Nikolai Ceausescu and Romania

Under this Stalinist regime, systematization, poverty, and persecution of minorities were symptoms of the Communist Socialist Republic of Romania.

Aug 20, 2006 Kerry Kubilius

At first welcomed by the West, Nikolai Ceausescu was later realized to be one of the most brutal Stalinist dictators.

Nicolai Ceausescu was Romania's vicious Communist leader during 1965 - 1989. One of his first declarations to make after making power was to name Romania a Socialist Republic, rather than a People's Republic. This act would begin a reign under which the Romanian people were oppressed and ruled by fear.

Ceausescu's immediate actions of loosening censorship policies assumed to be liberal, he was, at first, accepted by a West that was hopeful of change in Eastern Europe (Bideleux and Jeffries, 552). However, the Romanian brand of Socialism was heavily corrupt, and not until the end of Ceausescu's reign did the world understand the intensity of this corruption.

Under Ceausescu, the social infrastructure in Romania severely deteriorated. Widespread persecutions of minorities, like Roma and Hungarians, ensued. (Bideleux and Jeffries, 577) Bans on abortion and contraception were enforced, along with increased taxes for married couples who were childless. As poverty grew, so did the amount of women who died during abortion attempts, the number children who were abandoned, and the populations of poorly-managed and underfunded orphanages. As Romania was paying off its foreign debt, many citizens assumed "hard times" would be short-lived, though the world was shocked at the photographs and reports that came out of Romania after Ceausescu's execution.

Ceausescu, through his program of systematization, intended to bulldoze small villages and move their inhabitants to larger towns and cities. Ostensibly, this was to create a more homogenized social structure, erasing the discrepancies between rural areas and more developed regions of Romania. However, through systematization, Ceausescu could more closely monitor Romanian citizens and root out any opposition to Ceausescu.

Ceausescu's desire for control and his brutal tendencies were apparent in his private activities, not only his governmental ones. Ceausescu deliberately allowed the bear population in Romania to thrive in order to cultivate his personal hunting grounds. Herding bears into specially-made corrals so as to shoot the biggest and the best, Ceausescu killed over 400 bears in his lifetime. If they weren't big enough, he had their skins stretched to make them appear bigger.(Quammen, n.p.) This megalomaniacal obsession was perhaps the only beneficial result of Ceausescu's regime - the bear population in Romania is under control and healthy, as well as the forests in which they live.

Bideleux, James, and Jeffries, Ian. A History of Eastern Europe: Crisis and Change. New York: Rutledge, 1998.

Quammen, David. "The Bear Slayer," Atlantic Monthly. Vol. 292, Issue 1, 2003. 45-58.

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