The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a week-long series of increasingly violent riots and fighting in late December 1989 that overthrew the Communist regime of Nicolae Ceauşescu, and after a summary trial, the execution of Ceauşescu and his wife Elena by firing squad. Romania was the only Eastern Bloc country to overthrow its Communist regime violently or to execute its leaders.
Background:
As in neighboring countries, by 1989 the bulk of the Romanian populace were dissatisfied with the Communist regime. However, unlike other Eastern Bloc countries, Romania had never undergone even limited de-Stalinization. Ceauşescu's economic and development policies (including grandiose construction projects such as the grandiose Palace of the Parliament and a draconian austerity program designed to enable Romania to liquidate its entire national debt in only a few years) were generally blamed for the country's painful shortages and widespread, increasing poverty. Parallel with increasing poverty, the secret police (Securitate) were becoming so ubiquitous as to make Romania essentially a police state.
By 1989, Ceauşescu was showing signs of a complete denial of reality. While Romania had the lowest living standards in any of the Eastern Bloc nations, Ceauşescu seemed to have no awareness of this, believing that he had brought Romania to one of the highest standards of living ever known to mankind, actually believing that he turned Romania into a Utopia. Ceauşescu claimed that under his regime the arts were flourishing, healthcare was at an all-time high, the sciences were making breakthrough discoveries, and Romania was making record harvests, enough to serve the country for years to come. All the people really got was a lifetime of propaganda, barrack-like apartments, physically insolvent healthcare services (resulting in a huge HIV epidemic), crippling energy shortages, and hours of waiting outside empty bread ration stores. Not to mention that all sc
ientific discoveries were to be credited to Ceauşescu's hated wife Elena. Also, while people were suffering under his disastrous policies, Ceauşescu and his family were living the high life, with large palaces boasting luxuries outseating even today's standards.
Unlike the other Warsaw Pact leaders, Ceauşescu had not been slavishly pro-Soviet, but rather had pursued an "independent" foreign policy. While Soviet leader Gorbachev spoke of reform, Ceauşescu emulated the political hard-line, megalomania, and personality cults of East Asian communist leaders such as North Korea's Kim il Sung. Even after the Berlin Wall fell and Ceauşescu's closest comrades, GDR's leader Eric Honecker resigned, and Bulgarian leader Todor Zhivkov was replaced in November 1989, Ceauşescu ignored the threat to his position as the last old-style communist leader in Eastern Europe.
Timişoara Protest:
On December 16,, a protest broke out in Timişoara in response to an attempt by the government to evict a dissident, Hungarian Reformed pastor László Tőkés. Tőkés had recently made critical comments toward the regime in the international media, and the government alleged that he was inciting ethnic hatred. At the behest of the government, his bishop removed him from his post, thereby depriving him of the right to use the apartment he was entitled to as a pastor. For some time, his parishioners gathered around his home to protect him from harassment and eviction. Many passers-by, including religious Romanian students, unaware of the details and having been told by the pastor's supporters that this was yet another attempt of the communist regime to restrict religious freedom, spontaneously joined in.
As it became clear that the crowd would not disperse, the mayor, Petre Moţ, made remarks suggesting that he had overturned the decision to evict Tőkés. Meanwhile, the crowd had grown impatient — and since Moţ declined to confirm his statement against the planned eviction in writing, the crowd started to chant anticommunist slogans. Consequently, police and Securitate forces showed up at the scene. By 7:30 p.m., the protest had spread out, and the original cause became largely irrelevant. The Securitate responded with tear gas and water jets, while the
police beat up rioters and arrested many of them. Around 9:00 p.m., the rioters withdrew. They regrouped eventually around the Romanian Orthodox Cathedral and started a protest march around the city, but again they were confronted by the security forces.
Riots and protests resumed the following day, December 17. The rioters broke into the District Committee building and threw Party documents, propaganda brochures, Ceauşescu's writings, and other symbols of communist power out the windows. Since Romania did not have a riot police (Ceauşescu, who belived the Romanian people loved him, never saw the need for the formation of one), the military were sent in to control the riots, since the situtation was too large for the Securitate and police to handle. The significance of the army presence in the streets was an ominous one: it meant that they had received their orders from the highest level of the command chain, presumably from Ceauşescu himself. Although the army failed to establish order, it succeeded in turning Timişoara into a living hell: gunfire, casualties, fights and burning cars.
Revolt Spreads to Bucharest:
On the morning of December 21, Ceauşescu addressed an assembly of approximately 110,000 people, to condemn the uprising in Timişoara. However, Ceauşescu was completely out of touch with his people, and completely misread the crowd's mood. Starting his speech, Ceauşescu delivered a litany of the achievements of the "socialist revolution" and Romanian "multi-laterally developed socialist society." The people, however, remained apathetic, and only the front rows supported Ceauşescu with cheers and applause. His lack of understanding of the recent events and his incapacity to handle the situation were further demonstrated when he offered, as an act of desperation, to raise workers' salaries by 100 lei per month (about 4 US dollars at the time, yet a 5-10% raise for a modest salary) while continuing to praise the achievements of the Socialist Revolution.
As he was addressing the crowd from the balcony of the Central Committee building, sudden movement came from the outskirts of the massed assembly, as did the sound of (what various sources have reported as) fireworks, bombs, or guns, which together caused the assembly to break into chaos. Initially frightened, the crowds tried to disperse. Bullhorns then began to spread the news that the Securitate was firing on the crowd and that a "revolution" was unfolding. This persuaded people in the assembly to join in. The rally turned into a protest
demonstration.
The entire speech was being broadcast live around Romania, and it is estimated that perhaps 76% of the nation was watching. Censors attempted to cut the live video feed, and replace it with communist propaganda songs and video praising the Ceauşescu regime, but parts of the riots had already been broadcast and most of the Romanian people realized that something unusual was in progress.
Ceauşescu and his wife, as well as other officials and CPEx members, panicked, and Ceauşescu went into hiding inside the building.
The reaction of the Ceauşescu couple on the balcony is memorable: They staged futile attempts to regain control over the uprising crowd using phone conversation formulas such as "Alo, Alo" ("Hello, Hello"), Ceauşescu's wife "advised" him how to contain the situation "Vorbeşte-le, vorbeşte-le" ("Talk to them, talk to them"), and they urged the crowd "Staţi liniştiţi la locurile voastre" ("Sit quiet in your places"). In the end Ceauşescu allowed himself to be directed into the Central Committee building by his underlings.
The jeers and whistles soon erupted into riot; the crowd took to the streets, placing the capital, like Timişoara, in turmoil. Members of the crowd spontaneously began shouting anti-communist and anti-Ceauşescu slogans, which spread and became chants: "Jos dictatorul!" ("Down with the dictator"), "Moarte criminalului!" ("Death to the murderer"), "Noi suntem poporul, jos cu dictatorul!" ("We are the People, down with the dictator"), "Ceauşescu cine eşti?/Criminal din Scorniceşti" ("Ceauşescu, who are you? A murderer from Scorniceşti").
As the hours passed, many more people took to the streets. Soon the protesters — unarmed and unorganized — were confronted by soldiers, tanks, TABs, troops , and armed plain-clothes Securitate officers. The crowd was soon being shot at from various buildings, side streets, and tanks. There were many casualties, including deaths, as victims were shot, clubbed to death, stabbed, and crushed by armored vehicles (one TAB drove into the
crowd around the Intercontinental Hotel, crushing people — a French journalist, Jean Louis Calderon, was killed; a street near University Square was later named after him). Firefighters hit the demonstrators with powerful water jets and the police continued to beat and arrest people. Protesters managed to build a defensible barricade in front of Dunărea ("Danube") restaurant, which stood until after midnight, but was finally torn apart by government forces.
It is likely that in the small hours of December 22, Ceauşescu made the second mistake of the day because instead of fleeing the city at night they decided to wait until morning to leave. Ceauşescu must have thought that his desperate attempts to crush the protests had succeeded, because he apparently called another meeting for the next morning. However, before 7:00 a.m., his wife Elena received the news that large columns of workers from many industrial platforms (large communist-era factories or groups of factories concentrated into industrial zones) were heading towards downtown Bucharest. The police barricades that were meant to block access to Piaţa Universităţii (University Square) and Piaţa Palatului (Palace Square, now Piaţa Revoluţiei— Revolution Square) proved useless. By 9:30 a.m., University Square was jammed with protestors. Security forces (army, police and others) re-entered the area, only to join with the protesters.
By 10 A.M., as the radio broadcast was announcing the introduction of martial law and of a ban on groups larger than five persons, yet hundreds of thousands of people were gathering for the first time, spontaneously, in central Bucharest (the previous day's crowd had come together at Ceauşescu's orders). Ceauşescu attempted to address the crowd from the balcony of the Central Committee of the Communist Party building, but his attempt was met with a wave of disapproval and anger. Helicopters spread manifestos (which did not reach the crowd, due to unfavourable winds) instructing people not to fall victim to the latest "diversion attempts," but to go home instead and enjoy the Christmas feast (which infuriated the people more since it was compared to Marie Anntonetes "Let them Eat the Cake!" quote since the Romanian people even had trouble receiving cooking oil).
Ceauşescu Falls:
On the morning of December 22, sometime between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., Vasile Milea, Ceauşescu's minister of defense, died under suspicious circumstances. A communiqué by Ceauşescu stated that Milea had been found to be a traitor and that he had committed suicide after his treason was revealed. The most widespread opinion at the time was that Milea had been assassinated because of his refusal to follow Ceauşescu's orders. In 2005 an investigation
concluded that the minister killed himself. It seems, though, that his intention was only to incapacitate himself in order to be relieved from office, but the bullet accidentally hit an artery and he died soon afterwards.
Upon learning of Milea's apparent suicide, Ceauşescu appointed Victor Stănculescu as minister of defense. He accepted after a brief hesitation. Stănculescu, however, ordered the troops back to their quarters without Ceauşescu's knowledge, and moreover persuaded Ceauşescu to leave by helicopter, thus making the dictator a fugitive. By refusing to carry out Ceauşescu's (who was still technically commander-in-chief of the army) orders, Stănculescu played a central role in the overthrow of the dictatorship. "I had the prospect of two execution squads: Ceauşescu's and the revolutionary one!" confessed Stănculescu later. In the afternoon, Stănculescu "chose" Iliescu's political group from among others that were striving for power in the aftermath of the recent events.
Ceauşescu and his wife Elena then fled the capital city by helicopter, accompanied by two loyal aides, Emil Bobu and Tudor Postelnicu. They headed for Ceauşescu's Snagov residence, and from there to Târgovişte. Near Târgovişte, at Boteni, they abandoned the
helicopter, whose pilot claimed that he was ordered to land by the army. By that time the army had closed all Romanian airspace. The Ceauşescus hitchhiked into Târgovişte. After some wandering through the industrial outskirts of the town, the couple decided to enter a building near a local steel plant. An engineer there recognized them and called the police. A nearby traffic police unit arrived and took the Ceauşescus to the local police headquarters, and afterwards to the army barracks across the street. There the Ceauşescus were informed that they had been arrested. On December 25, Christmas Day, the former dictator of Romania and his wife were sentenced to death by an ad hoc military court on a range of charges including genocide, and were executed by firing squad in Târgovişte.
Footage of the trial and execution was promptly released in France and other western countries; an edited version (lacking footage of the actual execution) was released on television the same day for the Romanian public. Thus to Romanians, Christmas Day is known as the day the dictator fell.
Today we gathered at the Arenele Romane in central Bucharest for the Global Day of Prayer. Romania was one of 12 countries selected as sites for direct television and radio coverage. A number of people turned out from various denominations for collective worship and prayer. We prayed for our country, our city, the world, for the lost, for the expansion of the Kingdom of Christ, for the youth, for Israel, and more. It is nice to see people turn out for events such as this to show unity and that we can accomplish more together than apart. I think the turnout could have been better, but I think the volatile weather (constantly threatening to rain) might have kept some people from coming. Still, the power of prayer is great. Did you celebrate the Global Day of Prayer in your city?
Arenele Romane
I went with a group of friends from our youth group: Simona, Anita, and Ciprian
The past two days our youth group has participated in a national youth conference called "
In between sessions, we had a picnic and played some volleyball. It was nice, but HOT!!!! I'm melting already.
The Romanian 
World-renowned Christian speaker/writer/evangelist Josh McDowell held a conference in Bucharest this weekend. He is known for writing such books as the national best-seller Why You Should Wait. On Saturday, we took our youth group to hear Josh McDowell speak at 
Air Force One
President Bush arrives with fanfare
