This article presents the mechanisms used to integrate higher education graduates in socialist economic units. The case-study referring to the ‘23 August’ factory in Bucharest mainly relies on the files of Securitate, and those of the economic section of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party. It also outlines the practical difficulties faced by various groups of higher education graduates – engineers, economic staff, human sciences graduates – as well as their efficiency within the communist industrial framework. The study combines the description and analysis of numerical allocation, the responsibilities and the results of the activities carried out by higher education graduates.
„Tipografic Majuscul‟ („Uppercase Print‟), Radu Jude‟s latest feature, is the story of a highschool student who, during the communist regime, had the courage to write protest messages on his hometown walls. In 1981, Mugur Călinescu, 16 at the time, wrote slogans against the oppressive and dictatorial government which impelled the Secret Romanian Police („Securitate‟) to open two files regarding this subject matter. The film is an adaptation of Gianina Cărbunariu‟s documentary play presenting excerpts from those two files, „The Panel‟ and „The Student‟. Radu Jude‟s film impeccably knits cold dialogues with excerpts of propaganda footage from Romanian TV programmes of the time, creating a discrepancy between the cruel communism reality and the images presented on the National Television. The „Securitate‟ arrested and investigated Mugur Călinescu, serving him each time during the interrogations an unavoidable coffee which was speculated to be poisonous and connected to his death in 1985.
This article discusses the institutional attempts to deal with the archival legacy of the Romanian communist security police, Securitate (1945–1989), during the democratic transition in post-communist Romania. The first part draws a short outline of Securitate’s history and activities as one of the main power instruments of the communist dictatorship. The second part of the article shows the development of political attitudes towards institutional attempts to deal with the communist past in the post-communist Romania. This paper describes the reluctant attitude of the ruling circles in the 1990s towards the opening of the Securitate archives and the lustration attempts. The formation of the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives (Consiliul Național pentru Studierea Arhivelor Securității, CNSAS, legally established 1999) hardly changed the general situation: the archives of the Securitate were transferred to CNSAS with significant delays, and the 2008 ruling of the constitutional court limited its lustration competences. The establishment of the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile (Institutul de Investigare a Crimelor Comunismului şi Memoria Exilului Românesc, IICCMER, established 2005) and formation in 2006 of the Presidential Commission for the Analysis of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania led by renowned political scientist Vladimir Tismăneanu together with the research and legal activities of CNSAS contributed to a broader evaluation of the communist regime (although its impact seems to be limited). The paper refers also to the public debate, sparked by the activity and the final report published by Tismăneanu’s commission.
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