Ceausescu seen from up close

The openness, transparency and popularity of a dictator are some of the strongest signals a propaganda machine can transmit. But since in a dictatorship these signals must be interpreted as being the opposite, so in the communist regime Nicolae Ceaușescu's figure was the opposite to that promoted by the propaganda. Not many Romanians can boast seeing him from up close and ever fewer of shaking his hand. Suspicious and increasingly paranoid, Ceaușescu would not let many people get too close to him.

One of the few occasions when he would make an exception was when he travelled abroad and attended press conferences. Sorin Cunea worked for Radio Free Europe in the second half of the 1960s and is the Romanian journalist abroad who saw Ceaușescu from up close most often. Interviewed by Radio Romania's Oral History Centre in 1998, he said he would find out about Ceaușescu's foreign visits from the Romanian press. He witnessed a total of 12 visits by the Romanian communist leader:

"We were at the Bayer company, because his wife, who was a chemist, wanted to or the German hosts had arranged for her to visit the consortium in Leverkusen. As Ceaușescu had official talks I didn't have access to, Noel Bernard decided we should also go Leverkusen. After visiting a few departments, the group of officials entered a conference room and that's where she was given explanations and answers to the questions she asked. I then saw, I think for the first time, Adrian Păunescu, who was part of the press delegation accompanying the two. Bernard and I were standing in the back and didn't pay much attention to her questions. But I was watching how Păunescu was sitting opposite her at the table and noting down every word she said, conspicuously, so that everyone would see how interested he was in what she was saying."

Ceaușescu had his people follow Sorin Cunea, just as he did most other journalists working for Radio Free Europe. He recalls being mistreated by the Romanian communist delegation in Ankara. "When they let the media know they could enter the room that was going to host the cocktail party, I slung my recorder over my shoulder and headed for the door. Everyone else walked in, but I was stopped by an individual who addressed me in Romanian and his tone was typical of Securitate officers. He knew exactly who I was. "Don't put your recorder too close to the comrade. Keep a lower profile, can't you see you're bothering him?" I didn't answer back, so I just walked into the room. When it was Ceaușescu's time to speak, I placed the microphone as close to him as possible, so I could get his discourse on tape and be able to broadcast parts of it later. I have to say that, as he talked, he would take small sips from a glass with a yellowish liquid, which I think was chamomile tea. Maybe he was allowed to do that, or maybe the doctors who accompanied him knew better". Sorin Cunea was also asked if he ever got to speak directly to Ceaușescu during press briefings. "I addressed him a question once, in Bonn. I have to say I would always sit on the front rows at press briefings, because I really wanted my face to be in the news on the television. He answered my question though. And during a news conference in Vienna, I was also in the front row, very carefully observing the two. Whenever he was answering one journalist or another, while the answer was being translated, Ceausescu looked intently at his wife, Elena, for approval. And I saw her nodding most of the time, as if she wanted to say 'yeah, you answered pretty well to that one'.  

Ceausescu's capricious and aggressive personality however often made him to take it out on the others. Sorin Cunea recalls such an episode

Sorin Cunea:" Also in Bonn, while answering a question regarding the Conference for Security and Cooperation, the translator, who was a guy from Bucharest translated and completed the answer by specifically mentioning the 'Conference for Cooperation and Security in Europe'. Ceausescu swiftly turned to the translator and retorted "I didn't say anything about Europe, you know". And the man had done nothing wrong but only mentioned the complete title of that international conference. Furthermore, Ceausescu was always carrying a comb with him, which it used to adjust his haircut right before joining a conference or public event. He was always very concerned about his physical appearance."

          Seen from up close, dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was nothing but a common, simple man very different from the image the Romanian Television was striving to promote. But somehow, history has succeeded in overemphasizing the image of this tiny, little man.

(CM/VP/bill)