Timisoara 1989: Dead People, Revolution and Murderers

Abstract

The deficient manner in which the international press recounted the Revolution of Timişoara in December 1989 established a depreciative framework of reference, particularly in the context of a lack of investigations, some of which would have been necessary. The negative perception was also fuelled by the amount of emotional comments made by various influential public figures. The official Romanian press did not make any reference to the number of victims and even minimized the extent of destructions in the city. This served a manipulative purpose, so that news of the insurgence would not get out. Foreign journalists could not enter Romania earlier than December 22, at approximately 1 p.m., when the borders were reopened. Until then, they relied on the bits of information that they got hold of from unreliable sources, such as Romanian, or, particularly, foreign citizens, who were able to leave Romania, or on scarce information provided by telephone and on communications between some states' diplomatic staffs and their ministries. The process of launching and spreading rumours was also impressive, and after two days and two nights of waiting in border crossing points, the journalists who arrived in Timişoara and in other cities believed that the previously gained equivocal information was being confirmed. This allowed the emergence of the enormous confusion between the horrific dead in the Paupers Cemetery and the true victims of the Revolution.