Kiss the Hand You Cannot Bite : The Rise and Fall of the Ceausescus

Rating:
Summary: Revealing book about Romania's Stalin
Review: 25 December 1989 may have been notable as the last Christmas of the 1980's, but the people in communist Romania got a much needed Christmas present they're likely never to forget. On that particular St. Nicholas's Day, Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu were executed by members of the National Salvation Front. Romania thus became the last of the Communist East bloc countries to fall, albeit violently. That's how the book begins, before going back in time and detailing Ceausescu's rise and fall.

Ceausescu worked as a cobbler in his father-in-law's shop and was lousy. When asked by his father-in-law what he would do for a living, Ceausescu prophetically replied, "I won't need a trade. I'm going to be Romania's Stalin." Ceausescu did become Romania's Stalin, but the term Conducator comes from the title given to Ion Antonescu, the head of fascist Romania during World War II. Also, readers will learn that Ceausescu was Romania's third Communist leader, the others being Petru Grosz (1946-1948) and Gheorge Gheorgiu-Dej (1948-1965)

There's also the usual historic background behind Romania from World War I, when it was ruled by the ineffectual but tyrannical King Carol. The rise of the RCP under Gheorge Gheorgiu-Dej in the 1930's, and Romania under the Axis-allied Iron Guard is covered. These are important, as Romania's rival communists began jockeying for power when the tide of the war began to turn. But being a high-ranking lackey for Gheorgiu-Dej helped Ceausescu when the former became the second Communist leader of Romania.

There's also an unflattering look at Elena Ceausescu, nee Petrescu, who was a lousy student and whose doctorate in chemistry was gotten by bogus means--she didn't even know the formula for sulfuric acid. And some portion of the book includes the early career of Ion Iliescu, the man who succeeded Ceausescu as leader of Romania.

One critical event that took place was the earthquake in 1977, which stimulated his desire for urban renewal and led him to destroy villages and churches--he was "perceived as an urban rapist, Dracula driving a bulldozer."

I'll say here and now that at high school, I considered Ceausescu a hero, a maverick in the mold of Tito because he told the Soviet Union where to go, he and Tito condemned the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia, and he defied the Soviet-sponsored East bloc boycott of the LA Games, sending some hot-looking gymnasts by the way. He was seen as the "good communist" because of that, even when he was starving his own people by exporting food abroad, concentrating on enriching himself--in France, he and his people stole ashtrays, clocks, electric and phone wiring at the residence they had been staying at. This book reveals him to be quite the tyrant.

Behr's book spawned a TV special aired on PBS, which I videotaped. Oh, and as for the title, it's taken from an old Romanian proverb of Turkish origin. Although Ceausescu and his wife are long gone, they left their mark on Romania the same way Stalin did his on the Soviet Union, and it's likely to continue for years to come.

Rating:
Summary: Revealing book about Romania's Stalin
Review: 25 December 1989 may have been notable as the last Christmas of the 1980's, but the people in communist Romania got a much needed Christmas present they're likely never to forget. On that particular St. Nicholas's Day, Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu were executed by members of the National Salvation Front. Romania thus became the last of the Communist East bloc countries to fall, albeit violently. That's how the book begins, before going back in time and detailing Ceausescu's rise and fall.

Ceausescu worked as a cobbler in his father-in-law's shop and was lousy. When asked by his father-in-law what he would do for a living, Ceausescu prophetically replied, "I won't need a trade. I'm going to be Romania's Stalin." Ceausescu did become Romania's Stalin, but the term Conducator comes from the title given to Ion Antonescu, the head of fascist Romania during World War II. Also, readers will learn that Ceausescu was Romania's third Communist leader, the others being Petru Grosz (1946-1948) and Gheorge Gheorgiu-Dej (1948-1965)

There's also the usual historic background behind Romania from World War I, when it was ruled by the ineffectual but tyrannical King Carol. The rise of the RCP under Gheorge Gheorgiu-Dej in the 1930's, and Romania under the Axis-allied Iron Guard is covered. These are important, as Romania's rival communists began jockeying for power when the tide of the war began to turn. But being a high-ranking lackey for Gheorgiu-Dej helped Ceausescu when the former became the second Communist leader of Romania.

There's also an unflattering look at Elena Ceausescu, nee Petrescu, who was a lousy student and whose doctorate in chemistry was gotten by bogus means--she didn't even know the formula for sulfuric acid. And some portion of the book includes the early career of Ion Iliescu, the man who succeeded Ceausescu as leader of Romania.

One critical event that took place was the earthquake in 1977, which stimulated his desire for urban renewal and led him to destroy villages and churches--he was "perceived as an urban rapist, Dracula driving a bulldozer."

I'll say here and now that at high school, I considered Ceausescu a hero, a maverick in the mold of Tito because he told the Soviet Union where to go, he and Tito condemned the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia, and he defied the Soviet-sponsored East bloc boycott of the LA Games, sending some hot-looking gymnasts by the way. He was seen as the "good communist" because of that, even when he was starving his own people by exporting food abroad, concentrating on enriching himself--in France, he and his people stole ashtrays, clocks, electric and phone wiring at the residence they had been staying at. This book reveals him to be quite the tyrant.

Behr's book spawned a TV special aired on PBS, which I videotaped. Oh, and as for the title, it's taken from an old Romanian proverb of Turkish origin. Although Ceausescu and his wife are long gone, they left their mark on Romania the same way Stalin did his on the Soviet Union, and it's likely to continue for years to come.

Rating:
Summary: The evil side of the Ceausescu regime.
Review: A great read about the little known Communist regime in Romania.
After watching the Velvet Revolution in person in Prague, I wondered wheather I should travel to Bucharest to see the effects of another Communist regime. A month later Nicholae Ceausescu and his wife were dead. For those who don't know much about Romania, this book gives a political overview of the country's history.
Ceausescu was a dispictable little man who had an even more wretched wife Elena. Not only did he run the country into the ground, but his politics destroyed whatever trust Romanians had in their government. Both Ceausescus were semi literate who had
a penchant for collecting honors, degrees, and loot.
This book details how a uneducated man wormed his way into a small Communist party, and eventually ran the country. It details not only his rise and fall, but also that of the country. Ceausescu's successors were once his proteges. For more information on Romania after Ceausescu, read A Hole in the Flag.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating subject, sometimes confusing or tedious reading
Review: I have a great personal interest in Romanian history, and, because of that, I was willing to plod through some of Edward Behr's sometimes-tedious passages. There's a lot of wonderful insight in the book -- especially in the information from Behr's interviews with former Ceausescu cronies -- that hasn't been available anywhere else.

If you have a burning desire to get to the bottom of how a modern-day Dracula could attain, and maintain, power over millions of people, this book is the ticket. If you have only a passing desire, there are other, more easily-digestible, books with similar information (for me, though, the details made the book).

Rating:
Summary: The banality of evil, or how much did you get for your soul?
Review: The most chilling aspect of Kiss the Hand You Cannot Bite: The Rise and Fall of the Ceausescus is the small price the couples' sycophants exact for their souls.

Edward Behr chronicles scientists, academicians, party functionaries, intellectuals, physicians, lawyers, and others who gladly que up to kiss the hands and other body parts of the first couple of the communist dictatorship of Romania. In exchange for their blind loyalty, these luminaries get little more than a pat on the head and a grip-and-grin photograph with their semi-literate leaders. As Behr notes, the phrase "banality of evil" applied particularly well to the Ceausescus. Of all the books written since the collapse of the communist bloc, this one best explains why dictators in Eastern Europe so seldom had to use armed force to remain in power. Material goods---and we are talking K-mart liquidation stuff here---bought the best and brightest in Romania, and physical and spiritual starvation kept the general populace weakened and at bay.

By the time the Ceausescus meet their predictable ends, you don't know who to loathe the most, the co-dictators or their willing subjects. Perhaps it is unfair, but the fact that the most abusive elements of the Ceausescus police state remain to govern seems like some sort of Old Testament justice.

Behr gives us what we will have to take in lieu of the equivalence of the de-Nazification of Eastern Europe: naked and ugly truth about the people who comprised the communist system.

Rating:
Summary: A history of two evil buffoons who became leaders
Review: While there were many indications of severe economic and social problems in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union during the last five years of the 1980's, the sudden collapse of Communism caught nearly everyone by surprise. However, the most amazing thing was the incredible lack of blood that was shed during the transition from the "proletarian dictatorships" to some form of representative government. The only significant deaths occurred in Rumania, where the change was a coup within the leadership class rather than a popular revolt. Since it was a coup, Rumania was the only country where the former leader had to be killed, and Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu were executed very early in the coup.
While this is a history of the Ceausescu regime, it is more so a history of Rumania in the twentieth century. It is an extensive probing of the national psyche, one that allowed a man to control more than was controlled in other east block countries while employing less terror. Although he was applauded in the west for his maverick stance regarding the Soviet line in Eastern Europe, Ceausescu was more of a buffoon than a leader, which is one of the primary reasons why the Soviet leadership allowed him so much leash. Despite enormous natural resources, Rumania is capable of feeding itself and has substantial oil reserves, by the 1980's it was the second poorest country in Europe, ahead of only Albania. Behr comes close to, but does not quite say that had Ceausescu been a capable leader, his challenging of the Soviet line would not have been tolerated and they would have engineered his removal. It is amazing to say that Rumania and the world would have been better off if the Soviets had simply had him assassinated. Furthermore, it most likely would have been applauded inside the country.
In reading through the book, you cannot help but wonder how the Ceausescus were able to control the country for so long. Some form of opposition to the Communist leadership existed in the other Eastern block countries, but was almost totally absent in Rumania. The relentless and ridiculous praise heaped on the Ceausescus by everyone was a façade that everyone except the Ceausescus seemed to be aware of. Behr spends a great deal of time probing for the reasons for this, making some progress, but still not arriving at a satisfactory answer.
Ceausescu has quite accurately been called a Communist Dracula, which is somewhat of an understatement. Dracula merely sucked the blood from his individual victims, while Ceausescu sucked the life essence from an entire nation. In this book, you learn what he did and at least some of the reasons why he was able to do it.