Communist Terror in Romania: Gheorghiu-Dej and the Police State, 1948-1965 [Hardcover]

Dennis Deletant (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0312219040 | ISBN-13: 978-0312219048 | Publication Date: February 5, 2000

This is the first general single-volume history in English of Romania under Gheorghiu-Dej, its first Communist ruler and predecessor of Nicolae Ceausescu. Based extensively on Securitate and Party documents inaccessible under the Communist regime and consulted since 1990 by only a handful of scholars, the book focuses on the use of terror by the Communists and the attempt to transform Romanian society totally through Communist rule. The Ceausescu regime, for all its appalling abuses of human dignity, never repeated the tactics of mass arrests and wholesale deportations that were a feature of most of the Gheorghiu-Dej era. The book provides a case-study in totalitarian methods of change, giving the reader an idea of what it was like to live in the Romania of Gheorghiu-Dej.

Editorial Reviews

Review

[Deletant] adds useful details and emphasizes some fundamental truths about the Communist regime. American Historical Review

About the Author

Dennis Deletant is Professor of Romanian Studies at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 366 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (February 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312219040
• ISBN-13: 978-0312219048
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,552,340 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MARCO'S ANALYSIS OF BOOK, June 2, 2000

By 

Marco Toda - See all my reviews

This review is from: Communist Terror in Romania: Gheorghiu-Dej and the Police State, 1948-1965 (Hardcover)

An excellent summary of the Communist reign of terror in Romania during the Gheorghiu-Dej era! This book is a detailed and comprehensive compendium of specific events that enable the reader to understand the magnitude of Communist repression and human rights violations in post-World War II Romania. The footnotes are numerous and at times lengthy, but they nevertheless provide valuable background information to the issues discussed.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Nearly Forgotten Stalinist, August 21, 2007

By 

Roger Crowley "amateur historian" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Communist Terror in Romania: Gheorghiu-Dej and the Police State, 1948-1965 (Hardcover)

Very little has been written about this brutal Romanian communist tyrant who, with Soviet "counselors" sitting at his side, thoroughly embraced the Stalinist style of repression and implemented massive gulag-type projects to keep the people too busy and tired to criticize his regime. Even after Stalin's death, when Khrushchev was promoting de-Stalinization, Dej held tenaciously to Stalin's techniques, including show trials and the execution of political opponents. His successor, another tyrant (Ceausescu), wanted to portray himself as a more "humane" dictator and was partially responsible for burying Dej's story. But Dennis Deletant brings Dej back on stage and places his pattern of communist terror in the spotlight.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I am deeply impressed, June 7, 2010

By 

Bogdan Brebenel (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Communist Terror in Romania: Gheorghiu-Dej and the Police State, 1948-1965 (Hardcover)

I did not have the chance to learn at school the true history of the country I was born in. The communist regime twisted the events giving them a totally different meaning in order to boost and justify their political agenda. Eventually, the events of december 1989 gave romanian people at least the chance to read and understand what really happened after the soviet occupation started in 1944. I was deeply impressed about how brutal the regime eliminated the elite of the country, ousted the Monarchy and transformed Romania into a soviet puppet-state for decades to come. I can now explain what happened to us. Thanks, Mr. Deletant!