President Klaus Iohannis has signed
\na decree to decorate the Memorial of the Victims of Communism and Resistance in
\nSighet and the Memorial of the Revolution of 16-22 December Timisoara
\nAssociation. The decision is intended to mark the 30th anniversary
\nof the Romanian Revolution this year, as appreciation and
\nrecognition for their important research into the phenomenon of totalitarianism
\nand for the promotion of national and European values. Sighet and Timisoara,
\nin the north-west and west, respectively, are essential landmarks on the map of
\ncommunist terror. Founded, under the aegis of the Council of Europe, by the
\npoet and dissident Ana Blandiana, the Memorial is located in a former prison where
\ndozens of people were held and killed, including democrats, generals and church
\nofficials from the inter-war period. As for the association from Timisoara, it
\nbrings together many of those who, in December 1989, sparked the fire of the
\nRevolution that led to the flight of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
President Klaus Iohannis has also
\nannounced plans to declare 2019 the Year of Gratitude, an announcement he will
\nmake on 20th of May, the date when the first free elections in
\npost-communist Romania were held back in 1990. Klaus Iohannis:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
It’s the year when I want us to
\nshow our gratitude for those who made possible the great change that took place
\nin December 1989. More critical voices have asked me why, then, start in May?
\nIt’s simple: I want to declare 2019 the Year of Gratitude, ending in December
\nwith a big celebration in honour of the 1989 Revolution and beginning when
\ndemocratic vote began in Romania. The first free elections in Romania were held
\non 20th of May 1990.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The president’s announcement has
\nbeen hailed by many voices from the political scene, civil society and the
\nmedia, but has also been severely criticised. Given that he has already announced plans to
\nrun for a second term, president Iohannis is accused of turning the homage to
\nthe anticommunist resistance into a campaign theme. A possible rival in the
\npresidential race, Senate speaker Calin Popescu-Tariceanu says the initiative
\nseeks to use for election purposes a number of emotional elements, the ousting
\nof communism, the sacrifice of the martyrs and the rediscovery of freedom.
\nLeontin Iuhas, the son of Ceausescu’s most famous opponent, Doina Cornea, who
\nwas himself arrested by the secret police (the Securitate), says he will not
\ntake part in the events held under the patronage of the president. Some
\ncommentators are disappointed that petty electoral considerations risk
\novershadow a tragic theme. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Instated, at the end of WWII by the
\noccupying Soviet troops, the communist dictatorship filled Romania with camps
\nand prisons where at least 600,000 people were interned in the space of fifty
\nyears according to historians. In 2006 in fact, Romania’s previous president
\nTraian Basescu issued an official declaration condemning the communist regime
\nas criminal and illegitimate. (Trans: C. Mateescu)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Klaus Iohannis plans to declare 2019 the Year of Gratitude for the opponents of the former communist regime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":80334,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[32441],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-81817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-communism"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n