In questo giorno, 36 anni fa, a Timişoara scoppiò la rivoluzione rumena

Should be a good reminder to Europe that socialism can easily turn into dictatorship. Ceaușescu was very popular with a lot of Western leaders and many seen him as a diplomatic bridge between the two sides of the Berlin Wall. But in the end he got what he deserved.

I was shocked when my Romanian hairdresser here in Oslo started talking about how much better Romania was under Ceauşescu.

Ceauşescu wasn’t just an authoritarian dictator. He had a network of spies and security police built by Stalins NKVD. Almost half a million informers that reported neighbours, teachers and friends uttering discontent towards the regime. He was convicted of being responsible for the death of 60k Romanians.

I still remember journalists entering the orphanages after the regime fell. Failed policies from the 60ies that banned contraception and abortions made these places a necessity of sorts. Children where labelled according to health and mental ability and the bottom third where treated under horrific conditions. Estimates says 20.000 children died in these institutions. Mostly of pneumonia and other easily treated diseases.

My hairdresser was born just a year or 2 after Ceauşescu fell but both her parents are still alive and seemingly of similar opinion. Our ability to ignore our near history amazes and scares me.

Gorbachev called Ceausescu “The Romanian Fuhrer” and I think that says it all