Nicolae Ceaușescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu (/tʃaʊˈʃɛskuː/ chow-SHESK-oo, Romanian: [nikoˈla.e tʃe̯a.uˈʃesku] , 26 January [O.S. 13 January] 1918 – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and statesman. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last communist leader of Romania. He was also the country's head of state from 1967 to 1989, and widely classified as a dictator, serving as President of the State Council and from 1974 concurrently as President of the Republic, until his overthrow and execution in the Romanian Revolution in December 1989, part of a series of anti-communist uprisings in Eastern Europe that year.
"Ceaușescu" redirects here. For other people, see Ceaușescu (surname).
Nicolae Ceaușescu
Position abolished
Position established
National Salvation Front Council (interim)
Office abolished
26 January [O.S. 13 January] 1918
Scornicești, Kingdom of Romania
25 December 1989 (aged 71)
Târgoviște, Socialist Republic of Romania
Romanian Communist Party (1932–1989)
1949–1954
Romanian dissidents
Born in 1918 in Scornicești, Ceaușescu was a member of the Romanian Communist youth movement. He was arrested in 1939 and sentenced for "conspiracy against social order", spending the time during the war in prisons and internment camps: Jilava (1940), Caransebeș (1942), Văcărești (1943), and Târgu Jiu (1943). Ceaușescu rose up through the ranks of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej's Socialist government and, upon Gheorghiu-Dej's death in 1965, he succeeded to the leadership of the Romanian Communist Party as general secretary.[1]
Upon achieving power, he eased press censorship and condemned the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in his speech of 21 August 1968, which resulted in a surge in popularity. However, this period of stability was brief, as his government soon became totalitarian and came to be considered the most repressive in the Eastern Bloc. His secret police, the Securitate, was responsible for mass surveillance as well as severe repression and human rights abuses within the country, and controlled the media and press. Ceaușescu's attempts to implement policies that would lead to a significant growth of the population led to a growing number of illegal abortions and increased the number of orphans in state institutions. Economic mismanagement due to failed oil ventures during the 1970s led to very significant foreign debts for Romania. In 1982, Ceaușescu directed the government to export much of the country's agricultural and industrial production in an effort to repay these debts. His cult of personality experienced unprecedented elevation, followed by the deterioration of foreign relations, even with the Soviet Union.
As anti-government protesters demonstrated in Timișoara in December 1989, he perceived the demonstrations as a political threat and ordered military forces to open fire on 17 December, causing many deaths and injuries. The revelation that Ceaușescu was responsible resulted in a massive spread of rioting and civil unrest across the country. The demonstrations, which reached Bucharest, became known as the Romanian Revolution—the only violent overthrow of a communist government in the course of the Revolutions of 1989. Ceaușescu and his wife Elena fled the capital in a helicopter, but they were captured by the military after the armed forces defected. After being tried and convicted of economic sabotage and genocide, both were sentenced to death, and they were immediately executed by firing squad on 25 December.[2][3][4][5]
Cultural depictions[edit]
Ceaușescu was played by Constantin Cojocaru in the 2011 Swiss docudrama Die letzten Tage der Ceaușescus.[113]
A comedy musical enjoyed a world premiere at Seven Arts in Leeds on Sunday 21 May 2017. It was written by Tom Bailey and Greg Jameson, with songs by Allan Stelmach, and depicted Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu and their son Valentin in a piece of meta musical theatre that was also a comment upon celebrity culture and the role social media and political correctness play in creating social pariahs.[114]
In popular culture[edit]
Two documentaries have been made about Ceaușescu in the 21st century. The first film was written and directed by Ben Lewis for the BBC, titled The King of Communism: The Pomp & Pageantry of Nicolae Ceaușescu (2002).
The second, Autobiografia lui Nicolae Ceaușescu (2011), was created by Romanian writer/director Andrei Ujica, and an English language version of the film was released simultaneously, titled The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceaușescu.[124]
The Left Behind novels of Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins prominently feature a fictional Romanian President named Nicolae Carpathia, whose cult of personality, strong-arm tactics, and name, are similar to those of Nicolae Ceaușescu.