Ceauşescu family

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Nicolae Ceauşescu, who led Romania from 1965 to 1989, had a large family, several members of which wielded influence in Communist Romania. Below are given outlines of his immediate family members' lives, with links to those who have separate articles about them.

Nicolae's father was Andruţă Ceauşescu (1886-1969), descendant of a family of shepherds from Polovragi, in Vrancea County.^[1] An alcoholic^[2] who beat his wife and children,^[3] Andruţă Ceauşescu owned a modest house in Scorniceşti, Olt County. A supporter of Ion Mihalache and the Peasants' Party, he was for a while mayor of Scorniceşti.^[4]

Nicolae's mother was Alexandrina (née Lixandra) (1888-1970), descendant of an officer in Tudor Vladimirescu's army.^[5] She was a very religious woman, and after his parents died, Nicolae Ceauşescu, an atheist, ordered that a church be built in their memory in Scorniceşti; their portraits still adorn its walls.

In order of birth, their children were:

• Niculina Ceauşescu, born in 1914. She was the first in her family to leave for Bucharest, seeking work. There, she kept Nicolae in her home in 1929 when he started work as a shoemaker's apprentice.

• Marin Ceauşescu (1916-1989).

• Nicolae Ceauşescu (1918-1989). In 1946, he married Elena Petrescu. They had three children:
  • Valentin Ceauşescu (b. 1948) (adopted).
  • Zoia Ceauşescu (1949-2006).
  • Nicu Ceauşescu (1951-1996).

• Florea Ceauşescu (2 August 1922–21 October 2006). After the Romanian Communist Party became legal in 1944, he worked for the Bucharest party newspaper, Steagul Roşu. Later, he moved up to Scînteia. He closely resembled Nicolae, with whom he was sometimes confused.

• Nicolae Andruţă Ceauşescu (1924-2000). Supposedly, his drunken father declared his name as Nicolae at town hall, despite having another son by that name.^[6] Once his brother came to power, his father's name was made his middle name in order to distinguish the two. At one time, he was chief of cadres at the Ministry of the Interior. Due to a disagreement with his brother, he was later sent to head the Securitate officers' school in Băneasa. He was arrested during the Romanian Revolution of 1989 by Aurel Ceciu, one of the people he had promoted from that school.^[7] Nicolae Andruţă Ceauşescu had two children, Cristian and Claudia.

• Ilie Ceauşescu (1926-2002).

• Maria Ceauşescu, later Maria Agachi, worked at Electromagnetica, eventually becoming section chief at that factory due to her family connections.^[8]

• Elena Ceauşescu, later Elena Bărbulescu (1928-2001), was a history teacher at Scorniceşti High School. Due to her famous brother,^[9] she rapidly advanced in her career, quickly becoming head of her school and then school inspector for the whole of Olt County. She had two daughters, Eugenia and Nadia, and a son, Emil, who held a leadership position at the Ministry of the Interior in Olt County before 1989.^[10]

• Ion Ceauşescu taught at the Agronomic Institute of Bucharest and headed the Academy of Agricultural Sciences. After the Revolution of 1989, he established a firm and wrote horticultural works.

Additionally, one child did not survive to adulthood.

Nicolae's parents had 18 grandchildren: 7 boys and 11 girls.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• (Romanian) Paula Mihailov Chiciuc, Daniela Sontica, Loreta Popa, Costin Anghel, "Clanul - Arborele genealogic al Ceauşeştilor" ("The Clan - the Ceauşescus' Family Tree"), Jurnalul Naţional, 22 November 2006.
• (Romanian) Toma Roman, Jr, "La taifas - Nepotul lui Ceauşescu povesteşte", Jurnalul Naţional, August 7, 2006.
• Biographical sketches of the Ceauşescu clan, René de Flers, Radio Free Europe Background Report/135, 27 July 1984
• (French) "Le dictateur avait cinq frères et trois sœurs", at La Roumanie de France
• (Romanian) Dana Piciu, "Între ştranduri şi fagul lui Miu haiducu' ", Jurnalul Naţional, July 29, 2006
• (Romanian) Marius Oprea, "Armaghedonul spionilor", from Ziua, January 31, 2005
• (Romanian) Petre Dogaru, "Poetul Ceauşescu „s-a format” la Academia Frunze", Prezent, October 23, 2007