I Must Betray You

After World War II, Europe became separated into contrasting political and economic systems: democracy and capitalism in the west and totalitarianism and communism in the eastern nations close to the Soviet Union. Soviet communism was a complex system that asserted resources should be controlled by the state rather than by individuals or private organizations such as corporations, churches, and nonprofits. Moreover, the state was the instrument of a single party, the Communist Party. It devolved into a tyrannical system in which authoritarian dictators flourished and basic human rights were violated.

Communism took hold in Romania through a rigged election held in late 1946. By 1947, the Communist Party had ousted the Romanian king and gained control. Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej became the first communist prime minister of Romania.

Upon his death in 1965, Gheorghiu-Dej was succeeded by Nicolae Ceauşescu, who sought to reduce Romania’s dependence on the Soviet Union but maintained contempt for Western systems and values. In the decades following World War II, the United States entered the Cold War with communist nations, including the Soviet Union and East Germany.

The year 1989 brought a dramatic end to communism throughout Europe. This was due in part to Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union, who took steps to democratize his nation’s political system. On November 9, 1989, the wall separating East and West Berlin was demolished by East German citizens, marking a symbolic end of communism in Eastern Europe. Romania, arguably the nation whose government was the most oppressive of the communist regimes, was unique in that its freedom came only after a violent struggle. The revolt in Timişoara on December 17, 1989, marked the beginning of challenges to Ceauşescu’s rule. Subsequent revolts followed in the capital of Bucharest on December 21. Ceauşescu and his wife Elena fled but were captured and then executed on December 25. Anti-communist parties would emerge in the years to come, and today Romania operates under an elected parliament with a multiparty system.