In early 1990, shortly after Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was deposed and executed in one of the many revolutions which swept socialist regimes from Eastern Europe, the rest of the world began to know the truth about one of the most isolated countries of the region.
Among the revelations made then, none shocked more than the images of thousands of orphanages all over the country: an estimated number of 100 and 170 thousand children were kept in foul institutions, with lousy health and hygienic conditions, forsaken by the government and practically estranged from every human contact. Many of them developed psychological disorders and were infected by diseases such as hepatitis B and AIDS. Today, almost 30 years later, the survivors are fighting for justice.
When dictator Nicolae Ceausescu seized power in Romania, in 1965, his country was poor even by Eastern European standards. Everything was yet to be done in that which was one of the most obscure countries of the socialist bloc, and the grand plans of the new leader for the future of the nation involved promoting a quick population growth. His idea, based on the economic tenets of Stalinism, seemed simple: the younger the Romanians, the bigger the workforce and the production – and, consequently, the more richness would be available to the state.
