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  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • THE FAMILY ALBUM
  • ONCE UPON A TIME IN ROMANIA
    • ▸Bucharest, 1989: The days of Revolution
    • ▸I’ve also lived under communism
    • ▸Portraits of transition
    • ▸”Cabernet cu pepsi”
    • ▸Romania, 1990: Beyond the headlines
    • ▸“Mineriada” – My story
    • ▸Memorial of pain
  • WORK IN PROGRESS
    • ▸Barbershop
    • ▸Melancholic Identities
    • ▸Faces
    • ▸Fragmentary world
    • ▸Two
    • ▸Buddhist monks
    • ▸About windows and walls
    • ▸Mediterraneo
  • STORIES
    • ▸Alone, together
    • ▸Life and death in Varanasi
    • ▸Trans-Siberian – An experience of becoming
    • ▸Boxing in Havana
    • ▸Moving out of Escobar shadow
    • ▸One night at Htee Thein monastery
    • ▸Easter in Sicily – I misteri
    • ▸Easter in Sicily – La pasquetta
    • ▸Stalin’s Museum in Gori
    • ▸Havana: Between magic and decay
    • ▸Muay Thai for a day
    • ▸Cuban billboards
    • ▸Seeking a geisha
    • ▸Belfast’s murals: Behind and beyond
    • ▸Riding the Yangon’s ring train
    • ▸Bazar-Barakholka-Vernisazh
    • ▸An unexpected trip to Dhobi Ghat
    • ▸A different way to look at death
    • ▸Cannes under siege
    • ▸Inside the Guru’s kitchen
    • ▸Tibetan refugees
    • ▸The Golden Triangle: A Mecca of tribal diversity
    • ▸Bullfighting: Barbaric or art ?
    • ▸Crafts and traditions in Morroco
    • ▸Glastonbury with God
  • TRAVEL
    • Cuba
      • ▸The show must go on (part 1)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 2)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 3)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 4)
    • France
      • ▸Paris
      • ▸Paris. Again
    • Greece
      • ▸Mount Athos
      • ▸Postcards from Santorini
      • ▸Athens
      • ▸Mykonos – The picture-perfect Island
    • Germany
      • ▸Berlin
    • Vietnam
      • ▸Four days in Hanoi
      • ▸Cruising through the misty Halong Bay
    • India
      • ▸Portraits of Kashmir
      • ▸Rishikesh – Spiritual marketplace
      • ▸Life on the Sidewalk
    • Ireland
      • ▸The capital of pubs
      • ▸Ireland in ten days
    • Israel
      • ▸Israel in black & white
    • Colombia
      • ▸Colombia
      • ▸Paisas, coffee and much more
      • ▸Streets of Bogota – From Dystopia to Hope
      • ▸Life along the magical Magdalena River
      • ▸A non-touristy guide to Cartagena’s Caribbean paradise
    • Myanmar
      • ▸Min-ga-la-ba Myanmar
      • ▸Up and down on the hills of Shan State
    • Japan
      • ▸Tokyo
      • ▸Springtime in Kyoto
    • Portugal
      • ▸Life at the edge of Europe
    • Russian Federation
      • ▸The unexpected Moscow
      • ▸White Nights in St. Petersburg
    • Italy
      • ▸Rome
      • ▸Random Sicily
      • ▸Vedi Napoli e poi mori
      • ▸Venice
      • ▸Vanishing Venice
    • Morocco
      • ▸Sunset, camel rides and tea in Erg Chebi
      • ▸Medinas: Morocco’s hidden cities
      • ▸Morocco outskirts
      • ▸Djemaa El Fna encounters
      • ▸Surf and hippies
      • ▸The road of the One thousand kasbahs
      • ▸Amazigh – Berber – Free men
    • Georgia
      • ▸Postcards from Georgia
      • ▸The Many Faces of Tbilisi
    • Nepal
      • ▸Kathmandu Valley
    • Romania
      • ▸Romania to go
      • ▸Maramures
      • ▸Tara Motilor
    • Jordan
      • ▸Bedouin Trails
    • Turkey
      • ▸From Turkey with love
      • ▸Ballooning Cappadocia
      • ▸Where East meets West
      • ▸Street life, Istanbul-style
    • Mexico
      • ▸Finding Mexico City
    • Malaysia
      • ▸Transit KL
    • UK
      • ▸London
      • ▸Grab your kilt and bring your pipes
    • Sweden
      • ▸Stockholm
    • Spain
      • ▸Off-season Andalusia
    • Thailand
      • ▸Bangkok, year 2555
      • ▸Life in Pai
      • ▸Thailand
    • Laos
      • ▸Luang Prabang – The City of ultimate Zen
    • Poland
      • ▸Why I love Poland
    • Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania
      • ▸Neighbors, but not relatives
      • ▸Patarei – A little slice of Hell
    • Findland
      • ▸A sunny day in Helsinki
    • Denmark
      • ▸Copenhagen
  • SINGLES
  • CONTACT
  • MY BOOKS
  • MY VIDEOS
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Cookie Policy (EU)
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Bucharest, 1989: The days of Revolution

 

The 1989 Revolution was somehow my own revolution. Ceausescu’s fall was probably my salvation, literally. For 33 years I lived under the communists – my whole childhood, adolescence, youth… I used to work as an engineer in a Bucharest institute in 1989, but photography was my “life’s mission”.

On December 21 – the dawn of the Revolution, I went on the streets with my camera to shoot images amid the real bullet-shooting that left so many people dead in a matter of a few days. I got arrested by the communist police, thrown in jail and released after Ceausescu’s flight. A month and a few days later, through a unique in a lifetime coincidence, I became an AFP, EPA and Sygma correspondent (and later AP)

These images are snapshots that I took on 22nd, 23rd and 24th of December. Right after being released from prison I roamed the streets once again to take more photos. I arrived home on Christmas Eve. On the first day of Christmas, the National Television gave us the infamous present of the Ceausescu couple’s execution. This was the day that officially dubbed the end of the revolution.

During this revolution 1104 people died and 3321 were injured.

26 years have passed since the fall of the communist regime in these lands and yet Romanians still haven’t learnt the truth about what happened. The challenge has now commenced for the historians.

 

 

 

 

 

Bucharest, 1989: The days of Revolution

 

The 1989 Revolution was somehow my own revolution. Ceausescu’s fall was probably my salvation, literally. For 33 years I lived under the communists – my whole childhood, adolescence, youth… I used to work as an engineer in a Bucharest institute in 1989, but photography was my “life’s mission”.

On December 21 – the dawn of the Revolution, I went on the streets with my camera to shoot images amid the real bullet-shooting that left so many people dead in a matter of a few days. I got arrested by the communist police, thrown in jail and released after Ceausescu’s flight. A month and a few days later, through a unique in a lifetime coincidence, I became an AFP, EPA and Sygma correspondent (and later AP)

These images are snapshots that I took on 22nd, 23rd and 24th of December. Right after being released from prison I roamed the streets once again to take more photos. I arrived home on Christmas Eve. On the first day of Christmas, the National Television gave us the infamous present of the Ceausescu couple’s execution. This was the day that officially dubbed the end of the revolution.

During this revolution 1104 people died and 3321 were injured.

26 years have passed since the fall of the communist regime in these lands and yet Romanians still haven’t learnt the truth about what happened. The challenge has now commenced for the historians.

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