Lucian Ionică
In the troubled days of December 1989, days of revolt against a political regime, many people of Timişoara were brave enough to go out into the streets to take photographs in places where the protests took place, the authorities were contested and the repressive forces were confronted.
Whether they were professional photographers or aficionados or only took occasional family or holiday snapshots, they all wanted the same thing: to keep a record of the events, so that people should know what happened. Maybe they thought their photos would be more convincing and more revealing than any stories told later, no matter how passionately. They must have considered it their duty to show the others the events they were involved in. The events were so extraordinary, so unbelievable for those living in a totalitarian regime, that what they saw had to be recorded. For that, however, they needed not only a camera, but also films, basic technical knowledge and a certain skill, because taking photos under those trying circumstances was not without risk.
‘I took the photos in great fear’, declared Szasz Istvan — the man who most probably took the first photographs of the Revolution — in a yet unpublished interview. ‘I took them in secret, that’s why they are fuzzy or the exposure is not so good. People were throwing me suspicious glances. Why was I taking photos? I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. The protesters could have taken me for someone working for the Securitate, and the Securitate could have asked me why I wanted to record something like that.’
This is what Constantin Duma, who was in Opera Square (today Victory Square) on 20 December, says: ‘At some point, I noticed some people in front of me, a bit to the left… I took their photos. Not close-ups, because they were standing with their back to me. They turned around only when someone shouted, “Hey, this guy’s shooting photos!” I didn’t have time to explain, they attacked me viciously… they gave me a beating I’ll never forget. They kicked and punched me. Luckily for me, a group of workers from Electrotimiş were standing not far from us. One of them recognised me and told them to stop […]. They stopped, but they wanted to take my parka. You can easily guess why — they were afraid I worked for the Securitate. So this is why it was so hard to take photos those days.’ (1)
Taking photos also involved another kind of risk and a great responsibility: the images could have fallen into the hands of the Securitate and turned into accusations against those photographed: ‘You could involuntarily have caused trouble to who knows how many people. […] This is why the photos taken on 20 December and especially the previous days do not provide clear portraits of the demonstrators. Let me say it again: I didn’t want anybody to suffer any repercussions or spend years in jail because of me. If the Revolution had been crushed, a photo taken in those days could have meant life imprisonment, even the death sentence. If the Revolution had failed and those photos had fallen into the hands of the Securitate…’ (2)
On 20 December, as the protesters approached the town centre, Mircea Radu, standing on the steps of the Opera House, whose balcony was still empty, started filming: ‘I only managed to take a 20-second frame, because some guy shouted at me, “We don’t want to be filmed! Take his camera!” Another man, who was standing next to me, said, “Enough!” and pushed me against the Opera House doors. “Who are you?” he asked me. “Show me your ID!” I had thought about that, so I had my papers with me. He checked them and when he saw I worked at Întreprinderea Cinematografică, he shouted: “He’s one of us!” The others kept shouting, “We don’t want to be filmed!” A guy named Duşoiu told me, “I’ll get you out of here.” The people were terribly agitated.’ (3)
The same day, 20 December, Constantin Duma together with Mircea Radu tried to reach one of the balconies in the Opera Square buildings, to get a better angle and capture the whole the crowd. They knocked at several doors, but they were refused. The reason they both acknowledged was that the people were afraid of the consequences they might suffer had they let them take photos from their balconies.
Other people, however, reacted differently, as Liviu Butoi remembers: ‘I never thought it could be a problem. Some even encouraged me to take photos. I didn’t feel I had to hide, on the contrary.’ (4)
On 21 December, Constantin Duma and Mircea Radu got lucky. A family of academics who lived in a building close to the former Mihai Eminescu Bookshop let them take shots from their balcony. From there they captured significant images, both photos and films. Next day, they managed to reach the balcony of the Politehnica “Rectorat” building.
A few days before, on 17 December, around noon, stage director Ştefan Iordănescu took photos of the trucks burning in the County Council area. He did that undisturbed, although, as he says, he felt as if he was ‘in a bag guarded by troops’. However, when he reached the soldiers in front of the National Bank, he was more precautious and hung his camera on his wife’s shoulder, as she was dressed in a fur coat.
In the same place and on the same day, Mircea Radu hid his camera under his clothes and left only the lens outside. As he was walking on Narciselor Street (today Martir Leontina Bânciu Street), near Neptun Bridge, a soldier noticed he was taking photos and approached him threateningly, saying, ‘Leave now, or I’ll stick my bayonet into your throat!’ On 19 December, being on duty at Capitol Cinema, Mircea Radu photographed the troops through an opening in the curtains. ‘Come to think of it now, I could have taken more shots, but back then you were so afraid you hid from your own colleagues.’ (5)
On Monday, 18 December, you had to be very careful if you wanted to take photos without drawing attention to yourself. The demonstrators had been shot at the day before. Doru Botoiu adopted a clever stratagem: ‘I was with a student in the fifth grade, whom I tutored. He had a nylon bag. I pretended to rummage around in it, removed the camera and took photos.’ (6) He got into trouble only once, at a military checkpoint somewhere in the town centre, on 22 December, ‘when a soldier shouted at me, “Why are you taking photos? Stop it right now!” The soldiers were irritated; they didn’t like it that I had a camera.” (7) However, in other places he was met with a different reaction: ‘I have several group photos from the crowd around the County Council. When I photographed the soldiers carrying riot shields, I also tried to capture the poster on the building wall behind them. They did not react at all, although I was only two or three yards away from them, maybe because there were thousands of people there or they were shocked at what was going on. Who knows what they felt in their hearts? After all, they were people like us.” (8)
Technically speaking, taking photographs under those circumstances was not an easy job. In those days, cameras could not be adjusted automatically like today, when anyone can take a good photo. Back then, you had to be familiar with the diaphragm and the shutter speed and to estimate the light intensity. Then you had to adjust the camera manually, including the distance to the subject. Moreover, in those tense moments, the photographers had to act quickly, so their task was twice as difficult. Some images may not be technically perfect, but they still show what happened, including the strained, even threatening atmosphere.
Many of the confrontations between the protesters and the repressive forces took place after dark, when taking a photo was quite a challenge. Using the flash was obviously out of the question. Puiu Lucian, a photographer working for the Children’s Hospital, was inside the hospital at 9 p.m. on 17 December. He took a photo with the flash on, trying to capture the crowd in the street. No sooner had he taken it that a machine-gun barked in the air from an armoured vehicle at the roundabout. It was a warning shot.
Because of the above-mentioned difficulties, only three night images from the first days of the Revolution are known to exist. They were taken in St. Mary Square, on 16 December, by engineer Ion Roman, a passionate photographer and a member of the Timişoara Photo Club and the Fine Art Photographers Association of Romania. He lived in the building that housed the Reformed Church, where pastor László Tökés served. His windows opened to the tramlines. ‘After the people had started chanting and the first confrontations had taken place, I thought I should take some snapshots anyway. It was about 5.30 in the afternoon and it was already dark. Luckily for me, I had a good camera, Canon AE-1, f/1.4 lens, but the film speed was only 100 ASA. Somebody asked me later if I had turned on the flash! I had to overdevelop the film in two baths to make it 800 ASA. Also the exposure time had to be longer, about 4 seconds. I couldn’t use the tripod, because I would have been seen, so I leant the camera on the wall. I scratched it, unfortunately. I opened the window a little and I took photos. I live on the first floor. Then I heard shouts: “Shut the window, get inside!” I took a snap of the pharmacy, where there were rows of soldiers, and then I shifted my camera towards the bridge, where I saw another row of soldiers. You can see them all in my photos, but you can’t recognise anybody because either my camera or the soldiers moved. I realised afterwards these were the only photos taken that moment’ — which was about 6 p.m. (9) At about 9.30 p.m., Ion Roman took another photo.
On the night of 20 December, Constantin Duma used the flash to capture a group of overjoyed demonstrators in Opera Square.
The Photographers
This is a brief presentation of the photographic images showing episodes or details of the events that occurred during the Revolution of Timişoara, on 16–22 December 1989. They are organised by days and places. Starting with 23 December, an increasing number of people turned into photographers. Cătălin Regea says, “At first I thought I was the only one, but after we heard Ceauşescu had escaped, more and more people starting taking snapshots. There were so many photographers and cameramen you could barely move among them.”
This is not an exhaustive presentation, which would be worth making, based on rigorous and verifiable criteria. These are images that have been published or that I have found in various private collections. Many other images have most probably remained unknown to me, such as those taken during the surveillance operations conducted by the authorities of that time. Two of these are kept in the annexe to case file no. 4/P/1990 of the Timişoara Military Prosecution Service, archived at the Bucharest Military Tribunal. (10)
At the conference organised in Timişoara in December 2015, under the European project Justice 2.0 — International Justice for the Imprescriptible Crimes of Communism, the issue of the inaccessible photographs and films shot by the authorities during the Revolution in Timişoara was raised. It was decided that a letter should be addressed to the President of Romania to ask for his support in declassifying these documents.
Further research may complete, detail or correct some information, but after 30 years and without reliable documentation, this will prove a very difficult task.
The names of the people who took the photographs that were published along the years in the press, in books and albums or shown at exhibitions have not always been given. Sometimes they were included in a group of authors, other times they were not mentioned at all. In time, many of the Revolution-related photos have become anonymous, circulating without the photographers’ names.
Some of the photographers of the Revolution of Timişoara are well known, others are not so well known, while others are not known at all: Nechita Băbuţ, Marius Bejan, Doina Benea, Liviu Butoi, Gheorghe-Martin Copăceanu, Onuţ Danciu, Constantin Duma, Silvestru Duma, O. Frenţ, Constantin Flondor, Ladislau Gagyi, Sandu Ghinea, Silviu Ilievici, Lucian Ionică, Ştefan Iordănescu, Mircea Puşcaşu, Mircea Radu, Cătălin Regea, Ion I. Roman, Szasz Istvan, Petru Teleagă. I add another two names to this list, although I am very sorry that I don’t know their first names as well. The list is not complete, of course, and I will gladly add to it any names that I am told are missing.
The Photographs
The hours are approximate, as the authors of the photographs remember them after so many years.
16 December — Saturday
St. Mary Square — 1–2 p.m.The photograph is taken in front of the pharmacy. There are several passers-by in close-up, one of whom looks straight into the camera. A crowd stands in front of the Reformed Church on Timotei Cipariu Street.
Around noon, Mayor Petru Moţ goes to pastor László Tökés to talk to him and calm down the crowd. The window facing the street is open. The pastor appears first, then the mayor joins him and addresses the people, telling them that the transfer order has been cancelled. (Photo: Szazs Istvan)
A photograph from the same angle, taken from one of the floors above the pharmacy, circulates on the internet. In it you can see the throng on Timotei Cipariu Street. The name of the photographer and the date are unknown.
St. Mary Square — 6 p.m.
It is dark. The photos are taken from the first floor, through a window opening to St. Mary Square. In one photo, you can see the pharmacy, a tram, probably stopped, and the people gathered in front of the pharmacy. In the other photo, the camera is pointed towards the bridge, where a cordon of soldiers or policemen (you can’t say for sure) facing the town centre and wearing white helmets and shields block the street. (Photo: eng. Ion Roman)
St. Mary Square — 9.30 p.m.
The camera is pointed towards the pharmacy. On the left of the image, several soldiers with shields fight with the protesters; on the right, a cordon of soldiers with shields is displayed across the street, facing the town centre. Some of them look back to what happens behind them.
These are probably the only night photos of the first days of the Revolution, although many confrontations took place after dark. (Photo: eng. Ion I. Roman)
17 December — Sunday
A huge column of demonstrators turns from Sportivilor Alley to Eroilor Boulevard — 12 p.m. (Photo: Nechita Băbuţ)
Another column passes by “Ion Vidu” High School and heads for Michelangelo Bridge — 12.30 p.m. (Photo: Constantin Duma)
Near Decebal Bridge, on Narciselor Street — 14–15 p.m. A disposition of soldiers, some wearing combat helmets, others wearing white helmets, with four dogs, block the access from the Children’s Park. On the other bank, near People’s Park (today Queen Mary Park) there is a tank, and in another image an armoured vehicle. A large group of protesters can be seen at the end of Pestalozzi Street. There are stones on the pavement, a sign that the protesters threw stones at the military vehicles. An armoured vehicle is parked half on the pavement and half on the road — 14–15 p.m. (Photo: Mircea Radu)
County Council — 1.30–2 p.m. Water cannons are fired against the protesters. A number of army trucks are set ablaze. (Photo: Constantin Duma, Ştefan Iordănescu and O. Frenţ)
A military disposition between the National Bank and the Dental Clinic blocks the access to the County Council. (Photo: Ştefan Iordănescu, Liviu Tulbure)
Military trucks on the boulevard between Michelangelo Bridge and Continental Hotel. (Liviu Butoi)
12 Aprilie Street (3 August Street today) — several photos of soldiers, some wearing combat helmets, others white helmets and shields, heading for Traian Square and pushing back a small cluster of young people. Two of the young people carry bottles. Two tanks in Romanilor Square — 3–3.30 p.m.
Tanks in action on Girocului Street (Martirilor Street today) — 3 p.m. (Photo: Vărgatu)
Behind Bega Shop, in front of the Savings Bank building: clashes between the demonstrators and the repressive forces. Other images show a partly burning armoured vehicle. A protester is ready to throw a Molotov cocktail. In a different photo, the same burning armoured vehicle. People are spread along the edge of the park — 3.30–4.30 p.m. (Photo: Constantin Duma)
The entrance door of a block of flats with bullets holes, probably on Girocului Street.
18 December — Monday
Broken cinema windows photographed at the request of the manager of Întreprinderea Cinematografică. (Photo: Mircea Radu)
Broken shop windows in the town centre, a burnt-out fire engine. (Photo: Liviu Butoi)
Children holding candles on the Cathedral steps. A few minutes later, they will be shot at — 4.30 p.m. (Photo: Petru Teleagă)
19 December — Tuesday
Liberty Square, an armoured vehicle and several unarmed soldiers talking casually. Decebal Bridge, in the Neptun area: a disposition of armed soldiers — 1 p.m. St. George Square. Ten armed soldiers, no protesters. (Photo: Szasz Istvan)
Troops standing by in front of the City Hall. (Photo: Mircea Radu)
Trams stopped in Iosefin District. One of the images shows concrete waste containers overturned on the road, some of them broken — 3–4 p.m. (Photo: Gheorghe-Martin Copăceanu)
Liberty Square, soldiers, armoured vehicles, passers-by. (Photo: Silviu Ilievici)
Iosefin District, groups of people. (Photo: Liviu Butoi)
An armoured vehicle crossing the bridge in St. Mary Square. Two large groups of people by the zebra crossing — 5 p.m. (Photo: Ion I. Roman)
20 December — Wednesday
Liberty Square, a column of protesters heading for the County Council. (Photo: Gheorghe-Martin Copăceanu)
Liberty Square, soldiers, armoured vehicles, passers-by. (Photo: Silviu Ilievici)
County Council area: a huge column of protesters with flags coming from the town centre — 12 p.m. (Photo: Constantin Duma)
The column of demonstrators from the North Station heads for Opera Square (Photo: Liviu Butoi)
In front of the County Council: the victorious crowd. Soldiers standing in front of the building. We want democracy is written on a huge piece of paper by the entrance. On the balcony, the team of revolutionaries who negotiated with Dăscălescu. People climbing trees — 2.30 p.m. (Photo: Constantin Duma and Gheorghe-Martin Copăceanu)
A military disposition in front of the Opera House prevents the crowd from approaching the building. Some of the people have knelt down.
The crowd in Opera Square, before the revolutionaries climb into the balcony. (Photo: Gheorghe-Martin Copăceanu)
The crowd in Opera Square, after the revolutionaries have climbed into the balcony. Images with the revolutionaries in the balcony — 12.30–1.30 p.m. A group of revolutionaries in front of the Opera House, at night. (Photo: Constantin Duma)
Opera Square, the army has fraternised with the crowd. Revolutionaries on an armoured vehicle heading for the Opera House. People climbing on an armoured vehicle on Alba Iulia Street (probably the same vehicle as in the previous image). People on their knees, facing the Opera House — 1.30–2.30 p.m. (Photo: Petru Teleagă)
Patriotic Guards by the Court House (Photo: Constantin Duma)
In front of the North Station, a column of protesters coming from the town centre. The station is guarded by armed soldiers with helmets (Photo: Liviu Butoi)
Girocului Street: soldiers on armoured vehicles fraternise with the population (Photo: Vînătoru)
21 December — Thursday
A crowd in Opera Square — food is brought and shared among the people. (Photo: Liviu Butoi, Constantin Duma, Constantin Flondor, Ladislau Gagyi, Cătălin Regea, Liviu Tulbure)
Various scenes from the crowd, details, placards. (Photo: Petru Teleagă)
St. Mary Square — A huge column coming from the town centre. The protesters in the first rows carry flags. In another picture, two trams are stopped and several people kneel down next to them. (Photo: Ion I. Roman)
22 December — Friday
Opera Square, the crowd, the balcony (Photo: Constantin Duma, Doina Benea, Liviu Butoi, Cătălin Regea, Milan Şepeţean, Liviu Tulbure, Lucian Ionică)
Opera Square: various messages, like “Ceauşescu and his wife ruined our childhood”, written on paper. Symbolic images: a man on a bicycle holds a flag with a hole in the middle; a mother supports her wounded son; a tractor tows a trailer full of excited demonstrators; bits of paper spread all over Republicii Boulevard; the crowd in front of the Opera House in the background. (Photo: Constantin Flondor)
Mărăşti Square, a column of protesters heading for the Printing House — 4 p.m. (Photo: Szasz Istvan)
Paupers’ Cemetery: distressing images of unburied bodies. (Photo: Constantin Duma, Ladislau Gagyi, Mircea Radu, Doina Benea, Gheorghe-Martin Copăceanu, Lucian Ionică)
Starting with 23 December, the people mustered up enough courage and the number of photographers increased, as did the number of the photographs taken in different places. You can see groups of people, traces of the previous conflicts — broken windows, burnt-out press stands, posters and placards reflecting the people’s state of mind and their requests, tanks and armoured vehicles that this time protect the revolutionaries in front of the Opera House and Liberty Square, soldiers watching for the so-called “terrorists”, teams of revolutionaries checking both people and cars, mostly cars. There are also images that are said to show the capturing of some ‘terrorists”.
The history of the Revolution of Timişoara is also a history of faces, the faces of the people who passed from dramatic moments of pain and fear to the incredible joy of victory some of them didn’t even think possible. The photographs render a broad range of emotions visible on the faces or in the gestures of the people who were in the streets or in Opera Square, where the crowd numbered over 100,000 protesters.
The photographs also provide other kinds of information that give us a better understanding of such a complex social movement of historic importance. At the same time, they help preserve the human dimension of the 1989 Revolution in Timişoara in the community’s memory over generations. The way in which these photographs, negatives and slides are preserved should be considered very carefully. They are part of our national heritage, even though they have not been officially classified as such. We all have the responsibility to contribute to their preservation.
Notes
- Titus Suciu, Vasile Bogdan, Candelă împotriva timpului (A Candle Against Time), Memorialul Revoluţiei 1989, 2011, Timişoara, p. 310
- Idem, p. 309
- Lucian Ionică, Fotografi ai Revoluţiei (Photographers of the Revolution), in Lucian Vasile Szabo (coord.) Mass-media, represiune şi libertate (Mass-media, Repression and Freedom), Gutenberg Univers, 2010, Arad, p. 49
- Memorial 1989, no. 1/11/ 2013, p. 29
- Memorial 1989, no. 1/15/ 2015. p. 48
- Memorial 1989, no. 1/11/ 2013, p. 29
- Idem, p. 30
- Idem, p. 31
- Lucian Ionică, Fotografi ai Revoluţiei (Photographers of the Revolution), in Lucian Vasile Szabo (coord.) Mass-media, represiune şi libertate (Mass-media, Repression and Freedom), Gutenberg Univers, 2010, Arad, p. 42
- https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolu%C8%9Bia_Rom%C3%A2n%C4%83_din_1989 (Accessed in December 2019)