Selected text
When the Revolution of 1989 started, I was also downtown because my wife taught ballet there. When we heard all the noise, we went outside. We stayed in the central square of Brasov, and we ended up kneeling with the others and singing. Then there was a column that started to march towards the headquarters of the Securitate. By that time I worked in Brasov, and I was very surprised to see in the column some colleagues who were known as fervent activists shouting in the same column; we smiled at each other and went on.
The column split in two, and we reached the back gates of the Securitate, and my wife and I were in the first row, which we hadn’t at all intended. I remember that the gates were opened, and, I’ll never forget, there was a poor wretched soldier, not a Securitate, on guard, he didn’t even speak Romanian very well, he was a Hungarian. He was scared to death, and he didn’t say anything. And someone rushed at him shouting. I stopped him, I told him that he was just a simple soldier and that he should leave him alone. I think I was pretty convincing because they let him go, all pale and barely standing. When we entered the courtyard, others were already inside; they had entered through the other gate. Somebody started to throw out papers from the offices. We stayed there for a while, and then we went home. We weren’t afraid of shootings, the shootings started only later that night, when they broadcast on the radio that people should go downtown to guard I don’t know what, and they were shot at; it was a simple trap, because the revolution needed heroes.
The column split in two, and we reached the back gates of the Securitate, and my wife and I were in the first row, which we hadn’t at all intended. I remember that the gates were opened, and, I’ll never forget, there was a poor wretched soldier, not a Securitate, on guard, he didn’t even speak Romanian very well, he was a Hungarian. He was scared to death, and he didn’t say anything. And someone rushed at him shouting. I stopped him, I told him that he was just a simple soldier and that he should leave him alone. I think I was pretty convincing because they let him go, all pale and barely standing. When we entered the courtyard, others were already inside; they had entered through the other gate. Somebody started to throw out papers from the offices. We stayed there for a while, and then we went home. We weren’t afraid of shootings, the shootings started only later that night, when they broadcast on the radio that people should go downtown to guard I don’t know what, and they were shot at; it was a simple trap, because the revolution needed heroes.
Period
Year
1989
Location
Brasov
Romania
Interview
Stefan Guth
Tag(s)