The Downfall of Romanian Dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu: A Chronicle of His Final Days

Today is January 26. On this day, the birth of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu took place. Ceaușescu, who served as the General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 until his death and as President from 1974, along with his wife Elena, was captured while fleeing and executed by the Romanian army on December 25, 1989.

Let us discuss how the powerful dictator, who ruled Romania tyrannically for decades, met his end.

December 21, 1989. Afternoon. In Palace Square, the central square of Romania's capital, Bucharest, one hundred thousand men and women gathered, holding large pictures of President Ceaușescu and his wife Elena Ceaușescu, and waving the flag of the Romanian Communist Party. These people had not gathered spontaneously as promoted by the government. They were 'reliable' workers from factories. They had been brought to Bucharest in buses under party surveillance the previous night and housed in barracks and guesthouses belonging to various factories. The government organized this demonstration under Ceaușescu's direction in response to the protests against him in Timișoara a few days prior.

According to the predetermined schedule on December 21, 1989, Ceaușescu, his wife Elena Ceaușescu, and high-ranking party and government officials appeared on the balcony of the Central Committee building of the Romanian Communist Party. Several microphones were set up for Ceaușescu's speech. There were television cameras present. Elena Ceaușescu stood to Ceaușescu's left. Seeing the huge presence of the people, Ceaușescu enthusiastically congratulated the organizers at the very beginning of his speech. While so elated, Ceaușescu never dreamed that within the next 96 hours, they would be gone from this world.

Less than two or three minutes into Ceaușescu's speech, a loud uproar began from the rear. People were chanting slogans like "Down with Ceaușescu!" and "Ceaușescu is a murderer!" However, those standing in the front were applauding Ceaușescu's speech. Despite Ceaușescu repeatedly appealing for quiet, the commotion and chanting did not stop.

The next ten minutes were terrifying. Tens of thousands of people were trying to break into the building where Ceaușescu was speaking, the Communist Party headquarters. Ceaușescu's bodyguards stopped the speech and rushed him from the balcony into the building. Everyone from his core team was present there. Lulian Vlad, the head of the powerful Securitate under Ceaușescu, was also with Ceaușescu. Lulian Vlad was the man responsible for the elimination of thousands of opponents in Romania, but at that moment, he remained silent.

The Communist Party building did have underground tunnels. If he had used that route, Ceaușescu could have escaped the city. However, he did not use that path. He ordered his helicopter pilot since the 1980s, Vasile Mălureanu, to report immediately with an air force helicopter. Ceaușescu ordered the pilot to take the Ceaușescu couple, two bodyguards, and two of Ceaușescu's confidants (Deputy Prime Minister and Ceaușescu's son-in-law Mălina Mălescu and Prime Minister Emil Babu) 40 miles away from Bucharest to a place called Snagov. Shortly after, the helicopter landed at Snagov. Ceaușescu instructed the pilot to contact the Air Force Chief and bring two more helicopters with security guards, but the Air Force Chief did not comply with that order. Subsequently, Ceaușescu directed the pilot to take him to the Băneasa military airport.

Stating that the helicopter was overloaded and could not take everyone, only the Ceaușescu couple and the bodyguards flew. The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister could not fly. As they neared Băneasa, Ceaușescu ordered the helicopter to land on the road. Meanwhile, news had already been broadcast on the radio stating that any aircraft flying over Romanian airspace would be shot down.

The Ceaușescu couple and the bodyguards disembarked from the helicopter. The pilot and crew flew the helicopter away. On the road, Ceaușescu's armed bodyguard, Marian Rus, tried to stop a moving red car by signaling, but the car did not stop. An order was given to stop the next car by pointing a rifle at it. Dr. Nicolae Dică, the owner of that car, fearfully took the Ceaușescu couple and one bodyguard into the car. The car stopped in front of the house of a man in the village of Văcărești. The car had run out of petrol. That house belonged to Nicolae Petroșer. Petroșer drove Ceaușescu as requested to a steel factory in the Târgoviște area, but they were not allowed to enter the factory. This was the same model factory often shown to distinguished foreign guests.

Petroșer turned the car to take Ceaușescu and his group to the local party office, but the atmosphere there was not right either. Eventually, Petroșer left them at a nursery protection center and fled the scene. The head of the nursery center informed the police and requested security for the Ceaușescus, after which they proceeded to the local militia headquarters. The atmosphere in the city was tense everywhere. By the time Ceaușescu was brought to the militia headquarters, shielded from the mob, it was already 6 PM. Meanwhile, the Romanian army had already declared its support for the rebels. Upon receiving information that the army was against Ceaușescu, the militia abandoned all vehicles, weapons, and ammunition and fled the militia building in Târgoviște. Near the militia building was an army barracks. The commander there, upon learning that all militia members had fled, leaving their weapons, dispatched a military contingent of 50 personnel to take control of the situation. As soon as the Ceaușescus arrived at the militia building, the military contingent took them into custody.

The Ceaușescu couple spent the next three days as prisoners in the Târgoviște military barracks. On December 25, at 9 AM, a helicopter landed there carrying a member of the newly formed National Salvation Front, some lawyers, and Acting Defense Minister Victor Stănculescu. Immediately, a room in the barracks' military school was converted into a temporary special military court, and Nicolae Ceaușescu and Elena Ceaușescu were put on trial. After a 45-minute deliberation, both were sentenced to death. A short time later, both were taken to an open field and shot dead. Thus ended the reign of 'Comrade' Ceaușescu, who had ruled Romania absolutely for 25 years.

A few days later, a news anchor who read the news of Ceaușescu's death on Romanian state television was asked how he felt reading the news. He stated: "For the people of Romania, Ceaușescu's death was a great Christmas gift."

The people were fed up with Ceaușescu's rule. On one hand, the living standards of the people were becoming increasingly difficult day by day, while Ceaușescu and his family lived a lifestyle that surpassed that of kings and emperors. The Ceaușescu family dominated all organs of the party and the state. Ceaușescu's wife, Elena Ceaușescu, was the First Vice Prime Minister and the second most senior figure in the Romanian Communist Party after Ceaușescu. She was extremely fond of expensive clothes, jewelry, and shoes. Romanian embassies abroad were instructed in advance to obtain expensive gifts for her during foreign visits. Similarly, Ceaușescu's son, Nicu Ceaușescu, was an alternate member of the Executive Committee, which was the core committee of the Romanian Communist Party. He was also made a member of the Central Committee and the head of the YCL. The Ceaușescu couple had already instructed the party that Nicu should be made Party Chairman and President after them. Nicu was considered an alcoholic, promiscuous, and lecherous man.

Two of Ceaușescu's brothers-in-law, Ilie Vlădescu and Manea Mănescu, were appointed Prime Minister of Romania alternately. Furthermore, his elder brother, Ilie Ceaușescu, was made Deputy Prime Minister. Another brother, Nicolae Andruță, held the rank of Lieutenant General but was in control of the Ministry of Defense. In fact, the full name of Romania was the Socialist Republic of Romania. But the people used to say, "Socialism is not in Romania; it is only in the Ceaușescu family."

Once, during a foreign visit, a journalist asked him about accusations of nepotism against him. Ceaușescu's vague and evasive answer was:

I would like to give you a general idea of how the apparatus of a social government functions. The Romanian socialist society operates on the concept of collective leadership. Party and state cadres participate in discussions with the general public in various bodies to determine policy because Romania has a socialist system. Such bodies exist in all economic and social sectors, in which all workers and the general public are involved. Everyone makes collective decisions, performs collective work, and collectively resolves problems. The government makes decisions based on the principle of collective leadership.

Between party congresses, the Central Committee and the Executive Committee make decisions on all domestic and international matters. Under this rule, Elena also contributes to solving the problems of our society's development.

Ceaușescu's deification was no less than that of Mao in China or Stalin in Russia. He ordered the use of only his and his wife's photographs instead of those of Marx, Engels, and Lenin. Ceaușescu told the Minister of Health around 1970, "A person like me is born only once in five hundred years."

Finally, I conclude this article with this excerpt from the book 'Red Horizon' by Ceaușescu's intelligence chief and advisor:

"A dinner was organized at the Communist Party guesthouse in Bucharest, the capital of Romania. The dinner was held to celebrate Colonel Bârtică becoming the Minister of Foreign Trade. The chief of the Romanian intelligence agency and Nicolae Ceaușescu's advisor were also present at the dinner. As the bottles of whiskey emptied, the conversation among the guests drifted to various topics and eventually focused on Comrade Ceaușescu. Defense Minister Ion Coman said, 'Poor Comrade! The visit to Washington and the White House was enough. Why should he go to London to be slighted by the British Queen?'"

Colonel Bârtică replied mockingly, "Look, Coman! The people of Romania have given Comrade more in the last 20 years than the British Queen has received in a thousand years. The Queen has only one office, our Comrade has three, one of which is a palace. Mr. Coman, the Queen of Britain has only three residences, but our Comrade has five residences. He has well-equipped residences in all 39 districts, which the Comrade uses during hunting trips or other visits. Furthermore, presidential residences have been built in every embassy abroad for our Comrade, which the Comrade uses when traveling abroad. There are 21 such exclusive residences. No one else is allowed access to them."

"The Queen of Britain has only two private planes, Mr. Coman. Our Comrade has 9 planes and three helicopters. The Queen has only one train, Mr. Coman. But our Comrade has three state-of-the-art trains," he said. "The Queen only has two ambulances. Our Comrade has four ambulances specially ordered from America and Germany. Our Comrade has a separate hospital and doctors for his treatment. But the Queen has no separate private hospital. Does the Queen of Britain have the capacity to demolish the center of London to build a residence or an administrative building? But we have that capability, comrades. We will soon build an administrative building. Its name will be—Nicolae Ceaușescu Administrative Center."

While Ceaușescu's opulence reached the sky on one hand, there was an extreme shortage of essential items such as food, sugar, and meat throughout Bucharest and Romania on the other. The government had ordered the export of food items abroad in the name of industrializing the country and earning foreign currency. Ordinary people had to queue for three days straight just to get cooking gas. People would form long lines at stores starting at 3 AM for the limited supply of food, eggs, and meat. Chicken meat was rare to find.