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Nicolae Ceaușescu

Dictator of Romania from 1965 to 1989 · Politicians · Lived 1918 to 1989 · aged 71

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Led Romania for nearly a quarter-century as general secretary and president, then ended the regime in a single December day: tried for genocide on Christmas morning, executed by firing squad that afternoon. The 1989 revolution that toppled him remains one of the only Eastern Bloc uprisings to kill its dictator.

PoliticiansPoliticianPolitics20th Century

A life in dates

2025The anniversary of their death, on 25 December.25 December 20251989Died25 December 1989“It is a lie that I made the people starve. A lie, a lie in my face.”In their words25 December 1989Statements at trial (25 December 1989)

1988Hero of the Socialist Republic of RomaniaAwardOrder of the Victory of SocialismAward1985Gold Olympic OrderAward1983Order of Stara PlaninaAward1981Hero of the Socialist Republic of RomaniaAward1980Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. OlavAward1978Hero of the Socialist Republic of RomaniaAwardOrder of LeninAward1975Honorary Doctorate from the University of Nice-Sophia AntipolisAward1974Named President of RomaniaOffice28 March 1974 to 22 December 1989Grand Cross of the Order of the Liberator General San MartínAward1971Anniversary Medal at the Occasion of the 2500th Anniversary of the Founding of the Iranian EmpireAwardOrder of the Victory of SocialismAward1970Named Honorary presidencyOffice1 February 1970 to 22 December 19891969Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the White Rose of FinlandAward1968“There can be no justification to admit, in any way, the use of armed forced to intervene in the internal affairs of a WTO [Warsaw Treaty Organization] member country.”In their words14 August 1968Commencement address at the Romanian Military Academy (14 August 1968), quoted in The Prague Spring (2010) by M. Mark Stolarik

1967Named President of the State CouncilOffice9 December 1967 to 22 December 19891966Order of Labor First ClassAward1965Named Secretary General of the Romanian Communist PartyOffice19 March 1965 to 22 December 19891918Born26 January 1918

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Nicolae CeaușescuNicolae Ceaușescu001.Nicolae Ceausescu la varsta de 15 ani in 1933001.Nicolae Ceausescu la varsta de 15 ani in 1933007 Ceaușescu mug shot Târgoviște police 1936007 Ceaușescu mug shot Târgoviște police 1936008.Portret Nicolae Ceaușescu. (1936)008.Portret Nicolae Ceaușescu. (1936)011.Portret Nicolae Ceauescu in 1939011.Portret Nicolae Ceauescu in 19391767023458172-737e4e15-21ef-4de7-983b-fdc485495ffc 11767023458172-737e4e15-21ef-4de7-983b-fdc485495ffc 12023 April - Muzeul Consumatorului Comunist din Timișoara 012023 April - Muzeul Consumatorului Comunist din Timișoara 012023 April - Muzeul Consumatorului Comunist din Timișoara 092023 April - Muzeul Consumatorului Comunist din Timișoara 09

In their own words 2

,
Nicolae Ceaușescu
,
2 statements, newest first

  1. It is a lie that I made the people starve. A lie, a lie in my face.

    Dec 25, 1989, Statements at trial (25 December 1989), Own words

  2. There can be no justification to admit, in any way, the use of armed forced to intervene in the internal affairs of a WTO [Warsaw Treaty Organization] member country.

    Aug 14, 1968, Commencement address at the Romanian Military Academy (14 August 1968), quoted in The Prague Spring (2010) by M. Mark Stolarik, Own words

Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0

Awards

Order of Lenin1988
Hero of the Socialist Republic of Romania1988
Order of the Victory of Socialism1988
Order of Karl Marx1988
Collar of the Order of the White Lion1987
Gold Olympic Order1985
Jubilee Medal "Forty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945"1985
Order of the Crown of the Realm1984
Order of the October Revolution1983
Order of José Martí1983
Order of Stara Planina1983
Hero of the Socialist Republic of Romania1981
Order of the Victory of Socialism1981
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav1980
Knight of the Order of the Elephant1980
Knight of the Seraphim1980
Collar of the Spanish Order of the Civil Merit1979
Order of Lenin1978
Hero of the Socialist Republic of Romania1978
Order of the Victory of Socialism1978
Order of Georgi Dimitrov1978
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath1978
Grand Collar of the Order of the Southern Cross1975
Grand Collar of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword1975
Order of Sikatuna1975
Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945"1975
Honorary Doctorate from the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis1975
Grand Cross of the Order of the Liberator General San Martín1974
Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic1973
Grand Cross, Special Class of the Order of the Sun of Peru1973
Hero of the Socialist Republic of Romania1971
Order of the Victory of Socialism1971
Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany1971
Anniversary Medal at the Occasion of the 2500th Anniversary of the Founding of the Iranian Empire1971
Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin"1970
Grand Star of the Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria1969
Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the White Rose of Finland1969
Order of Labor First Class1966
Order Of The Defense Of The Fatherland, 1st class1966
Order of Tudor Vladimirescu, 1st class1966

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About this person

Born in Scornicești in 1918, Ceaușescu joined the Romanian Communist Party as a teenager and was jailed repeatedly for activism before the war ended. He climbed the party ladder under Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and took over as general secretary in 1965. Early on he loosened press restrictions and condemned the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia - a speech that briefly made him popular - but the opening snapped shut. His regime became one of the most repressive in the Eastern Bloc: the Securitate enforced mass surveillance and brutal crackdowns, population-growth policies flooded state orphanages, economic mismanagement piled up foreign debt, and austerity to repay it gutted daily life while his cult of personality soared. By late 1989 unrest boiled over; he ordered troops to fire on demonstrators in Timișoara on 17 December, then fled Bucharest by helicopter as the revolution reached the capital. The military turned, captured him and his wife Elena, and a show trial convicted them both of economic sabotage and genocide. They were shot on 25 December 1989.

Category
Politicians
Type
Politician
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1918 to 1989 · aged 71

Politicians born in the 1910s 6

Abdullah as-Sallal55.9Shapour Bakhtiar55.7Ngo Dinh Nhu55.6Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal55.4Yaroslav Stetsko53.4Jin Youzhi52.9

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