35th anniversary of the Romanian revolution: the end of Ceausescu's communist dictatorship

DW (English)

Thirty-five years ago, the citizens of the Romanian city of Timisoara rose up against communism and the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. On December 16, 1989, the bloodiest revolution of the Eastern Bloc began.

Transcript

00:00This is Timișoara, the westernmost city in Romania.

00:04It was here that the Romanian Revolution began 35 years ago.

00:08It was here that the death knell sounded for the 24-year communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu.

00:14Vlad Ștefan is a city guide in Timișoara.

00:17Today, he takes us to some of the most important sites of the Revolution.

00:22We start our tour right where the Revolution began.

00:26The Reformed Church, whose pastor at the time was Turches Laszlo.

00:32His preachings tried to be close to people and were somehow against the communist regime.

00:51He marched through the streets chanting, down with communism, down with Ceaușescu.

00:56Freedom 1989 is the name of an exhibition by photojournalist Constantin Dumer.

01:01He was in Timișoara in December 1989 when Ceaușescu commanded the army to open fire.

01:07From that military truck, around 4 p.m., the first cartridges, the ammunition for the war,

01:14the first dead people after the Revolution, I think there were around 4 p.m.

01:20Dumer recorded what he saw with his camera, risking his life in the process.

01:25I photographed because I felt that something special was happening and it was my duty to do it.

01:32That's why I looked for materials to protect me because I didn't know what was going to happen.

01:38Gino Rado, head of the Memorial of the Revolution, was also on the streets of Timișoara that day.

01:44They intervened with such brutality, with the aim of scaring us.

01:49They shot us, we were even more radicalized.

01:54Friends died, relatives died, our colleagues died.

01:59And they never gave up.

02:02The revolution that began in Timișoara spread quickly, first to a few cities, then across the country.

02:08Many lost their lives.

02:18This is the Opera House on Victory Square, the most important site of the revolution.

02:25On December 20, 1989,

02:30this square was occupied by tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people.

02:35On the Opera House balcony, some of the representatives formed the Romanian Democratic Committee in Timișoara

02:42and proclaimed Timișoara a free city by the communists.

02:47Something many people considered impossible was actually happening.

02:51The dictator and his wife fled, were captured and executed after a hasty trial.

02:56Romania's communist regime had been overthrown.

03:0035 years on, how do Romanians today view the 1989 revolution?

03:05It was an endless revolution, because after 1989 the power was taken over by the communists.

03:11Our expectations are that, in the end, Romanian politicians

03:17understand that we truly want politicians who think and wish for the good of the country.

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