sov
iets
wer
ese
en a
s th
e so
urce
of t
hew
orst
diff
icul
ties,
and
peo
ple
foun
d in
geni
ous
way
s to
sho
w g
ener
aldi
ssat
isfa
ctio
n w
ith th
eir
oile
rs. I
n th
esu
mm
er o
f los
ti b
aske
da
man
stan
ding
ina
pack
ed fe
uckl
oad
of w
orke
rs,
wai
ting
to b
e ta
ken
toa
"spo
ntan
eous
dem
onst
ratio
n"of
app
rova
l for
the
gove
rnm
ent,
a de
lib-
erat
ely
ambi
guou
s,ne
ut:a
l que
stio
n: "
How
are
thin
gs h
ere?
" lie
shou
ted
dow
na
wily
ans
wer
whi
ch r
evea
led
all:
"We'
re n
ot a
llow
ed to
tell
you.
" T
here
wer
e re
port
s la
ter
of u
pris
ings
111
Tra
nsyl
vani
a du
ring
the
Hun
garia
n re
volu
tion
that
fall.
One
rum
or r
each
ing
othe
r pa
rts
ofE
aste
rn E
urop
ew
as th
at tw
o R
oman
ian
arm
y di
visi
ons
had
been
dis
-ar
med
. But
itw
as n
ever
'cle
ar w
heth
er S
ovie
tor
oth
er R
oman
ian
troo
psto
ok th
e ac
tion
and,
alth
ough
cre
dibl
e, th
ere
port
was
nev
er d
ocu-
men
ted.
Und
oubt
edly
, the
unea
sy s
ituat
ion
prec
ipita
ted
the
deci
sion
tode
man
d re
mov
al o
f Sov
iet
forc
es th
e fo
llow
ing
year
, whi
ch K
hrus
hche
vac
cept
ed b
ecau
se h
e ha
dla
rger
con
cern
sat
the
time.
Che
orgh
iu-D
ej m
ade,
the
mos
t of t
he p
eopl
e's
joyo
usre
actio
n fo
rre
vivi
ng n
atio
nalis
m.
He
had
all t
he s
tree
tsan
d ci
nem
as, w
hich
kid
been
giv
en R
ussi
anna
mes
, reb
aptiz
ed in
Rom
ania
n.Ile
had
his
tory
rew
ritte
n to
cla
im th
at th
eR
oman
ians
had
"lib
erat
ed"
them
selv
es, w
ith-
out t
he R
ed A
rmy,
an ir
onic
ass
ertio
n be
caus
e in
that
case
the
Com
-m
unis
ts w
ould
neve
r ha
ve h
ad th
e sl
ight
est c
hanc
eat
pow
er. H
e ev
enre
-exp
lain
ed th
epu
rges
to p
rete
nd th
at h
e ha
d sh
rew
dly
gotte
n rid
of
the
pro-
Mos
cow
peop
le in
the
lead
ersh
ipby
the
devi
ous
char
ges
of"n
atio
nalis
m"
and
"cos
mop
olita
nism
." R
oman
iare
mai
ned
in th
e W
ar-
saw
Pac
t, bu
tas
an
incr
easi
ngly
obs
trep
erou
sm
embe
r. A
fter
,962
itpr
ohib
ited
Pac
tm
aneu
vers
on
its te
rrito
ry a
nd b
egan
to d
iver
ge fr
om
BE
ST C
OPY
AV
AIL
AB
LE
.?G
481)
F 1
11s
timid
Inm
an im
4k F
In S
imi i
nh, t
he K
omoi
sion
s ha
ve a
ltore
fuse
dW
iwi H
IM. I
n bu
mf r
oues
hi l
int h
owev
er, S
ovie
t uni
ts h
ave
been
seen
traw
l tu
lksi
gnii
In v
ans:
nes
Itini
ssin
e's
lodg
er/ s
tolid
cam
eto
he
tom
pene
l wits
that
of H
one
in N
A'1
1), a
pal
ly, u
ncoo
pera
tive
ally
bat
en
Ay
ell t
he s
ome
Al t
he ti
me
of T
ilsit
deat
h in
ntig
libut
ing
Irug
uiliv
it, w
hen
time
tres
s le
ss o
f New
atte
mpt
s to
ree
stab
lish
poo-
Mus
eow
lega
to b
y lu
sts,
Itun
isni
a ou
nstit
utel
l s h
orne
t un
a vi
tal
iew
siM
so m
ule
My
4114
the
schi
sm m
eolie
d a
poin
t of o
penl
y de
clar
ed p
olic
y. T
helio
ntan
iato
pet
ty p
tose
lovi
esed
lhal
"A
na c
oma
he a
Whe
t pet
ty a
nde
son
pony
, a m
ono(
pea
ty a
nd a
cub
onlin
ale
petty
, onl
y a
reel
fam
ilyof
Uni
onou
nist
and
min
e po
tties
with
equ
al n
oble
." II
was
rat
ted
a
Rom
ania
n de
cim
atio
n of
inds
pend
enoe
, a d
elis
, lu
luilo
w th
e pa
rty'
s"o
wn
sued
to s
ocie
lison
," a
s th
e V
oodo
o an
d Ita
lian
Com
mun
ists
had
done
bef
oce.
Mut
unl
ike
the
othe
r go
nna
betw
een
Com
mun
ist l
eade
nan
d M
osco
w, i
t adv
ance
d no
ree
l ew
e of
ideo
logy
, no
depa
rtur
es in
the
theo
ry o
r pr
actic
e of
"bu
ildin
g so
cial
ism
" an
d br
ough
t no
inte
rnal
inno
vatio
ns. C
heor
ghis
sti d
ied
on M
arch
so,
so6
s, a
t the
age
of
silly
.th
ree,
with
out h
avin
g re
linqu
ishe
d a
Sul o
f po
wer
.O
nce
agai
n, th
ere
appe
ared
to b
e a
Itoik
a.T
here
was
Ion
Mau
rer,
an in
telli
gent
, edu
cate
d m
an w
ho w
as th
en P
rem
ier;
Chi
vu S
toic
s, a
past
y st
alw
art w
ho h
ad lo
ng d
une
Ghe
olgl
isue
cs b
iddi
ng a
nd w
as(*
Lie
d Pr
esid
ent,
and
thco
lae
Cea
uses
cu, o
nly
fort
y-se
ven
at th
e tim
e,w
ho h
ad h
ad a
(min
imcl
imb
thro
ugh
the
part
y hi
erar
chy,
ris
ing
all
the
was
to th
e Po
litbu
ro in
the
deca
de s
ous
-SS
. Cea
upnc
u lo
okov
eras
Fir
st S
ecre
tary
. He
had
the
cove
ted
orda
ins!
.of
bei
ng a
net
hnic
Kla
nsm
an, c
omin
g fr
om a
pou
r (d
imly
, hav
ing
been
invo
lved
with
the
com
mun
ist m
ovem
ent h
um M
ee *
slily
teen
s an
d be
ing
lune
and
heal
thy
It so
on b
ecam
e cl
eat w
ho w
as th
e ab
solu
te b
oo. C
ealli
efeu
did
not c
hang
e th
e po
licie
s of
his
WN
W, C
heut
ehiu
-Del
, tith
es in
finna
n af
faits
or
inte
rnal
ly. I
ts s
einf
utco
d th
em. R
oman
ia c
ontin
ued
to s
trad
dle
the
Mos
cow
- P
ekin
g di
vide
end
see
k in
opio
nsi r
elen
ting
with
the
Wes
t, pu
rsue
mat
aveg
sta
deve
lopm
ent p
lain
at t
he c
ost o
f liv
ing
stan
dard
s an
d cl
amp
the
tight
est p
ossi
ble
lid o
n tu
g es
peui
thi o
f cor
n.pl
ait o
r ev
en m
ild c
halle
nge.
(.es
uanc
o is
a to
nsil
man
, whi
ch is
sel
dom
not
ed b
ecau
se S
te ta
kes
care
to b
e ph
otiq
paso
lted
in th
e m
idst
of i
hddi
en is
sta
ndin
g ab
ove
the
peop
le a
roun
d hi
m. I
lse
hair
iscu
rly, h
os e
yes
narr
ow, h
is n
ose
shar
p,an
d hi
s po
rtra
its s
how
bun
with
a w
ow m
ule,
thou
gh h
e ho
lds
him
self
idd1
MA
NK
A: 1
1W 1
1611
11i W
EN
t 151
11'
485
with
a c
old,
loya
l lev
ier.
Aen
unai
k w
lsn
timed
hin
r w
ith la
m in
the
seve
re1)
ults
itS p
omm
o u1
Km
" C
entr
al d
ap.&
will
ed h
im a
s"a
ski
nny
kid
who
test
y sa
id a
win
d. Il
e di
dn't
whi
m w
hets
they
luck
ed h
its..
Ileth
at s
mile
whe
n th
ey le
d hi
m."
As
sum
mit
lead
er, h
e lu
ck g
reat
pai
nsto
con
ing
his
Now
Uni
son
beac
on,"
"Ile
lnitn
ien
who
gui
des,
""O
ut la
y G
od,"
"T
lsin
king
pol
ar s
tar,
" lil
y lid
thin
k, o
f thi
s ea
rth,
"'Il
se m
oist
em
inen
t per
sona
lity
of in
tern
atio
nal p
oliti
cal a
nd s
cien
tific
Me,
" '1
%e
lank
live
s to
day
owle
t the
Sip
of C
esup
sic"
the
nibs
Mis
s w
ere
mad
e lu
pas
sw
orn
of a
dula
tion.
Cea
site
scu'
s im
agin
ativ
ew
eiph
vige
rs e
ven
surp
asse
d S
talin
's c
onso
unid
ened
Iseg
iugt
aphe
n.In
Nib
, he
mad
e hi
s w
ife, E
lena
, his
sec
uoid
-in .c
omm
end,
with
the
title
of V
ice
Pre
mie
r, a
nd th
e ke
y jo
b of
con
trol
of p
arty
per
sonn
el. S
heto
o w
as a
ccor
ded
the
right
to th
e m
ost e
alia
ralp
id e
ncom
ia. l
ier"
good
and
lend
er s
mile
rep
lace
s th
e su
n an
a g
rey
day,
" re
ad th
e of
ficia
llypu
blis
hed
"Hom
age
to C
omra
de E
lena
Cos
uies
cu"
on th
e oc
casi
on o
fhe
rpr
omot
ion
in th
e go
vern
men
t.A
poe
m o
ffere
dby
the
Uni
on o
fR
uman
ian
Wri
ters
sai
d, "
By
your
wis
dom
, you
are
our
sm
othe
r, a
val
iant
wom
an w
ho h
as c
onqu
ered
all
the
secr
ets
of s
cien
ce, t
he w
orth
y an
dpr
oud
com
pani
on o
f th
e M
agni
fice
nt M
an."
The
off
icia
l bio
grap
hies
are
as d
iscr
eet a
bout
the
fact
s of
the
reig
ning
cou
ple'
s liv
es b
efor
e th
eas
cent
to g
lory
as
they
ere
gar
rulo
us a
bout
the
Cea
uses
cus'
pro
fess
edvi
rtue
s. E
lena
was
bur
n th
e da
ught
er o
f a
land
owne
r in
a b
ttk s
outh
ern
Car
path
ian
villa
ge a
nd m
ade
her
way
as
a gi
rl to
Buc
hare
st, w
here
she
wor
ked
in a
text
ile f
acto
ry. T
he o
nly
clai
m m
ade
for
earl
y po
litic
alac
tivity
was
that
she
was
cho
sen
quee
n of
the
ball
on M
ay l)
ay in
lino
.B
ut o
nce
inst
alle
d in
pow
er b
esid
e he
r hu
sban
d, s
he in
sist
ed o
n be
ing
trea
ted
not j
ust a
s a
cons
ort,
a fa
st la
dy, b
ut a
s a
polit
ical
and
inle
llec
rue:
lum
inar
y in
her
ow
n ri
ght.
Cea
utes
cu's
met
hod
of r
ule
was
to r
ely
on h
is fa
mily
and
to k
eep
resh
uffli
ng th
e re
st o
f the
gov
erni
ng a
ppar
atus
so
that
ever
yone
ow
edPo
sitio
n an
d pr
ivile
ge d
irec
tly to
him
and
cou
ld n
ever
forg
etil.
The
resu
lt w
as s
uch
ast
illin
g, p
aral
ysed
hie
rarc
hy, w
ith th
e m
ost t
rivia
lde
cisi
ons
!squ
iring
a r
ulin
g fr
om o
n hi
gh, t
hat e
ven
Com
ma
nit
Chi
nese
del
egat
es to
ld W
este
rner
s th
ey d
islik
ed d
oing
bus
ines
s w
ithR
oman
ia lo
cum
not
hing
cou
ld b
e m
oved
thro
ugh
its b
urea
ucra
cy.
Tho
ugh
thei
r im
ages
wer
e ub
iqui
tous
, the
lead
ing
coup
le w
ere
soin
sula
ted,
so
dist
ant f
rom
the
ever
yday
life
of t
he c
ount
ry, t
hat s
ome-
times
peo
ple
woo
dine
d w
heth
er th
ey a
ctua
lly k
new
wha
t was
goi
ng o
n.B
ut th
ere
coul
d be
littl
e do
ubt i
n a
syst
em o
f su
ch s
trin
gent
and
cer
s-
?8
483
FO
RU
M:
Isal
szed
com
ing
Whe
n lo
ud s
hort
ages
bec
ause
acut
e, C
eaus
escu
an-
noun
ced
that
so
perc
ent o
f illn
ess
thro
ugho
ut th
eco
untr
y w
as d
ue to
glut
tony
. Ile
pre
scrib
ed a
"sc
ient
ific
diet
" (o
r he
alth
purp
oses
. It p
er-
mitt
ed, p
er m
antis
, no
eggs
,po
und
of b
utte
r, s
.s p
ound
s of
coo
king
oil a
nd s
. s p
ound
s of
mea
tthou
gh h
e di
dno
t say
how
thes
e ite
ms
wen
t to
be fo
und
m th
e em
pty
mar
kets
. Sha
rp-t
ongu
ed R
oman
ians
sai
dit
was
a n
ew c
ontr
ibut
ion
to h
isto
ric id
eolo
gy, "
diet
etic
Mar
xism
."W
eed
was
rat
ione
d in
sob
). O
ne o
f the
few
kno
wn
inci
dent
s of
dis
orde
rca
me
whe
n C
eaus
escu
vis
ited
a m
issi
ng to
wn
shor
tly a
fterw
ard
and
was
reef
ed w
ith a
had
of s
tone
s. Il
e le
d by
hel
icop
ter.
Ene
rgy
was
als
o cr
itica
lly s
hod.
Bec
ause
of R
oman
iat r
ejec
tion
ofin
tegr
atio
n in
pla
nnin
g by
Com
econ
, the
Sov
iet e
cono
mic
blo
c,th
eS
ovie
ts r
efus
ed "
rubl
e oi
l" an
d pe
trol
eum
had
to b
e bo
ught
with
har
dcu
rren
cy. I
luge
tube
s of
met
hane
gas
, whi
ch lo
oked
like
cru
de r
ocke
ts,
wer
e pl
aced
ato
p ci
ty b
uses
for
thei
r fu
el. T
he s
tree
ts, a
ndev
en th
ehi
nny
hote
ls b
uilt
for
fore
ign
tour
ists
, wer
e le
ft in
a d
im g
loom
at n
ight
.P
uke
had
a rig
ht to
ent
er a
nyon
e's
hom
eat
any
hou
r to
see
if th
eyw
ere
usin
g m
ore
than
the
ratio
n of
ele
ctric
ity. l
aght
bul
bsov
er a
o w
atts
wes
t no
long
er o
n sa
le. R
efrig
erat
ors
had
to b
e un
plug
ged
in w
inte
r,an
d ap
artm
ent d
wel
lers
cau
ght u
sing
forb
idde
n el
ectr
iche
ater
s ris
ked
pena
lties
Exc
ept (
or s
peci
al o
ccas
ions
, suc
has
cel
ebra
tion
of a
Cea
u-se
scu
lintli
day,
'IV
sta
tions
bro
adca
st o
nly
two
hour
s a
nigh
t. In
any
even
t, it
was
suc
h dr
eary
, plo
paga
ndis
tic te
levi
ses
that
peo
ple
took
tow
att h
ung
Bul
gate
an b
road
cast
s, w
hich
cou
ld b
e re
ceiv
ednn
Buc
hare
staw
l sou
se (
Alm
par
ts o
f the
cou
ntry
. Bul
garia
n 'IV
sch
edul
esci
rcul
ated
c.la
nde-
nilic
ly. A
ss u
nder
grou
nd B
ulga
rian-
Rom
ania
n di
ctio
nary
was
stoo
ped
for
view
ers,
but
eve
n w
ithou
t und
erst
andi
ng th
ew
ords
, peo
-pl
e fe
lt th
e pi
ctur
es w
ere
livel
ier,
mor
e in
tere
stin
g. A
nd th
eyco
uld
see
that
Bul
garia
ns li
ved
bette
r. T
hat h
urt.
RU
0100
0101
wer
e ac
cust
omed
tolin
king
dow
n on
Bul
garia
ns a
s ba
ckw
ard,
cru
de,
less
Eur
opea
n. "
Ine
ver
in m
y lif
e w
ould
hav
e in
saip
ned
that
the
day
wou
ldso
me
whe
nw
e w
ould
env
y B
ulga
rians
," s
aid
a fa
mou
s pa
inte
r's a
ster
.A
new
kin
d of
per
sona
l sol
idas
ity a
nise
aniu
sig
the
peop
le, e
ll:11
001-
mg
hide
(av
ail a
nd s
ervi
ces,
get
ting
up to
que
ue H
I the
mid
dle
of th
eni
ght o
r pa
ssin
g on
wor
d ab
out a
cou
ntry
fam
ily w
hnin
anot
alto
hal
ehu
m th
e au
thor
ities
par
t of t
he g
oat c
hees
e it
prod
uced
and
was
will
ing
to s
ell.
A W
0011
0 to
ld a
bout
a fr
iend
who
was
ecs
tatic
at h
avin
g fo
und
a pa
r of
sto
ckin
gs a
nd a
dded
sad
ly, i
t tak
es s
o la
de to
mik
e el
s ha
ppy
now
But
thes
e w
as b
odgi
ng Il
k th
e so
cial
cut
icul
a, w
hich
dev
elop
edm
itt fi
st S
olal
aset
y m
ovre
swis
t III
Pol
and
Peo
ple
mum
bled
and
tsin
grd
RO
MA
NIA
: TH
E L
IGH
TS
Vilk
INT
OU
T48
The
re s
eem
ed to
be
a de
gree
of s
adis
m a
nd m
egal
oman
ia th
at w
ent
wel
l bey
ond
snor
e to
talit
aria
n m
ism
anag
emen
t of t
he c
ount
ry A
Inge
part
of o
ld B
ucha
rest
was
raz
ed to
bui
ld a
noth
er m
onum
enta
l lui
imi
and
triu
mph
al a
venu
e. S
ome
of th
e fin
e ol
d vi
llas
wer
e le
ft, o
ccup
ied
ofte
n by
fore
ign
dipl
omat
s, b
ut m
ost p
eopl
e w
ere
*Med
into
OM
-bu
ilt a
nthi
lls o
f apa
rtm
ent b
lock
s. C
entr
al h
ealin
g an
d bu
t waf
er w
ere
avai
labl
e on
ly o
ccas
iona
lly. P
eopl
e w
ould
get
up
at s
Or
4 A
110
10
set d
the
two
hour
s of
but
wat
er p
rom
ised
dai
lyha
ppen
edto
he
on. K
ent
ciga
rette
s an
d sm
all p
acke
ts o
f cof
fee
beca
use
a m
ediu
m o
f cat
holic
,ne
eded
to g
et q
uick
atte
ntio
n fr
om a
doc
tor
or to
per
suad
e a
plum
ber
to m
oonl
ight
. The
nat
iona
l cur
renc
y, th
e hi
, was
not
of g
reat
use
, and
it w
as d
ange
rous
to b
e ca
ught
with
una
utho
rised
fore
ign
curr
ency
.le
s th
e ci
rcum
stan
ces,
fore
ign
obse
rver
s sp
ecul
ated
abo
ut a
fter-
Cea
ulei
cu. N
obod
y im
agin
ed th
at h
e m
ight
(al
l, bu
t he
was
at l
east
hum
an e
noug
h to
be
mod
al. F
ew s
uppo
sed
that
his
hig
h-hy
ing,
hot
tem
pere
d, s
elf-
indu
lgen
t son
Nic
u w
ould
rea
lly b
e ab
le to
hol
d th
esu
cces
sion
whi
ch h
is fa
ther
was
pre
parin
g fu
r hi
m. "
I don
't 'M
ud th
athe
drin
ks, c
hase
s w
omen
, get
s in
to fi
ghts
," o
ne o
ffici
al c
onfid
ed, "
but
he's
inco
mpe
tent
." Y
et n
obod
y ou
tsid
e th
e fa
mily
had
bee
n al
low
ed to
rise
to a
pos
ition
whe
re p
ower
mig
ht b
e tr
ansf
erre
d sm
ooth
ly. W
ould
ther
e be
a b
attle
of f
actio
ns o
r a
grea
t uph
eava
l? It
see
med
that
so
muc
hre
pres
sion
, so
muc
h de
priv
atio
n, s
uch
cooc
entr
atom
i of p
ower
cou
ldbr
ing
an e
xplo
sive
rel
ief w
hen
the
dict
ator
ulti
mat
ely
disa
ppea
red.
But
Rom
ania
ns, a
sked
wha
t the
y ex
pect
ed, t
ende
d to
furr
ow th
eir
brow
s in
puzz
lem
ent.
The
edi
tor
of th
e C
omm
unis
t Far
ty p
aper
Sca
nlan
', a
po-
sitio
n of
hig
h im
port
ance
, sai
d bl
andl
y, "
Life
alw
ays
brin
gs n
ew p
cob-
lent
s."
The
reg
ime
did
not s
how
fear
s, a
nd th
e pe
ople
dad
not
sho
who
pes
of c
hang
e. It
was
as
thou
gh th
e ex
istin
g si
tuat
ion
had
beco
me
sope
rvas
ive,
so
embe
dded
in th
e co
untr
y's
thou
ght,
that
it w
as im
poss
ible
fur
peop
le e
ven
to im
agin
e th
ings
mig
ht b
e di
ffere
nt. T
hey
appe
ared
toha
ve r
enou
nced
the
futu
re in
the
dogg
ed a
nd to
sur
vive
the
pres
ent.
'Ilse
bas
ic r
esou
rces
of t
he c
ount
ry a
nd it
s in
dust
rious
, if e
xhau
sted
and
sulle
n, p
opul
atio
n sh
ould
pro
vide
foe
a ha
ppie
r fu
ture
foe
Rom
ania
if it
can
ever
em
erge
from
its
polit
ical
dea
dkck
. But
it h
as a
lway
s ha
dto
'que
en b
y on
wit
and
wis
hes,
on
duck
ing
4,10
-1%
pos
sibl
e m
id b
owin
gw
hen
nece
ssar
y, O
il ev
asio
n an
d in
grat
iatio
n. It
has
esc
aped
a m
easu
reof
Sov
iet t
hral
ldom
in in
tern
atio
nal r
elat
ions
onl
y to
be
hope
less
ly e
n-sn
ared
in it
s ow
n, n
o lo
nger
a c
onso
latio
n.is
not
hing
diff
eren
tim
the
'mia
ow
3 (1
Ceausescu Bear Hunt Shows A Dictator Hunting For HonorMilwaukee Journal, January 13, 1991
1Editor's Note: The following article describes a bearhunt organized for the benefit of Romanian dictatorNicolae Ceausescu, who was toppled in the revolutionof December 1989. Verging on a parody, the story ofthe hunt is an authentic document of the Ceausescudictatorship. a lesson on the technique of maintainingpower. The account first appeared in the Germannewspaper Die Zeit and was translated into English byThe World Paper./
October 10, 19842 A.11.: The director of the zoo in
Marosvasarhely is awakened by the telephone. Thesecretary of the district party council gives him briefinstructions: The director is to dress immediately andreport to work.
Two members of the secret police are waitingin front of the main building. Two large brown bearsare to be delivered immediately, and with the utmostsecrecy, to the representatives of the Bucharest StateCircus, who have been waiting for an hour. The circuspeople tranquilize, tie and toad the bears bywheelbarrow into the special truck. They take off.
4 A.M.: The car stops in a small clearing.The soldier-like prison guards curse as they strugglewith the bears. The animals, foaming at the mouth, arethrown io the ground and, still tied, bite into thedew-covered grass.
A veterinarian rushes to examine them andnods with satisfaction; the bears, muzzled to preventthem from eating or drinking before the hunt begins,must have already goes three or four days without food.Their jaws are locked with steel clamps, their hind legstied to tree trunks.
3 A.M.: A dark green armed helicopter landsnearby and the special Pioneer Division perfectlycamouflages the bun and the horse's body with pinebranches and leaves. Eighty yards away, the Pioneersclear trees and bushes from a 20-yard radius and in ahalf-hour build a stand in the clearing for Ceausescu.
October 11, 1984
4 A.81.: Air surveillance, under way for 10days now, enters Phase 2: Ceausescu's air force fliesinto the air space between Dods and the GoergenyAlps. Now the bravest warrior of the Carpathians canbattle the bears protected by jets and attack helicopters.By the order of the Party, all industrial, trade, culturaland administrative activities halt in the town ofSzasegen. The inhabitants Hungarians, Romanians
and Germans - are pressed to the sidewalks, soldiers infront, two rows of secret police behind. The knowing(informed) throng is silent.
The agitators stare into people's eyes, shakethem and bellow at each of them, 'Long live NicolaeCeausescu, most beloved son of the Romanian people!"until each joins the cry.
5:30 P.M.: More than five hours have passedsince the crowds were ordered to the streets. Theystand tired, hungry, thirsty and listless.
That same hour a beet-red helicopter appearsto the northeast and a commotion breaks out around theLaposnya hunting lodge. Only Comrade Ceausescu hasa red helicopter! It lands on the court d'hormsur infront of the castle. A man dressed as a hunter stepsgracelessly from the copier - Ceausescu's double! Inthe twilight, uncertainty...who knows where the realCeausescu disembarked?
The real one had flown in early that afternoon.
October 12, 19149 A.M.: The throng of invited guests from the
Romanian Communist Party and the government, thepress and the diplomatic corps, falls in place to therhythm of a military march.
Ceausescu's arrival marks the climax. Aceremonial column is led by the secret police.The beaters orders are to rouse the bear and direct himtoward the bunting tower.
Activity in the clearing is suspect. The twobears tranquilized again - are freed. They graduallyawaken and appear in the arena unsteady and bellowing.
The keenest falcon of the Carpathians beginsto take aim, first closing his right eye and then his lettwhile his finger rests tensely on the trigger. One sharpshot, then a second loud bang. Blood spews
fountain -like from the bear's chest near his heart.The other bear, apparently sensing his end is
near, bellows dangerously, attempting to escape; ct
seems he was able to free one of his legs,The marksmen in the treetops are silent. They
are completely satisfied with the current situation.After all, through their joint efforts they have alreadyfelled one of the bears. The collaboration wentplanned; the moment Ceausescu placed his first tinteron the trigger the little red LED lamps on the
sharpshooters rifles' rifles lit up, and when Crausesolsqueezed, the three marksmen also fired - with sileni..crsso that this small technical auistance could be renderedwith the utmost discretion.
31
BEST COPY AVAILABLE
And so the hero of the battle at Goergenyconquered the first giant beat with only two shots.Meanwhile, the other bear is pulling at his bindingswith unbelievable might. The thin .steel wire little bylittle saws deeper Into the bones of the ailing animal.One last yank at the binding and the animal is free.
The racket confuses the doomed bear and heattempts to escape. Ceausescu, up above, red in theface and shaking, lifts his weapon. His consternation isunderstandable; he has never had the opportunity to fireat a wild animal at such close range. And so the bravehunter firth without aiming!
The band breaks offs there is a pained silence.
The bear stands frozen; he was not hit. Ceausescuthrows his rifle to the ground hysterically and slams hisfist on the stand's railing. He fired, so the bear musthave been hit! A president does not fire a second time.The marksmen in the trees save the dramatic situation.Their dampened shots slice through the animals chest.The giant wavers a few moments in a pool of its ownblood and falls.
The national anthem follows and Ceausescu,visibly pleased, waves from th, stand and descends theladder. He pauses on the first rung to lift his chestproudly and is awarded the gold medal for the bestmarksman in Romania in 1984.
Where Policemen Outnumber PigeonsMircea Dinescu, Uncaptive Minds, May-June-July 1989
This is an incredible country -- a countrywhere people can't even immolate themselves publiclybecause of a shortage of matches, or bang themselvesbecause of a shortage of rope. Look at Bucharest, wellon its way to becoming the first European city withouta single church, when policemen outnumber pigeons,and black marketers have succeeded in introducing anew kind of currency: Kent cigarettes. There's also thedisease of gigantism that measures human happinese incubic meters of concrete. It's an absurd land where the
border guards point their weapons toward their owncountry, where wheat is harvested on television but rotsin the fields, where workers are called 'proprietors' sothat they can be made to buy what the Constitution saysis rightfully theirs; their means of livelihood. Streetcarconductors are obliged to buy their streetcars, drillerstheir own drills, and peasants have to purchase theporches in their own yards....
When you go home, toll everyone that Cod hasturned his back on Romania.
Report From Romania: Down With The TyrantRobert Cullen, The New Yorker, April 2, 1990
In bare outline, Nicoiac Ceausescu's lifeand career closely resembled Stalin's. Like Stalin,he was born in poverty -- to a peasant family froma village called Scornicesti, about a hundred mileswest of Bucharest. lie received only a few yearsof education before, at the age of eleven, he left hisfamily, moved to the capital, and found work as ashoemaker's apprentice. Like Stalin, he became aCommunist and a revolutionary while still in histeens. The Romanian press first noticed him in1936, when the government tried him on a chargeof Communist activity, convicted him, and sen-tenced him to eighteen months In jail; he receivedan additional six months' sentence for a courtroomoutburst. Like Stalin, he got his higher educationfrom fellow revolutionaries in trouble with the law;he spent most of the time between 1936 and 1944in jail with other Party members.
By 1947, the government was firmly in thehands of the Communists, and Ceausescu, as oneof the few Romanian Communist Party memberswhose allegiance predated the arrival of the Sovi-ets, was well launched on a government career.He brought certain talents to it. Ion Mihai Pacepawho served as the director of Romania's foreign-intelligence forces until 1978, when he defected,described Ceausescu as a man of "native intelli-gence, phenomenal memory, and iron will."
Ceausescu cams to power, in 1965, andpositioned himself u a reformer and a nationalist.Alone among the WEICW Pact leaden, he publiclyopposed Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia in1968. Many Romanian intellectuals joined theParty in those years, and the Nixon administrationsingled Ceausescu out as America's favorite East-ern European leader he was the only one it invitedto the White House. But Ceausescu's devotion toliberal reforms lasted only as long as it took him toeliminate the old Stalinists In the Party who mighthave challenged him for power, He gained controlover the military in 1969, and became president in1974. He bad accrued power co gradually at firstthat for years many Romanians and many outsiderswho studied the country could not quite believewhat he had become.
Once he had achieved power, he preservedit by means of a nepotism so rife that It assures
t) t)
him a special place in the annals of Communism.His brother, Hie, became a vice-minister of de-fense. A second brother, Nicoiae Andruta, becamea lieutenant general in the security forces. A thirdbrother, toti, became the first vice-chairman of thestate planning agency. Ceausescu's youngest childand namesake, known as Nicu, became the head ofthe Communist youth organization and then theParty leader in Sibiu, Transylvania. But the mostdespised beneficiary of Ceausescu's nepotism washis wife, Elena. I spoke about her with VladimirTismaneanu, who is now a scholar at Philadelphia'sForeign Policy Research Institute. In the fiftiesand sixties, Tismaneanu, the son of a rankingRomanian official, attended school with Nicu Ceau-sescu. Mrs. Ceausescu, he remembers, behavedmuch u any other mother until her husband be-came the leader. Tismaneanu knew that things hadchanged when an edition of the official Romanianencyclopedia listing the year of her birth as 1917,a year before her husband's, was recalled anddestroyed. The next edition said she was born in1919," Tismaneanu recalled, smiling. Mrs. Ceau-sescu then decided that she wanted a doctorate inchemistry, though she had never completed gradeschool. In 1967, she approached one of Romania'smost respected chemists, a professor at the Poly-technic Institute of Bucharest named Costin Neni-tescu, and asked him to award her one. He re-fused. Mrs. COMMIS then found a more pliantprofessor, at a provincial university in the town ofIasi. She received her doctorate, and soon thereaf-ter became the chairman of the National Councilfor Science and Technology; the Romanian mediabegan to praise her as one of the world's mostdistinguished scientists. Textbooks and scientificencyclopedias were published under her guidance.The unfortunate Professor Nenitucu went intopremature retirement.
Mrs. Ceausescu had meanwhile addedpolitical work to her scientific duties. She joinedthe Romanian Communist Party's Central Commit-tee in 1972 and became a member of its rulingboard, the Political Executive Committee, in 1974.Romanis became a dlarchy, and Mrs. CeausescuMIS so feared that people referred to her only asShe. I spoke with a man named Vasi le Negrescu,
who was the director of the state's metals-tradingcompany in the nineteen-seventies. After an earth-quake demolished the company's headquarters, in1977, Negrescu solicited relief donations fromforeign companies with which he did business. Hecollected two million dollars for the construction ofa new headquarters building and deposited it in thestate bank. One day, ready to begin the project, hecalled the bank's director about withdrawing thefunds. The money was no longer there, the bankersaid, because "She took it." Negrescu knew pre-cisely whom he meant, and he knew there wasnothing that either of them could do about it.
Romania is a fertile land, and only grossmismanagement could drive it to abject poverty.The Ceausescu, provided just that. In the earlyyears of the regime, Romania borrowed deeplyfrom abroad to build heavy industry -- particularlypetrochemical factories, which would rely on im-ported oil. But world oil prices soared, and therewas little demand for Romania's industrial produc-tion. Ceausescu then determined that repayment ofthe debt would be the nation's highest priority, lestit fall under the influence of foreign creditors. Toaccomplish this, he squeezed the consumer sectorunmercifully, shipping much of the country's foodabroad. In April of hut year, the governmenttriumphantly announced that the debt had beenpaid, but no improvement in consumer suppliesfollowed. The stores in Bucharest last summeroffered some peas and pickles in jars and a littleflour; at the butchers' counters, people could buypigs' heads and pigs' knuckles, but there was nosign of any of the intermediate parts of the animal.
While Ceausescu was paying off the debt,he was also pouring resources into a demolition-and-construction program he called "systemiza-tion." When he announced the program, in 1974,it struck many Romanians as a benign version ofurban renewal. But over the years Ceausescutransformed it. Had he completed his "systemiza-tion," it would have razed the majority of thenations thirteen thousand rural villages, becausevillager with populations of Woe than two thousandpeople were d=ro-ed "economically unviabis," andthe populations would have been transferred toapartment blocks In designated agro-industrialcenters. In the towns and cities the program wouldhave rued more thee ninety per cent of existinghousing; along with donna of churches, and rsplaced them with concrete apartment blocks. As ithappened, Ceausescu had neither the time nor themoney to "systemize" the entire country, but his
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program still destroyed thousands of urban homesand a hancffill of villages.
Ceausescu had a purpose in all this de-struction. "He truly believed in the Soviet modelof the ninteen- thirtles -- in building a new society,"a Romanian historian named Din Giurescu, whonow lives in this country, told me last year. "Ifyou want to have this type of society, you need atotally new type of human being -- a being whowill willingly, cheerfully, and diligenly carry outall the 'orders given by the leadership. To havesuch an individual, you must create a new environ-ment for him. If you allow this individual to be onhis own, to have personal reactions, then he willoppose this new society, because that's humannature. But if the individual Is totally dependent onthe collective from his birth to his exit, then he willreact according to the will of the collective."
The Ceausescu, ordered the clearance of aswath of land in the center of Bucharest about threemiles long and a quarter of a mile wide for thecenterpiece of systematization, which they calledthe Boulevard of the Victory of Socialism. RogerKirk, the American Ambassador to Bucharest at thetime of the demolition, estimated that at least fortythousand people lost their homes; some of Roman-ia's oldest churches and monasteries were eitherdestroyed or moved. The new boulevard runsdiestraight across the belly of the city, flanked byparallel rows of nearly identical white ten-storyapartment buildings, ornamented with balconies andcolumns. The boulevard is about ninety yards wide-- wider, Ceausescu's architects liked to boast, thanthe Champs-Elysees. At its west end looms a newHouse of the People, on which construction startedin 1986, and which covers as much ground spaceas the United States Capitol, and has about a thou-sand rooms, many of them the size of respectablecollege gymnasiums. The interior decor featureswhite marble, enormous columns, and gilt. Ac-cording to Lieutenant Colonel Mihai Evores, anArmy officer, who showed reporters around thenearly completed building in January, Ceausescudropped by two or three times a week to supervisethe construction, and on almost every visit heordered design changes. "He changed the scale orthe materials of the staircase in the south foyertwelve times," Evora said.
In Eastern Europe, urban design has al-ways been inseparable front politics. The carefulpreservation or reconstruction of old and venerablepans of Budapest, Prague, and Warsaw were state-ments of respect for national heritage and an tuber-
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lion that the values of the past have not been lost.The Boulevard of the Victory of Socialism makesa statement that deliberately belittles the contribu-tions of vanished generations, and claims the Ceau-sescu era to be a gigantic, irreversible stride for-ward. Few urban landscapes in the world equal itsscale. In fact, its only true rival may be an avenuethat existed solely as an architect's model: thegrand avenue that Adolph Hitler planned for Ber-lin.
The Ceausescus demanded and receivedconstant public veneration. I visited Bucharest lastsummer, a few days before the principal nationalholiday -- August.23rd, which celebrates the 1944anti-German coup. Walking around the city in thelate afternoon, I often came to wooden policebarricades blocking off a few streets. Beyond thebarricades were throngs of people rehearsing forthe big holiday parade -- practicing chants, andwaving poles bearing signs and portraits. After-ward, they would stream put the barricades withtheir poles slung over their shoulders like miners'shovels. One common slogan, in white letters ona red banner, read "1965.1989. THE ERA OFNICOLAE CEAUSESCU. THE GOLDEN ERA."The portraits were all of Elena and Nicolae Ceau-sescu. Recent photographs of Ceausescu show aman with gray hair, a deeply lined face, and suspi-cious, hawklike eyes. The ubiquitous officialportrait, however, depicted him as he perhapslooked years ago -- with a bushy brown pompa-dour, smooth cheeks, and a kindly smile playingthe full pink lips.
Few in Bucharest could escape that face asthe holiday approached. Romania has one televi-sion channel, which at that time broadcast for threehours each evening. I caught most of the programon August 22nd. The newscast led with a longreport on a reception at which the two Ceausescusclinked glasses with the diplomatic corps. A reporton counties that bad overfulfilled their productionplans in honor of the holiday was next, and thatcompleted the news. Then came a musical hour.A choir massed under Ceausescu's portrait sang along hymn in praise of the nation's leader. Themusic was followed by a documentary film aboutthe achievements of the Romanian economy, whichconsisted principally, of clips showing the Ceauses-cus snipping ribbons, inspecting dams and facto-ries, and greeting happy workers, wbo were carry-ing the official portraits.
The next day, cheers and chants and thesound of marching foot awakened me shortly after
dawn. From my hotel window I could see march-ers in phalanxes of several hundred moving throughthe sixeets below, and I went downstairs to followthem. The paraders, carrying icons and theirbanners, filed through sleepy, quiet neighborhoodstoward Strada Borzoi, the starting point for theparade. Middle-aged men in tan suits escortedthem. Once in a while, one of the escorts wouldgive a signal, and his group would practice a chant;"Ceau- su -cu, Er-o-Ism! Roma -ni-a, Com-muti-ism!" Many groups wore costumes; there weregirls in diaphanous whits dresses, dancers in color-fully embroidered peasant clothes with cockadedhats, and wiry young athletes in bright-red shirts,red sweatpants, and red caps. As the paradersneared Strada Hazel, they bunched up, stopped,and waited. Some draped their filmy red bannerson the curb or the pavement and sat on them, toprotect their costumes. Some propped themselvesagainst lamppost; and smoked or chewed sunflowerseeds. Here and there, a man in a suit walkedthrough a group with pen and paper, and wrotedown names. Parade participation was an obliga-tion that rotated among the staff members of everyfactory and office. The leaders of each workplaceParty cell designated the appropriate number ofmarchers and made sure they attended.
At the head of the line, on Strada Berzei,was a cordon of policemen. Behind them I couldsee the military segment of the parade. Dark-greentanks, mobile anti-aircraft guns, and trucks filledwith troops waited on the cobblestones while en-gines idled, filling the air with exhaust fumes. I
wanted to walk farther, to get ahead of the paradeand watch it go past, but the policemen stoppedme. Only people with special passes could standalong the line of march, a policeman explained.The parade, it turned out, was only three blockslong, and went put a temporary reviewing stand infront of a museum under construction on StradaStirbei Voda. Only invited diplomats, selectedofficials, and the Ceausucus watched it in person.The rest of the nation could see it on television. I
turned around and headed back to my hotel. Alongthe way, I passed a line of people at a sidewalktable where someone was selling butter. It was theonly spontaneous crowd I saw that day.
On television, the parade made an impres-sive spectacle. A military band, standing in forma-tion across the avenue from the reviewing stand,provided background music. Legions of chantingworkers marched past the cameras, their facesalmost obscured by the forest of Ceausescu por-
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traits and banners. The girls in white dressespirouetted prettily. As they passed the reviewingstand, the young men in the special red costumesbroke ranks and regrouped to spell "C-B-A-U-S-B--S-C-U" in precise block letters. Then they formedthe Roman numerals -- "IX, X, XI, XII, XIII" --that designated the Party congresses over whichCeausescu had presided, The cameras pannedoften to the reviewing stand, where the Ceausescusstood, smiling and waving -- she In a white dress,he in a dark suit. In contrast to the custom atSoviet parades, where the Party leadership lines upon top of the Lenin Mausoleum in political peckingorder, the Ceausucus stood in regal isolation.There would be no pictures the next day that ana-lysts might use to spot a potential successor.
When the last marcher had passed, soldiersrolled out a red carpet from the reviewing stand totiny street. A single black car drove up, and theCeausescus walked to it, side by side. At the curb,a dozen or so schoolchildren In red neckerchiefslined up with bouquets of flowers In hand. One byone, they stepped up to one or the other of theCeausescus and presented their bouquets. Coati-sescu accepted them with practiced ease, taking abouquet in his right hand, embracing the child withhis left, and kissing a proffered young cheek. Ashe kissed, the right arm swung out toward a aide,standing just out of the camera's view. The flow-ers disappeared, the arm swung back and Ceau-sescu was ready to greet another youngster. Theritual consumed but a moment or two. Then, witha final smile and wave, the Ceausucus got into theback seat of the car and were driven away. Theylooked proud and happy.
Ceausescu profused to believe that careful-ly orchestrated ceremonies represented the adula-tion of a prosperous and grateful people. Twoyears ago, In a meeting with John C. Whitehead,the Reagan Administration's Deputy Secretary ofState, he complained about an American newspaperarticle that portrayed him as unpopular. "I'mextremely papules,' he said. "I have evidence ofit every day, Every time I make a speech, peoplerise and applaud." He also upbraided Whiteheadfor a reference that President Reagan bad made toRomania's economic difficulties, and asked whetherthe President knew that Romanians' per capitaincome had been rising steadily for eight years.Whitehead concluded that Ceausescu must havesurrounded himself with sycophants who made upstatistics to please him.
Whether or not he truly believed that his
people loved him, Ceausescu, as he aged, displayedacute fears of poisoning and germs. He had radia-tion detectors installed in his °filets and residenc-es, and employed special bodyguards to taste all hisfood before he ate It, Immediately after dutyrequired him to shake the hand of a stranger, hewashed his right hand in alcohol. On a journalists'tour of Ceausescu's Bucharest residence after therevolution, I found among some papers strewn ona coffee table in the entrance hall a document froma hospital laboratory certifying that a case of cook-ing oil sent to the residence's kitchen had beentested and found free of contaminants, A Bucha-rest physician I spoke with told mu that all thechildren who presented the Ceausescus with flow-ers were selected in advance, sent to hospitals,examined, and certified free of Infection beforethey were permitted to prefer their cheeks for hiskiss.
Ceausescu created a vast security apparatusto protect his regime. It is estimated that by theend of the seventies three million people -- out ofa total population of twenty-three million workedor informed for the Securitate, The Securitatemaintained a collection of handwriting samplesfrom sixty per cent of the population. Anyone witha typewriter had to register it. Mall and telephoneswere routinely monitored. As a result, anyonetempted to send a letter to, say, Amnesty Interna-tional had to assume he would be caught, Anunpublished law, Decree 408, required Romaniansto report to the police any contacts they had withforeigners. A physician in the provincial city ofMedias told me about some of the equipment foundin the Securitate headquarters there after the revo-lution. On the ground floor was a bank of electron-ic equipment that could tap, and record conversa-tions from, any telephone in the city. In the base-ment was a chamber with an operating table, adevice for electroshock, and various Instrumentsfor torture, including needles and a vise. In a hagsecreted in a wall were files listing the sexualspecialties of several dozen women, who werebeing blackmailed and forced to ensnare others.Until December, the vast majority of the Romanianpeople feared the Securitate and submitted weaklyto its control.
A handful of people did not. But theregime had a method similar to the South Afri-can practice of banning of silencing people with-out creating the kinds of martyrs to human rightsthat might have attracted condemnation from out-side the country. In the fall of 190, Silviu Bru-
36
can, a seventy-two-year-old Communist who hadonce edited the Party newspaper, composed a lettercriticizing nearly every upset of Ceausescu's rule;operating quietly and secretly, he got five otheraging former members of the elite to agree to Itscontents and managed to smuggle a copy out of thecountry, and it was published early in 1989. AfterInterrogating Brucan, the Securitate forced him tomove to a two-room cottage In the village of Da-maroaia, outside Bucharest. Police erected a spot-light to illuminate his doorway day and night, andprevented him from receiving visitors or leavingthe village.
Occasionally, foreign journalists wouldmanage to meet and Interview dissidents. In early1989, a poet named Mircea Dinescu told a reporterfor Liberation that God had turned his face awayfrom Romania. The Party expelled him, and helost his Job on the editorial board of a literarymagazine. Securitate agents showed up on thestreet in front of his house and stood guard, puttinghim under the same kind of house arrest that Bru-can suffered, Last August, 1 called on a dissidentphysicist named Gabriel Andreescu at his apartmentin southern Bucharest. For sight years, Andreescuhad quietly struggled against the regime, principallyby smuggling out letters and essays of protest toWestern human-rights groups. For almost as long,the regime had tried to intimidate him. He hadspent a month in prison in 19118, and the police hadrecently threatened to commit him to a mental Insti-tution unless he emigrated or abandoned his politi-cal activities. I dropped in on him uninvited, andhe hesitated before agreeing to an interview. Oncecommitted, however, he responded in earnest whenI asked why Romania, in contrast to countries likePoland and Hungary, had never developed morethan an atomized dissident movement. Partly, hesaid, it was the country's history and tradition; Itspeople had been conditioned to submit during thecenturies of Ottoman rule, and neither the pre-Communist Romanian aristocracy nor the Commu-nist regime had done much to change that. Andpartly, he went on, it was the efficiency of theSecuritate. No Communist country had developeda dissident movement under conditions of unbridledStalinism. As if to demonstrate the veracity of thelatter point, Securitate agents arrested me as I leftAndreescu's apartment, and expelled me from thecountry within hours. They summoned Andreescufor several days of interrogation, and after herefused once again to emigrate they exiled him toa small town called Buzau, where no foreigners
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were likely to encounter him,A poet named Dan Desliu had left Roma-
nia in 1987 to live in Canada with his wife, apianist who had defected during a foreign tour.Then he decided that in the years left to him hewanted to oppose the regime in his native country.Desliu, who was then sixty-one, returned to Bucha-rest In 1988 and got an open letter publishedabroad in the spring of 1989. He suffered threemonths of house arrest. Thereafter, the Securitatesummoned him periodically for further interroga-tion and Intimidation. At the last of these sessions,on December 12th, his interrogator mocked thecountry's handful of dissidents. "Can't you seethat in our country everything is silent?" the inter-rogator asked. "Nothing is moving and nothingwill ever move."
On Sunday, December 17th, after two daysof rioting in Timisoata, Ceausescu convened ameeting of the Political Executive Committee of theRomanian Communist Party. According to a tran-script that was published some three weeks later bythe newspaper Romania Libera, there was a tele-communications hookup from the meeting room inBucharest to remote sites where some of his gener-als and security men were monitoring events. Inthe transcript, Ceausescu demander,: to know whythe military had yet to open fire on the Timisoarademonstrators. "Why didn't they shoot?" he askedDefense Minister Vasile Miles. "They should haveshot to put them on the ground, to warn them --shot them in the legs." Apparently addressing hisown commanders on the scene, Ceausescu said,"Everybody who doesn't submit to the soldiers --I've given the order to shoot. They'll get a warn-ing, and if they don't submit, they'll have to beshot. It was a mistake to turn the other cheek....inan hour, order should be reestablished In Timi-soars."
Ceausescu left shortly afterward for apreviously planned three-day visit to Iran, apparent-ly unaware of how fragile his situation had be-come. His support in the Romanian army had beeneroding for years.
But the regime had other forces at itsdisposal troops of the Ministry of the Interior,and Securitate agents trained for combat. OnSunday, December 17th, thousands of Timisoarademonstrators moved through the city. Manybroke into bookstores, tors apart displays of booksby and about the Ceausescu, and set them afire onthe pavement. A large group gathered outside thegray granite Communist Party headquarters, on the
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broad Boulevard of August 23rd, The Prime Min-ister, Constantin Ducalescu, who had been sentfrom Bucharest to restore order, appeared on abalcony along with the local Party leader, and bothofficials told the crowd to go home. The crowdbooed, and more cries of "Down with Ceausescu!"rang out. The officials withdrew, and the demon-strators, emboldened, broke into the building, toreportraits of Ceausescu from the walls, and hurledthem through the windows. They broke into astoreroom and found cues of such delicacies ascoffee and salami, which the party had been hoard-ing. These were liberated. A fire truck came tothe scene, presumably to disperse the crowd byspraying It with fire hoses. The crowd seized thetruck and burned it. At that point, according toSandor Ricsok, armed men in civilian clothesopened tire; he presumed that they were Securitateagents.
The shooting spread to other quarters ofthe city on Sunday night, in what Timisoaranscame to call "the massacre." Exactly how manypeople died will never be known. Some witnessessaid that Securitate agents in trucks picked upbodies and hauled them away to prevent a completecount. The city hospital, I was told, counted ahundred and ten dead before its list of victims wasconfiscated by the Securitate. However, reportsthat thousands of people died in Timisoara, andtens of thousands in the rest of the country in theensuing week, were doubtless exaggerated, bypeople who could not believe that a regime sofeared could fall without taking an enormousamount of victims with it. A month after theevents, the now government announced a revisednational count of six hundred and eighty -nine dead-- a figure that seems creditable.
The confrontation in Timisoam continuedfor three more days, with government forces eitherunable or unwilling to kill enough of the city'sthree hundred and fifty thousand people to end theuprising. Gradually, power began to swing to thedemonstrators. Os December 20th, the rebelliongained control of one of the olty's largest factories,a petrochemical plant called Solventul, and threat-ened to burn it down unless all prisoners in the cityjail were released. The Securitate let the prisonersgo. More important, the rest of Romania began tohear about the events in Timisoara. Most people inBucharest told me that they had first learned aboutwhat wu going on by listening to the BBC orRadio Free Europe on December 15th. Some of theTimisoarans themselves, afraid that they would be
isolated and crushed if their revolt failed to spread,began telling friends about it in carefully veiledphone calls: "There is a big storm, and the sky isred."
Ceausescu returned to Bucharest on De-cember 20th, and immediately addressed the nationon television. Anyone who expected him to beconciliatory was disappointed. He called the Timi-soars demonstrators "a few group[s] of hooliganelements," and said, "On the basis of data availableso far, one can say with full conviction that theseactions of a terrorist nature were organized andunleashed in close connection with reactionary,imperialist, Irredentist, chauvinist circles, andforeign espionage services In various foreign coun-tries." He scheduled a demonstration of supportfor the regime the following day, in the square infront of the Central Committee building. TheParty apparatus got to work organizing a crowdand handing out the usual banners and portraits.
As the rally began, it appeared that theregime would once again be able to demonstratethat the people were, If not loyal, at least docile.Ceausescu, wearing a black fur hat, stepped outonto the second-story balcony. Mrs. Ceausescuand members of the Political Executive Committeeflanked Wm. A crowd of several thousand peoplehad assembled, under a thicket of banners andportraits. "To begin with, I would like to extendto you...warm revolutionary greetings," Ceausescusaid, with unintended Irony. Cheers and chants of"Ceausescu! Romania!" answered him.
A lamppost wobbled, and its lamp fell tothe ground, shattering with a loud cosh. Thewoman standing next to it shrieked. Immediately,the people around her assumed that she had beenshot by the Securitate. Someone shouted "Tim'.soars! Timisoaral" to suggest that another massacrehad begun. Some young people at the edge of thecrowd chose that moment to unfurl a homemadebanner they had secretly been carrying: "DOWNWITH CEAUSESCU." Other people began to runaway.
The noise and confusion seemed to startleCeausescu. He stopped speaking and waved hisarms. "What! No, no...Hello, hello," he said,apparently thinking that something was wrong withthe microphone. He looked, for a moment, old,bewildered, and vulnerable. Mrs. Ceausescustepped to the microphone and called for silence.The confusion lasted for three minutes, duringwhich Romanian television interrupted the broad-cast and played a patriotic song. Then Ceausescu
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resumed his speech, which offered to raise pensionsand the minimum wage. There were even a fewobedient cheers and chants from the front of thecrowd. But the damage to the regime had beendone. The shrieks and the confusion, combinedwith the interruption of the broadcast, had pro-duced a moment of weakness, and that, in turn,had punctured irreparably the notion that the peopleof Bucharest would once again submit weakly toCeausescus' rule.
The center of the turmoil was the universi-ty, a few blocks from the Central Committee build-ing. There was ironic justice in this. In 1968,Ceausescu had. decided that Romania needed abigger population to fulfill his plans, and had is-sued a decree banning abortions. For a few years,the birth rate in the country shot up, until womenfound alternative, albeit often crude and dangerous,forms of birth control. The children born in thelate sixties and early seventies were called "decreebabies," and, because nothing else in society ex-panded with the birth rate, they had always beenparticularly deprived. There were never enoughshoes, or toys, or classroom space for them.Decree babies at the university made up a goodpart of the crowd in the streets of the capital thatday, and decree babies were the Army conscriptson whom the fate of Ceausescu now depended.
The regime responded hesitantly and Inef-fectually to the turmoil in the streets. Around thecountry, the Securitate rounded up dissidents butnot all. Tanks and armored personnel carrierspatrolled the streets out did not control them.Some soldiers received orders to fire, and shot intothe air. Others, possibly Securitate agents, wound-ed and killed demonstrators. Some fired tear gas.Some used fire hoses to try to disperse the crowds.But the regime's ability to intimidate had vanished,perhaps because of Ceausescu's display of weak-ness, because of the people's knowledge of whathad happened elsewhere In Eastern Europe, andbecause of an exhilarating sense that Romanianswere finally standing up and asserting themselvesafter decades of humiliation.
Ceausescu's downfall came the next morn-ing. He made a final effort to speak to the angrycrowds from the balcony of the Central Committeebuilding. The people booed and, according to onewitness, throw things at him Including potatoes andshoos. He retreated inside the building and againordered the Army to fire on the crowds. Whathappened next was that the Minister of Defense,Vasil. Wu, was shot. His death was announced
as a traitor's suicide, and a later account by themilitary confirmed that Milea had shot himselfrather than carry out his orders. Many Romaniansnevertheless believed that Ceausescu had orderedMilea's summary execution. However it occurred,Milea's de':11 did not bend the Army to Ceauses-cu's will. By that time, many of the soldiers andjunior officers had defected to the crowds in thestreets. A crowd surged against the Central Com-mittee building and began to break in. Ceausescu,his wife, and some of his entourage wein to alanding pad on the roof, squeezed into a helicopter,and fled the city.
At the Central Committee building, meanwhile, power seemingly lay for a moment on thelittered floor, available to whoever had the wit anddetermination to grab it. I spoke with a witness toall of the events in the building, Valentin Oabriel-escu, who had been an officer in the RomanianArmy during the Second World War and afterwardhad joined the National Peasants' Party. He was Inthe square when Csausescu's helicopter took off,and he entered the building a few minutes later. Inthe confusion, Oabrielescu recalled, no one seemedto be In charge. Prime Minister Dascalescu cameout onto the balcony end announced that Ceauses-cu's somata had been dismissed. According toa later newspaper account, there was a short -livedeffort by a member of Ceausescu's Political Execu-tive Board, Ills Verde!, to form a successor gov-ernment. About an hour later, Ion Milieu ar-rived...
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111.111111.15111111111EleignommilIMIIII
Ths Romis *Vs hear look.
NEW MASKS, OLD FACES
By Vladimir Tismaneanu
Revolutions tend to be drawn in black and white.The revolutionaries, naturally enough. tend toromanticize their rebellion's roots, to idealizetheir victory, and to demonize their enemies.
This alone does not make the revolutionaries liars ortheir revolutions illegitimate. A stylization of historycan be essentially true without true to every de-tail, But it also can be essentially,Me, and that is thedanger looming in Romania today: that the lineamentsof revolutionary change will be used to disguise ideo-logical continuity.
Qiiestions about what is true and blur in the story ofRomania's revolution begin with the execution of theCeausescu.. As the story is told, Nicola. and ElenaCeausescu fled Bucharest by helkopier just after noonon December 29. They wore captured by the army laterthat day. The new government, facing fierce resistancefrom pro-Ceausescu forces, felt it could not risk a fair(and inevitably prolonged) trial. As leng as the dictatorand his wife remained alive, their followers might some-how manage to spring them and use them as a rallyingpoint. Hence the quick Christmas executions, a mereacceleration of a certain conclusion. Of course it wouldhave been gratifying to see the CIPIRIOISCUI on trial.Nuremberg-fashion, their crimes detailed before theworld. But circumstances in Suchatem, the new leadersclaimed, were too volatile to allow such an approach.
Many Romanian intellectuals thirds the best solutionwould have been to skip a trial, with its predeterminedoutcome, and simply kill the Ceeuseecus on the spot.Why offer them a chance i0 defend themselves againstthe irrefutable? Moreover, as the tape of the trial shows,theirs was a trial in name only. The lam of the pram-tors remain invisible, their names secret. In this senseRomania's new leaders chose the worst of all ahem&west tyrannicide pretending to be law. By attemptingto keep the revolution pure, they sullied it.
Such, at any rate, are the various versions of theaccepted story. But could there have been more to theregime's action? Did those who adored Ceausescu
Vt.sotMlit TlialsnitAnn, a resident scholar at the For-eign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia. left Ro-mania in 1911. He is now completing a history ofitoma-man communism.
killed have a personal interest in his quick and privatedeath? Who are these people who constitute the newregime? And are they using the myth of revoluuonaryjustice and military expediency to hide other motives?
To answer these questions, we must understand thenature of the revolutionary upheaval in Romania. Onthe one hand, there was undoubtedly a spontaneousrevolt from below, the first luccessfit1 plebeian revolu-tion in the Soviet empire, On the other hand, it teems.there did ealet an tetra-Party conspiracy, long preparedby disenchanted cadres from the government and themilitary burooscracits. This movement was directednarrowly et the CIPOUNICIII and their corneae. TheParty bureawists, inspired by Mikhail Gorbachey's re-form from above, wanted to humanise socialism, notreplace it. By contryst, the grass-roots activists, particu-WO the student leaders, wanted to dismantle the Com-munist order and establish a Westernstyle democracy,
At the moment, Judging 1Vom the composition of theCouncil of the National Salvation Front now to control.the Party faction seems to be winning out. Its president.Ion lliescu, is a seasoned Party apperatchik. Dorn to alongtime Communist family, he studied in Moscow inthe early 1950s, when he socialized with Gorbachev.then a Komsomol !seder at Moscow University. In 1966,as chairman of the Romanian Students' Association.lliescu participated in repressive campaigns against stu-dents who expressed their solidarity with the Hungarianrevolution. Laser he became the leader of the RomanianCommunist Youth Union (UTC) and ingratiated him-self with Ceausescu to the extent that in early 1971 hebecame the Party secretary in charge of ideology. True.he refused to abide all of Ceausescu's whims and wasgradually marginalized. But his participation in Party ac-tivities continued. At the 12th Congress of the Roma-nian Communist Party in 1979, Ilietcu was elected amember of the Central Committee, serving as chief ofthe Party orpnization in Iasi. In the 19110s he was ap-pointed chairman of the State Committee for Watersand later director of the lirchnical Publishing House inBucharest. Until December 29, 1919, Illescu did notmake any public disavowal of the regime or its Indef..
The National Salvation Front chose Virgil Slagureanuto read its fins communique on Romanian televistonMagureanu is a professor at the Party academy who tor
41)
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PHIMMI11111. 19111 1141 vow MIS 11 it I?
the past I S years has taught smermlk socialism, which inRomania meant Ceausescu Thought. The secretary ofthe NSF Council is Martian Dan, Ilieecu's short-livedsuccessor as head of the UTC and fanner propagandaboss of the Bucharest Communist Pam °rp:anon.His area of expertise is also scientific socialism.
The first deputy chairman of the NSF Council is Do-mitru Masilu, who in the 1970s served as the command.er of the security police school in amass, a townshiplust outside Bucharest. Masdu held the sank of a &Kurt-tate colonel and was one of Ceausescu's speechwriter*for more than a decade. He broke with the dictatorshiptwo years ago, when he smuggled out of Romama a re-port for the United Nations Youth Commission on hu-man rights violations. Placed under house arrest, Matiluresurfaced immediately after Ceausescu's escape fromBucharest on December 22. On January 12 Muilu wasacclaimed by a Bucharest mob as he histrionicallychanted. "Death to Communism" On January 13. the
newspaper Roadnia Were published Maidu's true biog.Mph,, including his tenebrous links with the hated Se.MUM. Maids of mine who have formed the pro.Welton, piondistic Group for Social Dialogue indicatethat many Romanians have misgivings about Mullu's"Brmapartin" ambitions. Indeed. some intellectualswonder whether his hysterical performance before themob was a sip of mental illness, or simply a continua.tion of his role as a provocateur in Saueiuse.
The chairmen of the commission dealing with inter-national relations is Silviu Brucan, a Party veteranwhose dissident record indicates Gorbaclievite svmpa.thin. In the 1950e Brucan served as lie acting editor ofSarum, the Communist Party's official dads.. In the1970s. with Ceausescu's permission. he published anumber of books in the United States (by Praeger Pub-lishers in New York), in which. not surprisingly. herefrained from any criticism of the regime's abysmalhuman right record. Even in his latest book, florid
Street TheaterSUOMILST
414nags Croton no erneWW1" went the dam-Today is Cluisueus.
the madman's gone."The lighting was over in SOON of
the cuy by the fifth day of the revokebon. The Palace Square in from ofthe former Central Committee budd-ing smelled of wet ashes freeburnedout buildings. The tanks stillhad their engine, running. but thesoldiers, in helmets and long heavycoats reminiscent of World Wart.were carelessly walking around ac-cepting food and cigarettes from thepeople. In the streets and squaresthin orange candles stuck in piousof bread burned to commemormethe deed. a Romanian tradition.
On day sic. almost overnight. thetask of rebuilding began. In the towncenter teams of architects SitiOSINIthe damage. Trucks took away tarsflattened by charges take. Windowglass was replaced. returnedto houses they had *mewed underfire: white flap still hung *ow thedooming.
Inside the 'IV studios. the Nat**al Sal, MOO Front keesedes=rfor calm. declarations ifmessages of support from all ewethe country and front aimed, andiestaarancn about the cuy's tap water (it was not contaminstod). Thebroadcasts. at first spontaneous.even chaotic. quickly took shape.The messages of suppers 'eye way lecommuniques and decrees. At the
same time formerly forbidden video.tapes of Tina Turner and MichaelJackson were introduced. On Decem-ber 211 came the first full-length film:The Groat Dictator ( 1040). with CharlieChaplin playing the merciless rulerof a country called Tommie.
The news also changed des.maticall only because the "he"whose speeches and schedule usedto occupy 50 percent of the newshole was no more. Several new dal.lies appeared. such as the eveningLthereena and roureof Woe (FreeYouth). Rename LAM didn't botherto change its already apt tide. but ittook off tit logo "Worker, of theWorld. Unite" and started trying totire up to its name.
The previous Communist Partyorgan Samna (Spark) underwentstrange mutation. In the fins days ofthe fighting the word "Pepondis" (ofthe people) was added to the tit*then the whole thing was changed toMivervi. which means truth. Thereis a telling precedent to this muta-tion: Law's first newspaper wascalled him !Spark). later to be re-named Previa (Truth).
.4deviinoi is now a "sociopoliticalindependent daily." Some 90 per-cent of its editors are from Samna,and it is produced in the "Cam kin-fed." a frightfa Stalintu wedding-cake as budding in the owls of Moe-cow University. Mumma TOIL nowdeputy editor, told me that "then isno continuation" between the twopapers. "The oversealous s enof Ceausescu simply it comingto work, but the maion *Jutstaved." he said He saw nothing
$
in the fact that the WNW pie-p1= used to praise the "Falconof the Carpathians" are now eagerlydenouncing the vicious moot.
For the first two weeks after therevolution. the newspaper's atm-um was divided between reproduc-ing the decrees. programs, and nen-des of the National Salvation Promtin perfectly wooden lastsmagthprinting ft-Amer', forbidden morn-als (teat of the Helsinki agreements.basic facts about Amnesty Interns-tional, installments from Rai Hew:oat. a book by a Securitate defec-tor); and denouncing the Ceausescuclan (a half-page reproduction ofElena's grades when she was tenyears old showing that she failed every subject but music, spent, andmanual work a huge document fromCeausescu's son's &oak numerousphotographs of Nicolae's sumptuouspalaces).
Trying to make sense apoliticallife by following the press was con-fusing. Take the formation of thenew government: the otilit of theprime minister. his deputy, and thedefense minister were announcednine days before the puhlicsuon of adecreedaw of the National SalvationFront Council dm stated: "Roma-nia's government is set tip at the su-preme body of state admmistostion."How supreme it is was explained inthe decree: the council appoints theprime minister, who then proposesthe Cabinet that has to be approvedby the council. Oh yes, and all deci-sions of the government can be ennulled by the Front if they are con.Meted "contrary to the interests of
se nit *ow atm *LK POsioriv L 1080
BEST CM NAM41
Sono luln at the Crewmen 119871. Brum did not directlychallenge the disastrous course of Rosman commu-atm. His official break with Ceausescu occurred inNovember 1987. when he issued a warning against theuse of violence to stop working-dam unrest in Brasov.Later, in March 1989. he was instrumental in convinc-ing he other Party veterans to sign a letter condemn-mg the president's economic and social policies.
The foreign minister. Sergiu Ce lac. wis until 197$Ceausescu's personal interpreter for Russian and En-glish. a position that was the equivalent or a directorialoffice in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Celac a per-sonal friend not only of the new president but also ofStefan Andrei. Ceausescu's long-time foreign ministerand until the revolution one of the dictator's closestassociateskept a low profile as an editor of the Scien-tific Publishing House in Bucher:E.
As for the new prime minister, the 43year-old PetreRoman is a symbol of the "new look" of Romanian
communism. Born to a high- ranking nemmilenna (w-ily, he is the son of the late Valuer Roman. a SpanishCivil War and Conan111111 veteran who, until his death in1981. was a member niCesustscu's Central Committeeand the director of the Communist Party's publishinghouse. Petre Roman, who got his Ph.D. from the Um-venity of Toulouse in Prince. is a professor of hydrau-lic engineering at the Polnethitical Institute in Ruche-test. Until December he was an uncntical member ofthe Romanian Communist Party.
That any one of dame former apparatchiks andtechnocrats should toy to return to Romania's post-revolutionary government is perhaps understandable.But that this particular group should come back jointly.to such high positions. is worrisome. Celac and Romangraduated from the taw elite Russian high school inBucharest, and through the years visited frequentlywith both Hiescu and Brucan. All of these men havebelonged to an inforunddiscosion group on the impact
the Rontanian people.The obvious nest question u the
legitimacy of the Front itself. In animeryiew with Silvio Brum. a lead-ing 1:ember of the council and dean-ence grist of the new regime. I askedabout the mechanisms inside theFront that will prevent it from turn-ing into another dictatorship.
A. The only gunmen I can thinkof is the development of pluralisminside the Front and outside theFront.
Q But you are the ones who aresetting the rules of the game.
A. That's the product of therevolution.
Q Yes. but there was no agree-ment made. Some people Just foundthemselves in the TV studio and be.came members of the Front. in ea adhoc way.
A. Yes. its an ad hoc body. but wedid it. That's our legitimacy. that wedid it.
Q Does the fact that you foughtmama a dictator by itself give youter misty
A. Oh v.ei. the fact that we werethe only ones who deposed Gauen-cu gives us legitimacy. We couldhave taken advantage of that. Wedidn't have to have 110101111.
Q, But sou said yourself that theyouth. the students. demanded elec-tions. You have to respect their will.
A. Weil. we could reach an agree.mint with them ...
Q But then you would not governas a legitimate government. youwould remain provisional ...
A. Well. we could manage if wewanted. with such popular measures
as food. heating. electricity. Thoseare mod more permeate aught.moms dun this kind of democratic*onion. We won because we wantred deraecrecv. and we want it be.cause a modern society there is noother soy.
AMeek after Brucanspoke to me about theFront's leguimacy, the
szedeitt red. Fnday. January 12.a national day of mourning
by the 'Vent. some 3.000 peopledemosonsted in Bucharest outsidethe Mint, of Foreign Affairs build-ing. the Front's headquarters. Theychimed. "Down wish communism!"-Deeds for death!" "Who electedtimer "What is the Front hiding?"And: "Down with Brune* Thedoesomtnnion went on for morethan It hours. which is very impres-sive in Ironing weather and in acower? where for decade' there wasnot a Nagle unofficial publicmeeting.
That evening the president of theFrom. Ion Ihestu. the first deputychairmen. Dunutru Matilu. and theprime minister. Feat Roman. triedto have e dialogue with the crowdwhile steadies on a tank outside the*MOW Iliescu was asked to explainhis activity during the past five Years(which Me did h Wahl was asked thesame (whirls he didn't I.
late a night the three men ap-peared hi the window of the ministryand announced concessions to thedemonstrators by issuing three de-crees: cellist a national referendum
on felielleeliTinell the death penalty.which die Front had abolished twoweeks enlier: outlawing the Commu-nist Mr and riming a specialcommission to deal with complaintsof those who suffered under theCamino dictatonhip.
The ant day's press reaction wasthe first sign that not all is quiet onthe From hone. Roasts Librestrongly sawed may of manipu-lating the crowd and asked that hestep dorm. That some evening dug.ing a TV broadcast the three menfrom thew* declared almost in uni.son that they should not have givenin to the crowd and they annulledthe 111-bmw-old decree that out-lawed it Communist Pam% tits fateis to be decided by a national refer-endum.,
In emly December Cornett; lou-den. Wm had been ambassador tothe L'niesi Stases from 1967 to '77.returned to Romanis after a fellow-.ship at the Smithsonian Institution'sWilson Center. In late December hetook din u deputy foreign minis-ter. but died of a Man attack dmlaser. Is a meeting shortly before hisdeath. tasked him the same questionthat I pet to Innen shout the Frontand s swim of checks and balances.Without hesitating. he said that thewuchdes is the street. H. dins.'know hear *Way events would con-firm hie mot&
ANNA MAUNA
Anna thamieka is a foreign etior atthe Polish independent daily Gealewykewas.
REST COPY AVAILABLE4''
liMpe Tilt MN ash ti it IS
of the scientific revolution on contemporary socialism.tun by Roman's father and by Mihai Drapnescu. aParts, technocrat who is now the deputy prime minister.
In one of Iliescu's first interviews, he went out ofhis way on French television to distingtish the Roma-man revolution from the other movements in EasternEurope. Romania's. he said. was a spontimeous anti-dictatorial outburst, involving no Party action or plot.But then a videotape was smuggled out of Romanisand broadcast on French TV. Clandeminely filmedduring the first NSF Council meeting, it showed thenew defense minister. Col. Gen. Nicobar MiNaniaman with well-known pro-Soviet leaning mentioningthe existence of this organisation for the past sixmonths. When confronted with this entimeassing doc-ument. the usually soft-spoken Pare Roman lost histemper and accused the foreign media of slandenngthe new regime.
But why should these people refuse so acknowledgethat a conspiracy existed? Would that notestablish theirrevolutionary bona fides? Why do they mod the myth ofan unorganised revolt? The likely answer is that theyneed anti-Communist camouflage. U they admit that aParty plot existed, than their sudden appearance at thebalcony of the well-guarded Central Committee build-ing in Bucharest's Palace Square on December 22.1989, might begin to look more Ws preemptive Partycoup against the people's revolution don the fulfill-ment of that revolution.
The composition of their NSF Council might comeunder greater scrutiny as well, with Romanians object-ins that former apparatchiks hold most el the key posi-tions while true opponents of the Communist regimehave been assigned to largely ceremoad posts. And.finally. Ceausescu's execution might appear not only asa tvrannicide but also as a method of mincing him.
I collies. 1 have a personal reason foe believing inthis darker version of Romania's revolution. InI 9BO I was walking in a Sucharmt park with aprofessor from the Party among, a man now
closely linked to the ruling team. Amain; a confider*.nal voice. he whispered to me: "Wo area group that willsoon get rid of the Ceausescu tribe." Nth* time, know-in* the man and his institution. I suspected a provoca-tion. But apparently he was telling the Inuh. There didexist a group who wished to supplant the ruling tyrantand establish their own oligarchy. They did not want totopple state tocialism, only to rationalise it. As practi!tonere of realpolitik, they walked the Inswing cormdors of power, cultivated the narcissistic ego of thegeneral secretary, and waited for their hour to come.
Now it has come. They left it to the students, the work-ers, the soldiers, and the millions of aver Romanianswho took to the streets last December at pus an end tothe Ceausescus. Then, at a critical moment, Iliescu andhis associates climbed the crest of the historical wave.No wonder true Romanian revolutionmin have begunto question their leaders' democratic pustestations.
Nor is the return of old faces and oM voices a phe.
nomenon limited to the top leadership. I have knownComtism Vedas Thdor since we were sociology stu-dents in Bucharest. I have also known him as the officialminstrel of the Ceausescu court, specializing in well-paid hosannas. And I have known him as the author ofseveral scurrilous anti- Semitic yersifications and racistpamphlets. Then, on December 21, llidor sent abroada furious ants-Cesimescu manifesto, denouncing his for-mer idol for being "the most bloodthirsty, .eriminal inRomanian history, a monster worse than Stalin andHitlera Belkanie Caligula." Moreover, liador argued,the massacre in Tintiacsara convincer him that "it wasnot the Russians, the Hungarians. and the Jews whowere threatening Romania." but the bloodthirsty tyrantwhom he had so lavishly poised only several years ago.
Similar views have been voiced by other erstwhilebootlickers. Mikan Gheorghiu, who served as presi-dent of the Academy of Social and Political Sciences.appeared on Romanian television so express his disgustwith Cla111.$01'11 "primitive obscurantism." ConstantinBonin, COINO31801. former chief of staff, was ap-pointed by the new regime to be deputy minister of theeconomy and lost his job only under pressure from thestudent movement. The list of these sunshine patriotscould be continued ad nauseam.
In all fairness to the new regime, one should men-tion that it includes genuine dissidents, such as the arthistorian Andrei Mem and the literary critic MihaiSara. appointed ministers of culture and education,respectively. The State Committee for Radio and Tele-vision is headed by the dissident writer Aurel DragosMunteanu (although plenty of holdovers are still sem-ing on its stall).
Yet no crucial ministry has vet been assigned to some-one who really opposed the dictatorship. It is true thatgiven the ubiquity of Ceausescu's cult, one could not finda large contingent of suitable officials untainted by col-laborationists'. But a sufficient number could be found.Some examples should suffice: the electronics engineerRadu Filipescu, who was arrested in the early 19.01 fordistribution of anti- Ceausescu leaflets; the hums cnticDan Prtrlicli, one of the most courageous opponents ofthe regime: the sociologist Alin Teodorescu, who daredto cnticize the antiHungarian policies under Ceausesc u,the economist Ion Slags, who in the 1970s refused toserve as the president's economic adviser. In any case .1
sense of decency should prevent those who participateddirectly in the ideological orgies of C.causuicuism frompostunng as longtime resistance fighters.
Apart from one's sense of revulsion, though, does 11matter? In its initial statement, the NSF pledged to be 3transitional government, with no pretense of monopo-bang political power. Unfortunately. Silvio Srucan hasnow announced the NSF's intention to present its ()%% ricandidates in the April elections. Brucan, who h Iemerged as the most articulate of Romania's new leadens. said in an interview with the FINIgnal TIORel
London on December 29 that he did not see any re] S n
for the NSF not to enjoy he benefits of its revolution 1J Iictore. But leaders of the newly formed oppose.
me tut %Its RIK OM 014.10111, I. IOW
SST COPY AVAN=
groupsamong them the Democratic Party, theals, and the National Peasantshave already expressedtheir concern that these benefits include the NSF'sattempt to set up its cells at workplaces. and thus con-solicit. its current pre-eminence.
Brucan has also denied that the NSF had any links withthe now defunct Romanian Communist Party, and hasproclaimed that communism is "irrelevant" in Romania.Yet many Romanians have noticed how. regrouped with-in the NSF's top leadership. Gorbachev's disciples arerevamping their Marxist creed. Knowing how much Ro-manians execrate the Communist Party, these leadersare stnving to rescue socialism by abandoning its Com-munist image. And they pursue the Bolshevik strategy in
which they were schooled: control the media; fragmentand isolatetheopposition; buy °lithe rest withpromises.
Can the Went do anything to help prevent the Roma-nian revolution from being hijacked? Certainly theWestern media should become aware that this isdanger, and strive to identify genuine proponents ofdemocracy in Romania and monitor their struggleagainst any who might subvert democracy. And pnvateand public organizations should contribute to the dem-ocratic parties, as they did to Solidarity, the advice andwherewithal that is needed to conduct a political cam-paign. Today's Romanians have nerer known a freeelection. The danger is that, deceived by communism'snew face," they never will.
44
Romania
Protest by the Student League
On June 1), government forces broke up a three-month-long protest on University Square by those opposedto the National Salvation Front. Fighting occurred be-tween demonstrators and police; shortly thereafter, vi-olence engulfed the better part of Bucharest. in a televisedaddress the next day. President Iliescv called on the min-ers of the Jiu valley to come to Bucharest and reestablishorder. When they came, dity'untteihee a nvii-dt0 siignof terror. With lists of names and addresses in hand, theywent looking for oppositionists and student activists, beat-ing up whomever they found. Before they returned horns,President Nem thanked don at 0 special ceremony forsaving the revebuian.
The following protest, which was published in theJune 20 issue of Rontinia Libert wits addressed to theparliament, the president, and the government.
The student organizations that have signed this protest denythat they were in any way responsible for triggering the actsof violence which took place on June 11
The student organizations have repeatedly criticized vio-lent behavior. They have firmly declared that all their actionshave been, are, and shall be peaceable. Democracy is incom-patible with any display of violence, whether by isolated in-dividuals, organizations, or spontaneously formed groups.Moreover, we herewith restate our conviction that democracyis only possible in a climate of legality. in which freedom ofspeech.is guaranteed for every shade of opinion. Any attemptto limit the free expression of opinions causes great harm tothe process of democratization in Romania.
We state our complete opposition to the violent acts per-petrated on June 13, 1990 against government institutions. Ifit is established that students participated directly in those acts.these persons can in no way be considered representative ofour organizations.
The student organisations reaffirm their apolitical charac-ter: they support no political party nor group engaged in thestruggle for political power. However, the students cannot beindifferent to attempts to stifle the opposition forces, for if theopposition wars to disappear, democracy itself, along with thevery possibility of acting in accordance with civic responsibtl!tin, would disappear also.
We therefore protest the violation of the autonomy andimmunity of the universities by detachments of miners who.
on June 14, 1990, invaded the Ion Mircu Architectural Insti-tute, the University of Bucharest, the Medical and Pharmaceut-ical Institute, and the March 6 university complex.
We protest the attacks on male and female students andteaching staff.
We protest the sicking of our classrooms, laboratories.and administrative offices.
We protest the defilement and destruction of the librariesof the Depanment of Literature and the School of Architecture
We protest the confiscation of typewriters, photocopiers,duplicating machines, and other equipment, documents, andvaluables belonging to legally constituted student organizations.The stolen items were either gifts from international organi-zations or the property of students and teaching staff.
We protest the acts of violence perpetrated by the minersin certain neighborhoods of Bucharest. Students and intellec-tuals, who were the main victims of these act*, were virtuallyhunted down.
We protest the unjustified detention of students by the min-ers, in flagrant violation of the laws guaraning freedom ofmovement to individuals.
We protest the climate of terror this violence has createdin the capital, a climate that jeopardizes fundamental democraticand human rights.
We protest the pusivity of the police force, which failedto protect institutions of higher learning, restrain aggressors,and conduct inquiries at the scenes of crimes.
We protest the truncated coverage given by Romanian ra-dio and television to the events of June 13- I S. 1990 in Bucharest
We protest the repeated presentation of the events of lune13 !which we condemn above, in the absence of coverage atthe acts of violence perpetrated by the miners on June 14.15
In conclusion, we demand the formation of a parliarne ntary commission of inquiry to consist of representatives:tuidllpolitical parties present In parliament. This commission woulddelecnne
the sequence of events on June 13-IS, 1990;
those directly or indirectly responsible for the violencecommitted on those dates, concentrating on those actsdirected against institutions of higher learning and student organisations;
the extent of the government's responsibility for trig-gering these events and for failing to prevent the breakdown of public order.
page 26 Uncap. e `.t
45
Romania
The commission would see to it that the final report,in its entirety, is presented in the media.
Equipment confiscated by the miners on June 14, 1990:6 mechanical typewriters. 24 electric typewriters, 2 electronictypewriters, l office calculator, 1 pocket calculator, 2 videocameras, 3 video caustics, 2 fax machines, 4 megaphones,2 photocopiers, 2 duplicating machines, 1 video recorder.I computer, I radio caucus player, 2 telex machines, 1 taperecorder, 50 rolls of film, notebooks, adhesive tape. pencils,felt-tipped pens, typewriter ribbons, cans of food.
This equipment came from donations made to the StudentLeague by various international organisations and private in-dividuals, and was in perfect working order.
Documents confiscated by the miners on June 14. 1990:inventory of documents
file of international contacts
telephone directory
list of members of the League
photocopies of legal documents.
We avow that owing to the theft of the inventorythe above list was compiled in the presence of witnesses. Theminers have refused to make a statement in this matter
This list was drawn up by Mire la Moldovan and Basil Con-stantinescu on June 15. 1990.
46
The Ramaim mesas pis Whet
HOMAGE TO GOLANIA
By Vladimir niXd/V40111
IlL'CHAUSTI went to Romanip on June 9 expecting to witness stoneunpleasantness between the yr:liniment and the oppo-iition. The sit -in staged by students, worker, and in-tellectuals at University Square was approaching itsthird month, and President kin Iliescu had not do.rliSeti his opinions of dissidents, Following his elec-tion on May 10, official publications of the Nolan&Salvation Front embarked on a smear campaign SO HIindependent intellectusls and magazines. Leaden ofthe opposition parties were accused of being on thepayroll of Western secret twice,. Student lindenspanicularly the charismatic Marian Munteenu, one ofthe main orators in University Squirewere preposterously charged with having served as members of theSecuritate during the Ceausescu regime. Still, I warcould have anticipated the outburst of reactionary pop-ulismindeed, a Stalinistfascist orgyI saw in Bucks-rett between June 13 and June IS.
The sit-in began during the election campaign, onApril 24. In the drab world of Romania's pseudo-normalisation (Iliescu ran under the slogan "a plesi-dent for our peace of mind"), University Square hadbeen a political bonfire of fantasy and inspiration. Theoriginal purpose of the demonstration was to desondenactment of Point S of the "Proclamation of Tinioa-ra." which proposed that "the electoral law p hitfor the first three consecutive Inhibit e tight offormer Communist activists and of former %etiolateofficers to run in elections." The demand was not wt,and the former Communists of the NU received a lend.slide vote in the election. Conceding defeat, the majororganisations that had participated In this "Communeof Bucharest" moved out of*, WW1. and by June thedwindling number of protesters were asking for Sul:more than allowing one independent television simian.But Iliescu refined to negotiate with his critics, de-nouncing them as geleill.nifflithe or tromps. (Is re-sponse, supporters of the demonstrators dubbed thesquare Goiania, the country of the geleni and the "Antsone free of not-communism.") Iliescu need only havewaited another week. The Bickering anarchist fire le theheart of Bucharest was almost entinguished.
Put at 4 a.m. onjune IS I was awakened at my howl byVasil' Gotta, a philosopher and civic activist from lira.soy, whom I had left an hour earlier. He urged mew goout to the street "The civil war has started." Tie air
smelled insufferably of disinfectant. Suddenly a groupof plaindothed individuals commanded us to stop.Their arrogant, insulting behavior betrayed them as Se-curitate men, and they ordered us to go back to the ho-tel. In any cue the rood was Winked, and within minutespolice trucks arrived in she squire to dismantle the tentsof the hunger strikers and the platform the demonstra-tors had erected for speeches. hotesters were beaten upand forcibly removed, and the hunger strikers weretransported to unidentified army hospitals.
This proved to be only the list stage. It won't longbefore thousands of incensed citlient, mostly students.began demonstrating against the government's brutalevacuation of the square. kluotetnu futilely imploredthe cruwil tu mid violence. Bet there were apparentlyenough planted provocateurs to keep the mob's collec-tive wrath roiling. (During the tumult pictures were tak-en in which former Steuritate officers can be seenamong the crowd.) As teenagers threw hundreds of Mo.lotov cocktails at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and theRotoanian Soria of Interludes. the army made no ef-fort to interim. In a scene reminiscent of East Germa-ny early this year, the mob stormed the former buildingof the Recuritate, and a group of "demonstrators" setOre to the ninth Boor-whew the most sensitive ideswere stored. Thin appalling dhplay of collective drlin.urn continued for the neat two days, a terrifying illustra-tion of the nature of power in post-Ceausescu Romania.
Ceausescu's downfall w the result of two ele-menu: a spontaneous, ati-Communist, and pro -Western Will movement from below, and along-planned coup d'Iltat organised by a coali-
tion of disenchanted Party spparetchiks, top Securitateofficials, arid some army generals. Illescu's rise to prom-inence and the Front's hegemony were not the result ofpopular will but of the general confusion that followedthe collapse of the Cutworm regime. The ruling groupis made up of committed Leninists, power-hungry tech-nocrau. political adventurers, and demagogues. includ-ing some with criminal monk. Add to this strange mix-ture some ecstatic idealists and ambitious politicalscientists, and you have a picture of the sisr pinnacle. Ihad two long convmations with the Front's actingchairman, Nkolse 1. Dunthru, a romantic Mantist con-vinced that under his guidance
the!tar would
turli;rnrit7p-"party of incorruptiltles." In a country where coLion, nepotism, and sordid intrigues are endemic. thissounded almost pathetic. As dissident writer Donn Tu-donsn puts it, the interests of*, popular uprising andthe palate conspiracy were bound to collide.
lb stay in power and stabilise his government. Iliescuclearly accepted a pact with the !aunts'e and the arm'.two forces directly implicated in the Tinware massa-cres of December IMO( they would guarantee his paw.er, in return for which he *mold ensure their itimair%ti a ail.Then, under pressure from below, he instated apurge of the secret police. The Sacrum, hm, e% er.refused to accept this huntiation and boycotted thedemocratic process by organising a tents of pi %,)t a-
is INS NI* 'mous ?ANN MOW 11. IMO 47BEST COPY MILANI
none that came to a climax with the June uprising. It isvery likely that its members exploited Uiescu's anguish-es to prt :opt him into irrational actions.
Instead of using the legal tools at his command, Uiescuappealed to an extralegal force, the coal miners, givingthem his presidential blessing to exert unbounded terrorin Bucharest on June 14 and 13. While the official mediawere lambasting the opposition, the students, and theintellectuals for their alleged "Iron Guard" affiliationsand for being morally responsible for the violence, theminers rampaged through the headquarters of the Na-tional Peasant and Liberal parties, savagely beat up thestudents, and ransacked the offices of independentnewspapers. I saw 'hem in full exercise of their mission,together with their civilian "coordinators," carrying listsof those who had dared to criticise the president, theprime minister, the W. and the official story about theRomanian revolution. According to &mew Wm, thecountry's largest independent daily, among the minersone could identify active members of the Snuritate andof its so-called "special anti- terrorist units."
In addition to the better-known targets of ',melon,the regime used the miners to "cleanse" the Gypsyneighborhoods. Unlike the other victims, Gypsies havevirtually no contact with the foreign media. According toan independent intellectual association, the Group forSocial Dialogue, the government exploited a widespreadchauvinism to accuse the Gypsies of having been an in-strument of the "fascist" rebellion. After the pogromsand deportations Gypsies suffered during World War II,they were now victimised in the name of anti-fascism.
I was with some friends in the building of the Groupfor Social Dialogue when the miners arrived, accompa-nied by a delegate of the NIT- sponsored "Free YouthFoundation," the reincarnation of Nicu Ceausescu'sCommunist Youth Union. The only Group member pre-sent at the time was Gabriel Andreescu, a physicist andhuman rights activist persecuted by the Ceausescu re-gime. It was only thanks to his persuasive power that theminers left without serving us the lesson they had alreadyadministered to other designated victims of their "work-intclass justice," as the Front propaganda described it.
On June 16 1 visited Munteanu at the EmergencyHospital. I found him smiling stoically, with a largewooden crucifix on his chest, his left leg broken,wounds on his skull, and marks of a monstrous whip-ping on his back. To his right was a young boy, unableto utter a word, compile/1y smashed by torture. Thisliving corpse was Munteenu's brother, whom the min..'era had taken for the student leader and treated accord-ingly.one of the many "errors" in Illescu's search forwhat he called an "original democracy" that is, a non-Western, non-pluralistic regime.
Munteanu told me that the police had asked him to goto University Square to calm down the demonstrators,and that he was later chased by miners as a "turbulentInstigator." Bus before we could finish our converse-non, we were informed that Vice Premier Casimirlonescu had called and threatened to have Munteanuremoved to an army clinic if he continued is speak to
foreign journalists. I left immediately, but the next dayMuntinnu was charged with "anti-state activities" andtaken m a penitentiary hospital. As for the miners, theyhad lelt Bucharest after holding a huge awing whereflies= thanked them for their selfless commitment tothe defense of Romani.,'s "young democany."
What was the purpose of the mitten' vigilantism, and who inspired the clash.? In whoseinterest was it to create a state of generalpanic and unrest? According to tikolae Man.
olescu, the editor of Rename Entrant and one of thecountry's most influential intellectuals, there are threepossible interpretations.
The kit; propagated by Ihincu and Mae MinisterPetro Roman, maintains that the miners pied afascist coup inspired by inimical foreipt ..C.,::".Illts:cuclaims that his regime was dweatened by a right-wing.Iron Guard-type rebellion, in which the independentgroups that participated in the University Ilimare meatings scald in accordance with a plan concerd by someunnamed Western spy agencies. In sewed discussionswith top members of Iliescu's meow, I herd thesame leitmotiv: the University Stone aleonstrationswere fomented by the West, which cannot 11101 iaelf tothe victory of a 14i-center formation in etagiMOM Eumono country. Even some sophisticated political scientists urns Iliescu's advisers refuse so admit dist politicalopposition is a normal phenomenon within &democracy.
The second scenario, suggested by some oppositionforces, sees the NIT as the chief culprit and responsiblefor the escalation of violence following the provocativ eevacuation of University Square. The whole spiral of vi-olence, they say, is Iliescu's well-designed plan to monopolie power, compromise the opposition, and establish a noCommunist dictatorship. But this scenariooperates with the same demonic stereotypes as the goyernment's: it attributes considerable imaeliation to itsenemy, and it assumes that the government is indiffer-ent to international opinion. It's unlikely the Illescu andhis supporters would have gone out of the way to create a natation that has isolated Romania nearly as totallyas it wes as the end of the Ceausescu regime.
The third and most convincing scenario is Manoles.cu's. In an article in Amens Limns be takes intoaccount the existence of irrational forces both withinthe ming team and among some oppo*on groups.There was no clear-cut government conspiracy, butthere was a deliberate attempt by Securitawlinked topofficials to contain and manipulate the discontent ofcenais social groups, primarily students, intellectuals,and sere radical anti-Communists. illander, distortion.and semantic fraud were used to faintest' E image of abeleamtered power. According to this imerpretaucini.the "irroclamation of Timisoner art the were an
government demonstrations in Univeni Square reflected a real state of mind among large MIA of theRomainen population. Far from having been inspiredfrom abroad, the protests were homegrown and 'pima.neous their anti-Communist ardor. Ate certain mo.
N$T Cloy AVAILAILE48
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menc. however, elements of the former Securitate man-aged to infiltrate and manipulate these expressions ofpublic dissatisfaction. Only this scenario, says Man -olescu, explains why one could recognize former Secur-'tate officers among both the demonstrators and theminers on pone IS. The purpose of the Seeuritate was toarrest Romania's democratic evolution and force Iliescuto toughen his stance against the opposition.
What Mano lescu fails to point out is that the Securi-t ate has never been a monolithic organization. Evennow there are two secret police organizations in Roma-nia: one is subordinated to the defense minister. Gener-al Victor Stanculescu, Ceausescu's former military aide,who was entrusted with the protection of the CentralCommittee budding in December 1919. (It was Stan-culescu's treason that made possible Ceautescu's rapidcapture. pseudotrial. and execution in December19119.) This faction of the Securitate would have astrong interest in helping Stanculescu establish a mili-tary dictatorship to suppress what they would label the"democratic anarchy." His strategy of destabilising thegovernment was seen at work in the June uprising, mostobviously in the army's refusal to restore order.
Another faction is represented by the Romanian Ser-vice of Information ORD. headed by Virgil Magurtanu,a former political science professor at the CommunistParty school and an Iliescu loyalist. Created in March1990. following ethnic strife between Hungarians and
Romanians in TirguMures, the soil can best he de.scribed as Illescu's personal secret police. It is %cryIfltely that the SRI was instrumental in organizing theminers' retaliations. Nobody else could have providedthe miners with lists of names, addresses, and picturesof all opponents of the Iliescu regime.
My hypothesis is that the succession of bloody e% emsin mid! June cannot be understood without reference tothe personal conflict between Iliescu and Stanculescu. aswell as to the role played by the different factions of thesecret police. Since this struggle has not come to an end.new outbursts of violence can be predicted. In all of thecurrent political confusion, one thing is now apparent:lUescu has lost control of the country. Stanculescu rulesthe army and may yet prove himself powerful enough tolaunch a coup; anti Mogureoinies faction is practicing theold techniques of diversion and deception, enhancing astate of hysteria. So long as Iliescu and the Front contin-ue to be at the mercy of this political mails. rejecting thespirit of dialogue and resorting to assault squads to si-lence the opposition, no genuine democratization cantake place. Until then, the very mention of a state °fiats inRomania will remain an embarrassing joke.
VLADIMIR TISMANLANU is a resident scholar at the For-eign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia and au-thor of le Stork of Civil Sentry: Intisiteadsel herr Move-Amu us Ms Seim ilet, forthcoming from Routledge.
4 9
Suggested Questions
I. Romania: When the Lights Went Out
1. What does Flora Lewis mean when she says that Romania under Ceausescu was morelike despotism than communism? Do you agree?
2. Why does the history of Transylvania make it a likely place for unrest to begin?
3. How does Flora Lewis explain Romanian opposition to Soviet foreign policies, at thesame time that Romanian leaders were mirroring Soviet domestic policies?
4, What does Lewis mean when she says that Romania did not have the "social cohesionwhich developed into the Solidarity movement in Poland?"
II. Ceausescu Bear Hunt/ Where Policemen Outnumber Pigeons
1. Why do you think that someone would set up an elaborate charade like the bear hunt?What does it tell you about Ceausescu and his rule?
2. Why does the caption say that Ceausescu is "hunting for honor?" What else might hebe hunting for?
3. Why does Dinescu say that "God has turned his back on Romania?"
4. Dinescu was arrested and sent into internal exile because of the passage that you justread. In light of the bear hunt, why would these few sentences be seen to be a crimeagainst the state?
Down With the Tyrant
1. What do the bear hunt and the change in Elena's year of birth tell you about theCeausescu government's attitude toward history? toward truth? Why would this requirethat all typewriters be registered?
2. What does Cliurescu mean when he says that if you want a "new society" you need"a totally new type of human being?" How does Ceausescu set about producing this"new man?"
3. How was Romania's economy disrupted by Ceausescu's policies?
5()
4. Why would Cullen compare Ceausescu's plan for Bucharest with Hitler's plan forBerlin? What is he trying to say about both men?
IV. New Masks, Old Faces/ Street Theater
1. Why might Ceausescu's trial and execution have been rushed and held in secret? Inyour opinion, does this strengthen Tismaneanu's claim that Ceausescu's overthrow wasas much a communist coup as a democratic revoiution?
2. What does Tismaneanu mean when he says that the new rulers wanted to "humanize[communism], not replace it?" What does he offer as proof?
3. According to Husarakz, what did Brucan mean when he said that "the watchdog is inthe street?" Has this proven to be true?
4. According to Tismaneanu, what was the "Bolshevik strategy" for maintaining power?What does he recommend for Western policy toward the new Romanian government?
V. Protest by the Student League
I. According to the students, what would happen if the opposition forces were to becrushed?
2. What are the students' demands?
3. What kind of equipment was confiscated from the students? Where did the studentsget it from?
4. Why would this type of equipment be seized by the mirfirs? By the government?
VI. Homage to Golonia
1. What does "Golonia" mean literally? As Tismaneanu and the protesters used it?
2. According to Tismaneanu, how did the coal miners come to be in Bucharest on lune14 and 15?
3. According to Romania Libera, who was seen in the crowd of miners? Why is this sosignificant?
4. What dots Tismaneanu predict for Romania's future? Do you agree? Why? Whynot?
51
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What is being said about the pace of change in EasternEurope? Some people would argue that Romanian leadershave hit the pause (or even the rewind) button. Do youagree? Why? Why not?
52
Suggested Activities
1. Read the quote by Gabriel Andreescu on the cover page, Using this quote and yourknowledge of the Bill Of Rights, design a model Bill Of Rights for a democratic Romaniangovernment.
2. Research the tactics used by Martin Luther King Jr, and A. Philip Randolph inwinning civil rights for African Americans. Compare them with the tactics being used byRomanian dissidents to try to win democracy, and human and civil rights for their country.Write a report explaining the advantages and disadvantages that each group of people had intheir struggle.
3. Choose one country in Eastern Europe other than Romania and make a timeline ofevents in its quest for freedom. Illustrate your timeline. If a computer is available, draw yourtimeline, using the Time liner computer program. Cover the time period 1930-1991.
4. Divide students into small groups. Assign each group one country that has emergedfrom dictatorship (Czechoslovakia, Poland, Haiti, the Philippines, Spain, Japan, Argentina,Panama, Chile, etc,) and have them research the circumstances under which the dictatorship wasended (or perhaps not yet completely ended). Within each group have two students considerwhat effect external forces may have had, two others what institutions played key roles(churches, unions, civic groups, the military, etc.), two others what role(s) the most significantleader(s) played.
Reorganize students into new groups according to their specialty. Each new group shouldprepare to argue that the factors that they studied (outside forces, internal institutions, oroutstanding leaders) were most important 'la Winging down the dictatorship. Each student shouldthen write a short essay on what combination of factors seems necessary to successfully defeata dictatorship.
5. Think about the needs and difficulties that might be inherent in separating the press,property, industry, student organizations, an educational system, the arts and other civicinstitutions from the state. Follow the newspapers over the next several weeks, noting differentproblems that the Romanians and other Eastern Europeans will have to overcome if they are tocreate a stable democratic society. Develop a scrap book documenting the growth, or lackthereof, of independent civic institutions in Eastern European countries.
6. Consider the fate of such short-lived democratic governments as the RussianProvisional Government of 1917, Weimar Germany in the 1920's, Czechoslovakia in 1946-48,of Brazil from 1945-64. Split the class into four groups and assign one of the countries to each.Have them look at the political traditions, economic conditions, relations between thesocio/economic classes, character of the activist movements, role of external forces, and rolesof the key individuals in their country. Have each group report on what factors they think are
53
necessary for a democratic society to flourish. Ask the class to try to use these findings to lookat the past and present of Romania.
7. Many Romanian observers believe that the present government achieved power througha successful coup. Have students read press reports on the failed Soviet coup of August 1991,then write a research paper explaining the reasons that the coup against Gorbachev might havefailed, while the coup against Ceausescu succeeded.
8. Have students read the enclosed American Educator interview with Romanian laborleader Catalin Croitoru andlor the Uncaptive Minds Kale of Smaranda Enache. Ask studentsto identify someone in their community who was involved in the struggle to establish ademocracy in another country or to extend it in this country (an emigre from a dictatorship, civilrights activist, voting rights activist, civic and enmnr,nity group members, immigrants rightsactivist, etc.). Have them conduct an interview and write an oral history.
9. (As there are adult themes and violence in this series, this assignment should be forolder students, and might be made optional.)
Have the class watch the segments of 1, Claudius (PBS, Masterpiece Theater) that depictthe rise and fall of the Emperor Caligula, another egocentric totalitarian ruler. Split the classinto three groups and have each group write and perform a one act out of play on the rise andfall of Nicolae Ceausescu. Assign one group to do the opening act, the second to do an act fromthe middle of the play, and the third to do the final act.
10. (For students who have already completed American history and Americangovernment courses, this would be a challenging undertaking, and could be adapted as a finalexhibition project in an advanced-level government or history course.)
Split students into small groups to prepare a presentation on "Democracy in America,"aimed at Romanian students. Students may wish to use any combination of essays, letters,literary and historical quotes, photographs, video, audio tapes, or any other media, to addresssuch themes as: history; government; culture; the evolution of rights and responsibilities; popularattitudes toward the democratic system; strengths and weaknesses of American politicalarrangements; the civic society; union and disunion in a multicultural, multi-partisan society;hopes (and/or fears) for the future.
Resources
Histories, Articles & Essays
Ash, Timothy Garton. The Magic Lantern. New York: Random House, 1990.
Brzezinski, Zbigniew. The Soviet Bloc: Unity And Conflict. Cambridge: Harvard UniversityPress, 1967.
Cassian, Nina. Life Sentence. New York: WW. Norton, 1990.
Cullen, Robert. "Report From Romania." in The New Yorker, April 2, 1990.
Fischer-Galati, Stephen. 20th Century Romania. New York: Columbia University Press,1970.
Fischer-Galati, Stephen. The Socialist Republic of Romania. Baltimore: Johns HopkinsPress, 1969.
Fischer-Galati, Stephen. "Romanian Nationalism" in Peter F. Sugar and No J. Lederer,editors, Nationalism In Eastern Europe. Seattle: University Of WUshington Press, 1969,pages 373-396.
Florescu, Radu R. & Raymond McNally. Dracula: Prince Of Many Faces. Boston: Little,Brown and Company, 1989,
Floyd, David, Romania: Russia's Dissident Alfr. New York: Praeger, 1965.
Gate, Charles. The Politics Of Modernization In Eastern Europe. New York: Praeger, 1974.
Gati, Charles. The International Politics Of Eastern Europe. New York: Praeger, 1976.
Gati, Charles. Eastern Europe And The World. Lincoln, NB: Cliff Notes, 1978.
Gati, Charles. The Bloc That Failed. Bloomington, IN: University Press, 1990.
Hunt, Kathleen. "Letter From Bucharest." in The New Yorker, July 23, 1990.
lonesco, Eugene. Rhinoceros, and other plays. New York: Grove Press, 1960.
lonesco, Eugene. Notes And Counter Notes. New York: Grove Press, 1964.
lonesco, Eugene. The Colonel's Photograph. New York: Grove Press, 1969.
lonesco, Eugene. The Killing Game. New York: Grove Press, 1974.
lonesco, Eugene. The Hermit. New York: Viking Press, 1974.
lonescu, Ghita. Communism In Romania. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1964.
55
Jelavich, Barbara. Russia And The Formation Of The Romanian National State 1821-1878.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1984,
ICligman, Gail. The Wedding Of The Dead: Ritual, Poetics, And Popular Culture In 7-kansyl-vanta. Berkeley: University Of California Press, 1988.
Keefe, Eugene, et al. Area Handbook For Romania. Washington D.C,: American Univer-sity, 1972.
Lamont, Rosette. lonesco: A Collection Of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1973.
Larrabee, F. Stephen. "Eastern Europe: A Generational Change." in Foreign Policy. No.70, Spring 1988.
Manes, Norman. On Clowns. New York: Grove Press, 1991.
Nelson, Daniel. Romanian Politic: In The Ceausescu Era. New York: Gordon & Breach,1988.
Pacepa, Ion Mihai. Red Horizons. Washington, DC: Regnery Gateway, 1987.
Pascu, Stefan. A History Of Transylvania. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1982.
Popovici, Titus. The Stranger. Bucharest: Meridians, 1962.
Porter, Ivor. Operation Autonomous: With S.O.E. In Wartime Romania. London: Chatto &Windus, 1989.
Roberts, Henry L. Romania: Political Problems Of Agrarian State. Hamden, Cr: ArchonBooks, 1969.
Periodicals
East European Reporter. London: Ear European Cultural Foundation. Quarterly; $32 peryear; 71 Belmont Avenue, London N17 AX, United Kingdom.
Journal Of Democracy. Washinipon: National Endowment For Democracy. Quarterly; $24per year; PO. Box 3000, Dept, 3D, Denville, NJ 07843.
Radio Free Europe's Report On Eastern Europe. Washington: Radio Free Europe/RadioLiberty, U.S. Government. Weekly; Free; 1201 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC20036.
Uncaptive Minds: A Journal Of Information And Opinion On Eastern Europe. New York: In-stitute For Democracy In Eastern Europe. Bimonthly; $15 per year, $10 for AFT members;Whole sets 1987-1990 available for $40; 48 East 21st Street, New York, NY 10010. (212)677-5801.
