LIFE UNDER THE DICTATOR

I imagine you'd say I have a fascination with communism and what happened here, under the dictator Ceausescu. I read a lot of things and wanted to share a few things I recently learned. In the mid-1980's, this what life was like for many "average Romanians."


While we in America were going to super-sized grocery stores filled with everything we could imagine, this was what you did here if you wanted to buy food....

• Many foods were rationed including meat, bread, sugar, and vegetable oil ...shortages ensured empty shelves in grocery stores

• Long lines would immediately form whenever there was a food delivery, however poor the quality or amount available

While we in America had unlimited access to electricity, gasoline, heat and air conditioning, this is what you needed to remember about energy here...

• Gas was rationed and often people were only allowed to drive their car (if lucky enough to have one) every-other day

• Electricity consumption was severely curtailed - you could only use one 40 watt bulb in a room

• In many cities, all power was cut off at 10 PM each night

• Only one in every three street lamps was switched on - often less

• In addition power cuts played havoc, even disrupting industry and hospitals - operating theatres would be plunged into darkness and life support machines would fail

• Fuel shortages lead to ambulances not attending emergencies if the patient was over 70

• Heating was minimal and gas pressure was often so low that cooking was virtually impossible

• Baby hospitals were often the first to lose heat in the winter, causing babies to literally freeze to death

While we in America were debating the moral issues surrounding reproduction, Romanian women were thinking about...

• All women in factories were subjected to monthly gynaecological examinations to ensure that the laws were obeyed

• From 1983 it became the duty of every Romanian woman to produce a minimum of 5 children

• Childless and unmarried women were subjected to higher taxes while women producing larger numbers of offspring were declared "Heroine Mothers"

• The results are well known - the unwanted children of the orphanages and horrific deaths from back street abortions