LONG READ WARNING – I got to see the aftermath of this first hand in 1990. I was in Romania. It remains one of my fondest memories of my time in Uncle Sam’s Canoe Club.
The pride of the Romanian people I came into contact with was palpable. Their country was destroyed but their resilience was amazing. As much as they needed an economic shot in the arm, our money was no good there. We could not buy anything. They gave it to us. Food, drink, trinkets. We traded ship’s Zippo lighters, ball caps, t-shirts.
But the people. The people’s pride of their country was the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed in my life. Before and since.
“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 turn 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 changed sides. After being tried and convicted of economic sabotage and genocide, they were immediately executed by firing squad on 25 December and Ceaușescu was succeeded as President by Ion Iliescu, who had played a major part in the revolution. Capital punishment was abolished shortly thereafter. ”