The Archive of the Romanian Revolution of December 1989

A Catch-22 December 1989, Groundhog-Day Production. Presenting the Personal Research & Scholarship of Richard Andrew Hall, Ph.D.

Archive for December 24th, 2014

25 for the 25th Anniversary of the Romanian Revolution: #18 Iliescu and the Front Appeal for Soviet Help: The What and the Why

Posted by romanianrevolutionofdecember1989 on December 24, 2014

(purely personal views, based on two decades of prior research and publications; please do not cite without prior author approval, thank you)

Imagini inedite si rare (ale lui Spiru Zeres si ale lui Dan Cioban): televiziune japoneza (NHK) si revolutia romana din decembrie 1989

On 23 December 1989 Leaders of the National Salvation Front Requested Soviet Military Assistance: Addressing the What and the Why (I)

On 23 December 1989 Leaders of the National Salvation Front Requested Soviet Military Assistance: Addressing the What and the Why (II)

Despite Ion Iliescu’s fervent and repeated denials to the contrary, leaders of the National Salvation Front, including apparently Ion Iliescu and Silviu Brucan, panicked on 23 December 1989 and requested Soviet military assistance.  The reporting from the time seems pretty clear on this point, and what is significant is that it was the Soviets themselves who acknowledged the existence of the request.  Here, for example, is a Los Angeles Times report (available on the Internet) by Michael Parks from Sunday 24 December 1989 reporting from Moscow, the previous day’s statements by Soviet officials on Saturday 23 December 1989:

Upheaval In Romania : Moscow Pledges Aid but Rejects Troop Request : Soviet Union: Gorbachev says Romania’s new government can expect humanitarian help from the Warsaw Pact.

December 24, 1989|MICHAEL PARKS | TIMES STAFF WRITER

MOSCOW — The Soviet Union, affirming its support for the popular uprising that overthrew Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu, pledged Saturday to provide “immediate and effective humanitarian aid” to the country but drew the line at military assistance….

Gorbachev told the deputies that the Kremlin had considered a request for military assistance by leaders of the Front of National Salvation, the provisional government established by former Communist Party and government officials, military commanders and intellectuals in Bucharest. But he said Moscow had decided against sending in forces as the fighting appeared to abate….

Gorbachev said the request for military assistance had come overnight when Romanian army units, apparently loyal to Ceausescu, “turned against the people” and were threatening to retake strategic positions in Bucharest–including the Communist Party’s headquarters, where the provisional government’s leaders were meeting. But the loyalists’ counterattack was “suppressed,” Gorbachev said, when more troops were brought in….

http://articles.latimes.com/1989-12-24/news/mn-2156_1_warsaw-pact

—-

Nestor Ratesh noted in his 1991 The Entangled Revolution, notes the broadcast of this appeal as follows (commenters on online articles often express exasperation to denials of the appeal because personally they recall seeing or hearing it):

In any case, on December 23, 1989, between 10:00 and 11:00 A.M., Romanian television and Radio Bucharest in a joint broadcast carried the following announcement: 

“We are informed that the help of the Soviet army was requested through the Embassy of the USSR, due to the fact that the terrorists have resorted to helicopters through foreign interventionists.”

image0-001

As further confirmation, the Polish researcher Adam Burakowski unearthed a document from the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs that is translated below by Tomasz Kluz:

http://www.revista22.ro/n-decembrie-1989-iliescu-si-brucan-au-cerut-ajutor-militar-de-la-sovietici-7557.html

Copies of the document were published here:  http://adevarul.ro/news/eveniment/un-adevar-crunt-iliescu-chemat-trupele-sovietice-1_50ad210e7c42d5a6638f368a/index.html

* * *

Ministerul Afacerilor Externe

După utilizare, mesajul cifrat trebuie distrus conform prevederilor referitoare la utilizarea documentelor secrete

SECRET
Exemplar 12

Mesaj cifrat nr. …
din Bucureşti 23.12.89

URGENT
Către dir. J. Mąkosa
Însărcinat cu afaceri, Bauer informează prin depeşa nr. 189 din data de 23 luna curentă:

Ora 15.00.

1. De la sovietici:
În numele Frontului Salvării Naţionale, I. Iliescu şi S. Brucan au solicitat ajutor militar Ambasadei URSS, pentru că singuri nu se vor descurca.
Fără să aştepte răspunsul, FSN a anunţat la TV că Ambasada a promis ajutorul.
Răspunsul URSS: sunt gata să acorde orice fel de ajutor cu excepţia intervenţiei trupelor.
2. Polonezii de la aeroport sunt deocamdată în siguranţă. Ne sună. Noi nu putem [să-i sunăm]. Au primit pături şi hrană. Nu există nicio posibilitate de a ajunge la aeroport şi
de a-i lua de acolo.
3. Sovieticii au probleme cu cetăţenii lor, care s-au adăpostit în ambasadă după distrugerea Biroului Consilierului Comercial şi a locuinţelor.
4. La radio s-a anunţat că trupe arabe atacă Televiziunea.
La ora 15.00 auzim de acolo împuşcături care devin din ce în ce mai intense.

Spre ştiinţă:
(nume – fiecare primeşte câte un exemplar, în ordinea dată)

Întocmit în 15 exemplare a câte o pagină.
Bătut la maşina de scris nr. 7157 de Kowalczyk

Army General Stefan Guse rejecting (if I recall correctly) Hungarian military’s offer of aid (conversation takes place through Russian translator since that was the assumed lingua franca)

Govoritz pa russkiy?

Dumitru Mazilu discussing terrorists in the service of the tyrant (Nicolae Ceausescu) and rejecting Soviet offers of help on 23 December 1989 (note reference to belief that Soviets were already entering the country…someone says at “Bacau”)

Despite Ion Iliescu’s fervent and repeated denials to the contrary, leaders of the National Salvation Front, including apparently Ion Iliescu and Silviu Brucan, panicked on 23 December 1989 and requested Soviet military assistance, as verified by three accounts herehttps://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2014/05/10/on-23-december-1989-leaders-of-the-national-salvation-front-requested-soviet-military-assistance-addressing-the-what-and-the-why-i/How much of their unwillingness today to acknowledge that they made this request is dictated by embarrassment in such a Russophobic country over having made such a request and how much of it is dictated by the effort to erase the existence, actions, and culpability of the “terrorists” is unclear.

For many Romanians, that is all they need to know:  they don’t care about the context in which such a decision was made, that the Soviets appear to have for the most part turned down the request, and that the Front decision was dictated by the genuine confusion and fear that permeated the hours during which these appeals were made.  What then is the reality of the reasons Front officials gave for the request for Soviet assistance?  As Nestor Ratesh wrote in 1991 in The Entangled Revolution (p. 111):

In any case, on December 23, 1989, between 10:00 and 11:00 A.M., Romanian television and Radio Bucharest in a joint broadcast carried the following announcement:  “We are informed that the help of the Soviet army was requested through the Embassy of the USSR, due to the fact that the terrorists have resorted to helicopters through foreign interventionists.”

So we have two data points to investigate:

1) the existence of helicopters not under control of forces loyal to Nicolae Ceausescu’s overthrow, and 2) the existence of non-Romanians among the so-called “terrorists.”

We know that the claim of unidentified helicopters was an issue on the night of 22/23 December 1989, as this video makes clear.

[The following passage is indicative of Securitate General Iulian Vlad’s duplicity and lack of credibility.  Playing dumb about the report of unidentified helicopters, he responds to one of the revolutionary’s questions–suggesting that the helicopters belonged to Vlad’s Securitate–in a ridiculous and unserious manner,”perhaps they are yours?” he says to the man (!)]

1:32 Iulian Vlad: Dar eu nu-nţeleg de ce au plecat elicopterele.
1:34 Bărbat: Ale teroriştilor.
1:35 Iulian Vlad: Care terorişti, domnule, de unde au venit ăştia? Că n-au…
1:38 Bărbat: (neînţelegibil) speciale
1:40 Iulian Vlad: Păi de unde? Ori ale dînsului (arată spre Guşă), ori ale mele tre’ să fie. Altele nu sînt.
1:44 Bărbat: Ale dumneavoastră.
1:46 Iulian Vlad: Ale dumneavoastră, măi copii.
1:47 Bărbat: Au fost şi altele.
1:49 Iulian Vlad: Foarte curioasă treaba asta.
1:51 Bărbat: Sînt de la dumneavoastră cu alte ordine.

1:53 Iulian Vlad: Păi nu am decît trei elicoptere.

transcribed at http://mariusmioc.wordpress.com/2011/01/14/stefan-gusa-alerta-totala-peste-tot-astia-au-fost-niste-dementi-au-doborit-8-elicoptere-o-fi-avut-un-regiment-subteran-pe-undeva-video/

1) The question of unidentified HELICOPTERS:

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/securitate-helicopters-transmitters-per-hungarian-defense-officials/

Hungarian defense officials related interesting and important information during the days of 23-26 December 1989.  (These are xeroxes from the Library of Congress of the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) translations performed in December 1989.  Unfortunately, for some unknown reason, they were filed under Hungary and not Romania–unclear what the methodology for categorization was–meaning that they were easily missed by researchers, including myself, for many years.) Details include:

1) Not only did the Securitate have “a large number of helicopters” (Def. Min. Ferenc Karpati) but on Saturday 23 December 1989, two of them briefly violated Hungarian airspace near Battonya (which is not far from the Romanian city of Arad)

2) The Hungarian Army monitored and passed on to the Romanian Army locations of secret Securitate radio transmitters (in a later report, it is detailed that the number of active Securitate radio transmitters fell during these days from 31 to 19 to 5, concomitant with the decline in counter-revolutionary fighting).

3) Hungarian forces recognized “stories being spread by the Romanian security services and the forces loyal to Ceausescu,” including the reports that the Romanian Army was low on ammunition (a rumor designed to create panic and give the impression that the Romanian armed forces could be conquered) and that the Hungarians were to send planes into Romania (suggesting an effort to invade or take advantage of the chaos in Romania) which Col. Gyorgy Keleti of the Hungarian Ministry of Defense claimed he was asked about by Romanian Lt. Gen Eftimescu, whom he reassured it was an untrue rumor.

 

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2013/09/14/lying-in-wait-securitate-director-general-vlad-in-the-cc-building-i/

Former USLA Captain Marian Romanescu admitted to journalist Dan Badea in 1991 that the USLA (special anti-terrorist unit) had its own helicopter force, thereby substantiating the suspicion of the unidentified revolutionary that the helicopters in question were “special”/”from a special unit.”  Thus, it is abundantly clear that Vlad’s claim that the Securitate had “just three helicopters” was a bald-faced lie.

image-12

2) Regarding the involvement of “foreign interventionists”–in particular, mercenaries from Arab countries (and Iran) with treaty obligations to Ceausescu and Romania–the per cost AFP archives are a bonanza.

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/anatomy-of-a-cover-up-or-constanta-we-have-a-problem/

Note:  Not everything at this point had “disappeared”:  General Vasile Ionel confirmed that the terrorists had used foreign arms (arms not produced in Warsaw Pact countries, as he specified) and that they used munitions outlawed by international conventions, for example exploding DUM-DUM bullets (“balles explosives”).

Talk about a clear example where the stupidities about Front and/or Army “disinformation” “inventing the terrorists” cannot explain behavior and fall apart miserably:  The case of the comments of military commanders on the Black Sea coast during the period 29-31 December 1989…and the reaction of senior military authorities in Bucharest who realized those revelations could cause international problems for Romania’s new leaders and thus needed to quash the truth as quickly as possible.

———————————————————————————————-

©AFP Général – Lundi 25 Décembre 1989 – 08:33 – Heure Paris (386 mots)
Roumanie, prev Nuit de Noel a l hopital central de Timisoara De l un des envoyes speciaux de l AFP, NICOLAS MILETITCH
   TIMISOARA (Roumanie) 25 dec – Devant l hopital central de Timisoara, dimanche soir, une quarantaine de camions remplis de medicaments et de produits alimentaires tout juste arrives, attendaient d etre decharges.
   ” L aide nous vient d un peu partout. Hongrie, RFA, Tchecoslovaquie, France, Yougoslavie, URSS, Bulgarie, Italie… ” , indique a l AFP l un des soldats qui gardent l hopital. Les militaires sont partout autour de l hopital, sur les toits, dans les cours et meme a l interieur.
   ” Des hommes de la Securitate ont tire pres de l hopital a plusieurs reprises, ces dernieres heures ” , explique le docteur Aurel Mogosianu, chef du service de soins intensifs, en donnant des ordres a un soldat qui passe, la mitraillette a l epaule, dans un couloir, entre les malades.
   Le Dr Mogosianu, qui a une trentaine d annees d experience, pense que certaines blessures particulierement horribles, n ont pu etre provoquees que par des balles explosives tirees contre les manifestants.
   Dans une salle de soins intensifs, une femme de 23 ans essaie de parler au docteur, puis renonce. ” C est un cas difficile. Elle a eu le dos transperce par une rafale ” , precise le Dr Mogosianu.
   En bougeant a peine la main, la jeune femme esquisse le ” V ” de la victoire pour dire ” au revoir ” . Un effort irrealisable pour son voisin qui a recu une balle dans le cou, impossible a extraire.
   Comme la plupart de ses collegues, le docteur travaille, a peu de choses pres, 24 heures sur 24 depuis le debut des evenements. Dans un coin, une infirmiere dort, ecroulee sur une chaise.
   Pour faire face a l afflux de blesses, la television de Bucarest a demande a tous les etudiants en medecine du pays de se rendre dans les hopitaux de la capitale et de Timisoara, ou la situation est la plus critique.
   Victor Jancu, 20 ans, a entendu cet appel. Dans la nuit de vendredi a samedi, il a quitte Cluj et reussi a rejoindre Timisoara, a plus de 300 kms de la, en arretant des camions.
   Quelques visiteurs arrivent a l hopital, portant a la main une petite branche de sapin : a Timisoara aussi, on voudrait feter Noel.
   nm/jga/vr.
Tous droits réservés : ©AFP Général
021851451DC1ED1D715E06849EA4C6E0F37C0C25ECE8D503
©AFP Général – Mercredi 27 Décembre 1989 – 18:14 – Heure Paris (671 mots)

Roumanie Sibiu
Sibiu, la ville ou les combats ont ete les plus violents de l un des envoyes speciaux de l AFP, NICOLAS MILETITCH
   SIBIU (Roumanie) 27 dec – Sibiu, dans le centre de la Roumanie, est indubitablement la ville ou les combats entre l armee et la Securitate, fidele a Nicolae Ceausescu, ont ete les plus violents. C est la que Nicu, fils du dictateur, etait chef du parti.
   Des maisons totalement detruites et calcinees dont il ne reste plus que les murs, des eclats de verre partout dans les rues, des toits eventres par des tirs de grenades et par les mitrailleuses des tanks, des voitures et blindes brulant encore en travers de la route: tel etait le spectacle de desolation qu offraient mercredi plusieurs quartiers de Sibiu, a constate un envoye special de l AFP.
   Du 22 au 25 decembre, les affrontements se sont concentres aux abords des trois ecoles militaires de Sibiu, du siege de la police et de celui de la Securitate. Il ne reste plus grand-chose des deux batiments a trois etages qui abritaient la police et les services secrets. Les fenetres ont vole en eclats. Toutes les maisons des alentours, ou s etaient retranches les agents de la police secrete, portent d innombrables traces, et, dans la cour de la police, un blinde leger calcine est observe avec curiosite par les passants.
   ” C etait la guerre ici, avec des tanks, des balles explosives et des unites de commando. C est ici que Nicu Ceausescu a essaye de lancer une contre-offensive contre nous ” , souligne un militaire qui garde maintenant les lieux.
   Lynchages.
   Devant cet immeuble, une centaine de personnes commentent a haute voix un extrait des archives qu elles viennent de decouvrir: les fiches de renseignements que la Securitate avait etablies sur chaque habitant de Sibiu. ” Ecrit a un cousin en Suisse. Propos sans importance. Pendant son service militaire, ne frequentait que des soldats d origine allemande comme lui ” , est-il indique sur une de ces fiches qui comportent de nombreux renseignements personnels, certaines remontant a 1958.
   Dans la foule, on raconte comment une dizaine de Securistes (agents de la Securitate) arretes pendant les affrontements de ces derniers jours ont ete lynches par la population qui les a tues a coups de pied et de poing: ” Nous n avons pas de mots pour qualifier ces gens de la Securitate, ils sont pires que des monstres ” , dit une dame d une cinquantaine d annees, qui s interrompt et fond en larmes. Certains ont reussi neanmoins a conserver un certain sens de l humour noir: ” Quand les voitures de la Securitate ont ete brulees devant chez moi, j ai pense que c etait bien la premiere fois qu il faisait chaud dans mon appartement ” , a declare a l AFP une habitante de Sibiu, en faisant allusion a l impossibilite pour les Roumains de se chauffer en raison des restrictions.
   Les combats ont egalement ete tres durs dans le centre de Sibiu. Le principal hotel de la ville, le ” Continental ” , n a plus de fenetres sur cinq etages, et des traces de balles sont visibles jusqu au 11eme etage.
   ” Les Securistes avait pris position dans l hotel et avaient rempli deux etages de munitions ” , explique un employe de l etablissement. Des incendies ont eclate dans certaines chambres, touchees par des balles incendiaires. Face a l hotel, un panneau est reste accroche a un lampadaire: ” Militaires, ne tirez pas sur nos freres et nos parents. L armee est avec nous ” .
   Dans les rues de Sibiu, ou de tres nombreuses vitrines sont recouvertes de carton, la population vaquait normalement a ses occupations mercredi soir. Patrouilles de militaires, blindes legers et ambulances croisaient des voitures portant des cercueils sur le toit et des camions apportant de l aide alimentaire et medicale de Hongrie, de Tchecoslovaquie et de RFA.
   Sibiu pense deja a renaitre de ses cendres: malgre le froid tres vif, des equipes de nettoyage et de vitriers travaillaient tard dans la soiree dans la ville.
   nm/chm.
Tous droits réservés : ©AFP Général
BD17217619B14F18012007E4873636BFDDF186FE77CFAD4F
©AFP Général – Mardi 2 Janvier 1990 – 14:22 – Heure Paris (298 mots)

Roumanie Securitate
Il ne faut pas considerer les troupes de la Securitate comme des terroristes, selon le chef d etat-major roumain
   PARIS 2 jan – Les membres de la Securitate, la police politique de Nicolae Ceausescu, ne sont pas dans leur majorite des ” terroristes ” , ceux- ci se recrutant dans la garde personnelle de l ancien dictateur, a affirme mardi le general Vasile Ionel, chef d etat-major de l armee roumaine.
   ” On n a pas le droit de considerer les troupes de la Securitate comme des terroristes ” , a declare a Radio France Internationale M. Ionel, adjoint du ministre de la Defense le general Nicolae Militaru. Pour le general Ionel, ” la majorite de la Securitate est devouee au peuple ” .
   Il a ajoute que lorsque M. Ceausescu avait donne l ordre de tirer sur la foule a Bucarest, le 22 decembre, ” certaines unites de la Securitate ont tire, mais il y en a eu d autres qui n ont pas tire ” .
   Le lendemain, quand le chef de la Securitate a lance a la radio l ordre de ne plus participer aux combats, ” toutes les unites de la Securitate sont retournees dans les casernes ” , a declare le general Ionel, ajoutant que ce sont des membres de la garde personnelle de Ceausescu, evalues a ” plusieurs centaines ” qui ont poursuivi les combats.
   L armee, a-t-il dit ” ne soupconnait auparavant ni le nombre ni l efficacite de ses hommes – des tireurs d elite – ni la nature du materiel. “.
   Interroge sur la provenance de leurs armes, le general Ionel affirme qu elles ne viennent ” d aucun pays du Pacte de Varsovie ” , sans toutefois preciser leur origine. Il ajoute en revanche que les ” terroristes ” ont utilise certains types d armements interdits par les traites internationaux, des balles explosives par exemple.
   ps/af.
©AFP Général – Samedi 30 Décembre 1989 – 12:28 – Heure Paris (310 mots)

Roumanie mercenaires
Temoignages sur la presence de mercenaires etrangers en Roumanie
   BUDAPEST 30 dec – La presence de mercenaires etrangers en Roumanie, notamment de differents pays arabes et de l Iran, est hors de doute, selon le correspondant de l agence hongroise MTI a Bucarest largement cite dans la presse hongroise samedi.
   Toutefois, aucun ” mercenaire etranger ” n a jusqu a present ete identifie, presente a la television, ou interviewe a la radio.
   ” La participation d unites militaires etrangeres aux combats en Roumanie est un fait ” , selon le correspondant qui se refere aux temoignages de soldats roumains qui ont ” neutralise ” un groupe de 27 ” terroristes ” iraniens. Un des prisonniers a admis, selon le correspondant, que le commando ” etait venu directement de l Iran ” .
   Il etait connu, selon le correspondant de MTI, que quelque 12.000 etudiants etaient inscrits aux differentes hautes ecoles et universites roumaines et que des ” camps ont existe en Roumanie pour l entrainement d unites speciales au compte de differents pays arabes ” . Un de ces camps etait situe a proximite de Bucarest, dans la ville de Snagov, mais il en existait d autres un peu partout dans le pays, precise le correspondant toujours en reference a des recits de soldats roumains.
   Le correspondant de MTI revele egalement l existence d unites speciales de la Securitate nommees les ” Chemises Noirs ” qui fonctionnaient selon l exemple de la Loge P-2 (Loge maconnique clandestine italienne). Les plus hauts dirigeants roumains ont appartenu a cette loge clandestine dont notamment l ancien ministre de l Interieur, Tudor Postelnicu, un des chefs de la Securitate, le vice-premier ministre Ion Dinca et le fils du dictateur roumain dechu, Nicu Ceausescu. La Securitate etait divisee en 17 unites surveillant toute la Roumanie. Ses bases se trouvaient generalement dans des villas de luxe, precise le correspondant de MTI a Bucarest.
   ph-wb/nev/nl.
Tous droits réservés : ©AFP Général
CC12A16A1A31DB1EF1DA0D141071207DBFC664CE89959FCA
©AFP Général – Lundi 25 Décembre 1989 – 19:13 – Heure Paris (679 mots)
Roumanie, prev Dans un train de Noel: psychose des tireurs isoles et chasse aux hommes de la Securitate de l un des envoyes speciaux de l AFP, Jean-Anne CHALET
   A BORD DU TRAIN TIMISOARA-BUCAREST 25 dec – Dans le premier train de Noel entre Timisoara (ouest de la Roumanie) et Bucarest, les voyageurs partagent le pain et le sel et sont deja entres dans l ere de l ” apres-Ceausescu ” .
   Malgre la psychose des tireurs isoles, ce sont les agents de l ancien regime, les hommes de la Securitate, qui sont devenus les pourchasses, apres avoir ete chasseurs pendant des annees.
   Ces hommes, les plus craints de l ancien appareil repressif de Nicolae Ceausescu, qui continuent a resister dans plusieurs villes de Roumanie, sont traques. Lundi, deux d entre eux ont ete arretes par une garde patriotique dans la gare de Timisoara, la cite martyre, ou l on a denombre, selon les dernieres estimations, pres de cinq mille morts.
   Mais ils continuent de faire peur. Toute la nuit de Noel, les tirs ont ete incessants dans le centre de Timisoara, et lundi matin, il etait pratiquement impossible de circuler a pied ou en voiture.
   Pour gagner la gare a pied, l envoye special de l AFP a essuye le feu de tireurs isoles et il a fallu que les soldats interviennent au fusil mitrailleur pour le couvrir. Le train est parti de Timisoara avec une demi-heure de retard, apres l arrestation des deux agents de la Securitate. En cours de route, une bombe a ete decouverte dans le convoi et tous les voyageurs invites a descendre. Le wagon ou se trouvait l engin a ete detache du train.
   Les nouvelles sur un transistor.
   Dans la plupart des gares traversees, les references a l ancien regime avaient ete effacees, les drapeaux bleu-jaune-rouge de la Roumanie comportaient un grand trou au milieu, la ou figuraient jadis les emblemes du communisme. Des inscriptions aussi un peu partout : ” Mort au tyran ” , ” Vive la Roumanie libre ” .
   Dans ce compartiment, voyagent ensemble un ingenieur de 60 ans, un ancien architecte devenu tanneur par la force des choses, un jeune garde patriotique, un camionneur et un paysan.
   Le pain et le sel ont ete partages entre tous dans cette journee de Noel, et les informations captees sur un transistor commentees en termes severes. Tous sont d accord pour estimer que Ceausescu et son clan s etaient rendus responsables de veritables atrocites durant les 25 ans ou ils ont ete au pouvoir. ” Notre pays etait une sorte de bagne. Non seulement nous n avions aucune liberte, mais en plus, le tyran a fait executer beaucoup de Roumains, uniquement parce qu ils avaient ose resister ou discuter les ordres ” , declare le tanneur. ” Il poursuit son action criminelle encore aujourd hui, alors qu il a ete arrete, a travers les activites de la Securitate, qui mettent le pays a feu et a sang ” , surencherit l ingenieur.
   Tout le monde sous les banquettes.
   A ce moment, comme pour donner plus de poids a ces propos, une rafale d arme automatique est tiree le long de la voie, obligeant tout le monde a se cacher sous les banquettes. Nouvelle alerte quelques kilometres plus loin, avec arret force, controle de toutes les identites, et cinq interpellations de voyageurs d origine arabe.
   La psychose des mercenaires qui seraient a la solde de l ancien dictateur, ajoutee a celle des hommes de la Securitate, a cree, dans toutes les regions traversees par le train, une nervosite tant dans les rangs de l armee que parmi les gardes patriotiques. Cette affaire de mercenaires evoquee dimanche soir a Timisoara, au cours d une conference de presse par le commandant local des gardes patriotiques, a pris de l ampleur au cours de la journee de lundi, et diverses radios ” libres ” locales, captees dans le train, y ont fait allusion.
   Apres plusieurs haltes de controle, le train de Noel de Timisoara est arrive a Bucarest avec deux heures de retard et les impacts des rafales tirees durant le voyage.
   JAC/PSR/chm.
Tous droits réservés : ©AFP Général
7B1D215013513F163187079417E0D436F6A2635779EE100D
©AFP Général – Lundi 25 Décembre 1989 – 20:10 – Heure Paris (191 mots)

Roumanie Securitate
Une grande base d helicopteres en Roumanie serait aux mains de la Securitate, selon Budapest
   BUDAPEST 25 dec – Une importante base d helicopteres en Roumanie serait aux mains de la Securitate, la police secrete de Ceausescu, a declare lundi le porte- parole du ministere hongrois de la Defense a la television hongroise.
   Le colonel Gyorgy Keleti n a pas precise le nom de cette base, indiquant seulement qu elle se trouvait en Roumanie, a une centaine de km de la frontiere hongroise.
   ” Il semble que cette base soit aux mains des terroristes ” (la Securitate), a declare le porte-parole en rappelant que des helicopteres roumains avaient viole l espace aerien hongrois plusieurs fois ces derniers jours.
   D autre part, le colonel Keleti a annonce que l organisation caritative de l ordre de Malte avait recu l autorisation exceptionnelle de monter une station de radio sur la base militaire hongroise de Szeged, toute proche de la Roumanie. Cette station vise a assurer les communications entre l organisation et son siege en RFA, afin de faciliter la logistique de l acheminement des dons vers la Roumanie.
   rb/ph/chm.
Tous droits réservés : ©AFP Général
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©AFP Général – Lundi 25 Décembre 1989 – 19:28 – Heure Paris (539 mots)
Roumanie Securitate, prev Les hommes de la Securitate attaquent encore l armee mais cherchent surtout a fuir De l un des envoyes speciaux de l AFP, Nicolas MILETITCH
   MOLDOVA-NOUA (Roumanie) 25 dec – Des commandos de la Securitate ont attaque des unites militaires lundi, en fin de matinee, a Resica et Oravita, dans le sud du pays, mais divers indices indiquent que leur objectif reste principalement de quitter le pays.
   D autres affrontements armes ont ete egalement observes lundi a Tournu Sevrin, plus au sud, de l autre cote de la chaine des Carpates meridionales, et les routes de la region sont peu sures, a indique a l AFP un officier de l armee a Moldova-Noua.
   Selon des sources militaires, il y a eu d autres affrontements de l autre cote du pays, a Constanza, sur la Mer Noire.
   Sur les routes, les controles, souvent nerveux, effectues par les militaires et les patrouilles populaires, nombreux et minutieux, notamment a proximite de la frontiere, temoignent de la confusion qui regne encore dans plusieurs regions ou des commandos de la Securitate menent des actions isolees.
   La chasse a l homme se poursuit en Roumanie pour s emparer des derniers elements de la Securitate, qui tentent de fuir le pays, sans doute peu nombreux, mais bien equipes et entraines.
   Plusieurs d entre eux ont ete arretes en Yougoslavie, dans l apres- midi, pres de Klodovo, par les unites speciales de la police yougoslave envoyees sur place depuis quelques jours. Ces agents de la Securitate emportaient avec eux d importantes quantites d or.
   Dirigeants locaux elus.
   D autres se cachent encore dans les forets de la region, a-t-on indique a l AFP de source policiere. Sur la route qui longe le Danube entre Pojejenea et Macesti, des militaires, arme au poing, arretent les voitures.
   ” Beaucoup de terroristes (agents de la Securitate) tentent de passer de l autre cote en Yougoslavie ” , explique l un d eux. Juste retour des choses, l extraordinaire dispositif (barbeles, miradors, postes de garde tous les cent metres), mis en place par la police le long du Danube pour empecher les Roumains de fuir vers la Yougoslavie, est aujourd hui un obstacle supplementaire pour les agents de la police secrete aux abois.
   Il faudra sans doute encore attendre quelques jours pour que soient liquidees les dernieres poches de resistance, les agents de la Securitate risquant de manquer bientot de munitions, ont souligne a l AFP plusieurs officiers charges d assurer la securite dans la region.
   Si la situation n est pas encore completement sous le controle des nouvelles autorites et de l armee, sur la route (la circulation de nuit reste fortement deconseillee) et dans certaines villes, la vie semble revenir a la normale a peu pres partout ailleurs.
   ” Une nouvelle administration est deja mise en place dans notre region. Nous recevons nos instructions par la radio et la tele de Bucarest, et la vie a repris son cours ” , declare le directeur des Mines de Moldova-Noua, Ionec Danciu. Les nouveaux dirigeants de la ville ont ete elus librement par leurs citoyens . ” C est bien la premiere fois ” , releve Ionec Danciu, et parmi eux, se trouvent meme des membres du Parti communiste.
   NM/PSR/chm.
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©AFP Général – Mercredi 10 Janvier 1990 – 12:25 – Heure Paris (500 mots)
Roumanie medecine, lead Cinq jeunes Roumains, blesses durant les evenements, hospitalises a Marseille
   MARSEILLE 10 jan – Les premiers Roumains rapatries en France depuis les recents evenements, quatre hommes et une femme grievement blesses par balles a Bucarest et a Timisoara, sont arrives dans la nuit de mardi a mercredi, a Marseille, ou ils ont ete hospitalises.
   Ces personnes, rapatriees par un Transall de l armee francaise qui avait ete specialement affrete, ont ete admises dans cinq des onze etablissements de l Assistance publique de Marseille. Aucune indication n a ete fournie sur ces hopitaux, ni sur la nature precise des blessures.
   Selon le docteur Richard Domergue, responsable adjoint du SAMU de Marseille, qui a dirige ce rapatriement, la femme et ses quatre compatriotes, ” atteints par des projectiles de guerre dum-dum (NDLR: balles entaillees en croix, de maniere a provoquer de larges dechirures), souffrent de graves problemes fonctionnels mais nullement vitaux ” , a-t-il declare a l AFP.
   Le docteur avait ete avise de cette evacuation sanitaire, dans la nuit de lundi a mardi, par un telex de la cellule interministerielle de crise, mise en place par le gouvernement francais depuis des evenements en Roumanie.
   L equipe du SAMU, constituee de deux medecins et de deux infirmieres, a ete acheminee jusqu a Bucarest ou l attendait le Dr Lamare, de la cellule logistique en place a l ambassade de France.
   Quelques heures plus tard l avion, transportant les cinq blesses, places sous perfusion, se posait sur la base aerienne d Istres (Bouches-du-Rhone) ou attendaient des ambulances.
   Arrives a l hopital de la Timone, vers minuit, les Roumains, ages de 20 a 35 ans et parlant seulement leur langue natale, ont ete repartis dans divers etablissements, ” en fonction des places disponibles et des besoins medicaux : traumatologie, micro-chirurgie, orthopedie ” .
   ” Ces personnes ont ete atteintes lors de manifestations de rue pacifiques, par un ou deux projectiles, selon les cas, a explique le Dr Domergue. Elles presentent de grosses lesions pouvant entrainer la paralysie de membres ” . Elles vont subir un bilan de sante complet qui permettra notamment d etablir les risques eventuels de sequelles.
   Ambiance soixante-huitarde a Bucarest, selon le medecin marseillais.
   Il a precise que la femme a ete blessee lors de la manifestation de rue du 17 decembre a Timisoara. ” Elle a raconte avoir ete admise dans un hopital d ou elle a du etre evacuee apres que des tirs eurent ete entendus dans l etablissement ou des hommes de la Securitate achevaient des blesses ” , a rapporte le Dr Domergue.
   Il regne a Bucarest, selon le medecin marseillais, ” une ambiance soixante-huitarde, un peu revolutionnaire. On sent une certaine exhaltation et il y a beaucoup de mouvements dans les rues ” , a-t-il temoigne. Il a souligne ” la chaleur touchante ” manifestee par les Roumains a l equipe medicale francaise. ” Ils ont une confiance totale en nous. Nous ne pouvons pas les decevoir. Nous allons les dorloter, ca parait le minimun ” , a-t-il assure.
   JLL/dv.
Tous droits réservés : ©AFP Général
1A1E01C019D1F21A016E0F64596D317B0933F7131B5B1C34
©AFP Général – Mardi 6 Mars 1990 – 13:52 – Heure Paris (482 mots)

Roumanie medecine
De nombreux blesses du 21 et 22 decembre ont ete touches dans le dos ou a bout portant
   BUCAREST 6 mars – De tres nombreux blesses lors des affrontements des 21 et 22 decembre a Bucarest ont ete touches par des balles qui ont ete tirees de dos, parfois a bout portant, ainsi que par des balles dum-dum, a constate la Societe de Chirurgie de la capitale roumaine.
   La societe s est reunie a deux reprises, les 15 fevrier et le 1er mars dernier, sous la presidence du lieutenant-general Traian Oancea, chef de la 2e section de chirurgie de l Hopital militaire central de Bucarest.
   Au cours de ces travaux, menes ” scientifiquement ” , a precise mardi a l AFP le chef du service de chirurgie de l hopital de Colcea (centre de la ville) le dr Nicolae Constantinescu, les experts en balistique ont pu determiner qu un pourcentage important de blessures par balles avaient ete causees non par des balles de guerre mais par des balles coupees ou trafiquees.
   Les blessures observees etaient en effet non pas des trajectoires rectilignes, comme c est le cas en general pour les balles de guerre normales, mais des cavites creusees dans les tissus par l eclatement du projectile a son impact, resultant d une balle aplatie ou cisaillee s ecrasant sur le corps au lieu de le penetrer. ” Nous avons effectue 930 interventions dans la capitale sur des blessures par balle ” , a precise le docteur Constantinescu.
   la peur.
   ” Apres discussion entre nous, nous sommes en mesure de dire qu il ne s agit pas d affrontements mais d un crime organise contre le peuple. D autant, ajoute-t-il en parlant des cas qu il a traites lui-meme a l hopital Colcea, que 60% des plaies etaient dans le dos ou sur le flanc, et non de face, et que 10 a 15% des coups avaient ete tires a bout portant, avec des calibres 9 et 6,35mm ” .
   Le premier jour des affrontements, le 21, la majorite des blesses etaient des jeunes. ” Ils avaient tellement peur qu ils ne demandaient meme pas des calmants apres l anesthesie ” , ajoute le docteur qui cite le cas du danseur roumain de l Opera de Paris Vlad Stoinescu, blesse devant l hotel intercontinental : ” une balle l a touche au flanc, lui traversant l abdomen. La peur lui a fait parcourir tout seul les 300 metres le separant de notre hopital, ou il a donne son nom avant de s evanouir ” .
   Par ailleurs, les analyses de sang effectuees sur ces jeunes blesses ont fait decouvrir un taux anormalement bas de proteines dans le sang : 5 a 6 grammes pour cent au lieu de 7,3. ” C est la preuve de leur malnutrition, ils n avaient pas du manger de viande et de fromage depuis six mois pour la plupart ” , a ajoute le medecin.
   BAY/ave.
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©AFP Général – Jeudi 5 Avril 1990 – 17:27 – Heure Paris (504 mots)

Roumanie justice
La repression escamotee dans le proces du general Ceausescu
   BUCAREST 5 avr – Le proces du general Nicolae-Andruta Ceausescu, frere du dictateur roumain, continue a donner l impression que la repression qui a fait des dizaines de morts et des centaines de blesses le 21 decembre pres de l hotel Intercontinental a Bucarest etait le fait d un homme seul, tirant avec un pistolet.
   Oubliees les centaines de personnes touchees par balles, les blessures a la balle dum-dum, les manifestants abattus a bout portant, selon les expertises des medecins et chirurgiens de l hopital Coltea.
   Au quatrieme jour des debats, devant le tribunal militaire de Bucarest, un seul temoignage, aussitot interrompu par le procureur militaire, a fait etat de l utilisation de leurs armes par des ” hommes en civil venant du service d ordre ” .
   Apres une vingtaine de temoins interroges depuis mardi matin, tous membres de l Ecole de la Securitate que commandait le general Ceausescu et presentant la meme version monocorde qui vise a innocenter en bloc l Ecole a l exception du general, le colonel Teodor Amariucai, premier officier de l armee -et non de la police- appele a la barre a cree la surprise en donnant sa version des affrontements du 21.
   ” Vers 19H30, une deuxieme serie de rafales de sommation tirees en l air par l armee, pour faire reculer les manifestants boulevard Balcescu, a provoque la confusion dans la foule, de nombreux manifestants se couchant a terre pour se proteger ” , a-t-il dit.
   contrepartie.
   ” C est alors que de nombreux civils en manteau, surgissant de derriere le cordon des forces de l ordre ou j etais, l ont traverse pour se lancer vers les manifestants. Certains matraquaient ceux qui etaient a terre, d autres tiraient de dessous leur manteau sur ceux qui s enfuyaient, on voyait leur poche tressaillir a chaque coup. J ai vu des flaques de sang, et des morts qu on trainait vers une camionnette.. “.
   Double intervention du procureur et du president du tribunal: ” ces faits font l objet de poursuites judiciaires, et seront penalement sanctionnes. Revenons aux faits concernant l inculpe ” .
   Officiellement, dans le cadre de ce proces, les temoignages se concentrent donc sur un ” fait divers ” , celui d un general se jetant sur la foule avec son pistolet d ordonnance ” sous l emprise d une crise de diabete ” .
   Deux nouveaux temoignages ont ” confirme ” jeudi que le general Ceausescu avait ” perdu le controle de lui-meme ” , notamment celui de son chauffeur, l adjudant Ion Turcin, qui dit que le general a braque son arme sur lui.
   Le general ecoute les temoins, tantot avec agacement, tantot avec indifference, mais sans rien ajouter.
   Les observateurs en viennent a se demander si le general n a pas d avance accepte de ne mettre personne en cause, parmi les personnes qui ont participe avec lui a la repression, pour obtenir en contrepartie des garanties pour lui ou, plus vraisemblablement, pour son epouse malade, son fils, sa fille et ses petits-enfants.
   BAY/ccd.

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25 for the 25th Anniversary of the Romanian Revolution: #17 The Role of TVR (Televiziunea Romana, Romanian Television)

Posted by romanianrevolutionofdecember1989 on December 24, 2014

(purely personal views, based on two decades of prior research and publication)

The Myths of a Revolution: “It is said that these enemy elements, the securisti, have poisoned the water in Sibiu, in Timisoara,…the water must be boiled before being consumed.” (Apa este otravita la Sibiu!)

Oh, how Romanians and Romanianists love to invoke or allude to the televised claim in December 1989 that the water had been posioned in Sibiu!

It precipitates laughter:  ah, the crude manipulation and naivete!

Predictably, this is a favorite of foreign sources on December 1989.

Romanian emigre Andrei Codrescu tells us in his November 1990 article in Harper’s (“Big Chills”) about the wild rumors of December 1989, that the water in Sibiu had allegedly been poisoned, but as he found out at his 25th anniversary high school reunion, he learned how all the rumors had been false: and the water in Sibiu, it was just fine!  http://alina_stefanescu.typepad.com/files/big-chills-my-high-school-reunion-in-romania-by-andrei-codrescu-1.pdf

John Feffer in Shock Waves (1992) invokes Codrescu’s claims that, “Contrary to earlier reports, there were no mass killings, no poisoned water in Sibiu, no terrorists–only the manufacturing of a revolutionary smokescreen to conceal pre-planned machinations that resulted in the creation of the National Salvation Front.” (p. 207)

http://books.google.hu/books?id=u2l7b9gg28YC&pg=PA207&lpg=PA207&dq=romania+ceausescu+1989+water+poisoned+sibiu&source=bl&ots=P0pzR5YrIr&sig=ljCRYy27Lzsvh_HSxETfvz8SAH0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=buxwVNScFvPesASo0IHoAw&ved=0CDcQ6AEwBDhQ#v=onepage&q=romania%20ceausescu%201989%20water%20poisoned%20sibiu&f=false

Peter Siani-Davies quotes BBC journalist John Simpson, who had heard similar stories concerning poisoned water during the Iranian revolution of 1979, as noting that “certain ideas appeal forcibly  to the self-dramatizing mind of the revolutionary,” to which Siani-Davies adds:

“Indeed, in Romania the wild storytelling to a certain extent was just another consequence of the tumult of the revolution.  However, the imagery may have served another purpose….Now, through the tales of horror, they [Romanians] were able to place the evil forces of that [Ceausescu] regime so far beyond the bounds of ‘normal’ society that they were effectively able to distance themselves from the demons of the past.  There was also a sense in which it was necessary for the securitate to be so terrible:  How else could the years of mute suffering under an enfeebled old tyrant such as Ceausescu be explained and condoned?”   (Siani-Davies, The Romanian Revolution of December 1989, p. 160.)

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Underlying all of these interpretations and explanations is the assumption that the water never was poisoned, that it was all a baseless rumor.

Surely, one assumes, the rumor has been run to ground…but the truth is, as with so many things about December 1989, it hasn’t…

report from Sibiu starts at approximately 2:20 (Tagesschau 27.12.1989)

In fact, there was a basis in reality for what Teodor Brates was saying on TV on the afternoon of 22 December 1989 as the following toxicology report by the Belgian Dr. Aubin Heyndrickx makes clear:

Fullscreen capture 11222014 42152 PM

Romania

On December 21, 1989, people drinking from water tank #4 in Sibiu experienced headache, visual disturbances, loss of consciousness, vomiting, etc.  These symptoms are all compatible with organophosphate poisoning.  The analysis of the water (by gas chromatography) and the determination of the cholinesterase activity of the blood was done in the University of Cluj.  The conclusion was that an organophosphate had been used.  Atropine sulfate and toxogonin were advised.

As soon as the symptoms appeared among the population, water tank #4 was shut off, rinsed, and cleaned.  The people received water from army trucks.

A few days later, there was a fight in Timisoara between the army and Securitate over the water tanks.  Poisoning was feared, as had occurred in Sibiu.  According to witnesses, the Securitate possesses “all possible chemical warfare agents.”

Toxicologist Aubin Heyndrickx supervised the chemical tests and interviewed the physicians at Central Hospital who treated the patients.  From the tests and from the very high dose of atropine required to produce a response, he concluded that the tank was poisoned with sarin or VX (Report on the Humanitarian Mission to Romania, December 23-29, 1989, Laboratoria voor Toxicologie Criminalistiek, State University of Ghent).

http://www.physiciansforcivildefense.org/cdp/jan90.htm

Indeed, one can watch a brief discussion of the incident with Dr. Heyndrickx beginning at approximately the 40 second mark from an ITN broadcast of 27 December 1989

http://www.itnsource.com/en/shotlist//ITN/1989/12/27/BSP271289002/?s=romania+sibiu+after+the+revolution+27+1989&st=0&pn=1

ROMANIA: SIBIU AFTER THE REVOLUTION:

}T27128901   ROMANIA: SIBIU AFTER THE REVOLUTION: United Nations medical
27.12.89     relief team arrives in Sibiu with medical supplies and blood
TX           to treat the people who were injured during the fight against
             Securitate (secret police). Toxicologists have found evidence
             that the security police poisoned the water supply. Injured
             Securitate are being treated in hospitals alongside the people
             they shot.
Clip Ref: BSP271289002 0

Clip 1of1

}T27128901   ROMANIA: SIBIU AFTER THE REVOLUTION: United Nations medical
27.12.89     relief team arrives in Sibiu with medical supplies and blood
TX           to treat the ...
  • Duration: 00:01:44 |
  • Timecode – In: 00:00:00:00  Out: 00:01:44:00 |
  • Copyright: ITN / 3rd Party Copyright

I have found evidence of discussion of Heyndrickx and his toxicology report in the Hungarian press of the time, but significantly, to date, I have been unable to find discussion of it in the Romanian press!

Nepszabadsag, 30 December 1989, p. 3 citing a UPI dispatch, apparently P. Green, “French team confirms poison in water supply,” UPI, 29 December 1989.


Nagyszeben – ideggáz

Bukarest, 1989. december 29. péntek (UPI) – A Ceausescu-párti terrorosztagok ideggázt vegyítettek a romániai Nagyszeben víztárólóiba a forradalom első napjaiban – ezt egy francia-belga orvoscsoport egyik tagja mondotta el a UPI hírügynökség tudósítójának. Auvin Heyndrickx szerint a szennyezett ivóvíztól öten súlyos mérgezést szenvedtek.Mikor a felkelés vezetői felfedezték a szabotázst, azonnal
leengedték a mérgezett vizet a tárolóból – mondta a belga orvos, aki
az ,,Orvosok – határok nélkül,, nevű francia segélyszervezet
tagjaként utazott a városba. A toxikológus Heyndrickx
megállapította, hogy a vízkészletbe két súlyosan mérgező, folyékony
állapotú ideggázvegyületet öntöttek még december 20-án. Az orvos
elmondta azt is, hogy az eddig ismert öt sérült agykárosodást is
szenvedett a mérgektől. A megbetegedések ilyen viszonylag alacsony
számát a belga szakértő annnak tulajdonítja, hogy a víztárolóban a
mérgező anyagok szerencsére rendkívüli mértékben felhígultak.+++1989. december 29., péntek 07:57

http://rendszervaltas.mti.hu/Pages/News.aspx?se=1&wo=nagyszeben&sd=19890101&ed=19901231&sp=0&ni=230929&ty=1

http://www.rsis.edu.sg/cens/publications/reports/RSIS_Food%20Defence_170209.pdf See citations in fn#59 page 10.

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It is thus with justification that in my dissertation in 1997 and in a reiteration of the dissertation views in 2007, I defended TVR personnel by pointing out the extent to which they went to intervene and inform the population when it was safe to drink the water again.  (for a glimpse into the eternal “appreciation” I received for pointing out the latter, see https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/raport-final-cpadcr-iiccmer-si-revolutia-din-1989/)

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Excerpt from https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/rewriting-the-revolution-1997-chapter-8-unsolving-december/

In their discussion of the Romanian transition, Linz and Stepan note the “[r]umors of deliberately poisoned water supplies, of 10,000, 60,000, even 100,000 dead, filled the news channels and streets” and conclude that “disinformation played an important role in the events.”[45] They have in mind, however, the idea that this disinformation was disseminated in order to help the Front seize power. This, of course, echoes the dominant view on this theme. As we saw in the preceding chapter, both Securitate and opposition sources maintain that disinformation pervaded the December events, and they uniformly attribute it to the Front and the Front’s supporters at television, and, in some cases, to foreign actors such as the Soviet Union.

Yet there has been very little effort to investigate the context in which particular rumors originated and the relationship between actual events and those rumors. Take, for example, this rumor alleging the poisoning of the water supply which is so frequently invoked by both domestic and foreigner observers. To what are they referring? Around 3 p.m. on the afternoon of 22 December–therefore approximately three hours after the Ceausescus had fled Bucharest–television commentator Teodor Brates began to issue periodic, sometimes frantic reports about fighting between the Army and the Securitate in the city of Sibiu and about rumors that the water supply had been poisoned by the Securitate. Here are some excerpts of what Brates said on television on that afternoon:

One moment, please…from Sibiu it has been communicated to us that the army no longer has ammunition and the Securitate troops continue to attack military units….We want to inform you that in Sibiu, military units are urgently requesting help…We are constantly receiving communications…of course, we do not have the possibility to verify their authenticity…but we ask for your attention…It is said that these enemy elements, the securisti, have poisoned the water in Sibiu, in Timisoara,…the water must be boiled before being consumed.[46]

[45].. Linz and Stepan, “The Effects of Totalitarianism-cum-Sultanism,” 345-346.

[46].. See the text of the transcript, Revolutia Romana in Direct (Bucharest: Televiziunea Romana, 1990), 47, 48, 51.

image0-001

2007:  Linked to the allegations of supposedly intentionally hyping the threat posed by the “terrorists” is the certitude with which many Romanians and Romanianists assert that TV personnel (especially Teodor Brates) intentionally spread rumors about the water being poisioned and the army running out of ammunition in Sibiu etc.–rumors that proved to be unsubstantiated. Here is what they likely remember:

“One moment, please…from Sibiu it has been communicated that the army no longer has ammunition and the Securitate troops continue to attack mili tary units….We want to inform you that in Sibiu, military units are urgently requesting help…We are constantly receiving communications…of course, we do not have the possibility to verify their authenticity…but we ask for your attention…It is said that the enemy elements, the securisti, have poisoned the water in Sibiu, in Timisoara…the water must be boiled before being consumed.” (from the transcript of 22 December 1989 in “Revolutia Romana in Direct” (Bucharest: 1990), pp. 47, 48, 51, quoted p. 324, Richard Andrew Hall, 1997, Ph.D. Dissertation, “Rewriting the Revolution: Authoritarian Regime-State Relations and the Triumph of Securitate Revisionism in Post-Ceausescu Romania”)

image0-005

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What they don’t remember is that Brates returned later to inform the audience a) when the fighting had ceased in Sibiu, b) when supplies of bottled water were on their way to Sibiu, and c) when the competent authorities verified that the water in Bucharest was safe to drink (“Revolutia Romana in Direct,” pp. 71, 72, 75, discussed p. 327 Hall, “Rewriting the Revolution”) This is there…in the transcript of what was said on Television…it is not a matter of a “difference of opinion” as the likes of Tismanenau and others in denial would have us believe. It is the old saw from American baseball: as the famous manager Casey Stengel used to say “You can look it up!” Once again: if your goal is “diversion,” intentional panic and manipulation, is it likely that you would return to the same subjects and say things designed to calm fears? Of course, not.

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/raport-final-cpadcr-iiccmer-si-revolutia-din-1989/

Fullscreen capture 12232014 70257 PM

The page from THE Report, a report which in the vision of its chairman–a highly disinterested and objective party, by definition, of course!–must be continuously praised and cannot be legitimately criticized (all criticisms are defined almost by definition as personally-motivated or personal attacks!):  http://www.contributors.ro/global-europa/raportul-final-este-realizarea-mea-de-varf-atat-profesional-cat-si-moral/

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Un Craciun Revolutionar (15 minutes of Previously Unseen Footage from 24 December 1989 by Andrei Iliescu)

This has apparently been around for a few months, but I only discovered it recently:

Pe 24 decembrie 1989, fotograful Andrei Iliescu abia scapase de la Jilava, unde-l bagase militia pentru ca poza protestele, si umbla uimit pe strazile Bucurestiului revolutionar. Nu mai avea buletin, singurul lui act era camera video. El a filmat aceste secvente.

which comes from http://casajurnalistului.ro/revolutie/

I draw attention to the sequence from approximately min. 3:37 to 3:53 in which the young soldier is asked about and discusses those whom they are fighting (this is in the vicinity of the TVR Television station).  (My thanks to Gigga Adrian Tudor, in particular, and Corneliu N. Vaida for clarifying the exchange for me.)

Soldier:  “Au mitraliere, care sunt micute…Cum au astia…americanii” (They have small machine guns…like the Americans.)

Voice off camera:  “Sunt mai bune ca ale voastre?” (Are they better than yours?)

Soldier:  “Da, bine-nteles.”  (Yes, of course.)

Soldier:  “Sunt mai eficiente; consuma mai putin si distrug mai mult, in general asa” (They’re more efficient; they consume less and destroy more, generally speaking.)

That the “terrorists” had weapons different from and in addition to the standard ones the Army rank-and-file were equipped with is and should be beyond dispute by now, and yet another proof of their existence.  We have, of course, multiple similar claims in the same Bucharest neighborhood, elsewhere in Bucharest, and indeed throughout the rest of the country.

Fullscreen capture 10182009 103639 AM

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7rob0_revolutia-romana-22-dec-1989-cd4_shortfilms

From approximately min 0:45 to 1:10, also from the same day, 24 December 1989

Video No. 2: Bucharest, Piata Aviatorilor, near TVR (Romanian state Television) headquarters, “Vidia” Bullets

In the second video (posted by Alexandru2006 (Alexandru Stepanian) 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.

from https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/december-1989-2009-bullets-lies-and-videotape/  blv 111909tk6

Those who were in the CC building of the PCR during these days also know such weapons:

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In aceea camera am inceput sa stringem toate obietele de valoare gasite prin celelalte incaperi.  Asa a luat nastere primul “tezaur” din C.C.  Inauntru s-a incuiat nea Tarchila cu un pistol mitraliera si sint sigur ca ar fi fost in stare sa impuste pe oricine ar fi incercat sa deschida usa daca n-ar fi fost insotit de noi.  Noroc ca nu a fost cazul.  Intre timp ni se aduceau de peste tot arme si munitii.

Armele erau de toate felurile:  pistolete Carpati, Beretta, Makarov, T.T., Stecikin, unele mici si plate cum nu mai vazusem niciodata, in tocuri de piele special construite cu compartimente aparte pentru box si cutit cu buton, adevarate pumnale cu lama foarte subtire si fina, lunga de 15-20 ce tisnea din miner (nu erau in nici un caz destinate pentru curatatul cartofilor la popota); pistoale mitraliera AKM cu pat de lemn sau cu pat rabatabil…mitraliera, pusti semiautomate cu luneta de tipul celei cu care ma fuduleam eu; mitraliere de campanie, un aruncator de grenade antitanc; grenade de mina, munitie de toate tipurile si calibrele, ce mai nu ne lipsea decit un tun, in rest aveam de toate.

Venit din cabinetul 1, Doru Haraga isi da cu parerea ca ar trebui sa le transportam intr-un colt al incaperii si pentru a le separa de restul camerei incercam sa delimitam spatiul cu o canapea.  Lunga de 2 m nu se lasa umita din loc, parca era batuta in cuie, inciduati, am inceput sa mesterim ia ea.  Am desfacut-o si am ramas perplecsi.  In cabinetul 2, in camera de lucru a tovarasei de viata a celui mai iubit fiu, in lada unei canapele era un adevarat arsenal:  24 pistoale mitraliera cu pat rabatabil si teava scurta, 22 pistolete Carpati, 2 Stecikin, 4 carabine cu luneta, semiautomate, doua pusti mitraliera, grenade de mina si la fund lazi metalice cu munitie de lupta–gloante incendiare, trasoare, perforante, explozive, numai din cele normale–nu. Si deasupra trona ca o culme a ridicolului o prastie cu cracan si linga ea o cutie cu bile de rulment.  Pe capacul interior al canapelei era o list cu denumirea “lada de armament si munitii nr. 2″.  Urma inventarul si continua cu–raspunde plt. adj.–cutare, nu am retinut numele.  Deci lada nr. 2.  Dar unde este nr. 1?  Citiva metri mai incolo–o canapea asemanatoare.  Ne-am repezit asupra ei si am deschis-o.  Continutul era identic, mai putin prastia.  Puteam inarma un regiment.  Oare de ce tinea “savanta” in cabinetul ei atita armament si munitie?  Dar prastia?  Asta chiar ca punea capac la toate!

Mircea Boaba, “Gloante, nestemate si singe.  Ziua I:  Comoara lui Ali Baba,”  Strict Secret, nr. 48 26 martie – 1 aprilie 1991, pp. 4-5.

In timp ce urcam scara, vrind sa incarc carabinaa, am avut surpriza sa descopar ca gloantele din cele doua incarcatoare erau cu virful bont.

nr. 47 18-25 martie 1991, pp. 4-5.

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2009/08/12/22-decembrie-1989-ce-s-a-gasit-in-cabinetul-unu-nicolae-ceausescu-si-cabinetul-doi-elena-ceausescu/

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2010/12/21/marturii-intre-1990-si-1992-din-zilele-fierbinte-in-cc-ul-decembrie-1989-doru-teodor-maries-mircea-boaba-sergiu-tanasescu-si-ernest-maftei/

More testimonies:

http://www.romanialibera.ro/special/investigatii/marturii-despre-teatrele-de-razboi-ale-revolutiei-romane–18312

Lt. mr. APOSTOL M. ANTON, fost ofiter in serviciul 1 declara:

In ziua de 29 decembrie 1989 a aflat de la vecinul PIPOI REMUS, care locuieste la etajul 2, sub apartamentul lui, ca a vazut mai multe persoane tragand spre Ministerul Apararii Nationale, despre care era convins ca nu erau romani. I s-a parut ca ar fi arabi. Trageau cu niste pistoale automate mici.

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2009/07/27/arabesque-arab-terrorists-in-the-december-1989-romanian-revolution/

Fiecare pluton din aceasta scoala de ofiteri de rezerva, avea alocata cate o sala de clasa, care era ca o sala de laborator-expozitie dotata cu o anumita baza materiala de instructie (in zilele de azi, se cheama training) aferenta unei anumite tematici. De exemplu, sala noastra continea materiale si planse despre armamentul individual de infanterie si balistica aferenta. Exact ca intr-un muzeu, aveam acolo vitrine cu exemplare sectionate de automat Kalashnikov, pusca mitraliera cu incarcator sector si tambur, pusca semiautomata cu luneta, pistolul TT model ’33 aflat in dotarea ofiterilor armatei si pistolul Carpati din dotarea militiei. De asemenea, imi amintesc ca era si un aruncator de grenade antitanc AG7 cu lovitura aferenta, si parca si un model imbunatatit de Kalasnikov cu teava scurta si pat rabatabil aflat in dotarea trupelor de securitate USLA (Unitati Specializate de Lupta Antiterorista)… si bineinteles toata gama de munitie, adica toate calibrele de cartuse complete, mai putin praful de pusca din tub. Era sa uit mitraliera de companie…
Toate armele erau sectionate in asa maniera incat sa se poata intelege principiul complet de functionare… daca puneai un cartus in incarcator si armai, se putea vedea traseul complet al sau din incarcator pana la expulzarea tubului dupa percutare.  http://calinhera.wordpress.com/2010/10/24/servesc-patria-la-multi-ani/

–In afara de modul –interpretat ca suspect–, in care au patruns in dispozitivul dumneavoastra, ce dovezi mai aveti?

–Faptul ca, la teava unuia dintre tancuri, tabla de protectie a fost rupta in doua locuri, trei din pistoalele mitraliera pe care le-am “capturat” (cu teava scurta si incarcator de 20 cartuse)  aveau tevile afumate, turela tancului de comandat de locotenentul maior Vasile Barbu a fost blocata, iar dimineata plutonierul Butoi a gasit pe tancul sau un pistol mitraliera si o lanterna de semnalizare…Cit despre dotare, sa nu-mi zica mie cum am citit intr-un ziar de mare tiraj– ca era jalnica, in nivelul armatei.  A doua zi, am recuperat, din cele doua autoblindate, radiotelefoane Telefunken, veste antiglont, pistoale de 9 mm, pumnale, binoclu cu infrarosu — care pentru noi constituiau noutatii absolute.  Si, pentru ca tot am fost provocati, sa va mai spun ceva.  Dimineata, cind l-am intrebat “de ce ai tras, ma?” unul dintre cei trei supravietuitori, pe care i-am gasit in blocul de vizavi mi-a raspuns:  “Ce p. mati, si eu execut acelasi ordin ca si tine!!!”  E clar ca nu au venit ca prieteni!

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2010/04/17/crima-cazul-mapn-23-24-decembrie-89-si-sosirea-uslasilor-maior-mihai-floca-armata-poporului-6-iunie-1990-p-3/

Even some military prosecutors have been willing to admit the obvious:

CINE A TRAS ÎN NOI… DUPĂ 22?!

Interviu cu colonelul magistrat Ilina Radu – prim-procuror al Parchetului Militar Timişoara… la 20 de ani de la evenimente
A consemnat Liza Kratochwill

R.I.: – Nu. Ziua eram la serviciu. Ziua – program normal, seara cu familia, cu prietenii… ne reuneam trei, patru familii de vecini şi stăteam pe jos, pe covoare, pentru că se trăgea formidabil, uneori chiar la nivelul ferestrelor noastre, şi nu-ţi ardea să faci balet prin casă.

L.K.: – În blocuri?

R.I.: – În blocuri, da. În blocurile din, relativ, zona centrală a oraşului. A fost urât…

L.K.: – Asta în ce zi ?

R.I.: – Mi-amintesc de acea noapte cruntă de 23 spre 24 când s-a tras, ne găseam câţiva colegi într-un bloc din zona centrală şi s-a tras formidabil. De la nouă seara până la şase dimineaţa, continuu, cred că au fost zeci de mii de cartuşe şi am fost speriat. Şi chiar atunci am spus: dacă Dumnezeu ne iubeşte, vom prinde Ajunul serii următoare, ca să colindăm. Era Ajunul Crăciunului, însă, noaptea aia a fost furibundă. Şi nu eram de competenţă, de aia nu ne-am implicat profesional. Ca procuror civil nu puteai atunci să cercetezi faptele cu arme ale militarilor şi se ştiu foarte puţine lucruri. S-au găsit foarte puţine tuburi de cartuşe din cele care trebuiau să fie. S-au găsit, în schimb, repet, unele dispozitive care, ulterior, ar fi fost analizate şi ar fi putut constitui simulatoare de tragere sau ţinte false.

L.K.: – Dar dumneavoastră, acum, cred că sunteţi cel mai în măsură să-mi spuneţi care au fost tipurile, în afară de calibrul ăla obişnuit, 7,62, care au fost toate tipurile de gloanţe care au fost identificate, folosite în 1989 şi care au cauzat decese şi răni. Deci au fost o dată aceste 7,62, au fost acele dum-dum explozive şi-n afară de…

R.I.: – 7,65-ul a fost, pistoale-mitraliere scurte…

L.K.: – Kalaşnikov, da, din acestea au fost folosite şi la… cred că şi la cazul Jubea…

R.I.: – …un tip care, atunci, erau doar în dotarea forţelor speciale, la acel moment. Pistoale cu pat scurt şi cu ţeavă scurtă. Mai erau pistoale-mitralieră, AKAEM-uri obişnuite. Au fost apoi, s-a tras chiar şi cu aruncător de grenade, cu AG 7 şi cu diverse tipuri de pistoale.s

L.K.: – Pistoale ale forţelor armate sau…?
R.I.: – Pistoale din dotare. E foarte greu de spus.
L.K.: – Păi, ce pistoale avea România, la acea oră?
R.I.: – TT şi Carpaţi-ul.
L.K.: – Carpaţi-ul, care era în dotarea Miliţiei, nu?

R.I.: – De regulă, era la Miliţie, forţe de Securitate… şi TT-urile, care erau, deopotrivă, şi aici şi acolo. La ofiţeri sau la…

L.K.: – Şi aici ce tipuri de calibru de gloanţe erau folosite, la tipurile astea de pistoale?

R.I.: – Păi, discutăm şi de calibru de 9 milimetri, cu tuburi specifice, cam de nouă milimetri.

L.K.: – Dar cele care se foloseau la lunetă, deci ţintă fixă?

R.I.: – Carabine sau puşti-mitralieră cu tambur.
 
About the same area around the TV station during these days (Prosecutor General Ioan Dan):

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https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2011/01/29/pozefotofilmvideo-gloante-dum-dum-si-speciale-i-e-vidia-decembrie-1989/

(Bucuresti, zona TVR) below– individual demonstrates how much smaller they are than Army’s standard 7,62 mm munitions

Video No. 2: Bucharest, Piata Aviatorilor, near TVR (Romanian state Television) headquarters, Vidia Bullets

In the second video
Revolutia Romana 22 Dec.1989 – cd4

(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.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Vina de neiertat a TVR: a contribuit decisiv la victoria Revolutiei (I)

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Vina de neiertat a TVR: a contribuit decisiv la victoria Revolutiei (II)

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“Despre existenta simulatoarele, senatorul Sergiu Nicolaescu a adresat o intrebare fostului sef al Departmamentului Securitatii Statului, gl. Vlad Iulian, care a raspuns…”Sigur, tot Securitatea le avea…” (declaratie Iulian Vlad, pag. 75).

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In aceasta perioada, in zona Televiziunii au fost observate semnale luminoase ce prezentau imaginea unei balizari si care marcau inceputul sau incetarea atacurilor.

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Mai mult despre “semnale luminoase”:

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2012/12/19/what-can-we-learn-from-dosarele-revolutiei-de-la-timisoara-ii/

Vina de neiertat a TVR: a contribuit decisiv la victoria Revolutiei (III)

Uzina Sadu-Gorj, august-septembrie 1989,

comanda de fabricatie a gloantelor explozive DUM-DUM

Referitor la existenta cartuselor explozive si perforante, dupa unele informatii rezulta ca in perioada august-septembrie 1989 la uzinele Sadu-Gorj s-a primit o comanda de executare a unor asemenea cartuse explozive.  Comanda a fost ordonata de Conducerea Superioara de partid si executata sub supravegherea stricta a unor ofiteri din fosta Securitate.

Asa cum s-a mai spus, asupra populatiei, dar si asupra militarilor MApN teroristii au folosit cartuse cu glont exploziv.  Cartusele respective de fabricarea carora fostul director al uzinei Constantin Hoara–actualmente deputat PSM Gorj–si ing. Constantin Filip nu sunt straini, au fost realizate sub legenda, potrivit careia, acestea urmai a fi folosite de Nicolae Ceausescu in cadrul partidelor de vanatoare.

Consider ca lt. col. Gridan fost ofiter de Contrainformatii pentru Uzina Sadu–actualmente pensionar ar putea confirma fabricarea unor asemenea cartuse si probabil si unele indicii cu privire la beneficiar.  Daca intr-adevar aceste cartuse au fost fabricate in Romania atunci este limpede ca o mare parte din teroristii din decembrie 1989 au fost autohtoni, iar organele de securitate nu sunt straine de acest lucru.

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2013/12/01/vina-de-neiertat-a-tvr-a-contribui-decisiv-la-victoria-revolutiei-i/

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2013/12/04/vina-de-neiertat-a-tvr-a-contribuit-decisiv-la-victoria-revolutiei-ii/

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https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2013/08/25/tvr-chirurgi-si-reportaje-despre-gloante-explozive-dum-dum/

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2013/05/16/dosarele-revolutiei-si-expertize-balistice-cine-a-tras-in-voi-cu-gloante-explozive/

Romulus Cristea (ziarist, Romania Libera, 22 decembrie 2005):  – Munitia speciala, gloantele cu cap vidia sau dum-dum, a provocat victime? Presa de la acea vreme a fost plina cu astfel de relatari…

General-magistrat Dan Voinea – Nu exista victime (persoane impuscate) nici de la gloantele cu cap vidia, nici de la dum-dum. Pe durata evenimentelor s-a folosit munitie de razboi, munitie normala care se gasea la vremea respectiva in dotarea Ministerului de Interne si a Ministerului Apararii Nationale. Confuzia si informatiile false au aparut de la faptul ca se foloseau calibre diferite si, deci, zgomotul produs era altfel perceput.  http://www.romanialibera.ro/opinii/interviuri/toti-alergau-dupa-un-inamic-invizibil-58783.html

Vina de neiertat a TVR: a contribuit decisiv la victoria Revolutiei (IV)

Presa romaneasca din anii nouazeci despre cazul lui Silviu Dutu–suspectat de terorism la TVR

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Ioan Itu, “Si ei au luptat in Revolutie.  De partea cui?,” Tinerama, 10-16 septembrie 1993, p. 8.

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Maior Tudor Petrescu, “Unde ne sint teroristii?” Armata Poporului, nr. 22, 30 mai 1990, p. 3.  (S.D. = Silviu Dutu)

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Aura Alexa Ioan (cu Adrian Popescu-Necsesti), “Teroristii Revolutiei au certificat de psihopati!” Tinerama, 8-14 octombrie 1996, p. 8

Presa romaneasca din anii nouazeci despre cazul lui Constantin Vasiliu–suspectat de terorism la TVR

publicat pe internetul pana acum, in schimb apare Lt. Col. Vasiliu Constantin:

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Valentin Gora:  Au fost arestati oameni ai securitatii, teroristi.  Astazi, nimeni nu stie ce s-a intimplat sa ce se intimpla in continuare cu ei.  Dumneavoastra i-ati vazut?  Ii cunoasteti?

Petre Constantin:  Au fost arestati multi oameni, am mai spus-o, care aveau asupra lor arme de toate felurile, pe toti i-a preluat armata si nu stiu ce s-a intimplat mai departe cu ei.  Adjunctul meu, Traian Puscasu, a fost injunghiat in noaptea de 23 spre 24 decembrie, pe hol, la etajul 11.  Agresorul, locotenent-colonelul Vasiliu, il viza pe generalul Tudor sau pe mine.  Eu am lipsit citeva miunte, generalul Tudor s-a ferit in momentul atacului si a fost lovit Puscasu.  Totul se intimpla in usa biroului.  Militarii au sarit si l-au imobilizat imediat.

Valentin Gora cu Petre Constantin, “Petre Constantin:  Cind a dictat decretul de instalare ? de asediu pe intreg teritoriul tarii, in biroul lui Ceausescu se afla si Eugen Florescu,” Cuvintul, nr. 12, 18 aprilie 1990, pp. 4-5.

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http://mariusmioc.wordpress.com/2013/11/13/cercetarile-parchetului-in-dosarul-revolutiei-37-bucuresti-televiziune-raniti-si-ucisi-5/

425. Parte vătămată Puşcaşu Traian (Televiziune-Vol. 110)
Numitul Puşcaşu Traian, fiul lui Gheorghe şi Maria, născut la data de 01.03.1927, în Iaşi, domiciliat în Bucureşti (…) în noaptea de 22/23.12.1989, în timp ce se afla în incinta televiziunii, unde-şi desfăşura activitatea ca director adjunct al TVR, a fost înjunghiat în abdomen cu un cuţit de către lt. col. Vasiliu Cornel, care se afla în dispozitivul de pază al instituţiei respective.
Conform raportului medico-legal nr. A1/3409/1990, numitul Puşcaşu Traian a prezentat la data de 24.12.1989 o plagă abdominală penetrantă cu interesarea splinei şi arterei epigastrice. Leziunea a putut fi produsă prin lovire cu corp tăietor-înţepător (posibil cuţit). A necesitat circa 25 zile de îngrijiri medicale. Leziunea i-a pus viaţa în pericol.
Prin rezoluţia nr. 1411/P/1990, din data de 15.11.1990, Procuratura Militară Bucureşti a dispus neînceperea urmăririi penale faţă de lt. col. Vasiliu Constantin, sub aspectul infr. prev. de art. 20 rap. la art. 174 C.p., reţinându-se că, în urma expertizării sale psihiatrice, s-a stabilit că a acţionat fără discernământ.

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Tinerama 10-16 septembrie 1993. p. 9.

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Cazurile Mihai Stoica si Liliana Brebenea

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https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2013/08/25/tvr-chirurgi-si-reportaje-despre-gloante-explozive-dum-dum/

Trying to reconstruct the timeline of reporting on the use of exploding dum-dum bullets and other unusual munitions used solely by the Securitate “terrorists” during the Romanian Revolution of December 1989 is not easy.  Unfortunately, we must rely in the public domain on transcripts and diaries from the time, as demonstrated below.  Clearly, it is emerging:  there was discussion at the beginning.  A watershed event that should have then and should now spark great interest and further investigation–a press conference by surgeons (including military doctors) in early March 1990 that as far as I can tell was only ever reported on in depth in French by AFP (see below)–has all but been ignored and forgotten as if it had never taken place.  Highly damning too is the documentary evidence by the wounded themselves, relatives, army officers, and doctors in Timisoara (attesting to the use of these munitions both before and after 22 December 1989).  The overall evidence is overwhelming as to the use of exploding dum-dum bullets and other unusual munitions in December 1989; the alibis and mechanisms of denial are transparent:  just because they existed doesn’t mean they were used; perhaps the army had them too; perhaps the bullets ricocheted and split apart; doctors and army officers (even military doctors) what would they know about dum-dum bullets?; on and on, etc. etc.

http://elenatomaxxl.blogspot.com/2013/06/sorin-m-radulescu-revolutia-ca_24.html

 

Sâmbata 30 decembrie 1989

Reportaj la Spitalul Militar Central: se relateaza despre modul dramatic în care au fost efectuate operatiile (chirurgicale) din ziua de 22 decembrie 1989. „Noapte alba sau zi neagra” spune doctorul pe buna dreptate. Armele teroristilor, a securistilor au împroscat multimea cu gloante explozive, care au avut ca efect plagi si leziuni gigantice.
Emotionant! Dramatic! Dureros!

 

luni, 24 iunie 2013

SORIN M. RĂDULESCU – REVOLUŢIA CA SPECTACOL, Miercuri 27 decembrie, 1989 – Revolutia -3 –

REVOLUŢIA CA SPECTACOL
(ÎNSEMNARILE UNUI SOCIOLOG ÎN PERIOADA SEPTEMBRIE 1988-IULIE 1992)
Miercuri 27 decembrie 1989
Primesc telefon de la Vasilica P., care îmi descrie cu lux de amanunte atmosfera din Centrul de Sociologie, care a devenit un fel de ,,dipecerat” al sociologilor bucuresteni. Ma deplasez imediat acolo ca sa fiu prezent la desfasurarea evenimentelor.

/ Teroriştii .Mărturii (22 27dec.’89 )

22 apr. Notez cu R –revoluţionarii, al căror nume nu-l pot şti

– R 1: Generalul Tudor, pe care aş vrea să nu-l mai văd!

El a eliberat teroriştii suspecţi prinşi de noi!

– R 2: Asupra lor am găsit agende, bancnote însemnate.

Ce a făcut g-ral Tudor cu ei, noi nu ştim!

– R 3 :Eu am păzit camera suspecţilor .Erau 9. Din ordinul g-ralului Tudor li s-a dat drumul

– R 4. Dorobanţu Marin: Un terorist trăgea dintr-o vilă vecină; o maşină cu copertină

din care cca 15 persoane au fugit din vila din faţă; am prins o salvare cu un terorist ;

era şi o maşină inflamabilă pe care am aprins-o; în spatele ei au ieşit 3 terorişti .

A fost un foc foarte puternic.

– Ofiţer paraşutist: aici se lupta, cum s-a spus …

– R 5: Teroriştii au atacat mult TVR. Pe 24 decembrie, din două taburi, cu steag,

au coborît mulţi militari şi au deschis foc asupra noastră .

S-au retras apoi pe străzi, în spatele maşinilor.

– R 6: Pe 24 decembrie s-a zvonit că mîncarea adusă este otrăvită. Am aruncat-o.

Nu aveam nici lumină şi apă .

– R 7: Parola noastră – ” Cine eşti ?”

– Reporter: Cine a tras în voi?

– Ofiţer: G-ral Tudor a eliberat mulţi suspecţi. Nici atunci, nici pe urmă, n-am înţeles

de ce a făcut-o

– R 2: Arestaţii terorişti aveau dolari, staţie de emisie, unul era chiar străin;

au fost eliberaţi – nu ştiu de ce!

– R 6: Au fost şi zvonuri pentru a face panică. Unele au fost false. Altele reale .

Pe 26 sau 27 decembrie a fost prins un civil ( ing. electronist la Tg. Mureş ). La control cpt. Epure i-a găsit o schiţă cu centrul Bucureştiului, pe care era marcat hotelul Modern. Aş vrea să ştiu ce este cu acest terorist?

– Reporter: Da, am vrea să ştim cine a tras în noi?

– Alt reporter ( arătînd la o uşă ): Cum a fost?

– Lct X: teroriştii trăgeau în balamale şi broaşte cu gloanţe cu cap vidia.

Asemenea arme nu sunt în dotarea armatei.

– Lct mj. Diţiu: invită la sediul clubului “TV’22 “, ca să mai afle cum a fost.

http://www.procesulcomunismului.com/marturii/fonduri/cdandara/agende/agenda4/docs/jurnal4_6.htm

In early March 1990, AFP reported the declared findings of surgeons in Bucharest, attesting to the fact that many of those wounded on 21-22 December 1989 in Bucharest had been shot with exploding bullets, DUM-DUM bullets.  This is a critical article (and description of an event that I believe has gotten almost no coverage inside or outside Romania).  Lt. Gnl. Traian Oancea, chief of surgery in part of the Central Military Hospital in Bucharest, and Dr. Nicolae “Nae” Constantinescu, chief of surgery at the Coltea Hospital, discussed this at a meeting of the Society of Surgeons in Bucharest.

This was also discussed by Bucharest medical personnel at a 1994 conference:

AMFITEATRUL FACULTATII DE MEDICINA

“Decembrie 1989, in spitalele din Bucuresti”

Mihail Lechkun, Romania Libera, 10 februarie 1994, p. 2

“In decembrie 1989 a fost o disponsibilitate pentru bestialitate, pe care nu am crezut-o capabila la poporul care fac parte, ” a declarat dl. conf. dr. Nicolae Constantinescu (Spitalul Coltea), in cadrul conferintei care s-a desfasurat marti seara in Amfiteatrul Mare al Facultatii de Medicina din Bucurest, avand ca subiect “Decembrie 1989, in spitalele din Bucuresti”.  Printre invitatii Ligii Studentilor in Medicina, organizatorul acestei conferinte, s-au numarat:  dl. prof. dr. Petre Andronescu, prorector, dl. dr. Constantin Antofie, dl. prof. dr. Marian Ciurel, dl. prof. conf. dr. Dan Niculescu, dl. conf. dr. Nicolae Constantinescu, dl. prof. conf. dr. Ilie Pavelescu, dl. dr. Eduard Geambasu, toti medici chirurgi din Capitala care au fost confruntate cu fluxul de raniti din decembrie 1989.  “Documentatia pe care am avut-o, nu o mai avem,” a spus dl. prof. dr. Marian Ciurel (Spitalul de Urgenta) amintind totusi faptul ca au fost inregistrate date intr-o lucrare de doctorat.  “Putini dintre cei raniti au fost socati psihic,” isi aminteste prof. dr. Petre Andronescu (Spitalul Colentina).  Revolutionari si raniti au primit acelasi tratament, “stim doar ca la o parte din bolnavi s-au schimbat catusi” isi aminteste dl. prof. dr. Marian Ciurel.  Peste 60 la suta din ranitii adusi la Spitalul Coltea erau impuscati lateral sau din spate.  S-a tras si asupra oamenilor care au stat ghemuiti, acestia suferind astfel leziuni complexe.  Pe langa datele statistice prezentate, medicii prezenti au atras atentia asupra naturii leziunilor care, in numar mare, au fost cazate de munitie al carie efect a fost mai mult distrugerea, mutilarea decat scoaterea din lupta.  In acest sens, deosebit de interesante au fost datele prezentate din lucrarea de diploma, a medicului M. Briciu:  “S-a tras cu gloante explozive”. Concluziile ce se pot trage din faptul ca cei adusi in spitale, in intervale de timp distincte, prezentau leziuni corespunzatoare anumitor portiuni din corp, demonstreaza existenta unor ordine asupra locului unde trebuia ochit.  “Cred ca Romania va fi capabila sa constituie acel ecran care sa protejeze de acum inainte natia de asemenea manifestari,” a spus dl. conf. dr. Nicolae Constantinescu, remarcand aspectul benefic al unor astfel de conferinte.

NOR WERE THESE THE ONLY DOCTORS AND MEDICAL PERSONNEL–FOREIGN OR DOMESTIC–WHO ATTESTED TO THE USE OF DUM-DUM EXPLODING AND OTHER ATYPICAL, UNUSUAL MUNITIONS USED DURING THE EVENTS OF DECEMBER 1989

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2011/08/08/doctors-and-dum-dum-bullets-in-romania-in-december-1989-i-dr-manuel-burzaco-medecins-sans-frontieres/

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2011/08/10/doctors-and-dum-dum-bullets-in-romania-in-december-1989-ii-trimisi-in-strainatate-italia-franta-austria-anglia-si-germania-pentru-tratament/

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2011/08/11/doctors-and-dum-dum-bullets-in-romania-in-december-1989-iii-ce-spun-medici-romani/

Dr. Manuel Burzaco from “Doctors without Borders” was part of a team of doctors from that group who visited hospitals in Bucharest, Ploiesti, Brasov, Buzau and Braila in late December 1989 and early January 1990.  This report from the Madrid daily El Pais touches upon the women and children gravely injured by the exploding “dum dum bullets used by the Securitate.”

Other reports from Bucharest and Timisoara hospitals during the events:

“At Bucharest’s main emergency hospital, doctors said that Securitate snipers, apparently using infra-red telescopic sights and exploding dum-dum bullets, had been firing throughout Saturday night and they shot many civilians, with bullets striking foreheads and hearts.  The morgue at the hospital was stacked with 90 bodies at noon today, almost all of them civilians dead of gunshot wounds.”

Blaine Harden, “In Bucharest, Tears and Prayers for the Fallen,” The Washington Post, 25 December 1989, p. A1; A40.

Other posts with documents from dosarele revolutiei…

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2012/12/16/what-can-we-learn-from-dosarele-revolutiei-de-la-timisoara-i/

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2012/12/19/what-can-we-learn-from-dosarele-revolutiei-de-la-timisoara-ii/

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2012/12/20/what-can-we-learn-from-dosarele-revolutie-de-la-timisoara-iii/

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2012/12/21/what-can-we-learn-from-dosarele-revolutiei-de-la-timisoara-iv/

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2012/12/27/what-can-we-learn-from-dosarele-revolutiei-de-la-timisoara-v/

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2012/12/28/what-can-we-learn-from-dosarele-revolutiei-de-la-timisoara-vi/

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2013/12/22/revisiting-the-myths-of-the-revolution-part-iv-the-romanian-television-building-is-in-danger-bomba-in-subsolul-televiziunii/

Myth 3:  The Romanian Television building is in danger, danger of an explosion!   (TVR e in pericol–Pericol de explozie!)

This is part IV of a four part series.  For parts I, II, and III see

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2013/12/21/revisiting-the-myths-of-the-romanian-revolution-part-i-the-hegemony-of-conspiratorial-and-postmodernist-explanations/

Myth 1:  The “Timisoara Syndrome” or the “False Timisoara Grave (the Paupers Cemetery)/Massacre” https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2013/12/21/revisiting-the-myths-of-the-revolution-part-ii-the-timisoara-syndrome-or-the-false-timisoara-grave-the-paupers-cemeterymassacre/

Myth 2:  The water is posioned!  (Apa este otravita!) https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2013/12/22/revisiting-the-myths-of-the-revolution-part-iii-the-water-is-poisoned-apa-este-otravita-dr-heyndrickxs-toxicology-report/

Myth 3:  The Romanian Television building is in danger, danger of an explosion!   (TVR e in pericol–Pericol de explozie!)

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Like the “water is poisoned” episode discussed in part III of this series, the claims of TV announcers regarding the threat posed to the Television building is a favorite for Romanians and Romanianists to lampoon:

Once again, Andrei Codrescu captures a widely and wildly popular view of TVR’s alleged role during the December 1989 events:

The Romanian revolution was a complex affair. It was a dramatic triumph that had the whole world for its audience, a world that keeps wondering long after the final curtain how much of what it saw was real. If I hadn’t lost my normally skeptical head to the euphoria of December, I would have questioned the single most evident source of news about the revolution: television. But it was precisely television that seduced me during my visit and made me lose sight of things I already knew….Imagine the shock and dismay of our newsmakers and our idealists–including myself–when most of these horrible events we saw with our own eyes on television turned out not to have happened at all. How could the grizzled, experienced Western journalists who are sworn to hard facts have missed the many clues and glaring contradictions that pointed to artifice? The astounding truth of the matter is that much of the glorious Romanian “revolution” was, in fact, a staged play, a revolution between quotation marks….But it couldn’t have been long after, however, the young revolutionaries (if that’s who they were) started becoming “responsible,” and the “spontaneous” provisional government showed up with its own TV script. The television station then became the headquarters of the new government, which, as far as most people were concerned, was born out of video like Venus out of the seashell. And hats must be off to the producers of the exceedingly realistic docu-drama of the strategic military center from where, in a charged atmosphere reminiscent of Reds or Dr. Zhivago, generals with telephones on both ears shouted orders at troops on vast invisible battlefields in every part of the country. Today I stand abashed by my naivete. Much of that Romanian “spontaneity” was as slick and scripted as a Hollywood movie. If I were in charge of the Emmys, I’d give one to the Romanian directors of December 1989. 

SOURCE: The Hole in the Flag: A Romanian Exile’s Story of Return and Revolution (Avon Books, 1991), by Andrei Codrescu, pp. 204-206. excerpted from http://faroutliers.wordpress.com/2004/12/06/the-romanian-revolution-was-televised/

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As with the “poisoned water” episode, so too with the claimed threats against Television, including the idea that a bomb had been found and disarmed in the basement of the Television building (as can be seen in the above video)…no researcher has attempted to verify the veracity of the claim, until now!

Recently, however, several sources have been unearthed/come to light that clarify what happened.  Here, Corneliu N. Vaida of Timisoara recounts how a Securitate member from Timisoara was convinced to call the Television Station in Bucharest to inform them that, as with many other highly strategic buildings in the country, TVR had been mined and an explosion could be set off.  It appears that the announcement above about a bomb having been disarmed in the basement of the TVR building, was as a result of this information from Timisoara:

Securistul trădat pentru binele TVR

În seara zilei de 22 decembrie şi-a vizitat mama, care locuia pe bulevardul 6 Martie, unde a găsit în apartament un vecin. Era vorba de Gheorghe Toader, un căpitan în rezervă la Securitate, care se refugiase de frică sa nu fie asasinat.

Urmărind programul “Revoluţiei în direct”, de la TVR, au observat la un moment dat o persoana care ţinea în mână un obiect care semăna cu o tastatură.

“Văzând tastatura, securistul a scos o exclamaţie de teamă: <Vor sări toţi în aer acolo! TVR e obiectiv strategic şi este minat, ca în cazuri extreme să poată fi aruncat în aer, tastând un cod pe aşa un detonator!>. A spus că a lucrat la aşa ceva în Bucureşti într-o intreprindere specială. La isistenţele mele a acceptat până la urmă să scrie o declaraţie anonimă pe care am dus-o personal la armată”, a mai declarat Corneliu Vaida.

Ajuns la Garnizoana Timişoara, Vaida a arătat scrisoarea colonelului Zeca, comandantul garnizoanei. “Acesta a pus mâna pe un telefon şi a sunat imediat la Bucureşti la o structură a armatei căreia i-a relatat continutul declaraţiei, dupa care mi-a cerut sa dezvalui identitatea semnatarului argumentând că acesta mai cunoaşte informaţii care ar ajuta la evitarea de victime”, a adaugat Vaida.

Neavând ce face, a trebuit să meargă cu armata să îl predea pe secursitul din casa mamei. “Înspre dimineaţă am văzut la televizor cum a venit cineva şi a declarat că explozibilul cu care era minată televiziunea a fost dezamorsat”, a mai spus timişoreanul.

http://adevarul.ro/locale/timisoara/foto-corneliu-vaida-purtator-cuvant-revolutiei-timisoara-s-au-luptat-grupari-securitate-armata-1_510985f54b62ed5875bbb81f/index.html

The event is also recounted by parachutists in this TVR video from 31 December 1989 that only recently appeared on the internet.

Parasutisti de la R. 64 Pst. Boteni la Televiziunea Romana in 31 decembrie 1989:
Lt. col. Ilie Croitoru, Mr. Chiranescu Ion, Cpt. Radulescu Aurelian, Cpt. Constantin Vlasceanu

Corneliu Vaida has been kind enough to share with me, the following additional confirmation of his actions in the document below:

HP0010

For more about Corneliu Vaida during the Revolution in Timisoara in December 1989, see his interview with ITN correspondent Penny Marshall on 27 December 1989:

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2011/05/11/lets-go-to-the-videotape-i-to-the-army-its-confirmation-that-theyve-been-dealing-with-a-specially-trained-force-because-its-the-type-of-bullet-theyve-never-seen-before-itn-uk-telev/

Corneliu Vaida Timisoara December 1989

More on what transpired in and around the Television Station below:

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Related posts:

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2013/08/25/tvr-chirurgi-si-reportaje-despre-gloante-explozive-dum-dum/

https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2013/12/10/vina-de-neiertat-a-tvr-a-contribuit-decisiv-la-victoria-revolutiei-iv/

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Ioan Itu, “Si ei au luptat in Revolutie.  De partea cui?,” Tinerama, 10-16 septembrie 1993, p. 8.

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Maior Tudor Petrescu, “Unde ne sint teroristii?” Armata Poporului, nr. 22, 30 mai 1990, p. 3.  (S.D. = Silviu Dutu)

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Aura Alexa Ioan (cu Adrian Popescu-Necsesti), “Teroristii Revolutiei au certificat de psihopati!” Tinerama, 8-14 octombrie 1996, p. 8

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Valentin Gora:  Au fost arestati oameni ai securitatii, teroristi.  Astazi, nimeni nu stie ce s-a intimplat sa ce se intimpla in continuare cu ei.  Dumneavoastra i-ati vazut?  Ii cunoasteti?

Petre Constantin:  Au fost arestati multi oameni, am mai spus-o, care aveau asupra lor arme de toate felurile, pe toti i-a preluat armata si nu stiu ce s-a intimplat mai departe cu ei.  Adjunctul meu, Traian Puscasu, a fost injunghiat in noaptea de 23 spre 24 decembrie, pe hol, la etajul 11.  Agresorul, locotenent-colonelul Vasiliu, il viza pe generalul Tudor sau pe mine.  Eu am lipsit citeva miunte, generalul Tudor s-a ferit in momentul atacului si a fost lovit Puscasu.  Totul se intimpla in usa biroului.  Militarii au sarit si l-au imobilizat imediat.

Valentin Gora cu Petre Constantin, “Petre Constantin:  Cind a dictat decretul de instalare ? de asediu pe intreg teritoriul tarii, in biroul lui Ceausescu se afla si Eugen Florescu,” Cuvintul, nr. 12, 18 aprilie 1990, pp. 4-5.

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http://mariusmioc.wordpress.com/2013/11/13/cercetarile-parchetului-in-dosarul-revolutiei-37-bucuresti-televiziune-raniti-si-ucisi-5/

425. Parte vătămată Puşcaşu Traian (Televiziune-Vol. 110)
Numitul Puşcaşu Traian, fiul lui Gheorghe şi Maria, născut la data de 01.03.1927, în Iaşi, domiciliat în Bucureşti (…) în noaptea de 22/23.12.1989, în timp ce se afla în incinta televiziunii, unde-şi desfăşura activitatea ca director adjunct al TVR, a fost înjunghiat în abdomen cu un cuţit de către lt. col. Vasiliu Cornel, care se afla în dispozitivul de pază al instituţiei respective.
Conform raportului medico-legal nr. A1/3409/1990, numitul Puşcaşu Traian a prezentat la data de 24.12.1989 o plagă abdominală penetrantă cu interesarea splinei şi arterei epigastrice. Leziunea a putut fi produsă prin lovire cu corp tăietor-înţepător (posibil cuţit). A necesitat circa 25 zile de îngrijiri medicale. Leziunea i-a pus viaţa în pericol.
Prin rezoluţia nr. 1411/P/1990, din data de 15.11.1990, Procuratura Militară Bucureşti a dispus neînceperea urmăririi penale faţă de lt. col. Vasiliu Constantin, sub aspectul infr. prev. de art. 20 rap. la art. 174 C.p., reţinându-se că, în urma expertizării sale psihiatrice, s-a stabilit că a acţionat fără discernământ.

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