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.
