[0:03]It's the middle of December, 1989. We're in the Palace Square in Bucharest, and it's nearly freezing. Over 50,000 people have been brought here. Many were taken straight from schools or their workplaces. Some have been standing in the cold for more than five hours, and they're all waiting for one man. Nicolae Ceausescu. For 24 years, he's ruled Romania with an iron fist. A few days earlier, protests broke out in Timisoara after a local priest criticized Ceausescu. When locals resisted his arrest, Ceausescu's soldiers opened fire. Now, news have spread and protests are erupting across the country. Desperate to restore his image, Ceausescu calls for a mass rally in Bucharest to be broadcast live on national television. It'll be the biggest mistake of his life. Ceausescu steps out onto the balcony as he waves to the audience to the sound of almost deafening cheers. But something's off. Almost everyone in the crowd is standing completely still except for a few people in the front rows. The cheering is fake. It's actually a pre-recorded track blasting from huge speakers around the square. Then, Ceausescu starts his speech.
[1:36]And at first, things seem to be going rather well.
[1:44]But then, just as he's in the middle of thanking the organizers of the rally, screams can be heard from somewhere back in the crowd. This is not part of the pre-recorded track.
[2:04]Someone is shooting! His wife, Elena, shouts. They're entering the building, his security guard says. Off camera, demonstrators have broken through barriers and are heading toward the Central Committee building, right where Ceausescu is standing. The cameraman has had specific instructions to point it toward the sky if something unexpected happens. The demonstrators are now directly below Ceausescu, and both him and Elena are shouting at them, telling them to stay back. This is a provocation, Nicolae says to himself, as he and his wife continue to shout at the demonstrators. Somehow, the security guards actually managed to push the crowd back behind the barriers. But it's too late. And even as Ceausescu continues his speech by announcing sudden wage increases and higher pensions, after the speech ends, many in the crowd refuse to go home. They've had enough of the lies, the repression, and of Ceausescu. They spread through Bucharest, shouting things like, "Down with Ceausescu," and calling for freedom. And when Ceausescu hears of this, he's outraged. Still in Bucharest, he orders tanks, soldiers, and his very own secret police to crush the protests by any means necessary. And so, they do. Protesters are shot in the streets, and those who've barricaded themselves are hit by snipers positioned on top of many of the buildings. By morning, there's so much blood in the streets that the military needs to hose it with huge water cannons just to get it off the asphalt. Meanwhile, Ceausescu is still in Bucharest, and he's relieved. He's convinced that the uprising has been crushed. Surely, now everything will be back to normal, he tells his wife, Elena. But he's wrong. Before dawn, the first reports come in that massive columns of workers are leaving their factories and heading toward the city center. And something's changed. The soldiers and police sent out to control them suddenly refuse to shoot and actually join the protesters instead. Ceausescu immediately holds a crisis meeting with the remaining members of the Communist Party's Politburo in the Central Committee building. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators now surround the Central Committee headquarters, and they're starting to break in. With protesters minutes away from reaching their offices, Ceausescu orders his pilot to bring a helicopter to the roof. Both Nicolae and Elena are visibly shaken, and have to be carried aboard by their bodyguards. Their faces are completely drained of color. Together with two senior officials and two bodyguards, they squeeze into the helicopter and take off minutes before the protesters reach the rooftop. The pilot immediately heads toward Ceausescu's residence in Snagov, north of the city. Here, Nicolae desperately tries to summon military assistance and orders the pilot to get two helicopters with soldiers as an escort. The answer from the other end, however, is clear. They're on their own. No one's coming to help. The pilot convinces the Ceausescus to take off again quickly, leaving the two officials behind to lighten the load. Nicolae instructs the pilot to fly toward the western city of Titu, hoping to reach a loyal garrison. But suddenly, a message crackles over the radio. All flights are grounded. Any unidentified aircraft will be shot down. And so they have to land. The pilot puts them down by a road between Bucharest and Targovishte. And with that, the Ceausescus now find themselves on their own with just two security guards. After a while, they manage to hijack a passing car. A bicycle mechanic, who drives them toward the town of Targovishte. On the way, the Ceausescus listen in horror as the car radio plays a news report about the uprising's victory in Bucharest. The bicycle mechanic, Petrishaw, suggests they hide at an agricultural institute on the outskirts of the city. When they arrive, the institute director shoves the couple into a room and locks the door, trapping them inside. Shortly after, local police arrest both Ceausescus and hand them over to a nearby military barracks in the city for the next few days. The new government is determined to bring both to trial as quickly as possible. And so, the day after their capture, Iliescu, the new head of state, signs a decree establishing an extraordinary military tribunal to be carried out immediately at the barracks where they're held. Here, they're accused of genocide, of destroying the country's economy, and attempting to flee with over $1 billion in foreign banks.
[7:20]As their crimes are read to them, Nicolae simply laughs.
[7:30]The trial is brief and largely for show. It lasts about two hours and takes place without any real possibility for defense or appeal. Ceausescu himself refuses to recognize the court and calls it illegal. But it doesn't matter. The tribunal finds both him and Elena guilty. The sentence for both is death by firing squad, and the execution will happen immediately. Straight away, Nicolae tries to appeal the decision, but he's denied.
[8:04]Before being led out of the room, Nicolae turns to the guards and says he wants to be executed alongside Elena. They accept. Meanwhile, a soldier returns with rope to tie their hands, but neither Nicolae nor Elena wants to be restrained. Both argue with the soldiers, saying there's no need for it and that they're not going to run. But again, they're denied.
[8:38]They're then led out into the courtyard and placed against a wall to the barracks. Elena begins to scream insults at the execution squad in rage. Other accounts say that she starts crying. Nicolae, on the other hand, remains relatively calm in his final seconds and begins singing the first line of the Internationale, the Workers' International Battle Song.
[9:09]The very next day, Romanian television shows footage of the two bodies at the foot of the barracks wall as final proof that the Ceausescus are gone. In May 1990, Romania held its first free elections since 1937. Over the next two decades, it joined NATO, entered the European Union, and began rebuilding.
