You have acted in a very irresponsible manner; you led the country to the verge of ruin and you will be convicted on the basis of the points contained in the bill of indictment. We will speak only at the National Assembly, because we have worked hard for the people all our lives. COUNSEL FOR THE DEFENSE: Even though he -- like her -- committed insane acts, we want to defend them. Nicolae Ceausescu delivers his last public speech in Bucharest on December 21, 1989. Thirty years on, will the guilty pay for horror of Ceauescu orphanages? It must be cleared up whether Ceausescu wants to, should, must or can answer at all. And today you are acting in the same megalomaniac way. Two: Armed attack on the people and the state power, in accordance with Article 163 of the penal code. I have observed that she is not even able to read correctly, but she calls herself an university graduate. I ask the chairman of the prosecutor's office to read the bill of indictment. This speech was an annual event and carefully scripted by the regime to insure both success and the appearance of popular support. The Lion and the Unicorn: Gladstone vs. Disraeli We have sacrificed all our lives to the people. The prosecutor asks the counsel for the defense to ask Ceauescu whether he knows that he is no longer president of the country, that Elena Ceauescu has also lost all her official state functions and that the government has been dissolved. Nobody is likely to rise up and become a Man on Horseback. By the way, I will not answer any more questions. The archive focuses largely on the period from 1965, when Romania was ruled over by the Ceausescus, until. Despite this, I ask the court to make a decision which we will be able to justify later as well. ELENA CEAUSESCU: Incredible. Ceausescu refused to answer. Making use of Marxist-Leninist rhetoric, he delivered a litany of the achievements of the "socialist revolution" and Romanian "multi-laterally developed . He then tried to placate the crowd by offering to raise workers salaries He did not realize, however, that a real revolution was starting before his eyes. Do you want to sign this statement? CEAUSESCU: We will discuss this before the Grand National Assembly. Ceauescu's final speech is a speech delivered by Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauescu on 21 December 1989. ELENA CEAUESCU: Such impudence! You, as a scientist, did you know about it? , Now career military personnel are speaking out through gritted teeth, insisting they speak for active-duty personnel who cannot talk without being punished. Workers, military units and other popular organizations were bused to the capitol and given orders on where to stand, when to applaud and what to sing. They obstructed the normal process of the economy. Romanian demonstrators gathered in front of the headquarters of the Romanian Communist Party in Bucharest during the 1989 anti-communist revolution, 22 December 1989. Defendant, if you had no accounts in Switzerland, will you sign a statement confirming that the money that may be in Switzerland should be transferred to the Romanian state, the State Bank. The entire intelligentsia of the country ran away. Elena and Nicolae Ceauescu state: Well, you told us about it. PROSECUTOR: We have wonderful programs. Because of this indictment, I call for the death sentence and the impounding of the entire property of the two accused. As the other primary sources reveal, the Ceausescus were tried a few days later and executed as enemies of the new Romanian state. Machine guns splattered against a background of church bells ringing in triumph. Why did you make the peasants starve? Elena keeps whispering to him. This shows again how false the charges are. You need not admit your mistakes, mister. 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. CEAUSESCU: I will not say anything more. The court notes that the investigations have been concluded. TheWashington Timesreports that a top intelligence official is accusing the Obama admininistration of funding a terror network for the next ten years, alleging the administration paid a cash ransom to redeem Bowe Bergdahl. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: I do not recognize you. Its just that he makes it so hard to do so.. . We will speak only at the National Assembly, because we have worked hard for the people all our lives. This speech was an annual event and carefully scripted by the regime to ensure both success and the appearance of popular support. Why did you starve the people? PROSECUTOR: Esteemed Mr. Chairman, I have been one of those who, as a lawyer, would have liked to oppose the death sentence, because it is inhuman. By the morning of 22 December, the rebellion had already spread to all major cities across the country. 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. We want a legal trial. Mystery surrounded the whereabouts of the former President and his wife, Elena, last night. One announcer called it the heart of our nation. Elena and Nicolae Ceauescu must be held fully responsible for this. PROSECUTOR: Please, ask Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu whether they have ever had a mental illness. Dressed in a black Persian lamb hat with matching coat collar, Ceausesecu, 71, was . But we are not talking about people. PROSECUTOR: Who ordered shooting into the crowd? First their narratives become so infested with lies they go out of sync with their own administrators on the ground. This shows how little patriotism there is, how many treasonable offenses were committed. CHIEF PROSECUTOR: Esteemed chairman of the court, today we have to pass a verdict on the defendants Nicolae Ceausescu and Elena Ceausescu who have committed the following offenses: Crimes against the people. PROSECUTOR: Whether you have ever had a mental illness. Then he is treated like a normal citizen. The prosecutor turns to Elena: You have always been wiser and more ready to talk, a scientist. The next he was a hunted man. PROSECUTOR: You claim to have taken measures so that every peasant is entitled to 200 kilograms of wheat. Now you know what members of our U.S. military are thinking and saying. They are speaking about injustice, ineptitude and impeachment. It doesnt happen as one big wave. ELENA CEAUESCU: I will not answer. ELENA CEAUESCU: We will not sign any statement. The crimes against the people grew year by year. 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. At the beginning, Ceauescu claimed that it is a provocation to be asked whether he was sick. It should be stated once and for all that this military court is absolutely legal and that the former positions of the two Ceausescus are no longer valid. 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 fought bitter last battles with regular soldiers and demonstrators in the streets of the Romanian capital. Her husband, Nicolae. 23 December 1989: Nicolae Ceauescus overthrow follows a week of carnage in which thousands of protesters against his regime were killed in cold blood. PROSECUTOR: That is to say, as a deputy prime minister you did not know about the genocide? How can one say something like this? We have data concerning both of them. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Mr. President, I would like to know something: the accused should tell us who the mercenaries are. In 1947, King Michael showed more dignity than you. I will not answer you putschists, Ceausescu says. No one can dissolve the National Assembly. The truth shall set you free, even if it makes you miserable. Ford said of his resignation,I was no longer in a position where I felt I could defend the American policy. Sooner or later inability to credit yoga or videos produced in Los Angeles as actual factors becomes more and more widespread. It is surpassingly perilous not only for the country, but also for the ruler who relies on it. It is as if, in that moment, everyday Romanian's saw the possibility, saw the reality of the weakness of Ceausescus regime. This demonstrates their lack of understanding. 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. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States federal government (see 17U.S.C. PROSECUTOR: Why do you think that people are fighting today? You were not used to talking to the people. . Elena and Nicolae Ceausescu must be held fully responsible for this. It is a lie that I made the people starve. No one wanted to do anything for you anymore. 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. The catastrophic situation of the country is known all over the world. The entire intelligentsia of the country ran away. . I will not answer anymore. Then he is treated like a normal citizen. 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! Tyrannies are buried by the shovel of self-deception. And you might perhaps have achieved the understanding of the Romanian people if you had now admitted your guilt. You were the most important aide, the number two in the cabinet, in the government. Earlier, joyful crowds had paraded through the city after reports that Mr Ceauescu had been arrested after trying to flee from the roof of the party headquarters by helicopter. 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. It is a historic time, given that no military member goes public to speak negatively about the ultimate commander. Soon afterwards, Bucharest television reported that Mr Ceauescu and his wife were no longer in the country. Ti-mi-oa-ra! Just a genteel, inoffensive refusal from an old gent. By 6 pm, Romanian television was broadcasting live reports of victory rallies attended by thousands in Bucharest. We are all equal. 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. Paper is patient. That is why the people are fighting all over the country. They were not really interested in the people. Do you want to sign this statement? They were only busy enslaving the people and building up an apparatus of power. Any actual attempts to fine 30 million Americans would end in a political disaster. In response, the two laugh, and she says: We do not stay abroad. PROSECUTOR: The people are fighting against you, not against the new forum. The story ofCeauescus final speech is a textbook example. They organized the putsch. 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. Sooner or later an administration neuters itself from sheer implausibility. Since the old government has been dissolved and Ceausescu has lost his functions, he no longer has the right to be treated as the president. The atmosphere was one of jubilation, and the over-riding feeling among the thousands celebrating in the city centre before the shooting began was one of undiluted triumph. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: No one recognizes that. PROSECUTOR: Well, Mr. The next he was a hunted man. You cannot talk to me in such a way! 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. 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. If he no longer has a certain function, he cannot demand anything at all. The Times of Israel quotes Israeli oppositionists as accusing Benjamin Netanyahu of loathing Barack Obama so intensely it has endangering the Jewish states security. From the archive, 23 December 1989: Celebration as a nation emerges from the dark, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Nicolae Ceauescu had been making speeches for over a couple of decades. PROSECUTOR: The Grand National Assembly has been dissolved. In the early evening, it was announced that a National Democracy Committee had been formed, made up of uncompromised military commanders, students and intellectuals. O voce: Un pahar cu apa! Sections in italic type are from Austrian television comentary: has openly accused president Obama as unable to lead in world. Ceauescu's speech of 21 August 1968 [English Subtitles] Transcrierea discursului lui Ceauescu: 01:08 Nicolae Ceauescu: Dragi tovari. It is a lie that I made the people starve. Their son, Nicu, was shown on television under arrest. You were so impertinent as to cut off oxygen lines in hospitals and to shoot people in their hospital beds. They obstructed the normal process of the economy. 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. Not a single shot. ELENA CEAUSESCU: Accounts in Switzerland? Only the front rows supported Ceauescu with cheers and applause, with most of the crowd remaining impassive. PROSECUTOR: But not of our army, you are not the commander in chief of our army. He had been falling for a long time, and proved the last to know. I do not recognize this court. Then follows the reading of the indictment. ELENA CEAUESCU: Accounts in Switzerland? PROSECUTOR: And who heads Securitate? No Way In at Amazon Kindle $8.95, print $9.99. Yet there is a big difference between grousing, which is endemic to the military, and actual rebellion. In response, the two laugh, and she says: We do not stay abroad. Recent items of interest by Belmont readers based on Amazon click-throughs. Nobody has opened an account. I hope that you do not also work for the foreigners and for the destruction of Romania. 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. He, Elena and four others managed to get to the roof and escaped by helicopter, only seconds ahead of a group of demonstrators who had followed them there.. The crowd, now totaling up to 80,000, were given orders on where to stand, when to applaud and what to sing. However, they will be indicted, and a sentence will be passed on the basis of the new legal system. PROSECUTOR: We have always spoken of equality. I have no statement to make, and I will not sign one. But those who shot at the young people were the security men, the terrorists. All the world should know what is going on here. What about the accounts? What happened? Are they the people, or are you paying them? Ceauescu's final speech is a speech delivered by Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauescu on 21 December 1989. In the wake of growing tension over an uprising in Timioara in which thousands were reportedly killed, Ceauescu decided to give a nationally televised speech before a crowd in Palace Square . CEAUSESCU: I will answer any question, but only at the Grand National Assembly, before the representatives of the working class. At the beginning, Ceausescu claimed that it is a provocation to be asked whether he was sick. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: No, no. The prosecutor quotes Ceausescu, Ceausescu's program. I now ask the court to pass a verdict on the basis of the law, because everybody must receive due punishment for the offenses he has committed. Who are these fanatics? This is a legal trial, and I honor them by defending them. Since the old government has been dissolved and Ceauescu has lost his functions, he no longer has the right to be treated as the president. Share . Tens of thousands of people gathered in the early hours in front of the Intercontinental Hotel in Bucharest, undeterred by armoured vehicles. The National Salvation Front is now our supreme body. Elena answers: The intellectuals of this country should hear you, you and your colleagues. PROSECUTOR: Please, make a note: Nicolae Ceausescu refuses to cooperate with the court-appointed counsel for the defense. [2], Ceauescu appeared on the balcony of the Central Committee building and began as he had in years past, with a speech laden with the usual "wooden language." Please make a note that here it has been stated that all legal regulations have been observed, that this is a legal trial. The Securitate had hidden food reserves on which Bucharest could have survived for months, the whole of Bucharest. Storming the Castle at Amazon Kindle for $3.99, why government should get small 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. You see, there is no use in talking to these people. 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. Within hours Ceauescu was beseiged inside the Central Committee building by irate crowds. 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. They were not really interested in the people. PROSECUTOR: Did you know about the genocide in Timisoara? He refused to undergo a psychiatric examination. Former President Donald Trump speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, on March 4, 2023. No one can deprive me of these functions. Why do the peasants then buy their bread in Bucharest? The administrations threats, so dire on paper, are toothless in practice because they actually cant afford to carry out the threat. The day began as it ended with vehement anti-Ceauescu demonstrations. For example, George Ciampa, an 89-year old D-Day veteran refused an invitation to meet with President Obama at the White House. A later article shows that Australia is moving toward purchasing Japanese submarines to replace its existing fleet. He still considers himself to be the country's president and the commander in chief of the army. CEAUSESCU: I do not recognize this new forum. Answer this question! It gave no further details. He was arrested and imprisoned multiple times. This source is a part of the The Romanian Revolution of 1989 teaching module. PROSECUTOR: Who ordered shooting into the crowd? PROSECUTOR: In all district capitals, which you grandly called municipalities, there is shooting going on. I will not answer any more. We have data concerning both of them. At that moment Elena says to Nicolae: Forget about them. This speech was an annual event and carefully scripted by the regime to insure both success and the appearance of popular support. Workers, military units and other popular organizations were bused to the capitol and given orders on where to stand, when to applaud and what to sing. As a result, the prosecutor says: Elena has always been talkative, but otherwise she does not know much. They are not only accused of offenses committed during the past few days, but of offenses committed during the past 25 years. CEAUSESCU: I do not recognize this court. And I also do not recognize the counsel for the defense. Bucharests Broadcasting House was the main source of information yesterday for Romanians about the countrys liberation and the means by which politicians, military officers and dissidents tried to influence the situation. You need not admit your mistakes, mister. They organized the putsch. CEAUSESCU: Nobody can change the state structures. Now the counsel for the defense, who was appointed by the court, asks whether Nicolae and Elena Ceauescu know the aforementioned facts that he is no longer president, that she has lost all official functions. 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. And you might perhaps have achieved the understanding of the Romanian people if you had now admitted your guilt. PROSECUTOR: Note - He does not recognize the points mentioned in the bill of indictment. I ask the court, as the plaintiff, to take note that proof has been furnished for all these points, that the two have committed the offenses mentioned. He answers: I am the president of Romania, and I am the commander in chief of the Romanian army. Two: Armed attack on the people and the state power, in accordance with Article 163 of the penal code. Workers from a Bucharest power plant started chanting "Ti-mi-oa-ra! His security guard appears, disappears and, finally, hustles Ceausescu off the balcony. Thousands of workers were bussed into the square under threat of being fired. 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. "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). This year, the crowd begins to chant unscripted comments back at the dictator. Everybody should be paid according to his performance. I am a member and the chairwoman of the Academy of Sciences. PROSECUTOR: Please, make a note: Ceausescu does not recognize the new legal structures of power of the country. The Idiot Vote: The Democrats Core Constituency NICOLAE CEAUESCU: I will not answer. The video- shown live on Romanian television-- shows his confusion and consternation and the barely audible comments. Did you know that you can purchase some of these books and pamphlets by Richard Fernandez and share them with you friends? PROSECUTOR: The people are fighting against you, not against the new forum. What about the accounts? Only a president who is still confirmed in his position can demand to speak at the Grand National Assembly. Because of this indictment, I call for the death sentence and the impounding of the entire property of the two accused. CEAUSESCU: No, we had no palaces. Ti-mi-oa-ra!a chant that was soon picked up by others in the crowd. It is simply an accumulation of multitudes ignoring the official line bit by bit and thereby gradually placing themselves unwittingly in opposition to it. Eight minutes into the speech, some in the crowd actually began to scream because there was a shooting that occurred in the background. You have destroyed the Romanian villages and the Romanian soil. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: I repeat: I am the president of Romania and the commander in chief of the Romanian army. The destruction of buildings and state institutions, undermining of the national economy, in accordance with Articles 165 and 145 of the penal code. As the crowd becomes more unruly, Ceausescu becomes more confused and he begins arguing with the unseen hecklers. You are faced with charges that you held really sumptuous celebrations on all holidays at your house. Captive: My Time as a Prisoner of the Taliban A lie, a lie in my face. No, no, he says. Now we are making a last attempt. The catastrophic situation of the country is known all over the world. [1], His security guard appeared, disappeared and, finally, hustled Ceauescu off the balcony. The prosecutor asks the counsel for the defense to ask Ceausescu whether he knows that he is no longer president of the country, that Elena Ceausescu has also lost all her official state functions and that the government has been dissolved. You have destroyed the Romanian villages and the Romanian soil. In one speech, a Romanian politician likened Ceausescu to Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Peter the Great, Abraham Lincoln and other major historical figures. A horse or a hearse? One of the first acts of the new leadership was to place the security forces, the dreaded Securitate, under control of the army. In fact, his speech on August 21, 1968 in defiance of the military actions taken by Moscow and a few of her allies in Czechoslovakia roused quite a considerable amount of support for not only himself, but for the Patriot Guards as well. Defendant, if you had no accounts in Switzerland, will you sign a statement confirming that the money that may be in Switzerland should be transferred to the Romanian state, the State Bank.
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