In November 1989, the world changed when the Berlin Wall came down, marking the beginning of the

unraveling of the Iron Curtain. Almost a month later, on December 16, 1989, Romania faced a sudden

revolution that led to the fall of its central government in just over a week. While Romania was one of

many Eastern European communist countries that revolted in 1989,

the revolution there, unlike those in other countries, was violent and deadly.

Learn more about the 1989 Romanian Revolution and how it unfolded on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

Music I'm David Remnick, host of the New Yorker Radio Hour.

There's nothing like finding a story you can really sink into

that lets you tune out the noise and focus on what matters. In print or here on the podcast,

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else. So please join me every week for the New Yorker Radio Hour, wherever you listen to podcasts.

Romania became a communist country following the Second World War.

During World War II, Romania was initially neutral in the conflict.

However, watching the initial German

successes made many Romanian citizens, including their prime minister, interested in fascism.

This led to Romania eventually siding with the Axis powers as they supported the Nazi

fight against the Soviets. Romania allied itself with the Axis powers in the hopes of gaining

new territory from the Soviet Union.

As part of the Axis, Romania supplied the alliance with crucial resources, including oil and

troops. These resources were a key part of many of the battles on the Eastern Front. They also

participated in many of the Nazi's ethnic policies, including the killing of hundreds of thousands

of Jews.

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