The Romanian Revolution or the Christmas Revolution was a period of civil unrest in Romania which
was part of a number of other uprisings that took place in countries around the world.
It began in the city of Timisoara, and then spread throughout the country, and it would
result in the trial and execution of the long standing Romanian Communist Party General
Secretary, Nicholae Ceausescu and his wife Elena. Nicholae was the dictator of Romania,
and his ousting from power saw the end of 42 years of Communist rule in Romania, and
the removal of the last marxist Leninist government in a Warsaw pact country. It was a revolution
that overthrew the government and leadership of the country, and also executed its leader
but it’s believed that in the actions over 1000 people died and also thousands more were
injured. But what is the story of the brutal execution of the Ceausescu’s. Remember to
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Nicolae Ceausescu was a member of the Romanian Communist youth movement in his early life,
and in 1936 he was imprisoned and then four years later he was arrested again for his
communist party activities. He married Elena Petrescu a communist activist in 1939, and
whilst in prison he became the protege of his cell mate, the communist leader Gheorghe
Gheorghiu-Dej, who became the undisputed Communist leader of Romania in 1952. He managed to escape
from prison in August 1944 before the soviet occupation as the Second World War was raging
on, and he then served as a secretary of the Union of Communist youth. When the communists
rose to power in Romania in 1947, he first headed up the ministry of Agriculture, and
then he served as the deputy minister of armed forces, as a major general. Under Gheorghiu-Dej,
the pair went back a long way, and Ceausescu then became the second most powerful person
in the party’s heirarchy, but following the death of Gheoghiu-Dej, Ceausescu rose
to the position of the leader of Romania’s Communist Party. He then became the head of
state, and he won popular support for his independent, nationalistic beliefs, and he
openly challenged the dominance and power of the Soviet Union over Romania. He brought
an end to Romania’s involvement in the Warsaw Pact alliance, and he also condemned the invasion
of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact forces, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. But then
in 1974 he became the President of Romania.
His police limited free speech, and they tolerated no internal dissent or opposition, and the
regime was oppressive and they outlawed contraception and abortion. With this, maternal mortality
rates rose heavily, as women saw unsafe menthods to end their pregnancies. Those who did dissent
would be sent to prisons where they were tortured and treated terrible, but Ceausescu’s government
were heavily in debt to foreign governments. They had a number of poorly managed industrial
ventures, and with this in 1982, Nicholae Ceasescu decided to export most of Romania’s
agricultural and industrial production to ease the debts. However this caused extreme
poverty and shortages of food, fuel, medicines and basic necessities to the point where the
standard of living in the country heavily fell. Along with this, he appointed many members
of his family, including his wife into positions of power in government.
Elena Ceausescu in government worked as a secretary in the ministry of foreign affairs
and she wasn’t important until her husband became the General Secretary of the Communist
Party. She accompanied her husband on visits abroad including state visits to China, and
she continued to get roles in senior positions inside the Romanian Communist Party. She rose
to become the second most important and influential person after her husband, and she was deeply
involved in the politics of the party alongside her husband. A cult of personality emerged
around the Ceasescu’s with Elena being regarded as the Mother of the nation, and it’s believed
that her desire for advancement and honours and also vanity was larger than her husband’s
ambitions. She controlled the way she appeared on camera, and was never supposed to be shown
in profile as she had a large nose, but she in March 1980 became a First Deputy Prime
Minister.
However tensions in the 1980s were rising in Romania, and protests would break out.
On the 16th December 1989, the Hungarian minority in Timisoara held a protest in response to
attempts by the government to evict a Hungarian pastor Laszlo Tokes. The government claimed
he was inciting hatred, and wanted to remove him from his post and get rid of him. The
crowd became angry and impatient, and began to chant anti communist slogans, and then
the police arrived at the scene. However that evening the protests had grown and spread,
and the original cause was forgotten. Some protesters attempted to burn down buildings,
and the police and security forces responded with firing tear gas and using their water
cannons, and the police beat up violently many of the rioters and arrested them. The
group then began a protest march around the city, but they were then confronted again
by security forces. The next day the protests and riots resumed, and they broke into district
committee buildings and threw propaganda brochures out of the windows, and even threw out Ceausescu’s
writings. The military was sent in to bring the situation to a close, but the situation
was getting worse and growing larger. The army failed to establish order, and chaos
erupted with gunfire being shot, and fights breaking out. There were many who were injured,
and cars were being set on fire, but then tanks were sent in. There was wild shooting
from Liberty Square around the city, and helicopters were overhead. Some areas looked like a war
zone with blood on the streets, but Ceausescu then left to visit Iran leaving the crushing
of the revolt to his wife and his sub-ordinates. Whilst he was away martial law was declared
and a curfew was ordered. But many defied this, including a group of 30 men who waved
the Romanian Flag which had removed the communist coat of arms. These were fired upon and some
died, and others were seriously injured. Elena then sent in other officials to deal with
the riots, and they agreed to free the majority of arrested protesters. But when Ceausescu
returned on the 20th December, he gave a televised speech expressing his anger for the revolution.
But on the 21st December he then addressed around 100,000 people the condemn the uprising.
However busloads of workers arrived and were given flags and pictures of Ceausecu under
duress to drown out protesters. However Ceausescu was out of touch, and many of the crowd began
to jeer and boo and whistle insults at him, and the crowd then roared for the uprising
that had began. He became desperate, but then movement came from the outskirts of the crowd,
as did the sound of gunshots, fireworks or bombs, and chaos broke out. The crowd tried
to disperse, and there was news that the Security forces were firing on the crowd, as the revolution
was unfolding. The speech was broadcast around the nation, and Ceacescu and his wife panicked
and were hustled back inside the building. The crowd turned into a riot, chanting down
with the dictator and death to the criminal, and as time went on many more people took
to the streets. Anti terrorist special squads were brought in, and soon the crowd was being
shot at by the army also from a number of buildings. There were many casualties as victims
were shot, clubbed to death and stabbed by the government forces. Some were even run
over, as one APC drove at the crowd crushing people. Water cannons were turned on people,
and the police continued to batter and beat everyone they saw. Intense firing and shooting
continued into the night.
In the earl hours of the 22nd December, the Ceausescu’s made the decision to wait until
he morning to flee the city. Before 7am, Elena heard that there were large amounts of workers
heading for the city centre of Bucharest to join the protests. Maria law was brought back
in and there was a ban on large groups, however 100s of thousands were gathering in central
Bucharest. At 9:30 Vasile Mile the minister of defence died under suspicious circumstances,
and many believed that Miles hesitated to follow the orders given to him by the Ceasusecu’s
to fire on the demonstrators. The new minister of Defence Victor Stanculescu would later
refuse to fire on the protesters, which played a role in the overthrow of the government.
He would later claim, ‘I had the prospect of two execution squads, Ceasescus’ and
the revolutionary one. However Nicholae and Elena then headed for the roof of the building
they were inside of, and they were to be airlifted off a roof. But a group of protesters made
their way into the building and overpowered the bodyguards, before heading to the balcony.
They were meters from Ceausescu, and the lift’s electrcity failed before it got to the top.
The personal pilot of the president was given instruction to airlift them out of there,
but it became impossible to land where it was wanted. He later said, ‘"Then Stelica,
the co-pilot, came to me and said that there were demonstrators coming to the terrace.
Then the Ceaușescus came out, both practically carried by their bodyguards ... They looked
as if they were fainting. They were white with terror. Manea Mănescu [one of the
vice-presidents] and Emil Bobu were running behind them. Mănescu, Bobu, Neagoe and another
Securitate officer scrambled to the four seats in the back ... As I pulled Ceaușescu in,
I saw the demonstrators running across the terrace ... There wasn't enough space, Elena
Ceaușescu and I were squeezed in between the chairs and the door ... We were only
supposed to carry four passengers ... We had six." They left for Snagov, and when they
arrived Matulan’s unit commander said ‘There has been a revolution, you are on your own,
good luck.’ Matulan told the Ceasescu’s he could do no more. The security detail tried
to flag down a car, and they were picked up by a doctor who did not really want to help.
He then faked car problems, and they were picked up by another driver. However they
were then arrested by local police, and were transporter to the Targoviste garrison military
compound and held captive until they were placed on trial.
The trial of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu was rather brief and it lasted around an hour.
They would defend themselves, and were accused of genocide with over 60,000 victims, subversion
of state power by organising armed action against the people, offence of destruction
of public property by destroying and damaging buildings, undermining the national economy
and trying to flee Romania using over 1 billion dollars deposited in foreign banks. It was
in a sense a show trial, as they were convicted of all charges and were condemned to death.
They could not choose their own lawyers, and Nicolae would question the authenticity of
the court. But regardless of this, the Ceaucescu’s were to be executed for their crimes, and
this was seen as a violent and bloody end to the Romanian dictatorship. Just days after
the revolution had broken out they were dead. Elena and Nicholae were executed at 4pm on
a military base outside of Bucharest on Christmas Day 1989. The execution was performed by a
firing squad which was made up of paratroop soldiers. Hundreds its believed volunteered
to take the lives of the dictator and his wife, and Nicolae Ceasescu would state before
that, ‘We could have been shot without having this masquerade.’ The Ceausescu’s hands
were tied by four soldiers before the execution. Before their sentences were carried, Elena
screamed, ‘You sons of dogs,’ whilst she was led outside and was lined up against the
wall. This wall was against the side of a barrack building.
Whilst this was happening, Nicolae sung The Internationale, and as the pair were stood
against the wall, the firing squad then began firing. The execution was hastily arranged,
and the executioners were trigger happy, to the point where the television crew which
were there to capture the death sentence were not ready. In fact they only managed to capture
the last round of shots fired from the guns. A retired captain would later tell newspapers
that he believed the shots from his rifle were the ones responsible for the deaths of
the Ceausescu;s because of the three soldiers assigned to fire, he was the only one who
remembered to switch his Kalashnikov rifle to fire fully automatic. Because of this at
least one member of the group hesitated as he fired, and in 1990 it was found that around
120 bullets were found lodged inside the bodies of Elena and Nicholae Ceacesucu. The execution
was deemed to have been carried out quickly as they were worried that loyalists would
try to rescue them. But following the execution, their bodies were covered in canvas, and they
were flown to Bucharest and then interred inside a cemetery.
The Ceausescus were then final people to be executed in Romania before the abolition of
capital punishment on the 7th January 1990, and their death brought a bloody end to their
decades of power over Romania.
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