A DNA analysis is under way to establish whether the infamous couple is buried in the graves, but forensic experts warn the final results may not be available any time soon.
The controversy began in the early 1990s when the couple’s daughter, Zoia, requested the post-communist government provide proof that her parents are buried in Bucharest’s Ghencea Cemetery.
Zoia died in 2006, but her husband, Mircea Opran, and younger brother, Valentin Ceausescu, continued her quest. Four years later, the government provided concession certificates of the two graves, but only after initially claiming there was no proof the couple is buried there.
According to a Romanian Institute for Evaluation and Strategy (IRES) survey, 87% of those polled watched the exhumation, but only 27% doubt the couple is buried at the site.
Nearly 75% said the Ceausescus didn’t deserve their fate, and 60% believe they lived better during communism. Astonishingly, 41% would vote for Ceausescu for president if he were alive today.
Bloggers join the debate [all links lead to blogs in Romanian]. „Is such a survey useful? Does it really matter where Ceausescu is buried?” asks on Vox Publica.
„The poll is completely useless. It doesn’t report anything concrete and the results are entirely irrelevant. And so is the Ceausescus’ graves issue,” argues .
„Communism in Romania was the most gruesome period in our history, and its effects – the deformation of [our] mentalities and value system – can only be seen now. We are unable to cope with democracy and free market with the way of thinking highlighted by this poll,” he says.
agrees, blaming a collective amnesia about the communist period. „41% is a terrifying result. Sooner than we expect Ceausescu will be a hero. Have you lost your minds, people?”
Journalist believes some people’s reactions to erecting a monument to Ceausescu is a sign of years of brainwashing. „To ask for a monument to be erected for Ceausescu is defiance or, as the case may be, sinister stupidity. From exhumation to heroism there is a long way … but it is covered all too quickly,” he says.
Others are cautious and don’t take the poll results at face value. „I find it very hard to believe such a high percentage of Romanians would vote a Ceausescu regime comeback,” says . „We can’t be a nation so lost, unconscious and … oblivious. Or can we?” she asks.
sees the rationale behind those willing to vote for Ceausescu. „Don’t underestimate the 41%. Their message is a spit in the face of Romanian politics that substituted the former communist system with the current oligarchic one. Those 41% can’t communicate their disappointment [any] other way than remembering Ceausescu,” she says.
(SET), a web site sponsored by the US Department of Defense in support of UN Resolution 1244, designed to provide an international audience with a portal to a broad range of information about Southeastern Europe. It highlights movement toward greater regional stability and steps governments take toward integration into European institutions. SET also focuses on developments that hinder both terrorist activity and support for terrorism in the region.
Whatever your opinion on communism, many people across Eastern Europe and the wider world have a romanticised view of the former Yugoslavia’s grand leader Josip Broz Tito.
Crete has long been acknowledged as one of the most singular and unique parts of Greece. Its people keep a fierce hold on their traditions, customs and history. Practically a country of its own, this vast island looms over all others in Greece. Nevertheless, as In Sfakia author Peter Trudgill aptly notes in his preface, “some parts of Crete are more special than others, and Sfakia, on the remote south coast, is certainly one of those.”
„Go and see it. It had me thinking about it for a long time” says Morelle Smith in her review of The Silence of Lorna.
„A Gypsy from the city of Skopje”, as she calls herself, Esma Redžepova has more than 40 years of singing and humanitarian efforts under her belt.
In Homo Urbanus Europeanus, exhibited May 9-24 in front of the National Theatre in Sofia, Jean-Marc Caracci presents his photographs of people in the urban environment of European capitals.
RED&WHITE SOFIA. On the 1st of March Bulgarians say goodbye to the winter. They buy each other red&white threads to carry around until they see a stork and spring can begin. Photography by Lode Desmet
BULGARIA D’OR: The Bulgarian countryside, patinated with the noble golden dust of the autumn. Photographs by Lode Desmet
360 degrees Bulgaria, an exhibition by photographer Alexandar Ivanov, is on display at the Sea Garden in Varna until August 28. It will be shown at Plovdiv’s Central Square from Sept 5.
Read the article on Balkan Travelers
Ceausescus’ Exhumation Evokes Mixed Emotions in Romania
A DNA analysis is under way to establish whether the infamous couple is buried in the graves, but forensic experts warn the final results may not be available any time soon.
The controversy began in the early 1990s when the couple’s daughter, Zoia, requested the post-communist government provide proof that her parents are buried in Bucharest’s Ghencea Cemetery.
Zoia died in 2006, but her husband, Mircea Opran, and younger brother, Valentin Ceausescu, continued her quest. Four years later, the government provided concession certificates of the two graves, but only after initially claiming there was no proof the couple is buried there.
According to a Romanian Institute for Evaluation and Strategy (IRES) survey, 87% of those polled watched the exhumation, but only 27% doubt the couple is buried at the site.
Nearly 75% said the Ceausescus didn’t deserve their fate, and 60% believe they lived better during communism. Astonishingly, 41% would vote for Ceausescu for president if he were alive today.
Bloggers join the debate [all links lead to blogs in Romanian]. „Is such a survey useful? Does it really matter where Ceausescu is buried?” asks on Vox Publica.
„The poll is completely useless. It doesn’t report anything concrete and the results are entirely irrelevant. And so is the Ceausescus’ graves issue,” argues .
„Communism in Romania was the most gruesome period in our history, and its effects – the deformation of [our] mentalities and value system – can only be seen now. We are unable to cope with democracy and free market with the way of thinking highlighted by this poll,” he says.
agrees, blaming a collective amnesia about the communist period. „41% is a terrifying result. Sooner than we expect Ceausescu will be a hero. Have you lost your minds, people?”
Journalist believes some people’s reactions to erecting a monument to Ceausescu is a sign of years of brainwashing. „To ask for a monument to be erected for Ceausescu is defiance or, as the case may be, sinister stupidity. From exhumation to heroism there is a long way … but it is covered all too quickly,” he says.
Others are cautious and don’t take the poll results at face value. „I find it very hard to believe such a high percentage of Romanians would vote a Ceausescu regime comeback,” says . „We can’t be a nation so lost, unconscious and … oblivious. Or can we?” she asks.
sees the rationale behind those willing to vote for Ceausescu. „Don’t underestimate the 41%. Their message is a spit in the face of Romanian politics that substituted the former communist system with the current oligarchic one. Those 41% can’t communicate their disappointment [any] other way than remembering Ceausescu,” she says.
(SET), a web site sponsored by the US Department of Defense in support of UN Resolution 1244, designed to provide an international audience with a portal to a broad range of information about Southeastern Europe. It highlights movement toward greater regional stability and steps governments take toward integration into European institutions. SET also focuses on developments that hinder both terrorist activity and support for terrorism in the region.
Whatever your opinion on communism, many people across Eastern Europe and the wider world have a romanticised view of the former Yugoslavia’s grand leader Josip Broz Tito.
Crete has long been acknowledged as one of the most singular and unique parts of Greece. Its people keep a fierce hold on their traditions, customs and history. Practically a country of its own, this vast island looms over all others in Greece. Nevertheless, as In Sfakia author Peter Trudgill aptly notes in his preface, “some parts of Crete are more special than others, and Sfakia, on the remote south coast, is certainly one of those.”
„Go and see it. It had me thinking about it for a long time” says Morelle Smith in her review of The Silence of Lorna.
„A Gypsy from the city of Skopje”, as she calls herself, Esma Redžepova has more than 40 years of singing and humanitarian efforts under her belt.
In Homo Urbanus Europeanus, exhibited May 9-24 in front of the National Theatre in Sofia, Jean-Marc Caracci presents his photographs of people in the urban environment of European capitals.
RED&WHITE SOFIA. On the 1st of March Bulgarians say goodbye to the winter. They buy each other red&white threads to carry around until they see a stork and spring can begin. Photography by Lode Desmet
BULGARIA D’OR: The Bulgarian countryside, patinated with the noble golden dust of the autumn. Photographs by Lode Desmet
360 degrees Bulgaria, an exhibition by photographer Alexandar Ivanov, is on display at the Sea Garden in Varna until August 28. It will be shown at Plovdiv’s Central Square from Sept 5.
