Most Americans take Christmas Day off, but in 1989, that wasn't the case for war-torn Romanians. Under the Stalinist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, Romania was one of Christmas holidays. the most repressive country in the worldin effect Enver Hoxha's Albania. Ceausescu destroyed churches and banned Christmas celebrations.
Ceausescu's statue in Timisoara secure attacked Pastor Laszlo Tokes The people organized an anti-government demonstration for criticizing the government and held an anti-government demonstration on December 17, 1989. Ceausescu ordered his troops to fire on the crowd and kill them. Nearly 100 protesters. Massive protests erupted across the country, and this time the military sided with the people.
Totalitarians believe they can get away with murder, but sometimes the people win.
Ceausescu fled by helicopter, but the pilot made an emergency landing and was captured by soldiers. Nicolae and his wife Elena were quickly tried for crimes against humanity and sentenced to death.
On Christmas Day, an elite team led them to an outdoor toilet block in the courtyard. Nicolae sings “International” and Elena lets out a dirty shriek at the soldier, who is dragged away and smashed in the face. The troops then propped them up against a wall, set their Kalashnikovs to full auto, and opened fire. Unlike the bloody scene in Timisoara, the reports of rifle fire came as news of comfort and joy.
For the first time in decades, Romanians celebrated Christmas openly, and the following year a national holiday was held. free election. It's a shame that the despicable Ceausescu was the only Stalinist dictator who got what he deserved.
Joseph Stalin, murderer of over 20 million people, died of a heart attack According to the “Black Book of Communism,” Mao Zedong's campaign of genocide resulted in more than 60 million victims. China's 'great helmsman' dies peacefully September 9, 197682 years old.
Albanian Enver Hoxha dies from complications of diabetes April 11, 198576 years old. Erich Honecker, communist dictator of the German Democratic Republic and builder of the Berlin Wall. Died of cancer in Chile May 29, 1994, 81 years old.
Pol Pot, the dictator of the Khmer Rouge, campaign of genocide Nearly 2 million innocent people, approximately 21% of the population, were murdered. died in his sleep April 15, 1998. Sado Stalinist Fidel Castro, a darling of the American left, passed away peacefully on November 25, 2016. at 90 years old.
Totalitarians believe they can get away with murder, but sometimes people win. As Americans celebrate freedom, they may remember Romania's Kalashnikov Christmas and take a lesson from Milan Kundera's “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” in the new year. In any country, at any time, the struggle against tyranny is a struggle between memory and forgetting.
