Bullets, Lies, and Videotape: The Amazing, Disappearing Romanian Counter-Revolution of December 1989 (Part VII, Conclusion: Those Who Told Us the Truth) by Richard Andrew Hall
Posted by romanianrevolutionofdecember1989 on December 24, 2009
for full PDF file see here:
blv 111909tk6 97 compat (for earlier versions of word)
for Part I see His name was Ghircoias…Nicolae Ghircoias
for Part II see A Revolution, a Coup d\’Etat, AND a Counter-Revolution
for Part III see Lost…during investigation
for Part IV see The Good \’Sergeant Schultz\’ or \’They know nothing!\’
for Part V see Seeing is Believing, Videos 1 and 2
for Part VI see Seeing is Believing, Videos 3 and 4
Bullets, Lies, and Videotape:
The Amazing, Disappearing Romanian Counter-Revolution of December 1989
by Richard Andrew Hall, Ph.D.
Standard Disclaimer: All statements of fact, opinion, or analysis expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official positions or views of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or any other U.S. Government agency. Nothing in the contents should be construed as asserting or implying U.S. Government authentication of information or CIA endorsement of the author’s views. This material has been reviewed by CIA to prevent the disclosure of classified information. [Submitted 19 November 2009; PRB approved 15 December 2009]
I am an intelligence analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency. I have been a CIA analyst since 2000. Prior to that time, I had no association with CIA outside of the application process.
Those Who Have Told Us the Truth [1]
As opposed to the aforementioned Vladimir Belis, Pavel Corut, and Dan Voinea, all of whom who have strenuously and repeatedly denied the existence and use in December 1989 of atypical munitions of dum-dum bullets and vidia bullets, there exist those who have told us of the existence and use of these in December 1989.[2] They are essentially, for lack of a better term, former Securitate whistleblowers, who have admitted the Securitate’s role in providing the “terrorists” who caused so much destruction, mayhem, and loss of life in those days.
For years I have been essentially the sole researcher inside or outside the country familiar with and promoting the claims of 1) former Timisoara Securitate Directorate I officer Roland Vasilevici—who published his claims about December 1989 under the byline of Puspoki F. in the Timisoara political-cultural weekly Orizont in March 1990 and under the pseudonym “Romeo Vasiliu”—and 2) an anonymous USLA recruit who told his story to AM Press Dolj (published on the five year anniversary of the events in Romania Libera 28 December 1994…ironically (?) next to a story about how a former Securitate official attempted to interrupt a private television broadcast in which Roland Vasilevici was being interviewed in Timisoara about Libyan involvement in December 1989).
Vasilevici claimed in those March 1990 articles and in a 140 page book that followed—both the series and the book titled Pyramid of Shadows—that the USLA and Arab commandos were the “terrorists” of December 1989. What is particularly noteworthy in light of the above discussion about “exploding [dum-dum] bullets” was his claim that the USLA and the foreign students who supplemented them “used special cartridges which upon hitting their targets caused new explosions” [emphasis added]—in other words, exploding or dum-dum bullets.[3]
The anonymous USLA recruit stated separately, but similarly:
I was in Timisoara and Bucharest in December ’89. In addition to us [USLA] draftees, recalled professionals, who wore black camouflage outfits, were dispatched. Antiterrorist troop units and these professionals received live ammunition. In Timisoara demonstrators were shot at short distances. I saw how the skulls of those who were shot would explode. I believe the masked ones, using their own special weapons, shot with exploding bullets. In January 1990, all the draftees from the USLA troops were put in detox. We had been drugged. We were discharged five months before our service was due to expire in order to lose any trace of us. Don’t publish my name. I fear for me and my parents. When we trained and practiced we were separated into ‘friends’ and ‘enemies.’ The masked ones were the ‘enemies’ who we had to find and neutralize. I believe the masked ones were the ‘terrorists’.[4] [emphases added]
As I have pointed out, despite the short shrift given these two revelations by Romanian media and Romanianists, one group has paid close attention: the former Securitate. That is not accidental.[5]
Those discussed as alternatively “commandos” or “professionals” appear to have been members of the so-called USLAC—Special Unit for Anti-terrorist and Commando Warfare. In 1991, Dan Badea summarized former USLA Captain Marian Romanescu’s description of the USLAC as follows:
THE USLAC COMMANDOS:
Those who had and have knowledge about the existence and activities of the shock troops subordinated directly to Ceausescu remained quiet and continue to do so out of fear or out of calculation. Much has been said about individuals in black jumpsuits, with tattoos on their left hand and chest, mercenary fanatics who acted at night, killing with precision and withdrawing when they were encircled to the underground tunnels of Bucharest. Much was said, then nobody said anything, as if nothing had ever happened.
Traversing the [Securitate’s] Fifth Directorate and the USLA, the USLAC commandos were made up of individuals who ‘worked’ undercover at different posts. Many were foreign students, doctoral students and thugs committed with heart and soul to the dictator. Many were Arabs who knew with precision the nooks and crannies of Bucharest, Brasov and other towns in Romania. For training these had at their disposal several underground centers of instruction: one was in an area near Brasov, while another—it appears—was right under the former headquarters of the PCR CC [communist party central committee building], a shooting range that was—discovered by accident by several revolutionaries during the events of December .”[6]
We also know from Romanescu and a second source that USLA commander Gheorghe Ardeleanu (Bula Moise) addressed his troops as follows:
“On 25 December at around 8 pm, after the execution of the dictators, Colonel Ardeleanu gathered the unit’s members into an improvised room and said to them:
‘The Dictatorship has fallen! The Unit’s members are in the service of the people. The Romanian Communist Party [PCR] is not disbanding! It is necessary for us to regroup in the democratic circles of the PCR—the inheritor of the noble ideas of the people of which we are a part!…Corpses were found, individuals with USLAC (Special Unit for Antiterrorist and Commando Warfare) identity cards and identifications with the 0620 stamp of the USLA, identity cards that they had no right to be in possession of when they were found…’ He instructed that the identity cards [of members of the unit] had to be turned in within 24 hours, at which time all of them would receive new ones with Defense Ministry markings.” [7] [8]
In other words, a cover-up of a now failed attempt at counter-revolution—having been cut short by the execution of the Ceausescus, the object of their struggle—had begun. In the days and weeks that were to follow, the Securitate, including people such as the seemingly ubiquitous Colonel Ghircoias discussed in the opening of this article would go about recovering those “terrorists” who were unlucky enough to be captured, injured, or killed. By 24 January 1990, the “terrorists” of the Romanian Counter-Revolution of December 1989, no longer existed, so-to-speak, and the chances for justice and truth about what had happened in December 1989 would never recover.[9]
THE REVOLUTION WAS TELEVISED. THE COUNTER-REVOLUTION WAS VIDEOTAPED.
Poet, essayist, and NPR contributor Andrei Codrescu memorably turned Gil Scott Heron’s famous social commentary—“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”—on its head, saying that contrary to what Heron’s song had led them to expect …in Romania, the revolution was televised! But if you read on or listen to Codrescu closely, it would be more accurate to say that he, like many Romanians and Romanianists, believes that what happened in December 1989 was a coup d’etat—he talks about the“staging of the revolution” and how the coup plotters “seized the means of projection”—and thus what he really seems to intend to say is that “the coup d’etat was televised.”[10]
On the other hand, Vladimir Tismaneanu is quoted as once having memorably said: ”The VCR killed Ceausescu even before his execution…It was the most important factor in terms of creating a mass consciousness.”[11] It is an important and insightful observation about the power of technology and the challenges it poses to centralized control, especially of the totalitarian state.
Ceausescu’s image and control was damaged by the video-player—to say nothing of, by live television, with the infamous “mirror-shattering” moment of 21 December 1989. However, as this paper has demonstrated, it is the video-recorder that has undone his final and unfortunately (ever)lasting “Christmas gift” to his Romanian subjects, and that has undone the lies of those—including certain past military prosecutors with roots in the communist era—bent on covering this up.
[1] This section borrows heavily from Hall 2008 and Hall 2006.
[2] In addition to these videos, I have thus far accumulated 45 mentions/claims of use of dum-dum and/or vidia bullets in December 1989. These include the testimonies of doctors who treated the wounded, but also military officers—not just recruits—who are familiar with ballistics. Separately, I also have accumulated 36 mentions/claims of people who were either killed or wounded by such atypical munitions during the events. Significantly, these include people killed or wounded prior to 22 December 1989 as well as after, and they are from multiple cities and a variety of locations for both periods—suggesting not accident, but a well-executed plan by the repressive forces of the Ceausescu regime, the Securitate and their foreign mercenary allies. See Hall 2008 for some of these.
[3] Puspoki F., “Piramida Umbrelor (III),” Orizont (Timisoara), no. 11 (16 March 1990) p.4, and Roland Vasilevici, Piramida Umbrelor (Timisoara: Editura de Vest, 1991), p. 61.
[4] “Dezvaluiri despre implicarea USLA in evenimentele din decembrie ’89,” Romania Libera, 28 December 1994, p.3.
[5] For the discussion of the former Securitate response to those who have violated the code of silence, see Hall, “Orwellian…Positively Orwellian,” http://homepage.mac.com/khallbobo/RichardHall/pubs/Voineaswar091706.html .
[6] Captain Marian Romanescu, with Dan Badea, “USLA, Bula Moise, teroristii si ‘Fratii Musulmani’,” Expres (2-8 July 1991), pp. 8-9.
[7] Captain Marian Romanescu, with Dan Badea, “USLA, Bula Moise, teroristii si ‘Fratii Musulmani’,” Expres (2-8 July 1991), pp. 8-9.
[8] What evidence do we have that the “USLAC”—a reference attributed to Ardeleanu, discussed by Romanescu, and alluded to by Vasilevici (“commandos,” he specified the involvement of Arabs in his book) and the anonymous recruit (the “professionals in black camouflage”)—in fact existed? To me, the most convincing evidence comes from the comments of Dr. Sergiu Tanasescu, the medical trainer of the Rapid Bucharest soccer team, who was directly involved in the fighting at the Central Committee building. One has to realize that until his comments in March 1990, the very acronym “USLAC” and its extension does not appear to have appeared in the Romanian media—and has very rarely appeared since. Here is what he said:
Ion K. Ion (reporter at the weekly Cuvintul): The idea that there were foreign terrorists has been circulating in the press.
Sergiu Tanasescu (trainer for the Bucharest Rapid soccer club): I ask that you be so kind as to not ask me about the problem because it is a historical issue. Are we in agreement?
I.I.: O.K.
Tanasescu: I caught a terrorist myself, with my own hands. He was 26 years old and had two ID cards, one of a student in the fourth year of Law School, and another one of Directorate V-a U.S.L.A.C. Special Unit for Antiterrorist and Commando Warfare [emphasis added]. He was drugged. I found on him a type of chocolate, “Pasuma” and “Gripha” brands. It was an extraordinarily powerful drug that gave a state of euphoria encouraging aggression and destruction, and an ability to go without sleep for ten days. He had a supersophisticated weapon, with nightsights [i.e. lunetisti], with a system for long-distance sound…
Ion K. Ion: What happened to those terrorists who were caught?
S.T.: We surrendered them to organs of the military prosecutor. We caught many in the first days, their identity being confirmed by many, by Colonel Octavian Nae [Dir. V-a], Constantin Dinescu (Mircea’s uncle), [Army Chief of Staff, General] Guse, but especially by [Securitate Director] Vlad who shouted at those caught why they didn’t listen to his order to surrender, they would pretend to be innocent, but the gun barrels of their weapons were still warm from their exploits. After they would undergo this summary interrogation, most of them were released.
I.I.: Why?
S.T.: Because that’s what Vlad ordered. On 22 December we caught a Securitate major who was disarmed and let go, only to capture him again the next day, when we took his weapon and ammo and again Vlad vouched for him, only to capture him on the third day yet again. We got annoyed and then arrested all of them, including Vlad and Colonel Nae, especially after a girl of ours on the first basement floor where the heating system is located found him transmitting I don’t know what on a walkie-talkie.
I.I.: When and how were the bunkers discovered?
S.T.: Pretty late in the game, in any case only after 24 December. Some by accident, most thanks to two individuals [with a dog].
Sergiu Tanasescu, interview by Ion K. Ion, “Dinca si Postelnicu au fost prinsi de pantera roz!” Cuvintul, no. 8-9, 28 March 1990, 15. From Hall, 2006.
[9] For some of the discussion of how the problem was made to “go away,” see Hall 2006 and the section “Foreign Involvement.”
[10] Andrei Codrescu, The Hole in the Flag (Morrow and Company, 1991). For a discussion of this Codrescu’s sources and arguments, including his allegations of a Yalta-Malta conspiracy, see Hall 2005.
[11] Quoted in Alexander Stille, “Cameras Shoot Where Uzis Can’t,” New York Times, 20 September 20 2003, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/20/arts/cameras-shoot-where-uzis-can-t.html.
The Archive of the Romanian Revolution of December 1989 
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romanianrevolutionofdecember1989 said
In relation to endnote two, this total of course does not even include the list of new cases published this week–which you can see here https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.wordpress.com/2009/12/23/numai-din-saptamana-aceasta-cazuri-de-gloante-dum-dum-si-vidia-folosite-in-decembrie-89-mentionate-in-presa-romana-disponsibila-pe-internetul/ –or of course the presumably many cases that have never made it into print or onto the Internet.
Twenty years later not a single Romanian journalist/researcher or Romanianist–other than myself–has attempted to study or verify the existence and use of dum-dum and vidia bullets in December 1989, the “calling card” that demonstrates the existence of the “terrorists” and that is based on multiple types of evidence (including visual, from videos such as those shown in this article) from multiple locations from multiple different sources…with the predictable result that they therefore dont know about them and ignore their significance…Incredible, just incredible!
romanianrevolutionofdecember1989 said
As a fitting coda to all this, I leave my readers with the following excerpt from Colin Woodard’s article “Probing Romania’s Cryptic Revolution” (my thanks again to Mr. Woodard for including a discussion of my research as part of this larger article; available to Global Post subscribers at
http://www.globalpost.com/passport/foreign-desk/091218/probing-romanias-cryptic-revolution )
Foreign Desk
Probing Romania’s cryptic revolution
Colin Woodard | December 18, 2009
Among Warsaw Bloc countries, Romania’s revolution was uniquely brutal. Twenty years later, scholars still debate whether the worst bloodshed was caused by revolutionaries fighting each other by mistake.
There was nothing velvet about Romania’s revolution, which broke out 20 years ago this week.
….
The enemy is us?
Experts remain divided on what happened after this change in power, when over 85 percent of the Revolution’s deaths occurred.
That night, fighting intensified, with pitched battles at the defense ministry, television headquarters, airports and other strategic locations in the capital. At the time, protestors and army units loyal to the new government believed they were fighting pro-regime “terrorists.”
Many researchers now believe these “terrorists” never existed. “It came down to a mess and muddle in which these forces were running around looking for enemies and they ended up shooting each other,” says Mr. Siani-Davies. “Once darkness came they started distributing guns to a lot of teenagers; teens are likely to shoot, especially if someone fires on them.”
“The evidence is overwhelming that [revolutionaries] either mistakenly or deliberately shot at one another,” says Ms. Petre. “Nobody found any evidence of the terrorists.”
Some disagree. Independent researcher Richard Andrew Hall points to substantial evidence that shadowy anti-revolutionary forces were involved in the intense fighting in the days after Ceausescu’s flight. Hall has posted research papers pointing out widespread accounts of people being injured or killed by dum-dum bullets, which are designed to shatter inside the body to maximize organ damage and are outlawed under the Geneva Conventions. Ordinary army and police units did not stock such ammo.
“Let us hope that on the twentieth anniversary of the Revolution we may be able to read serious investigations of the ballistics evidence, rather than be subjected to the false and jaded refrain [that] such things did not exist,” Mr. Hall concluded.
(Hall’s current employer — the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency — has allowed him to publish his personal research, but does not permit him to give interviews.)
…
[clearly, as I stated above, the “hope” I expressed in the final line of my April 2008 publication– “The Romanian Revolution for Dum-Dums” https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.wordpress.com/2009/12/20/the-romanian-revolution-for-dum-dums-or-never-mind-the-bullets-romania-nicolae-ceausescu-and-december-1989-twenty-years-later/ –regarding the twentieth anniversary has gone unfulfilled…]
(VIDEO) Documentarul “SIBIU 1989″: Marturia lui Gheorghe Cocos despre gloante DUM-DUM « The Romanian Revolution of December 1989 said
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Anonymous said
http://www.cugetliber.ro/1261519200/articol/53828/au-trecut-20-de-ani-de-cand-a-murit-insa-tot-il-asteptam-zi-de-zi-sa-se-intoarca/
Părinţii eroului martir Horia Teodor Moraru:
„Au trecut 20 de ani de când a murit, însă tot îl aşteptăm, zi de zi, să se întoarcă acasă“
Cosmin ZAPOROJAN
Constănţeanul Horia Teodor Moraru avea 22 de ani şi era militar în termen la o unitate din Bucureşti când, pe 23 decembrie, a fost împuşcat de un lunetist
22 decembrie 2009, ora 12. O linişte apăsătoare, îmbrâncită de la spate de un frig pătrunzător, învăluie pădurea crucilor de marmură albă. Zăpada topită, sloiurile de gheaţă, care se încăpăţânează să reziste sub noroiul de pe alei, împovărează, parcă, şi mai mult atmosfera. Ici, colo, oameni îmbrăcaţi în negru poartă pe braţe coroniţie de brad şi decoraţiuni de Crăciun. Vin sărbătorile, iar asta ar trebui să o simtă chiar şi cei care, cu sau fără voia lor, au plecat de pe această lume.
În capătul cimitirului, un monument înalt aminteşte de jertfa eroilor neamului român. Acolo, sunt înmormântaţi şi cei care, acum 20 de ani, ne-au răscumpărat libertatea cu sângele lor. Acolo, se odihnesc tinerii care în decembrie 1989 au avut curajul să smulgă poporul român din ghearele comunismului, redându-i şansa unui nou început. Ieri, ar fi trebuit să fie ziua lor. Însă a fost linişte. Aceeaşi linişte, aproape complice cu uitarea, care le bătătoreşte mormintele an de an. Eroii şi-au serbat ziua în tăcere. Liniştea nu le-a fost tulburată decât vreo 10 minute, cât au ţinut formalităţile depunerilor de coroane de flori. Câţiva militari, veterani de război, cadre în rezervă le-au aşezat o floare la mormânt.
Apoi, iar linişte. Doar doi bătrâni îngrijeau în linişte la capătul unei cruci, împodobită cu flori şi crenguţe de brad. Femeia despacheta un îngeraş din bronz, pentru a-l aşeza frumos în vârful unei coroniţe, în timp ce el schimba lumânările. Acolo, la capătul acelei cruci, se odihneşte fiul lor. Avea 22 de ani când, pe 23 decembrie 1989, un glonţ i-a curmat viaţa. Cine a tras şi de ce, nici până astăzi nu au putut afla. „Teroriştii“, li s-a răspuns generic, mai mereu. Au trecut 20 de ani, însă, în fiecare zi, îşi aşteaptă copilul să se întoarcă acasă.
Împuşcat de un lunetist
Constănţeanul Horia Teodor Moraru era militar în termen la unitatea militară de antiaeriană din Bucureşti 02110. Mai avea o lună până la liberare, însă decembrie 1989 l-a prins cu arma în mână. Pe 23 decembrie, primeşte ordin, împreună cu colegii lui, să sape tranşee în faţa unităţii. În timp ce executau comanda, mai multe rafale de armă au căzut peste ei. Dintr-un bloc de locuinţe, se trăgea în plin. Horia a fost lovit de un lunetist direct în gât. A avut puterea să iasă din tranşee şi să intre în unitate. Ajutat de colegi, a ajuns la infirmerie, însă, câteva secunde mai târziu, avea să-şi dea ultima suflare. „A mai apucat să zică odată «Mama» şi a murit”, povesteşte, plângând, cea care i-a dat viaţă.
„Pe 23 decembrie, în jurul prânzului, a fost împuşcat în timp ce săpa tranşee în faţa unităţii. În aceeaşi zi, seara, un ofiţer a venit la uşa noastră şi ne-a spus că băiatul a murit. Colegii ne-au povestit apoi că ar fi fost împuşcat de un lunetist. Alţi 14 colegi de-ai lui au murit acolo. Nu înţeleg de ce i-au scos pe militari să sape tranşee în faţa unităţii. Mai avea o lună şi se întorcea acasă”, spune Constantin Moraru, tatăl eroului.
Terorişti arabi
Abia după o săptămână părinţii l-au putut aduce pe Horia acasă, la Constanţa, pentru a-l înmormânta creştineşte, aproape de ei. „Au vrut să-l îngroape în Cimitirul Eroilor din Bucureşti, însă colegii lui au in-sistat să aştepte să venim noi, că vrem să îl luăm acasă. Ne-am dus acolo şi cu greu am putut să îl luăm. Era un coşmar. Iar ceea ce am văzut acolo, la morgă, este de nedescris. Erau morţii aşezaţi peste tot, pe jos, pe mese. Iar într-o cameră, separat, asistenţii de acolo spuneau că sunt cadavrele teroriştilor. A fost un moment în care m-am putut apropia de acea uşă şi m-am uitat în interior. Erau mai mulţi morţi acolo, care mie mi s-au părut că erau arabi. Toţi aveau barbă, părul creţ şi negru, îmbrăcaţi în tot felul de salopete”, povesteşte mama lui Horia.
„Nu a meritat!“
PUBLICITATE
După 20 de ani de la Revoluţie, soţii Moraru spun, dezamăgiţi, că nu a meritat sacrificiul copilului lor şi a celorlalţi tineri care au murit în acea perioadă. „Nu a meritat! Cel puţin, nu pentru noi. Ne-a distrus viaţa moartea lui, iar când mă uit la schimbarea care s-a produs de la revoluţie, parcă şi mai mare este amărăciunea. Pentru părinţii care şi-au pierdut copiii, pentru copiii care şi-au pierdut părinţii, nu a meritat acest sacrificiu. Pentru că nicio durere nu este mai mare decât să-ţi îngropi copilul. Avea 22 de ani şi era lumina ochilor noştri. Moartea lui ne-a nenorocit pentru totdeauna. Au trecut 20 de ani de când a murit, iar noi tot îl aşteptăm, zi de zi, să vină acasă”, au mai adăugat, cu vocea înecată în lacrimi, părinţii lui Horia Teodor Moraru, erou martir al Revoluţiei Române.
Bullets, Lies, and Videotape: The Amazing, Disappearing Romanian Counter-Revolution of December 1989 (by Richard Andrew Hall) « The Romanian Revolution of December 1989 said
[…] for Part VII see Conclusion: Those Who Told Us the Truth […]
radu said
Could you please post the videos to youtube ? The links are dead…
romanianrevolutionofdecember1989 said
Radu, thank you for drawing my attention to this. Will attempt to rectify…
Video No. 1: Bucharest, Securitate Archives in the Central Committee Building, Dum-Dum and Vidia Bullets
In the first video (posted by Alexandru2006 at http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7rojm_revolutia-romana-22-dec-1989-cd5_shortfilms) , the sequence from roughly 1:20 to 2:50 shows civilians in the bowels of the CC building in Bucharest—the focal point of the December events, from where Nicolae Ceausescu gave his famous “final speech” on 21 December and from which Front leaders addressed crowds on 22 December and after—showing the munitions found in the Archives of the PCR’s CC. The “dum-dum” bullets of “the elite shooters/commandos”—he mentions they are of West German manufacture—are identified for the camera, as are smaller, special bullets—which appear, based on other video, photos, and accounts, to be “vidia” bullets. [Following the two screen captures below is an article from 31 December 1989, “Cu ce trag teroristii?” (With What are the Terrorists Shooting), in which the journalist discusses having a West German-manufactured (RWS firm) “dum-dum” bullet in his hand, as well as the “unfortunately now-famous small bullets of 5,62 mm caliber” (vidia bullets).]
DUM-DUM MUNITIONS OF THE SECURITATE’S ELITE SNIPERS (above); VIDIA BULLETS (below)
Video No. 2: Bucharest, Piata Aviatorilor, near TVR (Romanian state Television) headquarters, Vidia Bullets
In the second video (posted by Alexandru2006 at http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7rob0_revolutia-romana-22-dec1989-cd4_shortfilms), a civilian shows how the bullets shot by “the enemy”—i.e. “the terrorists”—are different than the standard ammunition (7.62 mm) he and the others are using. Based on other video, photos, and accounts, these appear to be “vidia” bullets—there are many testimonies from those who fought in the area near the TV station regarding these bullets. [Below the screen capture: a photo posted on the Internet by Alexandru Stepanian, that he claims is a photo of one of these vidia bullets]
Video No. 3: Bucharest, Soft-nosed (“Dum-Dum”) Bullets Found in the Headquarters of the Securitate’s V-th Directorate
The third video was found by the blogger who goes by the handle “Claude 2.0” (Claude 2.0 Dupa 19 ani – Gloante dum-dum ? postare din 14 aprilie 2009 also available at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs3FxteH5uM ). It shows people going through material including bullets found in the headquarters building of the Securitate’s Fifth Directorate (that charged with the personal protection of the Ceausescus). An article from March 1990 appended below has a senior arms specialist discussing his being summoned during these days to the zone around the CC building (where the Vth Directorate building was located), where he verified that “soft-nosed” bullets (known colloquially as “dum-dum”) were discovered (he then goes into detail about their properties). Discussion in the videotape about the box in which the bullets were discovered, as well as the comments of the arms specialist, suggest these were Kynoch-Magnum “soft-nosed” bullets—described in the article as “cartridges for [hunting] elephants.”
Video No. 4: Brasov, Morgue, Atypical (“Vidia”) Bullets
Video 4 comes from part 7 of Maria Petrascu’s 2005 documentary film “Revolutionary Brasov” (Brasovul Revolutionar PARTEA 7 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9z4wLuma0Q). It shows both the small, atypical, [“vidia”] bullets with which civilians and soldiers were killed, as well as an unidentified doctor speaking on 23 January 1990 in which he states that four of six soldiers he had looked at had been shot with great precision in the forehead with such bullets (film is also shown of their gruesome injuries). Maria Petrascu has described elsewhere what she and her husband found on 29-30 December 1989 at the County Morgue:
Even the halls were filled with the dead, there were over 100. They didn’t have any place to put them all, we walked through pools of blood, we saw the cadavers of children, young people, adults, shot in the forehead, in the heart, in the feet and abdomen with brains and intestines having exploded, nightmarish scenes that I shall never forget. It was then that we decided we wouldn’t rest until we discovered who fired, because we had begun to understand that many of those killed had been shot by guns with infrared scopes, by some professionals.[44]
romanianrevolutionofdecember1989 said
For versions including xeroxes of pertinent newspaper articles, see:
Radu said
Thank you very much for the quick reply !