Ilie Ceauşescu

Ilie Ceauşescu (8 June 1926-1 October 2002) was a Romanian army general and communist politician who served as deputy Defence Minister of Communist Romania during the rule of his older brother, Nicolae Ceauşescu.

Ilie's military and political career was helped by Nicolae; between 1980 and 1989, he was a member of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party, and, in 1982-1989, the deputy Defence Minister.

Ilie Ceauşescu was also a historian, and he influenced Nicolae in establishing Protochronism as Romania's official historiography and an important part of the national propaganda system. [Verdery, p.218] For instance, he claimed that the Romanian people have been always the same since time immemorial, being very little influenced by other people (Romans, Slavs, Mongols) etc.:

"It it is well known that the Romanian people remained always the same, consolidated, unitary and homogeneous in the hearth it had always occupied." [Ilie Ceauşescu, in Verdery, p.249]

After the 1989 Romanian Revolution and the execution of Nicolae Ceauşescu, he retired from public life, and died 13 years later at the age of 76. ["Obituaries; in brief: Ilie Ceausescu", The Globe and Mail, October 4, 2002, p.R15] At the time, it was revealed that Ilie Ceauşescu was involved in a series of transactions between the United States and Romania, which consisted of selling Soviet military technology. The deal was worth $40 million, part of which was deposited in Swiss bank accounts. ["U.S. Paid Romania for Soviet Arms, Report Says", New York Times, May 6, 1990, p.22] __NOTOC__

Works

English

*"The entire people's war for the homeland's defence with the Romanians: From times of yore to present days", Military Publishing House, Bucharest, 1980
*"Transylvania, an ancient Romanian land", Military Publishing House, Bucharest, 1983
*"23 August 1944: 200 days spared from World War II", Editura Ştiinţifică şi Enciclopedică, 1984
*"From the Dacian state to socialist Romania: 2,000 years of statehood", Military Publishing House, Bucharest, 1985
*"A Turning Point in World War II", East European Monographs, Boulder, 1985 ISBN 0880330848
*"Independence - a fundamental aim of the Romanian people: Traditions, present features, prospects" Military Publishing House, Bucharest, 1987
*"Romanian Military Doctrine", East European Monographs, Boulder, 1988 ISBN 0880331356

Romanian

* "Transilvania: Străvechi pamînt românesc", Ed. Militară, Bucharest, 1984 (with Florin Constantiniu and Mihail E. Ionescu)
* "Mobilitate socială", Ed. Academiei, Bucharest, 1973

Notes

References

*Katherine Verdery, "National Ideology under Socialism. Identity and Cultural Politics in Ceauşescu's Romania", University of California Press, Berkeley, 1991 ISBN 0-520-20358-5