Skip to content
People of the Revolution and the USSR
Activity
Affiliation
Position
Citizenship(set)
Background
Era
People of the wider world
-
Iuliu Maniu Iuliu Maniu
Leader of the National Peasant Party who led Transylvania's union with Romania, sentenced to life in 1947 and dead in Sighet prison
Political and party leadership
1873–1953
-
Ion Pelivan Ion Pelivan
Veteran of the Bessarabian national movement who, as foreign minister of the Moldavian Democratic Republic, championed union with Romania
Diplomacy and international organization
1876–1954
-
Ion Antonescu Ion Antonescu
The Conducător who took Romania into the Axis war against the Soviet Union and ordered the killings in Transnistria, executed at Jilava in 1946
Government and administration · Romania
1882–1946
-
Petre Dumitrescu Petre Dumitrescu
Romania's commander on the Eastern Front
Military command · Romania
1882–1950
-
Pan Halippa Pan Halippa
Journalist and politician who, as vice-president and later president of Sfatul Țării, led the movement for Bessarabia’s union with Romania
Legislature and state representation · Socialist Revolutionary Party (PSR/SR)
1883–1979
-
Ion Inculeț Ion Inculeț
Bessarabian politician who presided over Sfatul Țării and the Moldavian Democratic Republic and saw through its union with Romania
Legislature and state representation · Socialist Revolutionary Party (PSR/SR)
1884–1940
-
Petru Groza Petru Groza
The "red bourgeois", a landowning lawyer who never joined the party yet served as the communist regime's first prime minister and head of state
Government and administration · Romania
1884–1958
-
Pantelimon Erhan Pantelimon Erhan
Bessarabian Socialist Revolutionary who headed the first government of the Moldavian Democratic Republic and put land reform first
Government and administration · Socialist Revolutionary Party (PSR/SR)
1884–1971
-
Ana Pauker Ana Pauker
The world's first woman foreign minister and head of the Romanian party's "Muscovite faction", brought down by Gheorghiu-Dej's 1952 purge
Political and party leadership · Romania
1893–1960
-
Vasile Luca Vasile Luca
Finance minister of the "Muscovite faction", purged on the pretext of the 1952 currency reform and dead in Aiud prison, a Székely Hungarian communist
Political and party leadership · Romania
1898–1963
-
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Romania's first communist leader who turned the country from a Soviet satellite toward a semi-autonomous course
Political and party leadership · Romanian Communist Party (PCR)
1901–1965
-
Teohari Georgescu Teohari Georgescu
The first communist interior minister, builder of the Securitate, purged in 1952 alongside Pauker and Luca for "shielding" them
Security, intelligence and policing · Romania
1908–1976
-
Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu
Romania's leader who combined independent diplomacy with a cult of personality
Political and party leadership · Romania
1918–1989
-
Elena Ceaușescu Elena Ceaușescu
The regime insider who fused political power with scientific prestige
Political and party leadership · Romanian Communist Party (PCR)
1919–1989
-
Michael I Mihai I
The last King of Romania, who arrested Antonescu on 23 August 1944 to bring the country over to the Allies and abdicated at gunpoint in 1947
Monarchs and royalty · Romania
1921–2017
-
Vasile Milea Vasile Milea
Ceaușescu's last defence minister: his death on 22 December 1989 triggered the army's mass defection to the revolution
Military command · Romania
1927–1989
-
Victor Atanasie Stănculescu Victor Atanasie Stănculescu
The Romanian general who switched sides on the morning of the revolution and brought down a dictator
Military command · Romania
1928–2016
-
Ion Iliescu Ion Iliescu
Ceaușescu's protégé who ordered his execution and led Romania's post-communist transition
Political and party leadership · Romania
1930–2025