“The sight of a church bothered Ceaușescu. It didn't matter if they demolished or moved it, as long as it was no longer in sight”
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Nicolae Ceaușescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian communist politician who was the second and last leader of Communist Romania as general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 until his overthrow and execution in 1989. He was also the country's head of state from 1967 to 1989, serving as President of the State Council from 1967 to 1974 and as President of the Republic from 1974 until 1989.
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politics · Leader of Romania from 1965 to 1989 · politician · military leader · president of Romania · also Nicolae Ceaușescu, Ceaușescu, Genius of the Carpathians
Born 26 January 1918 · Died 25 December 1989 · Q80504
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2026· 4 entries
Evenimentul Zilei: Nicolae Ceaușescu, misiune NKVD împotriva dictatorului Franco. La Pasionara, simbolul feminin al comuniștilor spanioli, decorată la București
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Public attention spiked: 16,286 Wikipedia readers in one day, 7× the usual 2,319, with 15 article edits. Editors noted: Added link to Kingdom of Romania in the birth section.
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The New York Times: Nicolae Ceausescu
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2022· 2 entries
Daily Express: Queen ‘hid’ from tyrant Nicolae Ceaușescu at Buckingham Palace during historic state visit
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autoevolution: Stories about: Nicolae Ceausescu
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2018· 1 entry
The Guardian: Nicolae Ceaușescu memorabilia auction – in pictures
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2014· 2 entries
autoevolution: Meet Romanian Communist Dictator Nicolae Ceausescu’s Personal Dacia 2000
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The percentage of those who would vote for Ceaușescu reached 46%
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2013· 1 entry
International Business Times: Romania To Open Nicolae Ceausescu’s Execution Site To Tourists
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2010· 4 entries
The Hollywood Reporter: The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu — Film Review
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Christian Science Monitor: Nicolae Ceausescu and dictator's wife exhumed in Romania. Why?
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Variety: The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu
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Indicated that 41% of Romanians would have voted for Ceaușescu if given the opportunity and 63% felt their lives were better before 1989
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2009· 2 entries
That the alternative would have been seeing the Ceaușescus lynched on the streets of Bucharest
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That the trial was "quite shameful, but necessary" in order to end the state of near-anarchy that had gripped the country in the three days since the Ceaușescus fled Bucharest
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2007· 1 entry
That he ran away from his supposedly extremely religious, abusive and strict father
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2006· 1 entry
Televiziunea Română conducted a vote to determine whom the general public considered the 100 Greatest Romanians of all time, in a version of the British TV show 100 Greatest Britons
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1997· 1 entry
After Ceaușescu's death in 1989
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1996· 1 entry
The younger son, Nicu, was buried nearby in the same cemetery
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1989· 14 entries
Died 1989-12-25.
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“Opis: fragment protokołu z zamkniętego procesu przeciwko Nicolae i Elenie Ceaușescu, 25 grudnia 1989.”
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“Opis: z protokołu z zamkniętego procesu Nicolae i Eleny Ceaușescu.”
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“Opis: na widok uciekających Nicolae i Eleny Ceaușescu po utracie przez nich władzy.”
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“Płód jest własnością całego społeczeństwa. Ci, którzy próbują nie mieć dzieci, są dezerterami i naruszają prawo narodu do ciągłości.”
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“Nikt nie będzie robił ze mnie głupca, jestem przecież rumuńskim prezydentem!”
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“Kobiety mogą wnieść szczególnie wartościowy wkład do walki politycznej.”
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“Opis: nie chcąc razem z żoną przyznać, że Elena mogła cierpieć na chorobę psychiczną.”
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“Opis: gdy prokurator zapytał Elenę, czy cierpiała już na jakąś chorobę psychiczną.”
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“Nie mieliśmy kont w Szwajcarii. Nikt nie otwierał żadnego konta. To dowód, jak bardzo się pan myli. Co za oszczerstwo, co za prowokacja! To jest zamach stanu.”
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“Czy to możliwe, żebyśmy byli aż tak winni?”
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“Mówię do was jako zwyczajny obywatel i przypominam, że jestem prezydentem Rumunii. (…) Jestem prezydentem narodu, nie będę rozmawiał z prowokatorami, nie będę też rozmawiał z przywódcami puczu i najemnikami.”
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“Opis: na temat krwawego stłumienia demonstracji w Timișoarze 20 grudnia 1989.”
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Career landmark: Romanian Revolution (1989).
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1988· 6 entries
Awarded Order of Karl Marx (1988).
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Awarded Hero of the Socialist Republic of Romania (1988).
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Awarded Order of the Victory of Socialism (1988).
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Awarded Order of Lenin (1988).
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A massive rural resettlement effort began
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Ceaușescu was decorated with the Karl-Marx-Order by then Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) chief Erich Honecker; through this he was honoured for his rejection of Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms
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1985· 1 entry
US Secretary of State George Shultz also praised the Romanian dictator
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1984· 1 entry
Romania was one of few communist states (notably including the People's Republic of China and Yugoslavia) to take part in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, despite a Soviet-led boycott
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1983· 2 entries
Awarded Order of José Martí (1983).
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Awarded Order of the October Revolution (1983).
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1981· 2 entries
Awarded Order of the Victory of Socialism (1981).
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Awarded Hero of the Socialist Republic of Romania (1981).
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1980· 3 entries
Awarded Knight of the Order of the Elephant (1980).
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Awarded Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav (1980).
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Romania participated in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow with its other Soviet bloc allies, but in 1984 was one of the few Communist countries to participate in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles (going on to win
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1978· 8 entries
Awarded Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (1978).
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Awarded Hero of the Socialist Republic of Romania (1978).
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Awarded Order of the Victory of Socialism (1978).
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Awarded Order of Lenin (1978).
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Awarded Order of Georgi Dimitrov (1978).
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Ion Mihai Pacepa, a senior member of the Romanian political police (Securitate, State Security), defected to the US
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Became a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in the UK, a title of which he was stripped in 1989
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Underlines the concept as "a new, superior, stage in the Socialist development of Romania
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1975· 3 entries
Awarded Grand Collar of the Order of the Southern Cross (1975).
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Awarded Grand Collar of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword (1975).
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“Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945”
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1974· 8 entries
Awarded Grand Cross of the Order of the Liberator General San Martín (1974).
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Career landmark: president of Romania (1974–1989).
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The party programme of the Romanian Communist Party announced that structural changes in society were insufficient to create a full socialist consciousness in the people, and that a full socialist consciousness could onl
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Ceaușescu converted the presidency of the State Council into a full-fledged executive presidency, making him the nation's top decision-maker in name and in fact
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And would be reelected every five years until 1989, all unopposed
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And an Agreement on Industrial Products was signed in 1980
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The programme consisted largely of the demolition and reconstruction of existing hamlets, villages, towns and cities, in whole or in part, with the stated goal of turning Romania into a "multilaterally developed socialis
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Cultural policy was formally subordinated to nationalist objectives
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1973· 1 entry
Awarded Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (1973).
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1972· 2 entries
“a certain blending of party and state activities ... in the long run we shall witness an ever closer blending of the activities of the party, state and other social bodies”
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“Opis: wypowiedziane do Ceaușescu w salonie pałacu prezydenckiego w Bukareszcie 27 maja 1972 podczas spotkania obu dyktatorów.”
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1971· 6 entries
Awarded Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1971).
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Awarded Hero of the Socialist Republic of Romania (1971).
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Awarded Order of the Victory of Socialism (1971).
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Won anniversary medal at the occasion of the 2500th anniversary of the founding of the Iranian Empire (1971).
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Ceaușescu was impressed by the Juche ideology of that country, and began a major campaign shortly afterwards
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Romania became a member of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
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1970· 3 entries
Won Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" (1970).
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The striking Romanian miners demanded face-to-face negotiations with their nation's leader
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Career landmark: honorary presidency (1970–1989).
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1969· 3 entries
Awarded Grand Star of the Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria (1969).
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Which was the first visit of a US president to a communist country after the start of the Cold War
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And the visit of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat to Israel in 1977
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1968· 3 entries
Drew the interest of Western powers, whose governments briefly believed that he was an anti-Soviet maverick and hoped to create a schism in the Warsaw Pact by funding him
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Ceaușescu maintained an enduring partnership with Josip Broz Tito’s Yugoslavia, adapting the Titoist doctrine of “independent socialist development” to Romania’s circumstances
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“Opis: z przemówienia do tłumów zgromadzonych na placu Republiki w Bukareszcie, potępiając radziecką inwazję na Czechosłowację 22 sierpnia 1968.”
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1967· 2 entries
To the consternation of the Soviet Union
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Career landmark: President of the State Council (1967–1989).
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1966· 4 entries
Awarded Order of Tudor Vladimirescu, 1st class (1966).
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Awarded Order of Labor First Class (1966).
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Awarded Order Of The Defense Of The Fatherland, 1st class (1966).
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Career landmark: 1966 Romania bans contraception and abortion.
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1965· 3 entries
Won Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (1965).
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And probably led the Party leadership under Ion Gheorghe Maurer to select him over the more orthodox Gheorghe Apostol
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Career landmark: Secretary General of the Romanian Communist Party (1965–1989).
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1964· 1 entry
Awarded Hero of Socialist Labour of Romania (1964).
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1961· 1 entry
Won Medal "40 years since the founding of the Communist Party of Romania" (1961).
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1959· 1 entry
Awarded Order 23rd of August, 1st grade (1959).
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1958· 1 entry
Awarded Star of the Socialist Republic of Romania, 1st class (1958).
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1954· 1 entry
Ceaușescu became a full member of the Politburo, effectively granting him one of the highest positions of power in the country
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1952· 1 entry
Gheorghiu-Dej brought him onto the Central Committee months after the party's "Muscovite faction" led by Ana Pauker had been purged
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1949· 2 entries
Awarded The Order "Defence of the Motherland" 2nd Class (1949).
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Awarded Order of Labor Third Class (1949).
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1948· 1 entry
Awarded Star of the Socialist Republic of Romania, 3rd class (1948).
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1947· 1 entry
And under the patronage of Gheorghiu-Dej, Ceaușescu was elected a member of the Great National Assembly, the new legislative body of communist Romania
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1944· 1 entry
“Opis: o pokonaniu reżimu faszystowskiego generała Iona Antonescu w dniu 23 sierpnia 1944.”
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1943· 1 entry
Was transferred to Târgu Jiu internment camp, where he shared a cell with Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, becoming his protégé
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1939· 1 entry
Met Elena Petrescu, whom he married in 1947 and who would play an increasing role in his political life over the years
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1933· 1 entry
At the age of 15, for street fighting during a strike and again, in 1934, first for collecting signatures on a petition protesting against the trial of railway workers and twice more for other similar activities
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1918· 1 entry
Born 1918-01-26.
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