Elena Ceauşescu was the wife of
RomaniaRomania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...
's Communist leader
Nicolae CeauşescuNicolae Andruţă Ceauşescu was a Romanian politician who was the Secretary General of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, President of the Council of State from 1967, and President of Romania from 1974 to 1989...
, and
Deputy Prime MinisterA Deputy Prime Minister or Vice Prime Minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting Prime Minister when the Prime Minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, but is significantly different, though both...
of Romania.
She was born
Elena Petrescu into a peasant family in the village of Petreşti,
BaloteştiBaloteşti is a commune in the northwestern part of Ilfov County, Romania. Two small rivers flow through this location: Cociovaliştea and Vlăsia.The commune is named after an 18th century boyar, Balotă, who owned local lands.-Trivia:...
communeA commune is the lowest level of administrative subdivision in Romania. There are 2686 communes in Romania. The commune is the rural subdivision of a county .There is no clear restriction upon the population of a commune, even though when a commune...
, Ilfov County, in the informal region of
WallachiaWallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
. Her family was supported by her father's job as a ploughman. After finishing primary school she moved along with her brother to
BucharestBucharest is the capital city, industrial and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmboviţa River....
, where she worked as a laboratory assistant before getting a job at a textile factory.
Elena Ceauşescu was the wife of
RomaniaRomania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...
's Communist leader
Nicolae CeauşescuNicolae Andruţă Ceauşescu was a Romanian politician who was the Secretary General of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, President of the Council of State from 1967, and President of Romania from 1974 to 1989...
, and
Deputy Prime MinisterA Deputy Prime Minister or Vice Prime Minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting Prime Minister when the Prime Minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, but is significantly different, though both...
of Romania.
Background
She was born
Elena Petrescu into a peasant family in the village of Petreşti,
BaloteştiBaloteşti is a commune in the northwestern part of Ilfov County, Romania. Two small rivers flow through this location: Cociovaliştea and Vlăsia.The commune is named after an 18th century boyar, Balotă, who owned local lands.-Trivia:...
communeA commune is the lowest level of administrative subdivision in Romania. There are 2686 communes in Romania. The commune is the rural subdivision of a county .There is no clear restriction upon the population of a commune, even though when a commune...
, Ilfov County, in the informal region of
WallachiaWallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
. Her family was supported by her father's job as a ploughman. After finishing primary school she moved along with her brother to
BucharestBucharest is the capital city, industrial and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmboviţa River....
, where she worked as a laboratory assistant before getting a job at a textile factory. She joined the Communist Party of Romania in 1937 and met 21-year-old Nicolae Ceauşescu in 1939. They married on December 23 1947.
Career
Under her husband's regime, she became a major Romanian political figure. Publicly, Ceauşescu said that it was an honor to be referred to as "comrade", but Romanian expatriates in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
frequently referred to her as "Madame Ceauşescu" with great disdain. She enjoyed being referred by the title "Mother of the Nation." However, she was not particularly maternal, having been quoted as saying about her countrymen that "the worms never get satisfied, no matter how much food you give them." It is quite possible that Elena Ceauşescu was the most hated person in Romania during the 25-year rule of her husband.
After the Communists took power, she worked as a secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was an unimportant figure until her husband became
general secretaryThe term General Secretary denotes a leader of various unions, parties, churches or associations. The most notable usages are the following:...
of the party. In 1957 she was a research scientist at ICECHIM (National Institute for Chemical Research). In the early 1960s she was reported to be secretary of the party committee of the Bucharest Central Institute of Chemical Researches, and, when her husband Ceauşescu took over the party leadership in March 1965, she was listed as the institute's director. In December of the same year, she was elected a member of the newly established National Council of Scientific Research, and in September 1966 she was awarded the Order of Scientific Merit First Class.
Elena Ceauşescu was given many honorary awards for scientific achievement in the field of
polymerA polymer is a large molecule composed of repeating structural units typically connected by covalent chemical bonds. While polymer in popular usage suggests plastic, the term actually refers to a large class of natural and synthetic materials with a variety of properties.Due to the extraordinary...
chemistryChemistry is the science concerned with the composition, behavior, structure, and properties of matter, as well as the changes it undergoes during chemical reactions...
during the period when her husband ruled
RomaniaRomania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...
. However, her educational and scientific achievements are disputed. Despite never completing elementary education (her records show she left school only with a good mark in Needlework), she graduated from the University of Bucharest with a PhD in polymer chemistry and top in a class of 100 women with the honor of
summa cum laude. Her thesis has 162 pages, 32 tables, 40 figures and 440 references and describes the invention of a very valuable artificial material. Her detractors consider it unlikely that a person like her would have been able to write such a thesis herself. After the
Revolution of 1989The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a week-long series of increasingly violent riots and fighting in late December 1989 that overthrew the Government of Nicolae Ceauşescu. After a trial, Ceauşescu and his wife Elena were executed...
, several eminent scientists have stated that Elena had forced them to write papers in her name while a later report from her instructors claims she had rarely attended lectures or classes, and instead had sent Securitate agents to drop off her homework (which many doubt were completed by her). Also according to the instructors, when Elena came to class, she was widely known to fall asleep, leave unexpectedly, and have trouble reading basic words; allegedly, she was once thrown out of an adult education chemistry exam for cheating They claim the university gave her the honor of the doctorate solely because of her political position.
She was supposed to be fluent in
RomanianRomanian or Daco-Romanian is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova. It has official status in Romania, Republic of Moldova, and the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in Serbia...
and
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
.
The fact is that she graduated with a program of remote studies (fără frecvență) common in Romania of that time for working people and for mothers with children, and as such she did not have colleagues that would know her from school. As with all lab directors her task consisted mainly in project management, dealing with the allocation of funds and resources, and with the prioritization of research directions. As common with lab directors in Romania and elsewhere, she appeared as co-author on most publications of the team managed by her, her name being the first (not only because names were listed in alphabetical order). During her time as Director of the Central Institute of Chemical Research, she took the floor at several conferences and meetings but spoke on general matters. She typically wrote her own scripts and did not make blunders (after her death, her successor in that position requested colleagues to write his talks and was trapped by them into uttering big stupidities). Whenever a specific scientific theme arose, she would defer to a "Comrade Engineer", who would then have to explain what had to be done. During the quick show trial that ended her life, she was accused by her interrogator, General Gică Popa, of having had her scientific papers written for her by someone else. Among her many honors, she received an honorary fellowship from the
Royal Society of ChemistryThe Royal Society of Chemistry is a learned society in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemical sciences." The organisation carries out research, publishes journals, books and databases, as well as hosting conferences, seminars and workshops...
(UK) (as well as an honorary doctorate), she was made a member of the Illinois Academy of Sciences etc. She allegedly obtained these awards with money, instead of merit.
Starting in July 1972, Elena Ceauşescu was given various offices at senior levels in the
Romanian Communist PartyThe Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
. In June 1973 she became a member of the Politburo of the Romanian Communist Party becoming the second most important and influential person after Ceauşescu himself. She was deeply involved in party administration alongside her husband. The Ceauşescus issued strict public relations rules for all elements of their persona, which were rigidly followed. In March 1974, she was made a member of the Romanian Academy's Section for Chemical Sciences. At the time when she wanted to receive her
doctorate from the Bucharest Faculty of Chemistry, she met with strong opposition from respected Romanian chemist
Costin D. NeniţescuCostin D. Neniţescu was a prominent Romanian chemist, and a professor at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest...
, the dean of the faculty. She was forced instead to present her thesis to Cristofor Simionescu and Ioan Ursu at the University of Iasi, where she met with complete success.
She frequently accompanied her husband on official visits abroad, and it was during the state visit to the People's Republic of China in June 1971, where she noticed how Chairman
Mao ZedongMao Zedong was a Chinese revolutionary, political theorist and Communist leader. He led the People's Republic of China from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976...
's wife,
Jiang QingJiang Qing was the pseudonym that was used by Chinese leader Mao Zedong's last wife and major Chinese Communist Party power figure. She went by the stage name Lan Ping during her acting career, and was known by various other names during her life...
had her own position of real power in the state, that Elena's remarkable rise was given a Chinese fillip. In July 1971 she was elected a member of the Central Commission on Socio-Economic Forecasting, and in July 1972 she became a full member of the Romanian Communist Party Central Committee. She was elected a member of the Executive Committee in June 1973, after being proposed by
Emil BodnăraşEmil Bodnăraş was an influential Romanian Communist politician, an army officer, and a Soviet agent...
. In November 1974, at the 11th party congress, she was made a member of the (renamed) political executive committee and in January 1977 became a member of the highest party body, the Permanent Bureau of the Political Executive Committee. In March 1980, she was made a First Deputy Prime Minister.
Romanians hold Elena Ceauşescu responsible for the elimination of birth control that created crisis conditions during the 1970s and 1980s, resulting in a flood of unwanted infants, babies, and children that were housed in substandard state operated orphanages throughout the country. She also headed the State health commission, which denied the existence of
AIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus ....
in Romania, leading to one of the largest outbreaks (including pediatric cases) in the western world. She was also responsible for the destruction of churches and the food rationing that took place in Romania in the 1980s.
Fall from power
Elena Ceauşescu fled with her husband on December 22, 1989, after the events in
TimişoaraTimişoara , also known as "The City of Athletes", is a city in the Banat region of western Romania...
led to the Romanian Revolution, but she and her husband were captured. At the show trial that took place, she answered only a few questions since her husband took a protective role, asked her to calm down and shook his head each time her mouth opened to reply in anger. On the afternoon of December 25, 1989, in
TârgovişteTârgovişte is a city in the Dâmboviţa county of Romania. It is situated on the right bank of the Ialomiţa River. , it had an estimated population of 89,000. One village, Priseaca, is administered by the city.-Name:...
they were executed. She was almost 74 years old. She was outlived by her almost 100-year old mother, her brother Gheorghe Petrescu (also an important figure in the party) and her three children:
ValentinValentin Ceauşescu is a Romanian physicist.Valentin is the son of former President of Romania Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife, Elena Ceauşescu...
(b. 1948),
ZoiaZoia Ceauşescu was a Romanian mathematician, the daughter of Communist leader Nicolae and his wife, Elena Ceauşescu....
(1949 - 2006) and
NicuNicu Ceauşescu Nicu Ceauşescu Nicu Ceauşescu ( (September 1, 1951–September 26 1996) was the third child of Romanian leader Nicolae and Elena Ceauşescu. He was a close associate of his father's political regime and considered the President's heir apparent.-Life during Communism:...
(1951 - 1996), who was also a very important member of the Romanian Communist Party.
In popular culture
She was sometimes nicknamed "Codoi", referring to her alleged mispronunciation of the name of the chemical compound
CO2Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom. It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure and exists in Earth's atmosphere in this state...
, being mocked by many, including an official during her show trial. "Codoi" also means "big tail" in
RomanianRomanian or Daco-Romanian is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova. It has official status in Romania, Republic of Moldova, and the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in Serbia...
, therefore the comic effect created by her alleged mispronunciation.
Publications
- Research work on synthesis and characterization of macromolecular compounds, Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, 1974
- Stereospecific Polymerization of Isoprene, 1982
- Nouvelles Recherches Dans Le Domaine Des Composes Macromoleculaire, 1984
- Dostizheniia v khimii i tekhnologii polimerov, 1988
External links