5 septembrie 2014, Timişoara, Muzeul de Artă, dezbaterea interactivă:

„Before the END”, în cadrul proiectului „Freedom Express” (Study Trip)

TIMIŞOARA, coordonat de EUROPEAN NETWORK REMEMBRANCE

AND SOLIDARITY

Organizatori, realizatori şi colaboratori:

CNSAS (CRISTINA ANISESCU; CIPRIANA MOISA; LIVIU BURLACU –

Serviciul Programe Educaţionale şi Centrul de Istorie Orală, Direcţia Cercetare,

Expoziţii, Publicaţii)

EUROPEAN NETWORK REMEMBRANCE AND SOLIDARITY

MUZEUL DE ARTĂ TIMIŞOARA.

CONSILIUL NAŢIONAL PENTRU

STUDIEREA ARHIVELOR

SECURITĂŢII

SECURITATEA,

instrument al dictaturii The Securitate (the Communist Secret Police),

an Instrument of Dictatorship

Proiect expozițional realizat de CNSAS

5 septembrie 2014, 16.00-17.30,

MArT va găzdui, în colaborare cu CNSAS,

dezbaterea interactivă ”Before the END”,

în cadrul proiectului

”Freedom Express” (Study Trip), TIMIȘOARA,

5-6 Septembrie 2014, coordonat de

EUROPEAN NETWORK REMEMBRANCE AND SOLIDARITY

Vernisajul

03 septembrie 2014

ora 17.00

Muzeul de Artă Timișoara

(Sala Baroc)

Piața Unirii nr. 1

"FREEDOM EXPRESS" STUDY TRIP

WORKING PROGRAMME

TIMIŞOARA, Romania (5, 6 September 2014) Partners: Consiliul Naţional Pentru Studierea Arhivelor Securităţii (C.N.S.A.S.), Fundaţia A Treia Europă, Asociatia Memorialul Revolutiei 16-22 decembrie 1989

5 September 2014 , Friday, 16.00 – 17.30, The Art Museum, Timişoara

WHY 1989? ”Before the END”

During the last decade of communist rule, the Romanian population experienced rising levels of poverty as the regime rushed to repay its foreign debts so as to become impermeable to pressures in the area of human rights from its trading partners, as well as to mask the failures of the regime’s economic policies behind the achievement of financial independence. Drastic food and energy shortages were coupled with grandiose construction schemes, pervasive surveillance, and an extravagant cult of personality focused on Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife, Elena. Both politically and economically Romanians were worse off than most other Soviet bloc countries. The issue of opening the Securitate archives in order to document and expose publicly the violation of fundamental human rights perpetrated by the communist secret police emerged immediately after the 1989 regime change. ”Before the END” - an exhibition realised by The National Council for the Study of fhe Securitate Archives

THE SECURITATE (the Communist Secret Police), AN INSTRU OF DICTATORSHIP. It is a (CNSAS): MENT reflection space in which the large public to have the chance of analyzing the recent past data from other perspective and to readapt its individual and collective representations concerning Securitate and communism. There are few important themes that can be selected from the presentation: Securitate’s methods, means and techniques of performing surveillance and repression, imprisonment of the individuals who rejected the communist regime, the brutal investigation and the inhuman treatment of the political prisoners; the Securitate files typology; the attributions of few important Securitate directions and services; examples of Securitate actions struggling to protect the communist regime. This project aims to be a contribution to this knowledge by debate, by appealing to document and memory. It is not a vindictive contribution, but one which, through the confrontation with the traces of the past (memories, documents, images, opinions), offers the possibility to understand and most importantly, to explain.

Team Work in Search a Meaning: Express yourself - Only one word.

Visiting The Art Museum from Timişoara The source of inspiration for this building’s architecture is

the Kinsky Palace in Vienna. In the XIX century, the palace acquires a more austere look, due to the interventions by architect Jacques Klein. The Art Museum is housed by this palace since 1987. It is a great opportunity to visit a place where contemporary art lives along with the atmosphere of a XVIII building. The most valuable exhibits are part of the painting collection by Corneliu Baba.

CONSILIUL NAŢIONAL PENTRU STUDIEREA ARHIVELOR SECURITĂŢII

(C.N.S.A.S.)

5 September 2014 Friday, 17.30 – 19.30, Revolution Memorial, Monumments to the Martyrs, Timişoara (Visiting exhibitions; watching documentaries; meeting with László Tőkés) 1989 – The END From November to December 1989, the state of mind of most of the population was explosive, and given this background characterized by an accumulated tension, the attempt, which was made publicly known by the “illegal” broadcasters such as “Europa Libera” and “Vocea Americii”, to evict the Pastor Laszlo Tokes was translated into a new injustice and an abuse of the communist authorities, representing thus the appropriate opportunity for the popular riot in Timisoara, which was lately transformed into a national revolution. December 15th was the day when many parishioners gathered before the Presbytery willing to restraint the eviction of the Pastor. December 16th.. Hundreds of people who had gathered around Pastor Laszlo Tokes’ house refuse to leave even af ter the mayor of the city fulfills a few of the promises he had made to the Pastor. Guided by the invisible wand of solidarity, the people of Timisoara step on the path towards Freedom. Free-dom! Free-dom! Free-dom! Free-dom!

December 17th and 18th . A huge crowd amassed in Timisoara. The crowd became aggressive and marched on the

Communist Headquarters at city hall. The demonstration was severely anti-government, as portraits of Ceausesecu were burned and thrown from the building. Besides tear gas and water cannons the army used tanks and amunition against the crowd. Many people (the exact number is not know) were killed by the army, their dead bodys brought to Bucharest to be cremated.The Executive Political Committee in Bucharest ordered the army to begin firing real bullets into the demonstrators. Civilian casualties ran high in Timisoara and the dead were collected by the army and either thrown in mass graves or burned. December 19th the employees of “Elba” Factory came out on strike. December 20th the general strike was declared by all the factories in Timisoara and hundreds of people marched to the center of Timisoara and caused the retreat of the army back to the military units. The leaders of the revolutionaries of Timisoara submitted to the communist authorities a list of claims from the population, a list that would soon become an essential revolutionary program. On the same date, December 20th 1989, Timisoara was declared the First Free City of Romania, by the representatives of the Romanian Democrat Front, the first democratic political organization set up on the blooded streets of the city. December 21th. Ceausescu addresses a crowd in Bucharest in a televised speech. Unexpectedly, the crowd became violent and tried to break police lines. A violent clash ensued in which at least 13 youths were killed. Protests began breaking out all over the capitol, and the police began arresting these demonstrators. The crowds refused to disperse and the police used gunfire and armored cars against the people. December 22nd 1989. Even more demonstrators began to reassemble early in the morning. Huge crowds were locked in a standoff with the army in the main square of Bucharest. Reports of dissidence between Ceausescu and his army caused the crowd to start chanting: "The army is with us!" The crowd offered the soldiers cigarettes and flowers and the battle seemed to be shifting to one between the army and Ceausescu's security police. In a last ditch effort, Ceausescu tried to speak from a balcony, but was shouted down. He and his wife fled the capital and made plans to leave Romania. 22 of December was declared the day of The Victory of the Romanian Revolution. December 23rd. The fighting and brutality escalated in the streets, as confusion reigned. Some of the army had switched over to the side of the people and continued to battle SECURITATE forces. Ceausescu and his wife were captured and returned to Bucharest. Ion Iliescu emerged as a leader of the National Front and made a list of demands on the government. December 24th . The army continued to battle and gain on the SECURITATE in Bucharest. The National Front claimed control of the revolution and established a provisional government. Uncertainty and terror still prevailed in the streets, although it is known that the Ceausescus were tried and shot in a very speedy trial. December 25th. The END - The Ceausescu's bodies were exhibited on TV, marking "the end" of these initial stages of revolution. Ceausescu was described as unapologetic and refused to recognize the decision of the courts. Despite this, fighting continued both in the capitol and in Timisoara.

We KNOW

Romanian Revolution was characterized as Non – Negociated, Violent and Bloodshed;

There were 2 revolutions that unfolded almost simltaneoius and often crossed their paths influencing one another: a bloody and violent revolution (carried out in the streets of a major cities); a TV revolution - a thrilling one witnessed by a majority of the population;

Over 1,290 people died ( 1283 romanians and 7 foreigners); most deaths occurred in cities such as Timișoara, Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu and Arad.

Over 3,352 wounded people (1,879 in Bucharest; 1,107 before December 22; 2,245 after December 22);

during the first post-communist decade, civil society initiatives proved to be the most radical in this respect. The first attempt at introducing lustration in Romania originated in Timişoara, the city that sparked the 1989 revolution and opened the way towards a regime change in Romania. Thus, on March 11, 1990 it was issued in Timişoara the “Proclamation of Timişoara”, whose Article 8 requested the banning of all former nomenklatura members, party activists, and officers of the former secret police from running in the next three elections.

Călin Nemeş, his friend Lucian Matiş, anda few others fall Romanians killed on the orders of the dictator Ceausescu under killer bullets (Cluj-Napoca of 21 December 1989). www.memorialulrevolutiei.ro

Photos made by Răzvan Rotta

REVOLUTION TRACES: cemeteries, monuments and memorials (see Cemetery of Heroes of Revolution - BUCHAREST

and Heroes Cemetery - TIMIŞOARA)

Cemetery of Heroes of Revolution - BUCHAREST

Photos by Nicușor Negoiță (Association “21 December 1989” Bucharest)

And many QUESTIONS: The December 1989 revolution in Romania has been the subject of scholarly discussions, passionate debates, conspiracy theories, and political struggles. Is December 1989 a coup d’état, hindered the popular uprising in becoming a revolution? Why violence and bloodshed instead of a „negociated revolution”? Who shot at civilians in Timișoara, Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu, Bucharest and elsewhere? What kind of reforms or restorations were happenned?