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village school until the age of 11, when he left for

Bucharest. Journalist Cătălin Gruia claimed in 2007
that he ran away from his supposedly extremely
religious, abusive and strict father. He initially lived
with his sister, Niculina Rusescu, and then became an
apprentice shoemaker.[9]

He worked in the workshop of Alexandru Săndulescu,

a shoemaker who was an active member in the then-
illegal Communist Party.[9] Ceaușescu was soon
involved in the Communist Party activities (becoming
a member in early 1932), but as a teenager he was
given only small tasks.[9] He was first arrested in 1933,
at the age of 15, for street fighting during a strike and
again, in 1934, first for collecting signatures on a
petition protesting the trial of railway workers and
twice more for other similar activities.[10] By the mid-
1930s, he had been in missions in Bucharest, Craiova,
Câmpulung and Râmnicu Vâlcea, being arrested
several times.[11]

The profile file from the secret police, Siguranța

Statului, named him "a dangerous Communist
agitator" and "distributor of Communist and
antifascist propaganda materials".[11] For these
charges, he was convicted on 6 June 1936 by the
Brașov Tribunal to 2 years in prison, an additional 6
months for contempt of court, and one year of forced
residence in Scornicești

Nicolae Ceaușescu
 Official photo of Ceaușescu from 1965
General Secretary of the Romanian Communist
Party
In office
22 March 1965 – 22 December 1989
Preceded by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Succeeded by Position abolished
1st President of Romania
In office
28 March 1974 – 22 December 1989
 Manea Mănescu
 Ilie Verdeț
Prime Minister
 Constantin Dăscălescu

Preceded by Position established

National Salvation Front Council
Succeeded by
(interim)
President of the State Council
In office
9 December 1967 – 22 December 1989
 Ion Gheorghe Maurer
 Manea Mănescu
Prime Minister  Ilie Verdeț
 Constantin Dăscălescu
Preceded by Chivu Stoica
Succeeded by Office abolished
Additional positions
Personal details
26 January 1918
Born Scornicești, Olt County, Kingdom
of Romania
25 December 1989 (aged 71)
Died Târgoviște, Socialist Republic of
Romania
Cause of death Execution by firing squad
Ghencea Cemetery, Bucharest,
Resting place
Romania
Nationality Romanian
Romanian Communist Party (1932-
Political party
1989)
Elena Petrescu
Spouse(s)
(m. 1947; died 1989)
 Valentin
 Zoia
Children
 Nicu

Cult of personality
Known for Systematization
Austerity Policy
Signature
Military service
Allegiance  Romania
Branch/service Romanian Army
Years of service 1950–1954
Rank
Lieutenant general
Battles/wars Romanian Revolution 
Criminal conviction
Conviction(s) Genocide
Trial and execution of Nicolae and
Trial
Elena Ceaușescu
Criminal
Capital punishment
penalty
Details
 Victims Romanian dissidents

Nicolae Ceaușescu (/tʃaʊˈʃɛskuː/, Romanian: [nikoˈla.e tʃe̯ a.uˈʃesku] ( listen); 5 February [O.S. 23

January] 1918[1][2] – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He
was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second
and last Communist leader of Romania. He was also the country's head of state from 1967,
serving as President of the State Council and from 1974 concurrently as President of the
Republic, until his overthrow and execution in the Romanian Revolution in December 1989, part
of a series of anti-Communist and anti-Soviet uprisings in Eastern Europe that year.

Born in 1918 in Scornicești, Olt County, Ceaușescu was a member of the Romanian Communist
youth movement. Ceaușescu rose up through the ranks of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej's Socialist
government and, upon Gheorghiu-Dej's death in 1965, he succeeded to the leadership of the
Romanian Communist Party as general secretary.[3]

Upon his rise to power, he eased press censorship and openly condemned the Warsaw Pact
invasion of Czechoslovakia in his speech on 21 August 1968, which resulted in a surge in
popularity. However, the resulting period of stability was brief as his government soon became
totalitarian and was considered the most repressive in the Eastern Bloc at the time. His secret
police, the Securitate, was responsible for mass surveillance as well as severe repression and
human rights abuses within the country, and controlled the media and press. Economic
mismanagement due to failed oil ventures during the 1970s led to skyrocketing foreign debts for
Romania. In 1982, Ceaușescu directed the government to export much of the country's
agricultural and industrial production in an effort to repay these debts. The shortages that
followed drastically lowered living standards, leading to heavy rationing of food, water, oil, heat,
electricity, medicine and other necessities. His cult of personality experienced unprecedented
elevation, followed by extensive nepotism and the intense deterioration of foreign relations, even
with the Soviet Union.