In Europe

rate was to be raised artificially.
    ‘Back then we didn't have all that many material worries, it was more the moral pressure we lived under. For example: I once quoted Marx during a meeting. That was a real blunder: we were allowed to quote only from the collected works of Ceauşsescu. When I walked out of the room, a colleague came up to me. He shouted loudly, so everyone could hear: “Cezar Tabarcea, why were you drinking again before you came here?” That man saved me. Because, after doing that, he could write in his report to the Securitate: “Cezar Tabarcea came to the meeting drunk, and did not realise the inappropriateness of his comments.” That, in the situation of the day, was a very great favour.
    ‘Yes, we all went through a great deal together at the institute. Of course we always taught the mandatory subjects, but we were able toinsert our own irony in the margins, and the students never failed to pick up on that.
    ‘The revolution of December 1989 was not unexpected. Why do I say that? Purely on the basis of my own feelings. That autumn, I suddenly sensed a great excitement among my students. And then came the Christmas holidays. They always start here in the middle of the week, and the students usually begin going home the weekend before. So I was used to presiding over almost empty classrooms during those last few days. That last Wednesday, I was actually hoping I wouldn't have to give a lecture. But to my utter amazement the auditorium was packed to the brim. Between passages of my lecture on grammar, I wondered aloud what was going on. After the lecture a student came up to me and said: “Are you with us?” I said: “You all know that my existence revolves exclusively around every one of you, so I'm afraid I don't understand your question.” Then they all came up and stood around me and sang to me. That was on 20 December, three days after the massacre at Timişsoara. There was a Hungarian preacher there, László Tökés, who had stood up for the rights of the Hungarian minority. When the Securitate tried to close down his church by force, a revolt broke out. The Securitate shot and killed dozens of demonstrators. Everyone was furious – and maybe that was the idea. It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that certain elements within the Securitate were deliberately trying to bring about Ceauşsescu's fall.
    ‘That same afternoon I was to give my final lecture of the term, and again I was hoping no one would turn up. But once more, the auditorium was full. Outside, it had begun to snow. The students came with tea and sweets, they started singing Christmas songs, which is the tradition here. After that we all listened to Radio Free Europe, and we all wept over Timişsoara. When my students left I made them go out in small groups, there was a ban on public gatherings, we had to be very careful.
    ‘Then, the next morning, something interesting happened: the heating in our flat, which had been shut down for weeks because of an energy shortage, was suddenly working again. There was even hot water, and my wife began washing clothes right away. I sat there watching TV, the Bulgarian channel, because all kinds of things were going on there as well. I remember complaining: “The rest of Eastern Europe is up in arms, but there's nothing going on here!”
    ‘A little later, though, it started happening here too: a big crowd had been assembled at the central-committee building for the traditional cheering of Ceauşsescu, and all of a sudden thousands of voices began chanting “Ti-mi-şsoa-ra”. I couldn't believe my ears, it was all being broadcast live on our own Rumanian television. Nothing of the kind had ever been seen before. People shouted: “Ceauşsescu, we are the people!” and “Down with the murderers!” We saw Ceauşsescu looking around in disbelief, he was speechless, and finally a security man pulled him in from the balcony. Then the screen went blank. Total chaos had broken out in the square.
    ‘We went down there. My wife got into an argument with a policeman, and he began to cry, saying: “Madam, my daughter is out there in that crowd!” Later we all went to the state television complex, the tanks had their guns aimed at the crowd. I still remember clearly how, at a certain point, a soldier took off his helmet and threw it on the ground. The tanks turned their guns away from the crowd. The people started climbing onto the tanks, giving the soldiers tea and bread.