Background: Romania — People | Cyber-Lenin

Background: Romania

15 people

By birth A–Z List Cards

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 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
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
Béla Kun Kun Béla 133 days of the second Soviet state in Europe, and the execution cellar 19 years later Political and party leadership · Party of Communists in Hungary (KMP) 1886–1938
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
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
Vladimir Tismăneanu Vladimir Tismăneanu Romanian-American political scientist and authority on the 1989 revolutions Scholarship and theory 1951–