Shot Pillar Monument - Cluj Romania

Jewish Journeys

It is 12 years since I last went on a Jewish Journey. It is a special mix of learning, experiencing and finding depth in Jewish history. It is also a peculiarly unique micro-community whose make-up is warm and convivial.

If you have ever read one of my blogs, you will know that I don't write what happened, or chart a narrative. Instead, I tend to speak of my own response to an event or visit. 

Here I start with a brief introduction to the Romanian revolution of 1989, but the coming blogs will be less informative.

Shot Pillar Monument

We start at the Shot Pillar Monument which commemorates the 26 people killed in the Uprising of December 1989. As usual, Jeremy's enthusiasm, deep knowledge and ability to tell a story has us enthralled from the beginning.

 This description is taken from the Internet.

Sculptor Liviu Mocan aimed to create an exchange of communication between the shot silhouettes, 'like a tandem, a dance, a tango between forms, that would relate to each other and form a family, not a group of singularities'. Holes can be observed on the surface of the figures, meant to symbolise the bullets that were shot at people. The idea for the monument took shape together with Aurel Coltor, the current president of the Association for the Truth about the Revolution.

A little bit of context

Between 1974 and 1989 Nicolae Ceaușescu led the bloodiest and most brutal of communist regimes, in Romania. Between 1949 and 1952 he was instrument in leading the communist party in their collectivisation of Romania. During this time there were 80,000 peasant arrests, of which 30,000 received prison sentences. Private land and farming facilities were systematically appropriated across the country for the state.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After Ceaușescu came to power in 1965, he set about making huge changes. for instance, changing the name of the Romanian Worker's Party to the Communist Party of Romania, thereby declaring the country a socialist republic rather than a people's republic. His seemingly small changes had massive significance and he came to rule the country with an iron fist.

He was initially popular because of his independent foreign policy and apparent stance against the Soviet Union. He eased censorship, left the Warsaw Pact, and refused to take part in the invasion of Czechoslovakia. However a series of despotic and ruthless laws led to his rising unpopularity. For instance, he banned abortion, leading to a huge rise in child abandonment.

By 1987, the populace started to rise up against his draconian laws. Tens of thousands of workers marched against the regime's policies on rationing - food, electricity, heating. Arrests were made and marchers were tortured and received beatings and prison sentences.

By late 1989, communism had been falling across the Warsaw Pact countries, leaving Romania as the last standing communist regime. Romania's uprising began in the city of Timisoara after the local pastor, László Tőkés, took a stand. Students began demonstrating. Eventually demonstrations spread throughout the country.

I saw this dead pigeon whose absence of a body, and only wings remaining, seemed to render him (her?) as an angel.

In Cluj, 26 demonstrators lost their lives in the fighting. 

While addressing the crowd, Ceaușescu tried to appease them with a small rise in benefits. They refused to listen. Ceaușescu and his wife took refuge inside a government building. They eventually made it to the roof of the building where they were rescued by a helicopter.

Once en route to safety, the helicopter pilot landed and ordered them to disembark. They were eventually picked up by a passing stranger who may or may not have realised who his passengers were. However, they were eventually captured, tried and executed.

 Other pictures on the square