Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Welcome
Welcome to the Actor Enrichment blog compiled for the cast of Baylor University's Mad Forest. Navigating through this blog will offer you supplemental information on Romanian culture, a Romanian revolution timeline, information about Ceausescu, as well as other fun facts about the world of the play. The dramaturgs hope that you find this information useful as you endeavor toward a very exciting production. You have our full support as you work through this process. We are very excited to see what comes from this engaging production.
What do we need to know about Ion Iliescu?
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Family life:
Ion Iliescu (1930- )
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Family life:
His father was a railroad worker with communist views in a time where communism as a partisanship was banned
His Wife is Nina Iliescu. They have no children.
Presidency:
1st term- 1990-1996
later he lost reelection to Emil Constantinescu, with 1,000,000 votes canceled. (Thoughts of fraud anyone?)
Served again from 2000-2004
Roles in politics and the revolution:
Joined communist party in 1953
1st post-communist president in 1990
Joined the union of communist youth in 1944 and the communist party in 1953.
He was a secretary of the central committee of communist youth in 1956
Served as head of the central committees department of propaganda and served as minister for youth- related issues from 1967-1971
He was known as the leader of the National salvation front during the 1989 revolution.
After the revolution:
Iliescu and his supporters split from (NSF) and created National Salvation Democratic Front. This later turned into the Party of Social Democracy in Romania. Then that turned into the Social Democratic Party.
He was elected as Honorary President in 2006 which isn’t really an office of power, but more like a title.
The First Lady of Romania
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Elena Ceausescu (1980-1989)
1977- She became a member of the highest party body called The Permanent Bureau of the Political Executive committee
Elena Ceausescu (1980-1989)
She was called “Mother of the nation” by her supporters and called “”Madame Ceausescu” by Romanian expatriates in the U.S with a negative notation.
The wife of Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu
Her husband worked as a secretary in the ministry of foreign affairs (unimportant figure). Then he became general secretary of the party.
She is one of the few spouses of a communist party boss to become a power all on her own.
Important Dates-
1971- Was elected as a member of the central commission on socio-economic forecasting
1972- Became a full member of the Romanian Commission party central committee
June 1973- she became a member of the politburo of the Romanian communist party, becoming the second most important and influential person after her husband.
1977- She became a member of the highest party body called The Permanent Bureau of the Political Executive committee
1980- She was made a first deputy prime minister
Executed by firing squad on December 25, 1989.
What is “the people’s palace”?
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The People’s Palace aka the Palace of the Parliament is a multi-purpose building containing chambers of Romanian Parliament. It’s the world’s largest civilian building, most expensive administrative building and the heaviest building.
It was designed and completed by the Ceausescu regime as the seat of political and administrative power. It was named the “House of the Republic” by Nicolae Ceausescu and by the Romanians “The people’s House”
Abortion under Ceausescu
· 1957—abortion
legalized, became available cheaply and easily.
· Romanian
women in the middle twentieth century, with cramped quarters, a poor diet, and
a declining standard of living knew that they couldn’t support large
families.
· Birth
control pills and intrauterine devices had never been allowed in the country,
and other modern means of contraception were basically unavailable.
· On
average, Romanian women were having less than two children apiece. The women were maintaining their low birth
rate with the only option open to them, abortion.
·
In 1966 in Romania there were four abortions for
every live birth.
·
1966—Ceausescu passed decree 770 banning
abortion and contraception in Romania, with the intent of creating a larger
communist workforce.
·
Rare exceptions:
if you were a mother of 4 over the age of 45—in 1989 the number of
children was raised to 5—you could receive an abortion & birth control. There were also loopholes if you were a
member of the Communist Party with the appropriate connections. Mothers of at least 10 children were declared
heroine mothers of the state and
received government benefits.
·
Women were carefully monitored, with random
pregnancy testing in the workplace. If a
woman went too long without getting pregnant, she was subject to interrogation
by the secret police. If a woman did
become pregnant, the surveillance became even more intense, with follow ups to
make sure the women kept the pregnancy through birth.
·
Women who didn’t bear children were also subject
to an outrageous celibacy tax, whether married or not, or physically capable of
even having children!
· Women
who obtained an illegal abortion, as well as the persons performing it, were
subject to fines and imprisonment.
· Illegal
abortions cost from two to four months' wages
· Romania’s
birthrate almost doubled, but poor nutrition and prenatal care further
endangered pregnant women and children.
Illegal abortions maimed and killed many women, and the infant mortality
rate soared to over 8 times that of the Western European average. ~10% of babies were born underweight, with
newborns weighing 3 lbs 5 oz being classified as miscarriages and denied
treatments.
· Child
abandonment also skyrocketed, with orphanage populations growing
“The
fetus is the property of the entire society, anyone who avoids having children
is a deserter who abandons the laws of national continuity.”
-
Ceausescu
“The law
only forbade abortion, it did nothing to promote life.”
-
Dr.
Alexander Floran Anca of Bucharest
“I
would have killed Ceausescu for that law alone…We had to buy milk on the black
market, and we had to buy a heater just for the baby's room…Now that it's
possible for a woman to be a woman again I'm mutilated. And now there is a reason to have a child in
this country.”
- 29 year
old mother of two, Maria Dulce from her bed at Bucharest's Municipal Hospital recovering
from a self-induced abortion. Dulce says
she terminated her pregnancy because of the trauma associated with caring for
her second child, an 18-month-old boy. She had to have an emergency
hysterectomy only days before the uprising.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
The Revolution WILL be Televised: Media Coverage of the 1989 Romanian Revolution
BBC Archive, final speech and aftermath (Originally broadcast on BBC, January 8, 1990)
Ceausescu’s final speech, December 21, 1989:
BBC Archive, trial and execution (Originally broadcast on BBC, January 8, 1990)
Ceausescu Trial and Execution, December 25, 1989 (requires login due to “graphic” nature):
Canadian news coverage:
ITN (UK) coverage:
Romania-Hungary Relations
·
· 1985: At the Cultural Forum of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe a Hungarian representative revealed that Hungary, Poland, the Soviet Union, and East Germany prepare a proposal “about the assertion by national minorities of their cultural rights” in which Romania did not participate.
· 1988: Thousands of ethnic Hungarians were fleeing from Romania to Hungary to escape Ceausescu’s political oppression. Romania razed 7,000-8,000 villages, causing minorities to suffer. This razing led to Hungarian demonstrations outside the Romanian embassy in Budapest. Hungarian and Romanian leaders met to discuss relations between the countries. The talks lasted eight hours but did not produce any tangible results. In November Romanian police arrested Karoly Gyorffy, the Hungarian commercial counselor in Bucharest.
· 1989: Protests break out in Timisoara, Romania after the government tries to evict a dissident, Hungarian Reformed Church pastor Laszlo Tokes. This event contributed to the Romanian revolution of 1989. Following the revolution ethnic based political parties in Romania arose such as the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania .
· 1990: Demonstrations by ethnic Hungarians demanding cultural and linguistic autonomy were attacked by Romanian nationalists in Tigru Mures, a town in Transylvania and several people were killed. In May Hungarian Premier J. Antall said that it was “inconceivable” for Hungary to maintain good relations with a state that suppressed the Magyar minority.
The Forbidden Dance
The original Forbidden Dance was the Carimbo, which was a two-beat dance style, close to the Merengue, but with more spins. Actually, it was the music (a mix of traditional Caribbean and new wave electronic) that was known as Lambada first. Then, the music and the dance switched from a two-beat style to a four-beat style. This new style was influenced by the Forro, which is an old traditional Brazillian dance. The distinctive step for the Lambada is arched legs, and a side to side step (never front to back!!).
Yeah. Lambada!
Ceausescu's Trial Transcript
Selections from the Transcript of the closed trial of Nicolae and Elena Ceauşescu (1989)
Obtained from wikisource.org
< http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Transcript_of_the_closed_trial_of_Nicolae_and_Elena_Ceau%C5%9Fescu>
The following is a transcript of the closed trial of Romanian Dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife, Elena, as shown on Romanian and Austrian television.
Military base Târgovişte - December 25th 1989
Prosecutor Gica POPA
The English translation is by the U.S. government's Foreign Broadcast Information Service. Sections in italic type are from Austrian television comentary:
CEAUSESCU REFUSES TO COOPERATE WITH THE ROMANIAN PEOPLE
NICOLAE CEAUŞESCU: I only recognize the Grand National Assembly. I will only speak in front of it.
PROSECUTOR: In the same way he refused to hold a dialogue with the people, now he also refuses to speak with us. He always claimed to act and speak on behalf of the people, to be a beloved son of the people, but he only tyrannized the people all the time....
...
PROSECUTOR: Did you hear the charges? Have you understood them?
NICOLAE CEAUŞESCU: I do not answer, I will only answer questions before the Grand National Assembly. I do not recognize this court. The charges are incorrect, and I will not answer a single question here.
PROSECUTOR: Note - He does not recognize the points mentioned in the bill of indictment.
CEAUSESCU REACTS TO QUESTIONS ABOUT THE ORIGINAL SHOTS
NICOLAE CEAUŞESCU: I will not answer. I will not answer any question. Not a single shot was fired in Palace Square. Not a single shot. No one was shot.
PROSECUTOR: By now, there have been 34 casualties.
Elena says: Look, and that they are calling genocide.
PROSECUTOR: In all district capitals, which you grandly called municipalities, there is shooting going on. The people were slaves. The entire intelligentsia of the country ran away. No one wanted to do anything for you anymore.
THE CEAUSESCUS REACT TO THE CHARGES OF LIVING LIKE ROYALTY
NICOLAE CEAUŞESCU: As a citizen, as a simple citizen, I tell you the following: At no point was there such an upswing, so much construction, so much consolidation in the Romanian provinces. I guaranteed that every village has its schools, hospitals and doctors. I have done everything to create a decent and rich life for the people in the country, like in no other country in the world.
PROSECUTOR: We have always spoken of equality. We are all equal. Everybody should be paid according to his performance. Now we finally saw your villa on television, the golden plates from which you ate, the foodstuffs that you had imported, the luxurious celebrations, pictures from your luxurious celebrations.
ELENA CEAUŞESCU: Incredible. We live in a normal apartment, just like every other citizen. We have ensured an apartment for every citizen through corresponding laws.
PROSECUTOR: You had palaces.
NICOLAE CEAUŞESCU: No, we had no palaces. The palaces belong to the people.
The prosecutor agrees, but stresses that they lived in them while the people suffered.
PROSECUTOR: Children cannot even buy plain candy, and you are living in the palaces of the people.
NICOLAE CEAUŞESCU: Is it possible that we are facing such charges?
THE PROSECUTION QUESTIONS ELENA ABOUT GENOCIDE
The prosecutor turns to Elena: You have always been wiser and more ready to talk, a scientist. You were the most important aide, the number two in the cabinet, in the government.
PROSECUTOR: Did you know about the genocide in Timisoara?
ELENA CEAUŞESCU: What genocide? By the way, I will not answer any more questions.
PROSECUTOR: Did you know about the genocide or did you, as a chemist, only deal with polymers? You, as a scientist, did you know about it?
Here Nicolae Ceauşescu steps in and defends her.
NICOLAE CEAUŞESCU: Her scientific papers were published abroad!
PROSECUTOR: And who wrote the papers for you, Elena?
ELENA CEAUŞESCU: Such impudence!...You cannot talk to me in such a way!
...
PROSECUTOR: Who gave the order to shoot? Answer this question!
ELENA CEAUŞESCU: I will not answer. I told you right at the beginning that I will not answer a single question.
NICOLAE CEAUŞESCU: You as officers should know that the government cannot give the order to shoot. But those who shot at the young people were the security men, the terrorists.
ELENA CEAUŞESCU: The terrorists are from Securitate.
PROSECUTOR: The terrorists are from Securitate?
ELENA CEAUŞESCU: Yes.
PROSECUTION ASKS IF THE CEAUSESCUS HAVE MENTAL ILLNESSES
PROSECUTOR: Please, ask Nicolae and Elena Ceauşescu whether they have ever had a mental illness.
NICOLAE CEAUŞESCU: What? What should he ask us?
PROSECUTOR: Whether you have ever had a mental illness.
NICOLAE CEAUŞESCU: What an obscene provocation.
PROSECUTOR: This would serve your defense. If you had had a mental illness and admitted this, you would not be responsible for your acts.
ELENA: How can one tell us something like this? How can one say something like this?
NICOLAE CEAUŞESCU: I do not recognize this court.
THE “DEFENSE” FOR THE CEAUSESCUS
COUNSEL FOR THE DEFENSE: Even though he — like her — committed insane acts, we want to defend them. We want a legal trial. Only a president who is still confirmed in his position can demand to speak at the Grand National Assembly. If he no longer has a certain function, he cannot demand anything at all. Then he is treated like a normal citizen. Since the old government has been dissolved and Ceauşescu has lost his functions, he no longer has the right to be treated as the president. Please make a note that here it has been stated that all legal regulations have been observed, that this is a legal trial. Therefore, it is a mistake for the two accused to refuse to cooperate with us. This is a legal trial, and I honor them by defending them.
At the beginning, Ceauşescu claimed that it is a provocation to be asked whether he was sick. He refused to undergo a psychiatric examination. However, there is a difference between real sickness that must be treated and mental insanity which leads to corresponding actions, but which is denied by the person in question. You have acted in a very irresponsible manner; you led the country to the verge of ruin and you will be convicted on the basis of the points contained in the bill of indictment. You are guilty of these offenses even if you do not want to admit it. Despite this, I ask the court to make a decision which we will be able to justify later as well. We must not allow the slightest impression of illegality to emerge. Elena and Nicolae Ceauşescu should be punished in a really legal trial.
The two defendants should also know that they are entitled to a counsel for defense, even if they reject this. It should be stated once and for all that this military court is absolutely legal and that the former positions of the two Ceauşescus are no longer valid. However, they will be indicted, and a sentence will be passed on the basis of the new legal system. They are not only accused of offenses committed during the past few days, but of offenses committed during the past 25 years. We have sufficient data on this period. I ask the court, as the plaintiff, to take note that proof has been furnished for all these points, that the two have committed the offenses mentioned. Finally, I would like to refer once more to the genocide, the numerous killings carried out during the past few days. Elena and Nicolae Ceauşescu must be held fully responsible for this. I now ask the court to pass a verdict on the basis of the law, because everybody must receive due punishment for the offenses he has committed.
THE VERDICT
The final speech of the prosecutor follows:
PROSECUTOR: It is very difficult for us to act, to pass a verdict on people who even now do not want to admit to the criminal offenses that they have committed during 25 years and admit to the genocide, not only in Timisoara and Bucharest, but primarily also to the criminal offenses committed during the past 25 years. This demonstrates their lack of understanding. They not only deprived the people of heating, electricity and foodstuffs, they also tyrannized the soul of the Romanian people. They not only killed children, young people and adults in Timisoara and Bucharest; they allowed Securitate members to wear military uniforms to create the impression among the people that the army is against them. They wanted to separate the people from the army. They used to fetch people from orphans' homes or from abroad whom they trained in special institutions to become murderers of their own people. You were so impertinent as to cut off oxygen lines in hospitals and to shoot people in their hospital beds. The Securitate had hidden food reserves on which Bucharest could have survived for months, the whole of Bucharest.
Whom are they talking about, Elena asks.
PROSECUTOR: So far, they have always claimed that we have built this country, we have paid our debts, but with this they bled the country to death and have hoarded enough money to ensure their escape. You need not admit your mistakes, mister. In 1947, we assumed power, but under completely different circumstances. In 1947, King Michael showed more dignity than you. And you might perhaps have achieved the understanding of the Romanian people if you had now admitted your guilt. You should have stayed in Iran where you had flown to.
In response, the two laugh, and she says: We do not stay abroad. This is our home.
PROSECUTOR: Esteemed Mr. Chairman, I have been one of those who, as a lawyer, would have liked to oppose the death sentence, because it is inhuman. But we are not talking about people. I would not call for the death sentence, but it would be incomprehensible for the Romanian people to have to go on suffering this great misery and not to have it ended by sentencing the two Ceauşescus to death. The crimes against the people grew year by year. They were only busy enslaving the people and building up an apparatus of power. They were not really interested in the people.
[Picture is cut off]
After an outage of transmission of Romanian television, the speaker announces the verdict in the trial of Elena and Nicolae Ceauşescu is death sentence. All their property will be impounded.
Friday, March 1, 2013
Gypsies in Romania
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/romania/links.html
http://euroheritage.net/gypsieshistory.shtml
** Jan. 28, 1990 Pro-government demonstrators call opposition demonstrators "provocateurs" and "Gypsies." **
“Gypsy” is a derogatory term
Ø 1989 revolutions drew attention to the plight of the Roma, however, prejudice against them and stereotypification of them has increased.
Ø Roma have been scapegoated as for all ills of post-communism (rising process, unemployment, increase in crime, rise of mafia, scarcity of goods)
Ø Housing for Roma is of much lower standard than non-Roma
o In Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Macedonia, families live in overcrowded houses with over ten people to a room. Sanitation, water, garbage collection, electrical, heating , and telephone services are vastly inferior in their neighborhoods.
o Segregation remains a problem and Roma encounter hostility: ROMANIAN NATIONALISM NEVER INCLUDED GYPSIES
Ø No national heritage, common language, religion, flag, or representative voice
Ø Since the collapse of Communism, poverty has only worsened for the Roma – many (including children) find their ways to the alleys and sewers of Bucharest.
o Majority of Roma stay in disease and waste-ridden villages on outskirts of town for their short lifespans
o Still treated with disdain and can still be seen being yelled at, spat at, attacked, pushed, and if they are begging, having trash or gutter water kicked at them
Overview of State Media in Romania under Caeusescu and then under Iliescu.
Ceausescu’s secret police maintained rigid controls over free speech and media – there was zero toleration for opposition or internal dissent. The state police controlled everything from personal publications to the few extant computers and registered typewriters. The only state television station broadcasted for 2-3 hours a day – “good news was the official message of the day.” Radio communications were monitored, mail was intercepted, and targets were surveyed with hidden microphones. Independent thinking was rewarded with violence (police brutality).
On Feb. 6, 1990, Ilieuscu’s FSN transformed into a political party and except for only a few newspapers, they had extensive control over the Romanian mass-media (particularly the state owned television company). Once again, opposition had no access to state-owned media.
http://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1627&context=etd&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Dilieuscu%2520mass%2520media%2520control%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D1%26ved%3D0CDIQFjAA%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fdiginole.lib.fsu.edu%252Fcgi%252Fviewcontent.cgi%253Farticle%253D1627%2526context%253Detd%26ei%3DmKYjUdTWH5L6rAGG4YHIDw%26usg%3DAFQjCNFnKwBN1NQP-rnXLL4969_j0Llegg%26bvm%3Dbv.42553238%2Cd.b2I#search=%22ilieuscu%20mass%20media%20control%22
**ESSENTIALLY NOTHING CHANGED**
Whatever Happened to My Transylvanian Twist?
Why does the play bring up Transylvania, why is there a vampire wandering about, and what does any of it have to do with Romania?!
Contrary to what you may have assumed from Hollywood, Transylvania is not an imaginary country to serve as the literary home of Dracula and Dr. Frankenstein, but is rather an actual territory, consisting of a large stretch of land along the arc of the Carpathian Mountains. The name “Transylvania” comes from the Latin, roughly meaning “The Land Beyond the Forest.”[1] At present, Transylvania is legally considered part of Romania—though that has not always been the case. In fact, Transylvania has been (and continues to be) the subject of an often bitter dispute between Hungary and Romania for generations.
From the year 1000 until 1920, Transylvania was a part of the Hungarian Kingdom, though by the 11th century, a growing population began in the mountains of Southern Transylvania that would come to be understood as ethnic Romanians. The two largest groups of these were a sect of Saxon colonists from the Germany (at the time, part of the Holy Roman Empire), and shepherds from Wallachia who followed Greek Orthodox practices.[2] By the end of the fifteenth century, Transylvania had a population of about 800,000, approximately 65% of which were Hungarian, with the rest primarily being members of the evolving Romanian ethnic group. By the middle of the 18th century, the Romanian share had increased to just over 50%. [3]
As the Romanian population grew, so did their interest in claiming Transylvania as their own land (this claim was bolstered by a growing Nationality around a genealogical idea (called the “Daco-Romanian Theory”), which placed Romanian ancestry in Transylvania dating a thousand years prior to the founding of the Hungarian Kingdom, thus claiming Hungary acted as an occupier, and giving Romanians native claim.[4]
Years of second-class citizenry, a growing population, and this Nationalist zeal brought attention, diplomacy, and violence to the Romanian’s calls for an independent state of their own; that state—including the area known as Transylvania, was recognized in the Treaty of Berlin in 1878.
Both World Wars saw ultimately-failed attempts by Hungary to reclaim Transylvania; ironically, while Transylvania had long been a Romanian-majority region in Hungary, during the 20th century this reversed, with the territory becoming a Hungarian-majority region in Romania.
And what about today? Tensions still can run high around the subject; in fact, as recently as February 11th of this year, Balkanalysis.com reported that the “Undersecretary of State in the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zsolt Nemeth, declared at the Kossuth Radio Station that Hungary would take ‘diplomatic measures’ against Romania,” regarding a recent decision by Romanian officials to ban the display of a flag with ties to Hungarian-ethnic claims on official Romanian administrative buildings in the disputed area.[5]
One can easily see why there are tensions; each country feels they were there first, and each country has felt oppressed and persecuted by the other. Each has held a position of powerless majority in the region, and each has, at various points, had their point of view endorsed by major world powers. Whatever else is going on in Romania and Hungary, this is always there, beneath the surface.
So what’s that got to do with the Vampire and the Dog?
While the exact meaning behind this scene is clearly up for interpretation, we cannot forget that—for most people in Hollywood-influenced Western cultures—Transylvania is synonymous with Dracula. Largely because of this, tourism represented $77 million dollars of revenue for the region in 2010.[1] Thus, in many ways, people of the West and the people of Transylvania largely see each other because of and through this mythical creature that wanders the Carpathian Mountains at night.
Meanwhile, Transylvania (and Romania in general) has a long-established problem with stray and feral dogs,[2] both in the cities and in the mountains (most commonly Transylvanian Hounds and various wolf hounds). Much like the vampires, these features of the landscape can prove both charming[3] and terrifying[4] to Western visitors.
Is there something about these two symbols of forever-wandering, hungry, sharp-toothed, attractive-yet-dangerous inhabitants that links them to each other? To us? To the region of Transylvania and the country of Romania? To the revolution?
Whatever Caryl Churchill had in mind, both the vampire and the dog are familiar images to anyone from Romania, and both have been rumored to wander the lonely mountains at night.
[1] http://econdev.transylvaniacounty.org/node/12; http://www.romaniatourism.com/dracula-legend.html
[2] http://www.inyourpocket.com/romania/bucharest/Stray-Dogs-in-Bucharest_72013f; http://www.liltransyl.co.uk/ren1/ren1e.html
[3] http://tomfesing.blogspot.com/2011/06/romanian-national-archives-and-stray.html
[4] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lea-lane/wild-dogs-in-romania-an-u_b_491635.html;
[1] http://www.romaniatourism.com/transylvania.html
[2] Note: In researching, I noticed some Hungarian historians disagree that the Saxon colonists should be considered ancestral Romanians, insisting instead that only the shepherds should be. However, since the intermarriage is clear, and since such a claim so obviously biases toward Hungary’s position on Transylvania, this information is more useful as politics than as history.
[3] http://www.hungarianhistory.com/lib/faf/toc02.htm
[4] http://www.hunsor.se/dosszie/daco_rumanian_continuity_legend.pdf
[5] http://www.balkanalysis.com/romania/2013/02/11/revived-transylvania-dispute-strains-romanian-hungarian-relations-with-potential-for-future-internationalization-of-the-issue/
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