The 1989 Romanian Revolution

Podcast Transcript

In November 1989, the world changed when the Berlin Wall came down, marking the beginning of the unraveling of the Iron Curtain.

Almost a month later, on December 16, 1989, Romania faced a sudden revolution that led to the fall of its central government in just over a week.

While Romania was one of many Eastern European Communist countries that revolted in 1989, the revolution there, unlike those in other countries, was violent and deadly.

Learn more about the 1989 Romanian Revolution and how it unfolded on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

Romania became a Communist country following the Second World War.

During World War II, Romania was initially neutral in the conflict. Watching the initial German success made many Romanian citizens, including their Prime Minister, interested in fascism.

This led to Romania siding with the Axis Powers as they supported the Nazi fight against the Soviets. Romania allied itself with the Axis powers in hopes of gaining new territory from the Soviet Union.

As part of the Axis, Romania supplied the alliance with crucial resources, including oil and troops. These resources were a key part of many of the Battles on the Eastern Front. They also participated in many of the Nazis’ ethnic policies, including the killing of hundreds of thousands of Jews.

When the war began to turn and the Soviets began to make progress against the Germans, Romanian citizens grew dissatisfied with the Nazis and their alliance with them. This led to the formerly ousted Romanian King, Michael I, leading a successful coup d’état against the Prime Minister and pulling Romania out of the Axis alliance.

King Michael’s leadership lasted only two short years until an election saw the Communist Party come to power and abolish the monarchy, making Romania a communist state.

For their first 18 years under Communist rule, Romania was firmly under Soviet Influence and became a member of the Warsaw Pact.

Romania essentially followed the same path as the other Eastern Europe Communist countries until 1965, when Nicolae Ceau?escu came into power.

Ceau?escu had been a member of the Romanian Communist Party for decades, having historically worked as the head of the Ministry of Agriculture and later as the Deputy Minister of the Romanian Armed Forces.

Ceau?escu was unique among Eastern European leaders as he worked to remove Romania from Soviet Influence and turn the government more pro-Western. This policy helped Ceau?escu gain support from the Romanian people.

Shockingly, the Soviet Union allowed Romania to increase its autonomy, mainly because Communist control of the country was under no threat.

Though they never officially left the Warsaw Pact, this separation allowed Romania to avoid participating in operations the country would have been forced to fight in, including the invasion of Czechoslovakia, which Ceau?escu condemned. It also allowed Romania to increase trade and contact with the West.

The most notable example of this was when Romania participated in the 1984 Summer Olympic Games. These games were boycotted by communist countries led by the Soviet Union. They were the only Eastern Bloc country to join, and one of two communist countries.

Lest you start thinking that Nicolae Ceau?escu was a good guy, I should note his hypocrisy. Despite claiming to be anti-Soviet, Ceau?escu’s Romania was run as a Stalinist state with a “cult of personality” surrounding him.

By 1977, the U.S. Bureau of Intelligence described this “cult” as “unparalleled” within Eastern Europe, with Ceau?escu claiming to be a genius responsible for many great scientific achievements. His wife, Elena, received similar treatment.

Because of how the Ceau?escus positioned themselves, they were able to gain more control than any other dictator within the Eastern Bloc, giving them an iron grip over all spheres of Romanian life.

Unfortunately, for the common Romanian, Ceau?escu’s leadership was anything but brilliant.

Ceau?escu’s industrialization policies had completely decimated the Romanian economy. To industrialize, Ceau?escu had taken out large loans from Western Powers, believing that Romania would be able to pay them back.

This placed the country into deep debt with the West. To pay off this debt, Ceau?escu had promised to export a large number of goods. However, Ceau?escu had misjudged the amount of goods Romania was capable of exporting.

Desperate to claw the country out of debt, Ceau?escu put anything that would improve the quality of life for Romanians on the back burner. Food was rationed, and limits were placed on electricity and heat.

Things got so bad that Romania was considered to be in an “artificial famine.” This meant that all food being grown within the country was essentially exported. The country grew more than enough food to feed its citizens, yet it was starving because the government shipped away anything of value.

This situation was worsened by Romanians watching Ceau?escu build massive palaces and administrative buildings while forcing people to relocate.

Another massive drain on Romanian was the extensive security measures within the country. Like other communist countries, Romania had a secret police force known as the Securitate.

The Securitate had crushing amounts of surveillance over the country and made it very difficult for anyone to speak out against the regime.

During that time, the public believed that 1 in 4 people were members of the Securitate. This estimate was inaccurate, as we now know it was closer to 1 in 43 Romanians. However, the sense of omnipresence reflects how fearful the Romanian public was of punishment.

Men, women, and children were all enrolled in the ranks of the Securitate and were present in all levels of society.

Between the poor quality of life and the fear of constant surveillance, Romanians experienced rising, albeit quiet, discontent with Ceau?escu.

Additionally, the decision to separate from the Soviet Union was starting to come back and haunt Ceau?escu. When the Soviet Union enacted its “glasnost and perestroika” policies, other countries were able to critique the government without fear.

These policies helped ease other Eastern Bloc countries into elections where they could peacefully transition power away from Communism.

However, because Romania never enacted any openness policies, Ceau?escu opened himself up to criticism from both his people and the Soviet Union.

The Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, visited Romania and actively spoke out against their leadership, positioning themselves as an ally who wanted to improve conditions, not an enemy.

Romania’s distance from the Soviet Union now became a liability as people saw how life improved outside of Romania.

The Romanian government was sitting on a powderkeg, and all it would take was one match for it all to blow up.

That match was lit on December 16, 1989, in the city of Timi?oara.

A priest named László T?kés had publicly critiqued the Romanian regime’s record on human rights, leading to him being removed from his post and forcibly evicted from his home.

T?kés was popular in Timi?oara, particularly among the ethnically Hungarian minority, which means that when they heard about this development, they were angry.

Father T?kés’ congregation started to rally around his home, hoping to protect him from the eviction. Passerbys would spontaneously join the crowd, many of whom had different ethnic backgrounds and religious beliefs.

Throughout the day, the protest would continue to grow, and eventually, the reason for it was largely forgotten. Instead, the rage was simply towards the government.

The protests continued into the following day. Government buildings were broken into, and Communist propaganda was destroyed.

The protests got to the point where Ceau?escu opted to call in the army. Gunfire, tanks, and trucks could be seen and heard throughout the city until the protest eventually ended.

By the end of December 17th, roughly 100 people would be dead, hastily being buried or cremated. Hospitals throughout the city would be filled with the wounded, and martial law would be put in place. Phone lines were cut, and roads in and out of the city were blocked, as the government desperately attempted to keep the events of Timi?oara under wraps.

Following the events in Timi?oara, Ceau?escu left the country to discuss trade and defense issues with Iran, believing the situation had calmed down. He was incorrect.

Workers began to strike, and protesters continued. A political group named the Romanian Democratic Front was established to issue demands to the government, including a rundown of what occurred in Timi?oara and the promise of a free press.

Ceau?escu returned to Romania and felt the tension. He opted to give a televised speech to the Romanian people, hopeful that it would help restore order and peace within the country. Unfortunately for him, it would have the opposite effect.

On December 21, 1989, Ceau?escu assembled a crowd in Bucharest for his speech. The regime bused 100,000 people into the square, providing them with banners, flags, and pictures. They were told that they would be shot if they were to act out during the speech.

Ceau?escu began by condemning the events in Timi?oara, stating that revolutionaries aimed to destroy Romanian integrity and sovereignty and sought to threaten Romanian autonomy with the aid of a foreign power.

As the speech continued, noises began to be heard from the crowd. They began to chant “Timi?oara! Timi?oara!” The camera quickly pointed away from the crowd, but as the event was broadcast throughout the country, everyone heard it.

Everyone knew that Ceau?escu wasn’t popular, but now everyone knew that everyone else knew.

Following the speech, people across the country began to take to the streets in a disorganized fashion despite the fact that the protesters were once again at danger, being fired on, crushed under armored vehicles, stabbed, and clubbed.

As the protests continued, some of the army and police forces began to switch sides. Ceau?escu was beginning to lose control. He would make a few attempts to calm the crowd, including radio announcements, more speeches, and the introduction of martial law, but it didn’t work.

On December 22, Ceau?escu’s Minister of Defense suspiciously died by suicide. Many of the protesters believed the death was a result of his committing treason by refusing to fire on the crowd.

With the death of the defense minister, Ceau?escu effectively lost control of the military. His new Minister of Defense refused to comply with Ceau?escu’s orders and instead convinced Ceau?escu to flee the country.

As the Ceau?escus were attempting to get to their escape helicopter, protesters flooded the Palace Square building. The couple was unable to escape and was instead taken by the protesters.

On December 24, Christmas Eve, the National Salvation Front, led by Ion Iliescu, took power. He declared that a military tribunal would try the Ceau?escus for charges of genocide, subversion of state power, destruction of public property, undermining the national economy, and attempting to flee the nation.

The trial would take place on the 25th and would last for just an hour before a verdict was declared.

The proceedings were more of a spectacle than a fair trial. The prosecution presented no proof of any crime, only sharing opinions and press reports. It was such a sham that Ceau?escu’s lawyers literally switched sides in the middle of the event to protect themselves.

The trial ended in both Nicolae and Elena Ceau?escu being found guilty. They were both executed via firing squad on live television.

Many Romanians considered it to be a Christmas gift.

Following the Revolution, Romania went through a period of democratization. However, the country still faced many problems and was far from stable. The new leadership faced months of violent protests following the Revolution, although social reforms and stabilization eventually occurred.

Information collected during the Ceau?escu regime has been released to the public through archives, but much of it is still censored. The topic continues to be relevant throughout the country as debates about transparency, accountability, and past oppression remain prevalent in politics today.

The Romanian Revolution was a unique, unplanned wave of rage that took over a nation. The injustice faced every day by Romanians led to an atmosphere of fear, anger, and frustration towards their leadership.

When this frustration finally boiled over, Nicolae Ceau?escu and his wife ultimately paid the price with their lives.