The Romanian Revolution 25 Years Later - Nicolae Ceauşescu Is Still Dead

There I was - a brand new 1Lt at Beale AFB.  I joined the Air Force because of those damn Communists, and then something happened. Freedom was breaking out everywhere in Eastern Europe.  1989 was the beginning of the end for Communism in Eastern Europe.  In June of that year, Poland held open elections, resulting in its first non-Communist government in 40 years.  In October, Hungary made many changes.  It ceased to be a “people’s republic,” and passed legislation that guaranteed human and civil rights, made provisions for free, fair and multi-party elections, and established separate executive, legislative and judicial branches of government.  On November 9^th the Berlin Wall fell, effectively ending the German Democratic Republic.  A week later the Velvet Revolution commenced in Czechoslovakia.  Vaclav Havel became the first non-Communist president of Czechoslovakia since 1948 in December.  In Bulgaria, longtime Communist leader Todor Zhivkov was replaced by a more liberal Communist government.  The new government repealed restrictions on free speech and assembly.  In December the Bulgarian Communists renounced their monopoly on power, which led to free and fair elections in 1990.  All of these events were relatively peaceful.  The exception to this non-violence was Romania.

It started in a place called Timoşoara.  There was a Hungarian Reformed church pastor named László Tőkés.  He was at the center of a protest movement against Romania’s Systemization policy.  In short, this was a policy of rural resettlement.  Villages were to become urban industrial centers, the result of which was the demolition of small villages, churches and many older buildings which would be replaced with “modern” apartment buildings.  People were evicted from their homes and relocated to these apartment buildings.  The peasant way of life disappeared under concrete.  To say the least, the huddled masses weren’t pleased.  Tőkés made his critiques about the systemization policy on Hungarian TV.  This got the attention of Romania’s secret state police, the Securitate.  The Securitate tried to evict Tőkés from his home, but his parishioners wouldn’t have it.  On December 16, 1989 they intervened to stop the Securitate from executing Tőkés’ eviction.  As the day wore on, more protesters against the Securitate gathered, and soon the protest against Tőkés’ eviction became an anti-Communist protest.  The Securitate tear gassed the protesters, and they used water cannons to disperse them.  The next day the protests resumed, but this day the protesters broke into the local Party headquarters and ransacked the place.  They tried to burn the place down, but the military stopped them.  The unrest in Timoşoara continued for five days.  According to the Library of Congress Federal Research Division, Nicolae Ceauşescu ordered the minister of national defense to fire on the crowd in order to end the demonstrations. Gunfire by the Securitate killed and wounded scores of demonstrators.

What caused this discontent in Romania?  For most of the 1980s Romania was living under an austerity program.  Wanting to be free of foreign debt, Nicolae Ceauşescu decided to ration practically everything – food, gas, heating – in order to export everything else to pay down the debt.  Wages were low, and there were massive shortages of everything.  The infant mortality rate in Romania was the highest in Europe.  The Romanian standard of living for the great unwashed was low.  The Securitate and its huge network of informants was everywhere, enabling Ceauşescu to rule Romania with an iron fist.  Widespread poverty made Ceauşescu and the Communist party unpopular.  Ceauşescu and his cronies lived in palatial mansions while the huddled masses suffered.  On top of all of this was the aforementioned systemization program.

On December 20th, Ceauşescu returned from a trip to Iran.  Events were spinning out of control, so Ceauşescu decided to give a nationally-televised speech to a mass meeting staged in Bucharest.  It started out as an ordinary speech, with Ceauşescu bloviating the usual Communist bilge about his regime’s accomplishments.  The hired party hacks were up front.  They clapped and cheered at his every pronouncement.  But after about eight minutes things changed drastically.  The crowd started to chant "Ti-mi-șoa-ra! Ti-mi-șoa-ra!"  Ceauşescu froze – he didn’t know what to do.  Twenty years of a cult of personality left Ceauşescu without a clue how to deal with masses of people who disagreed with him.  He was dumbfounded, and even worse, was seen by many to be dumbfounded.  The people were no longer afraid of him.  Then there was what sounded like fireworks and gunshots, and word spread that the Securitate was firing on the crowd.  The crowds began to storm the building from which he gave his speech.  The army kept them out.  Ceauşescu was hustled inside, as rioting continued throughout the night.  The following day the army withdrew their support from Ceauşescu and went over to the other side.  Ceauşescu and his wife fled Bucharest by helicopter.

They first flew to his villa at Snagov, where Ceauşescu tried to contact local party leaders [he failed].  They found themselves in Boteni, near a military base.  The helicopter pilot told Ceauşescu that they’d been spotted on radar and would be blown out of the sky at any minute.  After landing they hijacked a car at gunpoint to try to get away.  He told the scared driver that there was a coup in Bucharest, and that he intended to organize resistance at Tȃrgovişte.  The driver took Ceauşescu to a cooperative farm.  It was here that the police finally caught up with the Ceauşescus, three hours after they fled Bucharest.  They were driven around in an armored car until a decision about their future was made.  As long as the Ceauşescus were alive, his supporters would continue the fighting and killing.  A short trial was arranged, during which Ceauşescu refused to recognize the court’s authority.  It didn’t take long before the court reached its pre-determined decision – execution.  After the Ceauşescus’ sentence was pronounced [even their defense “lawyer” asked for the death penalty], they suddenly realized their sentences were going to be carried out immediately.  They were taken outside and shot.  For every bullet the hit Nicolae Ceauşescu, ten hit his wife Elena.  She was even more-hated than he was.  The execution was on Christmas Day.  They were buried in simple graves in different parts of a Bucharest cemetery.

And there was much rejoicing...