I do not recognize this court. One announcer called it the heart of our nation. Elena Ceauescu's last moments were as pathetic as one could imagine. No one can deprive me of these functions. PROSECUTOR: That is to say, as a deputy prime minister you did not know about the genocide? CEAUSESCU: I will not answer. Who pays them? Please make a note that here it has been stated that all legal regulations have been observed, that this is a legal trial. How to Debate Leftists and Destroy Them: 11 Rules for Winning the Argument. What happened was that he was misled by Centralized Information. PROSECUTOR: Whether you have ever had a mental illness. The prosecutor says: The world already knows what has happened here. But we are not talking about people. By the way, I will not answer any more questions. . Paper is patient. One of the most decisive moments in the Romanian Revolution of 1989 was Ceausescus December 21st speech (or lack thereof). I am a member and the chairwoman of the Academy of Sciences. Another question to Ceausescu: Who ordered the bloodbath in Timisoara. Centralized regimes may seem to collapse suddenly, yet in reality they have been coming apart for a long time. Thirty years on, will the guilty pay for horror of Ceauescu orphanages? PROSECUTOR: Why do you think that people are fighting today? If he no longer has a certain function, he cannot demand anything at all. We live in a normal apartment, just like every other citizen. In 1947, King Michael showed more dignity than you. PROSECUTOR: In all district capitals, which you grandly called municipalities, there is shooting going on. I would not call for the death sentence, but it would be incomprehensible for the Romanian people to have to go on suffering this great misery and not to have it ended by sentencing the two Ceausescus to death. However, they will be indicted, and a sentence will be passed on the basis of the new legal system. Diane Dimond writes in Real Clear Politicsabout the low level grumbling that risen to detectable levels since the Bergdahl affair. That is why the people are fighting all over the country. The charges are incorrect, and I will not answer a single question here. PROSECUTOR: This would serve your defense. However, why are your programs not implemented? As a simple citizen, I tell you the following: For the first time I guaranteed that every peasant received 200 kilograms of wheat per person, not per family, and that he is entitled to more. ELENA CEAUESCU: Incredible. For example,the administration recently issued a new list of prisoners to be released from Guantanamo, citing theirpractice of yogaas proof they had reformed. Why do the peasants then buy their bread in Bucharest? As the crowd becomes more unruly, Ceausescu becomes more confused and he begins arguing with the unseen hecklers. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: I do not recognize this court. Immediately before them were plainclothes Securitate agents and a row of police militia, who kept the mass of the crowd about thirty yards back from the front of the Central Committee building. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: No, the people are fighting for freedom and against the new forum. Storm Over The South China Sea However, they will be indicted, and a sentence will be passed on the basis of the new legal system. Romanian demonstrators gathered in front of the headquarters of the Romanian Communist Party in Bucharest during the 1989 anti-communist revolution, 22 December 1989. I will only speak at the Grand National Assembly. This is our home. This speech was an annual event and carefully scripted by the regime to insure both success and the appearance of popular support. The defendant has not recognized us. Watching the "Video of Ceausescu's Last Speech" on the Making the History of 1989 website, a speech which Nikolae Ceausescu made on 21 December 1989, I was curious to see what the disturbance was that so rattled Ceausescu because by the end of the speech it appears a semblance of order had returned. As the other primary sources reveal, the Ceausescus were tried a few days later and executed as enemies of the new Romanian state. Video of Ceausescu's Last Speech, December 1989 Annotation One of the most decisive moments in the Romanian Revolution of 1989 was Ceausescu's December 21st speech (or lack thereof). [1] The crowd, now totaling up to 80,000, were given orders on where to stand, when to applaud and what to sing. His security guard appears, disappears and, finally, hustles Ceausescu off the balcony. PROSECUTOR: You have never been able to hold a dialogue with the people. You were not used to talking to the people. CEAUSESCU: Her scientific papers were published abroad! CEAUSESCU: This is not possible at all. COUNSEL FOR THE DEFENSE: Even though he like her committed insane acts, we want to defend them. Transcript of the closed trial of Nicolae and Elena Ceauescu, https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Transcript_of_the_closed_trial_of_Nicolae_and_Elena_Ceauescu&oldid=6470911, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. I have nothing to do with them. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: I will not say anything more. Ceauescu answers: As I said before, the people are fighting for their freedom and against this putsch, against this usurpation. In the second stage their edicts become unenforceable from sheer impracticability. PROSECUTOR: This is how you worked with the people and exercised your functions! He would be executed a few days later. I have done everything to create a decent and rich life for the people in the country, like in no other country in the world. Tens of thousands of people gathered in the early hours in front of the Intercontinental Hotel in Bucharest, undeterred by armoured vehicles. If he no longer has a certain function, he cannot demand anything at all. A little noticed article in the Sydney Morning Herald notes that Australia will support Japans effort to repeal its pacifist constitution. Getting a shut-off notice from a utility is also sufficient to claim a hardship exemption. It should be stated once and for all that this military court is absolutely legal and that the former positions of the two Ceauescus are no longer valid. I will not speak with you provocateurs anymore, and I will not speak with the organizers of the putsch and with the mercenaries. PROSECUTOR: Note: He does not recognize the points mentioned in the bill of indictment. "This is the final battle," he said. Free elections would be held as soon as possible, and independent media would be established. The video- shown live on Romanian television-- shows his confusion and consternation and the barely audible comments. Lech Walesa has openly accused president Obama as unable to lead in world. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: As a citizen, as a simple citizen, I tell you the following: At no point was there such an upswing, so much construction, so much consolidation in the Romanian provinces. In response, the two laugh, and she says: We do not stay abroad. Nobody has the right to abolish the Grand National Assembly. Furnish proof! This source is a part of the The Romanian Revolution of 1989 teaching module. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: No, we will not sign. However, why are your programs not implemented? NICOLAE CEAUESCU: No, we had no palaces. One day Obama may wake up and find the alliances just gone. The recent Bergdahl prisoner swap in which five hardened Taliban terrorists were released from prison is rubbing a lot of the military veterans attending D-Day events the wrong way. It is surpassingly perilous not only for the country, but also for the ruler who relies on it. All their property will be impounded. His talks with Dubcek focused primarily on the events that had unfolded in Czechoslovakia over the last several months. Making use of Marxist-Leninist rhetoric, he delivered a litany of the achievements of the "socialist revolution" and Romanian "multi-laterally developed . The story of Ceauescu's final speech is a textbook example. Tell us! Thousands of workers were bused into the square under threat of being fired. The problem with the Narrative is that it suppresses the dispersed information by insisting on the centralized knowledge, on stories the elite make up themselves. Some people will continue to believe the narrative, but even among the acolytes, the fatal smoke of doubt has entered the temple. In response, Ceauescu raised his right hand in hopes of silencing the crowd; his stunned expression remains one of the defining moments of the end of Communism in Eastern Europe. Within hours Ceauescu was beseiged inside the Central Committee building by irate crowds. The entire intelligentsia of the country ran away. Everybody should be paid according to his performance. They will receive a link in their email and it will automatically give them access to a Kindle reader on their smartphone, computer or even as a web-readable document. They obstructed the normal process of the economy. PROSECUTOR: That is to say, as a deputy prime minister you did not know about the genocide? CEAUSESCU: Nobody can change the state structures. No, no, he says. The prosecutor wants to find out on which basis the trial can be continued. They cultivated the soil in line with your orders and had nothing to eat. . You have destroyed the Romanian villages and the Romanian soil. Then he is treated like a normal citizen. If you had had a mental illness and admitted this, you would not be responsible for your acts. Elena and Nicolae Ceasescu state: Well, you told us about it. You have destroyed the Romanian villages and the Romanian soil. Ceauescus hated son, Nicu, a one-time candidate to follow his father as the countrys leader, was said to have been arrested in the city of Sibiu as he was trying to take hostages. PROSECUTOR: The Grand National Assembly has been dissolved. The prosecutor says: The world already knows what has happened here. What do you think? As the crowd becomes more unruly, Ceausescu becomes more confused and he begins arguing with the unseen hecklers. Workers from a Bucharest power plant started chanting Ti-mi-oa-ra! They are cowards. All strategic points in the country were said to be under the control of the people. As hard as it may be to believe, there was a time when . Those moments of Ceausescus weakness and the power of popular pressure explain why, a mere 48 hours later, Ceausescu was attempting to flee Romania, all power lost. The Man at the Top increasingly pulls on disconnected controls, yet still imagines he is in charge. Plenara Comitetului Central al Partidului, Consiliul de Stat, Guvernul, repr. And who brought them into the country? After an outage of transmission of Romanian television, the speaker announces the verdict in the trial of Elena and Nicolae Ceauescu is death sentence. Bucharest television said that they had left the country. Faithless Execution: Building the Political Case for Obamas Impeachment The Defence Minister, General Vasile Milea, was said to have committed suicide although it is equally possible he was shot by a member of the Ceauescu retinue. The destruction of buildings and state institutions, undermining of the national economy, in accordance with Articles 165 and 145 of the penal code. ELENA CEAUESCU: The intelligentsia of the country will hear what you are accusing us of. PROSECUTOR: Nicolae Ceausescu should tell us why he does not answer our questions. The new committee declared its immediate aim was an end to the cult of personality which had developed around the Ceauescu family. First their narratives become so infested with lies they go out of sync with their own administrators on the ground. PROSECUTOR: So far, they have always claimed that we have built this country, we have paid our debts, but with this they bled the country to death and have hoarded enough money to ensure their escape. In the early evening, it was announced that a National Democracy Committee had been formed, made up of uncompromised military commanders, students and intellectuals. At the beginning, Ceauescu claimed that it is a provocation to be asked whether he was sick. I will not answer you putschists, Ceauescu says. PROSECUTOR: Please, ask Nicolae and Elena Ceauescu whether they have ever had a mental illness. They were only busy enslaving the people and building up an apparatus of power. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: What? I ask the chairman of the prosecutor's office to read the bill of indictment. In the uprising by people against Ceausescu during this speech and in subsequent days 1,058 people lost there lives. These two defendants procured the most luxurious foodstuffs and clothes from abroad. The hardship exemption rules, for example, let anyone who experienced domestic violence avoid the mandate, without providing any documentation of abuse. I have observed that she is not even able to read correctly, but she calls herself an university graduate. PROSECUTOR: Did you know about the genocide or did you, as a chemist, only deal with polymers? PROSECUTOR: Yes, but you are paying the mercenaries. One of the fundamental defenses of a democracy is the truth. PROSECUTOR: Mr. Chairman, we find the two accused guilty of having committed criminal actions according to the following articles of the penal code: Articles 162, 163, 165 and 357. Last modified on Sun 29 Mar 2020 07.01 EDT President Nicolae Ceauescu was overthrown yesterday and became a fugitive in the country he has ruled for 24 years as remnants of his personal troops. . Suntem in fata unui tribunal al poporului. Immediately before them were plainclothes Securitate agents and a row of police militia, who kept the mass of the crowd about thirty meters back from the front of the Central Committee building. PROSECUTOR: Nicolae Ceauescu should tell us why he does not answer our questions. They are speaking about injustice, ineptitude and impeachment. , the former US ambassador to Syria, has effectively accused the Obama administration of abandoning genuinely pro-American rebels in Syria thereby allowing the ascendance of al-Qaeda. This is a vulgar provocation. The final speech of the prosecutor follows: PROSECUTOR: It is very difficult for us to act, to pass a verdict on people who even now do not want to admit to the criminal offenses that they have committed during 25 years and admit to the genocide, not only in Timisoara and Bucharest, but primarily also to the criminal offenses committed during the past 25 years. Print. PROSECUTOR: Will you sign the statement now or not? This is a legal trial, and I honor them by defending them. PROSECUTOR: Children cannot even buy plain candy, and you are living in the palaces of the people. One of the first acts of the new leadership was to place the security forces, the dreaded Securitate, under control of the army. Machine guns splattered against a background of church bells ringing in triumph. No one can dissolve the National Assembly. The prosecutor cites all academic titles she had always claimed to have. Tell the people that I will answer all their questions. I will not answer anymore. quotes Israeli oppositionists as accusing Benjamin Netanyahu of loathing Barack Obama so intensely it has endangering the Jewish states security. PROSECUTOR: The terrorists are from Securitate? Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for The Land of Green Plums, Mller, Herta at the best online prices at eBay! They not only deprived the people of heating, electricity, and foodstuffs, they also tyrannized the soul of the Romanian people. However, there is a difference between real sickness that must be treated and mental insanity which leads to corresponding actions, but which is denied by the person in question. Elena says: Look, and that they are calling genocide. PROSECUTOR: Let us now talk about the accounts in Switzerland, Mr. Ceauescu. Nicolae Ceauescu (Romanian pronunciation: [nikola.e tea.uesku]; 26 January 1918 -- 25 December 1989) was a Romanian Communist politician. Tip Jar or Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the Belmont Club, George Ciampa, an 89-year old D-Day veteran, Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway, Faithless Execution: Building the Political Case for Obamas Impeachment, Captive: My Time as a Prisoner of the Taliban, Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate About the Nature of Reality, The Idiot Vote: The Democrats Core Constituency, Rebranding Christianity (The World of Information), The Lion and the Unicorn: Gladstone vs. Disraeli, How to Debate Leftists and Destroy Them: 11 Rules for Winning the Argument, The FBI Targeted Patriotic Conservatives Exercising Their First Amendment Rights: Theyre All Bleeping Terrorists, Watch: Russell Brand OBLITERATES MSNBC in Hack's Face on 'Real Time With Bill Maher', New York Times Discovers a New Source of Racism, and This One Could Be the Most Ridiculous Yet, Young Man Does His Own Taxes for First Time, Rage and Mirth Ensue, California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Here Nicolae Ceausescu steps in and defends her. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: I do not answer, I will only answer questions before the Grand National Assembly. They have lost all respect for their commander in chief. All their property will be impounded. What about the accounts? PROSECUTOR: Who gave the order to shoot in Bucharest, for instance? By 6 pm, Romanian television was broadcasting live reports of victory rallies attended by thousands in Bucharest. The bill of indictment contains the following points: Genocide, in accordance with Article 356 of the penal code. You were the most important aide, the number two in the cabinet, in the government. This year, the crowd begins to chant unscripted comments back at the dictator. Almost none of the uninsured will end up paying the ObamaCare mandate penalty, according to an updated analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, which found that 87% will be able to claim an exemption. CEAUSESCU: Nu recunosc nici un tribunal in afara de Marea Adunare Nationala. The prosecutor quotes Ceausescu, Ceausescu's program. Elena and Nicolae Ceauescu should be punished in a really legal trial. The day began as it ended with vehement anti-Ceauescu demonstrations. We have sufficient data on this period. Therefore, it is a mistake for the two accused to refuse to cooperate with us. KGB technicians and agents made one of the most brilliant moves and played a recording of whistles and protests through installed speakers in the square. The following is a transscript of the closed trial of Romanian Dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, as shown on Romanian and Austrian television. That is why the people are fighting all over the country. PROSECUTOR: Will you sign the statement now or not? PROSECUTOR: So far, they have always claimed that we have built this country, we have paid our debts, but with this they bled the country to death and have hoarded enough money to ensure their escape. Its provisional leader is the 73-year-old former Foreign Minister, Mr Corneliu Mnescu. JUDECATORUL: Va rog sa luati loc. PROSECUTOR: We have always spoken of equality. This page was last edited on 8 October 2016, at 23:48. The great Ceauescu escape attempt came after it had become clear that most of the army had gone over to the people. The two defendants should also know that they are entitled to a counsel for defense, even if they reject this. I do not recognize the court. CEAUSESCU: As a citizen, as a simple citizen, I tell you the following: At no point was there such an upswing, so much construction, so much consolidation in the Romanian provinces. VIENNA, Austria (AP) _ For the first time that anybody could remember, Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu was interrupted at a public speech by boos and jeers that began a huge demonstration against him in Bucharest Thursday. PROSECUTOR: Mr. Chairman, we find the two accused guilty of having committed criminal actions according to the following articles of the penal code: Articles 162, 163, 165 and 357. Copyright 2023 PJMedia.com/Salem Media. Not a single shot. This is our home. But we are not talking about people. The video- shown live on Romanian television-- shows his confusion and consternation and the barely audible comments. The collapse of the narrative doesnt happen in a single big step, but through an accumulation of small, personal, often innocuous refusals. This shows how little patriotism there is, how many treasonable offenses were committed. We live in a normal apartment, just like every other citizen. CEAUSESCU: No, we had no palaces. I would not call for the death sentence, but it would be incomprehensible for the Romanian people to have to go on suffering this great misery and not to have it ended by sentencing the two Ceauescus to death. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: No one recognizes that. I only recognize the working class and the Grand National Assembly no one else. 20072021 Roy Rosenzweig Center for History & New Media The following is a transcript of the closed trial of Romanian Dictator Nicolae Ceauescu and his wife, Elena, as shown on Romanian and Austrian television. You are faced with charges that you held really sumptuous celebrations on all holidays at your house. Elena and Nicolae Ceauescu state: Well, you told us about it. Not a single shot. Military base Trgovite - December 25th 1989. CEAUSESCU: Is it possible that we are facing such charges? Tell the people that I will answer all their questions. No one wanted to do anything for you anymore. The court notes that the investigations have been concluded. This occurs when the official line becomes so ridiculous that ordinary people dont even realize they are falling out of step with the Party Line. His security guard appears, disappears and, finally, hustles Ceausescu off the balcony. I told you right at the beginning that I will not answer a single question. PROSECUTOR: In the same way he refused to hold a dialogue with the people, now he also refuses to speak with us. CEAUSESCU: We had no account in Switzerland. The crimes against the people grew year by year. The English translation is by the U.S. government's Foreign Broadcast Information Service. ALISON SMALE December 21, 1989. ELENA CEAUESCU: I will not answer. Whatever the reason, the result is that the penalty will raise $27 billion less over the next decade than the CBO had originally expected. PROSECUTOR: Why do you think that people are fighting today? No one can dissolve the National Assembly. PROSECUTOR: Who gave the order to shoot in Bucharest, for instance? But who gave the order to shoot? He also refuses to recognize the new forum. A photo of a television screen of Nicolae Ceauescu delivering his last public speech from the balcony of the Romanian Communist Party headquarters, 21 December 1989. Stanley double-crossed Richard at the crucial moment. The details are known. Eight minutes into the speech, some in the crowd actually began to jeer, boo and whistle at hima reaction considered unthinkable for most of Ceauescus 24 years in power. "Video of Ceausescus Last Speech, December 1989," Making the History of 1989, Item #696, https://chnm.gmu.edu/1989/items/show/696 (accessed May 28 2021, 3:24 pm). The people only received 200 grams per day, against an identity card. PROSECUTOR: So you know the new forum. "Stenographic transcript of meeting of the Executive Committee of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party," August 17, 1968, History . Nobody is likely to rise up and become a Man on Horseback. You were not used to talking to the people. I have observed that she is not even able to read correctly, but she calls herself an university graduate. We want a legal trial. I hope that you do not also work for the foreigners and for the destruction of Romania. You should have stayed in Iran where you had flown to. ELENA CEAUSESCU: What genocide? Queen Victoria and Her Prime Ministers Why did you starve the people? 23 December 1989: Nicolae Ceauescus overthrow follows a week of carnage in which thousands of protesters against his regime were killed in cold blood. We have ensured an apartment for every citizen through corresponding laws. You see, there is no use in talking to these people. PROSECUTOR: And who wrote the papers for you, Elena? And Elena says: It is incredible what they are inventing, incredible. He always claimed to act and speak on behalf of the people, to be a beloved son of the people, but he only tyrannized the people all the time. A flight into peril, flashbacks to underground action. There is still shooting going on, the prosecutor says. This is not possible. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: I will not sign anything. His 1936 mugshot at age 18 still haunts the internet. Then follows the reading of the indictment. However, he had badly misread the crowd's mood. Ceausescu and his wife were later captured, tried, and executed. The truth shall set you free, even if it makes you miserable. PROSECUTOR: Whether you have ever had a mental illness. The following is a transcript of the closed trial of Romanian Dictator Nicolae Ceauescu and his wife, Elena, as shown on Romanian and Austrian television. The palaces belong to the people. Why did you make the peasants starve? About It is a lie that I made the people starve. They organized the putsch. He also refuses to recognize the new forum. PROSECUTOR: But not of our army, you are not the commander in chief of our army. I will only speak in front of it. I have no statement to make, and I will not sign one. You cannot talk to me in such a way! Any actual attempts to fine 30 million Americans would end in a political disaster. The prosecutor agrees, but stresses that they lived in them while the people suffered.

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ceausescu last speech transcript