Living History: The End of Communist Rule in Romania

Using an interview with Alexandra Platon, a Romanian woman, this essay offers an inside perspective into Nicholae Ceausescu's oppressive regime and his eventual downfall.

Historical Background:

In the 1980s, Romania suffered under the authoritarian rule of Nicolae Ceausescu, the leader of the Romanian Communist Party. Ceausescu ruled from 1965, until his overthrow and execution in 1989. Ceausescu's regime was totalitarian. He instituted severe censorship, and established a violent secret police force. His regime also enforced harsh economic policies and centralized control over various aspects of Romanian society. This led to widespread poverty and hardship. Ceausescu's regime was one of the most brutal in the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War era. It seemed as if it would never loosen its grip on power.

But a combination of factors – especially the fall of other communist governments in Eastern Europe, and a subsequent wave of protests in Romania – contributed to his loss of power. The uprising gained momentum in mid-December 1989, starting in the city of Timișoara. However, it spread to Bucharest, which is the capital of Romania. The Romanian military eventually turned against Ceausescu, and he and his wife fled Bucharest by helicopter. However, they were captured by the military and brought back to the capital.

Ceausescu and his wife were quickly put on trial by a military tribunal, which lasted just a few hours. They were found guilty of crimes against the state, genocide, and other charges. On December 25, 1989, Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu were executed by a firing squad. It was a brutal end to his long reign. 

Introducing Alexandra Platon

It’s always easy to look at the past from an outside perspective, but it’s better to understand it from someone who lived  it. That’s why I interviewed Alexandra Platon, who grew up in Romania, under Ceausescu’s regime. She was seven years old during the revolution of December, 1989.

Here’s Alexandra, in her own words (lightly edited for clarity):

What it was like before the revolution:

“My whole family – everybody – was extremely against communism and socialism. So what happened? I grew up during the revolution, but unlike many families in my country, we didn't really lack the basic necessities. We had our electricity turned off often. However, the main issue was that people didn't have food. This was towards the end, when Ceausescu was starving the population of Romania to be able to pay his national debt. However, my dad had a really good job. He was a professor. He was teaching to a school that was basically on a property of a farm, and so he had access to food. Also, my grandfather was working in the ministry of agriculture. So again, we had food, but they didn't necessarily have money because everybody was paid the same. Unless you were with the communist party, you didn't really have a good income. If you lived outside Bucharest, because people raised animals and they cultivated all sorts of vegetables, grapes, apples, whatever, they were able to sell them. So basically, they had a little bit of an extra income. My great grandfather and my grandfather were beekeepers, so they were selling honey. If you knew the right people, you were able to get whatever you needed. You didn’t need to find stuff on the shelves of the stores. If you knew the people in the back of the store, you would be able to get stuff. clothing, toys, better food.? So that was how I perceived it. Some of my friends had a really tough life, But I can’t say that I lacked anything in a way.”

Alexandra’s family history: 

“I guess my grandparents had it harder. My  grandfather was a refugee of Moldova, although they used to be part of Romanian territory. They eventually lost it. He moved from Moldova to Romania to escape conflict. People were buried alive by the communists. Whatever they’re doing now in Ukraine, that was my family. Yeah, they were thrown in communal ditches, thrown manure over them. They were tied with wires. It was bad. So because of that, part of the family was again very much against communism. They were a target. They had to run, so they ran away. They hid in Romania and they built a new life over there. My family moved to Bucharest.”

Alexandra’s experience of the revolution: 

“The revolution didn’t start in Bucharest, but it came there. And by the time it reached Bucharest my mom was there, right away. At the University Square is where the whole thing happened, basically. So there were a few people, with an army around them. The Army directed them on the streets, and a lot of them got beaten up. My mom was lucky because she survived. She didn't really go to jail or anything like that either. But a lot of people got affected and then it started to get really serious and the army started to shoot people. And my grandfather said, if you continue doing this, risking your life, you have to take your kid with you. Basically, he thought, taking me with her would stop her, because she would not risk her daughter’s life. But she took me anyway. So I remember I was seven years old, and my mom was at the square yelling. Later on, I wrote down everything that she was saying. I still remember it. She was calling them ‘assassins,’ and calling for ‘the end of violence.’ The regime called the protesters thugs, so she said ‘thugs of the world unite.’ It was a vivid moment.” 

So we come from a country that's Christian. 99 percent of people are Christians, and the Orthodox Church is very much involved in politics, which is not right. It shouldn't be like this. Under the communist party, they were against religion. You weren’t allowed to build churches. Santa Claus was not even called Santa Claus. And then, we started to pray publicly in the middle of a square. This was to show that the government can't control us anymore. We are free now.”

On Ceausescu's execution: 

“They had torn down a lot of churches in Romania, a lot of them. And on one of them, on the entryway, was written, “Whoever tears down this holy place, he will die by his own people's hands on a holiday.” And then Ceausescu got killed by the Romanian army on Christmas. Crazy. He didn’t have a fair trial. He was a bad guy, but he didn't deserve to die. It was a military tribunal. It was a trial that lasted an hour, and then he was publicly executed by the army. But he didn't deserve to die like that. You could have just put him in jail.”

What happened after: 

“His right hand man took over the Presidency of Romania. His name was Iliescu, and this guy has actually committed a lot of war crimes. He too should be in jail. He should be prosecuted for everything he did.  I remember he brought in the coal miners from central Romania. It was instigated by the President. He wanted to beat up the population that was against him and his party, which was the Socialist Party. They came in with big trucks and you could see them in the streets. And they were noisy. They were thugs. And my mom took me to her workplace one day, and I remember we were walking on the sidewalk, and all of a sudden these trucks with the coal miners passed by us and she started screaming and yelling and crying and cursing, and they were smirking. I gotta say, I got scared. You're a woman, surrounded by hundreds of men, right? But she's very passionate about the things she believes. And she really wants fairness to succeed in the world, but it usually never does. But yeah, so she was very, very passionate about the cause of the revolution.”